Messages From Zimbabwe

This past week the government rammed through long awaited legislation that will require companies to sell 51 per cent of their equity to black Zimbabweans nominated by the regime. The companies are required to fund this exercise themselves through a levy that is to be introduced by the State and which will be applied on a compulsory basis to all firms in the economy.

This development comes on top of the price control operation mounted by the Joint Operations Command and the subsequent publication of regulations that will enable to State to take over any firm that closes its doors as a consequence. As no company can produce and sell its products for half its cost and expect to survive for very long we can only assume that this was the real object of the exercise and it had little or nothing to do with trying to curb inflation.

Just this past week we have seen further evidence that government is recklessly printing money to pay its bills and even to buy what little foreign exchange is available on the market. In Bulawayo we heard reports this week of a Reserve Bank truck delivering hundreds of millions of dollars of currency in large denominations to local dealers. The rate of exchange on the market has slumped to record lows as a result and a pound now fetches over a million Zimbabwe dollars.

No foreign firm is going to allow its local subsidiaries to be taken over via either route and we face a scenario where they must either fight the system through the Courts or abandon their assets and leave the country or try to dispose of 100 per cent of their assets at a half decent price. It is now clear that Mobil, Anglo American and the Heinz Corporation have effectively dumped the equity they held here in some local companies. The international banks have already made their views known - Barclays, Standard Chartered, Stanbic and the MBCA have all said that they will not allow the loss of a controlling stake in the local companies, they would not allow the companies to use their brand names or systems and would dispose of 100 per cent of their local assets, closing down the banks if necessary.

The Minister responsible responded to this statement by saying that “they can go”. He emphasized that the regime would not back down on this operation. I already know of several companies in different fields who have been approached by ZANU PF linked people with an offer to take over a major or controlling interest in their companies. The private abattoirs that were denied licenses to operate two months ago are being licensed but on condition that they sell a controlling stake to a nominated shareholder and on top of that they are being forced to buy and sell under State direction.

So what does this mean? Are they serious? What they are trying to do is implement a strategy for the next elections that will reduce current urban populations by a third or more in twelve months. The price control operation was designed to achieve this and as a result of the enforcement of this campaign, the Cities are without food or water. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are at stake and tens of thousands are fleeing to South Africa on a weekly basis. By my estimate they are well on their way to achieving this objective. Every worker who loses his job or just gets fed up with the situation and leaves is one less MDC vote in the election next year.

When this is over, they will pick up the pieces and resume normal commercial operations funded by an endless stream of resources from the Reserve Bank. They will then be able to go into the elections in 2008 with a sharply reduced urban vote, the remaining voters will mainly come under the control of ZANU PF directed entities and all basic needs will be tightly controlled by the regime. Vote for ZANU PF or else will be the threat. I am just waiting to see when they will attack urban property rights.

I fully expect GDP to decline sharply this year as a consequence of this operation. This will reduce our GDP to US$4 billion or less. Exports will also fall and money transfers rise as Zimbabweans in the Diaspora respond to the needs of their families at home. All investment has stopped and only the Chinese seem to have the stomach for this - probably because they know they will be given special treatment, in fact they are participating in this exercise and are picking up long term assets for a fraction of their true value.

The question is will the strategy work in terms of the elections and what are the consequences of this situation and the deliberate destruction of a functioning economy that it represents? The domestic answers are difficult to give; I hope ZANU PF thinks that their strategy will work for them in the election, as this is the only way we are going to get them to participate in that event.

The economic consequences are catastrophic. We will now have to plan for a stabilisation and recovery programme that embraces the whole economy and not just agriculture and its support industries. The departure of international firms like Heinz will not be easily reversed and securing the kind of investment we need to kick start the recovery is going to be that much more difficult.

But it is the regional implications that I think need to be scrutinized closely. I was told last week by a prominent South African analyst that South Africa had “discounted” the threat to the South African economy of any further contraction in Zimbabwe. This may be true, but it does not disguise the fact that foreign investors, already wary of Africa from a risk point of view, may just find this wholesale grab of assets by a greedy elite that seems to have the support of much of Africa, is a portent of things to come - perhaps even in South Africa itself.

Our trade with South Africa ten years ago was R2 billion a month. We were South Africa’s largest trading partner in Africa and its largest single market for manufactured goods in the world. Two thirds of that trade has gone and instead we export hundreds of thousands of impoverished men and women to South Africa each month. Once in the South African system they join criminal gangs, rob banks and stores and engage in petty crime and trading.

Cape Town last year had more murders than Britain. No State can build a stable society on such foundations.

Time is running out on us - if ZANU PF is allowed by inertia on the part of the SADC States to get away with this destructive and suicidal activity, they will have to deal with a real failed State when finally the political implosion takes place or see Zimbabwe spiral downwards into a Somalia style situation of lawlessness and poverty.

Free and fair elections are impossible if the national crisis is not dealt with and dealt with in a decisive and holistic manner. We all agree that this is the only way out of this crisis - it is time to act to ensure that we can in fact vote in a free and fair manner when the time comes. Allowing the continued delinquency of the ZANU PF regime is simply not an option for any of us.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 29th September 2007

Howzit

The snooping bill in Zimbabwe means that Uncle Bob and all his little friends can intercept and monitor any of your activity on the internet – whether email, IM or just surfing.

In an effort to assist, I nicked this information directly from the SW Radio Africa site (here) – and although I didn’t ask, I am absolutely sure in my own mind that they will not mind me passing this information on.

