You wonder if it can possibly get any worse....and it
does!
Mugabe's elderly live on 13p a month
The Sunday Times London March 26, 2006
Mugabe’s elderly live on 13p a month
Christina Lamb, Bulawayo
IN ONE hand Frank Wiggill holds his monthly
pension statement and in the other a 500 gram packet
of salt. It is the only thing in the supermarket that
his pension will buy, unless he prefers to
splash out on two eggs. When Wiggill retired after 38
years as an engine driver on the Zimbabwean railways,
he looked forward to enjoying his twilight years in comfort.
Instead he and his wife Jeanette depend on monthly
food parcels from well-wishers and handouts from their
son in South Africa. The collapsing currency combined with
the world’s highest inflation — estimated at more
than 1,000% a year — has cut their pension to 13p a month.
“It’s embarrassing,” said Wiggill, 79. “I worked all my
life and here I am living on food parcels of milk powder
and toilet paper.” His monthly pension of Z$49,000 is less
than the cost of a newspaper (Z$50,000) or a loaf of
bread (Z$70,000). It would take him two months to buy
a pint of milk (Z$89,000) and nine months to afford the
cheapest pack of four toilet rolls (Z$440,000).
“The pension is a laugh,” he said. “It must cost them
Z$25,000 to post the statement.” This month the Wiggills
received nothing. Deductions for three items on prescription
(Z$30,000 a time) after Wiggill cut down a cactus and got
poisonous sap in his eye left him Z$41,000 in debt to the
pension company.
At the same time the monthly rates on his bungalow have increased to
Z$679,124. Water and electricity are extra. Like most Zimbabwean pensioners, the only way the Wiggills can survive is by selling their possessions. First they sold their Ford Cortina. Then Frank’s beloved piano and Jeanette’s sewing machine.
Next to go will be the precious Royal Doulton plates commemorating the centenary
of Cecil Rhodes’s founding of Rhodesia.
They placed the proceeds from the car with a lump sum from their son in
an investment fund from which they received a monthly income. But two
months ago the fund was suspended, leaving them with no income apart from the
pension.
“We’ll keep selling more and more till eventually we’ll have nothing
left,” Jeanette said. After learning from auctioneers that pensioners
were selling their furniture to buy food, people in the community set up the
Bulawayo Help Network. Three groups formed. One, which helps to pay rates and
rent, is funded by a benefactor; one donates medicines; and the other
provides food parcels for 200 pensioners.
All the organisations asked not to be named, fearing that President
Robert Mugabe would close them and arrest their volunteers.
That helping pensioners is a clandestine activity in Zimbabwe
illustrates just how repressive the Mugabe regime has become. Many of the pensioners
say they would die of hunger were it not for the volunteers. The Wiggills’
case is typical. According to one of the distributors of the food parcels,
some receive as little as $4,000 — less than 1½p. “I’ve come across some so desperate that they are living on blackjacks (seeds),” he said. “My own mother-in-law
receives just Z$4,000 and she is a diabetic whose drugs cost at least $4.5m a
month.”
Yet they are well aware that in their pleasant homes with crocheted seat
covers and proper beds, they are still better off than millions of black
Zimbabweans, many of whom had their homes demolished last year in
Operation Murambatswina, Mugabe’s clean-up campaign, and are now living in
makeshift shelters of plastic sheets and scrap metal.
After comfortable middle-class lives, sending children to good schools
and employing maids and gardeners, the white pensioners find it difficult to
get used to charity. “They’ve turned us into welfare cases which is not a
nice feeling when you’ve worked all your life,” said Val Goodes, whose
husband John worked for 36 years as an auditor for the railway company and has a
pension of Z$129,000 (about 30p).
Like the Wiggills, the couple are sent money by their children. “You
just scrape by,” said Goodes. “We long ago stopped buying dairy products or
fruit. When the kettle blew up, we found an old pot. When the iron went,
we stopped ironing things. Now the element has gone in the oven so I can’t
bake.” Their biggest fear is falling ill. The public health system is in such a
state of collapse that hospitals do not have sterile gloves or hand-wash
solution. Private hospitals demand money up front. “As for dentists,
well I will just have to die with the broken teeth I have,” Goodes said.
“It’s very stressful,” Wiggill agreed. “I lay awake at night worrying
about the situation, which doesn’t help the health.”
Finding himself almost destitute is not easy for a proud man who worked
throughout the bush war in the 1970s when his trains carried armed guards
and had three steel trucks on the front in case they hit landmines.
“I feel so isolated,” he said. “I used to go with friends to the pub for
a beer or fishing but now cannot go anywhere, so I don’t know what’s going
on.” The couple’s television and hi-fi blew up in a lightning storm. Their
only source of entertainment is a transistor radio. It is too far to walk into town and there is no bus service. The few old people who go to a supermarket often stare
dumbfounded at the million-dollar prices and leave with a single egg or a bread
roll. To buy this may mean queueing for an hour as shoppers count out
stacks of Z$20,000 notes. The last official inflation figure was 782% in
February, but most businesses estimate that it is well over 1,000%.
University students recently went on strike in protest at astronomical fee increases.
Arts and humanities courses rose from Z$3m to Z$30m a year and medical
courses from Z$4m to Z$60m. Mugabe said recently that the solution to the
economic crisis was printing more money. The dollar is now worth so little
that some people use petrol vouchers as currency. Most shops have counting machines or scales but some have stopped counting, preferring to compare the heights of bundles of notes. “I just let people pay in bricks,” said the owner of an upmarket
Harare restaurant where bills often reach Z$50m-Z$60m.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
ABC News: U.S. Envoy: Zimbabwe in 'Massive' Crisis
ABC News: U.S. Envoy: U.S. Envoy: Zimbabwe in 'Massive' Crisis
U.S. Ambassador Says Zimbabwe's Economic, Political Crisis Beyond 'Point of No Return'
By ANGUS SHAW
The Associated Press
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis had "passed the point of no return" for recovery without basic internal reforms and substantial international help, the U.S. ambassador said in an interview published Sunday.
Calls by President Robert Mugabe for improved relations and "bridge building" with foreign nations so far had made no progress, Christopher Dell was quoted as saying in the independent Standard newspaper.
"It is our hope that in the face of the massive crisis that it has brought on itself, the government here will recognize that it needs to do more than talk about bridge building," Dell was quoted as saying.
In November, Dell was summoned to the foreign ministry in Harare after voicing similar criticisms of Zimbabwe's policies that he said plunged the nation into poverty. The envoy was warned he could be expelled from Harare.
In the interview published Sunday, Dell said the abuse of property rights by seizures of land and other private assets scared off investors and vital foreign financial assistance, though the United States remained the largest humanitarian aid donor $74 million last year.
Dell said in his 18 months in Zimbabwe, not a single U.S. investor had approached his office for information on Zimbabwe's business prospects and just 25 American firms were still doing business in the country.
"Zimbabwe has already passed the point of no return in its ability to recover from its crisis without substantial outside help," Dell said.
There was no immediate response from the government on Dell's remarks.
In the past, Mugabe has frequently accused Western ambassadors of meddling in the nation's internal affairs and said the country can manage its own homegrown recovery programs.
Zimbabwe's economy has been in a free fall since Mugabe's government began seizing thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks in 2000. Inflation has soared to 782 percent in the past year.
More than 3,000 people a week die of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses, while U.N. agencies estimate that about 4 million people are in need of food.
Last year, some 700,000 people lost their homes or livelihoods in a government demolition campaign aimed at street vendors, market stall holders and allegedly illegal housing.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
U.S. Ambassador Says Zimbabwe's Economic, Political Crisis Beyond 'Point of No Return'
By ANGUS SHAW
The Associated Press
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis had "passed the point of no return" for recovery without basic internal reforms and substantial international help, the U.S. ambassador said in an interview published Sunday.
Calls by President Robert Mugabe for improved relations and "bridge building" with foreign nations so far had made no progress, Christopher Dell was quoted as saying in the independent Standard newspaper.
"It is our hope that in the face of the massive crisis that it has brought on itself, the government here will recognize that it needs to do more than talk about bridge building," Dell was quoted as saying.
In November, Dell was summoned to the foreign ministry in Harare after voicing similar criticisms of Zimbabwe's policies that he said plunged the nation into poverty. The envoy was warned he could be expelled from Harare.
