[Comment] Farewell my beautiful Zimbabwe

from the Independent

This is a great personal account on a woman who had to flee Zimbabwe to protect her self. - Kale

by, Justine Shaw

The cursor hovers over the "send and receive" icon and I hesitate before pressing enter. I haven't heard from my parents for a week. Although I know the telephone line had been faulty, I desperately hope that it has been fixed – however temporarily – simply so they can reassure me they're OK.

I have three new emails. The first informs that I have enough FlyBuys points to purchase free electronic products online. It has been 19 months since my husband, two children and I settled in Australia, and yet, I'm still amazed by the giveaways, promotions, sales and bonus offers.

The second email is deleted immediately. It's advising me to resend it to seven friends within 10 minutes or be cursed with years of hardship. It's already disappeared, but suddenly I feel superstitious. I'm a Zimbabwean. For years I've binned emails like this. Perhaps all my fellow countrymen did the same? It certainly seems that nothing but misfortune and bad luck have shrouded our beautiful country for more than a decade.

The third message is the one I've been waiting for. I'm relieved and happy, eager to hear my parents' news. I still retain a desperate longing to keep up to date with the dismal state of affairs unfolding at home. The recent flawed election process has once again propelled Zimbabwe into the news and my appetite for information about the situation is insatiable.

My parents, left in the capital, Harare, form part of a population subjected to unabated, deplorable actions sanctioned by their government. In five months' time, I can initiate an application for a visa that will hopefully give them the opportunity to begin a new life with us here in Australia. Whenever I hear from them, left behind there, I feel a terrible sense of guilt, and find myself wondering.... Could I have made a difference had I stayed?

I can't help but feel I have let them – and Zimbabwe – down, choosing to slip through the gap in the fence and run away from the chaos.

When I look at my children, Karly-Emma and Kieran, now seven and six respectively, I see how they have grown in just 19 months. How different they are from the shy, apprehensive, withdrawn immigrants that arrived in Australia. They have become outgoing, confident characters, focused on the business of growing up without being ground down by the transference of our worries, fears, insecurities and stresses. We took them away because we were fortunate enough to be able to move. We took them away because we wanted them to have a normal life, one where their father didn't carry a gun and they weren't afraid of walking out of the front gate.

We have started life again. However, I cannot let go. I am constantly revisiting the place, a cauldron of 33 years' worth of memories – delightful, happy, exhilarating times and ones that still seem so unbelievably tragic that it often seems surreal that I was once a part of them. A piece of me remains in Zimbabwe with my parents. A piece is still trying to comprehend how they lost their farm four years ago and how we lived through and recovered from an armed robbery five years ago.

I regularly ponder how it became possible for one man and his handful of ruthless, greedy colleagues to so carefully orchestrate such devastation and reduce a once thriving country to a desperate, starving nation crying out for salvation.

Of course, we are the fortunate ones to have the choice of starting again. So many thousands have no option but to remain in the country and I can only admire their resilience, their determination and their will to survive this continuing holocaust of suppression, food deprivation and brutality.

I turn back to the email, typed by my unshaven, unwashed father and my mother who is "hanging on with very shredded fingernails".

When they left the farm in 2004 – a household run on borehole water, with ageing power cables and serviced by an erratic party telephone line, 40 kilometres away from the nearest town, they should have been leaving erratic services behind. Their suburban rental in Harare should, by all accounts, have had more efficient services; council water, reliable electricity and a telephone line not shared by neighbouring farms. I continue to read their news.

They have only had municipal water once in two months, and that was only for 12 hours. During this time, they managed to top up the swimming pool – water from which they use for filling up the toilets and doing the laundry. Buckets of cold water are carried from the pool into the shower to wash. It is like a black comedy and I manage a small smile as my mother describes herself "bottoms up and bent over a bucket" in the shower, dousing herself with cold, chlorinated water in an effort to keep herself clean.

They have a quarter of a loaf of frozen bread which they've preserved in the freezer by running the generator for an hour each day. My mother is an artist, but she's now been forced to supplement their income (to cover rent and the spiralling cost of living) by teaching. After work, she begins her search – scouting from shop to shop looking for grossly expensive commodities to ensure they have food for the week. Supermarket shelves are generally empty and street vendors haunt the pavements, selling anything from eggs to cooking oil at extortionate prices that increase daily. Most of their groceries are sourced from various "contacts" that have various "contacts".

The power cuts are frequent, haphazard and unannounced, so they are unable to plan activities around them. They cannot run the generator for too long as there is still the ever present prospect of fuel shortages. Their rent has just gone up 6,250 per cent.

They spend days queuing at banks and building societies with scores of other Zimbabweans, resigned to hours of idleness as they wait to withdraw vast sums of money that will only enable them to buy a loaf of bread or a tin of baked beans. There is an automatic 50 per cent price increase if you pay by cheque, simply because this is the amount the currency will have devalued by the time the cheque is cleared.

My mother has just become used to performing mathematics in the trillions and will now have to reprogram her arithmetic. To date, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has dropped 13 zeroes off the currency, although this does little to lift my parents' spirits. They sign off the email with assurances that they are coping, that they are safe and send much love to their grandchildren.

I stare at the screen and glance across the words, trying to convince myself that the most important thing is that they are fine and that as long as they can battle on until the end of the year, when they will qualify for a migrating parent visa, they have more than many other Zimbabweans can hope for. However, I find myself banging my fists on the computer table with tears in my eyes, screaming, "It isn't fair."

My parents have lost almost everything and instead of arriving at a point where their lifetime of hard work rewards them with adequate pensions, a home of their own and long afternoons of reflection, they are confronted with the overwhelming necessity of starting again.

They are not alone.

The commercial farm invasions continue, intensifying during the election period, in spite of the increasing need for productive agricultural areas to feed a starving nation. While the President, Robert Mugabe, cradles his well-fed belly, he offers little comfort to the nation, reminding us in speeches and interviews that like most of the problems faced by Zimbabwe, hunger is a result of actions sanctioned by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and George Bush.

Zanu-PF and the ruling elite set the stage for a guaranteed victory when they held the elections earlier this year. Re-education camps were set up to brainwash, beat and coerce people to remain loyal to the dictatorship. Food aid organisations were banned from operating, accused of gathering support for the opposition. Suspected opposition supporters paid the price in life and limb simply for exercising their democratic right to vote. The voices that cried out for change were heard, but only for an instant and then quickly silenced. The results of the elections were ignored and Zanu-PF remains in power, as though there had never been a vote. Terrified Zimbabwean refugees fled across the borders and, in South Africa, found themselves in another hostile environment where they were subjected to horrific xenophobic attacks and blamed for rising unemployment and escalating crime.

Four months later, the talks on power-sharing between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC have failed to produce a deal. Mugabe has snubbed the world and lords over a crippled nation. The democratic right of the people has been ignored. However, as the impasse drags on, nothing improves for ordinary Zimbabweans and they continue enduring a miserable existence where scavenging for food is the hot topic each and every day. And I can't help but feel guilty.

Perhaps my guilt comes from the fact that we could escape while so many others are sentenced to see things through until the end, and I am powerless to help them. I didn't run away or pack it all in for an extraordinary adventure in a new country. We did what had to be done for our children and I will always cherish the memories and the amazing, unpredictable place I used to call home.

For a while, I had it all. My earliest childhood recollections are a fusion of vague recollections. I was born in colonial Rhodesia and had the geographical privilege of growing up as the country made the transition to independence – as the African nation of Zimbabwe.

My parents played a large part in preparing us for a multiracial inevitability and ensured that we held no biases with regards to race or colour.

We confidently became Zimbabweans and, in spite of the sudden exodus of many white countrymen who predicted doom and degradation of the black ruling party, chose to remain.

My parents purchased a farm, and were committed to a future in a racially tolerant community. After independence, laws stipulated that when farms were made available for sale, they first had to be offered to the government for resettlement or redistribution to the indigenous people. My parents received the required "certificate of no current interest" from the government and embarked on a three-year project of constructing their home, a place in which they imagined they would grow old.

