Nestle Zimbabwe Confirms Dairy Controlled by Mugabes Among Suppliers

Nestle Zimbabwe on Monday confirmed media reports that one of its milk suppliers is Gushungo Dairy Estates, controlled by Grace Mugabe, wife of the president.






Nestle Zimbabwe corporate media relations chief Robin Tickle said most of the company's contractual suppliers went out of business so it has been forced to buy milk on the open market - which includes milk from Gushungu Dairy Estates.





Press reports said Gushungu, about 50 kilometers north of Harare, was seized from a white owner under the land reform program that President Robert Mugabe launched in 2000.



Tickle said Gushungo provides 10-15% percent of Nestle's milk supply.



The spokesman said that despite the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe, Nestle has not moved its business outside the country and continues to provide food and jobs to Zimbabweans.



Although Nestle, based in Switzerland, is not bound by U.S. or European Union sanction, some have urged the company not to do business with the Mugabes.



Independent political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that although Nestle is not legally obliged to refuse to do business with the presidential family, it should not do so as a “matter of principal.”

Photo of Spanish PM's Daughters Highlights Privacy Concerns for World Leaders

Last week Barack and Michelle Obama hosted a reception for visiting foreign dignitaries at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Over the course of the evening, the president, whose "amazingly consistent" smile created a viral video, and first lady posed for over 130 photographs with their guests, all of which were later posted to the State Department's Flickr page.




This caused a problem: Included was a shot of the Obamas posing with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, his wife Sonsoles Espinosa, and two daughters, Laura, 16, and Alba, 13, who've never had photographs of themselves published previously in print or online due to a Spanish law prohibiting the media from doing so. The photo of Zapatero and his family with the Obamas was quickly removed from Flickr at the request of the Spanish government but still lurks online (in the shot seen here their faces are blurred). The flap is adding concerns on the issue of the privacy of world leaders' children in the digital age.



Writing on The Daily Beast today, Republican Senator John McCain's daughter Meghan expressed sympathy for the girls, who've been labeled as "goth" in the photo. She says she's also bewildered by the Spanish government's reaction

* Yahoo News

Zimbabwe: Will Jestina Mukoko Now Sue the State?

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has thrown out terror charges against peace activist Jestina Mukoko.




The ruling ends Mukoko's 10-month ordeal after being abducted by state agents in December last year.



The court also delivered a permanent stay of prosecution, adding Mukoko could not be charged again because she was tortured while in custody.



Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku delivered the ruling on Monday morning.



Mukoko was charged with plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's government — a crime she denied.



This ruling should stop the prosecution of a group of other MDC supporters and activists.



It remains to be seen if she will sue the state.
 
* Afrik

Zimbabwean NGOs: 'We’re Losing Confidence in Unity Govt’

HARARE – Zimbabwe civic society groups say the are increasingly losing confidence in the power-sharing government’s ability to solve the country’s problems because of the administration’s failure to quicken implementation of necessary political reforms.




“The inclusive government is gradually eroding our confidence in the arrangement’s ability to solve the problems that the country faces,” newly elected Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC) chairman Jonah Gokova said at the weekend.



The CZC is a coalition of human and civic rights groups, churches, women’s groups, labour and student movements that have campaigned for a peaceful and democratic settlement of Zimbabwe’s political crisis.



The pressure group said that the solution to Zimbabwe’s problems should not be left to the three political parties – President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF and the two MDC parties led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara – who signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the unity government in February.



“Our crisis is a crisis of governance and can not be resolved by political engagement alone but through an all inclusive process that involves all citizens of Zimbabwe,” Gokova told the organisation’s annual general meeting in Harare.



Zimbabwe’s unity government that is seen as offering the country the best opportunity in a decade to wriggle out of economic and political crisis has done well to stabilise the economy and end inflation that was estimated at more than a trillion percent at the height of the country’s economic meltdown last year.



But analysts remain doubtful about the administration’s long-term effectiveness, citing unending squabbles between ZANU PF and MDC as well as by the coalition government’s inability to secure direct financial support from rich Western nations.


* Zimonline

ASA Summit Demands End to Sanctions on Cuba and Zimbabwe

PORLAMAR, Venezuela (Xinhua) -- The presidents attending the second Africa-South America Summit (ASA), which ends on Sunday on Venezuelan resort island Margarita, publicly demanded the end of economic blockades on Cuba and Zimbabwe.



In his speech to the summit plenary, Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia, tabled a motion demanding an end to sanctions which affect those nations.



Banda's speech followed an impassioned one backing the same policy earlier in the plenary by host President Hugo Chavez, who said that his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe had become the target of an international campaign.



"I wish to give our moral, spiritual and political support to Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe," Chavez said. "They seek to make Mugabe pay for being anti-colonialist," he added.



In his speech, Mugabe said that Africa's industrial development had "been difficult because of a reliance on the very powers that colonized us," he said. "They do not want really to see us industrialized."



