Some Zimbabweans in SA Head Back Home

Johannesburg -An international migration agency says it is helping Zimbabweans who hoped to find a better life in South Africa to head home.

The International Organisation for Migration arranged a bus trip for 33 people on Wednesday to return to Zimbabwe from Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church.


The church is crowded with hundreds of Zimbabweans who have fled their troubled country.

Zimbabweans have arrived in South Africa seeking jobs, food and medicine. Those who left on Wednesday had been unable to find work or better shelter.

South Africa officially entered a recession this week and some see Zimbabweans as competition for scarce jobs.

Zimbabweans have been victims of anti-foreigner violence.

* AP

EU still shuns Zimbabwe

Brussels - The European Union is not yet ready to establish normal ties with Zimbabwe or resume aid despite a "positive evolution" in politics there, according to a letter made public on Thursday.

"The EU shares your opinion that there are indications of a positive evolution of the political situation in Zimbabwe," the bloc said in a letter to John Kaputin, secretary general of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations.

"We are following the situation with great attention in the hope that it will as soon as possible lead to a new phase of stability, respect for human rights and rule of law and economic development," said the letter.


But the EU underlined: "However, the pace at which the new government can deliver on its own programme to the people of Zimbabwe still remains a major concern for all, both in the country and within the international community."

The letter said that a "dialogue" proposed in March by President Robert Mugabe "should allow us to define a roadmap of reciprocal undertakings," which would "hopefully bring us to a progressive resumption of our full cooperation."

Such a move could lead to a resumption of development aid which has been frozen for several years. At the moment the European Commission can only send humanitarian aid - €90m were given in 2007 - to the people.

The European Union and the United States maintain a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and his inner circle in protest at controversial elections and alleged human rights abuses by his government.

An EU delegation which visited Zimbabwe on Thursday commended "significant progress" made by the new unity government but called on the authorities to crack down on farm invasions.

* news 24

Cosatu Says Will Meet With Zille

Cape Town - Cosatu, which has accused Western Cape Premier Helen Zille of insulting women and black people, says it is to meet her face to face on Monday.

Cosatu Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said on Thursday organised business had "intervened and essentially brokered a deal for a meeting to be held between the premier and ourselves".

"In good faith, Cosatu thus herewith suspends any action until the outcome of that meeting," he said.

However Zille's office said the premier's meeting was with the Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and that Cosatu had merely been invited along.

"It's to do with local economic development, issues around the economic downturn," said her spokesperson Robert Macdonald.

* News 24

Tutu Appeals For Help on Behalf of Zimbabwe

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has pleaded for increased support for Zimbabwe's fragile national unity government.

The anti-apartheid icon, a key-note speaker at Hay's literary festival, said Zimbabwe had become a "hell on earth".

He was questioned by a Zimbabwean activist on the lack of unity among the leaders of southern African countries in dealing robustly with Robert Mugabe's regime.

He said the new unity government was the best option and that change could only really come at the next election.

Archbishop Tutu told the woman that he "felt very deeply" with her anguish.

Tutu, now the emeritus Archbishop of Cape Town, said some leaders had taken a tougher line with President Mugabe.

He said he hoped other leaders would follow suit.

Tutu also said he understood too that countries were reluctant to give aid to a country with so many problems.

But he said this was the best way forward and that would help to strengthen the political process and give Morgan Tsvangirai a decisive mandate at the next election.

In a wide-ranging and witty conversation with festival director Peter Florence, the Nobel laureate praised the human spirit in adversity.

He said if apartheid could be abolished in South Africa then surely most of the world's problems could be solved.

There was no situation that was "totally intractable" he said.

* BBC

Though Zimbabwe Cholera Epidemic Reduced, Risks Persist - Red Cross

The International Red Cross on Tuesday warned that while the cholera epidemic of the past 10 months in Zimbabwe has much subsided, considerable risks remain, heightened by the country's widespread food insecurity which made the epidemic more deadly.