My childhood was an exhilarating period of adventure, experience, lessons and an eager anticipation for a future unknown. I was given the opportunity to dive into whichever activity I deemed imperative to my advancement and drifted through the years, driven by the common aspirations of becoming a princess, an actress or a prima ballerina. I was blessed with storybook parents who made me believe that anything was possible and loved me unconditionally.

My only sibling and younger brother was a friend, accomplice and constant playmate. Together, we tackled life growing up on a farm, playing cowboys on real horses, rearing orphaned calves and climbing lichen-encrusted kopjes. We swam in dams, took annual bilharzia medication and spent our childhood with freckles dancing across our cheeks like small flecks of sunlight.

School inspired, challenged and facilitated the cementing of lasting friendships. It was where I met my future husband, Ross. I was impatient to grow up and become independent, imagining a future of motherhood and homemaking.

However, after a less than a decade of silencing the sceptics, Mugabe and Zanu-PF could no longer disguise the evidence of corruption, embezzling of the country's wealth and constant bleeding of taxpayers' money to feed rapidly swelling personal coffers. Instead of reviewing their mistakes and making proactive decisions in response to the trade unions' riots against rising costs, unemployment and inflation, they diverted the nation's attention by resurrecting promises of returning land to the peasants and embarked upon a destructive course of governance, authorising war veterans to invade white-owned farms and claim them as their own. Soon, Zimbabwe's land seizures made headline news.

I married Ross, and, at the age of 30, I was the mother of two young children. With the responsibility of parenthood came the realisation that Zimbabwe was no longer the country I'd grown up in and that my children would never have the same carefree childhood that I had been so privileged to enjoy. Daily chores had become insurmountable challenges.

My parents relocated into the city, worn down by uncompromising vagrants, threats, blackmail and the sad evacuation of so many neighbours. But in spite of everything, we all clung to the belief that things would be resolved and that the atrocities would have to cease. However, the carnage of the land invasions spilled over into the city. Unemployment spiralled, accelerating residential armed robberies, hijackings and muggings.

In January 2003, armed robbers attacked my family, threatened my children's lives and violated our home and our sanctuary. Suddenly, I could no longer focus on better times to come. I was constantly afraid and found my ability to perform as a mother, wife and Zimbabwean were compromised horribly by fear and loss of hope. I became numb. We were content to go to bed each day knowing that our finances were still adequate, our children were safe and our large wall, alarm system and electrified fence would protect us from any intruders. We ploughed through each day, resigned to the uncontrolled political anarchy, trying to ignore the racism, the inflation, and escalating crime. We received our regular bills for irregular water and electricity.

And we watched as the nightmare "Operation Murambatsvina" (Drive Out Filth) was skillfully executed by the government and military. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans were left homeless as their humble dwellings were burnt or bulldozed to the ground.

With every new tragedy and every new incomprehensible act of dictatorship we became more and more grateful that we had food on our table, a roof over our heads and a routine to follow each day. I no longer expected anything or hoped for more. Once I refused to entertain bribery. Now we were forced to establish various "contacts" to ensure that passports and vehicle licences were issued.

Finally, we were forced to sit down and take a long, hard, critical look at our lives. The preceding four years had been a vacuum, a regimented sequence of parenting, feeding and protecting an existence that became more desperate with each passing month.

My father always says the hardest part is to make the decision and we made the decision. It made me smile, laugh and explode with uncontrollable tears. I was inspired and devastated. Inspired to begin again and devastated to be leaving my home, my country and my parents.

Life is a constant process of moving forward and leaving behind. Most of the time, this progression goes largely unnoticed among routines and daily commitments. Occasionally, we find we have to take a giant stride in order to move forward. We took our great leap in January 2007 when we packed up our lives and emigrated to Australia.

Now I sit here with a cupboard full of groceries, a deep freeze stocked with meat and a fridge packed with yoghurt and eggs. I am only just starting to regard them as "groceries" and not luxury items. I am only mildly concerned about the world fuel price increases, secretly grateful that I can fill up my vehicle without having to purchase fuel on the black market. I and my family are becoming part of a society that functions, where there are prospects for the hard-working as opposed to the corrupt and connected. I have learnt not to be astounded by the things thrown away during bulk refuse collection days and no longer want to stop and pick up every abandoned television. I am slowly becoming an Australian, but I am humbled by where we have come from and will never take for granted the opportunities that lie ahead.

The Zimbabwean exodus continues and we are a halfway house for family and friends who all hope to have their immigration applications approved. We watch as they walk down the same paths, come to the same conclusions and make the same decisions that we made 19 months ago. Mugabe has crippled Zimbabwe, reducing most of its people to beggars or barterers and black marketeers. The ultimate irony is that, whether by accident or design, it has taken 28 years for them to prove the racist detractors correct when they prophesied that the incoming Zanu-PF government would be incapable of governing the country.

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Video: a film on AIDS in Zimbabwe

from This Is Zimbabwe

"This is Zimbabwe" is an an outstanding blog. Thanks to them for this video entitled "Pain In My Heart" - Kale



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Zimbabweans battle money shortages as collectors buy hundred billion dollar notes on eBay

from the International Herald Tribune

Another example of how messy things are in Zimbabwe. Kale

Amid Zimbabwe's mind-boggling hyper inflation, a new 100 billion dollar bank note has more value as a novelty item on eBay than on the streets of the capital.

The note, launched this week, is worth enough to buy a loaf of bread — if you can find one on Zimbabwe's depleted store shelves. Meanwhile on eBay, the bill was on offer for nearly US$80.

Notes in the millions of dollars are useful only as toilet paper and it's cheaper to light a fire with low denomination bills than with newspaper.

In the political and economic turmoil since disputed March 29 elections, prices have risen almost daily. Factories and businesses have shut down amid empty order books and chronic shortages of gasoline, power, water and spare parts for equipment repairs.

President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed an agreement Monday to hold talks about power-sharing to end the crisis and restore economic stability. But the news failed to move the exchange rate, since little cash is available.

House prices and lottery prizes are quoted in quadrillions — that's with 15 zeros. Zimbabweans says it's only a matter of time before big ticket items will be priced in the quintillions, which have 18 zeros.

Official inflation is quoted at 2.2 million percent but independent finance houses say it's closer to 12.5 million percent.

One major commercial bank said its automated teller machines are not configured to dispense multi-zero withdrawals and freeze in what it called a "data overflow error." Software writers are busy writing programs to try to overcome the problem.

Urgent electronic transfers in trillions also take several days as electronic accounting systems grapple with transactions in 12 zeros.

Bank transfers command a special rate. A hundred billion dollars is worth US$5 at the official rate, US$1 at the black market rate — but just 30 U.S. cents in a transfer because by the time the funds are processed the Zimbabwe currency can be expected to be worth a lot less.

Shops have dropped six zeros from price tags, adding them again after totals are tallied at tills.

Zimbabwe has 27 denominations of bills and no coins. Lower value bills — 10 million Zimbabwe dollars — are all but obsolete, even in brick-sized bundles. Beggars and street urchins rarely bother to pick up such bills dropped on the street.

But one recent day in Marondera town outside Harare, traffic stopped and business came to a halt when someone — apparently upset by the dizzying rate of inflation — started throwing 50-billion-dollar notes from a moving car. Residents scrambled to collect the money.

The biggest bakery in Harare shut down this month and sent 1,200 workers home on forced leave because flour stocks recently ran out. For years, the bakery donated free loaves every week to a home for the handicapped and charity-run hostels.

One Internet provider has invited customers to pay their fees in gasoline coupons that hold their value.

A 58-year-old Harare financial director who asked not to be identified said his monthly salary is paid in local money which converts to US$50 at the bank rate. When available at his local sports club, a hamburger costs the equivalent of US$12. He hasn't eaten out in a year.

A cup of coffee at a government-owned five-star hotel was 130 billion Zimbabwe dollars, or US$5.30 this week. A waitress at the hotel said she earns 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars, US$4 a month.

A German company stopped shipments of bank note paper to the central bank's printers this month as the European Union looked to strengthen sanctions. The release of new money slowed as the central bank said it was looking to Indonesia and Malaysia to supply the specialized paper.

