Zim to remain mired in debt for 10 years – IMF
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Saturday, May 16, 2009 1:50:01 AM
ZIMBABWE'S economy may this year grow by 2.8 per cent if the country can access at least US$200 million in balance of payment support, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. A detailed report entitled Staff Report: Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion released on Tuesday, however, says Zimbabwe will remain mired in debt for another 10 years, even as the economy returns to growth.
It estimates that Zimbabwe, which shrank by 14.1 per cent last year, would grow by as much as 2.8 per cent this year and by at least six per cent in subsequent years if it can receive a minimum of US$200 million in budgetary aid.
The report says Zimbabwe's economic turnaround would not be possible without foreign assistance and private capital inflows, even assuming sound policy implementation.
It says for real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to turn positive in 2009, official budget support of at least US$200 million [six per cent of GDP] would need to be mobilized in addition to sound policies.
“Furthermore, humanitarian assistance in the areas of food relief, health, and education may need to increase by US$200, US$300 million in 2009,” it says.
However, the IMF notes that despite a brighter short-term macroeconomic outlook, Zimbabwe will not be able to discharge its external debt service obligations in 2009.
"The Zimbabwe authorities have expressed their commitment to improve cooperation on payments to the Fund. Zimbabwe's cooperation on payments has remained poor...In light of Zimbabwe's very limited payment capacity, it would be difficult for the country to make significant payments to the Fund under the current circumstances," it states.
However, Zimbabwe has committed to regular payments to the IMF of about US $100,000 per quarter starting with the next Fund financial quarter.
Last week, the IMF resumed its technical assistance to Zimbabwe, which is likely to help in strengthening the country's capacity in resolving its arrears to the IMF.
"Assuming relatively optimistic assumptions on policies and the external environment, the present value of external debt-to-exports ratio is expected to persist above 250 per cent for almost a decade," the report says.
Debt will decline from a peak of more than 200 per cent of gross domestic product in 2010 to about 150 per cent a decade later, it adds.
Zimbabwe has so far raised about US $1 billion in credit lines from African countries that will be used to restore productivity in private and state-owned companies.
These include US$428 million from Afreximbank and the PTA Bank and about US$400 million from SADC and COMESA countries.
In April, finance minister Tendai Biti said the country needed about US $8.3 billion to restore the economy to 1998 levels.
Labels: IMF, ZIMABWE
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U.N. Zimbabwe Measure Vetoed by Russia, China
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 12, 2008; Page A09
UNITED NATIONS, July 11 -- Russia and China on Friday vetoed a U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and sanctioned President Robert Mugabe and his top advisers for rigging the country's presidential elections.
Russian and Chinese envoys said U.N. sanctions amounted to
unwarranted interference in Zimbabwe's domestic affairs and would have threatened preliminary talks between Mugabe's government and representatives of his chief political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, to resolve the country's crisis.
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly I. Churkin, belittled the U.S. initiative as
a scheme to use the U.N. Security Council -- which deals with threats to international peace and security --
to punish its political opponents. "We have seen
an ever more obvious attempt to take the council beyond its prerogative," Churkin said.
"We consider such action to be illegitimate and dangerous. . . .
We intend to continue countering this trend." The United States and Britain assailed the veto, saying it would hurt efforts to bring democracy to Zimbabwe. "China and Russia have stood with Mugabe against the people of Zimbabwe," Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said after the U.S. draft was blocked.
Khalilzad reserved his harshest criticism for Russia, saying it had reneged on its July 8 commitment at a Group of Eight summit to introduce "financial and other measures against those individuals responsible for violence" in Zimbabwe. "The Russian performance here today raises questions about its reliability as a G-8 partner," he said.
Churkin reacted forcefully to a similar charge by Britain's U.N. ambassador, John Sawers. The Russian envoy said it was "irresponsible and factually incorrect" to claim Russia committed to U.N. sanctions at the G-8 summit. He said the statement made no mention of Security Council action.
The United States and Britain mustered the nine votes required for the resolution to pass in the 15-nation council. The measure would have imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and 13 senior military and civilian advisers. South Africa, Libya and Vietnam also voted against the resolution. Indonesia abstained.
