Air Zimbabwe to cut 500 jobs

ZIMBABWE'S national carrier said Tuesday it will cut 500 jobs, one-third of its workforce, in a bid to prevent the embattled airline from going under.

"We have no option other but to right-size or else we are dead," Air Zimbabwe chief executive Peter Chikumba told AFP.

Nearly a decade of economic and political crisis has seen annual passenger numbers for the struggling airline drop from a peak of one million in 1996 to just 300,000 now, the company said.

The state-owned airline formed in 1980 after the country's independence has been beset by a string of financial problems.

The company currently has a US$30 million debt, and has asked the government to sell its stake in the airline in a bid to raise desperately needed cash from private investors.

"If we do not do anything about it, the business will collapse and it will be very unfortunate if this happens," Chikumba told AFP.

Last year at the height of the country's hyperinflation, which officially hit 231 million percent but was believed many times higher, Air Zimbabwe was forced to sell tickets in the virtually worthless local currency.

That left the airline struggling to pay its membership fees with the airline regulation body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), while it couldn't pay landing fees at London's Gatwick Airport.

Chikumba was hopeful that the unity government formed in February between President Robert Mugabe and his erstwhile rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would bring economic stability and improve the business environment.

"We are positive that the political atmosphere that has been created will bring potential investors into the airline and the country," said Chikumba.

Air Zimbabwe's fortunes nosedived so dramatically that one flight in 2005 arrived from Dubai carrying a single passenger.

The route has since been closed, together with Kinshasa and Luanda, while the airline has concentrated on busy routes to South Africa, Britain and Zambia.

The company has also been hit hard by the national brain drain as experienced personnel such as engineers and pilots are poached by rival carriers in the region and Europe.

Chikumba said the retrenchment was a way of trimming the company's workforce to match the reduced business climate, while retaining staff with the right skills.

Source: AFP

Zimbabwe to dump loss-making parastatals

MUTARE - The government is going to privatise or commercialise some of its loss-making parastatals, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said last week.

Addressing a breakfast meeting organised by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) in Mutare, Biti said an inter-ministerial committee was working on a programme to see which government-owned companies could be offloaded because they were a burden to the fiscus or which ones could be commercialised and turned into profitable operations.

He said: "The government will soon privatise or commercialise some of the parastatals that are non-performing. The inter-ministerial committee is working on this programme so that we can categories some of the parastatals to see whether they should be commercialized (or privatized)."

The International Monetary Fund and local analysts have long called on the government to privatise non-performing parastatals or allow them to charge economic prices to stop them from perpetually draining the national treasury.

Among some of the government's perennially under-performing companies are the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe, Grain Marketing Board, National Railways of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority.

Own Correspondent

NRZ killing mining, export industry

The state-owned National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has been blamed for the decline in Zimbabwe's mineral exports because of its dilapidated fleet and equipment.

NRZ, the country's largest rail company has not replaced most of its equipment since it was installed in 1897, having outlived its lifespan of 100 years.

Last year, the government parastatal embarked on a drive to raise funding to renovate its collapsing infrastructure, but the begging bowl is still far from full, leaving the NRZ unable to secure key signaling equipment, the absence of which, experts say, has contributed to an increase in the number of accidents.

The state of the railway service mirrors the economic decline in Zimbabwe, once the busy hub of trans-sub-Saharan trade. As is the case in the rest of the country itself, corruption, mismanagement
and neglect have contributed to the rapid deterioration of what used to be one of Africa's most efficient rail systems.

According to a report released this week by the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), a government-owned body, statistics have shown that the steady decline of the NRZ is proving increasingly detrimental to the country's export trade.

"Out of a planned movement of 1,155,760 metric tonnes of mineral exports, NRZ managed to move only 498,636 metric tonnes in 2007, a 57% decline on the projections and a performance significantly lower than its 2006 ratings," MMCZ Chief Executive Officer, Onisimo Moyo, said in the report.

High carbon ferrochrome and platinum group metals contribute over 50% of the country's export revenue.