The daily grind for Zimbabweans to survive in the economic meltdown has won them a rating as the world's unhappiest people in the World Values Survey of the Michigan Institute for Social Research.

Zimbabweans were slightly unhappier than Armenians and Moldovans, also victims poverty and "the legacies of authoritarian rule," the researchers said.

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SA must expect Zimbabwean flood

from The Daily News, South Africa

Some 200 000 Zimbabwean refugees are likely to cross into South Africa in the next month or two if it becomes clear that Robert Mugabe will remain in power.

This is according to Braam Hanekom, of Passop (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty), which released a statement on the ramifications of Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the election.

"We fear that Zimbabweans will flood into South Africa, as never before, resulting in further frustrations among poor South Africans.

"The numbers we can expect, if the Zimbabwean people have no chance of changing their president, will result in massive bloodshed. It is the worst possible time for a drastic increase in migration into South Africa, it will be war," the statement noted.

"Anybody with the capability to walk, swim, beg, or borrow to come to South Africa will," Hanekom also said.

The Cape Times visited the area under the foreshore overpass on Monday where undocumented immigrants have been queuing for the past two weeks to be taken to the Department of Home Affairs.

Zimbabweans there said that they wanted to go home, but couldn't while Mugabe's Zanu-PF was in power.

Calos Mambosasa had spent almost six months waiting for papers from Home Affairs, and still had not received them.

He said that "all his friends" in Zimbabwe wanted to come to South Africa to escape the economic and political troubles, but he wanted to go back.

"If this ruling party's out maybe we can go home. We would like to go home," he said, as other Zimbabweans who had gathered around nodded.

"We don't really believe that Mugabe will concede a defeat," said Bruce Mashinya, another immigrant from Zimbabwe.

Mashinya queued under the overpass for a month before getting papers, which he said was a short time compared with other people.

He left his family behind in Zimbabwe when he came to South Africa in May. He said that they asked him for money so that they could move to South Africa too, but he doesn't have a job yet.

"We are hopeless. (Tsvangirai) has let us down, the only hope is on him," he said.

Then with a smile, he said "But we still love (Zimbabwe) more than South Africa."

Homeless South Africans and victims of xenophobic attacks also stay underneath the overpass, creating a volatile situation, according to a report released last week by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).


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Five million people will require food assistance, FAO/WFP says

from IRIN

More than 5 million Zimbabweans will suffer food insecurity in the next nine months, a million people more than the previous year, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said in its crop assessment forecast released on 18 June.

"The Mission estimates that 2.04 million people in rural and urban areas will be food insecure between July and September 2008, rising to 3.8 million people between October and peaking to about 5.1 million at the height of the hungry season between January and March 2009," FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM) to Zimbabwe said.

Zimbabwe's population is estimated at about 12 million people, but does not take into account unofficial estimates that more than three million people have left the country in recent years to escape economic and political hardships.

The FAO/WFP report attributed the poor harvest to a second consecutive year of "adverse weather, lack of timely availability of [agricultural] inputs and severe economic constraints in Zimbabwe [that)] have induced hardship and food insecurity among both rural and urban populations."

The prospect of another year of stressed food supplies comes amid severe political instability that has seen widespread reports of violence, with more than 60 deaths and the displacement of thousands since March and the run-up to voting in the second round presidential poll on 27 June.

In the first round election on 29 March, President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost control of parliament for the first time since independence in 1980. Mugabe was also second to the opposition's Movement for Democratic Change leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, although neither candidate secured the 50 percent plus one vote required for an outright first round win.

In May, the government suspended humanitarian operations, including feeding schemes, after it accused nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) of "political activity."

World Vision's Vice President for the Africa Region, Professor Wilfred Mlay, has appealed to the government to permit delivery of basic humanitarian assistance by immediately reversing its decision to suspend the operations of NGOs - who act as the local partners of international aid agencies.

"As a child-focused organisation, we are particularly concerned for the close to 400,000 children we would have assisted this month through our ongoing relief and development work. We hold grave concerns for the 1.6 million orphans and vulnerable children across the country who will now not receive critical assistance from humanitarian agencies operating in the country," Mlay said in a statement.

Decline of agriculture

The FAO/WFP report said Zimbabwe produced about 575,000 tonnes from its main maize harvest in 2008, "some 28 percent lower than the production in 2007 (using the CFSAM estimate of 800,000mt) which in itself was some 44 percent below 2006 government estimate."

"The Mission estimates the total domestic cereal availability for 2008/09 marketing year at 848,000mt, about 40 percent below last year’s domestic supply. This includes a forecast production of winter wheat and additional production of maize from winter/early, peri-urban/urban and seed crops," the report said.

Since 2000, when Mugabe introduced the Fast Track Land Reform Programme, which saw more than 4,000 white-owned commercial farms redistributed to landless blacks, agricultural production has declined.

"The newly settled farmers cultivate only about half of the prime land allocated to them owing to shortages of tractor/draught power, fuel, and investment in infrastructure/improvements, and absenteeism on the part of some new settler beneficiaries. The large-scale commercial sector now produces less than one-tenth of the maize that it produced in the 1990s," the reports said.

However, commercial farmers were not the dominant producers of maize; government price controls on the staple saw large-scale farmers opt to produce cash crops, such as tobacco and paprika, all part of a buoyant agriculture industry.

"The maize yields of the communal farmers who used to produce the bulk of the crop in the country have also reduced to one-fourth in about 10 years due to the loss of their symbiotic relationship with former large scale commercial agricultural sector and a demise of healthy agro-input industries.

"With the total utilisation of cereals at about 2.080 million tonnes including 1.875 million tonnes for direct human consumption for the projected population of 11.865 million tonnes, the resulting cereal import requirement is estimated at 1.232 million tonnes, of which the maize deficit accounts for about one million tonnes," the report said.

The maize shortfall comes on the back of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, which is seeing unofficial inflation rates of more than 1 million percent, and shortages of fuel, electricity and foreign currency commonplace.

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'Obscene': Mugabe's arrival at food summit provokes outrage

from the Independent

He inflicted starvation on his nation. Now Mugabe has arrived in Europe for a UN summit to tackle the global food crisis

By Peter Popham in Rome, Anne Penketh and Colin Brown

He's turned up again like a bad penny. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is back in Rome, staying in five-star accommodation for the duration of a United Nations food summit while his people starve as a result of his disastrous farm policies.

The unexpected arrival of President Mugabe and his shopaholic wife, Grace, prompted a flood of international protests yesterday after he joined more than 60 world leaders flying in for the three-day conference. Although the Zimbabwean leader and his wife are targeted by an European Union travel ban, the sanctions do not apply to UN meetings conducted on UN premises.

The grotesque irony of the situation was lost on no one. "Robert Mugabe going to Rome for the food summit is like Pol Pot going to a human rights convention," said Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister for Africa, referring to the mastermind of the Cambodian genocide.

The British representative to the meeting, Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, said Mr Mugabe's appearance was "obscene".

"This meeting is supposed to be about increasing the supply of food," Mr Alexander told BBC Radio, "while his policies have exactly the reverse effect in Zimbabwe." His presence in Rome was "an affront to all Zimbabweans who are suffering hunger, destitution and poverty as a direct result of his rule". That view was echoed by representatives from the United States, Australia and the Netherlands.

After last month's disputed elections, Zimbabwe's crisis is more desperate than ever. Death squads haunt the land: as reported on The Independent's front page yesterday, the tortured and broken body of one of Mr Mugabe's most courageous opponents, Tonderai Ndira, was found weeks after he had been dragged from his home in his underwear. In recent months, tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled abroad to escape the hunger, violence and desperate poverty of their homeland, where inflation is running at 165,000 per cent.

Today the Mugabes can get away from all that. They are staying in the reassuringly luxurious surroundings of the Via Veneto, this time at the Ambasciatori Palace Hotel Rome, which describes itself as "deep inside 'La Dolce Vita'", and where the room rates range from €210 (£170) to €900 per night. Grace Mugabe will not have to go far to indulge in one of her shopping sprees: the world's most refined and expensive bags and shoes are all a short trundle from the hotel.