Be sure to read the disclaimer at the bottom as I have no wish for people to come back at me, saying, “But Mandebvhu said…”

SECURE INSTANT MESSENGER (REVISED)

Following an article that I posted recently, I received dozens of emails applauding me for the effort to ensure that information flow is maintained free and safe. Also I did receive a number of e-mails from IT gurus who challenged my soft approach on the subject matter. As a result it became inevitable that I re-post a modified version easy to understand by the end user BUT secure enough in the eyes of an expert.

Here I will touch on 2 issues.

Namely secure IM messaging and anonymous browsing.

In that spirit of genuine quest to respect and preserve privacy - read on.

Secure IM Messaging

I am forced to introduce to you “secure” instant messaging service that goes a step further than Yahoo and MSN or AOL.

When you send IMs using Yahoo or MSN they are sent in clear text.

X-IM - this is an IM that encrypts whatever you type to your intended recipient.

What is encryption?

Before guiding you into downloading and installing X-IM let me try to explain the concept behind basic encryption.

In a few words - encryption is translation of data into a secret code.

Encryption in lay man’s language means that the actual message that I send you e.g. “Good Morning “ will be transmitted as “ HS$%ui&&- **7rtfgC#2”.So even if someone intercepts the message (however unlikely) all they will see is the junk that has been encrypted “HS$%ui&&- **7rtfgC#2” unless of course they are the intended recipients.

Unencrypted data is called plain text; encrypted data is referred to as cipher text.

So in our example plain text would be “Good Morning” and the encrypted data would be “HS$%ui&&- **7rtfgC#2” !!

Again unless you are the intended recipient “HS$%ui&&- **7rtfgC#2” will not make sense to you even if you intercept the message.

Where do you obtain this secure X-IM?

http://www.x-im.net/

Point your browser to the web address above and download it. It’s free. Why is it free? Well, why is Yahoo IM free?

Install it and follow the simple instructions.

Sign up with whatever email you are using, be it @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com or @gmail.com

You will get a confirmation email with a code to activate it.

Enter the code. Login. Add those users who you want to IM!

Remember that the contacts you intend to chat with must also download and install X-IM and they also need to add you on their contact list by simply adding your email address.

You are done.

Anonymous Browsing

What is anonymous browsing? It is browsing the internet with not so real an IP address.

But why?

Every time you access a web page your IP address is logged on the system that you are visiting. In case you want to remain anonymous (in the true sense of the word) you can “alter” your IP address as seen by the website you are visiting. Its like you live in Kadoma but you post a letter from Vic Falls! It will have a Vic Falls stamp and not Kadoma stamp.

Let say your IP address from your ISP is 209.88.26.20 and that IP address is physically on say GoodISP somewhere in say Kadoma. When you use anonymous browsing the IP registered at the site you are visiting will NOT be your true IP address 209.88.26.20, but some other IP say 63.19.112.8 located in Japan!!

The good news is you don’t have to do nothing to change your real IP address other than using many FREELY available proxy servers.

You connect to a proxy server that will connect you to you intended destination. The proxy server will hide you true IP and send its own IP

Where do I go to do this?

Simple.

Go here and simply enter the website that you want to visit.

http://www.the-cloak.com/login.html [This is the website that will “hide your IP address]

Are you sure my IP will be hidden?

Yes let me show you this. Follow the instructions below and see what your TRUE IP address is as seen by the website you are visiting versus the “modified IP address that the “proxy” will send.

Let’s Go.

Open this website http://myipaddress.com/show-my-ip-address/

This will print your true IP address as seen by your visited website on your screen.

Write down the IP address printed on the screen.

Now close all the windows and restart your browser and go to

http://www.the-cloak.com/login.html

On the left hand bottom of that page you will see a button that says “Start Surfing”.

Copy and paste or type in http://myipaddress.com/show-my-ip-address/

And see what you “modified” IP address is.

Disclaimer:

QUOTE
• You may not use the Cloak for any illegal purposes. This includes but is not limited to the transmission or receipt of illegal material.

• You may not use this service to contact or communicate with minors in a manner prohibited by the law.

• You may not use the Cloak to violate copyrights or to break other forms of intellectual property law.

• You may not use the Cloak to send spam (unsolicited advertising, bulk email, mass news posts, or any other kind of undesired large scale abuse of the net).

• You may not use the Cloak to harass or annoy.

• If you have been blocked by the owner of a bulletin board or other service that allows the posting of messages, you may not use this service to bypass this blocking.

• Robots/web-crawlers and other non-human browsers may not use the Cloak.

In a nutshell if you commit a crime using this service you will have to face the music. The service is meant to foster the idea of - the right to communicate, what you want, when you want and how you want - of course without breaking any applicable laws.

In the words of the briefing Sergeant on “Hill Street Blues” – Let’s be careful out there…

Take care.

‘debvhu

Howzit

This article came in from on email from Eddie Cross, whilst I have also added in another article that caught my eye yesterday.

First things first, entitled “Genocide in Zimbabwe?”:

A trip to the rural areas in Mashonaland East last week was yet another shocking reality check on the human suffering caused by One Man and His Party. I saw so many thin people with dull eyes and dull skins, children not in school because there is no money for fees… and so their suffering continues.

I would like to draw attention to two articles in the Genocide Convention - Zimbabwe is a signatory to this Convention!  My comments are in brackets.