The report went on to say, in 2005, NRZ required 108 main-line locomotives to meet demand but only 60 were available. It had mustered 126 in 1999, dropping to 112 in 2000, 99 in 2001 and 83 in 2002. There has been no major investment in motive power since then.

"The NRZ rolling stock has continued to decline and urgent support is required for this vital institution, which is one of the key pillars for the economy's turnaround," Moyo said.

In response, the NRZ blames its woes on foreign currency shortages. The company says it is adopting new measures to curb accidents by organizing annual refresher courses for drivers and other staff. This additional training would determine their future with the parastatal.

But the NRZ knows it cannot afford to sack personnel even if they are found wanting. The parastatal is losing hordes of its most experienced staff to South Africa, which is recruiting skilled manpower for its Gautrain transport project for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Under the government's Public Private Partnerships initiative, introduced in 2005 to encourage partnerships with private business, the NRZ was identified as one of the 58 projects to be executed under the initiative. But there have been no takers.

Source: The Sunday Standard, Botswana

Discord over rights abuses

HARARE - Zimbabwe's political leaders appeared to speak with discordant voices on Wednesday on the sensitive subject of how to achieve national healing while ensuring those who violated human rights are brought to justice following a unity accord signed earlier this week.

Morgan Tsvangirai - Prime Minister-designate in a new government of national unity with President Robert Mugabe and another opposition leader Arthur Mutambara - told a British newspaper that some senior members of Mugabe's government could face trial over political violence. Mugabe himself will not be tried, according to Tsvangirai.

But, in a quick reminder of how fragile the unity agreement between the three political rivals is, a senior official of Mugabe's ZANU PF party and Mutambara's faction said the parties had not agreed what to do with perpetrators of human rights abuses.

They said whatever course of action the three parties may eventually decide to take, it should be aimed at "achieving national healing rather than punishment and retribution" - clearly insinuating Tsvangirai may have jumped the gun when he spoke of bringing Mugabe's lieutenants to
justice.

ZANU PF deputy spokesman Ephraim Masawi described Tsvangirai's remarks as "unfortunate" and charged that the incoming prime minister loved to point fingers at others while his own MDC party was also guilty of committing political violence.

"The agreement is clear that we must have national healing, but how to achieve that is yet to be fashioned," Masawi told ZimOnline. "It is unfortunate that Tsvangirai speaks of ZANU PF members facing trial, ignoring that his party was also responsible for political violence in the countdown
to the June 27 presidential election run-off."

The ZANU PF official claimed that all of Zimbabwe's three main political parties were guilty of committing political violence, citing a statement issued by the parties last month in which they not only condemned past political violence but also accepted responsibility.

"Every party admitted committing violence and we wonder why Tsvangirai only mentions ZANU PF members. The issue of whether perpetrators will face trial or not rests with the parties when they deal with how to heal the nation as prescribed in the deal they signed on Monday," said
Masawi.

Mutambara would not comment directly on Tsvangirai's calls for ZANU PF officials to be brought to trial but said whatever action the three parties decide to take should aim to heal the nation and not to achieve retribution.

He said: "We must have restorative justice that seeks to incorporate the views of the victims, to rehabilitate individuals and communities that were brutalised through the abuse of human rights and crimes against humanity."

In an interview with The Times newspaper, Tsvangirai said while Mugabe could let off the hook, those in his inner circle should stand trial for political violence and other crimes.

"I don't think Mugabe himself as a person can be held accountable. But there are various levels of institutional violence that has taken place and I'm sure we'll be able to look at that," Tsvangirai
reportedly said. "Let the rule of law apply . . . We all cry for the rule of law, and if somebody's committed an offence he should be prosecuted."

The MDC leader, who was himself brutally assaulted and injured by police last year, said the new government was committed to ensuring there would be no repeat of the violence, which he described as "the darkest period in our history".

Political violence and human rights abuses have accompanied Zimbabwe's elections since the 1999 emergency of Tsvangirai and his MDC party as the first potent threat to Mugabe and ZANU PF's grip on power.