In the interview published Sunday, Dell said the abuse of property rights by seizures of land and other private assets scared off investors and vital foreign financial assistance, though the United States remained the largest humanitarian aid donor $74 million last year.
Dell said in his 18 months in Zimbabwe, not a single U.S. investor had approached his office for information on Zimbabwe's business prospects and just 25 American firms were still doing business in the country.
"Zimbabwe has already passed the point of no return in its ability to recover from its crisis without substantial outside help," Dell said.
There was no immediate response from the government on Dell's remarks.
In the past, Mugabe has frequently accused Western ambassadors of meddling in the nation's internal affairs and said the country can manage its own homegrown recovery programs.
Zimbabwe's economy has been in a free fall since Mugabe's government began seizing thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks in 2000. Inflation has soared to 782 percent in the past year.
More than 3,000 people a week die of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses, while U.N. agencies estimate that about 4 million people are in need of food.
Last year, some 700,000 people lost their homes or livelihoods in a government demolition campaign aimed at street vendors, market stall holders and allegedly illegal housing.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
Friday, March 24, 2006
Zimbabwe Coca-Cola stocks dry up
BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Zimbabwe Coca-Cola stocks dry up: "Zimbabwe Coca-Cola stocks dry up
Zimbabwe has run out of locally manufactured Coca-Cola.
Retailers were told bottling plants in Zimbabwe had run out of the imported syrup used to make the drink and supplies would resume later this month.
The cola drought is the latest symptom of a foreign currency crisis gripping the country.
Agents in Harare for the US-based soft drink company said local production of the drink had stopped earlier this month, but refused to give a reason.
However, Coca-Cola agents told shop and bar owners that syrup had not been imported owing to foreign currency shortages, AP news agency reports.
Coca-Cola is normally available even in small villages in Zimbabwe, and supplies continued even throughout the bush war that led to independence in 1980.
Zimbabweans have endured shortages of fuel and basic foodstuffs in recent years, as a result of a foreign currency shortage.
The government blames the crisis on sanctions, while its opponents say a controversial land reform programme is responsible for a sharp drop in agricultural export earnings.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4836378.stm
Published: 2006/03/23 10:33:51 GMT"
Zimbabwe has run out of locally manufactured Coca-Cola.
Retailers were told bottling plants in Zimbabwe had run out of the imported syrup used to make the drink and supplies would resume later this month.
The cola drought is the latest symptom of a foreign currency crisis gripping the country.
Agents in Harare for the US-based soft drink company said local production of the drink had stopped earlier this month, but refused to give a reason.
However, Coca-Cola agents told shop and bar owners that syrup had not been imported owing to foreign currency shortages, AP news agency reports.
Coca-Cola is normally available even in small villages in Zimbabwe, and supplies continued even throughout the bush war that led to independence in 1980.
Zimbabweans have endured shortages of fuel and basic foodstuffs in recent years, as a result of a foreign currency shortage.
The government blames the crisis on sanctions, while its opponents say a controversial land reform programme is responsible for a sharp drop in agricultural export earnings.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4836378.stm
Published: 2006/03/23 10:33:51 GMT"
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
South Africa invites Hamas
Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World: "Former S. Africans concerned at Hamas visit
Former S. Africans concerned at Hamas visit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David E. Kaplan, THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 21, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having "got a toe in with the Russian invitation," Hamas "is now upsizing to a foothold with a South African visit," Telfed (the organization representing Southern Africans in Israel) vice chair Annette Milliner, told The Jerusalem Post this week.
Former South Africans living in Israel doubted South Africa's ability to influence Hamas's hard-line agenda.
Milliner had little confidence that South Africa would succeed as a peace broker. "I believe Hamas will capitalize on the PR component of the visit, particularly if it includes high profile meetings with people of the stature of former president Nelson Mandela or Nobel Peace laureate, Bishop Desmond Tutu."
"Yes, there is that concern," admits Steven Slom, Chairman of the Israel-South Africa Chamber of Commerce. "Meeting with Mandela, Tutu or President Mbeki would be regrettable as that could lend the visit a certificate of respectability.
"On the other hand, South Africa is the one country that does enjoy the moral authority to make it clear to Hamas, that in order to advance the peace process, it would have to recognize Israel, abide by existing agreements and of course, renounce violence."