In 2002, he was here with his wife and an entourage of 10, staying at the five-star Hotel Excelsior. In 2005, he flew in for the funeral of Pope John Paul II, and trapped the Prince of Wales into a handshake. Now he is here again, for the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation's (FAO) summit on world food security, climate change and bioenergy, to the embarrassment of the organisers and many participants, thumbing his nose at the rest of the world less than a month before the 84-year old faces his first ever run-off presidential election.

An FAO spokesman said the UN can exercise no influence over who a given member state chooses to represent it at the meeting, "nor should it". He said that 185 of the UN's 191 members will be represented, "and who they choose to represent them is entirely their business". The Mugabes will not even have to put their hands in their pockets: the UN has set up a trust fund to pay an allowance for the delegations from poorer countries.

Mr Alexander said he condemned Mr Mugabe's presence at the summit and would neither meet him nor shake his hand. However, there are calls for the cabinet minister to boycott the meeting altogether, after Gordon Brown refused to attend December's EU-Africa summit over Mr Mugabe's presence in Lisbon.

Some Labour MPs tabled a Commons protest motion calling for Mr Alexander to stay away and criticised ministers for double standards on Zimbabwe. Harry Cohen said: "It's unbelievable that Douglas Alexander should turn up at the same conference as Robert Mugabe after the boycott by Gordon Brown. There is a total lack of consistency and double standards by the Government." He warned: "Mugabe is facing elections and is going to play this for all it is worth ... Douglas Alexander is playing into his hands. And it will do no favours for the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai."

The calls for a boycott were supported by Ian Gibson, the former Labour chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology, who said it was "shocking" that Mr Mugabe should be attending a conference on food shortages when he had wrecked the food economy of his own country.

"I don't think Mugabe will listen to a word a British minister says," said Mr Gibson. "Douglas Alexander should take his lead from Gordon Brown and stay away." But Mr Brown's official spokesman insisted last night that the minister would attend the UN meeting as planned.

The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ensured that he will receive an equally frosty welcome from Western leaders when he arrives tonight. He told foreign guests in Tehran yesterday marking the 19th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that "the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime [Israel]... will soon disappear off the geographical scene".

But last night it was Mr Mugabe's moment in the limelight. If anything, he will have been amused to learn that – as reported on Channel 4 News last night – Britain has taken the first step towards stripping him of the honorary knighthood awarded in 1994.

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Feeding Scheme for 100,000 People Stopped

from All Africa

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

The implementation of a food distribution scheme for 100,000 people has stalled after the Zimbabwean government suspended CARE International's operations for alleged "political activity".

CARE works to alleviate poverty and promote community health, with a particular focus on empowering women, and is one of the largest non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Zimbabwe. On 28 May it was ordered to suspend its operations, pending a government investigation into its activities.

In a statement CARE said it was "committed to providing independent, impartial, apolitical relief and development assistance on the basis of need, to improve sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable populations, according to the Code of Conduct for Non-Governmental Organisations and to CARE International's Code of Ethics."

The suspension of CARE's operations would immediately affect about 500,000 Zimbabwean beneficiaries of projects such as water and sanitation, micro-credit, home-based care for the chronically ill, most of whom are infected with HIV, and support for orphans and vulnerable children.

CARE's Africa Communications Manager, Kenneth Walker, told IRIN that the feeding scheme for 100,000 people had been scheduled for implementation in June 2008, after the government said Zimbabwe's anticipated maize harvest would be poor - about one million tonnes shy of the national requirement. "I have no idea where they [people earmarked for food assistance] might get food from now," Walker said.

In 2007/08 international donor agencies provided food aid to 4.1 million people, more than a third of the population. The country's acute food shortages, compounded by government's recent admission that only 13 percent of the planned 2008 winter wheat crop had been planted, mean more people are expected to require food assistance earlier in 2008 than the previous year.

During the "lean period" between October 2007 and the March 2008 harvest, CARE was responsible for food aid to nearly one million Zimbabweans, or about a quarter of those requiring assistance.

CARE, which has channelled more than $US100 million in development assistance and relief since starting operations in 1992, said it had requested, "but to date has not yet received, the details of any allegations, including names, dates and locations ... [and] has pledged to cooperate with the government in resolving the situation so that humanitarian operations may be resumed as soon as possible."

About 300 Zimbabweans employed by CARE have been told to "remain at home pending further notice from the government".

NGOs agents of Western powers

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe told the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) summit in Rome, Italy, on 3 June that NGOs were being used to undermine his ZANU-PF government.

Funds are being channelled through non-governmental organisations to opposition political parties, which are a creation of the West. These Western-funded NGOs also use food as a political weapon with which to campaign against government, especially in the rural areas

"Funds are being channelled through non-governmental organisations to opposition political parties, which are a creation of the West," Mugabe said. "These Western-funded NGOs also use food as a political weapon with which to campaign against government, especially in the rural areas."

According to a report by the US-based New York Times newspaper, representatives of aid groups were summoned by government officials in four districts of Zimbabwe and told to stop operations until after the run-off presidential vote between on 27 June, when Mugabe will stand against Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Zimbabwe Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche told ZimOnline, an internet-based news service, that "several other non-governmental organisations ... will be asked to cease their operations while we investigate them."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said after addressing the FAO summit in Rome that if reports that NGOs had been instructed to suspend their activities were correct, "this would be an unconscionable act."

"To deprive people of food because of an election would be an extraordinary perversion of democracy, and a serious breach of international human rights law," she said.

There have been widespread reports of violence since the elections for local, parliamentary and presidential candidates were held on 29 March, when ZANU-PF lost control of parliament for the first time since the country won its independence from Britain in 1980.

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Zimbabwe elections: Tsvangirai detained as agencies' work suspended

from the Guardian

James Orr and agencies

The Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was detained again today as the government banned all foreign aid agencies from operating in the country where millions are close to starvation.

The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and his campaign convoy was stopped at a roadblock and ordered to follow officers to a police station.

Reporters with the convoy heard police say that the planned rallies were illegal. Tsvangirai was ordered to go to Esigodini, a town about 30 miles south-east of Bulawayo.

It was the second time in recent days Tsvangirai has been detained and prevented from holding rallies in the run up to an election run-off later this month.

The ban on foreign aid agencies was announced by the government, which accused organisations of campaigning for opposition parties during the country's disputed presidential elections in March.

Last week, Robert Mugabe instructed some NGOs to suspend their activities, but the new announcement covers all overseas organisations working in the country.

In a public statement, Zimbabwe's social welfare minister, Nicholas Goche, said: "I hereby instruct all PVOs (private voluntary organisations)/NGOs to suspend all field operations until further notice."

The shock tactic means British charities working in the troubled country are now unlikely to be able to provide care for the millions of Zimbabweans reliant on aid.

Dominic Nutt, a spokesman for Save the Children, said: "We are seriously concerned about the consequences relating to reports of the suspension of aid operations in Zimbabwe, particularly for the most vulnerable children who we work with and who need our help."

Judith Melby, Africa specialist for Christian Aid, which has been involved in Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980, said: "It is certainly going to have an extremely detrimental effect - it is quite frightening, frankly."

Some 10 million Zimbabweans out of a total population of 13 million people live below the poverty line. Four million of those rely on food aid.

Earlier this week Zimbabwe ordered aid agency Care International to halt its operations pending an investigation into allegations that had been politically active.

Care recalled its field staff but strongly denied the accusation, saying its projects benefited more than 1.8 million Zimbabweans.

Oxfam said in a statement: "International NGOs - Oxfam included - have been unable to conduct food needs assessments, making preparation difficult for the impending hungry season.

"We reject the present government's assertion that international civil society agencies are aiding and abetting the opposition."

The decision to ban all overseas development agencies came as security forces yesterday detained and harassed UK and US diplomats trying to investigate reports of violence against the opposition.

Yesterday, security forces in the country detained and harassed UK and US diplomats trying to investigate reports of violence against the opposition.

Zimbabwe's ambassador to Britain, Gabriel Machinga, was summoned to the Foreign Office to explain why the diplomats, who were travelling in two separate convoys, had been stopped at roadblocks north of the capital, Harare.

