Back to Index

Mugabe papers over cracks of Zimbabwe crisis
Jane Fields, Scotsman (UK)
July 26, 2006

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1082342006

WHEN in doubt, decorate. Robert Mugabe may be running out of ways to halt Zimbabwe's precipitous economic decline, but yesterday he showed there is still one thing he has some control over: parliament's interior design.

Zimbabweans watching the opening of a new session of parliament were astonished to see that the colonial-era chamber had been totally revamped, in what state television said were "cultural reforms".

Mr Mugabe - who has never hidden his admiration of the British Royal Family - sat on a ceremonial chair newly draped in leopard skin, a traditional sign of royalty in Zimbabwe. His chair was flanked by two huge elephant tusks, a stuffed leopard and two antelope heads hung on the walls of the graceful white building, and the president's young wife, Grace, sat on a chair carefully placed over a zebra skin.

News of the 82-year-old president's lavish "new look" parliament comes as ordinary Zimbabweans battle with deteriorating living conditions. The annual inflation rate is the highest in the world at nearly 1,200 per cent and there are critical shortages of fuel, foreign currency and essential drugs.

Daily power cuts lasting seven or eight hours have become a way of life. In the low-income, high-density suburbs, women cook on fires made from sawdust and wood shavings because paraffin and bundles of firewood have become too expensive.

"My tribute goes to the gallant people of Zimbabwe for continuing to exhibit great fortitude despite the prevailing economic challenges which are orchestrated by the country's detractors," Mr Mugabe told solemn-faced MPs and senators, most of them from his ruling ZANU-PF party.

Mr Mugabe, who maintains that Britain and other western powers are to blame for his country's crisis, went on: "It is refreshing that the world has now become fully aware of the dishonest and hypocritical anti-Zimbabwe strategy of the British government."

However, critics put much of the blame on the president's controversial seizure of about 4,000 white-owned farms in the past six years, leading to a massive drop in agricultural production and the wholesale flight of foreign investment.

At least four million Zimbabweans have left the country; reports from neighbouring South Africa at the weekend said the authorities had to deport 265 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants every day. So desperate are many of the deportees that they try to swim back across the Limpopo river as soon as they are dumped in Zimbabwe.

Decked in medals and wearing a green and yellow sash, Mr Mugabe conceded that the rising inflation rate was "worrisome" but said his government was determined to "tame the monster". He said good rains had "set the stage for a strong rebound of the agricultural sector", apparently ignoring a report from a food monitoring body last week that said Zimbabwe would harvest only two-thirds of its needs this season.

Mr Mugabe said a national regulating authority would be set up in coming months to monitor electronic communications, but rights groups have warned that will give the secret police powers to tap phone calls, spy on e-mails and even open private letters.

He also said a bill would be introduced to curb mounting incidents of domestic violence and suppress "retrogressive traditional practices" including wife inheritance, the marriage of female children and the pledging of young girls to pay family debts.

Legislators applauded when Mr Mugabe added: "Such abhorrent practices also run counter to efforts to prevent the spread of the HIV and AIDS epidemic." More than 23 per cent of Zimbabweans are reported to be infected, with thousands dying each week.

The president also sent out a stern warning to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai, which is rumoured to be planning mass protests. "They should be warned that the forces of law and order will not hesitate to deal firmly with all those who have made violence their culture," he said.

Mr Mugabe repeated regular claims that Britain and its allies had imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. "We note with concern the continued imposition of illegal sanctions by the European Union and the United States of America at the behest of our erstwhile colonisers," he said. The US and the EU have imposed travel bans and targeted sanctions on the Zimbabwean president and dozens of ZANU-PF officials.

Meanwhile, Bright Matonga, Zimbabwe's deputy information minister, who has a British wife, was arrested yesterday on allegations of corruption, state radio reported. In 2004, Chris Kuruneri, the former finance minister, was held on similar allegations.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP