Cars waited in lines 3km long for fuel in Zimbabwe on Friday where a fuel shortage has grown so severe that the usually uncritical state-run broadcaster reported motorists’ pleas for the government to solve the crisis. The shortage is aggravated by a lack of hard currency in a country hit by drought and political turmoil.
Failures in generators at power stations and a fault in a line connecting Zimbabwe with a power grid in the Democratic Republic of Congo were responsible for two days of nationwide electrical blackouts, officials told state radio on Friday. Many areas of the capital, Harare, were without power for 12 hours on Friday.
Zimbabwe’s leading opposition party on Wednesday effectively severed ties with the South African government, saying that officials from the neighbouring country could no longer be considered neutral mediators. ”We haven’t broken off talks, but we will not engage with [SA officials] in any capacity where they purport to be facilitators on the Zimbabwean crisis,” said the Movement for Democratic Change’s secretary general, Welshman Ncube.
President Robert Mugabe’s government has acquired six fighter jets ”to deal with any challenges”, state radio reported on Wednesday. It did not disclose the supplier or the price tag, but the report first named them as the ”K-8” and then the ”K-fighter”. Egypt bought K-8 trainers from China at a price tag of -million each, according to a former editor of Africa Defence Journal.
President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has threatened to seize commercial companies it says are trying to provoke food riots in the wake of last week’s parliamentary elections. Trade Minister Samual Mumbengegwi said manufacturers and retailers who raised prices should revert to previous levels because the increases had not been approved.
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President Robert Mugabe’s government has increased the minimum wage for domestic servants tenfold. A labour union official said the sudden increase will lead to mass unemployment, and the opposition called it an attempt to drive a wedge between urban employers, thought to support the opposition, and their employees.
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/ 4 November 2004
State media said on Thursday that 40 Zimbabwean employees of the British embassy are engaged in a work slowdown to protest pay conditions and alleged racism. Embassy spokesperson Gillian Dare denied the report carried by state radio and the government news agency. ”We strongly deny any charge of racism,” she said.
President Robert Mugabe has rejected an extradition request for 70 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea, a state newspaper reported on Saturday. Mugabe and his minister of home affairs met with two envoys sent by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of the oil-rich West African nation.
A magistrate rejected a defence motion on Wednesday to free 70 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea. Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said there was reasonable suspicion against the men and ordered them to appear before him again on May 26.
More than a third of Zimbabwe’s commercial banks are unable to honour all their customers’ cheques, threatening to cause gridlock in the Southern African nation’s already troubled financial sector, economists said on Wednesday. Six of the 16 institutions have been suspended from the daily clearing of interbank debt.