There are two salient articles in the Convention:  

Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:  

• Killing members of the group; (over 300 MDC members murdered since 1999)
• causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (it is estimated that approx. 70% of Zimbabweans are acutely stressed)
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (Gukuruhundi Genocide Matabeleland 1982 over 25,000 people brutally tortured and murdered; Operation Murambatsvina where over 700,000 peoples homes were raised to the ground; the mass evictions of farmers and their employees)
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. (forcing young people - some as young as 15 - into Militia camps for training in violence and torture).

Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:  

• Genocide;
• Conspiracy to commit genocide; (ZANU PF Minister Didymus Mutasa’s infamous quote that “we would be better off without those 6 million people who don’t support the party”.
• Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (President Mugabe: “go out and bash them” the opposition, students, unions)
• Attempt to commit genocide;
• Complicity in genocide.

The following are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group’s existence:  

• Killing members of the group includes direct killing and actions causing death.
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm includes inflicting trauma on members of the group through widespread torture, rape, sexual violence, forced or coerced use of drugs, and mutilation.
• Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group’s physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services.
• Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts. 
• Prevention of births includes involuntary sterilization, forced abortion, prohibition of marriage, and long-term separation of men and women intended to prevent procreation.
• Forcible transfer of children may be imposed by direct force or by through fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as persons under the age of 14 years.

It is must be noted that only the “prevention of births…” second last bullet point has not applied in Zimbabwe. ALL THE OTHERS HAVE, AND ARE STILL TAKING PLACE.

So why may I ask, is SADC, especially South Africa, as well as the rest of the supposedly civilised world, standing back while this is taking place?  Where is the black brother/sisterhood? Does it only apply President to President? Does it matter not that a conservatively estimated 3500 Zimbabweans are dying every week, HIV and starvation.

I sincerely hope that the current UN Secretary General will not have to make the same apology, to Zimbabweans, as his predecessor did over the Ruwanda Genocide. Perhaps the apology could be made now, as the Genocide in Zimbabwe is an ongoing exercise.

-o00o-

Whilst a second article compared recent African HISTORY within differing countries:

Dear Eddie,

Excuse my outburst but the situation with the leadership in Africa is becoming intolerable;

1. If Comrade Mengistu Haile Mariam had been willing to step aside in 1989, ETHIOPIA would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 1 million Ethiopians from starvation and famine. Eventually, he fled to Zimbabwe.

2. If General Siad Barre had been willing to step aside in 1991, SOMALIA would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of thecountry and the deaths of more than 2 million Somalis from war, starvation and famine. Eventually, he fled to Nigeria where he died in exile.

3. If General Juvenal Habryimana had been willing to step aside in 1993, RWANDA would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 1 million Rwandese from the genocide.

4.. If General Pierre Buyoya been willing to step aside in 1993, BURUNDI would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of hundreds of thousands Burundians.

5.If General Mobutu Sese Seko had been willing to step aside in 1996, ZAIRE would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 4 million Congolese from conflict and war-related diseases. Eventually, he fled to Morocco where he died in exile.

6. If General Samuel Doe had been willing to step aside in 1995, LIBERIA would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 1 million Liberians from war, starvation and famine. Eventually, his ears were cut off for being hard at hearing and he bled to death.

7. If General Joseph Momoh had been willing to step aside in 1994, SIERRA LEONE would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of at least 1 million Sierra Leonians from starvation and famine. Eventually, he fled to Gambia.

8. If Col. Omar el Bashir had been willing to step aside in 1999, SUDAN would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 3 million Sudanese from war, starvation and famine. That coconut is still in power.

Need more examples?

9. If Mugabe had been willing to step aside in 1998, ZIMBABWE . . .

10. If Bongo of Gabon had been…

11. If Bozize of Central African Republic…

12. If dos Santos of Angola…

13. If Idriss Deby of Chad…

14. If Conte of Guinea…

15. If Comparaore of Burkina Faso…

Let’s add up the LOSS of lives caused by the obstinacy of just the first 6 leaders. It is 13 million and compare that to the 10 million people Africa lost through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In other words, these 6 leaders alone have caused the deaths of MORE Africans than were taken out as slaves.

Racists would gloat over these numbers.

The modern leadership is a despicable disgrace to black Africa and Mugabe is one of them because they REINFORCE racist notions about Africa. I am angry because Africa’s traditional rulers offered better leadership than these so-called “modern” leaders.

The traditional rulers built states, kingdoms and empires, some of which lasted for centuries and still exist. The Ghana Empire, for example, lasted for 800 years.

We know who the true and real leaders of black Africa are and they ain’t the modern leaders. The latter are a disgrace to black people.

George Ayittey,
Washington, DC

Howzit

Yesterday I released ZNU 087 which looks the threatened boycotts by various leaders at the EU/AU summit in Lisbon in December if Mugabe does/does not get an invite.

I also look at the support given by the MDC to ZANU PF’s rushed legislation Amendment 18 which will, amongst other things, allow Mugabe to name his successor.

Irritatingly, WordPress won’t take the HTML code to allow me to drop a player within this posting.

Oh well. It can be heard within the multi players in the right hand sidebar of “The Bearded Man”, or can be heard here, and downloaded here.

Take care.

‘debvhu

I have spent a little time discussing the upcoming EU/AU summit in Lisbon, Portugal in December on my main page “The Bearded Man”, but thought that it may be worth the effort to look at it all in a little more depth here.

