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/ 16 September 2005
Extra-parliamentary groups in Zimbabwe have signalled their intention to "fight the expropriation of the Constitution" by the ruling Zanu-PF. In a move seen as showing disillusionment with party politics in the country, more than 500 delegates from 50 civic groups will converge on Harare this weekend under the banner "Deciding Zimbabwe’s Destiny".
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/ 1 September 2005
Johannesburg-based Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has emerged as a key player in a potential South African loan to Zimbabwe. The bank was reluctant to provide details but its head of project finance, Peter Gent, told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>: "Our involvement in such a transaction would be as a facilitator in what is essentially a government-to-government deal."
South African banking giant Absa had repeatedly been alerted to irregularities and unexplained payments authorised by the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) with which it exchanged financial vows in 1998. Absa has a 26% controlling stake in CBZ, now known as Jewel Bank.
Faced with D-Day on September 23 when the International Monetary Fund may expel Zimbabwe, the government put on a brave front, claiming that because South Africa and the IMF had approached it to take a loan, Harare would not accede to political conditions attached to the bail-out.
South Africa’s banking giant Absa has been roped into Zimbabwe’s biggest media scandal in 25 years, which erupted recently with revelations that the country’s state security agency had taken over three mainly private newspapers. Absa was dragged into the rumpus after disclosures that Zimbabwe’s central bank governor was instrumental in helping the Central Intelligence Organisation take over the newspapers.
As South Africa was announcing a partial finance rescue package for Zimbabwe on Wednesday, President Robert Mugabe instructed his Zanu-PF politburo to extend Operation Murambatsvina to urban suburbs. Mugabe accused his local government and security arms of ”hypocrisy” for halting the demolitions.
President Robert Mugabe hurriedly rescheduled a planned visit to China after he choked on the tough conditions that South Africa slapped on its R6-billion credit line to Zimbabwe to avert its expulsion from the International Monetary Fund. Sources told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> that Mugabe baulked at "bringing forward the 2008 presidential elections and forming a government of national unity".
A campaign of political persecution is being waged against Zanu-PF politicians aligned to Rural Housing and Social Amenities Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Mail & Guardian has learnt. The current tension, which has its genesis in the power struggle over President Robert Mugabe’s successor, has triggered speculation about a split in the 42-year-old party.
The wind blows, sucking little particles from the earth’s surface, throwing them up as dust. On a gentle slope at Caledonia farm, 35km east of Harare, 500 families are tucked away in flimsy plastic shelters in this no-man’s-land, far away from the world’s gaze.
The controversial Operation Murambatsvina and President Thabo Mbeki’s role in the Zimbabwean crisis has heightened divisions within Zimbabwe’s two major political parties, and has caused ructions within the diaspora. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai is taking strain for ”betraying” the party by meeting Mbeki in Pretoria.