South Africa led opposition to the resolution, arguing that
efforts to punish Mugabe would undercut efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate a power-sharing agreement between the Zimbabwean government and opposition -- an argument that even some of Mugabe's African critics supported. "The political option should take precedence over the punitive option," Tanzania's U.N. ambassador, Augustine P. Mahiga, told the council.
But Khalilzad countered that Mbeki is "working hand-in-glove" with Mugabe. Khalilzad said that Mugabe has used violence to fragment the opposition while Mbeki has used diplomacy to do the same.
Labels: SANCTIONS, UN, ZIMABWE
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Market plan for farmers ideal
Herald Reporter
JUNE 30 was a black day for Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe when 14 farmers perished after their truck veered off a bridge and plunged into Nyaitenga River near Nyadire Mission in Mutoko. JUNE 30 was a black day for Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe when 14 farmers perished after their truck veered off a bridge and plunged into Nyaitenga River near Nyadire Mission in Mutoko. Among the deceased were five members from one family who have all since been laid to rest. We join the nation in mourning these departed lives.
What is sad, as was highlighted at the burial, is that these people died on their way to the market to fend for their families. These are the same farmers who have been supplying city residents with vegetables and tomatoes. Their death therefore is a big loss, not only to their families, but to the nation as a whole. To avoid such tragic accidents in future, vegetable farmers should have separate transport like buses to ferry them to Mbare Musika. Trucks should only carry produce.
It is a sad situation when you see farmers crammed together on top of vegetable crates in lorries. This should be avoided at all costs. Police should discourage such overloading by transporters who carry farmers from Mudzi, Mutoko and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe. The overloading is a recipe for disaster. However, there is something fundamentally wrong with our economic planning if farmers have to travel all the way from Mutoko with their vegetables when trade could be done at a centralised place in Mutoko.
Wholesale vegetable and fruit buyers from Harare should be the ones trucking produce from Mutoko to the city with no farmers on board. In this modern day and age, we should not be seeing farmers precariously hanging on top of produce boxes loaded on lorries bringing tomatoes and other vegetables into town.
Several plans have to be drawn up to establish canning plants for processing the vast amount of tomatoes and mangoes produced in this area. Most of these plans are gathering dust somewhere. We also wonder what happened to another plan drawn up some years back to establish a market place near the city centre that would be a marketing and distribution point for agricultural produce from new farmers around Harare.
This marketplace was supposed to complement Mbare Musika, the capital’s hub of trade in agricultural produce for decades. We know Harare City Council are doing their best to improve Mbare Musika when they came up with the "Varimi" market place in Mbare. But this is overcrowded. The place looks unhygienic as produce is dumped on the ground hence the call for another marketplace. Stretches of land on the outskirts of the city are also ideal for other big markets, which should be properly set up with clean water supplies, public toilets and dumping places for stale fruits or vegetables.
Labels: FARMERS, LOCAL MARKETS, MBARE MUSIKA, ZIMABWE
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African Sun on expansion drive
Business Reporter
AFRICAN Sun Limited has unveiled a massive programme to expand its hotels and pursue secondary listing on regional and international stock exchanges within the next three to five years. In its half-year results for the period to March 31, 2008 released last Tuesday, the group said it intends to use money raised from the secondary listing to meet its expansion programmes.
To this end, African Sun was considering listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Botswana Stock Exchange, the Mauritian Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
It said its expansion programme within the country was progressing well with the construction of a new hotel in Beitbridge expected to start in this half of the financial year.
In addition, the group said enhancement of entertainment facilities at Elephant Hills was set to start during the current period.
For the half-year, African Sun reported $133 trillion net profit in historical cost terms.
The group’s revenue grew by 155 363 percent to $98 trillion while operating costs rose to $52 trillion.
The Zimbabwean operations contributed 84 percent to the group’s revenue while regional operations contributed the remaining 16 percent.
Hotel occupancy for the group grew from 38 percent achieved in the prior period to close at 47 percent in the current period.
African Sun however, said its performance was weighed down by price controls and the impact of elections on the industry.