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Mugabe Attendance Won't Deter Britain

from Sky News

The attendance of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe at a global food summit will not deter the British government from sending a represenative, Downing Street said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander will not be "meeting Mugabe or having anything to do with him" during his time at the summit.

Although the Prime Minister boycotted an Eu-Africa summit in Portugal last December because Mugabe was attending, this latest summit is thought too important to miss.

"Our position on Mugabe is well known," said the spokesman.

"We think it is particularly unfortunate that he had decided to attend this meeting, given what he has done in relation to contributing to the difficulties with food supplies in Zimbabwe."

The Secretary will therefore not be having any "engagement" or "interaction" with Mugabe.

The Zimbabwe president, his wife and government officials left the chaos in their homeland behind to attend the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) event.

European Union officials have placed a travel ban on the veteran leader but as the meeting is being staged by the United Nations, he is allowed to take part.

Zimbabwe's economy is in meltdown with inflation standing at 165,000%, unemployment at 80% and there is a lack of basic necessities including food and fuel.

Some 3.5 million people have fled to neighbouring countries to escape poverty and malnutrition.

The trip is Mugabe's first official foreign visit since controversial presidential elections on March 29, which did not produce a winner.

Around 60 heads of state and government - including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on his first trip to Western Europe as Iran's president - are expected to meet from Tuesday to Thursday.

On the agenda are global problems of poverty and malnutrition caused by steep rises in food prices.

Gerry Jackson, from expatriate radio station SW Radio Africa, that broadcasts from London, said: "It is outrageous that he (Mugabe) has been invited to any international forum when he is involved in a state-sponsored, incredibly violent campaign against the opposition."

A British Foreign Office spokesman said: "It is a matter of concern to us and we would prefer that he did not attend."

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Zim defies odds, pays US$700m AfDB debt

from The Herald

Herald Reporter

ZIMBABWE last month cleared US$700 million of its US$726,9 million debt to the African Development Bank (AfDB) despite the current economic challenges, the bank has said, while hailing the Government’s commitment to honouring its international financial obligations.

The AfDB also acknowledged that Zimbabwe was under debilitating sanctions, contrary to Western claims that the United States, the European Union and their allies had only placed restrictions on a few individuals and not an economic blockade on the whole country.

A statement on the AfDB’s website said: "On April 14, 2008, the country paid US$500 million to the African Development Bank and US$150 million to the African Development Fund. Zimbabwe has, in all, paid US$700 million to the Bank Group despite numerous economic challenges currently facing the country, both globally and locally."

The bank did not state when the other US$50 million was repaid.

Though the statement did not say how much Zimbabwe owed the bank in total, reliable Ministry of Finance sources in Harare said the total arrears to December 2007 stood at US$726,9 million.

The bank said the country’s economic downturn could be attributed to the imposition of Western sanctions, among other factors, but hailed Government’s resilience and determination to honour its international financial obligations.

"The absence of balance of payments support, declining capital inflows, recurrent droughts and rising oil prices have severely undermined the economy’s productive capacity, resulting in most industries operating below 30 percent capacity.

"Though the country is currently experiencing balance of payments constraints resulting in delays and, sometimes, failure in meeting its financial obligations vis-à-vis donors, the Government, however, fully acknowledges its external financial obligations.

"The Government remains committed to honouring its debt obligations. In line with its commitment to fruitfully engage its partners, goodwill payments are being made with a view to normalising relations and paving the way for new disbursements.

"The Government also remains committed to instituting macro-economic reforms aimed at addressing its economic challenges. It is focused on enhancing food security, foreign exchange generation and increasing the supply of basic commodities," the statement said.

The AfDB commended Government initiatives aimed at ensuring the viability of the productive and service sectors that would lead to the revitalisation of infrastructure, agricultural productivity and increased industrial capacity utilisation.

In this regard, the institution gave the thumbs-up to the agricultural mechanisation programme being steered by the Ministry of Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation and Irrigation and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

"The Government, therefore, continues to monitor and develop the sector through the provision of agricultural equipment and implements. To date, the Government has launched three phases of the mechanisation programme with the fourth set to be unveiled in July 2008.

"It is also rehabilitating the country’s irrigation infrastructure with a view to optimising the usage of inland water bodies. It is also contemplating the building of more irrigation schemes in areas that have inland water bodies and reservoirs.

"The Government is also providing concessionary finance schemes geared towards enhancing the production of strategic food crops to guarantee food security.

"In this regard, in collaboration with development partners such as the AfDB that are financing agriculture in the country, the Zimbabwean Government will continue to ensure that the sector regains its status and plays a pivotal role in the country’s economic development," the statement said.

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Hunger drives post-election violence, deepens poverty

from Zimbabwe News

Harare - Hunger is giving a brutal edge to the alleged work of militias implementing Operation Mavhoterapapi (Who did you vote for?), a campaign launched by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF government in the wake of the ruling party's loss of its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980. The post-election crackdown, allegedly orchestrated by police, soldiers and veterans of the liberation war, has led to widespread reports of torture, the razing of houses and killing of livestock, perpetrated mainly against people in rural areas suspected of voting for the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change.

Sergeant Mungofa (not his real name), 44, was previously stationed at the army headquarters in the capital, Harare, but within days of the 29 March poll was sent to rural Matabeleland South Province, where he leads a team of militias. Mungofa's eight-member team is alleged to have set alight the homes and food stocks of perceived MDC supporters, leaving a trail of destruction that has forced entire families to seek refuge in the bush or to flee to larger towns and cities. "From the orders and briefings that I received from my superior in the province, a lieutenant-colonel, the war is just beginning. MDC supporters have to be flushed out before the run-off presidential election," he told IRIN.

The official tally in the presidential election, only published last week after a delay of more than a month, put MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who garnered 47.9 percent of the vote, ahead of incumbent Robert Mugabe, who took 43.2 percent. A minimum of 50 percent plus one vote was needed to avoid a second round of voting for the presidency. The youth were particularly easy to seduce, especially in times of want, according to David Chimhini, president of the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust. It was easy to woo the young militias by promising them material things and giving them "a sense of usefulness". “Zanu PF is dangling short-term gains to the youths, who fall prey because of the current poverty. Systematic propaganda is being employed, and when they are given guns and military uniforms, that gives them a new image, albeit a bad one," Chimhini told IRIN.

Sergeant Mungofa alleged that his team and others like it had not been supplied with sufficient food rations or money, and this had driven them to looting. "Maiming people or killing them for supporting the MDC are two evils that we are fully aware of, but because of the hunger that we are suffering, the torment against those villagers is going even further. We are being forced to raid the people for food and other material belongings that we can lay our hands on in order to keep going," he claimed. Instead of just burning down granaries or torching livestock, he alleged that the militias were now resorting to slaughtering cattle to feed themselves and selling the remains for cash. Any reserves of grain stored by subsistence farmers after the meagre harvest were also taken, he alleged.

"People would be better advised to remove their belongings to secure places because, the way I see it, even wardrobes, blankets and pots will be seized in the coming few weeks," Mungofa said. The military has denied any involvement in the violence. "The Zimbabwe National Army wishes to raise concerns over articles being published in the print and the electronic media on allegations relating to the alleged political violence, assaults, harassment and robberies perpetrated by men in army uniforms. The army categorically distances itself and any of its members from such activities," army spokesman Alphios Makotore said. According to an army captain based in the Dema district of Mashonaland East Province, about 70km south of Harare, who chose to remain anonymous, there was division among the ranks, with the lower ranks opposing the violence.

He alleged that support for the campaign came from higher up, mainly from veterans of Zimbabwe's independence war, "because they have been given big farms, have the latest cars, enjoy fat salaries and allowances, and know that political change will take all those things away", the captain claimed. "This is bad. People should not be killed for supporting a political party that is recognised by the law. The unfortunate thing is that, being in a military establishment, you just have to follow orders." He also claimed that in a number of cases, victims were simply labelled as MDC supporters if they owned something a soldier wanted.