Unity is the coming together of like minds, with the intention of bringing out the best for all parties within that coalition. One would think that this oneness would automatically exclude any dissenting parties, and precludes them from any protection the alliance may offer.

Well, with the African Union, this unity is decidedly off-target.

The website for the AU states, within their objectives:

• To achieve greater unity and solidarity between the African countries and the peoples of Africa;
• To defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States;
• To accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent;
• To promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples;
• To encourage international cooperation, taking due account of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
• To promote peace, security, and stability on the continent;
• To promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance;
• To promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other relevant human rights instruments;
• To establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations;
• To promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies;
• To promote co-operation in all fields of human activity to raise the living standards of African peoples;
• To coordinate and harmonize the policies between the existing and future Regional Economic Communities for the gradual attainment of the objectives of the Union;
• To advance the development of the continent by promoting research in all fields, in particular in science and technology;
• To work with relevant international partners in the eradication of preventable diseases and the promotion of good health on the continent.

All admirable aspirations - if they are applied collectively and without favour.

The problem being that the goals are applied selectively.

How can African leaders rally behind the likes of Mugabe? He is a despot, a tyrant, a dictator.

He is short-sighted when it comes to the population of Zimbabwe and everything that he sees as negative is blamed on the West.

Now, with the summit approaching in December, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has stated that if Mugabe attends, he will not, whilst the Zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa, has stated that if Mugabe does not get invited, he will boycott the summit.

As I said in my blog, we now have three possible scenarios:

a) Mugabe is invited, and attends - Brown boycotts

b) Mugabe is not invited - Brown attends, Mwanawasa boycotts

c) Mugabe is invited, but does not attend - Brown and Mwanawasa attend.

I am sure that you will all agree with me that not one of these three possibilities gives us the desired win-win result.

The trick now, for the Portuguese government, as hosts, is to work out which scenario is going to hurt the EU/AU summit the least.

Obviously, in an ideal world it would be great to see all three men attend - but as I have written so many times already, Mugabe’s activities would need to be limited. And in this I mean that he should not really have free access to the press as we know that he will do nothing more than heap scorn on the West, making all sorts of wild allegations - all of which he has yet to substantiate.

And he should not be given the floor. He may be the elder statesman in Africa, but his perceived self-preening goes nowhere with the EU. Again, any address Mugabe may make will be laced liberally with anti-West vitriolic, with a touch of hatred thrown in for good measure.

The EU needs to make their decision based upon the facts as they are today, not as Mugabe would prefer them to think.

A simple glance at the internet press articles - and for this, I am happy for people to look beyond my internet efforts - to see the truth of Mugabe’s rule.

If he were to be invited - who exactly would accompany him? Mugabe traditionally travels with a large entourage - not all of them actually needed for any other reason than he likes them nearby. Grace, his wife, will embark on a huge shopping spree which would put many a well-heeled millionaire to shame - and she will expect to be excused any duty as she is the President’s wife!

Who pays for the travel? The EU/AU? - or the Zimbabwean government? - who are broke!

So someone else has to pay, no matter which way we look at it. And this is cause for some concern to me.

Why should the EU/AU pay for a trip for a huge Mugabe entourage? - and conversely, the Zimbabwean government cannot afford it either. So maybe the invite should be with a proviso or two - limit the number of people in his entourage and put some sort of gagging order on his access to press.

I am fully aware that this will never even be considered - and as a direct result we will get to see Mugabe parading himself at the summit and addressing press and then be given the floor, whilst Gordon Brown kicks his heels in Old Blighty.

And then, in all consciousness, who has won?

Take care.

‘debvhu

Howzit

A regular contributor of links for my various pages sent me this story this morning.

Do you think that there is any chance of Zimbabwe being on the list of countries that the World Bank will assist in recovering stolen assets for?

“The World Bank and the United Nations announced this afternoon that they were setting up a system to help developing nations recover assets stolen and sent abroad by corrupt leaders that amount to an estimated $40 billion a year.

“There should be no safe haven for those who steal from the poor,” Robert B Zoelick, the bank’s president, said in unveiling the plan with Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

Mr Zoellick estimated that the overall cross-border flow of global proceeds from criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion totalled $1 trillion to $1.6 trillion a year and said even a small portion of that could finance a significant level of social programs.

He said that every $100 million recovered could pay for immunizations for four million children, provide water connections for 250,000 households or finance treatment for more than 600,000 people with HIV/AIDS a year.

The problem of stolen assets is widespread but most acute in Africa, where an estimated 25 percent of the gross national product of states is lost to corruption, he said.

The new system will work to build the capacity of developing countries to track stolen money going overseas and to emphasize ways that financial centres can better detect and deter money-laundering.

“This is not just a developing-country issue because the funds inevitably end up in developed countries,” said Danny Leipziger, the bank’s vice president for poverty reduction and economic management.

In addition, the bank intends to assist countries in devoting recovered money to proper development use “to make sure it is not stolen twice,” Mr Leipziger said.

The program is being developed in partnership with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, whose executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, said the initiative came at a time when the sophistication of financial transactions made recovery an increasingly complex process requiring expert assistance.

“Once stolen assets leave the victim country, they are broken up so cleverly, into so many different bundles and hidden in so many financial vehicles that they are hard to identify,” he said.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister of Nigeria, who oversaw the return of $505 million to her country from Switzerland, said the new plan would help countries like hers by denying corrupt officials a foreign place to hide the money.