Prof. Monty Zion (emeritus) of Tel Mond, questions whether this status has not lost some of its tarnish. "This is no longer the Mandela era. South Africa failed recently to publicly join most the Western counties in condemning the Iranian president's outrageous statements that "Israel has no right to exist and should be dismantled". It has also been out of step in supporting rogue regimes like Mugabe's Zimbabwe." Zion fears that South Africa could shift in the direction of its northern neighbor if it's not careful.
South Africa was one of five countries alongside Algeria, Libya, Indonesia and Belarus that abstained when the International Atomic Energy Agency voted last month to report Iran to the Security Council.
Is the overture to Hamas a sign of the company that South Africa now wants to be associated with or is South Africa merely seeking to enhance its status as a major player on the world stage? Buoyed by a resurgent economy and meteoric rise in tourism, "South Africa is looking for a commensurate status in world affairs," says Solly Sacks of Kochav Yair. A former Chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, and today Director of World Mizrachi, Sacks believes that "this is fair enough but an invitation to Hamas is a tragic mistake.
"South Africa in the past saw fit to invite the likes of Castro, Gaddafi and Arafat and nothing changed in their behavior following such visits. Isolation is the only way to deal with these guys. It was the imposition of sanctions that finally influenced Gaddafi to soften his position, and closer to home, chipped away at South Africa's old apartheid regime," noted Sacks.
Former S. Africans concerned at Hamas visit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David E. Kaplan, THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 21, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having "got a toe in with the Russian invitation," Hamas "is now upsizing to a foothold with a South African visit," Telfed (the organization representing Southern Africans in Israel) vice chair Annette Milliner, told The Jerusalem Post this week.
Former South Africans living in Israel doubted South Africa's ability to influence Hamas's hard-line agenda.
Milliner had little confidence that South Africa would succeed as a peace broker. "I believe Hamas will capitalize on the PR component of the visit, particularly if it includes high profile meetings with people of the stature of former president Nelson Mandela or Nobel Peace laureate, Bishop Desmond Tutu."
"Yes, there is that concern," admits Steven Slom, Chairman of the Israel-South Africa Chamber of Commerce. "Meeting with Mandela, Tutu or President Mbeki would be regrettable as that could lend the visit a certificate of respectability.
"On the other hand, South Africa is the one country that does enjoy the moral authority to make it clear to Hamas, that in order to advance the peace process, it would have to recognize Israel, abide by existing agreements and of course, renounce violence."
Prof. Monty Zion (emeritus) of Tel Mond, questions whether this status has not lost some of its tarnish. "This is no longer the Mandela era. South Africa failed recently to publicly join most the Western counties in condemning the Iranian president's outrageous statements that "Israel has no right to exist and should be dismantled". It has also been out of step in supporting rogue regimes like Mugabe's Zimbabwe." Zion fears that South Africa could shift in the direction of its northern neighbor if it's not careful.
South Africa was one of five countries alongside Algeria, Libya, Indonesia and Belarus that abstained when the International Atomic Energy Agency voted last month to report Iran to the Security Council.
Is the overture to Hamas a sign of the company that South Africa now wants to be associated with or is South Africa merely seeking to enhance its status as a major player on the world stage? Buoyed by a resurgent economy and meteoric rise in tourism, "South Africa is looking for a commensurate status in world affairs," says Solly Sacks of Kochav Yair. A former Chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, and today Director of World Mizrachi, Sacks believes that "this is fair enough but an invitation to Hamas is a tragic mistake.
"South Africa in the past saw fit to invite the likes of Castro, Gaddafi and Arafat and nothing changed in their behavior following such visits. Isolation is the only way to deal with these guys. It was the imposition of sanctions that finally influenced Gaddafi to soften his position, and closer to home, chipped away at South Africa's old apartheid regime," noted Sacks.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
ZIMBABWE NEWS by CATHY BUCKLE
Subject: ZIMBABWE NEWS CATHY BUCKLE
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006
Subject: Cement Bag
Dear Family and Friends,
This letter is being sent out three days later than
normal because I am now entering the 92nd hour with only enough electricity
for lights in my home. At midday on Friday the voltage to my home crashed and
the power is insufficient to heat the water geyser, run a fridge or stove or even
boil a kettle. 25 telephone calls to the electricity supplier in the last four
days, a personal visit to the faults office, a number of offers to provide fuel or
go and collect electricians are all to no avail. In the villages less than 15
kilometres out of Marondera there is also no electricity which means the
grinding mills are not working. I was told by a friend that there are scores of people now going without food and that the atmosphere is extremely tense.