To mitigate against this, the group said it would seek to increase the ratio of regional contributions to 75 percent in the outlook period.
Meanwhile, the group says it plans to increase rooms under its management outside Zimbabwe by more than 1 500 percent within the next six months.
Rooms under its management outside the country were expected to increase from the current 73 to 1 200 by the end of the year.
Management said it had already added two hotels to the group which include a 151-roomed conference hotel in Johannesburg and a 159-roomed facility in Nigeria, the Obudu Ranch Resort.
In addition, the group said preparations for the opening in August this year of Clear Essence California Resort and Spa in Lagos are at an advanced stage.
Refurbishment of another hotel in Kano is expected to be completed before year-end.
The redevelopment and re-branding of a hotel in Arusha, Tanzania, to Holiday Inn was progressing satisfactorily.
Elsewhere, the group said considerable progress had been made towards the establishment of the first hotel school in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea.
The school was being established in partnership with the Equatorial Guinea Government.
The group also advised that the process of constructing a 160-roomed hotel in Gaborone had commenced and was scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2010.
Labels: AFRICAN SUN LIMITED, ZIMABWE
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Zim: Battleground for true Uhuru
Herald Reporter
THE presidential election run-off in Zimbabwe should not be viewed as a simple election but the last battle between Western imperialism and absolute African liberation.
President Mugabe has become the epicentre of resistance against the express exploitation of Africa’s rich resources by the West.
It would be foolhardy for anyone to believe that the election is only between President Mugabe and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai because in essence the tried and tested ultimate warrior President Mugabe is the last bastion of African resistance against colonialism and neo-colonialism.
On the other hand, the West supports Tsvangirai because they see him as a man they can easily manipulate to gain access to Africa’s life-saving resources. There are many Tsvangirais that have been created in Africa and have paved way for exploitation of their people and resources for the powerful dollar.
Battlelines have been drawn for June 27 and the West sees President Mugabe as the last obstacle in their attempts to overrun southern Africa that should fall and pave way for a more subtle form of colonialism which will give the West express rights over Africa’s rich resources.
Everyone should know that the British and the Americans will not sleep as long as they see stumbling blocks in their endeavour to have maximum exploitation of Africa’s natural resources.
The election in Zimbabwe can not be defined further than the fact that it is the true imperialist West versus true African resistance.
America and Britain are fighting Zimbabwe and indeed the whole of Africa to gain access to resources that gave their population better life while subjecting Africans to abject poverty on the pretext that their citizens are more superior than Africans.
The line of thought is that Africans have no right to those rich resources on their soil, as the resources should benefit the White West and advance their scandalous affluence at the expense of black Africans. Once a coloniser always a coloniser!
It is his defiance and resistance to white adventure that President Mugabe committed his "crime" against the Bush administration and Britain that has earned him all the terms such as dictator, despot and others. Once a liberator always a liberator!
Now Bush has set September as the deadline to establish the African command, a US military group permanently resident in Africa and is desperate to have it put in place before his term of office expires in November.
Africom will largely give the United States the much needed impetus to co-ordinate US resource exploitation in Africa, disguised as military co-operation.
Africa can only sleep at its own peril while the US creates bases that will eventually be used to deal with progressive governments and subsequently effective regime change that will give an express licence to resource exploitation.
To illustrate my point the Bush administration has solidified its militaristic engagement with Africa.
In February 2007, the Department of Defense announced the creation of a new US Africa Command infrastructure, code name AFRICOM, to "coordinate all US military and security interests throughout the continent."
"This new command will strengthen our security co-operation with Africa," President Bush said in a White House statement, "and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities of our partners in Africa."
Ordering that AFRICOM be created by September 30, 2008, Bush said "Africa Command will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and promote our common goals of development, health, education, democracy, and economic growth in Africa."
The general assumption of this policy is that prioritising security through a unilateral framework will somehow bring health, education, and development to Africa.
In this way, the Department of Defense presents itself as the best architect and arbiter of US Africa policy.