More than 4,000 people have died in the epidemic since August 2008.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies noted that the number of cases at some 98,400 is not far from the 100,000 mark.

Meanwhile, it added, Zimbabwe on a per capita basis is the most food aid dependent country in the world with 65% to 80% of its population now dependent on humanitarian food distributions.
The Red Cross added that food shortages are undermining "stunted efforts" to provide antiretroviral drugs to prolong the lives of those struggling to live with HIV/AIDS.

Peter Muchengeti, chairman in Midlands province of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations confirmed the thrust of the Red Cross report, telling reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that while food has become available on store shelves, the situation remains dire for many people without hard currency.

Elsewhere, the Global Health Council and three other groups Tuesday named Dr. Douglas Gwatidzo, managing director of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights the 2009 recipient of the Jonathan Mann Award for global health and human rights.

The announcement by the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, Health Right International, John Snow, Inc. and the Global Health Council cited the physician's work in investigating, with the U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights, the cholera epidemic which raged in the country in late 2008 and early 2009, and the simultaneous collapse of the state health system, as well as Dr. Gwatidzo's support of health workers and advocacy of an end to state violence.

Dr. Gwatidzo will be presented the award on Thursday at the Global Health Council's annual international conference in Washington.

* VoA

Bring Zimbabwe Out of the Cold Now!

By GREG MILLS and JEFFREY HERBST

AFTER years of rightly criticizing President Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian rule in Zimbabwe, Western countries now face a different, and difficult, set of decisions.

Since February, Zimbabwe has operated under a unity government led by Mr. Mugabe with the opposition’s leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, as prime minister. Had last year’s elections been free and fair, Mr. Tsvangirai would have been elected president, but instead of continuing to contest the results he eventually agreed to serve as prime minister.

The transition has not been smooth; cabinet posts have been divided up awkwardly, while many people inside and outside the country have criticized Mr. Tsvangirai for seemingly being co-opted by Mr. Mugabe.

As a result, Western governments have been standoffish even though the unity government has taken important steps, notably lowering Zimbabwe’s 231 million percent inflation by abandoning the Zimbabwean dollar in favor of the American dollar and other foreign currencies.

Last week, for example, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the United States wasn’t ready to resume aid to Zimbabwe and urged the ouster of Mr. Mugabe, while other Western donors have said they will not provide significant development assistance until there is firm evidence that the power-sharing agreement is working.

Human Rights Watch has gone further by arguing that development aid should not be released until there are “irreversible changes on human rights, the rule of law and accountability.”

The reluctance of Western governments and human rights groups to embrace the current Zimbabwean government is understandable. There is, in particular, no real reason to believe that Mr. Mugabe, after decades of dictatorial rule and abuse, has suddenly embraced multiparty democracy. If he had, after all, he would not be president now.

But Zimbabwe may well be a case where the best is the enemy of the good. Mr. Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, went into the unity government with its eyes open.

“We had won the election but we did not have the support of the military,” Mr. Tsvangirai told us this month in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. “We did not want to be the authors of chaos. Instead we need to soft-land the crisis, stabilize the situation through peace and stability and democratic consolidation.”

Accordingly, he views Mr. Mugabe as “both part of the problem and part of the solution: we cannot untangle the tentacles of the state without him.”

Mr. Tsvangirai has set himself the difficult task of trying to dislodge Mr. Mugabe’s ousted party from the state apparatus that it has controlled for more than a quarter-century.

In many countries that process would require extensive violence against the regime. The “soft landing” that the Movement for Democratic Change has chosen is a difficult path but one which it has firm strategic reasons to opt for, reasons that deserve more careful consideration from international donors.

And Mr. Tsvangirai and Zimbabwe need help desperately. Per capita income is half what it was in 1997. Once the largest economy in the region after South Africa, Zimbabwe is now the smallest, after tiny Swaziland and Lesotho.

