In order to pay household bills and buy groceries, it often means using cash as the system of processing cheques cannot keep up with the pace on inflation.

However, each individual is limited to drawing $500 000 a day and this has been in place since last year. Companies, no matter whether they employ 2 people of 2 000 are limited to double that amount. Since this regulation was introduced inflation has divided the real value of this money by about 9 times and therefore it makes life very difficult for ordinary people.

Because cash is so short now, it has had the effect of even reducing the cost of foreign currency in the black market where we all invest our Zimbabwe dollars in forex rather than keep it in the bank where it loses its real value at about 1.5% per day.

Therefore, you will now hear that we are expected to pay a fee for cash and those that can get their hands on such money “on sell” it as a commodity for a percentage fee. I learnt the other day that large volumes of cash are available but one has to pay what effectively is a bribe of 6% at the local bank and there is another 10% for someone in the Reserve Bank. Because of this desperate shortage, ironically, if you pay your bills in cash you obtain your service or product at one price or you now pay extra if you use a cheque or electronic Banking. This is even stated on quotations.

Inflation this month is 8600% annualized (it will, be more now) and we must assume that the amount of money in circulation has to grow at this rate to keep up with demand. The government is throttling the system and it is becoming unsustainable.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, inflation, hyper-inflation, business, economy

Factionalism has gripped the ruling party’s Bulawayo Province following revelations that the majority of members are against the fielding of President Robert Mugabe in next year’s presidential election proposed to run simultaneously with local government and parliamentary polls.

Authoritative sources within the party said this week the entire leadership in Bulawayo Province was seriously divided with a few backing Mugabe while the majority were in favour of Vice President Joice Mujuru and former Zanu PF intelligence chief and current Minister of Rural Housing and Amenities Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“There are definitely three factions one led by John Nkomo who supports Mugabe as the party candidate for the presidential election and two others led by Joshua Malinga and Dumiso Dabengwa who are backing Mnangagwa and Mujuru respectively,” said one of the sources, a member of the politburo, the party’s most powerful decision-making body.

Nkomo – the chairman of the ruling party, Speaker of Parliament, a relative of President Mugabe and has presidential ambitions – is believed to be in favour of the 83 year-old Zimbabwean leader as Mugabe appears to have a soft spot for him.

“The ruling party chairman has always featured in all Cabinet reshuffles since independence and had to be persuaded by his PF Zapu colleagues to leave his cabinet post when Zapu was kicked out of the government in the early 1980s following a ‘discovery’ of military weapons cached by the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) in Matabeleland.

ZIPRA was the armed wing of PF Zapu led by former Vice President Joshua Nkomo. It was accused by the Mugabe regime of attempting to topple the government by military force.

The sources further said a few members of the ruling party’s Women’s League and former members of Zanu PF’s armed wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), were backing Nkomo in supporting President Robert Mugabe’s unpopular move to contest in next year’s presidential election.

“This is just a group of few people who want Mugabe to contest the election. Otherwise they are an unpopular Bulawayo provincial group even if the Zanu PF Central Committee recently endorsed Mugabe as the party’s candidate for next year’s presidential election,” said another source, a member of the party’s central committee.

On the other hand, the sources said former Zapu intelligence supremo, Dumiso Dabengwa, appeared to have an upper hand over other factions as he was believed to be making underground maneuvres together with ex-army commander General Solomon Mujuru to catapult the latter’s wife, Joice, to Zimbabwe’s top most political position.

“Dabengwa has the backing of members of the party’s Youth League in Bulawayo Province, most members of the Women’s League and the current provincial executive committees of the War Veterans Association and the party’s main wing,” said a source close to the veteran politician who is also a top member of the War Veterans Association.

He said: “At the same time, the Dabengwa faction is courting members of the opposition in an effort to make a surprise move towards the presidential election by fielding Vice President Joice Mujuru to fight it out with President Mugabe.

“This will be a coalition movement with members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and other opposition parties fed up with Mugabe’s iron-first rule. This faction is on a public relations exercise trying to fool Mugabe to appear as if it is on his side while waiting to make a surprise political move towards the 2008 presidential election.”