According to Thokozani Khupe, deputy president of the opposition, "20 MDC supporters have been killed by Zanu PF militias, while over 5,000 families have been displaced, with over 1,000 homes burnt or destroyed" and more than 2,000 opposition activists hospitalised across the country. Japhet Moyo, Deputy Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), said it was "shocking that some people are submitting themselves to Zanu PF to be used as tools of violence", and that in addition to being forced to carry out orders, militias and war veterans had been brainwashed. "If cabinet ministers can be made to believe that all our evils are authored by Britain, and the MDC is a puppet party of the whites, what more can you expect from the war veterans and militias, who underwent intense indoctrination at youth training centres?" he said. Since 2000, when the government launched a controversial land-reform programme that saw over 4,000 white-owned farm redistributed among landless blacks, the government has run national youth centres throughout the country, purportedly to train young people in patriotism.

But the graduates, popularly known as 'Green Bombers', have allegedly instead been used to terrorise opposition supporters. John (who declined further identification), from Mount Darwin, a town in Mashonaland Central Province, about 300km northeast of Harare, is a Green Bomber. He said he and around 20 other militias was given brief lessons in weapons-handling at a "re-orientation course" in mid-April, after swearing allegiance to Mugabe and Zanu PF. He was subsequently given an army uniform, an AK-47 assault rifle and Z$5billion (US$45). "Since graduating from the training camp, I had not been employed, and which government in the whole world can just give you Z$5 billion, with promises of more. In fact, I had never handled so much money at any one time in my entire life and I managed to buy new clothes for myself," John said. Among those that John and his team have allegedly targeted are his 76-year-old uncle, cousins and the neighbours he grew up with. He claimed that "Even during the war [of liberation], freedom fighters were made to swear that they could kill even their own parents if they turned out to be sell-outs."

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Post-Mugabe Aid Package Planned

from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Analysts consider how foreign aid should be administered in the event of Mugabe being ousted.

By Erica Beinlich in London

If opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai emerges as the eventual winner of the drawn out battle for the Zimbabwean presidency, international donors will be ready to pour aid into the economically-ruined country.

But some experts warn donors to proceed with caution, arguing that merely throwing money at the country may do little to promote long-term economic stability.

“You’ve got to be very careful injecting huge sums of money into an economy,” said Geoff Hill, a respected Zimbabwe analyst.

“It’s like giving a four-course dinner to someone who hasn’t eaten for a month. It’s going to damage their stomach.”

The Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, has already claimed victory in the presidential poll of March 29, which could mark the end of the 28-year reign of ZANU-PF president Robert Mugabe. However, the official results may not be released for more than a week, to allow the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission, ZEC, to hold recounts in 23 constituencies.

The High Court will rule today, April 14, on an MDC petition to make the results public immediately. Delaying their publication, it says, is allowing ZANU-PF to widen its campaign of intimidation in rural areas.

In the event of Mugabe being ousted, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank, have already agreed a three-pronged approach for rebuilding Zimbabwe.

This includes plans to restore stability to the Zimbabwean dollar and curb the hyperinflation that has soared to a rate of over 100,000 per cent; and provide humanitarian aid to ease poverty and hunger and a land reform package to strengthen the once thriving farming sector.

Boosting agriculture is a top priority as international donors believe Zimbabwe’s current woes stem from Mugabe’s ruinous land policies.

In 2000, the president seized farmland from white farmers and distributed it in smaller tracts to ZANU-PF supporters, without supplying them with the training or equipment to keep up production levels.

Agriculture, once a pillar of the Zimbabwean economy, rapidly declined, bringing the economy down with it. To counter spiralling inflation, the government started mass-producing currency, forcing inflation to highs surpassing even those in Germany following World War I.

Britain has reportedly agreed to lead the funding of land reform, because of its former colonial ties with Zimbabwe.

Chris Maroleng, a researcher on Zimbabwe at the Institute for Security Studies, said the international community can assist farmers by providing them with support, equipment and training.

“They could help the farmers get access to things like fertiliser and tools to help till the land, and more importantly skills in order to enhance the agricultural production capacity,” he said.

While it would be almost political suicide for Tsvangarai and the MDC to completely reverse Mugabe’s land reforms, the new leadership will need to formulate a new land policy.

“They don’t need to reverse everything Mugabe has done in terms of redistribution,” said Ricardo Gottschalk from the Institute of Development Studies.

“Find a midway point that can meet the demands and needs both of the commercial farmers and the poor. It’s difficult but we shouldn’t put things in the terms of either/or.”

At this stage, it’s not clear if the international aid planned for Zimbabwe comes with strings attached.

Some experts have suggested that imposing conditions could force Zimbabwe to embrace much needed political, economic and governmental reforms. Such reforms would also reassure investors that ventures in the country are safe. Foreign investment is key to ensuring a sustainable economy after foreign aid stops flowing.

“If investment is to return to the country, there needs to be conditions tied to the aid to ensure the investments are secure, that political and governmental reforms are made,” said George Katito, a Zimbabwe analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs.

“A major way to do this would be showing there’s a new commitment to reversing poor government decisions made in the past.”

However, Katito warned that attaching conditions to aid could be interpreted by Zimbabweans as their government bowing to international demands. A desire to preserve sovereignty is deeply embedded in the psyche of the country that won its independence in 1980.

“It could be misconstrued as international interference on issues that Zimbabweans think that their government should have local sovereignty over,” he said.

Gottschalk suggested that imposing rigid conditions on a new government was unnecessary.

“I don’t think [the international community] will need to become heavy-handed [with] the new government to try to discipline it and make it follow economic politics. It’s quite obvious the government will be committed to restoring economic stability,” he said.

But many of the experts agree that foreign aid will only take the country so far.

“I think ultimately the most important thing for Zimbabweans is to create sustainable development,” said Maroleng. “But Zimbabweans must have the largest say in how Zimbabwe will be run, and more importantly, must play the biggest part in that recovery.”

Central to the reconstruction effort will be encouraging the sizeable diaspora to return to the country. An estimated quarter of the 13.3 million population has left Zimbabwe in the last eight years.

Not only will their skills contribute to development, the foreign currency they bring back could greatly boost the country’s economy.

“It’s important to bring some of the skilled people who have previously left Zimbabwe back to do these [development] projects,” said Hill.

“Don’t bring in outsiders from those countries giving the aid who are paid ridiculous salaries. At the same time, don’t just give a job to someone because they’re Zimbabwean - but at least give them a chance to compete for these jobs.”

Perhaps the greatest issue standing in the way of the expats returning is the ban on dual citizenship.

“People who have fought long and hard for US, British, or South African citizenship and have surrendered their Zimbabwean nationality will not give [their new status] up easily,” said Hill.

He pointed to countries such as Rwanda, which has reformed similarly rigid nationality laws to encourage ex-pats to return to the country, while maintaining their new citizenship.

“It’s critically important to allow dual nationality if you’re going to bring people back,” said Hill.

Erica Beinlich is an IWPR reporter in London.

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Britain prepares £1bn-a-year package to aid Zimbabwe

from ZW News


Focus on reducing inflation and steadying the exchange rate

Patrick Wintour, political editor

Britain is working on an unprecedented £1bn-a-year international emergency aid and development package to rescue the ruined Zimbabwean economy. The scale of the programme - nearly triple the aid presently going to Zimbabwe - means it will be coordinated by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Union and United Nations. It will be discussed at the IMF spring meeting on April 12 and 13 in Washington, at an EU general affairs council later in the month, and possibly at the margins of the Nato summit in Bucharest. The IMF prepared a rescue package for the Zimbabwean economy nine years ago, but it was rejected by Robert Mugabe. British officials are looking to see how it will need to be updated. A separate aid package was drawn up in 2007 by the Southern African Development Community, but that too was rejected because of the conditions attached. Mugabe has instead been looking for loans from Iran, China and Libya to finance his massive deficits.