Mugabe has been in power since 1980, but suffered international criticism and sanctions following opposition party claims that his party rigged the 2000 election. The nation suffered hyperinflation during most of this decade, which Mugabe blames for sanctions. Some of these sanctions were lifted after he entered a unity government with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Own Secret Farms Exposed

Harare — Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has built a secret, personal farming empire from at least five farms where the white owners were forced out during the evictions of 4000 commercial farmers.

This is the first indication of how Mugabe benefited personally from the land seizures he ordered in 2000 that destroyed Zimbabwe's commercial agriculture, the bedrock of the economy.

The country, now living with a power-sharing government between Mugabe and his arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai, desperately needs to rebuild its shattered economy.

But Mugabe's private farming empire is an obstacle to the unity government and resurrection of agriculture, according to experts, because an audit of land ownership as part of structural reforms would expose the president's controversial control of about 3 000ha.

Many believe Mugabe's seizure of these farms is the primary reason he is stalling on the land audit the EU says it will fund.

Mugabe's private empire is in what used to be a district of intensive farming, Darwendale, about 48km north of Harare.

It began in 2000 with the normal commercial purchase of Highfield farm, a 495ha property near the communal area, Zvimba where Mugabe was born. About the same time, land seizures began all over Zimbabwe, when veterans of the liberation struggle began invading white-owned properties and forcing their owners to leave, often violently. A parallel official process was then launched by the government to take ownership of white-owned land.

* Cape Argus

Grace Mugabe's Dairy Farm in Deal With Nestlé

Grace Mugabe, the wife of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, owns dairy farms that sell up to a million litres of milk a year to food giant Nestlé, London's Sunday Telegraph reported.




Grace Mugabe took over six of the country's most valuable white-owned farms around 2002, the newspaper said.



Mugabe, his wife and other members of his administration are the subject of European Union and United States sanctions as a result of their controversial 29-year rule over once-prosperous Zimbabwe.



Nestlé, the multinational food company which is the largest customer of Grace Mugabe's dairy farm, is not obliged to comply with those sanctions as its headquarters are in Switzerland, the Telegraph said.



Switzerland has its own set of measures, but Nestlé insists it has not broken Swiss law.



On Saturday, the Daily Telegraph reported that Robert Mugabe himself had built up a secret personal farming empire including at least five white-owned farms from which the owners were forced out.



According to the Sunday Telegraph, Grace Mugabe's properties total about 4 856 hectares, but her most important is Gushungo Dairy Estate, formerly known as Foyle Farm. It is located in Mazowe, about 10km north of Harare.



The farm is managed by Russell Goreraza, her son from her first marriage.



Her biggest customer, according to her staff and other industry insiders, is Nestlé Zimbabwe, the local subsidiary of the Swiss company, the newspaper reported.
 
* M & G

Shoprite Pursues Zimbabwe Deal Despite Meikles Drama

Mugabe promises crumble promises crumble... ...but retail boss Wiese still upbeat about Africa. OK Bazaars is R166 million target, writes Rob Rose.




Shoprite is pressing ahead with talks for a R166-million purchase of Zimbabwe's largest food retailer, OK Bazaars, despite fears about the nationalisation of one of the country's oldest companies, Kingdom Meikles Africa (KMAL)


The KMAL saga shows that despite a 280% rise in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) this year, the risk of government expropriating assets remains high. It also casts doubt on President Robert Mugabe's claims at last week's Harare mining indaba that "property rights are sacrosanct".



However, Shoprite chairman Christo Wiese (pictured) told Business Times this week that while the KMAL case "does make investors wary, we've never had any threats ourselves". Wiese also chairs Pepkor, which has an established Zimbabwean business.



"We're like good Africans: we're confident a solution will be found, and we believe the whole of southern Africa will enter a new era over the next five to 10 years."



A team of Shoprite advisors has been in Harare in recent weeks to negotiate with OK Bazaars.



OK is valued at $45-million (R334-million) on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange according to Harare-based Renaissance Capital. Shoprite would need to pay R167-million (plus a small sweetener) for control. On Friday, OK renewed its warning to investors that it was still in "negotiations" with an unnamed party.



Wiese said he "cannot comment" on the OK negotiations.



Shoprite operates in 16 countries, including a small operation in Bulawayo. Any purchase of OK would throw it into competition with South African rival Pick n Pay, which has a 25% stake in TM Supermarkets - which, ironically, is controlled by KMAL.

Minister: Zimbabwe Should Seek HIPC Debt Relief

LONDON (Reuters) - Zimbabwe should aim to have its debt to international financial institutions cancelled by seeking access to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, a Zimbabwean minister said on Saturday.




Gorden Moyo, minister of state in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's office, said it would be immoral for Zimbabwe to pay off its debts to the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and African Development Bank when it could not pay teachers.



"We should be having conversations with the international financial institutions to get them to either reschedule our debt or to cancel our debt," he said, speaking at a Zimbabwe investment conference in London.



Moyo noted that the IMF and World Bank had launched the HIPC initiative in 1996 to help countries unable to pay their debts.



Some people did not want Zimbabwe classified as a heavily indebted poor country, "but that's what we are, if you look at our debt ratios, if you look at our economy", he said.



"We just need to be reclassified and get our debt cancelled. Once we get our debt cancelled, the country will begin to have access to World Bank resources," he said.