The sources said Dabengwa, President Mugabe’s most feared remnant of the once-lethal revolutionary PF Zapu, had nothing to lose if he opposed President Mugabe as the ruling elite had sidelined him for a long time.

“He has taken a gamble and once this works out, he might revive his political career. Dabengwa has never been trusted by Mugabe from the time he was the intelligence chief of Zapu,” said one of the sources within the politburo.

The source said as for the Joshua Malinga faction, it appeared to be losing grip of the War Veterans Association and executive committee members of the ruling party in the province following a foiled nationally-crafted palace coup in 2004 affectionately known as the Tsholotsho Declaration.

Most members of this faction attempted to elect Mnangagwa to the post of Vice President of the party and Zimbabwe at the last party Congress when seven out of 10 chairmen of the ruling party’s provincial executives and other top members of the party met in Tsholotsho to block the election of Joice Mujuru.

When the plot was unearthed, they were subsequently fired by the ruling party for attempting to stage a palace coup which could have seen Mnangagwa taking over from the late Vice President Simon Muzenda and Patrick Chinamasa being elected party chairman instead of John Nkomo.

The meeting was designed to get rid of the old Zapu guard like Vice President Joseph Msika, John Nkomo, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Effort Nkomo and other top party members. This would have led to the gradual political demise of President Mugabe.

“This faction therefore appears to have lost it when they attempted to stage a palace coup and is now seen as docile. Although it is still being supported by former freedom fighters like Jabulani Sibanda and his few followers, it is toothless,” said another source, a war veteran.

The source said: “The leader of this faction (Malinga) is widely seen by most Zanu PF cadres and former members of PF Zapu as a total failure. He was given a chance to run the City of Bulawayo as mayor but did not command a lot of respect among his party colleagues.

“At the same time, he has failed to garner support in any election and as a result he can’t win the hearts of serious politicians. The person (Mnangagwa) that the faction is backing is viewed as having played a key role in the deployment of the Five Brigade which killed over 20 000 civilians in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces at the height of the civil strife of the 1980s pitting Zanu PF and PF Zapu.”

The North Korean-trained brigade, commonly known as Gukurahundi, was deployed by the government to hunt down so-called dissidents which were allegedly backed by Joshua Nkomo in an attempt to topple the Mugabe administration.

Despite the faction fighting in the Bulawayo Province, it remains to be seen whether the Dabengwa and Malinga factions will have the nerve to field candidates against President Mugabe, widely referred worldwide as Africa’s Hitler.

Their other fear might be the non-alignment of Vice President Msika to any of the factions. Msika is believed to be the king maker in the region after the death of Vice President Joshua Nkomo.

“We don’t fear Mugabe or any person in the ruling party. He (Mugabe) is a human being like all of us … Time will come when he has to be forced to go and we will do it … In 2008, he has to pave way for another president,” said a member of the Malinga faction who is also one of the leaders of the party’s provincial Youth League.

Efforts to contact Dabengwa, Malinga and Nkomo were fruitless.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, factionalism, zanu-pf, politics, politicians, factions, elections, Mugabe

If you are unaware of what’s been happening to the women of WOZA, I suggest you swing past their blog and read the recent entries. These are some extracts of the past few horrible days they’ve been enduring.

Reports indicate that one woman had a baby on her back whilst she lay down on the floor and the baby sustained beatings and has a swollen leg. As members reported for medical attention today, some could need hospitilisation, including the baby. (link)

A message was delivered by Law and Order officers that if anyone other than Jenni Williams tried to deliver food they would be beheaded. However all those who delivered food this morning were not harmed. Williams is on a hit list to be eliminated as a dangerous person. (link)

She was shown torture rooms and told in great detail what would happen to her there. They then took her into the bush nearby and questioned her about Jenni Williams and where WOZA gets its money, at the same time, forcing her to watch other people being tortured by plain-clothed officers until 8.30 at night. The police told her to tell WOZA that they “don’t play with people”. When she kept insisting that she could not answer their questions, they decided she could go after being ‘punished’. She was then forced to crawl under an electric fence, causing her clothes to be torn and covered in mud. She then had to run through the bush to find her way back to the main road, where a passer-by found her in torn, filthy clothes and gave her a lift back to Bulawayo. (this was 18 year old Clarah Makoni’s experience)

