Land of Contrasts

Today I went to Kambuzuma, a high density suburb, to a meeting with our HIV/Aids orphan support partner. We went to visit houeseholds, where the orphans live usually with their extended family, to assess their most urgent needs. Usually it was money for school fees, food, a school uniform or shoes. Then an old woman, that cannot walk anymore, convinced me. She said she rather wants her house extended to two more rooms. At the moment she lives in an approximately 15 m2 house with four orphans. With two more she could use one for the kids and rent the other one out. This way she would get enough money to cater for herself.

However today I also went to the richest part of town to buy the milk we had ordered. Highly organised germany could learn from the way they are managing that. First you have to manage to get into that area, then you join all the other housewifes and gardeners waiting. You will get a number, just like at the employment agency. When the milk finally arrives, everyone queues happily according to those numbers. They check if everyone is in his place and then it starts. When it is your turn you go to the first desk, say your name and the lady will check if you really have ordered milk and how much. You give her your number, get another piece of paper, go to the next desk to pay and the you finally get your milk. The only problem is: that takes about two hours.

Maintaining Fridges

You don't have to worry about defrosting your fridges regularly in Zimbabwe - the national electricity supplier does that for you!

From the news: New Law on Foreign-Owned Businesses

From The Financial Times, 26 September

Zimbabwe law hits foreign groups

By Alec Russell in Johannesburg

Zimbabwe’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday giving the state controlling stakes in foreign-owned businesses, including banks and mines. It happened in the face of warnings from the opposition and businesses that the law would have catastrophic consequences for Zimbabwe’s already crumbling economy. (...) But as they battle to stay in power, allies of Robert Mugabe, the president, have insisted it will be enforced and justified it as an attempt to lift up the masses. "We cannot continue to have a skewed economic environment where our people are not able to fully participate," Paul Mangwana, the indigenisation and economic empowerment minister, told parliament. (...) MPs from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change walked out of parliament in protest as Mr Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party pushed the bill through. They argued that the bill is aimed at enriching a few leading figures in Zanu PF and winning votes in the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for next March.

Burma

There are a lot of parallels between the situation in Burma and in Zimbabwe. Only that it seems that they have already reached their last straw.

Check http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1300003.stm for info on Burma

Giraffe meat

From The Observer (UK), 23 September

It's personal. Brown will not give in over Mugabe

(...) And so the impasse continues - Mugabe's critics accuse him of economic mismanagement, failure to curb corruption and contempt for democracy, Mugabe accuses his domestic opposition and the West of colluding to destroy his economy, which suffers acute shortages and inflation that, according to the International Monetary Fund, may hit 100,000 per cent by the end of the year - and now of being Scottish. Meanwhile yesterday, on the outskirts of Zimbawe's capital, Harare, where food shortages are rife and transport services and energy supplies are crippled, the police were occupied with curbing a situation of civil unrest - trying to stop a hungry crowd of desperate people from killing 'for the pot' an adult giraffe that had wandered into a township.

The eleven commandments of driving in Zimbabwe

1) There is no speed limit

2) Cars that drive slowly (about 20kmph) always stick to the far right side of the lane

3) Drunk driving is part of everyday life

4) Watch out for road holes

5) Bicycles do not need reflectors nor lights

6) Get used to driving without the help of street lamps and sign-posting

7) A speed hump sign does not necessarily mean that there is a speed hump ahead

8) No speed hump sign does not necessarily mean that there is no speed hump and speed humps are not necessarily painted

9) Keep your long distance lights always switched on when driving in the hours of darkness. Do not switch them off when another car is approaching you

10) Get off the road as fast as you can when you hear a siren. The president is approaching you.

11) Treat cattle on the road like if you were in India

Thank you Mr Brown

After pressure by the archbishop of York and others Gordon Brown threatens not to attend the EU Africa summit in December if Mugabe will be invited to the summit.

The European Union-African Union summit will take place in Lisbon in December. The travel ban on Mugabe could be lifted to allow him to attend the summit.

Brwon said that Mr Mugabe has an EU travel ban for a reason - "the abuse of his own people".

Gordon Brown also said:
"I believe President Mugabe's presence would undermine the summit, divert attention from the important issues that need to be resolved. In those circumstances, my attendance would not be appropriate."

Now the EU ist under pressure!

more isolation

Today China has announced it will end its development aid to Zimbabwe by the end of the year. That is Mugabe's last big friend gone.
Also today British airways announced to stop flying directly to Harare.

Black or white farms - what do you prefer

I have asked a few rural families if the times when there were still the huge "white farms" where better, or if it is better now. These were all families that live on the land that formerly belonged to those "white farms". Of course, asking a few people does not provide a representative sample of the whole population. However, as I thought their answers were very interesting, I want to present them here.

Every single one said, he or she preferred the "old times" because:

1. It was a lot easier to find work in rural areas on the farms.

2. Farms that are now in the hands of black people only use a little part of the land they have and therefore offer less jobs ...

3. and usually pay the official wage, which is ridiculous because of the hyperinflation, whereas the little white farms that still exist (mostly reduced in size) would pay a more realistic wage.

I do not mean to be in favour of giving the land back to the whites or that it should still belong to the whites, but I do mean that something definitely went wrong in that land reform.

Starving Election Campaign

Zimbabwean election campaigns seem to have a strange dimension. In some rural areas, the world food programme is not allowed to drop off food anymore until after the next elections. Starving the population is a means to make them vote for the right party next time.

good question. What can outsiders do?

A friend from the Netherlands just asked me this question.

A Boycott is definitely better than just sending money somewhere. For example not letting Mugabe go to the EU-Africa-Meeting would be good for politics here inside the country. And then, in the short run of course people need food and water and medical aid. But that wouldn't help to build the economy up again - what I mean is it doesn't fix the water pipes, it doesn't make the agriculture work again, it doesn't make the companies produce again. For that you really need a regime change first and then manpower. People that start up something here. But of course an outsider can't do that. So it probably goes back to political pressure. Let the whole world know about it. Offer refugees from Zimbabwe a place to stay and bringing him to an international court immediately.

So it seems quite hard for outsiders to do something - and also for me that I am an outsider in the country.

Collapse

Been out this weekend to Nyanga in the Eastern Highlands. A beautiful place, the nature is amazing!
But it really feels like collapse when you know that on the way from Harare to Nyanga, there used to be a lot of farming and there is almost nothing anymore except people burning down huge areas for whatever reason I don't know.
And it really feels like collapse when you see that nobody is looking after the roads anymore and nobody is looking after the electricity lines and the water pipes anymore.
Ans it really feels like collapse when you know that Zimbabweans used to produce enough food for themselves and exported a huge amount to all the neighbouring countries while Zimbabwe is now importing I guess 99% of its food.
And it really feels like collapse when you sit at dinner in the evening with a candle on the table as the only light in the room.

milk only for posh

imagine a rich suburb like most people would think of in Latin America: a gate, a guard: "no through road", only for cardholders. maximum security outside minimum security inside. Inside there are no fences and no walls around these nice houses. to make people feel free from all the bad locals hanging around in this country.
you go there to pick up milk that you ordered and that the inhabitants of this rich suburb are selling. You struggle to convince the guard to let you in and then you see the nice ladies, dressed in expensive designer clothes, driving impressive cars and they ask you: "what, you don't even live here??? We are so sorry this milkselling activity is only for inhabitants of this area. If we sell it to others we won't have enough for ourselves. "
ARRRRGGH

Motorists should get used to being pedestrians

From The Zimbabwe Independent, 14 September

Minister says walk to save fuel

Pindai Dube

The Minister of Energy and Power Development Mike Nyambuya said motorists should get used to being pedestrians to save the scarce drops of fuel available in the country. Speaking at the official opening of the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) service station in Matshobana on Wednesday, Nyambuya said motorists should adjust to being pedestrians as the supply of fuel was not improving. "The country is facing critical fuel shortages and as government, we encourage all Zimbabweans to reduce the number of cars on the country’s roads and walk to save the scarce fuel we have," Nyambuya said. Analysts said Nyambuya’s statement was an admission that government was failing to find a lasting solution to the country’s fuel problems which started in 1999. Nyambuya said the new Noczim service station had the capacity to hold 55 000 litres of petrol, 55 000 litres of diesel and 10 000 litres of paraffin.

"In most developed countries, especially in Western countries company executives wearing expensive suits use public transport or walk to work but here in Zimbabwe one person wants to have 10 cars on the road each day," Nyambuya said. Zimbabwe has been facing serious fuel shortages on the formal market after the government in June gave the cash-strapped Noczim a monopoly to import fuel after the imposition of a freeze on prices.

Why???

The ruling party will be jubilant, and the state media will be jubilant, if Mugabe goes to this summit. No matter what is happening there, here inside the country it will be seen as a huge political victory. And according to the Herald there will surely be standing ovations on the summit for Mugabe again.

From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 11 September

Commonwealth: EU should invite Mugabe to summit

Ingrid Melander

Brussels - The European Union (EU) should invite Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to a planned summit with Africa because barring him would jeopardise relations between Africa and Europe, the Commonwealth's secretary general said. The EU and Africa want to hold their first summit in seven years early December in Portugal. But they first need to overcome the problem of whether to invite Mugabe, whom the West and rights groups accuse of human rights violations. Plans for an EU-Africa summit have been on hold for years because Britain and other EU countries have refused to attend if Mugabe is there, while African countries have refused to come if he is barred. Some EU officials have suggested Zimbabwe could be represented at a lower level than Mugabe, perhaps by the country's foreign minister. "It's useful to have him [Mugabe] there for the dialogue to go on," Commonwealth chief Don McKinnon told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday during a two-day visit to Brussels. "Africa's relation with the EU is very important. If the dialogue gets cancelled because Africa refused to get on with the request [to veto him], it would be a bigger problem."

Zimbabwe left the Commonwealth in 2003 after being suspended the previous year. The body groups Britain and 52 mostly former British colonies, 18 of which are African nations. Portugal, the current EU president, is keen to improve relations between the bloc and Africa and has said it will not discriminate among African states. But diplomats say some EU leaders such as Britain's Gordon Brown are not keen to share a forum with Mugabe. "The EU makes it very difficult for Africans," McKinnon said, adding that he had been in African countries where "Mugabe is still very much a hero". An aide to McKinnon said the Commonwealth, which supports projects on democracy and development, could eventually be willing to re-engage with Zimbabwe, but only under certain conditions. "A democratic Zimbabwe would need to make an overture to come back and we would make the overture to receive it," John Philips said. Mugabe blames Western sanctions for galloping hyper-inflation, food shortages and a spiralling economic crisis. Critics say the 83-year-old leader has destroyed the economy with his policy of taking over white-owned farms.