According to Navy Rear Admiral Robert Moeller, director of the AFRICOM transition team, "By creating AFRICOM, the Defense Department will be able to
co-ordinate better its own activities in Africa as well as help coordinate the work of other U.S. government agencies, particularly the State Department and the US Agency for International Development."
This military-driven US engagement with Africa reflects the desperation of the Bush administration to control the increasingly strategic natural resources on the African continent, especially oil, gas, and uranium.
With increased competition from China, among other countries, for those resources, the United States wants above all else to strengthen its foothold in resource-rich regions of Africa.
While the Bush administration endlessly beats the drums for its "global war on terror," the rise of AFRICOM underscores that the real interests of neo-conservatives has less to do with al-Qaeda than with more access and control of extractive industries, particularly oil and land.
Responsibility for operations on the African continent is currently divided among three distinct Commands: US European Command, which has responsibility for nearly 43 African countries; US Central Command, which has responsibility for Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and Kenya; and US Pacific Command, which has responsibility for Madagascar, the Seychelles, and the countries off the coast of the Indian Ocean.
Until December 2006 when the United States began to assist Ethiopia in its invasion of Somalia, all three existing Commands have maintained a relatively low-key presence, often using elite special operations forces to train, equip, and work alongside national militaries.
A new Africa Command, based potentially in or near oil-rich West Africa would consolidate these existing operations while also bringing international engagement, from development to diplomacy, even more in line with US military objectives.
Africa and indeed Zimbabweans must therefore, rise to the occasion and stand by President Mugabe as he stands eyeball to eyeball with the West in a ring match that will decide Africa’s destiny.
Labels: NEOCOLONIALISM, ZIMABWE
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Zanu-PF should set conditions for run-off
THE centrality of sanctions to voting patterns is why they have to go before ZEC can announce the date for the run-off. That is if Zanu-PF and the Government it leads are serious about wanting to defend the gains of the revolution, writes Caesar Zvayi
THE MDC-T leadership and their handlers have set and are harping on conditions for participating in the impending run-off, which conditions, they say, are about levelling the ‘‘playing field,’’ whatever that means since what is at stake in Zimbabwe is not a playing matter.
High-ranking MDC-T officials have been quoted in the local opposition, South African and Western media saying they have come up with a number of conditions to be met for a second round of voting, one of which is that Western observers and the UN be invited to the run-off.
In suspiciously similar language British foreign secretary David Milliband and his American counterpart Condoleeza Rice have been making the same demands saying ‘‘international’’ supervision, a euphismism for London and Washington’s involvement, was integral to a credible run-off.
I agree with their calls for a levelling of the election environment as a precondition for the run-off let alone any other election in Zimbabwe.
In other words there should be no run-off until the factors militating against any competitor are removed.
I, however, differ with them on who needs to do the levelling, and in which direction the scales are tipped.
It is a fact that Zanu-PF addressed all of the MDC’s concerns during the inter-party dialogue held under the aegis of Sadc as evidenced by amendments to AIPPA, BSA, POSA and the Electoral Laws.
Ironically, the crybaby opposition was let-off the hook over the illegal sanctions, and to this day, continues refusing to concede ground on the illegal economic sanctions whose existence they inanely refuse to acknowledge.
It is an indisputable fact that the illegal sanctions were imposed with a view to ensuring that Zimbabwean voters become disenchanted with the Government and see Tsvangirai and his cohorts as saviours who will deliver ‘‘a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning’’ without sanctions.
It is these economic sanctions that were supposed to see Zanu-PF deposed by one of two methods either through a popular uprising in the streets using the colour template the Anglo-Saxon alliance perfected in Eastern Europe or through an avalanche of protest votes at the polls, which is what nearly happened on March 29.
This agenda was outlined by former US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs in the Reagan administration, Chester Crocker, who in a foreign policy testimony to the US Senate in 2001, said "to separate the Zimbabwean people from Zanu-PF we are going to have to make their economy scream, and I hope you senators have the stomach for what you have to do."
Crocker’s words, a carry-over from the utterances of the then secretary of state Henry Kissinger who said the US had to make the Chilean economy scream in order to topple the left-wing government of Salvador Allende in 1973, culminated in the drafting of the US sanctions law, the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act that was signed into law by George W. Bush.