The WOZA website is here.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, WOZA, Women of Zimbabwe Arise, gender, assault, torture, violence, action, protest

Remember Snuki Zakalala, the Managing Director of SABC News and Current Affairs? The guy who has a problem with voices critical of Mugabe and Zanu PF policies..? Snuki Zakalala is the man who implemented an informal policy at the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) to blacklist several highly credible commentators on the crisis in Zimbabwe, including Archbishop Pius Ncube, Moeletsi Mbeki, Trevor Ncube and Elinor Sisulu. This was an action that would have resulted in South Africans being deprived of full coverage of events in our country.

Well, this same man announced last week that the SABC would be opening a bureau in Zimbabwe. He commented, “We felt that it is important to have a presence here so that we cover the true Zimbabwean story”. Note the inclusion of the word ‘true‘, which in itself implies that the news currently coming out of Zimbabwe is a lie.

I’d agree with him on the point of ‘lies’ if I thought he was talking about the news emerging from state controlled media. But I suspect, he isn’t. The decision to open up a bureau followed a meeting he had with the Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu.

And Sikhanyiso Ndlovu is the chap who described the police torture and violence towards our civic leaders last month as an “appropriate response” by the police. Do you think this level of brutality can ever be described as appropriate? Or this? Can you see where this is heading?

So the fact that Snuki Zakalala is having chats with Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and using language that implies a certain bias towards some of the news in Zimbabwe tells me that he really thinks that it’s people like US who are the liars and spin doctors of misinformation. And mostly people like the amazing SW Radio Africa.

So consider this: a couple of days ago SW Radio Africa had a screenshot on their website (see image above) of what an employee at the SABC would see if they tried to access the SW Radio Africa website from within the SABC.

And then yesterday they had an article where they’ve been trying to investigate the problem further:

On Monday we talked to Fakir Hassen who works in the IT division and he confirmed that SABC has what he called “control measures” in place that restrict access to pornography, downloading large files and audio streaming. He stressed that it had nothing to do with censuring any radio station. Regarding written stories Hassen said: “There is no problem in accessing a website that is purely word in content, if you will. When it comes to audio downloads etcetera, there are restrictions there.”

But when we asked several employees at SABC, in different departments, to try and access some websites that have audio streaming, they told us the sites opened without a problem and allowed them to read the text. It is when they wanted to open the streaming that they were blocked. Among the sites tested were South Africa’s Radio 702, Radio Veritas, Afrosounds FM and several websites that cover Zimbabwe.

This indicated that there is a different reason for the blocking of our website.

So, factor in Snuki Zikalala’s previous history, his comment on the need for the “true Zimbabwean story”, and now this from SW Radio Africa – I think I can see what’s going on in the run up to the next elections in Zimbabwe and I’m not impressed. This is not good behaviour for a country that supposedly has rights enshrined in bills to protect access to free information and freedom of speech etc. What do you think?

If you want to know more about Snuki Zakalala, read this by Marianne Thamme (who calls him Herr Doktor Snuki Zikalala!), and bloggers Farrel and Someamongus.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, SABC, Snuki Zakalala, propaganda, news, free speech

In contrast to the Catholic Church, African Anglican Bishops have issued a pastoral letter which appears to broadly toe the government line. It is totally shameful, but perhaps not surprising given the track record of Nolbert Kunonga, the Anglican Bishop of Harare.

This is a man who has not only accepted a farm from Mugabe (40 pieces of silver aren’t the going currency among the Zanu Pf elite), but he has also used government militia to drive the farmworkers and their families off the farm. And in 2005 he appeared before an ecclesiastical court to face 38 charges arising from scores of complaints [including] … incitement to murder, intimidating critics, ignoring church law, mishandling church funds and bringing militant ZANU PF politics to the pulpit .

A man of God….? A moral authority…? I don’t think so!

This latest via The Guardian:

African Anglican bishops have issued a message to Zimbabweans that was broadly supportive of the government, sharply contrasting with an earlier call from Catholic leaders for President Robert Mugabe to step down.

An Anglican pastoral letter released to coincide with this week’s independence celebrations acknowledged Zimbabwe’s economic crisis “rendered the ordinary Zimbabwean unable to make ends meet.”

The 14 Anglican bishops blamed the worsening plight of poor Zimbabweans largely on Western economic sanctions.

“So-called targeted sanctions aimed at the leadership of the country have affected the poor Zimbabweans who have borne the brunt of sanctions,” the bishops said after a meeting of the central African Episcopal Synod.

I would love to know how targeted sanctions aimed at the leadership affect the poor….? And I wonder if Mugabe will convert from Catholicism?

Update: not to much has more on this story.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Nolbert Kunonga, Anglican, Bishop, corruption

Here’s an excellent article by Alistair Sparks, just brought to my attention by a reader. Alistair Sparks argues that if there is to be any possiblity of free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, Thabo Mbeki needs to do a lot more in response to Mugabe’s campaign of thuggery against the opposition:

Mbeki should act now to stop this travesty. He should tell Mugabe that unless he stops this brutal campaign right now, SADC will have no option but to pronounce the elections as having not been free and fair. And he should spell out the implications of that to Mugabe … that SADC would then not be able to validate his re-election or recognise his new government. It would be an illegitimate regime.

But how, I wonder, can Mbeki ever do a u-turn on ‘quiet diplomacy’ (which as far as I am concerned is political speak for ‘do nothing’) without having to admit it was an absurd position to take all along? Mr Sparks has considered this potentially embarassing situation too and has thoughtfully provided Thabo Mbeki with a set of options:

But my real point is that there is now an active, positive, effective thing Mbeki can do, and that is simply to give Mugabe a warning that a continuation of his campaign of brutalising the opposition will lead to SADC declaring the election invalid. It does not have to be uttered loudly, or even publicly. It can be done in the context of “quiet diplomacy.” It can be conveyed to Mugabe in private … so long as Mbeki says it in a way that Mugabe understands it is meant. What is more, Mbeki can do this without acting in his capacity as president of South Africa. He need not expose himself to an accusation that he is acting on behalf of the West or of white South African business, a retaliation that would be typical of Mugabe. Mbeki can do it on behalf of the SADC, which has mandated him to act on behalf of all 14 of the member states. Moreover the SADC has its own clear criteria for the holding of free and fair elections, and Mugabe must be told to abide by them or face the consequences. And he must be told that now.

I encourage you to read the full article. It was originally published in The Star, but unfortunately is only available there to subscribers, so I give you this link instead to zwnews.

Can I also point out that the SADC criteria for free and fair elections applied during the 2005 elections in Zimbabwe, and virtually every single one of the criteria was stomped on by Mugabe (read our Mauritius Watch series here). And yet South Africa considered the election to be ‘free and fair’. Something to think about.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, south africa, elections, sadc, Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe, free and fair, quiet diplomacy

This press release from The Zimbabwe Vigil:

Zimbabwean exiles in the United Kingdom are to observe a Prayer Vigil from 2 – 6 pm on Saturday, 21st April, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London to mark what they say is a holocaust now taking place in their homeland.

The Vigil will be led by two visitors fresh from Zimbabwe, Useni Sibanda and Promise Manceda of the Zimbabwean Christian Alliance (ZCA). The ZCA spearheads the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, the umbrella organisation from which the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, and civic bodies in Zimbabwe are campaigning for change.

The Save Zimbabwe Campaign organised the prayer meeting on 11th March which resulted in the brutal assaults on many opposition activists including Morgan Tsvangirai, President of the MDC. This exploded the situation into international arena.

The Vigil has invited many church groups to be with us on this day which is the closest Saturday to Zimbabwe’s Independence Day, which we marked with demonstrations outside South Africa House, 10 Downing Street and Parliament (see Vigil Diary 18/04/2007, www.zimvigil.co.uk).

“Each time a man or a woman stands up for justice, the heavens sing and the world rejoices.”