The United Nations calculates that just 6 percent of the work force is formally employed. More than 65 percent of the population urgently needs food assistance. Nearly 100,000 people have been struck by cholera in the last six months.

While it used to be called the breadbasket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe now produces only about one-third of the grain it needs; tobacco, once its main export crop, has fallen to around one-sixth of the 2000 peak, the effect of the seizure of white-owned farms begun in earnest this decade.

Revealing as they are, these figures do not tell the full story. Take the University of Zimbabwe. Once a prestigious southern African institution, today it is without functioning sewers or running water.

Many of its 12,000 students have left, its two teaching hospitals close intermittently, and departments like geology and surveying are shuttered. Lacking chemicals and equipment, the chemistry department stopped all experiments in 2007.

To consolidate progress, donors should end their ambivalence about the unity government and begin to support Mr. Tsvangirai’s aims. Development assistance can be allocated directly. Replenishing the hospitals and re-equipping schools are measurable and defined projects.

More generally, Western governments and nongovernmental organizations should become more publicly enthusiastic about the unity government, especially because they haven’t been able to offer a better option.

The Movement for Democratic Change has also recognized that the only way to deal with the tsunami of advisers and aid agencies that will eventually come is to establish a single entry point into the government for donors, likely in the prime minister’s office, instead of allowing aid to go directly to ministries that may be run by Mugabe partisans. Donors should support this effort as a way to strengthen Mr. Tsvangirai.

There will be setbacks in Zimbabwe, but they can be overcome. As Mr. Tsvangirai told us, “Ask any Zimbabwean in the street — no one wants to reverse the process.” Instead of standing back and waiting, donors should do their part to help bring Zimbabwe back from the brink.

Greg Mills is the director of the Brenthurst Foundation, a research organization in Johannesburg that promotes economic growth in Africa. Jeffrey Herbst, the provost of Miami University of Ohio, is the author of “States and Power in Africa.”

* NY Times

Zimbabwe is Most Dependent Country on Food Aid

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe is the most food aid dependent country in the world, aid agencies said on Tuesday.
Also, nearly 55% of children who died of cholera in the southern African country were malnourished.

This is according to a report released by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, quoting numbers from the World Food Programme.

"Per capita, Zimbabwe is now the most food aid dependent country in the world. The World Food Programme believes that seven million people are in need of food assistance - somewhere between 65 and 80% of the population," the report states.

"The UN believes that 54% of all children who have died from cholera were malnourished, with 47% of the country's population undernourished."

The food crisis was caused by several factors including hyperinflation which disenfranchised many agriculture farmers, the report states.

"Zimbabwe's fields are sown with substandard seed, scavenged often from granaries or from the side of the road. It is extraordinarily unlikely that the 2009 harvest will significantly surpass 2008 - the worst in the country's history," says the report.

The country's woes started escalating in 2000 when President Robert Mugabe's government lost a referendum to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and sanctioned an aggressive land reform programme in which the majority of white farmers lost their land to war veterans.

This resulted in a food crisis, exacerbated by drought and later by hyper-inflation.

The country was plunged into socio-economic turmoil, political violence and eventually a collapse of infrastructure, alongside a deadly cholera epidemic last year that killed more than 4 000 people.

Mugabe late last year finally agreed to form a government of national unity with opposition leaders.

* SAPA

African Development Bank to Lend Money to Zimbabwe

(Bloomberg) -- The African Development Bank said it plans to establish a line of credit for Zimbabwean companies following the creation of a power-sharing government this year.

The Tunis-based bank will also finance projects to renovate the southern African country’s infrastructure, according to an e-mailed statement today. Zimbabwe may also benefit from the African lender’s “Fragile State Facility’’ if it needs more resources, the bank added.

“The strategy, covering the next 19 months to December 2010, is anchored on support to the inclusive government,’’ the AFDB said. “The bank will help kick-start financial sector operations, identify specific sectors, especially those covering physical infrastructure development where the bank can leverage its resources with those of other donors.” It didn’t say how much it would lend Zimbabwe.

The Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, and President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party formed a unity government in February after a decade of often violent political conflict.

International lenders and donors have been reluctant to offer credit to Zimbabwe aside from technical and humanitarian aid, saying political progress must come first.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Durban via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

U.S. Inflation to Approach Zimbabwe Level

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates, investor Marc Faber said.

Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office.

“I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said on May 21 inflation may rise to 2.5 percent in 2011. That exceeds the central bank officials’ long-run preferred range of 1.7 percent to 2 percent and contrasts with the concerns of some officials and economists that the economic slump may provoke a broad decline in prices.

“There are some concerns of a risk from inflation from all the liquidity injected into the banking system but it’s not an immediate threat right now given all the excess capacity in the U.S.

economy,” said David Cohen, head of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore.

“I have a little more confidence that the Fed has an exit strategy for draining all the liquidity at the appropriate time.”

Action Economics is predicting inflation of minus 0.4 percent in the U.S. this year, with prices increasing by 1.8 percent and 2 percent in 2010 and 2011, respectively, Cohen said.

Though Zimbabwe Cholera Epidemic Reduced, Risks Persist - Red Cross

The International Red Cross on Tuesday warned that while the cholera epidemic of the past 10 months in Zimbabwe has much subsided, considerable risks remain, heightened by the country's widespread food insecurity which made the epidemic more deadly.

More than 4,000 people have died in the epidemic since August 2008.


The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies noted that the number of cases at some 98,400 is not far from the 100,000 mark.

Meanwhile, it added, Zimbabwe on a per capita basis is the most food aid dependent country in the world with 65% to 80% of its population now dependent on humanitarian food distributions.

The Red Cross added that food shortages are undermining "stunted efforts" to provide antiretroviral drugs to prolong the lives of those struggling to live with HIV/AIDS.

Peter Muchengeti, chairman in Midlands province of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations confirmed the thrust of the Red Cross report, telling reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that while food has become available on store shelves, the situation remains dire for many people without hard currency.

Elsewhere, the Global Health Council and three other groups Tuesday named Dr. Douglas Gwatidzo, Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights the 2009 recipient of the Jonathan Mann Award for global health and human rights.

The announcement by the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, Health Right International, John Snow, Inc. and the Global Health Council cited the physician's work in investigating, with the U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights, the cholera epidemic which raged in the country in late 2008 and early 2009, and the simultaneous collapse of the state health system, as well as Dr. Gwatidzo's support of health workers and advocacy of an end to state violence.

Dr. Gwatidzo will be presented the award on Thursday at the Global Health Council's annual international conference in Washington.

* VoA

Zimbabwe's MDC Keeps Pressure On For Gono to Step Down

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's branch of the Movement for Democratic Change on Tuesday dismissed an assertion by President Robert Mugabe that Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono will not be stepping down, calling it unacceptable.

The Tsvangirai MDC wing issued a statement saying Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana must both step down, also demanding a forensic audit of the central bank.


A deadlock between Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai, the latter backed by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara of a rival MDC formation, has been referred to the Southern African Development Community and African Union.

The two African organizations ushered Zimbabwe's national unity government into existence and stand as its guarantors.

Political sources said Gono in desperation has launched a media campaign to frame the calls for his resignation as a personal vendetta by MDC Finance Minister Tendai Biti.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Tuesday that a prison guard at Harare's notorious Chikurubi Prison was arrested on charges he acted on orders from Biti to seek incriminating evidence against Gono concerning a farm mechanization program.

Biti dismissed the accusation lodged through the state newspaper, calling it fictitious.

Reports said Gono has threatened to resign, complaining that he has largely been abandoned by Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, his only defenders Information Minister Webster Shamu, Information Ministry Permanent Secretary George Charamba and independent parliamentarian Jonathan Moyo, a former information minister.