The ZDERA not only provided for the cutting of Zimbabwe’s lines of credit from all multilateral lending institutions but also provided for funding for the MDC and other quasi-opposition groupings in Zimbabwe in pursuit of illegal regime change.
It is important to note that the sanctions idea came from the same Crocker who was opposed to the imposition of sanctions against Apartheid South Africa preferring what he called "constructive engagement," which latter became Washington’s official policy towards the racist regime in Pretoria.
The premise was that instead of economic sanctions on, and divestment from Pretoria, the West had to ‘‘use incentives to encourage South Africa to gradually move away from apartheid.’’
The sanctions law was drafted with the assistance of the MDC legal desk and had the blessing of sworn white supremacists like Senator Jesse Helms.
The sanctions law, ZDERA, compels American officials in the International Monetary Fund and multilateral development banks to "oppose and vote against any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe," and to vote against any reduction or cancellation of "indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe".
What is more, ZDERA also interdicts debt relief to Zimbabwe forcing the country to spend its scarce foreign currency reserves servicing debts instead of investing in economic development, particularly boosting the ailing industry that was sabotaged by the MDC and its allies.
The world saw how, in 2003, the IMF was compelled to lay siege on Zimbabwe by instituting compulsory withdrawal procedures and giving the country ultimatums to clear arrears in the General Resources Account when countries like Liberia that had worse arrears were not subjected to similar pressure.
The European Union also has sanctions on Zimbabwe, because in addition to the travel ban imposed on top-Government officials on February 18 2002, the EU announced that it had also suspended budgetary support to Zimbabwe and terminated "financial support for all projects" except "those in direct support of the population", a euphemism for opposition non-governmental organisations intrinsically linked to the MDC.
Apart from these overt sanctions, Zimbabwe is also under covert sanctions that saw the West politicise the HIV and Aids pandemic, which is why Zimbabwe gets an average of just US$4 per HIV-infected person compared to the US$74 given other countries.
The net effect of these sanctions is the worsening of the socio-economic situation with severe consequences for innocent people, many of whom sought to punish Zanu-PF at the polls while letting Barabas, the opposition, go scotfree
Not only that, the lies MDC-T leaders and their allies peddle about Zimbabwe have foisted an artificial investment risk tag on the country, a tag that scares away potential investors and tourists.
It is only because of the MDC’s support for sanctions that Western countries got the pretext to impose them, and it is the opposition’s continued support for the illegal sanctions that sustains them.
So as long as those in the MDC play to the foreign gallery by refusing to renounce the sanctions, they tilt the vote, primarily the urban constituencies, in their favour at the expense of the livelihoods of millions of suffering Zimbabweans.
The centrality of sanctions to voting patterns is why they have to go before ZEC can announce the date for the run-off. That is if Zanu-PF and the Government it leads are serious about wanting to defend the gains of the revolution.
The MDC has been left with the best of both worlds long enough, that is lying that the environment is tilted in favour of Zanu-PF while systematically working with its allies to ensure that the people are really squeezed so that they vote with their stomachs instead of their heads.
This is not to say a mere announcement that the sanctions have been removed should be grounds for the run-off, no. The scrapping of the sanctions should be followed by a period during which the economy is allowed to normalise, probably 6 or 8 months, only then can the run-off be held with Zanu-PF and MDC-T going to the people with their programmes, and the people using their heads not tummies to cast the ballots.
I am sure Tsvangirai will be lucky to come out with 5 percent of the votes cast for the simple reason that he has nothing to offer the people.
No sane Zimbabwean can be swayed by Tsvangirai’s promise of jobs and food and Thokozani Khupe’s pledge of sanitary pads to Zanu-PF"s progressive empowerment programmes that aim to see not only land but the mines and manufacturing industries in the hands of the black majority.
Alternatively if the Westerners and their lackeys in the MDC do not want to renounce the sanctions, we can wait for the interventions the Government has put in place, among them the Look East Policy, investment in agriculture and capacitating the manufacturing and export sectors to bear fruit before going for the run-off.
