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Voice of America
July 29 2007

By Peta Thornycroft

There has been no mealie meal in Zimbabwe’s second city Bulawayo for the past week.Not a single bag has been available in any of the city’s supermarkets and even blackmarket supplies have dried up.

“We are very worried and we are not yet ready to increase food distribution until September,” said an executive with a top non-government organisation in Harare, who asked not be named.

David Coltart, opposition member of parliament for the Bulawayo South constituency, says he is “alarmed” at the disappearance of mealie meal. “I have been trying to source mealie meal for the past two days and have gone to a wide variety of supermarkets around town. I have also approached wholesalers and it is simply unavailable.”I have been to my own constituency every day in the past week, and there is no evidence of any international or domestic NGOs distributing food for the needy.”We are at a point where people on the margins are starving.”

Traditionally relief agencies stop supplying food to people under threat of starvation from the onset of the maize harvest, usually May until September.

Another NGO worker said on Thursday: “We know the situation in the south is particularly bad, but believe me it is bad in lots of places and I am not sure we have the right numbers of people who will need food aid before the next harvest in 2008.”

The World Food Programme estimated that about 4.1 million Zimbabweans, or more than a third of the population, will need emergency food aid before the next harvest.

Until the seizures of white-owned farms which began in 2000, Zimbabwe has only needed donated food once since independence in 1980 during a catastrophic regional drought in 1991/92.

Independent On Line/SAPA
July 25 2007

Bulawayo - Hundreds of residents in Zimbabwe’s second city thronged
the cathedral on Wednesday for prayers in support of outspoken Roman
Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube who is being sued for alleged adultery.

“The purpose of the prayer was mobilising and giving moral, spiritual,
mental and physical support to Archbishop Ncube,” said Effie Ncube - no
relation to the cleric - who is chairperson of The Pius Ncube Solidarity
Coalition, a clutch of non-governmental organisations, church groups and
political parties.

“We also want to ensure he gets a fair hearing consistent with
international human rights and judicial standards as well as countering
state propaganda regarding the lawsuit,” he added after attending the prayer
service.

Last week state media published pictures they claimed depicted the
Bulawayo archbishop, a fearless critic of President Robert Mugabe, having
sex with a married woman in his bedroom.

They claimed the pictures were taken secretly with cameras set up by a
private investigator hired by the woman’s husband to secure evidence of the
alleged adultery. The husband is now suing Ncube for 20-billion Zimbabwe
dollars (about R1,1-million).

Mugabe last Thursday rebuked the cleric for “snatching other people’s
women.”

Effie Ncube said that Zimbabweans had “seen through the machinations
of the state and are standing behind the archbishop.”

“This state-driven scandal cannot be allowed to deprive Zimbabwe as a
nation of its strongest and most consistent voice,” he added.

“Archbishop Ncube has spoken fearlessly on behalf of us all, and
whatever the truth or falsity of these allegations, we will not allow this
great activist to be silenced.”

Among high-profile people at the lunch-time prayer meeting were
opposition Movement for Democratic Change lawmaker David Coltart.

Leader
Saturday July 21, 2007
The Guardian

It was presented as medicine, but the shock therapy being applied to Zimbabwe is poison. Three weeks ago President Robert Mugabe ordered that prices be cut by at least half. It was a panic response to galloping inflation, which had reached the point where the price of some goods was rising threefold each week. But Mugabe’s decree is crucifying retailers - filling stations are being forced to sell petrol for less than half what they have to pay for it. In the ensuing summer sale, widescreen TVs, clothes, coffee, meat - almost everything except staple foodstuffs - have disappeared from the shelves.

While some Zanu-PF loyalists made a killing, thousands of shopkeepers were arrested for profiteering. Restocking has become near-impossible. Oil, soap and salt have run out in rural areas. On Thursday buying petrol with foreign currency coupons was barred, removing one of the last ways of filling up the tank. With arbitrary prices already set for basics from milk to cement (anything from 20% to 50% of the cost of production), the next step, according to the opposition MP David Coltart, is to militarise the economy. Zanu-PF are doing to businesses what they did to the white farms, and the effect will be just as grim. The price cuts were ordered by a committee of army, intelligence and police officers chaired by Mr Mugabe and gangs of thugs are implementing them by force.