Useni and Promise will be addressing the Central London Zimbabwe Forum on Monday, 23rd April at 7.30 pm. Venue: The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum at Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4JX, Nearest tube: Old Street.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, prayer, protest, london

[This article was written on Independence Day - 18 April]

Harare: Rangarirai, 42, sits by the fireplace at her Mbare home waiting for porridge in a battered pot to simmer before preparing and serving the first meal of the day to her visibly malnourished eight-year-old child, Violet.

Chipo has been screaming since dawn due to hunger as her last meal last night – corn meal porridge and green vegetables with no cooking oil – was not good enough for her small body frame with a pot belly.

It is about 9.27am on Independence Day and Chipo is among millions of children in Zimbabwe who suffer from malnutrition in a country once considered the breadbasket of Southern Africa.

Within the next hour, security agents will herd her mother and hundreds of other residents in Mbare’s impoverished Matapi Flats and Mpedzanhamo and Magaba marketplaces, to the nearby Rufaro Stadium to ‘celebrate’ Zimbabwe’s independence day.

This has become the norm each year on 18 April, a day when the then militant and respected leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu), Robert Mugabe, became the first black Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

It was on this day when he took an oath promising to serve the people of Zimbabwe diligently.

However, Mbare residents believe that Mugabe who in 1987 became the first executive president after the redrafting of the national constitution to tighten his grip on power and rope in his rival party PF Zapu then led by firebrand politician the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, was the worst ever thing to happen to Zimbabwe.

“We are starving in a country we liberated in 1980 because of this cruel man who has been the only leader of this Zimbabwe since independence. It is a fallacy to say that we are independent. In fact, we are in a military state as we are forced to attend in large numbers all Zanu PF events so that outsiders may believe that Mugabe is still popular in Zimbabwe,” says Rangarirai before dishing corn meal porridge to her starving child.

Her views are echoed by Pindai of Mbare Flats who adds that independence day has lost its meaning as it has been reduced to a talk show for the ruling elite.

“I think it has lost meaning for me because it is highly politicised by the ruling party,” says Pindai noting that “at the end of the day one does not value its meaning because it is now more of a Zanu PF forum to spit venom against British Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States of America President George Bush.”

“This day has nothing to do with nation building. The ruling elite thinks that it participated in the struggle without the people. The whole idea of independence is to sift who is loyal or not to Zanu PF. It’s like a crime now if one was born before the liberation war,” he says before dashing into his apartment as President Mugabe’s motorcade with heavily armed soldiers snakes into Rufaro Stadium past Magaba Flats.

Fungai and William, both born soon after independence and residents of Mbare’s National Section, also say they will not participate in the independence day celebrations.

“I will not be part of it. It spells terror for people here. We are living in fear as one believes that you will be kidnapped on April 16 and forcibly marched to venues of the celebrations as (Zanu PF) does not have followers anymore. These people are thugs,” says Fungai.

Adds Fungai: “The true sense of independence day has been hijacked by the ruling party. It is for the party’s staunch followers, people forced to attend celebrations at gunpoint and others hunting for a plate of food.”

“To make matters worse, we are now more oppressed under President Mugabe than Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith. Most of the laws passed by Smith are still in force and at the same time Mugabe has enacted others like the Public Order and Security Act to further oppress Zimbabweans. It is a disgrace to have such a leader,” says William.

True to some Mbare residents’ expectations, President Mugabe took center stage at Rufaro Stadium at 12 noon today to launch a vitriolic attack on Blair and Bush saying the two were trying to effect a regime change.

He said the two would never succeed in bringing to power opposition politicians like Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

“That will never ever happen. No. No. No. Tsvangirai is an invention of Blair and Bush. We are a people-driven government … a government of the people by the people for the people,” he ranted.

Little did he know that the majority of Zimbabweans, including Chipo and her mother, living in Mbare high density suburb near the venue of this year’s celebration – Rufaro Stadium – were not happy with his iron-fist rule which has led to massive starvation, daily price hikes and an inflation rate of nearly 2 000 percent, the worst in the world.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Independence, Mugabe, poverty, protest