Food for thought.
l Feedback: caesar.zvayi@zimpapers. co.zw
Labels: ELECTIONS, MDC, ZIMABWE
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New tillage & combine harvesting rates announced
Posted: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:04:02 +0200
The government has announced new tillage and combine harvesting rates for the 2008 winter cropping season.
In a statement, the Minister of Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation and Irrigation, Dr Joseph Made, said these rates pertain to government related institutions such as the District Development Fund and ARDA, that provide agricultural tillage and combine harvesting services subsidised by the government.
The rates differ according to the operation. This year’s boom spraying will cost $891 931 500 per hectare and $892 384 500 per hectare for the dry and wet rate respectively.
The dry rate is when the service provider supplies the machinery only, while the wet rate also includes fuel.
Combine harvesting rates for this season will be $6 243 376 for the dry rate and $6 245 460 for the wet rate.
Other rates include those for disking, land rolling, lime spreading, planting, ploughing, ridging, ripping and vicon spreading.
Dr Made appealed to the private sector companies providing maintenance services to be reasonable in charging for the services provided to farmers.
http://www.newsnet.co.zw/index.php?nID=12418
Continue farming activities-Msipa
Posted: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:05:50 +0200
The Governor and Resident Minister of midlands province Cde Cephas Msipa has urged farmers in Gokwe to continue with their farming activities despite the previous poor farming season.
The Governor and Resident Minister of midlands province Cde Cephas Msipa has urged farmers in Gokwe to continue with their farming activities despite the previous poor farming season.
He said this while distributing ox drawn farm equipment under the farm mechanisation program to farmers in Gokwe.
The Governor applauded farmers in Gokwe for their contribution to the country’s food security.
A beneficiary of the farm mechanisation program, Mr. Augustine Mukova expressed his gratitude to the government emphasizing that the implements will improve agriculture in the district.
http://www.newsnet.co.zw/index.php?nID=12395
No going back on land issue - Newly resettled farmers
Posted: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:04:56 +0200
Newly resettled farmers in Mvurwi have reiterated that there is no going back on the land issue amid reports that some former white commercial farmers have been visiting their properties claiming an MDC Tsvangirayi victory in the recent harmonized elections.
Newly resettled farmers in Mvurwi have reiterated that there is no going back on the land issue amid reports that some former white commercial farmers have been visiting their properties claiming an MDC Tsvangirayi victory in the recent harmonized elections.
Observers say such reports conform to the contents of a secret document allegedly written by the MDC Tsvangirayi faction detailing how 200 farms will be given to the former white farmers once the faction is in power.
The Zanu-PF District Coordinating Committee Chairperson for Mazoe Bernard Nyangoni and other farmers confirmed these reports.
Meanwhile Police Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena says in Mashonaland West province two MDC vehicles inscribed Mashonaland West have been observed going around farms terrorizing resettled farmers.
He said the occupants of the two vehicles allegedly assaulted resettled farmers at Uhuru, Nakazi and Chigwell farms in Chegutu and Kadoma adding that investigations are still in progress.
The opposition MDC has been on record for condemning the land redistribution exercise saying they will return land to the whites if elected into power.
Observers say such utterances make them conclude that the document tallies with what is on the ground.
The document contains plans which include taking vehicles from doctors, traditional chiefs and repossession of other benefits given by government.
http://www.newsnet.co.zw/index.php?nID=12373
Gvt reallocates A2 farms
Posted: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:56:26 +0200
Government has reallocated at least 50 under-utilised A2 farms to new farmers in Masvingo Province that were repossessed following a concerted land audit aimed at bolstering agricultural production in the province.
Government has reallocated at least 50 under-utilised A2 farms to new farmers in Masvingo Province that were repossessed following a concerted land audit aimed at bolstering agricultural production in the province.
The reallocation of the farms to new beneficiaries is expected to improve agricultural production in Masvingo following investigations by the provincial land audit committee that poor performance in agriculture is also partly due to massive land under utilisation.
