http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/23/zimbabwe

SOLDIERS AWAIT PAY AS ZIMBABWE RUNS OUT OF PAPER TO PRINT MONEY

The Zimbabwean government was today struggling to find enough cash to pay its workers, and more importantly the military, after it was forced to severely cut back on printing money because sanctions severed its supply of banknote paper from Europe.

Officials involved in the printing of money said the regime was fearful that the presses could be shut down altogether if further political pressure causes the withdrawal of software licences used to design and print the notes.

Paper money was already in desperately short supply because the state-run Fidelity Printers & Refiners in Harare was unable to keep up with the demand created by hyperinflation and rapid devaluation that had caused notes to lose almost their entire value within weeks of being issued.

But the problems became acute after the Bavarian firm that supplied the watermarked banknote paper – Giesecke & Devrient, which printed worthless cash for the Weimar Republic in the 1920s and supplied Rhodesia’s white minority regime with currency – cut off deliveries last month, under pressure from the German government.

Zimbabwe was looking to Malaysia as an alternative source of paper but the government feared that the licence for the specialist software supplied by another European firm would be withdrawn as part of the boycott of Robert Mugabe’s regime.

The software is supplied by Jura JSP, a Hungarian-Austrian company that specialises in security printing. A knowledgeable source inside Fidelity Printers said the software issue had created an air of panic.

Whoever comes up with a viable medium of exchange tomorrow would own the economy within weeks.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/07/pressure-mounts.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/not-worth-the-paper-they-dont-have-to-write-it-on/2008/07/15/1215887628568.html

I read somewhere, however, that G&D only printed 50% of the banknotes – anyone heard anything more?
(In which case the design technology issue definitely seems one to follow up)

In the case of the bank notes, their role not only in propping up the regime but in fueling inflation was obvious.

The overwhelming case against was also clear for the An Yue Jiang.

For other companies, I think we expect something different. Thoughtful compassionate and visible leadership about the right way to act under the circumstances.

I think the British and South African governments and the Australian government to a lesser degree have an obligation to call together all their businesses and to ask them : what are you going to do? We don’t need to tell them – we need to ask them.

I think Tutu, though he has been outspoken, could play a good role in this. Call the business people and ask them. What is the right way to proceed? They all know who is handing over money and who is not.

When they see we expect them as a community to take a stand we might find interesting responses that we don’t can’t even imagine at this point.

Giesecke & Devrient halts deliveries to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Munich, July 1, 2008 – The Management Board of Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Munich, today decided to cease delivering banknote paper to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe with immediate effect.

The company has taken this step in response to an official request from the German government and calls for international sanctions by the European Union and United Nations.

“Our decision is a reaction to the political tension in Zimbabwe, which is mounting significantly rather than easing as expected, and takes account of the critical evaluation by the international community, German government and general public,” explains Dr. Karsten Ottenberg, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Giesecke & Devrient GmbH.

In delivering banknotes and banknote paper, Giesecke & Devrient is subject to strict rules defined by the World Bank. The company continues to rely on the political and moral assessment provided by international trade regulators.

Giesecke & Devrient said it would stop providing paper for banknotes immediately following a “political and moral assessment” of conditions there.

Giesecke & Devrient said it had taken the decision to withdraw from Zimbabwe following an official request to do so from the German government.

See this link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7484838.stm

This is GREAT !

Somebodies email must have through.

Congratulations SOKWANELE !

Bankrolling terror – the German company behind dictator’s cash

http://www.theage.com.au/world/bankrolling-terror–the-german-company-behind-dictators-cash-20080627-2y3y.html

Giesecke&Devrient feel that they can get away with it because of the LEGAL status of the Zimbabwean Regime at the world bank, and because TRADE SANCTIONS do not exist.

They would be forced to stop if the World Bank took Zimbabwe off their accredited list of National Banks.

Calls for sanctions to the World Bank and to all our leaders might be pretty appropriate right now

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1818771,00.html

“Some European governments have recently moved to cut business ties. German officials on Friday ordered a Munich company, Giesecke and Devrient, to stop supplying Zimbabwe with the paper on which it prints its near-worthless banknotes — with Zimbabwe’s estimated annual inflation rate at about 165,000%, the printers of Zimbabwe dollars have been a regular client of Giesecke and Devrient.

But there’s been no rush for the exits by the corporate giants that have helped keep Zimbabwe ticking along, including Royal Dutch Shell, British American Tobacco, and the Anglo American Corporation, which owns a platinum mine in the country. Many of the 79 companies listed on the Harare Stock Exchange are, in fact, earning solid returns, despite the daily misery of most Zimbabweans amid severe shortages of food, electricity and fuel. Last year the London-based commodities firm Lonrho began an investment fund called LonZim, aiming to snap up investments before the collapse of Zimbabwe’s government. Zimbabwe’s immense mineral wealth was “cheap as chips” and going for “fire-sale prices,” Lonrho Africa’s chairman David Lenigas told reporters when the fund launched. Investors willing to take the risk now could be well positioned to take advantage of the immense opportunities of a post-Mugabe economy being rebuilt from scratch.”

Any suggestions about how to widen this campaign to the other companies mentioned?

I guess the Germans will not have the clout to stop them either.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fg-zimbabwe19-2008jun19,0,5475254.story

I go with Desmond Tutu, and put in place a total flight ban over Zimbabwe. That means Mugabe can’t fly to Egypt for the AU summit, Gono can’t fly out his foreign exchange loot to Dubai every week, and Giesecke and Devrient can’t fly in the worthless Z$ banknotes.

Supplies can still made via road transport, but at least this buys some time in the pressure cooker stakes.

Dear employee,
As you go about your daily work for our enterprise, you must certainly have asked yourself numerous times, “What responsibilities do we bear in our activities and decisions for the company, and on what ethical basis do we exercise that responsibility?”