This morning there is literally mud coming out of the taps in my home which
means there are problems pumping water too. Zimbabwe is now entering the darkest
of days. It is hard to describe how anyone is surviving now and this week I had
the most amazing encounter which helped me put my own problems into perspective.
Standing at the entrance gates of a wholesaler there was a thin, gaunt, tired
looking man. On the ground next to him was a small pile of empty cement bags. He
bent and picked up a bag and held it towards me, asking me to buy it. An empty
cement bag, turned inside out and with two crude holes cut into the top for
handles. "Only thirty thousand dollars" the man said to me. This was literally
just an empty cement bag, it hadn't been sewn, reinforced or even cleaned very
well. I could think of no earthly reason why I would want an empty cement bag
but the look in the mans eyes, the slight trembling of his hand and the thinness
of his body gave me a whole lot of reasons. I gave the man forty thousand
dollars and told him to keep the change. I took my cement bag and the man called
out "God bless you, thank you," as I walked away. We both knew that the money
I'd just handed over would the man just half a loaf of bread but to me, and
obviously to him, selling cement bags enables a slither of dignity to be maintai
ned. Please keep the people of Zimbabwe in your thoughts and prayers in these
very hard times and thank you for reading.
Love
Cathy.
Copyright cathy buckle
7th March 2006. http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available from:
orders@africabookcentre.com
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006
Subject: Cement Bag
Dear Family and Friends,
This letter is being sent out three days later than
normal because I am now entering the 92nd hour with only enough electricity
for lights in my home. At midday on Friday the voltage to my home crashed and
the power is insufficient to heat the water geyser, run a fridge or stove or even
boil a kettle. 25 telephone calls to the electricity supplier in the last four
days, a personal visit to the faults office, a number of offers to provide fuel or
go and collect electricians are all to no avail. In the villages less than 15
kilometres out of Marondera there is also no electricity which means the
grinding mills are not working. I was told by a friend that there are scores of people now going without food and that the atmosphere is extremely tense.
This morning there is literally mud coming out of the taps in my home which
means there are problems pumping water too. Zimbabwe is now entering the darkest
of days. It is hard to describe how anyone is surviving now and this week I had
the most amazing encounter which helped me put my own problems into perspective.
Standing at the entrance gates of a wholesaler there was a thin, gaunt, tired
looking man. On the ground next to him was a small pile of empty cement bags. He
bent and picked up a bag and held it towards me, asking me to buy it. An empty
cement bag, turned inside out and with two crude holes cut into the top for
handles. "Only thirty thousand dollars" the man said to me. This was literally
just an empty cement bag, it hadn't been sewn, reinforced or even cleaned very
well. I could think of no earthly reason why I would want an empty cement bag
but the look in the mans eyes, the slight trembling of his hand and the thinness
of his body gave me a whole lot of reasons. I gave the man forty thousand
dollars and told him to keep the change. I took my cement bag and the man called
out "God bless you, thank you," as I walked away. We both knew that the money
I'd just handed over would the man just half a loaf of bread but to me, and
obviously to him, selling cement bags enables a slither of dignity to be maintai
ned. Please keep the people of Zimbabwe in your thoughts and prayers in these
very hard times and thank you for reading.
Love
Cathy.
Copyright cathy buckle
7th March 2006. http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available from:
orders@africabookcentre.com
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Notes from a Refugee
Notes from a Refugee
by Mandi Steinberg (nee Burke)
As the sun rises over Tel Aviv my husband's just come in to the computer room to ask me "what the hell" I'm doing. I tell him that I'm visiting the graves at Warren Hills. He gives me a look of shock and says "right, well I'm going back to bed". What I don't tell him is how I stare at the photos of the Ohel until I can feel that African breeze, hear it whistling through the Masasa trees on the kopje just behind the reform community's plaques and clearly visualize the red clay type soil blowing in the wind. How I know that when you need to wash your hands you have to turn on the tap behind the sinks outside the Ohel (although I'm not sure if there's any water there now). I stare at the photos of my parents' graves too and worry that they're dusty and lacking in flowers. I feel like I am the ghost of Warren Hills Jewish Cemetery. This is what its like to be a refugee, in my heart at least. To feel that you've completely lost the land that you were born and grew up in as it will never be the same, and that no one else understands that. Unless they're Zimbabwean, black or white we have a unique bond with each other.