“It means that people who are corrupt will know that any money sent out will be sent back to the countries from which they came,” she said.

Ms Okonjo-Iweala said that at the time she was working to repatriate Nigerian money in 2005, the campaign had to be conducted on a bilateral basis and did not produce timely results. “There are some countries - I don’t want to name them - whose legislation only allows them to freeze the assets if they are discovered, and there is nothing that says they should repatriate them,” she said.

That has changed since the United Nations Convention Against Corruption came into effect in December 2005 that obliges countries that ratified it to cooperate.

However, there are 98 countries that have not ratified it, including Canada, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan and Switzerland. “Part of our advocacy role will be to urge countries that are not parties to become parties,” Ms Okonjo-Iweala said.

Mr Leipziger said the bank was setting up contact points so that interested countries could report suspicions about stolen money leaving their countries in a prompt and confidential manner.

He said that there had been cases where countries would make the sensitive political decision to go after the money but then had no way of pursuing it.

“Even if you took the police side of it and said, ‘We know where it is,’ in order to get your hands on it, you have to go through a number of very laborious steps, and we think we can help in that process,” he said.”

Finances misappropriated by Mugabe’s regime would probably count higher than the $505 million recovered for Nigeria.

The free world needs to come together and agree not only to block illicit funds but also to freeze assets around the world bought by the regime using money that was not theirs’ to spend in the first place. A huge task, but one that is necessary and should be embarked upon sooner rather than later.

Source. My thanks to MM for the ‘heads up!’

Take care

‘debvhu

Howzit

Yesterday’s podcast…

Take care.

‘debvhu

This was sent to me by email.

This was a parliamentary address by David Coltart MP (MDC) made on 4^th September 2007.

I am not going to go into the content of this speech – bar say that he has done something which I have tried to do before today. Compare Zimbabwe to her predecessor, Rhodesia…

And I’m not sure that the majority of the listening audience were very comfortable with the content herein.

See for yourself…

“We have just been entertained for the last ten minutes by my Honourable friend. One thing that Honourable Kasukuwere (the Deputy Minister of Youth Development and Employment Creation responsible for the Youth Brigades) has said I think should dominate this debate: namely the question - how do we protect the vulnerable in our society? If we are to be committed patriotic Zimbabweans that question should dominate this debate. The reality is that our current economic situation has never been so depressed and poor people have never been as vulnerable as they are now. This is not MDC propaganda; if you look at the article on Zimbabwe, that the Zimbabwe government sponsored to the tune of US$ 1 million, in the September edition of New Africa magazine you will see some of the statements made in that document support what I am saying.

Let me refer you to part of the magazine; for instance it records that our GDP as a nation is back to the level of 1953. We have lost over 50 years of economic growth in the space of a decade. It is estimated also in New Africa magazine that 80% of Zimbabweans are now living below the poverty datum line including members of our armed forces. Our economy is collapsing. For example gold production last year was the same as our gold production in 1907! It is the lowest gold production since 1907. The last time we had the coal production as low as it was last year was in 1946. These are facts that none of us can avoid. We see the manifestation of these things when we visit the supermarkets which the Honourable member has spoken about. The reality is what we have seen in our supermarkets is the symptom of a far deeper cancer in our society.

There has been a lot of debate and a lot of propaganda from the other side of the house about sanctions being to blame. This is of course the chorus from our friends from the other side but the reality is that Zimbabwe should be one of the wealthiest nations in Africa irrespective of the targeted sanctions imposed on the ruling elite. When you look at our human resources, when you consider our highly educated workforce, which is a credit to this government, if you look at the literacy rate of Zimbabweans - which used to be among the highest in Africa - possibly still are the highest in Africa – you will see that we have some of the most productive people in Africa. That is something that we can all be proud of as patriots of this country; we certainly should be. We also have a very motivated work force. We have natural resources that are not found in such abundance per capita in any other country in the world. Once again I refer to the New Africa article; in that article you will find a document about our natural resources and minerals. We have the second biggest reserves of platinum in the world. 60% of our nation comprises the particular granite, greystone-granite, in which gold is found. We have nickel, diamond and titanium in abundance - a full range of minerals. This is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. We have one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Victoria Falls. In other words Mr Speaker, we have all the resources I have mentioned that should make Zimbabwe a great nation irrespective of any sanctions. We seemingly have had all the ingredients to make a great nation over the last 27 years since independence and yet we are now faced with the catastrophic situation of 7 500% inflation - the official government figure - and 80% are below the poverty datum line, and 3500 people are dying of preventable ailments. The World Health Organisation said last year that we have the lowest life expectancy in the world.

We as patriots need to sit down together and consider afresh this catastrophe as Zimbabweans - whether we are ZANU PF, of whatever faction, whether we are MDC, of whatever flavour. We need to go deep into our history to find when it was that everything started to go wrong. Why is it that in 1958 we had an economy bigger than Singapore? And yet since 1958 we all, black and white, have managed to reduce this country to the basket status it now suffers from. In my view the problems started well before 1980. The root of our decay can be traced back to many of the policies first implemented in the early 1960s. For example I believe that price control regulations were imposed in the 1960’s. Foreign exchange regulations were imposed in the 1960’s but most importantly Mr Speaker what happened in the 60’s is that we removed one critical important ingredient necessary for long term sustainable economic growth and that is summed up in one word - democracy.