He said the move would also give Zimbabwe access to the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, which provides loans to low-income countries at subsidised rates.



"We will get the resources and we will get the credit lines and we can stabilise our economy," he said.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Address at UN Maybe Conciliatory

In an interview ahead of his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, President Robert Mugabe told Reuters that he is not expecting the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to immediately lift travel and financial sanctions on him and more than 200 other members of his ZANU-PF inner circle.




Despite the seemingly conciliatory tone of that comment, Mr. Mugabe was adamant that he would “never” replace Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono or Attorney General Johannes Tomana as the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been pressing him to do for months.



State radio carried a report Thursday blaming the MDC for the passage of the U.S Zimbabwe Democracy and Recovery Act of 2001 resulting in the imposition of travel and financial sanctions on top officials and related companies.



Political analyst Brilliant Mhlanga in London told reporter Ntungamili Nkomo of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Mr. Mugabe has very little chance of convincing the West to lift sanctions in his United Nations speech Friday.



In Harare, meanwhile, Prime Minister Tsvangirai briefed diplomats on the state of the unity government, telling them that the question of Western sanctions will be taken up by the cabinet when Mr. Mugabe returns from New York.

Zimbabwe's Meikles EGM Postponed Amid Chaos

Bloomberg -- Zimbabwe’s Kingdom Meikles Africa Ltd. postponed an emergency general meeting scheduled for today until an unspecified date, it said in an e-mailed statement.




The postponement follows a government order on Sept. 18 which put under state administration some of the company’s units, including Tanganda Tea Co., the country’s largest tea producer. Lawyers representing the Meikles family and John Moxon, the company’s biggest shareholders, have described the move as “null and void.”



Kingdom Meikles was scheduled to meet today to discuss the separation of Kingdom, a banking company, from Meikles Africa, which owns retail shops and hotels, as well as tea and cotton companies.



Armed riot police prevented the EGM from taking place, dispersing company executives who had arrived for the meeting, the Associated Press reported. Calls to the head offices of both Kingdom and Meikles weren’t answered when Bloomberg News called seeking comment.



The company was formed in January last year by combining Kingdom Financial Holdings Ltd. and Meikles Africa Ltd. The company said on June 26 that it would de-merge after disagreements between John Moxon, who had been the biggest shareholder in Meikles Africa, and Kingdom Meikles’ former Chief Executive Officer, Nigel Chanakira. It didn’t give further details.



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

Zimbabwe Hails Success of HIV Campaign

Harare - Zimbabwe on Thursday reported new progress in its fight against Aids, saying its HIV infection rate has declined to 13.7 percent of youths and adults, from an estimated 14.1 percent last year.




Health Minister Henry Madzorera said the rate was still too high, calling for concerted efforts to push the rate down into single digits.



"We have to redouble our efforts and commitment and keep the sense of hope that indeed one day we will get to the single digit prevalence," Madzorera said, according to the state-run NewZiana news agency.



The figure estimates the percentage of people aged 15 to 49 who have HIV.


Zimbabwe is one of the few countries in the world to have recorded a sharp decline in its HIV prevalence rate, down from a high of 33 percent in 1999.



The drop is attributed to government and donor-backed prevention campaigns, but also to the nation's economic collapse, which has made it more difficult for people to maintain multiple sexual partners.



The country is struggling to care for people with Aids because of severe shortages of antiretroviral drugs. About 60 000 people receive the drugs, only one-fifth of those who need them.

* IOL

Zimbabwe Central Bank Chief, Finance Minister Clash Over IMF Funds

Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti on Tuesday dismissed a request by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono for the principals in the unity government to intervene in a dispute between the two men over the use of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars that the International Monetary Fund recently made available to the country.




The special credit line of US$510 million was extended under a Group of 20 facility to help developing countries deal with the impact of the global economic downturn.



Gono reportedly said President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime minister Arthur Mutambara - head of a rival MDC grouping - should instruct Biti to tap the US$510 million line to step up the pace of economic recovery.



Mr. Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement for Democratic Change, of which Biti is secretary general, has been demanding the removal of Gono from his post at the central bank, but Mr. Mugabe, who reappointed Gono in late 2008, has adamantly refused to do so.



The finance minister earlier said that if Zimbabwe, which has US$5.7 billion in external debt, drew on the credit line, it would do so in order to rebuild the national infrastructure

MDC T Sets Condition for Next Zimbabwe Polls

The Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said it would agree to elections in 2011 if only there is a new constitution in place, an independent electoral commission and if the rule of law is re-established.




The MDC was reacting to Mr. Mugabe’s call for ZANU-PF to be ready for elections in 2011.



Mr. Mugabe told his party’s women’s league late last week that elections should be held within 24 months of when a new constitution is in place - which could happen by late 2010.



MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that his party will only start campaigning after the new constitution is approved.



Political analyst John Makumbe said that if the draft constitution is rejected by the people in an eventual referendum, ZANU-PF could then pull out of the unity government and demand elections on the basis of the existing constitution.