When we started thinking about raising a family I had a huge dilemma. Every parent (or prospective parent) would like to give their children more than they had. But we had such a wonderful carefree life in Zim that it's really hard to do that. Nevertheless we packed up and went to the end of the earth, New Zealand. There I bumped into fellow Zimbabweans who I could sit for hours chatting about "when we" days gone by in Zim and at Sharon School. After a couple of years, though, we had bigger emotional issues because as I have no home left in Zim I realized that the only other place that I can ever call home is Israel. But that's another story to be saved for the "Zimbabwean/South African Israelis who leave Israel and return" blog!
I now have a daughter and I try to pass on my Zimbabwean heritage to her. She's probably the only child in Israel who will know a few Shona words too!!
But I see that I'm not the only displaced person wondering around the virtual Jewish Community of Zimbabwe at odd hours of the morning. Dave seems to be out there with me searching for his roots and the past at odd hours of the morning. So next time I can't sleep and I decide to visit my families' graves I'll know that I'm not the only ghost out there.
PS: Thank you so much for this thoughtful website. It's the only thing left that I can cling to to remember our past.
PPS: Thanks to Benny Leon for taking the photos of the graves. Now at least my children will be able to see their grand parents' and great-grandparents' graves – as I'm not sure they will ever see them in person.
by Mandi Steinberg (nee Burke)
As the sun rises over Tel Aviv my husband's just come in to the computer room to ask me "what the hell" I'm doing. I tell him that I'm visiting the graves at Warren Hills. He gives me a look of shock and says "right, well I'm going back to bed". What I don't tell him is how I stare at the photos of the Ohel until I can feel that African breeze, hear it whistling through the Masasa trees on the kopje just behind the reform community's plaques and clearly visualize the red clay type soil blowing in the wind. How I know that when you need to wash your hands you have to turn on the tap behind the sinks outside the Ohel (although I'm not sure if there's any water there now). I stare at the photos of my parents' graves too and worry that they're dusty and lacking in flowers. I feel like I am the ghost of Warren Hills Jewish Cemetery. This is what its like to be a refugee, in my heart at least. To feel that you've completely lost the land that you were born and grew up in as it will never be the same, and that no one else understands that. Unless they're Zimbabwean, black or white we have a unique bond with each other.
When we started thinking about raising a family I had a huge dilemma. Every parent (or prospective parent) would like to give their children more than they had. But we had such a wonderful carefree life in Zim that it's really hard to do that. Nevertheless we packed up and went to the end of the earth, New Zealand. There I bumped into fellow Zimbabweans who I could sit for hours chatting about "when we" days gone by in Zim and at Sharon School. After a couple of years, though, we had bigger emotional issues because as I have no home left in Zim I realized that the only other place that I can ever call home is Israel. But that's another story to be saved for the "Zimbabwean/South African Israelis who leave Israel and return" blog!
I now have a daughter and I try to pass on my Zimbabwean heritage to her. She's probably the only child in Israel who will know a few Shona words too!!
But I see that I'm not the only displaced person wondering around the virtual Jewish Community of Zimbabwe at odd hours of the morning. Dave seems to be out there with me searching for his roots and the past at odd hours of the morning. So next time I can't sleep and I decide to visit my families' graves I'll know that I'm not the only ghost out there.
PS: Thank you so much for this thoughtful website. It's the only thing left that I can cling to to remember our past.
PPS: Thanks to Benny Leon for taking the photos of the graves. Now at least my children will be able to see their grand parents' and great-grandparents' graves – as I'm not sure they will ever see them in person.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Zimbabwe inflation soars to all-time high
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Saturday, March 11, 2006 · Last updated 2:16 p.m. PT
Zimbabwe inflation soars to all-time high
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Yearly inflation soared to an all-time
high of 782 percent in Zimbabwe, the former breadbasket
of southern Africa whose economy collapsed from years
of drought and the government-backed seizure of thousands
of white-owned commercial farms.