The Rhodesian Front government, in the pursuance of white minority rule, discarded whatever democracy was developing this country in the 1950s under the leadership of real patriots such as Garfield Todd. Therein lies the root of the economic collapse of this country. The Rhodesian Front bequeathed to ZANU PF an undemocratic legacy including the Law and Order Maintenance Act, an undemocratic Constitution, complete control of the flow of information - the RBC simply became the ZBC and did not change its policies of supporting blindly the government of the day - price controls and exchange control regulations. ZANU PF merely picked up where the Rhodesian Front left off.

Mr Speaker, it is time, if we are serious about the plight of our nation, that we start to consider the situation of the vulnerable in our society. [HMS: Inaudible interjection] - Honourable Kasukuwere may not be seeing the plight of the vulnerable in his constituency but I do in mine. I have seen people getting thinner by the week; I can see that thousands of people in Nketa High density suburb have no or little access to food, water, drugs and basic health care. We all need to move beyond rhetoric and consider the plight of the vulnerable in our nation.

Mr Speaker, my Honourable friend blames everything on sanctions and I want to look at that now. The first point I want to make is that we must consider the history of this country in this regard. We know that in 1966 the United Nations very correctly imposed on the white minority government of Rhodesia comprehensive trade and economic sanctions. They were a censure imposed by the UN of racist policies. They were overwhelmingly enforced. The only countries that breached those sanctions were South Africa and Portugal and partially by some countries like France. The point I am making is that they were comprehensive trade and economic sanctions imposed on the regime led by Ian Smith - [an HON MEMBER: An illegal regime] - yes illegal.

However the fact is that after some 14 years of these sanctions in 1980 the Zimbabwean dollar was stronger than the United States dollar. In case someone thinks I am trying to defend the racist policies of the Rhodesian Front, let me make no doubt about the point I am making. I am not seeking to be an apologist for the Rhodesian Front. The point I am simply making is that despite the imposition of comprehensive trade sanctions over a period of fourteen years on the Rhodesian Front regime, the Zimbabwean economy was nowhere near in a catastrophic state as it is now - [HON KASUKUWERE: It was a white man’s economy] - let me respond to Honourable Kasukuwere: it may well have been a white man’s economy but despite that most people of all races then had basic access to food, water and drugs, which they do not have now. Mr Speaker, we are dealing with old historic facts. Irrespective of who is responsible for the imposition of the sanctions and what their scope is, the fact remains that the present targeted sanctions are not as comprehensive as the sanctions imposed on 1966. This then begs the question: why then has our economy collapsed almost totally under a more benign regime of sanctions now? The reason is simple - the targeted sanctions imposed on the ruling elite are not the cause of our economic woes.

Secondly Mr Speaker the sanctions, such as they are, were first imposed in 2002. However if you look at the pattern of economic decline in this country, we can see the economic decline did not start in 2002 but started in 1997. If my Honourable friend is prepared to consider the historic facts, he will see that the Zimbabwean economy started its major decline in 1997. The first thing that started the collapse, as my Honourable friend Mr Mashakada has already stated in his speech moving this motion, is that this government sent Zimbabwean troops, not in Zimbabwe’s interests but to protect private mining interests of the ruling elite, to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997.

Furthermore, Mr Speaker, unbudgeted payments were made to war veterans in 1997 which greatly increased the budget deficit and as a result the Zimbabwean dollar plummeted and lost something like three to four times its value in November 1997 - on the day commonly known as ‘Black Friday’. If one considers the economic records you will see that there was a further steady decline from 1997 to 2002, five years before sanctions were ever imposed.

Thirdly, Mr Speaker, there is the historical fact that sanctions have not been imposed on the Zimbabwean people but have been imposed primarily on particular individuals. There is, of course, the American measure which prohibits the American government from voting in Zimbabwe’s favour in the IMF and World Bank. That however only applies to the American government. It does not apply to the European Union. It does not apply to Japan, China, Canada and many other wealthy countries.

In other words, that provision is limited to one country. In fact it does not prevent the Zimbabwean government from seeking loans from other developed countries and it still has the right to seek assistance from many international financial institutions. The current sanctions regime does not prevent the government of Zimbabwe from seeking loans from any country in the world. The fact that we have battled to get support is not because of American sanctions but because our economic fundamentals are all skewed. In this regard Mr Speaker Sir, we need to turn to what our neighbours have said and in particular we need to consider what none other than President Mbeki said in his weekly letter to the ANC just ten days ago. He said two things in particular: first was that the Zimbabwe government needs to address the overvaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar. The second thing was that the Zimbabwe government needs to end the quasi-fiscal expenditure which has been hallmark of this government’s economic policy over the last few years.

Mr Speaker if we consider these two aspects of economic policy, we will see these comments go to the very core of what this government stands for. The reason that we have our exchange rate pegged at ridiculous levels - the reason the Zimbabwe dollar is still pegged at $250 to 1 against the US dollar - is because this benefits the ruling elite which is still able to buy foreign currency at these ridiculous rates.

Mr Speaker, the regulations which require the productive sector to sell a certain portion of its foreign exchange earnings to government at ridiculously low exchange rates are part of this ruinous policy. The tragedy is that much of the foreign currency that is acquired is not used for the benefit of all the people of Zimbabwe. The tragedy - if the truth is told - is that it is political elite in the country which benefits from this policy. The preferential access to foreign exchange at staggeringly low rates of exchange, that bear no relation to the real value of the Zimbabwe dollar, is done at the expense of the Zimbabwean people.

