Robert Mugabe has indicated for the first time that he will retire as president of Zimbabwe in 2008, when his current term expires. He will be 84 and ”will want some rest”, he told Britain’s Five News, but said he would remain active in his ruling party, Zanu-PF, which will choose his successor.
Mugabe also boasted of his ”special friendship” with Prince Charles, which Clarence House quickly denied. Before starting a state visit to Cuba on Sunday Mugabe admitted that poverty and hunger were increasing in Zimbabwe. He has been accused by Human Rights Watch of blocking aid.
House prices soar
Meanwhile, house prices in Zimbabwe have soared beyond the reach of most low to middle-income earners, that country’s Herald Online reported on Monday.
It said building societies now required prospective borrowers to earn a net monthly salary of Z$15-million to qualify for the lowest mortgage.
With the exception of government housing schemes, low and middle-income earners could no longer afford a mortgage because the repayment rates were above most income brackets.
For one to qualify for a mortgage for a three-roomed house in Tafara in Harare, which cost about Z$-250-million, one needed to be earning a net salary of at least Z$-15-million.
With that salary, the building society would only give half percent of the total mortgage and the borrower would have to pay the remainder.
Houses in middle-income Harare areas such as Msasa Park, Westgate, Mabelreign, Hillside and Cranborne, now cost over Z$1,5-billion, making it impossible for anyone with a net salary of less than Z$-90-million to buy in these areas on mortgage.
Most of the houses on the market are being bought for cash by mostly Zimbabweans in the diaspora, business people, speculators or current home-owners.
Rentals have also gone up and a room in the high-density suburbs of Harare now costs about Z$750 000 on average.
As a result, thousands of workers in the low and middle-income bracket are now committing more than half of their salaries to accommodation.
A survey by The Herald revealed most workers in the Z$1,5-million to Z$-5-million salary range are finding their monthly income only enough to cover their housing costs.
Meanwhile, Zimbabweans have been told they will have enough food as maize imports from South African and other countries continue, the Herald Online reported on Monday.
It said this assurance came from the chairperson of the National Taskforce on Grain, Didymus Mutasa, and from Agriculture Minister Joseph Made.
Their comments come after a statement last week by the secretary for agriculture, Simon Pazvakavambwa, that the country was left with three weeks of food.
Mutasa said the country was importing about 15 000 tonnes a week from South Africa.
This, in addition to some grain coming from other countries and the local market, was enough to feed the nation at any given time.
”What the secretary said is completely untrue and unfounded. I wonder what was his motivation to say such words, which are completely baseless,” said Mutasa.
”We are importing an average of 15 000 tonnes of maize from South Africa and if we add what we get from the local market and other countries, then we will be having enough food to feed the nation at any time.” – Sapa