Unhappy soldiers and police flee Zimbabwe’s misery in droves  ~ Business Day
More than 3500 disgruntled junior officers and police are said to have abandoned Zimbabwe’s security forces over the past two months in protest at poor working conditions and low pay. Junior officers were unhappy with their low salaries and poor working and living conditions, as their superiors remained loyal to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government, said sources in the Zimbabwe National Army and Zimbabwe Republic Police, who preferred anonymity.

ZANU-PF militia re-deployed, violence flares up again ~ Zimbabwe Tribune
Politically motivated violence has erupted again in Zimbabwe following the failure by SADC’s African leaders to break a month-long cabinet posts allocation deadlock between the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). In Epworth, fifteen kilometers southeast of Harare, ZANU-PF militia units redeployed to their torture bases went on the rampage Wednesday, October 29, assualting perceived MDC supporters in the restive, impoverishing township. (more…)

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The US volunteer surgical team, Operation of Hope, founded by Dr. Joseph Clawson, will be in Harare offering free surgeries for children and people afflicted with facial deformities. Typical deformities include, but are not limited to, cleft-lip and cleft-palates. To learn about and see samples of these deformities, please visit www.operationofhope.org. All potential cases will be evaluated by Operation of Hope Doctors on Sunday, November 2nd, 8am at the Harare Central Hospital in the pediatric ward.

This visit will be the fourth trip made by Operation of Hope dating back to October of 2006. The surgical team is very excited to once again help those in need and offering some relief to the families of Zimbabwe. If a candidate is selected for surgery, they will be placed on a surgery schedule that runs between November 3rd to November 14th. No age or location rules apply. Anyone from anywhere who can get to the hospital, with a facial deformity will be evaluated free of charge.

Issued by Jennifer Trubenbach, Executive Director, Operation of Hope, Mobile - +263 91 2 723 755, E-mail: jennifer@operationofhope.org

Website: www.operationofhope.org

Operation of Hope Press Release

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UN chief hits out at Mugabe over impasse ~ Business Day
Laying the blame for Zimbabwe’s power-sharing impasse squarely at President Robert Mugabe’s door, United Nations (UN) Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that Mugabe had disappointed the international community. The UN chief had been discussing Zimbabwe’s crisis with other leaders and dispatched his senior adviser to Harare. Yesterday he said at a regional summit in the Philippines that Zimbabwe’s crisis talks “have been taking too long”. “I sincerely hope that President Mugabe will no longer disappoint the international community,” Ban said. “He should meet the expectations of the international community.”[...] Referring to a full, emergency SADC summit called for next week, possibly in SA, Ban said: “Now that the SADC has decided to convene their full summit meeting, I hope these leaders — considering their responsibility to see peace and stability maintained in their region — should take very decisive measures to help resolve this crisis.”

Zimbabweans Fighting HIV/AIDS Turned Away As State Clinics Close ~ VOA News
In another blow to Zimbabwe’s tottering health care sector, the opportunistic infections clinics at Parirenyatwa and Harare hospitals in the capital and Chitungwiza Hospitals in the nearby satellite dormitory town have been forced to close their doors after their doctors and nurses joined a widening strike by health professionals. (more…)

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‘Tsvangirai won’t attend summit without passport’ ~ ZimOnline
Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC party said on Tuesday its leader Morgan Tsvangirai will not attend an extraordinary summit of the regional SADC grouping that will discuss the country’s stalled power-sharing deal if he is not issued a passport. [...] “We will not travel on an emergency document. It’s an insult,” said Biti, adding that the matter of Tsvangirai’s passport was now a “political issue” and not just a simple case of whether the MDC leader was given the travel document.

MDC contradicts SADC on deadlock ~ The Zimbabwe Times
The mainstream MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai has vehemently denied claims that the current dispute between the party and Zanu-PF has narrowed to only a single ministry. The MDC says the parties are in fact yet to agree on all the 31 ministries proposed in the new power sharing arrangement. This, it says, is among six outstanding issues still to be concluded before the new government can successfully be constituted. “There is an attempt to ignore or overlook these fundamental principles and hence the claim in some circles that only the portfolio of the Ministry of Home Affairs is outstanding,” MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti told reporters at a media briefing in Harare Tuesday afternoon. “Nothing can be further from the truth. The entire gamut of ministries is still open.” (more…)

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Fellow Zimbabweans, members of the media fraternity, the Extra-Ordinary Summit of the SADC Organ on Politics Defence and Security Cooperation Troika concluded in the early hours of the 28th of October 2008. In the communiqué released by the Troika, pursuant to this summit, the Troika has decided to refer the Zimbabwe issue to a full summit of SADC which should be held as soon as possible.