Meanwhile, Biti has drafted amendments to the RBZ Act which provide for a non-executive director to take over as chairman of the central bank. Gono has criticized the amendments, saying they would strip him of his powers.

* voA

At 100-Day Mark, Zimbabwe Unity Government Pares Contentious Agenda

The principals in Zimbabwe's uneasy national unity government have reached agreement on a number of issues troubling their partnership, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday on the eve of his 100th day in office, but some major questions remain unresolved.

In particular, the deal leaves Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana in place contrary to Mr. Tsvangirai's wishes.

But the agreement is considered to give the "all-inclusive" government a new lease on life at a critical juncture, and the unresolved issues will be referred to African regional organizations for arbitration.

The centerpiece of the agreement reached earlier this week by Mr. Tsvangirai, President Robert Mugabe, and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara concerned redistribution of the governorships of the Southern African country's 10 provinces.

Five will go to Mr. Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement for Democratic Change, four to Mr. Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front or ZANU-PF, and one to the breakaway MDC formation headed by Mutambara.

The agreement settles another point of contention: former parliamentarian Roy Bennett, the treasurer of Mr. Tsvangirai's MDC formation, is to be sworn into office as deputy minister of agriculture on or before the day on which the new governors are sworn in.

Mr. Mugabe had refused to swear Bennett into office on grounds that the former farmer, arrested the same day the unity cabinet was sworn in Feb. 13, still faced charges related to an alleged - and largely debunked - 2006 plot to assassinate the president.

Most of the permanent secretaries appointed to ministries by Mr. Mugabe will remain in place - though Mr. Tsvangirai told reporters in a news conference that he intends to take steps to ensure that these key civil service positions are insulated from party politics.

On ambassadorial appointments, another "outstanding issue," Mr. Tsvangirai said candidates from the two MDC formations would receive diplomatic training, and that of the next five openings for envoys four would be filled from his party, one from Mutambara's party.

* VoA

Uncertainty Over the New SA Economic Set-up

Cape Town - Collins Chabane, minister in the presidency responsible for performance monitoring and evaluation, dodged questions concerning who is responsible for determining the country's economic policy on Thursday.

Since the announcement of President Jacob Zuma's cabinet last week, the burning question has been whether Trevor Manuel, also a minister in the presidency but charged with the new planning commission, will have an influential hand in determining economic policy, or whether other appointments will taken over this function.

Chabane was pertinently asked who will be responsible for establishing economic policy. He said: "I didn't think there was any confusion around this issue; I think quite a few ministers have spoken about this. I think it's important to leave it at that, because they are the ones responsible."

The specific parameters of the planning commission have not yet been determined, but according to Chabane, Manuel will be responsible for the "wall to wall" planning. "He will co-ordinate the planning framework for the whole country - including provinces and municipalities, though at this stage some people feel this won't be possible."

Various cabinet sub-committees met on Wednesday to discuss the exact mandate and role of the planning commission, and on Thursday Chabane could not provide much detail on the matter.

According to him there were several options on the table regarding how the commission should function, but eventually it was decided that a minister should be at the head of a large unit in the presidency. Besides support personnel, the unit will consist of several commissioners who will be recruited from outside the public service.

"They won't be technocrats, but people who have specific expertise. They will then have to interact with the bureaucracy regarding policy and planning."

* Beeld

Zimbabwean Leaders Try to Resolve Impasse

Harare - Zimbabwe's unity government has agreed on key appointments in an attempt to resolve the political impasse that has paralysed the new administration, Prime Minister said on Thursday.

However, regional leaders will still be asked to mediate in the dispute over two positions seen as vital to Zimbabwe's economic recovery and restoration of the rule of law.



A former opposition leader, Tsvangirai formed a coalition with President Robert Mugabe in February but progress has been slow as the parties have deadlocked over the division of key posts.

