Links ~ 6 October 2008
Zimbabwe talks back on track (Sowetan)
Zimbabwe’s political factions were back in talks, both sides said yesterday, but so far can’t agree on how far they’ve progressed, a measure of the difficulty of turning pledges of cooperation into action. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his main rivals signed a power-sharing agreement last month brokered by former president Thabo Mbeki. Since then, though, they have made no progress on deciding who will hold which posts in their cabinet. Though Mbeki has agreed to resume mediating the two sides met without him on Saturday.
Zim on the brink of new crisis as food runs out (Mail and Guardian)
Six months after the elections, Zimbabwe still lacks a functioning government and is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Following the worst wheat harvest since the independence war, bread has run out and sugar supplies are set to follow. USAid, the American government humanitarian agency, is warning that the country could run out of the maize, the staple food, by next month. Farming officials say the government’s stated aim of producing maize on 500 000 hectares this season is unattainable. “We are in serious trouble,” said Jabulani Gwaringa, of the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (ZFU), which represents small-scale operators. “There is no seed, fertiliser and crop chemicals on the market. Banks are not offering farmers any credit. In July we had produced about 25 000 metric tonnes of seed maize. We are down to 9 000 because farmers opted to eat their hybrid seed or sell it to millers.”
We’re being targeted, say Zim farmers (The Mercury)
Commercial farmers who launched a legal challenge against the Zimbabwe government’s land acquisition programme were being targeted for attack by ruling party militants just weeks before an international tribunal is to rule in their favour. At least one farm, in Cheguru, 100km from the capital Harare, is being occupied this weekend. Farmers Retief and Carrie Benade, who have fled to Harare leaving farmworkers to defend their property, said 15 men – seven of them armed – had occupied their farm. The couple are among 77 farm owners who last year brought an historic challenge to the Zimbabwean land acquisition programme at the Southern African Development Community Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia.
Glimmer of hope as reluctant Mbeki returns to Zimbabwe (The Daily Nation)
When Zimbabwe’s political rivals signed an historic power sharing agreement almost a month ago at a glitzy ceremony, former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki joked that he did not want to return to Zimbabwe again. Praising him as a tough and intelligent negotiator, President Robert Mugabe had made a promise that the new government would be set up without any hurdles because what he considered to be the most difficult part had been overcome.
Zimbabwean leaders make minor progress on formation of new cabinet (APA)
Zimbabwe’s political rivals have made minor progress towards breaking the deadlock over the appointment of a new cabinet but still remain worlds apart over control of the key ministries of Finance and Home Affairs, APA learns here Sunday. Presidential spokesman George Charamba said in a statement issued in Harare that President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai narrowed to two the number of disputed ministerial positions following a meeting held on Saturday. The ministries still to be allocated between Mugabe’s ZANU PF and the Movement for Democratic Change of Tsvangirai are those of Finance and Home Affairs, Charamba said.
Can SA Afford to Bailout Zim? (RadioVOP)
As the current global financial turmoil deepens, Zimbabwe’s chances of garnering a much-needed financial aid injection for its shattered economy hangs in the balance. With major world economic powers – the US and the EU – bogged down in a desperate effort to save their economies from slipping into a recession or, even worse, a depression, the Zimbabwean economic quandary is the last thing on their minds.
