Zim may apparently be turning on paper, but only once it starts producing excess - be it food or goods - can it be said that it is really on the road to recovery.

So, luckily we do not have to humour The Blind Denialists any further. The proof will be when the Diaspora start returning of their own volition. They have their families back home to tell them what the truth is, and my observation thus far is that the truth is still damn ugly. Whether the truth stings or not - it is still the truth.

This is a solid comment from Moeletsi Mbeki - http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-06-29-african-capitalists-parasites-not-creators

WHy did you think ZANU was trying so hard to prevent any journalists getting into the rural areas to find out the truth of what is going on and the actual situation?

Zimbabwe no longer exists as a country, it is a small offshot of the Congo where ZANU warlords run their own private armies paid out of embezzled foreign aid and illegal mining operations.

Who is groing the food then, since everyone is sick in the country as according to your report. Sad to say, sad and exciting times for us, as the hand and wishes of Europe have just become clearer to us.

HARARE – Zimbabwe could emerge from its perennial food shortage after increasing three-fold its grain production this season, a United Nations agency claims in a new report.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in a fresh report Friday that this year’s grain production had nearly tripled over the previous harvest, with an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of grain having been produced, compared with about 564,000 metric tons harvested in 2007-2008.“The increased yield will, however, not meet the country’s food requirements,” OCHA warned, noting that “a cereal shortfall of 670,000 metric tons will have to be imported”.(Negative again) Before there was nothing, instead of saying why there was a poor harvest previously, its ignored, because there is the story which mut be told, Mugabe took the Land from the White farmers.The UN report dovetails with another report by the US-funded Famine Early Warning System Network, (FEWSNet) which states that “food security in Zimbabwe is improving”.

“However, 2008/09 harvests are unlikely to completely cover national cereal requirements,” the FEWSNet report states.

During a recent tour of Harare and Parirenyatwa hospitals Mutambara heard that support from the Ministry of Finance had already made a significant difference to their operations.Harare hospital chief executive officer Jealous Nderere said with the recent injection of US$1 million from government the hospital has managed to make “a few but significant improvements”.Nderere said the Ministry of Finance promised the hospital US$2.4 million for its day-to-day operations and that the US$1 million it received was part of that money. He said the amount has allowed the hospital to buy a heavy duty laundry machine, complete renovations on two operating theatres, food supplies, repair some life-saving equipment and improve security and lighting at the hospital.Nderere said security was important because the hospital has lost a lot property through thefts and vandalism. The hospital also conducted pauper burials for at least 500 unclaimed bodies that were cramped in the hospital’s mortuary whose capacity is 80.Drug and surgical supply situation had improved to at least 80% although the supply of vital drugs remained low. Nderere said when the hospital reopened in February bed occupancy was 20% but said with improved service delivery it is now 50%.”Although there are many outstanding issues because many things had been left undone for years because of poor funding, we are very grateful for the support that government has given us,” Nderere said.At Parirenyatwa hospital, chief executive officer Thomas Zigora said the institution had been bailed out by the Ministry of Finance after the National Blood Transfusion Services cut off blood supplies to them over a US$241 000 debt.”We are quite happy that when we knocked on the door of the Ministry of Finance they were able to quickly respond to our need,” Zigora said. “We appreciate such a relationship where matters of life and death are concerned.”Zigora said although the drug supply situation had improved to at least 48%, through the National Pharmaceutical Company.
Zigora said the hospital needed at least US$4.9 million to beef up its drug supplies, US$3.9 million to replace and repair equipment and at least US$220 000 for linen. Zigora said the issue of human resources for a specialist hospital like Parirenyatwa required address by the government urgently.”This government has the people at heart and we will do everything within our means to provide for the people of Zimbabwe. Without health there is no economy to even talk about because production comes from a healthy nation.”

Last year in October state hospitals shut down after a work boycott by health workers seriously crippling operations and leaving many people stranded.

Zimbabwe is a country on the move without the negative European opinions, which are calling for US$15billion to be given to the white farmers. Madness at its highest order.