Mr Speaker, until what President Mbeki said is listened to, until the exchange rate policy is looked at, until we bring to an end the preferential access that certain people have to foreign currency, until we bring to an end the unbudgeted quasi fiscal spending, until we end the irresponsible printing of money, our national economic woes will continue. We need to take into account very seriously what President Mbeki said to the ANC recently.

Mr Speaker, let me turn briefly to the issue of price control and the Indigenisation Bill. I will not dwell too long on these issues. Let me just say these price control measures were introduced as a knee jerk reaction to the rapid hyper inflation experienced in late June. The tragedy regarding the imposition of the price controls is that just the opposite of what was intended will now happen. Far from this quelling inflation it has already fuelled inflation. There has been some short term benefit to some people but time will show that that is only a small short term benefit because all that has happened is that products that were in the formal sector, and therefore subject to some form of control, are now being sold by the informal sector, the black market sector, and prices are rocketing.

Until, Mr Speaker, we get back to a situation where the market determines the price of products this price control policy will not be in the interests of impoverished members of our society. We must stop kidding ourselves. This new policy will only increase inflation.

Let me turn briefly to the Indigenisation Bill in response to Honourable Kasukuwere. There is no doubt that because of the historical inequalities and injustices there is a need for balance and fairness in our society. The problem is that this policy as it is being devised will, firstly in my view, not benefit the generality of the people but will only benefit certain people in the ruling elite, which should not be the intention. Until the whole process is opened up, until we can see that assets are going to be transferred to the vast majority of our population, it will not be in the interests of Zimbabwe. We have the land reform programme as a precedent in this regard. We can all see the evidence regarding what has happened in that regard. Mr Speaker, it is now clear to all objective observers that the main beneficiaries of the land reform programme are those in the ruling elite. The biggest benefit has gone to those political and military leaders who have cherry picked the most productive farms most of which have now been rendered derelict. That is not in the best interests of Zimbabwe. I have no doubt that the same will happen to our businesses if the Indigenisation Bill goes through in its current format.

Let me end by talking about the future of our country. (Inaudible interjections) Mr Speaker, I have the right to speak about Zimbabwe as much as anyone here. I was born in Gweru in 1957 and my roots in Africa go back to 1820 - so I think I have the right to speak about my country and I will. We need to ask ourselves the question – why is it that Singapore which had a smaller economy than ours in 1958 is now one of the strongest economies in the world and yet our nation during the last forty years has been reduced to the basket status it is now?

Long before sanctions or the MDC became part of the body politic of this country our country lagged behind Singapore. It started lagging behind Singapore in the 1960s when the racist and unjust policies of the white minority government were imposed. In the 27 years of majority rule nothing has changed regarding the deterioration of our economy save that the economy has rapidly worsened. After the last seven years of social, moral and economic collapse we need a national healing. We should not be shouting at each other when hundreds, if not thousands, of people are dying each and every day throughout the country.

We need to recognise where the roots of our national malaise lie. We need to recognise that they go way beyond 1980; they go way beyond ZANU PF’s rule. The roots of our problems go back to the time when the brief flicker of democracy that we saw in the 1950s was snuffed out. We need to go back to that time to see whether we can revive that tiny flame of democracy that had started to shine in the 1950s. We all need to transform our nation, collectively, into one we can all be proud of.

We need the following, Mr Speaker, firstly we need to rekindle democracy in our nation. We need to take concrete steps to root democracy. Integral to that is a new constitution; but it must be a new constitution that we all agree to; a constitution which is owned, which is embraced by all Zimbabweans. It cannot just be a document we agree to in this House; any new constitution must be embraced by all our people. We need to enter into a new contract with each other and the Zimbabwean people (Inaudible interjections) - Mr Speaker it is a great shame that some of our colleagues cannot listen to this because we are in an unprecedented national crisis - but that is the first point - we need to root democracy in our nation Zimbabwe.

Secondly, Mr Speaker, we need to remove many of the controls over our society and our economy. I would like in this regard to return to Honourable Kasukuwere’s speech and his example of China. Honourable Kasukuwere spoke about China as a great example. I think we have many lessons to learn from China. There are 4 or 5 provinces of China which are responsible for the bulk of economic growth enjoyed there at present. These provinces have some of the most liberal economic environments one can find anywhere in the world. There is minimal legislation which controls the activities of the private sector - indeed I stress there is less bureaucracy, less red tape for businesses in these provinces than there is in any other country in the world. That is a fact.

In other words, the Chinese Government has embraced the private sector and this has promoted growth in its economy with spectacular results. What we are doing now in Zimbabwe through price controls and through certain provisions in the Indigenisation Bill is just the opposite.

Price controls inhibit the private sector’s ability to grow. If we would but embrace the free market that itself controls prices through healthy competition. If we discourage foreign investment in this country, as the Indigenisation Bill will do, we will only guarantee one thing - that much needed foreign exchange will become even scarcer. Without substantial inflows of foreign exchange into our country, we cannot not grow our economy, as we need to.

Mr Speaker, I guarantee that in China you will find that there are no such prohibitions against foreign investors controlling their businesses. There is no 51% control clause as there is in the Indigenisation Bill in any Chinese law and that is why companies like Nike and Chevron and thousands of multi-national companies have invested in China and have assisted China to achieve the spectacular growth it has.