Prices rose 27.5 percent during the month of February
alone, and the average family of five needed about
$90 just to meet basic food needs, far above average
earnings, state radio said Saturday.
Trade unions say those still formally employed -
about 20 percent of the work force - earn about
$55 a month. Workers on formerly white-owned
commercial farms, by contrast, earn as little
as $3 a month from their employers, many of them
beneficiaries of President Robert Mugabe's "fast
track" land redistribution.
The value of the Zimbabwean dollar has been in a
freefall since February 2000, when Mugabe ordered
the seizure of 5,000 white-owned farms.
In 2001, $1 was equal to 55 Zimbabwean dollars.
In 2003, $1 equaled 700 Zimbabwean dollars, and
in 2005 $1 equaled 15,000.
Today, $1 is equal to 99,000 Zimbabwean dollars.
The seizure of the farms for redistribution to black
Zimbabweans, combined with years of drought, have
crippled Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy.
United Nations agencies say 25 percent of Zimbabwe's
12 million people are now dependent on international
food relief, even though the country was for years
a major food exporter to the region.
The nation is suffering its worst economic crisis
since independence from Britain in 1980 - when $1
equaled two Zimbabwean dollars - with acute shortages
of food, gasoline, medicines and other essential
imports.
The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe said in November
that gross government mismanagement and corruption
have reversed a half-century of progress in six years.
The Central Statistical Office said inflation was 782
percent for the 12 months that ended in February.
Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the government-run
Statistical Office, said prices of food and nonalcoholic
beverages rose 824 percent during that time.
State radio predicted that inflation would fall to 200
percent annually by the end of the year after a "bumper
harvest by new farmers," but an all-party parliamentary
committee warned before the November start of this
season's rains that production would be at an all-time
low due to shortages of diesel, seed, fertilizer,
chemicals, functioning farm machinery and skilled labor.
Farmworkers of Malawian, Zambian or Mozambican descent
have been forced to return to their parents' and
grandparents' countries of origin following eviction
by Mugabe's land recipients.
Mugabe conceded in December that shortcomings in his
land redistribution program contributed to critical
food shortages.
Poor planning, corruption, lawlessness, vandalism,
crumbling infrastructure and shortages of fertilizer
and seed have compounded the effects of recurring
drought, he said.
Saturday, March 11, 2006 · Last updated 2:16 p.m. PT
Zimbabwe inflation soars to all-time high
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Yearly inflation soared to an all-time
high of 782 percent in Zimbabwe, the former breadbasket
of southern Africa whose economy collapsed from years
of drought and the government-backed seizure of thousands
of white-owned commercial farms.
Prices rose 27.5 percent during the month of February
alone, and the average family of five needed about
$90 just to meet basic food needs, far above average
earnings, state radio said Saturday.
Trade unions say those still formally employed -
about 20 percent of the work force - earn about
$55 a month. Workers on formerly white-owned
commercial farms, by contrast, earn as little
as $3 a month from their employers, many of them
beneficiaries of President Robert Mugabe's "fast
track" land redistribution.
The value of the Zimbabwean dollar has been in a
freefall since February 2000, when Mugabe ordered
the seizure of 5,000 white-owned farms.
In 2001, $1 was equal to 55 Zimbabwean dollars.
In 2003, $1 equaled 700 Zimbabwean dollars, and
in 2005 $1 equaled 15,000.
Today, $1 is equal to 99,000 Zimbabwean dollars.
The seizure of the farms for redistribution to black
Zimbabweans, combined with years of drought, have
crippled Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy.
United Nations agencies say 25 percent of Zimbabwe's
12 million people are now dependent on international
food relief, even though the country was for years
a major food exporter to the region.
The nation is suffering its worst economic crisis
since independence from Britain in 1980 - when $1
equaled two Zimbabwean dollars - with acute shortages
of food, gasoline, medicines and other essential
imports.
The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe said in November
that gross government mismanagement and corruption
have reversed a half-century of progress in six years.
The Central Statistical Office said inflation was 782
percent for the 12 months that ended in February.
Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the government-run
Statistical Office, said prices of food and nonalcoholic
beverages rose 824 percent during that time.