Tsvangirai said continuing violations of the power-sharing deal threatened the unity government. He singled out seizures of white-owned farms blamed on militants and officials of Mugabe's party in recent weeks.

But he added: "I think it is also important that we recognise that progress has been made and continues to be made with respect to rebuilding Zimbabwe."

Tsvangirai said the appointment of 10 provincial governors would be divided between the parties and that the five vacant ambassadorial posts would be filled by his Movement for Democratic Change and a smaller coalition partner.

Mugabe will also allow opposition lawmaker Roy Bennett to be sworn in as Deputy Agriculture Minister.

Bennett was charged just as the unity government was being formed with weapons violations in a case linked to long-discredited allegations that the MDC plotted Mugabe's violent overthrow. He has been free on bail since March.

Tsvangirai said the parties failed to break the deadlock over the status of the Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono, and the attorney general Johannes Tomana.

* News 24

Mutambara Formation of Zimbabwe's MDC Disciplines More Dissenters

The formation of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change led by Arthur Mutambara has summoned two more of its members of parliament to a disciplinary hearing, potentially signaling another round of suspensions from the internally divided party.

The latest two to be disciplined are Gwanda North legislator Thandeko Zinti Mnkandla and Tsholotsho South lawmaker Maxwell Dube. Party disciplinary committee chairman Lyson Mlambo said he could not immediately comment on the two cases.

Mnkandla confirmed that he received a letter from the party leadership on Wednesday giving him notice that he would be summoned to an as-yet-unscheduled disciplinary hearing.

Last week the Mutambara MDC leadership suspended Nkayi South MP Abednico Bhebhe, Lupane East lawmaker Njabuliso Mguni and Bulilingmangwe East legislator Norman Mpofu, along with national executive member Job Sikhala, who has since resigned from the party, Alex Goosen and Gift Nyandoro, chairman of the party's youth assembly.

The members were accused of bringing the party into disrepute and seeking the removal of Mutambara as party leader over his perceived partiality to President Robert Mugabe.

Mnkandla told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the letter he received did not list charges against him, but he confirmed there is friction in the party.

VoA

GZF Co-ordinator's Third Visit to Zimbabwe Report

Global Zimbabwe Forum

Co-ordinator’s Third Visit to Zimbabwe

5-9th May 2009

Summary Report

Introduction

The International Co-ordinator of the Global Zimbabwe Forum, Daniel Molokele, recently travelled to Harare between 5th and 9th May 2009. The trip was his third working visit to Zimbabwe in the past few months.

The previous visits were conducted in October 2008 and March 2009.During the latest visit to Zimbabwe, the Co-ordinator managed to achieve the following feats among others:


1. NANGO Consultation Conference

On Tuesday 5th May the Co-ordinator joined over 100 national leaders and directors of the Zimbabwean civil society movement at the rainbow Towers hotel in Harare. The conference was organized under the auspices of the national umbrella network, NANGO. Its main agenda was to have a public consultation process on the various topical issues such as the constitutional making and the national healing (transitional justice) processes. At the end of the day, the conference adopted several resolutions as part of the way forward.


2. Meeting with the Deputy Minister of Information

Also on the same day, the Co-ordinator held a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, the honourable Jameson Timba at his office at the Mhunumutapa government offices.The minister issued a personal invitation for the Co-ordinator to attend the Zimbabwe Media Conference that was due to be held at Kariba between 6th and 9th May 2009. Unfortunately, the Co-ordinator ended up not travelling to Kariba due to the protest around the detention of some journalists and activists during that week.


3. Meeting With the IOM Zimbabwe Director

On 6th May, the Co-ordinator held a meeting in Avondale at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) head office with the Country Director. The meeting reviewed the outcome of the joint GZF-IOM consultation workshop that was held in Johannesburg on 4th May. The two organizations are in the process of developing a partnership that will enable them to conduct an international outreach to consult various Zimbabwean communities in the Diaspora on the way forward in the aftermath of the set up of the all-inclusive government in Zimbabwe.


4. Meeting With Air Zimbabwe Management

Also on the 6th May, the Co-ordinator was invited by the Chief Executive Office of the national airline, Air Zimbabwe, to address a special meeting of the national airline’s top executives.Thereafter the Co-ordinator held a separate meeting with the Air Zimbabwe marketing and advertising management team at the airline’s head office at the Harare International Airport. The GZF and Air Zimbabwe are in the process of negotiating for a partnership to help re-launch the national airline within the Zimbabwe Diaspora community.


5. Private-Public Partnership Conference

On 7th May the Co-ordinator attended the opening ceremony of the Public-Private Partnership national conference that was held at the Monomotapa Crowne Plaza hotel. The event was hosted by the Office of the Prime Minister and had a very impressive attendance from several cabinet ministers, various public/state institutions, municipalities and captains of industry. The key note address was given by the guest of honour at the event, the honourable Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, honourable Morgan Tsvangirai.


6. Proposed Ministerial Tour to the Diaspora

Also on the 7th May, the Co-ordinator held a meeting with the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, the honourable Gorden Moyo. The Office of the Prime Minister has mandated the GZF to help it conduct a public outreach by several cabinet ministers to meet various Zimbabwean communities across the Diaspora. If all goes well, the international tour will be conducted in July 2009 to such cities as Johannesburg and London, among others.


7. Setting up of GZF Zimbabwe Contact Office

However, the most far reaching outcome of the latest visit by the Co-ordinator to Zimbabwe was the consolidation of the plans to set up an administrative contact office for the GZF in Zimbabwe. Two separate offices will be opened in Harare and Bulawayo this month to help the Diaspora have a strong presence in the country. The GZF has already appointed a National Co-ordinator and an Administrator for the Harare office and is in the process of finalizing on similar appointments for the Bulawayo office. Six prominent leaders of the Zimbabwean NGO community have agreed to act as national advisors to the GZF Contact office.


Conclusion

It is therefore submitted in conclusion that the latest visit to Zimbabwe by the Co-ordinator was a resounding success. The GZF and the Diaspora community stands to further benefit from the various outcomes derived from this visit especially that of the set up of the national contact office in Zimbabwe.

Apology to all the Visitors

Dear all visitors!

I am in Zimbabwe till the 16th May 2009. unfortunately, i am not able to have easy access to the internet and so will not be able to update my blog on a regular basis till i return to South Africa.

Zambia Calls For Lifting of Zimbabwe Sanctions

LUSAKA (Xinhua) -- Zambian President Rupiah Banda has called for lifting of sanctions imposed on neighboring Zimbabwe to allow the country to implement its economic recovery program, Zambia Daily Mail reported on Friday.

The Zambian leader said in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare on Tuesday at a state banquet held in his honor by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe that the lifting of sanctions on Zimbabwe will help facilitate the implementation of the economic recovery program, adding that Zambia is impressed by its neighbor's efforts in trying to improve the well-being of people.

Banda is in Zimbabwe for a four-day state visit.

He said the Zambian government is committed to contributing to deepening of economic relations between the two countries for the mutual benefits of the people.

"Following the Southern African Development Community extraordinary summit, Zambia is urging countries to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe," Banda was quoted as saying.

He further commended Zimbabwe's well articulated economic recovery program, adding that Zambia is committed to contribute to that short-term program.

The Zambian leader also said his administration will support Zimbabwe's efforts bilaterally, regionally and internationally despite negative effects of the global economic crisis, adding that the two countries face common challenges of underdevelopment characterized by high levels of poverty.

He said the two countries should work together to ensure regional integration to enhance economic growth, adding that there is need to reduce poverty, improve infrastructure and increase intra-regional trade to enhance agriculture and food security.

Speaking at the same occasion, Mugabe said the strong bond of friendship that have tied the two countries over the years can best be described in the "context of Siamese twins".