1)ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe has started receiving shipment of equipment worth US$200 million from Sweden and China which, when installed, will avert shortages of lines.
The consignment comprising base station and core network equipment is expected to arrive in the country this weekend and will be fully installed by the end of this month.Econet, which uses two suppliers for its network in Zimbabwe after splitting its service area into northern and southern regions, is shipping from Ericsson of Sweden and ZTE of China.Econet chief executive Mr Douglas Mboweni confirmed the arrival of the equipment.”We have been waiting for the arrival of these shipments because as you know it takes quite some time for a company like Ericssons to manufacture this type of equipment once they receive an order.”This equipment will all go into the northern region of our network,” he said.Mr Mboweni described the shipment as only the first part of the shipments that are due in the next few months.”This equipment is less than 15 percent of what we have in the pipeline, because we are working towards taking the network to 5 million subscribers by the end of next year,” he said.Equipment for the southern region, which is supplied by ZTE has also begun to arrive along with Chinese construction contractors who are responsible for installation.The bulk of the US$94 million order from China is expected to arrive before the end of July, with installation taking up to the end of the year.Meanwhile, Mr Mboweni said efforts to clear the backlog of pre-paid lines were now at an advanced stage.Econet is currently selling more than 30 000 Buddie lines per week, while contract lines are available on demand.He said queues were gradually beginning to disappear outside Econet shops and that the black market had also collapsed.

2)Minister Biti said he was hoping that the relationship between Zimbabwe and China transforms from one based on humanitarian assistance to one that is based on transformatic matrix.”I hope that two years from now we will be at a ceremony to cut the ribbon to open the Harare-Bulawayo or Harare-Beitbridge highway with your successor,” he said.Industry and Commerce Minister, Welshman Ncube said Government was committed to ensuring that capacity utilisation in industry increases to 60 percent by year-end as enunciated in the Short-term Emergency Recovery Programme.He said Government would continue to engage various stakeholders to try and address concerns of industry that are hindering growth in capacity utilisation.

These are just two examples of what is happening on the ground in Zimbabwe, not what Europe thinks. In matter of fact, we are our own masters, not you.

Go to http://www.icd.gov.za/policies/complaint.htm

…and find out how to lodge a complaint. The ICD is an *independent* body, it is not part of the police, and they are there to help the public without fear or favour. This is not Zimbabwe, where the police investigate themselves!

If you can identify the police member who extorted or solicited bribes, that would be good but even if all you can say is where/when it happened and what the circumstances were, that may be enough for the ICD to launch an investigation.

Good luck, and FWIW I am sorry that you have been treated like this. Our Police Service still has a long way to go but there are many good people in the Service who joined to help and not to abuse the public. When you refuse to allow yourself to be a victim, you’re supporting them as well as everyone else who doesn’t want to live in (or, for that matter, visit) a Police State!

“As at the end of May, Zimbabwe owed IMF US$138 million and World Bank
(US$676 million). It also owed African Development Bank US$438 million as at
the end of April.”

Given that it was the rest of the world who unashamedly approved Mugabe’s emergence as a virtual dictator in 1980, supplied him with weapons and military advice, stood idly by during his Gukurahundi massacres, ignored his xenophobia and ethnic cleansing of white farms, and his rape of our diamond and wildlife resources, and given that the SADC were the ones who failed to effectively intervene in Zimbabwe’s subsequent human and economic disaster, a cynic might be forgiven for now insisting that it is the rest of the world, not ordinary Zimbabweans, who should be the ones paying off Mugabe’s debt burden.

Congratulations for the blog!

We are using their currency for crying out loud, we work for them and ‘this is an act of kindness?’ No we are paying and will pay for our stupidity for generations to come.

I think in Zimbabwe we may claim to be patriotic and Zimcentric yet the issue here is about individualism with no national sentiments at the heart of the leadership and the so called beneficiaries.

As long as there is no legal basis for some of the economic and political issues, as long as decisions are made at the dictator’s whim we shall be china’s slaves, south africa’s labourers and our own enemies.

I can not claim to be proud of all this mess.

Many of us are without passports or have been forcibly deprived of our citizenship by Mugabe.

So Zimbabwe, as a land-locked country, is simply coming into line with the rest of the world. Welcome to reality.

Its not only Mugabe that must be tried for human rights violations but also his leutenants. It is the people who do the bidding of dictators who then try to hide behind the ‘carrying out’ of orders excuse who really must face the music. Dictators do not kill people but the enthusiastic supporters. Take our situation where you find that the local people take upon themselves to eliminate all MDC people.Even if Mugabe tells them to ‘campaign’vigourously,they then go out and practise their excesses,venting revenges and machoistic displays,etc