State radio predicted that inflation would fall to 200
percent annually by the end of the year after a "bumper
harvest by new farmers," but an all-party parliamentary
committee warned before the November start of this
season's rains that production would be at an all-time
low due to shortages of diesel, seed, fertilizer,
chemicals, functioning farm machinery and skilled labor.
Farmworkers of Malawian, Zambian or Mozambican descent
have been forced to return to their parents' and
grandparents' countries of origin following eviction
by Mugabe's land recipients.
Mugabe conceded in December that shortcomings in his
land redistribution program contributed to critical
food shortages.
Poor planning, corruption, lawlessness, vandalism,
crumbling infrastructure and shortages of fertilizer
and seed have compounded the effects of recurring
drought, he said.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
BBC NEWS | Africa | Zimbabwe 'running out of wheat'
BBC NEWS | Africa | Zimbabwe 'running out of wheat': "
Zimbabwe 'running out of wheat'
Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left, while citizens are faced with soaring bread prices, Zimbabwe's main milling organisation has said.
The cost of bread has risen by 30%, pushing Zimbabwe's inflation rate to more than 600%.
Zimbabwe has been in economic decline since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000.
The government is reported to have put its security forces on alert in case the discontent leads to protests.
David Govere, deputy chairman of the Millers Association, told AFP news agency the scarcity of wheat has meant a reduction in supplies to bakeries.
'Due to depleted stocks, GMB [state-run food distributor Grain Marketing Board] is now giving us 400 tons of wheat a week, down from 600 tons,' he is quoted as saying.
Shortages of wheat could force bakers to import flour from South Africa, which could lead to more price rises.
A loaf of bread in Zimbabwe currently costs $66,000 Zimbabwean (66 US cents), having risen 30% in just one week.
President Mugabe denies that his land reform programme has contributed to the crisis, blaming the effects of drought instead.
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the situation is becoming unbearable.
'It's terrible right now because of shortages,' Arthur Mutambara, leader of one of two factions of the MDC.
'Fuel is not available, commodities are unaffordable, unemployment 80%, inflation above 600%.
"It's a travesty of justice that the country has been so run down by Robert Mugabe's regime."
Food aid
Zimbabwe's leading millers - National Foods, Blue Ribbon and Victoria Foods - have shut production at most of their mills because of the wheat shortage, according to AFP.
International aid agencies say about 4.3m out of Zimbabwe's 13m people will require food aid until the next harvest in May.
The country has suffered increasing food shortages, rising unemployment and runaway inflation since the government began redistributing seized white-owned farms six years ago.
Economists say the rate of inflation could reach 1,000% by April.
Zimbabwe 'running out of wheat'
Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left, while citizens are faced with soaring bread prices, Zimbabwe's main milling organisation has said.
The cost of bread has risen by 30%, pushing Zimbabwe's inflation rate to more than 600%.
Zimbabwe has been in economic decline since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000.
The government is reported to have put its security forces on alert in case the discontent leads to protests.
David Govere, deputy chairman of the Millers Association, told AFP news agency the scarcity of wheat has meant a reduction in supplies to bakeries.
'Due to depleted stocks, GMB [state-run food distributor Grain Marketing Board] is now giving us 400 tons of wheat a week, down from 600 tons,' he is quoted as saying.
Shortages of wheat could force bakers to import flour from South Africa, which could lead to more price rises.
A loaf of bread in Zimbabwe currently costs $66,000 Zimbabwean (66 US cents), having risen 30% in just one week.
President Mugabe denies that his land reform programme has contributed to the crisis, blaming the effects of drought instead.
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the situation is becoming unbearable.
'It's terrible right now because of shortages,' Arthur Mutambara, leader of one of two factions of the MDC.
'Fuel is not available, commodities are unaffordable, unemployment 80%, inflation above 600%.
"It's a travesty of justice that the country has been so run down by Robert Mugabe's regime."
Food aid
Zimbabwe's leading millers - National Foods, Blue Ribbon and Victoria Foods - have shut production at most of their mills because of the wheat shortage, according to AFP.
International aid agencies say about 4.3m out of Zimbabwe's 13m people will require food aid until the next harvest in May.
The country has suffered increasing food shortages, rising unemployment and runaway inflation since the government began redistributing seized white-owned farms six years ago.
Economists say the rate of inflation could reach 1,000% by April.
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