For example, Tsvangirai says that more than 100 members of his MDC party were killed and more than 10 000 others displaced in political violence in the run-up to the June presidential run-off election

Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the run-off to protest the violence and despite having led Mugabe in the first round of voting in March, blamed the violence on ZANU PF militia and state security forces.

Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal is the first real opportunity in nearly 10 years for the crisis-sapped southern African nation to begin a chapter of national healing and recovery.

However, many in and outside Zimbabwe remain immensely skeptical that the deal clinched after seven weeks of tortuous negotiations could stand the strain given the deep personal animosity and mistrust among the political leaders.

Source: ZimOnline

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Zim cabinet talks falter

Jan Raath in Harare

The first attempt by the three partners in Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government to launch its new administration and confront the country's disastrous state fell at the first hurdle last night when they failed to agree on the sharing of the ministries.

"Zanu(PF) is claiming all the powerful ministries," said Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, after Mr Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, broke up after about six hours of negotiations.

MDC sources said Mr Mugabe was insisting on the ministries of defence and home affairs - which includes the police, finance and local government.Mr Mugabe's new demands came after he addressed his party's politburo and central committee.

At the meeting on Wednesday, Mr Mugabe declared: "We remain in the driving seat. We will not tolerate any nonsense from our new partners."

Mr Chamisa said the issue would be referred to representatives of the three parties who carried out the bulk of negotiations for the agreement for an "inclusive" government signed on Monday.
Mr Mugabe leaves next week for the United Nations general assembly, which means that any conclusion is stalled by at least another week.

On Wednesday Mr Mugabe also told the central committee, "If only we had not blundered in the March 29 elections, we would not be facing this humiliation.

"This is what we have to deal with. We urge you to do your best in trying to understand the document." His remarks indicate a sense of resignation, and also signalled that for the first time since he came to power 28 years ago, he and Zanu(PF) can no longer exercise total control. His stance yesterday, however, showed he can be expected to use delaying tactics to the full.

Zanu(PF) will have 15 of the 31 ministries established in terms of the agreement, Mr Tsvangirai's MDC 13 and the lesser MDC led by Arthur Mutambara, 3, leaving the MDC with a slender majority - another unprecedented and unpalatable truth facing Mr Mugabe.

The MDC is understood to be willing to let Mr Mugabe keep the defence ministry, a move that both would placate the powerful generals loyal to him, but also in the hope that he would surrender to the main pro-democracy party the home affairs ministry, and with it the all-important police force.

Source: London Times

Doctors put the bones back together

HARARE-- The doctor points impassively to two X-rays on a screen. One is of a foot fractured in four places, the breaks more severe than if the victim had been run over by a car, the doctor says.

The second is of a leg fractured at the thickest part of the tibia, just beneath the knee. The fibula, a smaller leg bone, is smashed to pieces, says the doctor, who despite eight years' experience with cases of trauma and beatings has never seen an injury like the tibia fracture.

The leg and foot injuries were not the only ones suffered by the two victims, a 41-year-old polling agent for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party beaten on the soles of his feet and a 46-year-old MDC provincial secretary struck with a metal bar. Both had two broken arms
and one had broken ribs.

The pair are among the thousands of Zimbabwean activists who were injured in the run-up to Friday's presidential runoff, overwhelmingly opposition party supporters attacked by ZANU-PF ruling party militias and operatives, according to Human Rights Watch.

At least 85 opposition activists were killed before the runoff, which concluded with longtime incumbent Robert Mugabe being the sole candidate. An additional 200 are missing and presumed dead. And roughly 200,000 people were displaced from their homes in the violence, the opposition says.

In some areas, the opposition could not field a single polling agent to monitor the election because of safety concerns.

MDC presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, who described the election campaign as being like a war, pulled out of the vote because of the severe violence against MDC activists. Mugabe, 84, who had finished second to Tsvangirai in the initial presidential vote in March, was inaugurated for a new five-year term.

The X-rays convey only the bald medical facts of what happened to two of the many victims, but to a doctor, the pictures speak as eloquently as courtroom testimony.