A NATION IN CRISIS: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s bid to curb runaway inflation by decree has resulted in a countrywide run on consumer products

THE GUARDIAN, LONDON
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007

Zimbabweans are shopping like there’s no tomorrow. With police patroling the aisles of Harare’s electrical shops to enforce massive government-ordered price cuts, the widescreen TVs were the first things to go, for as little as US$41. Across the country, shoes, clothes, toiletries and different kinds of food were all swept from the shelves as a nation with the world’s fastest shrinking economy gorged itself on one last spending spree.

Car dealers said officials were forcing them to sell vehicles at the official exchange rate, effectively meaning that a car priced at US$15000 could be had for US$30 by changing money on the blackmarket. The owners of several dealerships have been arrested.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has accused business interests of fueling inflation, running at about 20,000 percent, to bring down his government.

Economists say the price cuts will only deepen the national crisis, leaving many shops bare because they will not be able to afford to restock while official retail prices remain lower than the cost of buying wholesale or importing. Mugabe has dismissed such warnings as “bookish economics.”

Some businesses fear that the operation is intended to pin the blame on the private sector for Zimbabwe’s economic problems as a step towards seizing control of many companies in the way that white-owned farms were expropriated at the beginning of the decade, sparking the crisis.

Parliament is expected to pass legislation in the coming weeks that will effectively give a controlling stake in all publicly traded companies to ruling party loyalists and others chosen by the government.

By Peta Thornycroft
Voice of America
17 July 2007

Zimbabwe’s state-controlled media are carrying explicit photographs of a man they claim is Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, allegedly taken with a naked woman inside his bedroom. Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA the outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe is being sued by a civil servant who said the cleric destroyed his marriage.

Archbishop Ncube, sounded weary on the telephone from his home in Bulawayo. He said the pictures were part of what he called “a long-term strategy.” He said many people had shown him support and he is praying a great deal.The pictures, allegedly taken by a secret camera in the Archbishop’s bedroom, show a naked man the state press says is Pius Ncube and a woman in a bed in the same room.

The state media was on hand Monday when the sheriff of Bulawayo served a summons on the Archbishop at St. Mary’s Cathedral.
The summons says a technician at the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Onesimus Sibanda, claims his wife Rosemary worked at the cathedral and was having a two-year affair with the archbishop. Sibanda has demanded about $100,000 in damages.
Rosemary Sibanda, told Zimbabwe state media she was separated from her husband at the time she began a sexual relationship with the archbishop.

A founder of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, attorney David Coltart, founding said the revelations in the state press and the summons appeared to be a well co-ordinated campaign to embarrass the outspoken government critic.
Coltart said he does not believe a state-employed railway technician could have afforded a sophisticated operation like the one that produced the lurid pictures published in the state press and on television.

International Herald Tribune

The Associated Press Published: July 16, 2007

HARARE, Zimbabwe:
Zimbabwean Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube was named
in an adultery case Monday in what his lawyers called an “orchestrated
attempt” to embarrass the outspoken government critic.

Attorney Nick Matonzi said Ncube was in his office in the second city of
Bulawayo when documents were delivered by court officials accompanied by a
state television crew alleging he was involved in a two-year affair with a
secretary in his office whose husband was demanding damages in a civil suit.
Matonzi said Ncube will deny the allegations in the civil court when it
convenes at an unspecified date.

State radio reported in its afternoon bulletins that the woman, identified
as Rosemary Sibanda who worked at Ncube’s St. Mary’s Cathedral, “admitted
the affair to” the state broadcasting company.

Matonzi said “a sort of press conference” was held in the cathedral
courtyard by court officials.

“The case is unique. From the manner the papers were served, you can see it
is some kind of orchestrated attempt to embarrass the Archbishop,” he said.

State radio said the woman’s husband, Onesimus Sibanda, was demanding 20
billion Zimbabwe dollars (about US$160,000; ?118,000 at the dominant black
market exchange rate) in damages.
At the legal official exchange rate the damages demanded - one of the
highest demands in the nation’s legal history - would exceed US$1.3 million
(?1 million).

Ncube has repeatedly accused President Robert Mugabe of human rights
violations and called for him to step down. The cleric has also urged
Zimbabweans to take to the streets to demonstrate against the government
amid the nation’s worst economic crisis since independence.

