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Situation in Zim is 'life threatening'
iafrica.com
July 10, 2007

http://iafrica.com/news/sa/201379.htm

The economic situation in Zimbabwe has reached life-threatening proportions, the Solidarity Peace Trust said on Tuesday.

"There is no food in rural areas and soon there will be none in the urban areas if the government's current policing action on prices continues," chairperson Archbishop Pius Ncube told reporters in Johannesburg at the launch of the trust's report on the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe.

"The rapid decline of the economy and the commandist response of the state indicate a government that had neither a strong sense of responsibility towards its citizens, nor any substantive plan to move Zimbabwe out of its deepening crisis."

The Zimbabwean government ordered price cuts on 26 June. More than 1300 businesses have been charged and fined over the past two weeks for defying orders to slash prices in half.

Ncube said there was already almost no fuel in Zimbabwe. Schools, hospitals and other basic services scarcely functioned due to workers' dissatisfaction.

"We are being reduced to the most basic level every day, people are reduced to hunting for a loaf of bread. It might take you hours to get bread, if you get."

Ncube said the international community, including the World Food Programme, had been feeding Zimbabweans for the past five to six years.

"And they've been wise not to give food through government... Because government would say vote Zanu-PF and then you'll get food."

He said some Zimbabweans in the Diaspora had been sending food to relatives.

"Many babies have died of malnutrition, but I don't have the numbers."

Ncube said the acknowledgement of the African Union that Zimbabwe committed human rights violations had given him hope that Africa had woken up to the seriousness of the situation.

He said that torture of political opposition and civic organisation leaders in March this year was unjustified and evil.

The Solidarity Peace Trust report titled "Destructive Engagement: Violence, Mediation and Politics in Zimbabwe", found that there were increased levels of state repression against dissenting voices in the country.

"Against the background of political legitimacy of the ruling party, and an economy in freefall, the state has responded with characteristic brutality and contempt to its citizens," the report states.

It found that the state attacked Movement for Democratic Change leaders and the civic movement.

The state attacked one side of the divided MDC in order to fuel tensions between the two groups.

"In 90 percent of the attacks, the perpetrators involved government agencies such as the police."

It found that 80 percent of the cases were reported in Harare, one of the two urban areas considered to be opposition territory.

Ncube said the Trust and civic organisations supported the Southern African Development Community mediation process led by President Thabo Mbeki, which was influenced by these attacks.

The report said as mediation continued, the state-led violence and the culture of human rights abuses had to stop, and broad economic reform as well as human rights issues must form part of the process.

He labelled Mugabe as an evil criminal who would do anything to stay in power.

"Mugabe loves power, he lives for power. Even his own party wants him to step down," said Ncube.

He said the Zanu-PF was divided and Mugabe was insecure.

Asked if Mugabe was a Catholic and whether he had attended his church, Ncube replied: "He is Catholic. Being a Catholic does not protect you from being a criminal."

He said he heard Mugabe attended mass every week in Harare and was glad he did not come to his diocese.

"I doubt if he goes for confession, criminals don't go to confession."

Asked if Mugabe would be excommunicated from the church, Ncube said that lay in the hands of the Harare bishop to follow the proper channels.

Ncube believed Mugabe would be out of power sooner or later.

"The people of Zimbabwe want to move on." -- Sapa

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