Models examined by the Department for International Development suggest that if the currency can be corrected, it will be possible for the economy to be turned around relatively quickly. IMF work suggests hyperinflation can be brought under control in a year, allowing output to rise relatively rapidly. Price and exchange rate liberalisation is seen as a condition of progress by the IMF. But British government sources said the £1bn-a-year package, possibly assembled at a donor conference, might need to last many years. Britain, the former colonial power, is anxious not to be seen at the helm of the aid package, and is stressing that the initiative will eventually be an international one. Any attempt to be seen to be bribing the Zimbabwean people to reject Mugabe is likely to be used as a propaganda tool by Zanu PF, requiring Britain to walk a tightrope.

Britain currently provides £40m a year, largely through the UN, and is likely to double its aid package fairly quickly. But the international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, has been kept informed of the programmes being developed, and has also asked for an emergency humanitarian package to be prepared in the event of riots or violence breaking out in protest at Zanu PF failing to accept the result of the election. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said contingency plans were also under way in the event of a doomsday scenario to help the 10,000 former British nationals living in the country. Officials said the task of righting the Zimbabwean economy will be complicated by the 4 million exiles, including many professionals living abroad, since it is hard to know how quickly they will be willing to return, and if they did return quickly whether they would overwhelm the rudimentary public services.

Apart from focusing on reducing inflation, and steadying the exchange rate and balance of payments, the package will be directed at basic health and education services, infrastructure and justice. The bulk of British aid currently goes on HIV and Aids. Miliband said: "The rehabilitation will be on a scale not seen by almost any country for a long time". It is thought the Zimbabwean economy has shrunk by more than a third since 1999, a decline worse than in major African civil wars. Nearly 80% of the population live below the poverty line and inflation is running officially at 100,586%. DfID points out economic collapse has meant that 80% of the population are without jobs and almost 60% are living on less than 50p a day. A baby girl born in Zimbabwe today has a life expectancy of 34, the lowest in the world. The economic crisis is largely blamed on the seizure of white-owned commercial farms that began in 2000, disrupting the agriculture-based economy. Commercial production of maize has dropped 86% between 2000 and 2005. An agreement on land tenure and property rights is seen by DfID officials as one of the biggest long term problems facing the agricultural sector.

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Poverty fans brushfire of opposition anger

from the Financial Times

By Alec Russell

With his dark, shiny suit and his darting eyes the former official from Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party was clearly out of place in the crowd of exuberant opposition supporters.

Almost all wore T-shirts emblazoned with the face of "two cheeks", as Morgan Tsvangirai, the burly leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, is known. They included some of the very people whom, in the last three campaigns, the former Zanu-PF stalwart, by his own admission, intimidated and assaulted to entrench President Robert Mugabe in power.

But Frank Tore felt emboldened to speak his mind by his defection six months ago to the MDC. "I worked with these people [Zanu-PF] since 1980 when Zimbabwe got its independence. They always needed us at elections but they duped us, afterwards they forgot about us.

"When we were in Zanu- PF we were told to hit people and to abuse them. Even now they are still doing it. But since I've been working with them I've got nothing at my home. You should get something. My suffering is getting from bad to worse. Many of my colleagues are with me and only the dun-derheads are left behind."

There are still many Zanu-PF officials overseeing the bussing in of supporters to Mugabe rallies ahead of tomorrow's presidential and parliamentary elections, as they have done faithfully in the 28 years since he took power. But even if the 84-year-old autocrat manages one way or another to secure another victory this weekend, it is clear his once mesmeric hold over the rural areas of Mashonaland, the homeland of his fellow ethnic Shonas, is crumbling.

The Zanu-PF defector was speaking as several thousand MDC supporters cheered Mr Tsvangirai at a rally in the small town of Kotwe, 140 miles north-east of the capital Harare. Just three years ago at the last parliamentary elections, Zanu-PF was so active in this region that it was dangerous to campaign there.

Now, in large areas of rural Zimbabwe, it is as if a brushfire of anti-Mugabe sentiment has taken hold, feeding on the collapse of the economy and public services. The critical question is whether the residual institutional force of the state can, as many analysts suspect, summon up the strength one more time to extinguish the threat.

Backed by slavish state media, Mr Mugabe is campaigning vigorously, harking back to his leadership of the liberation of Zimbabweans from colonialism under the slogan "the fist of empowerment". Giant banners with his face and the words "Our Land, Our Sovereignty" hang over the entrance to many rural towns, a reference to his controversial land expropriations of 2000.

But all the while, Mr Tsvangirai and the other presidential contender, Simba Makoni, a former finance minister, are launching incursions into his heartland, spreading their message that Mr Mugabe has reached his sell-by date.

"All those people who are unemployed, lift up your hand," Mr Tsvangirai bellowed to crowd after crowd as he criss-crossed Mashonaland East on Wednesday. Each time more than three quarters of his audience raised a hand. "Some of you who are dark," he continued. "It's not because you are dark but because you have no money for soap . . ."

There were roars of laughter mixed with a weary acceptance that he had hit the mark. "We are just looking for change," said Moses Kapesi, 28, an unemployed agricultural worker. "A bar of soap is Z$70m [less than US$2 but about a fifth of a monthly wage for a farm worker]; no one here can afford it.

"Three years ago [the] MDC couldn't pull a crowd here and the chiefs in the rural area would treat you very harshly. Even today Zanu-PF were trying to chase people away up the road. The old people used to listen, but now we are telling our mums and dads to open their eyes. My dad voted Zanu-PF before. I tell him things are not right. I cannot afford anything. He understands. He is in the crowd."

In a story that is echoed across Zimbabwe, his friend, Zvinai Hove, 36, recounted how his mother died unnecessarily two months ago after a brief malaria-like fever. There were no medicines at the local hospital and they could not afford the admission fee. She was 59.

"Conditions are so very, very poor. Schoolchildren just go to school to feed themselves from the WFP [World Food Programme], and then they come home without attending any lessons. The chiefs always support Zanu-PF but people are no longer supporting them."

Zanu-PF still has state resources at its disposal. At one Tsvangirai rally an army helicopter buzzed low over the crowd in what most saw as attempted intimidation. But unlike in past elections, the security forces have mainly stood by and let the opposition campaign.

"The women in the local market will vote for Mugabe," said one young man. "Zanu-PF comes to the market and hands out 50kg bags of mealie meal. They can't see beyond that.

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Poverty and disease kill Suradzai Gumbo, the little girl Times readers took to their hearts

from The Times Online

Martin Fletcher

Sarudzai Gumbo was a victim of Robert Mugabe's evil regime almost from the day she was born. Her courage in the face of her appalling suffering and disfigurement moved thousands of readers of The Times. And now she is dead - at the age of 7 - a young girl who never stood a chance.

Richard Mills, the Times photographer, and I first met Sarudzai in a church in Mbare, a slum in southern Harare, last March. Her mother pushed her forward and pulled off her dirty woollen hat.

We gasped. Sarudzai's head was covered in festering red sores. Pus oozed from her eyes. A growth on her tongue made speaking difficult.

Her tearful mother, Silibaziso, said that she had never been to school, other children refused to play with her, and she could not sleep for pain.

Her parents told us how President Mugabe had destroyed their house in 2005 when he razed slums in Operation Murambatsvina (“Clean Up Trash”), and then destroyed their jobs by banning street vendors.

Both parents had Aids. They were living with their five children in a tiny shack built on wasteland from plastic sheeting and corrugated iron. They could give Sarudzai barely a bowl of sadza - maize-meal porridge - a day. They had been turned away by hospitals for lack of money.

After Sarudzai's story appeared in The Times, readers called to offer help, and donated £7,500. Sarudzai was sent to an Aids clinic, but last April her mother died and her father took her away to the ancestral village, fatally interrupting her treatment.

Sarudzai was transferred later to Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare just as Zimbabwe's healthcare system was imploding. That was where we found her when we returned to the country last November. She was lying alone and neglected in a dirty side room. Her head was a mass of septic lesions. Two large cancers were devouring the right side of her face. She had lost the sight in one eye. A filthy hat concealed untold horrors on her scalp - and the stench of putrefying flesh was overwhelming.

The hospital had run out of medicines and its doctors and nurses had left in droves for better-paid jobs abroad. It had become a place where patients were left to die. We moved Sarudzai to a private hospital. Tracey and Anne, two church workers from Mbare, volunteered to visit her daily.