On our part, we thank the Troika for yet again sacrificing their time,patience and experience on the issue of Zimbabwe, more particularly,President Monthlante of South Africa and President Guebuzza of Mozambique and every other leader who attended the summit. Zimbabwe is privileged that it can count as friends, countries in the region and distinguished African statesmen such as President Guebuzza and President Monthlante. It is regrettable that the Troika could not narrow the gaps between the Zimbabwe parties. In our view, an urgent summit towards the resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis is paramount. Zimbabweans are suffering and dying. The State has dismally failed to provide the least basic social amenities and our people have been reduced to a primitive mode of production in depths that have not been known even in many warring situations. (more…)

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Twenty (23) men and women have been hospitalised and seven (7) arrested after ROHR Zimbabwe demonstrated in Harare today. Four (4) people are missing after having been reportedly abducted by Zanu PF operatives. The four are Moses Mutasa from Hatfield, Tinei Tinarwo from Glen Norah, Mr Ncube from Dzivarasekwa and Adam Muchiriri from Hatfield. (more…)

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The drama of the crisis intensifies as the consequences of meltdown that seem to be delayed forever, are now clearly evident. There is a free-for-all in the market place as businesses fight for survival whilst the economy struggles to find a way forward in the chaos.

Probably the single biggest obstacle to some form of immediate relief is the daily cash withdrawal of 50 000 which only buys 8 slices of bread. Entrepreneurs and shady dealers abound feeding off the crisis as they emerge as the only people making money within the collapsing system.

Very few businesses accept cheques now and demand massive protection against inflation within their Zim-dollar pricing mechanism, which places goods at up to ten times the cost of neighbouring countries. This forces the consumer to pay in forex and the irony is that those in formal employment cannot access forex whilst those supported by the diaspora can, and so the tables turn again amid the confusion and the implosion. (more…)

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Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai says no deal just to satisfy mediators ~ AFP
“We don’t want our issues to go outside Africa,” [Tsvangirai] added. “When they (the regional leaders) come on Monday we shall respect them.” But, he said, if the diplomatic moves of the South African mediator Thabo Mbeki, were misdirected, there would be no deal. He said his party had one message for Mbeki: “Quiet diplomacy has its limits, we give him all the respect (but) we may end up abandoning quiet diplomacy when we realise quiet diplomacy is being led for wrong approval.”

Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF warns Tsvangirai ahead of talks ~ AFP
Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF chief negotiator in the power-sharing talks issued a stark warning to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai ahead of key talks Monday on a unity government. “If Tsvangirai does not stop campaigning for sanctions against Zimbabwe to further cripple the country’s economy, then we are headed for trouble,” Patrick Chinamasa told AFP. And he warned Tsvangirai against a boycott of the talks, after he failed to attend last Monday’s meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Swaziland. “We trust that Tsvangirai will not treat Monday’s troika meeting with the same contempt and utter disrespect that he did with the Swaziland meeting,” Another boycott by him will irreversibly strain ZANU-PF’s patience and will be the last straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Chinamasa. (more…)

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Motlanthe urges Zim opposition not to boycott summit ~ Mail and Guardian
South Africa’s new President Kgalema Motlanthe urged Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday not to boycott another summit designed to save a troubled power-sharing accord. Motlanthe, also chairperson of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), said it was “imperative for all the stakeholders in Zimbabwe to avail themselves of the opportunity” offered by Monday’s summit in Harare. “When you seek a solution to a problem, you talk to those that you disagree with,” he told South African public radio.

‘Tsvangirai will attend summit’ ~ IOL
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will attend a summit next week aimed at saving a troubled power-sharing accord, his party’s spokesperson said on Friday. “We are not boycotting Monday’s meeting,” Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said. “It is our hope that this meeting will bring closure and finality to this issue of power sharing and enable Zimbabwe to respond to the dire situation which the people are facing,” he added. (more…)

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Zimbabwe Crisis Summit in Danger ~ VOA
Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change says political events in Zimbabwe illustrate that the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe is not committed to genuine power sharing. The MDC statement cites as examples, the continued dominance by ZANU-PF of the sate media, Mr. Mugabe’s unilateral appointment of ZANU-PF personnel to all the country’s provincial governors positions, and Mr. Tsvangirai’s lack of a passport.

Corruption fears over £300m UN aid ~ The Telegraph
The Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, administered by the United Nations and funded by Britain, America and other critics of the Harare regime, has agreed in principle to Zimbabwe’s request for help. Jon Liden, its communications director, confirmed that Zimbabwe had applied for almost $300 million to fight Aids, $58 million to combat tuberculosis, almost $60 million for malaria and $83 million for its health service in general. This application had cleared the most important hurdle by gaining approval from the “technical review panel”. [...] But Zimbabwean law states that all foreign exchange must be deposited with the Reserve Bank. Gideon Gono, its governor and one of Mr Mugabe’s closest allies, routinely delays releasing any funds. The Reserve Bank held on to $600,000 for one aid programme for several months. A senior official with one donor organisation in Harare said that some funds had actually gone missing after arriving at the Reserve Bank. “The next round of money is desperately needed in Zimbabwe, but no one will feel good about any going into the RBZ [Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe],” he said. (more…)

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Zimbabwe is ‘the best investment opportunity in Africa’ say financiers ~ The Telegraph
Inflation is somewhere in the millions – or perhaps the billions – and the economy is the fastest shrinking on Earth. But Zimbabwe is the “best investment opportunity” in Africa, financiers at a seminar in South Africa have heard.

