Zim Online

Monday 28 May 2007

By Farisayi Gonye

MUTARE - Veterans of Zimbabwe's independence war at the weekend
demanded cash first before they could campaign for President Robert
Mugabe and his government in crucial presidential and parliamentary
elections next year.

The veterans are the main cog of the government's campaign machine,
waging violence and terror against the opposition to secure victory
for the government but they told former army commander Solomon Mujuru
they would not campaign unless they were paid because they were tired
of being used by Mugabe and his ruling elite.

Mujuru, himself a war veteran and who commanded Zimbabwe's army at
independence, was tasked by Mugabe to mobilise the ex-combatants and
draft them into a reserve force, in what analysts have described as a
bid to bolster the government's hold on power and to clamp down
growing opposition.

Mujuru told the veterans at a Saturday meeting in the eastern Mutare
city: "It has been agreed that you will undergo military training. You
are already trained cadres, but this is just meant to get you back
into shape and acquaint you with modern military techniques and values
as you will be joining the army as a reserve force."

Undercover ZimOnline reporters attended the meeting.

The ex-combatants, who in 1997 staged violent protests to bully Mugabe
into giving them billions of dollars in gratuities and pensions - all
unbudgeted - told Mujuru to go and report to Mugabe that they were not
interested in campaigning for him and his ruling ZANU PF party unless
they were paid. They did not say how much exactly they wanted to be
paid.

"Mugabe has never consulted us on anything in a very long time. He has
refused to address us over the years," said one visibly angry former
fighter. "Why does he (Mugabe) need us now? Tell him we are not
interested," added the former guerilla, whose name ZimOnline reporters
could not obtain as this would have blown their cover.

"You have ignored us all this time only to resurface because there is
an election tomorrow," another veteran shouted from the back benches
in the Chiefs' Hall where the meeting was taking place. He continued:
"We are tired of being used. We are not going to campaign for the
President or the party (ZANU PF) until you give us more money."

Yet, another veteran had to be held back by his colleagues as he made
a charge towards Mujuru and Manicaland provincial governor Tinaye
Chigudu.

Struggling to free himself from his comrades' hands, the former
fighter shouted abuse at Mujuru: "Look at you Rex (Mujuru's war name).
You are all chubby meaning you are living a good life, And you want us
to go into the trenches again to defend your positions, so that you
can continue to enjoy the good life while we sink in poverty."

Efforts by Mujuru to calm the war veterans by promising to fund income
generating projects met with even more angry interjections, although
the former army commander managed to calm down the veterans by
promising to personally ask Mugabe to come and address the veterans
before the end of the
year.

Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba was not immediately available to
shed light on whether the Zimbabwean leader would agree to meet the
veterans.

It was from such a direct meeting between Mugabe and the Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans Association that the President
buckled under pressure and agreed to award the veterans, then
numbering about 50 000, gratuity payments of $50 000 each and a host
of other perks.

The Zimbabwe dollar resultantly crashed on November 14 1997, driving
up inflation and setting off the economy on a downward spiral from
which it is yet to escape.

Withdrawal of balance-of-payments support by the International
Monetary Fund in 1999 and chaotic government farm seizures that began
in 2000 only helped quicken the pace of economic decline, according to
economic experts.

Without the backing of the war veterans, Mugabe's government's
electioneering strategy would be thrown into disarray just when
political analysts say it faces its toughest electoral challenge yet
because of a bitter economic crisis that most Zimbabweans blame on
mismanagement by the state.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since its 1980 independence from Britain but
his controversial policies are widely blamed for an economic meltdown,
which has left the majority of Zimbabweans mired in poverty as
unemployment rockets and inflation surges to nearly 4 000 percent. -
ZimOnline


Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms
The Telegraph

By Stephen Bevan in Pretoria and Michael Gwarizo in Harare, Sunday
Telegraph

Last Updated: 12:34am BST 27/05/2007

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe plans to seize majority stakes in
all the country's foreign-owned businesses in what economists warn
could be a repeat of the regime's disastrous land reform policy.

Under legislation approved by the cabinet two weeks ago, all companies
will be required to give up at least 51 per cent of their shares for
allocation to economically disadvantaged, "indigenous" Zimbabweans.

There are signs that the government intends to use the laws to attack
the commercial interests of countries such as Britain, the former
colonial ruler, which Mugabe accuses of plotting to remove him from
power. However, companies linked with friendly regimes, such as China
and Malaysia, will be protected.

The hit list might include British banks such as Standard Chartered
and Barclays. A minister told The Sunday Telegraph that the banks were
seen as having "sabotaged" Mugabe's land reform programme by refusing
to extend financial support to black farmers.

"The president made it clear, when cabinet approved the Bill to be
tabled before parliament, that the time had come to empower our
people.

"He said the indigenisation exercise must be undertaken in the same
fashion as the land reform programme."

The minister added that Mugabe had vowed that "imperialist companies"
would be targeted as they had been operating with what the president
described as a "sinister, regime-change agenda."

Standard Chartered, which has 26 offices employing 900 people in
Zimbabwe, declined to comment. A spokesman for Barclays, which has 29
branches and more than 1,000 staff in the country, said: "We are
currently assessing the potential impact of the proposed legislation
on our business in Zimbabwe. It is early days and the proposed Bill
may not become law."

Other British companies likely to be targeted are BP, which has 37
service stations in Zimbabwe, British American Tobacco and Unilever -
which is listed in both the UK and Holland.

The proposed new law would give black -Zimbabweans controlling stakes
in foreign companies and allow them to appoint their own managers.
They would also be able to set pricing policy - a sensitive issue in a
country battling with the highest inflation in the world, currently
exceeding 3,700 per cent.

Paul Mangwana, the minister for "indigenisation and empowerment", said
the legislation, which is now before parliament, would affect all
sectors of the economy from banking to manufacturing. He added that
companies would be
"free to look for partners who are black", but that government would
"make suggestions" if they could not find any. "The objective is to
ensure that black Zimbabweans take control of the economy and the
resources of their country," he said.
Mr Mangwana said a special fund would be created to help"indigenous"
investors pay for their stakes.

However, with the economy in free fall and the government desperately
short of foreign currency, there is little prospect that the companies
will ever receive the money.

As with the land reform programme, many in business suspect the real
beneficiaries of the asset grab will be Mugabe's cronies and officials
of the ruling Zanu PF party, who will take control of the companies
under the guise of business consortiums.

"Mugabe operates on patronage, and to try to bolster his position he
will hand over these companies to people who support him. He's been
threatening it for a long time," said an executive with a major
British firm.

While many British interests are threatened, people close to the
businessman Nicholas Van Hoogstraten, who is an ally of Mugabe, said
that they believed that he would be spared. The British tycoon, whose
farm in Zimbabwe was exempted from seizure in recognition of his
financial support for Zanu PF, has stakes in NMB Bank, the Hwange
Colliery and hotel company
Rainbow Tourism Group.

With the country in crisis following the government's seizure of
white-owned farms and the resulting collapse of commercial
agriculture, economists warn that the new asset grab could be the
final straw. One independent Harare economist, John Robertson, said
the legislation would be a major blow to the country's manufacturing
industry, which once accounted for 25 per cent of GDP but has shrunk
to 15 per cent.

"Nearly all the big commercial firms are already owned by Zimbabweans,
but a number of the manufacturing operations are still owned by
foreigners - some of them by the big multinationals like Unilever and
Nestlé," he said. "I imagine some of these would close down, rather
than relinquish control."

Mr Mangwana said he was not concerned that foreign companies might
pull out.

He denied that British or American firms would be specifically
targeted, saying the government was "not that petty".