* VoA

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Expected to Demand Lifting of Sanctions in UN Address

President Robert Mugabe was in New York on Monday to attend the United Nations General Assembly where he was scheduled to speak on Friday in an address analysts said is very likely to reiterate his demand that Western targeted sanctions or restrictions be lifted.




Mr. Mugabe flew into New York on Sunday with his wife Grace and several other senior government officials from his ZANU-PF party including Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi. The U.S travel ban on Mr. Mugabe doesn’t apply to U.N events.



Cape Town-based political analyst Glen Mpani told reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that he expects Mr. Mugabe to ramp up his rhetoric against the United States and Britain despite, in the former case, a new leadership, and again demand that the West lift its sanctions.

Zimbabwe’s Econet to Spend Further $30 Million on 3G Network

Bloomberg) -- Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Ltd., Zimbabwe’s biggest mobile phone operator, will spend a further $30 million expanding its third-generation network, the company said today.

Demand for 3G services has “completely surpassed all projections,” Douglas Mboweni, Econet Zimbabwe’s chief executive officer, said on the company’s Web site.



Third-generation technology will be rolled out to all parts of Zimbabwe by December, Mboweni said. The expansion was authorized by parent company Econet Wireless Holdings Ltd., the statement added.



Econet Zimbabwe launched 3G services in the capital, Harare, last month. The company said Aug. 3 that it would spend $94 million expanding its network.



Econet competes with state-owned NetOne and Orascom Telecom Holdings SAE-owned Telecel in Zimbabwe. It has 52 percent of the Zimbabwean market, according to the company’s Web site.



The operator has mobile networks in several African nations and in New Zealand, and a satellite business in Europe.



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

Biti: Zimbabwe to Use IMF Funds to Rebuild Infrastructure

Zimbabwe Finance Minister Tendai Biti says the hundreds of millions of dollars pledged by the International Monetary Fund earlier this month will be used to rebuild the country's infrastructure.

Earlier this month, Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono made a statement through the partisan public media saying Zimbabwe had been awarded $500 million from the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF said the money, in the form of special drawing rights that have to be sold to turn it into cash, was allocated to Zimbabwe and 185 other IMF countries in a one-time loan to help them cope with the world recession.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti says he is in close contact continuously with the IMF, and after consultations has decided that as bilateral aid is not forthcoming, he will use the IMF money to rebuild schools, hospitals, roads, railways and communications.

Since becoming the unity government finance minister, Biti has eliminated the Zimbabwe dollar and introduced U.S. dollars and the South African rand to stabilize the economy.

In an interview in a weekly newsletter published by the unity government's prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, Biti hinted at tension between himself and Gono. In a clear reference to the financial chaos of the previous ZANU-PF administration he said Zimbabwe's era of what he called 'Zombie' economics were over, as was the "era of of the state acting as the arena for personal enrichment."

He described the previous administration as a "kleptocracy" and said he would ensure the IMF's once-time award was used for the benefit of the people as a whole and not individuals.

Gono, who has been widely accused of usurping the finance ministry's powers before the inclusive government was sworn into power in February, was responsible for the printing of large amounts of money and triggering the record-breaking inflation that crippled the economy last year.

* VoA

Zimbabwe to Keep Seizing White-Owned Farms

Bloomberg -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will continue to seize all remaining white-owned farms, South Africa’s Times newspaper reported, citing a “closely-guarded” document in its possession.
At least 223 white farmers are being prosecuted for failing to vacate their farms, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said on its Web site. The farms include land owned by foreigners, the Times added. At least one farmer has been “savagely assaulted” by self-styled war veterans loyal to Mugabe, it reported.
Calls to Zimbabwe’s agriculture ministry and police headquarters weren’t picked up when Bloomberg News sought comment today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Durban at blatham@bloomberg.net.

Tsvangirai Wing of Zimbabwe's MDC Launches Unity Consultations

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement for Democratic Change on Saturday was to launch a campaign of meetings and rallies to sound out party supporters on whether the MDC should stay in the national unity government.
Party sources said its national council and executive broke ranks with Mr. Tsvangirai pushing for a process that could lead to the formation pulling out of the unity government - though most observers doubt Mr. Tsvangirai himself is inclined to take that route.
Despite progress on the economic front, health and schools, the unity government has been troubled from its inception in February by lingering disagreements over top posts and other vexed questions, as well as by official prosecutions of MDC members of Parliament.

Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that nine rallies and 35 ward-level consultations in six provinces are scheduled to help the party map its way forward on unity government participation.

* VoA

Zimbabwe Aims to Attract $16 Billion to Mine Industry

(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe plans to implement “rational” mining royalties and taxes and to deregulate mineral marketing to attract as much as $16 billion in investment by 2018, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said.

Zimbabwe will review its Mines and Minerals Act by the end of the year and aim to conclude investment guarantees with other countries, Tsvangirai said in an e-mailed copy of a speech made today to a mining conference in the capital, Harare. The government is trying to help the country recover from a decade- long recession that ended this year.

“Zimbabwe’s mining sector presents the most immediate opportunity to attract significant investment,” said Tsvangirai, who once worked at an Anglo American Plc nickel mine. “This government, in conjunction with the mining industry, has a window of opportunity to prepare a conducive policy environment by mid-2010.”