Masvingo Provincial Administrator Cde Felix Chikovo said most of the farmers whose A2 farms were repossessed were in the lucrative sugarcane-growing sector in Chiredzi where over 600 new farmers have been allocated land since the commencement of the land reform programme.
http://maravi.blogspot.com/2008/04/zbc-news-zimbabwe-new-tillage-combine.html
ZBC NEWS, ZIMBABWE) New tillage & combine harvesting rates announced
New tillage & combine harvesting rates announced
Posted: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:04:02 +0200
The government has announced new tillage and combine harvesting rates for the 2008 winter cropping season.
In a statement, the Minister of Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation and Irrigation, Dr Joseph Made, said these rates pertain to government related institutions such as the District Development Fund and ARDA, that provide agricultural tillage and combine harvesting services subsidised by the government.
The rates differ according to the operation. This year’s boom spraying will cost $891 931 500 per hectare and $892 384 500 per hectare for the dry and wet rate respectively.
The dry rate is when the service provider supplies the machinery only, while the wet rate also includes fuel.
Combine harvesting rates for this season will be $6 243 376 for the dry rate and $6 245 460 for the wet rate.
Other rates include those for disking, land rolling, lime spreading, planting, ploughing, ridging, ripping and vicon spreading.
Dr Made appealed to the private sector companies providing maintenance services to be reasonable in charging for the services provided to farmers.
Labels: JOSEPH MADE, LAND REFORM, MDC, WHITE FARMERS, ZIMABWE
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NetOne buys fibre optic system to ease congestion
Business Reporter
MOBILE cellular phone service provider NetOne has bought a high capacity fibre optic system that is expected to help ease current network congestion. According to NetOne managing director Mr Reward Kangai, the system would be used to link NetOne with other operators to enable cross-network communication to flow without hindrance. To this end, he said, NetOne subscribers would now be able to make calls to other networks with ease.
"The inter-connection or high capacity link should be able to cater for the current capacity which we intend to improve. The capacity of the inter-connection will be increased by over 750 percent," he said.
Fibre optic linkage is broadband-based system that is more reliable than dial-up connections, transferring information at a much faster pace than the later. Mr Kangai said NetOne was aware of problems being experienced by its customers and most of these were associated with congestion. NetOne announced last year that it was rolling out more base stations in Harare and its environs to ease congestion and these would be installed in Mount Pleasant, Dura, Queensdale, Prospect and Glen View, among other areas.
This was after an earlier resolution in April where the company undertook to construct additional base stations in the urban areas while simultaneously extending coverage in rural areas, where the company has an edge over its competitors.
The organisation has already rolled out 35 new base stations across the country, with 17 installed in Harare. NetOne also recently launched and commissioned its second Mobile Switching Centre in Bulawayo.
This enabled it to commission 42 new base stations so as to de-congest the network. As a result, NetOne customers in and around Bulawayo are now enjoying a more convenient and less congested network.
Labels: ITC, NETONE, ZIMABWE
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Supreme Court in landmark ruling
Court Reporter
THE Supreme Court has made a landmark ruling that allows the Government to acquire all farming equipment and machinery belonging to white former commercial farmers whose farms were compulsorily acquired for resettlement. Yesterday’s ruling follows a constitutional application by a group of former commercial farmers challenging the acquisition of their equipment stored at Manica Zimbabwe Limited.
"In the result, the application fails and is hereby dismissed," said Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.
Government acquired the equipment under the Acquisition of Farm Equipment (or) Material Act (Chapter: 18 23) which the farmers sought to invalidate.
After a close scrutiny of legal points raised by the farmers, Justice Chidyausiku considered first whether the Act provided that the acquisition was for the purpose beneficial to the public generally or any section of the public.
The court agreed with the State’s contention that the compulsory acquisition in terms of the Act was for purposes of furthering the land reform programme.
Justice Chidyausiku said the land reform programme was not a private activity but a scheme meant to benefit the public generally and certainly a section of the public.
"It is on this basis that I am satisfied that the compulsory acquisition in terms of the Act is for a purpose beneficial to the public generally or to a section of the public," he said.
"Accordingly, I am satisfied that the first ground of challenge to the Act fails."