In conclusion, may I repeat that our nation is in crisis - the resolution of that crisis should transcend partisanship. We need to put our hands together in this House to devise policies than can stabilise our country. We need to devise policies which will bring back our brains. Mr Speaker, it is unacceptable that we have exported our best brains. Our young people - so supremely talented - are not in this country any longer. We need to devise policies to bring them back, to bring skills back so that we can stabilise and then revitalise our country. We should all work for an economic turnaround and deal with the harsh realities facing our nation rather than engage in meaningless and destructive rhetoric.

Mr Speaker, if we move away from rhetoric to constructive action I have no doubt that this nation can still be the jewel of Africa - [DR MUGUTI: It is the jewel of Africa] - No, at present it is not but it has the potential to become that - but that can only happen when all of us move away from all this empty rhetoric to consider the harsh circumstances that the poor are facing in our nation today. Our futile posturing must stop immediately. We must, without delay, devise practical solutions to address this economic and humanitarian catastrophe.”

Well said, sir - except that the Mugabe administration tend to do nothing about the advice they are given, ignore the truth when it is presented to them - and blame everything that could and does goes wrong on everybody else.

Take care.

‘debvhu

Howzit

I was sent this by email from Zimbabwe - and it looks at what I believe to be a smoking gun.

Mugabe is of Malwian extraction and therefore is not qualified to stand as President of Zimbabwe. And I have indicated this many time on my main page.

I am glad that someone has finally written so well about the question over Mugabe’s ancestry. God knows how many people he has cheated out of some sort of ‘home’ country.

When I arrived in the UK, I was on a Zimbabwean passport with a British Right of Abode. The passport was due to run out with 2 years and I wrote away to the Zimbabwean authorities asking what I needed to do to extend my Zimbabwean passport.

I received a letter from the authorities telling me that I was born in the UK, and therefore I had ‘cheated’ the Zimbabwean authorities into issuing me a passport! The fact that I had lived there from 1964 through 1998 seemed to have escaped their attention.

Within a week I had applied for and been issued a British passport.

“ZimDaily exclusively revealed on Wednesday last week that Mugabe is a Zimbabwean of Malawian origin. His father, Masuzyo Gabriel Matibili, was an immigrant worker.

Many ZimDaily readers missed the point: it is not about Mugabe’s Malawian roots but about the Bill he assented to and made it a law that stripped millions of Zimbabweans of their citizenship and their right to vote in the crucial 2000 and 2002 plebiscites.

The government enacted a law late in 1999 just before the crucial 2000 parliamentary elections which saw the opposition shocking ZANU PF by snatching 57 seats in the 120-seat chamber, the first time an opposition party came close to toppling Mugabe since independence in 1980.

Had more than six million Zimbabweans, both black and white of foreign descent, voted, the scales could have tilted the other way.

That was at the height of the chaotic land grab that saw more than five thousand white commercial farmers forcibly moved off their farms ostensibly to parcel them out to their cronies in ZANU PF and government.

White-owned businesses were taken over, too, in the name of black empowerment.

Zimbabweans of foreign descent, who formed the bulk of those working on farms and in mines were the most affected. They suddenly found themselves homeless and jobless and had they been allowed to vote, they could have “voted with their stomachs”, sending ZANU PF crashing out.

Comments from ZimDaily readers worldwide ranged from sober to extreme hatred of anything from Malawi.

“What is wrong with Malawians?” asked a reader after a flurry of innuendos and derogatory remarks about Mugabe and his ancestry.

Indeed, there is nothing wrong about Malawi or anything from Malawi. In fact, we have had many Zimbabweans of Malawian descent who have done extremely well in their various endeavours.

The late finance ministers Bernard Chidzero and Ariston Chambati were Zimbabweans of Malawian descent. So too were broadcasters Brighton Matewere and the late Benedict Mazonde and renowned journalist Bill Saidi, now deputy editor of The Standard newspaper. The list is endless.

Besides Bantu migration, Malawi was part of the Rhodesia and Nyasaland federation. In other words, it was one country. Therefore, there was free movement of people within the federation.

What many readers were against are the double standards applied by the Mugabe regime. Unless, they said, many disenfranchised Zimbabweans living within and without our borders were allowed to vote and have their citizenship restored, then Mugabe cannot legitimately continue running this country as he is also a Zimbabwean of foreign descent. Unless, of course, he renounces his claim to Malawian citizenship.

That also applies to his nephews and niece - Patrick, Robert and Sarudzai Zhuwao - Sabina Mugabe’s children. Their father was a Mozambican immigrant worker.

However, a brawl between imbibers at an elite Harare sports club on Wednesday night takes the biscuit: it was sparked by a “You are as ugly as Robert Mugabe” slur. Apparently, the victim was a Zimbabwean of Malawian descent.”

I would also add my agreement to there being nothing wrong with Malawi. I visited their many times whilst I worked for a transport company in Zimbabwe, and found it to be an incredibly beautiful country and found the people to be honest and true.

But my heart still belongs to Zimbabwe…

Take care.

‘debvhu

Howzit

You may (or may not) be aware that I produce a podcast - called “ZNU Podcast” every Monday and it is run allied and as an integral part of “The Bearded Man“

In my programmes I try and look at events in and concerning Zimbabwe in a decidedly discussive (Is there such a word? If not, there should be)! mood – I make no claims to being a great orator or very good with the English language, but it is another media to express my support for a change in Zimbabwe.

ZNU 085 was released this morning, and in future, I will be dropping the relevant links here for you to play – should you so wish. You can listen to the broadcast here.

Take care.

‘debvhu