Companies have been deterred from investing in Zimbabwe, which has the world’s second-biggest platinum and chrome reserves, due to the economic collapse, political instability, threats of nationalization and a planned law to compel foreign mining companies to sell 51 percent of their assets to black Zimbabweans.

In February President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, set up a coalition government after intervention by the Southern African Development Community of neighboring states to end a 10-year political crisis.

Zimbabwe Diamond Output Could be Higher

HARARE (Reuters) - The head of global miner Rio Tinto's diamond unit in Zimbabwe said on Thursday the operation could produce six times its current output, but the country's economic climate was not conducive for investment.


Niels Kristensen, head of Murowa, Rio Tinto's diamond mine in the southern African country said the group produced 260,000 carats in its last financial year, but this could soar if the country brought certainty to the mining sector.

"I cannot give an indication on when we will start (expansion), but the investment climate in Zimbabwe needs greater clarity," Kristensen told Reuters on the sidelines of a mining conference in the capital Harare.

"I hope it will be sooner rather than later that we can get clarity and greater certainty so we can consider expansion of Murowa. We are looking at a potential expansion of sixfold the current production," he said in an interview.

Zimbabwe is holding the conference as part of efforts by a new power-sharing government to attract mining companies to invest into a sector shunned by foreign investors over fears that their businesses could be expropriated.

Kristensen said he was impressed that the country was keen to improve its mining sector, but more needed to be done to resolve uncertainty on the mining law, monetary and fiscal policies and marketing arrangements.

Following the collapse of commercial agriculture, mining has emerged as the top foreign currency earner, with gold alone raking in a third of total export earnings.

Analysts say uncertainty over policies was likely to hold back big new mining investments in Zimbabwe for years.

Highlanders Names Egypt's Mohammed Fathy Its New Coach

Highlanders Football Club has named Mohammed Fathy of Egypt as coach, replacing Madinda Ndlovu, who left two weeks ago with the team out of the running for the 2009 title.

Fathy will be assisted by Philani Mabhena and Peter Nkomo, club officials said.

Highlanders Chairman Themba Ndlela told reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the new coach will help Highlanders, currently ranked sixth out of 16 Premier Soccer League teams, fight off relegation and rebuild for 2010.


* VoA

Freak Snake Stories on the Rise in Zimbabwe

If you want to make quick money but at considerable risk just grab a snake and fly over to Zimbabwe. In the last three weeks a strange phenomenon has been occurring where people claiming to be prophets have been swindling unsuspecting and suffering Zimbabweans of their hard earned cash.

On Wednesday, a 27 year old man, Vincent Mashaire was found with a huge snake stashed in his jacket at Avondale shopping centre in Harare. Mashaire was masquerading as a prophet at Avondale shopping centre as he approached unsuspecting people telling them that there was a dangerous snake at their homes and that he has supernatural powers to have it removed.
One woman who Mashaire targeted got suspicious and reported the man to the police. The police then searched Mashaire only to find a live snake in his jacket.
Police say the man had intended to safely sneak the snake into the woman’s house and pretend to remove it in the cleansing ceremony and later demand “huge amounts” for the work done. But Mashaire told police that he intended to take it to his rural home where he was to burn it and use the ashes for ritual purposes.
The incident follows the discovery of a man at the oldest township in Harare, Mbare who was found with a snake in his bag. He claimed he inherited the snake from his late grandfather in 1985, suggesting that the venomous reptile would have been in his possesion for the last 24 years.
He was arrested and appeared in court facing charges of contravening the Parks and Wildlife Act and the snake was taken to Parks and Wildlife authorities.

And only a week ago in an incident that shocked travelers at Beitbridge Border Post, an approximately 1,5 metre long cobra sent a bus crew and passengers scurrying for cover after it was discovered inside a Gweru bound bus.
Zimbabwean Police with the help of their South African counterparts had to throw teargas into the bus which forced the snake out before it was killed. It is not known if the snake was intentionally carried into the bus.
* Afrik

Australia Considers Easing Zimbabwe Sanctions

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will consider easing a ban on high level contacts with Zimbabwe, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said on Tuesday, adding it was too soon to end targeted sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's regime.

Smith, in a statement to parliament, said Australia would also contribute an extra A$8 million ($6.9 million) in aid to Zimbabwe to fund emergency food supplies, agriculture projects and help reinvigorate education.

Smith said more needed to be done to restore democracy and human rights in the country, and to fully implement the power sharing agreement signed a year ago between Mugabe and his political rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now Prime Minister.

"Much more significant progress will be required before the Australian Government undertakes any broader review of Australia's sanctions with respect to Zimbabwe," he said.

The slight easing comes after a European Union delegation visited Zimbabwe and said relations were entering a new phase, although full cooperation hinged on the implementation of the power sharing deal and an end to rights abuses.

Smith said there were growing signs of hope and optimism in Zimbabwe, with major improvements to the country's economy and health system, as well as lower levels of political violence.

Australia in 2002 banned direct ministerial contact with government ministers in Zimbabwe, and in 2004 imposed travel and financial-transaction bans on members of Mugabe's regime and senior supporters.