Zimbabwe war veterans threaten Tsvangirai over deal ~ Reuters
Zimbabwe’s militant war veterans threatened on Wednesday to take action against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and urged President Robert Mugabe to form a government without him. Jabulani Sibanda, who chairs the militant grouping of the veterans of Zimbabwe’s war of independence, said the Movement for Democratic Change leader was stalling a power-sharing deal, which has hit deadlock over cabinet posts. “He is leaving the people of Zimbabwe with one option: to take action,” he told the official Herald newspaper. “If he behaves the way he is behaving, this nation will take action to defend itself from him.” (more…)

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Chaos continues to envelop the business community as the accepted practice of conducting day to day affairs becomes increasingly impossible.

Millions of hours of production of the remaining utilised capacity are being lost as every employee is forced to queue for a daily cash withdrawal of ZWD50 000, which is only sufficient to buy 2 loaves of bread.

Employers are now paying their staff in salt, mealie meal, and whatever commodity the worker can then convert to foreign currency - this made available by the millions of exiles working in other countries. (more…)

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The MDC wishes to make it clear that while there is no valid legal or logistical reason why President Tsvangirai should not be issued with a new passport, the significance of this issue is far greater than the travel document in question.

For purposes of clarification, and for the avoidance of doubt, President Tsvangirai neither refused nor boycotted the meeting in Swaziland. It is Zanu PF, which stopped the President from attending this meeting. Zanu PF’s behaviour is an affront to African institutions and processes.

The failure by the Zanu PF-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs to issue a passport to President Tsvangirai is a stark illustration of the lack of trust and goodwill exhibited by Zanu PF towards the MDC and towards the political agreement the main Zimbabwean parties are meant to be implementing. (more…)

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MDC seeks new Zimbabwe election ~ BBC
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party has called for new elections, after regional talks on the power-sharing deal were postponed for a week. New polls are the “only way forward”, Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa told the BBC. Neighbouring Botswana has also called for new elections.

Mutambara wants global isolation of the regime if Zimbabwean government is not inclusive ~ SWRA
[...] Arthur Mutambara, the leader of the other MDC formation, blasted the regime saying denying Tsvangirai a passport was a complete violation of his rights and showed “a total disregard and disrespect for the dialogue process.” He said it is a travesty of justice that the person who is going to be Prime Minister of Zimbabwe continues to be denied a passport. Mutambara refused to attend the talks at the summit saying there will be no Troika in Swaziland without Tsvangirai. He told SW Radio Africa: “I have told Swaziland, the King and the Heads of government who are here that there will be no Troika, the meeting won’t start, there will be no discussion and no debates on Zimbabwe without Mr Tsvangirai.” (more…)

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I have just been advised that Morgan Tsvangirai will not be attending the meeting of the SADC Troika because he has not been issued with a passport. If this report is true I wish to make the following statement.

In terms of the agreement reached on the 15 September 2008 Morgan Tsvangirai is to become Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. For the past two months Morgan Tsvangirai has been denied a passport. In the context of the agreement what sort of goodwill is that? I have raised this matter with President Mbeki and Mugabe. We should never allow trivial matters such as this to affect the national interest. SADC has an opportunity to help Zimbabweans solve their national crisis by standing up to Mugabe’s unacceptable behaviour in this regard.

In light of the report I have received this morning I have demanded through President Mbeki that the Troika meeting be cancelled. There can be no discussion of any value without Morgan Tsvangirai’s presence.

In the past few weeks I have ended up being a mediator - trying to do what I can to ensure that a credible deal be arrived at, specifically by ensuring that the MDC T obtains control of the Finance and Home Affairs Ministries. The most important thing is that we should all have a common vision for Zimbabwe. Pragmatism and flexibility should force the three leaders to come up with an acceptable agreement.

I stress that there needs to be a tripartite agreement. As a political party we are not beholden either to Morgan Tsvangirai or Robert Mugabe - we are beholden to the suffering masses of Zimbabwe. Just as we are opposed to any unilateral decision by Robert Mugabe so we will also oppose any activity by Morgan Tsvangirai to hold the nation to ransom. There is absolutely no alternative to the tripartite agreement which must be concluded urgently.

If Robert Mugabe goes ahead unilaterally to form a government, the party that I lead will have no part of it. If Robert Mugabe unilaterally forms a government we will denounce and call for the global isolation of any such criminal and illegitimate government.

Professor Arthur Mutambara
Johannesburg Airport, 10am
Monday 20th October 2008

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