Commodity shortages fuel new protests

Chances of a bloodless change in Zimbabwe increased this week, but even this is not good news for the people of that beleaguered country.

Their emphasis is on bloodless, not change, as Zimbabwe’s blood bank runs dry. Blood and its by-products have joined the list of vital items in critically short supply as Zimbabwe goes into meltdown. Others include petroleum-based fuels, electricity and bank notes.

The depressing knock-on effect of these shortages on the economy is virtually limitless. Zimbabwe’s Grain Market Board announced this week that with four months left in the 2003 maize marketing season, it has bought only 7 000 tonnes of maize —enough to feed the country for 1,5 days. As many as seven million Zimbabweans are going hungry, according to international aid agencies.

The National Blood Transfusion Service said its collection activities were being stopped by the work stoppages called by the opposition, lack of fuel to move around and an absence of foreign currency to buy equipment and plasma derivates that the country does not have the technology to extract itself. Donors were missing the cup of tea or other refreshments they used to enjoy after giving blood.

At month-end Zimbabweans, who are used to queuing for days for petrol, were standing in long lines outside banking halls and ATMs.

Zimbabwe’s Central Bank does not have the foreign currency to buy the specialist ink and paper for printing bank notes.

This shortage has caused banks to limit cash withdrawal to Z$10 000 — less than R100 — a day. Banks are charging 5% commission on bank notes to non-customers.

In a country whose official inflation rate is 269% and rising, the fears are that the problem of getting money will drive businessmen and merchants on to the streets with other strikers next week.

Writing in the Zimbabwe Standard this week, Henry Makiwa noted that the car boot has overtaken the wallet as the means of carrying money.

”Zimbabweans have now resorted to packing hundreds of thousands of notes into plastic bags or satchels just to do the groceries or pay the bills,” he said.

Local newspapers report that the shoppers in the cities are panic-buying in anticipation of a national strike.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has called for a week of pro-democracy marches starting on June 2.

Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mhadi upped the ante by declaring that government would ”crush any demonstrations that led to the destruction of property or threaten national security”.

War veterans leader Patrick Nyaruwata said the former bush fighters would use their own experience against the MDC protests ”in a way that has never been seen before”.

Mass public protest is a new strategy for the MDC and it is not certain that the marches will succeed. The Mugabe regime has shown it is not afraid to call out the police and army to break up public demonstrations critical of the government.

Public anger at the shortage of food, fuel, electricity and even bank notes has risen to a new peak this week, convincing the MDC to bring forward the strike. It had originally planned to hold it in mid-June.

The stoppage is expected to be a significant vote of no confidence in the Mugabe regime.

Reflecting his harder, more confident line, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said his supporters would be prepared to face arrest to make their mark.

Tsvangirai has rejected talks about a transitional government with President Robert Mugabe and says the Zanu-PF leader simply has to go.

Mugabe himself has once again raised the prospect of leaving office and taken the unprecedented step of encouraging debate within Zanu-PF over who should succeed him.

Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa holds sway among the leaders that he has carefully put into place in the party’s 10 provincial structures.

Mnangagwa says that he already holds very high office as speaker and administration secretary of the ruling party. He claims he is not seeking the presidency, but his tactical manoeuvres project another image.

Ironically the pragmatism of Zanu-PF’s politburo and central committee favours the erstwhile outsider Simba Makoni — if such a contest were to take place.

The former finance minister, sacked last year by Mugabe, is seen as the man to beat the MDC. Makoni has more rapport with the international community than Mnangagwa and is more likely to attract the foreign investment necessary to save the country.

For the party grandees it is not a question of who they like most but who is most likely to keep them in clover for the longest time.

Makoni is keeping tight-lipped about his plans.

The MDC, however, insists that machinations within Zanu-PF, which normally holds its congresses in December, have no bearing on the reality of the situation.

The party simply does not have time to plan a dignified and comfortable sunset, the MDC insists. Talk of transition periods and gradual change is meaningless in respect of a government that is about to collapse because of its corruption and maladministration.

Additional reporting by The Guardian