A Harare paediatrician - one of the few left - agreed to treat her free of charge. Kidzcan, a charity that helps Zimbabwean children with cancer, adopted her.

For the first time in her life Sarudzai was clean, cared for and eating proper food. We left her playing with two new teddy bears that she had named Rudzai and Rudo - Shona for “praise” and “love” - and returned to Britain knowing she was in good hands.

Sadly Sarudzai's cancer was too advanced, Harare's one radiotherapy machine worked spasmodically, and there was no hard currency to repair it. She died early yesterday.

Sarudzai was a sweet, brave and affectionate girl who won the hearts of all who met her. She seldom cried or complained. She smiled at visitors, and waved when they left. Her personality shone through her disfigurement.

She was also an apt symbol for a country that has suffered so much under Mr Mugabe, a country whose beauty has been corrupted by his evil.

There were tears shed for Sarudzai yesterday, but there will be few shed for Mr Mugabe if her death is followed by the end of his pernicious rule in this month's presidential election.

A dying nation

13m Population of Zimbabwe

35 years Life expectancy for Zimbabweans at birth

2.2m Number estimated to be living with Aids

1.3m Zimbabweans aged under 17 thought to be living with Aids

$47 Annual government health spending per person

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Rural Sanitation Coverage Declines - Minister

from All Africa

The Herald (Harare)

Zimbabwe's rural sanitation coverage has declined to 30 percent in the last eight years because of Cyclone Eline and the successive droughts that eroded households' economic capacity, a Cabinet minister has said.

Officially launching the International Year of Sanitation 2008 in Harare yesterday, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, said Cyclone Eline destroyed ablution infrastructure in rural areas.

The United Nations General Assembly established the Year of Sanitation to accelerate progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. "A number of toilets were destroyed as a result of Cyclone Eline in 2000 and the ability of many peasant families to construct their own toilets has been reduced," Dr Parirenyatwa said.

He also said the successive droughts and the low national economic performance made it difficult for households to mobilise resources to replace broken down ablution facilities and sunken wells. Zimbabwe's rural sanitation coverage had improved from 7 percent at independence to 60 percent in 2000 while that for urban areas had remained at 97 percent since independence.

The departure of skilled labour to perceived greener pastures has also impacted negatively on efforts to increase sanitation coverage. "The economic challenges that Zimbabwe faces have had a negative effect on the ability to retain competent skills at all levels," Dr Parirenyatwa said.

To achieve the MDGs target of 63 percent sanitation coverage by 2015, he said Zimbabwe would have to build 63 000 toilets every year for the next seven years. This was a mammoth target given that Government was only in a position to construct 18 000 toilets a year.

Dr Parirenyatwa called on researchers to devise sanitation facilities that are friendly to physically challenged people and those living with HIV and Aids He said local authorities should improve waste collection as a direct measure of guarding against cholera.

Dr Parirenyatwa said cases of cholera increased in urban areas when sewerage and water supply systems failed especially in 2006 and 2007.He discouraged people from buying bottled water saying out of the 46 registered companies only 21 were certified.

United Nations Development Programme acting Resident Co-ordinator Dr Festo Kavishe, who praised Government for the political commitment given to sanitation issues said 40 percent of the world population which is about 2.6 billion including 980 million children live without improved sanitation.

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Dying to be a mother

from The Mail and Guardian

Miriam Madziwa

Odinarily, falling pregnant should be a joyous experience for every woman.

And with just eight years to go before the 2015 target for achieving the Millennium Development Goals one would expect to hear accounts of how motherhood is increasingly becoming a safer experience for women as countries strive to fulfil the fifth development goal of “improving maternal health”.

Sadly, this is not the case for the majority of Zimbabwean women. Instead, with each passing day, motherhood has become a nightmare best avoided.

The dilemma starts at conception. For most Zimbabwean women the choice whether to fall pregnant is not there. For a start, accessing contraceptives is not easy.

Even the hard to find, low-cost contraceptives are too expensive for most women.

Female condoms are not readily available in supermarkets and, again, are expensive. On the other hand, male condoms are cheaper and more widely accessible but, as most women will point out, these are used only at the discretion of the male partner. Therefore, women are falling pregnant against their wishes.

Terminating an unplanned pregnancy is out of the question. Abortion is illegal in Zimbabwe except in cases of rape or where there is medical proof that carrying the pregnancy to term poses a threat to the life of the mother.

All too often the responsibility of antenatal care and bringing up the child rests entirely with the woman.

The plight of a Bulawayo woman who recently appeared in court on charges of illegally terminating a pregnancy illustrates the magnitude of the dilemma.

Patience Matsetlo told the court she she terminated the pregnancy because she was “stressed” because her monthly salary was not nearly enough to meet hospital bills and look after the unborn child.

The 26-year-old Matsetlo said she was already struggling to look after a two-year-old child. Her partner disappeared to South Africa soon after she conceived.

Even for those who plan to start a family, accessing antenatal care is a challenge. Local authorities offer the cheapest maternity services in urban areas. But, even these are proving too expensive for most women. As a result, expectant mothers are foregoing antenatal care and praying they do not have any complications when they go into labour.

Some women are turning to traditional midwives despite being aware of the inherent dangers of doing so. Some of these women eventually end up in hospital. Midwives often botch complicated deliveries, leaving the mothers-to-be with no option but to seek medical care to save both the baby and their lives.

At some point, hospitals were detaining mothers until they settled their bills. The “detentions” stopped after women’s groups protested. Hospitals have since devised a subtle but more sinister way of pressing for payment; withholding birth-record cards.

This mode of debt collection has far-reaching effects on the welfare of the child.

Without hospital birth records, a child cannot be issued with a birth certificate and without a birth certificate, a child cannot be enrolled in school, cannot apply for a national identity ... the list is endless.

A friend recently recounted how six months after giving birth she still has not received a birth certificate for her daughter. She owes Mpilo Central Hospital Z$1 500 000, enough for just one loaf of bread. My friend admits it’s a small amount and is fully aware of the implications, but she points out, “there is always something that I need to buy urgently for the baby, so I keep putting it off”.

For the few that can afford antenatal care, the quality of care is poor, as nurses and doctors are few and overworked with limited resources. Towards the end of last year Gweru City Council was forced to close one of its maternity clinics citing lack of resources to pay staff. The clinic reopened after a well-wisher living abroad offered to pay the nurses’ salaries for two years.

Giving birth is a nightmare. Even while the woman is having labour pains, getting to hospital is a problem because ambulances are often off the road because of fuel shortages. Instead of concentrating on getting to hospital, women in labour also have to think of where to get clean water before they will be assisted. Water shortages mean that health institutions often do not have running water and insist that patients, including women in labour, bring their own buckets of water.

Another challenge that Zimbabwean mothers-to-be are facing is purely economic -- how to clothe and feed their newborn babies? Queues are a common sight in Zimbabwe these days. We queue for cash, water, milk, bread and meat, almost everything. Like most items, disposable diapers are in short supply and few shops still stock nappies.

It’s still a surprise, though, to see expectant mothers, hands in the small of their backs and with protruding tummies, queuing outside a shop for nappies. In Bulawayo, one shop that intermittently stocks nappies insists on selling to “visibly pregnant mothers only”. So individuals wanting to help cash-strapped relatives and friends buy nappies cannot do so. Desperate mothers are tearing up old T-shirts and accepting old nappies from relatives and friends so that they can raise their children.

Clearly, Zimbabwe’s health delivery system is failing to take care of pregnant women. Women are dying from pregnancy-related complications because they lack access to antenatal, delivery and post-natal care. Southern Africa Aids Information Dissemination Service official Alice Mutema notes that women continue to die because “maternal health is not being given the attention it deserves”.

For women in Zimbabwe, there is not much joy left in becoming pregnant. Though Zimbabweans struggle to cope with the shortages with a brave face, when you have a new life inside you, or are struggling through a difficult labour, or trying to care for a precious newborn, it is all the more difficult.

Miriam Madziwa is a freelance journalist based in Zimbabwe. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service that provides fresh views on everyday news