The doctor, whose name has been withheld because of safety concerns and possible repercussions, describes himself as a man interested in facts, not emotions. He does focus on the biographical details of the men involved, who they were and what were their thoughts and feelings.

"I just write the medical reports," he says. "I try to keep it as objective as possible."

What staggers him is the level of suffering, and the length of time that the victims will continue to feel the pain. "Every time that person puts his foot down for the next five years, it will
hurt," he says.

"You have four metatarsal fractures," the doctor continues, gesturing at the bones in the central part of the foot in the first X-ray. "You just don't get full metatarsal fractures at the same time. It's very unusual. It requires a huge amount of force.

"You could drive a car over someone's foot and if you broke two of them it would be a lot," he says.

He jabs a finger at the X-ray of the tibia injury. "Will you look at that bone? The massive strong part of the tibia has been separated. You just don't get complete severing of the tibia from the knee like that. I could not hit someone hard enough to do this.

"It's an illustration of unbelievable, intentional brutality," he says. This is not over when the election is over." The areas hardest hit by the violence were traditional ZANU-PF strongholds
that had swung strongly to the MDC in the March vote.

Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights, a group of independent doctors, reports that 2,000 people were treated for injuries suffered in political violence in June and more than 5,000 since February. The doctor is a member of the organization.

"One of the most disturbing things is that there is nowhere that people can turn to. You have got no refuge, no ombudsman, no policeman," the doctor says. He switches off the lighted screen behind the X-rays, takes them down and slides them into two brown envelopes. There are many others like them, he says.

Moroka Media

Mugabe urged to dialogue with opposition

HARARE (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe returns to Zimbabwe on Wednesday under pressure from fellow African leaders to form a national unity government in the wake of his re-election in a violent poll ruled unfair by monitors.

An African Union summit in Egypt, attended by Mugabe, approved a resolution calling for him to negotiate with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who withdrew from the run-off election because of violence against his supporters.

The resolution fell short of the tougher statement wanted by some African countries, but it was an unprecedented rebuff to Mugabe, previously feted as a liberation hero.

In the strongest public statement from one of Zimbabwe's neighbours since he was sworn in on Sunday, Botswana called for Mugabe to be barred from the AU and the southern African regional body SADC.

Last Friday's second-round election, in which he was the only candidate, was condemned by monitors and much of world opinion as violent and unfair.

"In our considered view . the representatives of the current government in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC (Southern African Development Community) and African Union meetings," Botswana Vice-President Mompati Merafhe said, according to a text of his remarks.

Botswana said Mugabe's participation in African meetings "would give unqualified legitimacy to a process which cannot be considered legitimate".Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called for Mugabe, 84, to be suspended from the AU after the election.

European Union president France said the EU would only accept a Zimbabwean government led by Tsvangirai, echoing a Western position that Mugabe was an illegitimate leader.

Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the first round of the election on March 29 but withdrew from the run-off after he said pro-government militias killed 86 of his supporters. Botswana's statement underlined deep rifts in Africa and among Zimbabwe's neighbours over how tough to be with Mugabe.

South Africa, the designated mediator in Zimbabwe, has resisted open condemnation. The AU summit, in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, called for SADC mediation, led by South African President Thabo Mbeki, to continue.

Mbeki has been criticised in the region and at home for what is seen as ineffective mediation that favours Mugabe. At the summit, Mugabe attacked his critics in Africa and outside but did not
object to the resolution, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told reporters.

"There was a lengthy debate, many views were put forward including very critical views of the Zimbabwean ruling party and the president," Zaki said.

Mugabe spokesman George Charamba earlier rejected ideas being discussed for a power sharing deal and MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said there was nochance of negotiations.

Biti said Mugabe's decision to go ahead with the June 27 election "totally and completely exterminated any prospects of a negotiated settlement". MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the party would respond to the AU resolution on Wednesday.

The summit did not back a U.S. push for U.N. sanctions against Mugabe, including an arms embargo.

Source: AFP

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