Zuma Mulls New Role For Manuel in Cabinet

Cape Town - Trevor Manuel's time as finance minister will soon be running out and he will be replaced in the Zuma cabinet, by Pravin Gordhan, commissioner of the South African Revenue Service.

This will be one of the interesting changes planned for the new cabinet of the president elect, Jacob Zuma, who will be sworn in next Saturday.


Reliable sources indicate that Manuel will be moved to a new cabinet post, a kind of co-ordinating portfolio, from where he will oversee all economic departments.

This could include the department of trade and industry, finance and public enterprise.
Though it seems impressive, it will take him out of policy making and implementation, an important position within the ANC.

Another possible appointment to cabinet, may be Dr Blade Nzimande, the general secretary of the South African Communist Party.

* Rapport

SA Will Continue to Support Zimbabwe's Recovery

Johannesburg - African National Congress Treasurer General Mathews Phosa said the coalition government in Zimbabwe must be given a chance to succeed, SABC radio news reported on Saturday.

Speaking to international investors in London, Phosa said the new ANC-led government would continue to support Zimbabwe to ensure the success of the multi-party government in that country.

"We will continue to support the Zimbabwean process to ensure that there is normalisation and democratisation in Zimbabwe.

"We need to continue to support the sensitive aspect of life in Zimbabwe as it affects people. For example, health affects the economy of Zimbabwe," Phosa said on Saturday.

On Thursday in London, Phosa told the Royal African Society that the government of ANC president Jacob Zuma had an ambitious delivery plan aimed at addressing challenges in housing, energy, health, education and public infrastructure.

"Our policy will be to create additional revenue to partly fund the programmes aimed at dramatically boosting the infrastructure in the sectors mentioned.

"There are also opportunities for global businesses to bring the best in technology, knowledge and business acumen to our shores," Phosa said at the time.

Earlier, on April 15, Phosa told the Cape Town Press Club that the ANC had made mistakes about public service deployment, black economic empowerment and land reform that must be corrected after the elections.

* SAPA

Tsvangirai Pleads For More Time Over Salaries

HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe's unity government is broke and cannot afford to match union demands for higher salaries, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told a May Day rally on Friday.

"This government is broke," Tsvangirai told the crowd. "We are only able to pay you allowances. All of us from President Mugabe to government workers are earning a hundred dollars."

Tsvangirai said the state wished to increase the 100 dollar allowance paid to state workers but could not afford to meet growing demands for better wages.

"No-one is paying tax at the moment. If government is not getting taxes, where will the government get the money to pay salaries?," he asked.

"Your demands must be realistic and within the capacity of the government which is the major employer."

Before Tsvangirai addressed the crowd, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions threatened to go on strike unless wages were increased to 454 dollars.

Zimbabwe's teachers on Wednesday also vowed mass action when the new school term begins after government reneged on a pledge to increase their salaries.

Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader who took office less than three months ago, urged Zimbabweans to bear with the new government as it seeks ways to address the problems facing the country.

"You supported us during hard times, we will pay you back," he said.

"Give us time. I plead with you. We are conscious of the problems of the workers. I come from a trade union background and I know that 100 dollars is not enough but at least you can buy porridge for your children.

No U.S. Aid to Zimbabwe Without Policy Changes

WASHINGTON — The United States said Friday it will resume major aid to Zimbabwe's new coalition government only after it proves it is changing President Robert Mugabe's ruinous policies and restoring human rights and democracy to its people.

Until then, said State Department spokesman Robert Wood, U.S. humanitarian aid will continue to those who are suffering, but the government so far is falling short of what is necessary for the United States and many other traditional foreign aid donors.

"We want to see real power-sharing; we want to see real commitment to human rights and democracy," Wood said. Meanwhile, U.S. aid still goes to people suffering from "the horrible impact of some very, very destructive economic policies" under Mugabe.

* AP