Australia also tightened scrutiny of student visas for the children of senior Zimbabwean government officials.
It was now time for Canberra to consider working with some Zimbabwean government ministries and to look at direct ministerial engagement with some government members, Smith said.

"Australia will consider opportunities for ministerial engagement on a selective case-by-case basis with those ministers of the Zimbabwean government who we judge to be making a real and genuine contribution to Zimbabwe's social and economic recovery," he said.

Zimbabwe's Cara Black and Partner Beaten by Williams Sisters at US Open

Zimbabwean tennis player Cara Black and her American doubles partner Liezel Huber lost to the American sisters Venus and Serena Williams in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2 on Monday in the U.S. Open women's doubles finals at Flushing Meadows in New York City.
Black and Huber defeated Australians Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur Sunday but were no match for the William sisters who won their 10th career Grand Slam doubles - their first in New York. The doubles final was delayed by rain.
Though the Williams sisters also defeated Black and Huber at Wimbledon this spring, tennis Zimbabwean tennis fan Eric Tshapedi of Harare earlier told reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye that he hoped his countrywoman Black and her partner might obtain an edge if Serena Williams let her temperament get the best of her.
The Williams sister made headlines during a Saturday singles match when she vociferously took a line judge to task for a call, incurring a penalty.

* VoA

PM Tsvangirai Seeks to Ease Doubts on Zimbabwe's Unity Govt

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — Thousands of supporters of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai rallied Sunday to celebrate his party's 10th anniversary, as he sought to reassure them on the new unity government.
Traditional dancers in feathered masks, a capella choirs and Zimbabwean pop bands performed ahead of the party leader's speech in a stadium in Bulawayo, the country's second city and a bastion of support for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).


The rally came as an EU delegation wrapped up a two-day visit to Zimbabwe, the first in seven years, following rare talks Saturday with long-ruling President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe formed a power-sharing government in February, but remain bitterly split over appointments to key posts and claims of official persecution against MDC activists.
But for most Zimbabweans, life has improved this year after the government abandoned the local currency, worthless after years of hyperinflation, and eased price controls that have allowed shops to restock food and businesses to slowly resume operations.
"We are now free. We can work, we can eat. Now we can eat bread," said Gladys Sengwayo, a 44-year-old who brought her infant granddaughter and three other family members to the rally.
"Last year, we were suffering. Some people died at home. We had nothing to eat," she said.
Shops across the country closed their doors last year, unable to replenish stocks, while crops failed across the country, leaving nearly seven million people in need of food aid -- more than half the country.
This year, the UN estimates less than three million people will need food aid, while businesses are slowly resuming operations, though most of the population remains deeply impoverished.
"I know that taking the step to join this government was not easy," Tsvangirai told his party's top leaders late Saturday.
"But it is a step in the right direction. We remain committed to the ideals of real change, and real change will come to Zimbabwe," he said.

* AFP

Zimbabwe Releases 1,500 Inmates to Relieve Prison System Overcrowding

Zimbabwean prison authorities on Friday freed more than 1,500 inmates pardoned by President Robert Mugabe under an initiative intended to relieve pressure on the overcrowded penal system.
Justice Ministry sources said most of those freed from prisons including the Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare were women and juveniles, but also included men serving sentences of 20 years or more for nonviolent crimes. No one convicted of murder or rape was liberated, officials said.
The mass pardon and release was motivated by the deterioration of prison conditions to the point where the system could no longer basic food, water, health and clothing needs of prisoners.
The human rights group Amnesty International said at least 1,000 thousand prisoners died in the first half of this year in Zimbabwe's overcrowded prisons. Cells had become breeding grounds for communicable diseases including cholera and tuberculosis, the organization said.
Chief Executive Edson Chihota of the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender welcomed the move to improve prison conditions, but said the general lack of resources in the country could hamper the reintegration into society of those set free this week.

* VoA

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Welcomes EU With "Open Arms"

HARARE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe on Saturday told the first top-level European Union delegation to visit Zimbabwe in seven years he hoped for successful talks.


"We welcome you with open arms. We hope our talks will be fruitful with a positive outcome," he said.
Mugabe's positive tone may suggest he is more willing to cooperate with Western power crucial for Zimbabwe's efforts to secure billions of dollars in aid and foreign investment.

SA Lobbies EU to End Targetted Sanctions on Zimbabwe

HARARE, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has reiterated its call for the European Union to drop illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe ahead of a landmark trip by a delegation from Brussels to Harare on Saturday.


Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will meet the three-man high-level EU delegation as part of continued efforts to thaw relations between Zimbabwe and the EU, The Herald said.