On the second ground that the Act does not provide or fails to provide for the payment of fair compensation within reasonable time as required by Section 16 (1) (c) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Justice Chidyausiku was not convinced by the farmers’ interpretation of the law on that issue.
"The payment, in view, has to be made within a reasonable time. Whether payment will be in one lump sum or in instalments is something the Constitution chose not to prescribe," he said.
He noted that the outside time limits set out in the Act were indications of what the legislature considered as the outer limits of reasonable time for payment.
"They do not circumscribe the discretion of the court, which will decide the reasonableness of time for payment on the basis of the facts of each case. Accordingly, the second challenge fails," he said.
The court also found that the law was clear that where the Administrative Court refuses to confirm the acquisition of farm equipment, it would order the acquiring authority to return the property to the owner.
It noted there was no conflict between provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Act complained against.
The farmers’ contention that the Act made no provision for the claimant to make an application to the higher court for determination of any question relating to compensation and appeal to the Supreme Court against such decision was also dismissed.
Government acquired the machinery in furtherance of the land reform programme.
Manica Zimbabwe, the storage company, Chirobi (Private) Limited, Dundori (Private) Limited and Mukoko (Private) Limited, owned by farmers whose equipment and machinery was held by the former, were the applicants in the constitutional challenge.
The farmers argued that the Act, which came into force in September 2004, was invalid because it failed to comply with the Constitution of Zimbabwe and in particular Section 16.
Through their lawyer Advocate Adrian de Bourbon, the farmers impugned the Act on four grounds.
They said that the Act does not provide for the acquisition of farm equipment for purposes provided in the Constitution.
The Act, Adv de Bourbon argued, does not provide for the payment of fair compensation within reasonable time as required by the supreme law.
Adv de Bourbon also argued that the Act was unconstitutional because it does not allow a person whose farm has been acquired to apply to the High Court or any other court for the immediate return of the acquired property or for fair compensation.
The Act does not enable an applicant to apply for compensation or to appeal to the Supreme Court again as provided for in the superior law, the farmers argued.
The farmers further attacked the Act claiming that it permitted the executive to acquire the equipment for private as opposed to public purpose to sell it for commercial advantage.
This was strongly opposed by the Government through the Minister of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Cde Didymus Mutasa.
He said the Act explicitly spelt out that the acquisition was in furtherance of the land reform programme, that was beneficial to the public generally or a section of the public.
This, he argued, made the law fall within certain sections of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
He urged the court to dismiss the application for lack of merit arguing that the law was proper and could not be faulted as there was no conflict with the Constitution.
Justice Chidyausiku heard the case with Justices Misheck Cheda, Vernanda Ziyambi, Elizabeth Gwaunza and Paddington Garwe, who all concurred with his ruling.
Labels: COURTS, WHITE FARMERS, ZIMABWE
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Develop literature for higher, tertiary education, academics urged
Herald Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN academics should develop literature for higher and tertiary education so that the country stops its dependency on foreign sources of information, the Secretary for Higher and Tertiary Education, Dr Washington Mbizvo, said yesterday.
He was speaking at the launch of an indigenous book, "St2eep Guide to Resource Materials — Using Resource Materials in Secondary and Tertiary Education", which he commissioned in Harare recently.
"We need to do away with most of the literature in use in our teachers’ colleges and polytechnics which originates from abroad while we have professionals at all levels of education with immense knowledge and experience that is being suppressed.
"Imported literature tends to utilise the scarce foreign currency resources which the country badly needs and such books are unaffordable, hence the need to promote the use of indigenous material and resources," he said.
While acknowledging that foreign literature had a useful role, he said it fails to portray Zimbabwe’s cultural values and identity, leading to the current situation where some Zimbabwean youths copy foreign role models and become strangers in their own land.
"Our children inevitably ape the foreign role models subsequently becoming strangers to their own environment," said Dr Mbizvo.
St2eep Resource Book was written by lecturers from Belvedere, Hillside and Mutare teachers colleges. It focuses on environmental education ranging from the well-known charts, pictures and models over electronic equipment and computers to kinaesthetic activities, fieldwork and special days.
Labels: EDUCATION, THE HERALD, ZIMABWE
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