Back to Index

Bread shortages and bank queues in bad year for Zim
Mail & Guardian (SA)
December 30, 2007

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=328712&referrer=RSS

Bare supermarket shelves, bank queues and burst riverbanks -- for many Zimbabweans a bad year ended in a bad way.

At least 27 Zimbabweans died in floods this month while thousands have spent precious holiday days in bank queues, waiting for scarce cash.

The government of long-time leader President Robert Mugabe this week tried to put a positive gloss on 2007, calling it the Year of Tourism following an estimated 55% surge in desperately needed foreign tourists.

But few others will have positive memories of the past 12 months.

Opposition officials have been beaten up, a fearless archbishop and Mugabe critic brought low in what many saw as a state-orchestrated sting and a controversial bugging law passed.

"It would be fair to say it has been one of the worst years of our independence," said Bill Saidi, the deputy editor of the private Standard newspaper.

Ordinary people have really been hard done by, he added.

Shortages of basics like bread, milk and meat worsened following a controversial 50% price slash in July, which saw gleeful shoppers, some of them linked to the police, and influential figures empty shops, wholesalers and fuel stations.

More than 23 000 businessmen, informal traders and shop owners were arrested for defying price controls.

In the last few weeks, some goods have reappeared in shops. But they are selling at prices way beyond the reach of many. A single chicken, a favourite Christmas dish, in December cost more than Z$20-million, more than the monthly salary of many teachers and lecturers.

Inflation, which has been on a relentless upward climb since land reforms were launched in 2000, has surged. The latest monthly figure reportedly leaked from the central bank this week is more than 24 000%.

To make matters worse, banknote shortages brought misery to millions in the run-up to Christmas.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono blames the shortages on cash hoarders and high-ranking officials involved in shady deals.

In an ironic twist this week, a woman arrested for illegally possessing billions of new bank notes implicated a former Reserve Bank adviser, alleging Jonathan Kadzura was a regular buyer of foreign currency on the illegal black market.

'Turning point'

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the year has been challenging. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was among dozens of opposition and civil rights activists beaten by police at an aborted prayer rally in March.

The brutal clampdown saw one opposition supporter shot dead during skirmishes with police and catapulted Zimbabwe once again into the international spotlight.

Observers wondered if this would mark a new stage of sustained resistance to Mugabe's 27-year-long hold on power.

It didn't. Instead, following an emergency summit by the Southern African Development Community, the two factions of the MDC and Mugabe's Zanu-PF agreed to begin talks in neighbouring South Africa. So far the sides have agreed to some concessions, including the watering down of tough press and security laws.

"This is the year in which we managed to drag Mugabe to the negotiating table," said MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa, himself beaten up and hospitalised in early 2007. "For us, that was a turning point."

Chamisa believes elections due next March will make 2008 a watershed year.

"It is a year in which the people of Zimbabwe have the opportunity to save their lives, their families and their country," he said.

Not everyone has his confidence. Editor Saidi admits that people are itching to get back at the government.

But, he told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur that "there are people who think there's quite a probability they [the government] will tinker with the elections".

The Mugabe government has a reputation for attempting to silence any opponents.

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, was an internationally respected critic of the regime, who once famously said he prayed for Mugabe's demise. He was forced to resign his post in September after state television showed grainy pictures of the cleric getting into bed with a married parishioner.

Quieter these days, Ncube continues to pray for a change of government.

The former archbishop told the British-based Zimbabwean Standard newspaper this week: "I believe strongly that good will triumph over evil for what we are dealing with here is a cruel evil of the worst kind." -- Sapa-dpa

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