The visit of the troika is the first at such level since the EU imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in a bid to influence the outcome of the 2002 presidential election.
South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday met Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the EU presidency.
According to The Herald, differences over Zimbabwe overshadowed the meeting with South Africa determined to push for an end to sanctions although the Swedish premier insisted the bloc was not ready to lift the embargo.
Zuma and other SADC leaders called, during a recent summit in Kinshasa, for an end to the sanctions and he made it clear that he would push the same demand with Prime Minister Reinfeldt.
"We are saying both of us understand where SADC comes from and where the EU comes from. But we are saying precisely because of that we need to engage so we can try and persuade the EU to lift sanctions," President Zuma said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Reinfeldt said the meeting with President Zuma would afford him an opportunity to learn more about the situation in Zimbabwe.
He said the visit was not in preparation for the lifting of sanctions against Harare. "I want to be clear: the EU is not prepared (for) lifting the restrictions we have on Zimbabwe," he said at a public address in Johannesburg on Thursday.

SADC Reviews Zimbabwe Power-Sharing Deal

HARARE – Southern African leaders will review Zimbabwe's shaky power-sharing government at a summit that begins in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today, regional chairman South Africa said at the weekend.
The political crisis in the host country as well as strife in the Indian ocean island of Madagascar will also come up for discussion at the two-day 29th summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).


South Africa, which will handover the regional chair to DRC, said in a statement: "The summit will consider the report from the chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation on the political situation in the region, with specific focus on Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
“Furthermore, the summit will reflect on the report of the ministerial task force on regional economic integration, particularly on the impact of the global financial crisis and the region’s response thereto; the status of implementation of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA); and the proposed SADC Customs Union."

The summit in the DRC comes two weeks after outgoing chairperson South African President Jacob Zuma visited Zimbabwe to discuss the country’s power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, Primer Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara.

During the visit Zuma urged Western nations targeted sanctions against Mugabe and top leaders of his ZANU PF party. But the South African President also called on Zimbabwe’s political leaders to "to speed up implementation and to find solutions to disagreements" threatening the six-month-old Harare unity government

Tsvangirai's MDC accuses Mugabe's ZANU PF of failing to honour an agreement to reverse the appointments of political allies to the key posts of central bank governor and attorney general.

On the other hand ZANU PF insists it has done the most to uphold the power-sharing deal and instead accuses the MDC of reneging on promises to campaign for lifting of Western sanctions on Mugabe and his allies.
* Zimonline

African Leaders to Step up Calls for End to Zimbabwe Sanctions

KINSHASA, Congo (Reuters) — African leaders will step up calls on Monday for an end to Western sanctions against Zimbabwe and will urge South Africa to plead Zimbabwe’s cause within the Group of 20 industrial and emerging nations, officials said.

The countries of the Southern African Development Community will also press Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, and its prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, to end their long dispute over a power-sharing pact that was holding up vital foreign aid, the officials said.

“We are convinced that if sanctions are lifted, Zimbabwe, within the framework of its current political agreement, will have the possibility to move toward development,” said Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba of Congo.

“We will also ask South Africa, which is the only sub-Saharan African country that is a member of the G20, to plead for Zimbabwe’s cause,” said Mr. Mwamba, whose country is taking over the chairmanship of the development community and is hosting its summit meeting in Kinshasa starting Monday.

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa is being watched for signs he will take a tougher line toward Mr. Mugabe than did his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki. Mr. Mugabe has been the target of sanctions by the European Union and the United States, including a travel ban, based on accusations of rights abuses and vote-rigging.

Last month, Mr. Zuma called on the West to repeal the sanctions. But in what sounded like a stronger stance on Mr. Mugabe, he also stressed the need for respect for democracy and human rights.

A recovery in Zimbabwe’s battered economy is important for South Africa because millions of Zimbabweans have fled to neighboring South Africa in search of work. Zimbabwe says it needs $10 billion in foreign reconstruction aid, but Western nations are reluctant to release aid without political and economic reforms.

Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai, longtime foes, formed a power-sharing government in February as part of a deal, backed by the regional development community, to end a political crisis that followed disputed elections last year.

The agreement called for Mr. Tsvangirai to condemn the sanctions and call for them to be dropped, as the development community’s 15 member countries have pledged to do.

Zimbabwe Constitution Committee Goes on Strike

HARARE — Zimbabwe's parliamentary committee tasked with drafting a new constitution, meant to pave the way to fresh elections, has gone on strike after government failed to pay their allowances, reports said Sunday.
The strike by the 25-member committee has halted work on the charter, which must be redrawn under the terms of the power-sharing agreement that created the unity government in February.
"The select committee does not even have a dollar and this is affecting our functions," Paul Mangwana, the committee's co-chairman, told the state-run Sunday Mail.
"We have said unless government gives us the resources it would be pointless to plan. We are just wasting the time of members, some of whom have to travel to Harare (for meetings)."
He said members last received their allowances in April and were using personal resources to support the constitution drafting process.
The UN Development Programme has provided two million US dollars to the committee, but Mangwana indicated more money was needed and said nothing had come from the government.
"We expect government to provide the funds. Donors cannot largely provide the funds because this would make the process donor-driven," he said.
In April, the speaker of parliament announced a 25-member committee drawn from both President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.
Under the power-sharing deal, the committee should table a draft constitution by February 2010, with a referendum to approve it in July.
The draft would have to be introduced to parliament by October next year. The new charter would establish the rules for holding new elections, after last year's polls degenerated into violent attacks targetting mainly MDC supporters.
Zimbabwe held a constitutional referendum in 2000 but the proposal was rejected as critics said the published draft gave Mugabe too many powers.
That led to a wave of farm invasions in which commercial farmers were pushed off the land, accused by Mugabe supporters of having lobbied against the proposal.
Representatives from rights groups, churches, the media, women's groups, labour and the farming community will help the committee's members draft the new constitution.

* AFP

SADC Urged to Push Harare to End Abuses

HARARE – Southern African leaders should pressure Zimbabwe's power-sharing government to end ongoing human rights violations, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released ahead of a key regional summit next week that will discuss the six-month old Harare administration.

Heads of state and government from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold their annual summit meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on September 7 and 8.



The 20-page HRW report, "False Dawn: The Zimbabwe Power-Sharing Government's Failure to Deliver Human Rights Improvements," highlights the transitional government's lack of progress in rights reforms in the six months since it was created.

President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party has demonstrated a lack of political will to effect change and wields more power than the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations headed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara, the report said.

Police, state prosecutors, and court officials aligned to ZANU PF conduct politically motivated prosecutions of MDC legislators and activists, and fail to ensure justice for victims of abuses or to hold perpetrators of human rights violations to account.

"Southern African leaders should stop looking at Zimbabwe through rose-colored glasses," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director of HRW. "The region's leaders need to press Zimbabwe openly and publicly for human rights reforms to prevent the country from backsliding into state-sponsored violence and chaos."

At the summit meeting, heads of state are also expected to assess Zimbabwe's compliance with a number of rulings by the SADC Tribunal on illegal land seizures in Zimbabwe.

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, the organisation's current chairman, is also expected to brief leaders on the progress made by Zimbabwe's power-sharing government, which has been in place since February.

* Zimonline

Top-Level Zimbabwe Talks Put Off As President Mugabe Heads to African Summit

A meeting of the senior figures in Zimbabwe's national unity government to seek resolution of divisive outstanding issues, urged by South African President Jacob Zuma during his two-day flying mediation visit last week, failed to take place on Monday because President Robert Mugabe had left the country for an African Union summit in Tripoli, Libya.


Mr. Zuma, set to relinquish his position as chairman of the Southern African Development Community at a SADC summit next week in the Democratic Republic of Congo, told President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara that they could resolve the issues troubling their government if they put their minds to it.

If they could not resolve those issues on their own, Mr. Zuma said, they would be referred to the regional heads of state. SADC is a guarantor of the power-sharing pact.

Political sources told VOA that the three principals will meet later this week, but voiced doubts whether President Mugabe would finally agree to name a new Reserve Bank governor and attorney general the Movement for Democratic Change has been demanding.

The sources said ZANU-PF was digging in as well on the swearing-in of provincial governors, ambassadors and other officials nominated some time ago by the MDC.

Political analyst John Makumbe, a professor at the University of Zimbabwe, told reporter Ntungamili Nkomo of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that despite the push from Mr. Zuma he does not expect the principals to agree before the Sept. 7-8 SADC summit.

* VoA

Vacancies Accumulate in Zimbabwe Parliament Amid Uncertainty How to Fill Them

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Chairman George Chiweshe said in an interview published on Monday by the state-run Herald newspaper that his panel was not in a position to organize by-elections to fill parliamentary vacancies because it lacks the funds to do so.

But observers noted that it is not clear whether Chiweshe's commission is even authorized to oversee elections, as it is to be superseded by a new electoral body yet to be appointed.


Chiweshe said his commission has been informed of eight vacancies in the House of Assembly and four in the Senate due to deaths or party disciplinary actions.

VOA was unable to reach Chiweshe for further comment. His panel was widely considered to have discredited itself in conducting March 2008 elections, when parliamentary results were slowly eked out and presidential first-round results took more than a month to be announced amid suspicion they had been tampered with to force a June presidential runoff.

President Robert Mugabe claimed re-election in that runoff after then-opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, withdrew to protest post-election violence.

The vacancies raise a number of thorny issues. For one thing, the parties to the September 2008 Global Political Agreement stipulated that they would not contest seats vacated during the first year of the agreement - but non-signing parties are not bound by the clause thus independent candidates could insist on a by-election and challenge the incumbent party.

That clause expires Sept. 15, the one-year anniversary of the GPA's signature, but there is said to be discussion among the governing partners of extending that standstill pact.

With respect to Chiweshe's panel, some express doubt whether his electoral commission has any authority as a reformed commission authorized by Amendment 19 to the constitution of Zimbabwe is overdue to be established through the appointment of its members.

Senate seats to be filled include Gokwe South, vacated when Jaison Machaya was appointed governor and resident minister of Midlands Province. The Chiredzi seat is also vacant due to the appointment of Titus Maluleke as governor of eastern Masvingo Province.

The Bindura North and Mutare North seats in the House were left empty by the deaths of ZANU-PF members Elliot Manyika and Charles Pemhenayi, respectively.

And the Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has expelled several of its lawmakers for breaching party discipline.

National Director Rindai Chipfunde-Vava of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that elections must be held soon because the non-representation of constituencies tends to undermine democracy.

* VoA