Police and Zanu-PF lead bargain hunt after officials order shops to act

The Guardian
By Chris McGreal in Harare
Monday July 16, 2007

Zimbabweans are shopping like there’s no tomorrow. With police patrolling the aisles of Harare’s electrical shops to enforce massive government-ordered price cuts, the widescreen TVs were the first things to go, for as little as £20. Across the country, shoes, clothes, toiletries and different kinds of food were all swept from the shelves as a nation with the world’s fastest shrinking economy gorged itself on one last spending spree.

Car dealers said officials were trying to force them to sell vehicles at the official exchange rate, effectively meaning that a car costing £15,000 could be had for £30 by changing money on the blackmarket. The owners of several dealerships have been arrested.

President Robert Mugabe’s order that all shop prices be cut by at least half, and sometimes several times more, has forced stores to open to hordes of customers waving thick blocks of near worthless money given new value by the price cuts. The police and groups of ruling party supporters could be seen leading the charge for a bargain.

Mr Mugabe has accused business interests of fuelling inflation, running at about 20,000%, to bring down his government. A hotline is in place to report “overcharging”, and retailers who flinch at slashing prices are being dragged before the courts. Several thousand have been arrested for “profiteering” over the past week, including the chief executives of the biggest retailers in the country, some of them foreign-owned.

Economists say the price cuts will only deepen the national crisis, leaving many shops bare because they will not be able to afford to restock while official retail prices remain lower than the cost of buying wholesale or importing. Mr Mugabe has dismissed such warnings as “bookish economics”.

International Herald Tribune

By David Coltart
Published: July 13, 2007

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe:

As I marched in protest with a handful of fellow Zimbabwean lawyers in Bulawayo recently, I looked into the eyes of the riot police and believed that I saw the beginning of cracks in the regime.

The Law Society of Zimbabwe called a strike in protest against recent attacks on and arrests of members of the legal profession, so we gathered here at the High Court on June 27th to march to the offices of the governor of Bulawayo to present a petition.
The riot police stood on the steps of the High Court and told us that the march was illegal and that we had to move away. Approximately 15 of us then started a three-block march to the governor’s office - followed by a stately procession of police vehicles that included members of the “Law and Order” political section.

As we - the 15 dangerous lawyers - arrived at the governor’s office, the riot police spread out, with shields raised and batons drawn. We were ordered to stop, told that our march was illegal and that we should disperse immediately or be dispersed by force.
We explained that we wanted to deliver a petition protesting against the persecution of our colleagues in Harare. The commanding officer was not interested. He threatened us again, called for reinforcements and ordered us to disperse. Further detachments of riot police officers and other policemen had arrived, bringing the strength of their forces to around 40. We asked the commanding officer to take our petition to the governor, but he refused.

We have noted the comments attributed to Morgan Tsvangirai this past weekend, in particular the following statement:

“On our part, there have been calls across the board for unity within the MDC. I have argued against elite pacts. I have argued against attempts to pick-up individuals for specific party positions. That process cannot be regarded as uniting the party. Such a process is insincere and leads to fresh political setbacks.
Whatever we seek to do must be comprehensive and honest.”

We believe that it is now important to put the record straight regarding the state of the negotiations between the two formations of the MDC.

In the aftermath of the assault of Trudy Stevenson last year it was agreed that there should be negotiations between the two formations of the MDC to formulate a functional working relationship between the two political entities. Accordingly in August 2006 each formation of the MDC appointed a 4 person negotiation team; the Tsvangirai formation’s team was led by Tendai Biti and the Mutambara formation’s team was led by Welshman Ncube.

In the first meeting held in August the two negotiating teams drafted a code of conduct which amongst other things stated both formations’ commitment to non-violence and which set up the mechanism to reduce tensions between the two formations. In the meeting it was agreed between the two negotiating teams that for the code of conduct to be successful there needed to be buy in from the leadership of both formations and widespread publicity given to any final agreement. In the same meeting there was a detailed discussion regarding how the assets of the former united MDC could be split so that two separate political parties with distinct identities could emerge. A draft proposal was agreed upon by the negotiating teams and the meeting concluded with the undertaking that both negotiating teams would go back to their respective national executives to get both draft agreements endorsed.