ZAJU I PF ZAJU I PF Zimbabwe News Official Organ of ZANU'PF DIpartrnent of Informatio, .ndPuNicity. 144 tnion Avenuc, II vare Tcl: 79014-8 FEBRUARY 1998 Volume 29, No. 2 1998, Registee at the G.P.O t a Newspapwr ...$t5 (incl. sales rhe economic consultative forum forges ahead Zimbabwe News Official Organ of ZANU PF Contents Editorial: Cover Story: National News: Special Reports: Business: Viewpoint: Africa File: Features: I write as I like: International: Sport: Food Demonstrations...................................... Happy Birthday Cde President ......................................................................... Why is maize in short supply'? ................................... Zambia - Zimbabwe trade increasing, but relations still strained ................. Mujibhas and Chimbwidos should be made productive ............... The economic consultative forum forges ahead ............................................... America: What should be done with all that power. The lst gratwfrntier............... .................... Th e last great frontier ........................................................................................ Sm all traders hit hardest by riots ..................................................................... H IV/A ID S and figures ....................................................................................... Africa poised for better times ................................ The 21st February Movement .................... ................................. US criticised for failure to push Netanyahu ......................................... Pele on W orld Cup W inners ..................................................................... Zimbabwe News in ihe official organ ofrghe Zimbahwe African Nalional I Inion AN I PIFand is prodtic the authority of'lhe Central Comm it Iby the Depanment o" Inlonnaliim and Publicit). Jong WMorId (opyriht. ('Cnlral Comm itice (ZAN I I) Idtor l (oumnci 1(:dc N. M Shanu nra.,J(X.( '.( hmulengisentk.('kd.(C.Ndlo% u. 'dc. S. KachinF' ('de A Siko ,ana om-mm Trade Unionism in Zimbabwe The weak chain in the struggle against minority colonial rule was the absences of a credible and effective trade movement. The nationalist niovemeit needed a strong partner to rally the working class, but it was not there. What was called the Southern Rhodesia Trade Union Congress (ZRTUC) was a rag-tag of leaders who were agents of the colonial regime, and never cared about the interests of the workers. The workers also knew that. They supported the nationalist movement and never supported the rag-tag of the SRTUC. After independence ZANU PF started rebuilding the trade union movement. After branch unions were formed, an umbrella body was created as the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). But, this organisation has also been infiltrated by agents of the white employer organisations. They are now concentrating the entire effort of the unions in fighting against the Government, and trying to wrest political power. The cause and the interests of the million workers in Zimbabwe has been forgotten entirely. We are back to square one with a trade union movement that does not serve the interests of the workers. But, the ZTCU's position is unique in that it is working actively with the employers. The two-day stayaway it launched on March 3 and 4 was orchestrated by the employers. Some announced to their workers not to come to work on those days, but that their salaries will be paid as usual. On the day of the stayaway, some closed their shops and factories. Thousands of workers who were coming to work found the gates locked. They were denied the right to work. We urge the.Government to take serious and effective action against the employers. It is they who are damaging our economy and misleading the trade unions. There are few trade unions that continue to work for the working class, such as the Associated Mine Workers' Union, and the General Transport Workers' Union. They should be supported and encouraged to do the work of the responsible trade union. The ZCTU is no longer a trade union movement; it has become a political party and a tool of the white employers. ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 29 NO. 2 Food demonstrations * The beginning or end of hostile era? Harare City residents run away from teargas fired by police as food demonstrations turned violent stronomica hikes in the prices of mealie-meal and other basic commodities over the past few months forced people to he streets but the demonstrations soon turned nasty, with property and goods worth several millions of dollars damaged and or, looted. Equally nasty were views from the local 'independent' and foreign press. Our senior reportor, Zvenyika Kambizi takes a closer look t these and other issues related to the ,fbod riot. After the prices of most basic commodities were raised by an average of 30 percent between December 1997 and midJanuary 1998, millers promised a further 21 percent hike with effect from Monday, January 19, 1998. It was to be the fourth increment in four months. The hike, suspended indefinitely the day it was penciled to take effect, was attrIbuted to, among other factors, escalating transport costs, packaging and dwindling reserves. Another reason was the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) asking price which millers said was too high at $2 900. GMB paid farmers $1 200 per tonne. Millers raised mealie-meal prices by 36 percent last October and by 24 percent in December last year, noting that the increases were necessitated by farmers and traders demanding a much higher price for their maize. However, members of the public, notably from high-density suburbs, most of whom had already been burdened by recent hikes in school fees, felt the increases wpre unjustifiable and largely unafforda~e. A small group of mostly housewives in Harare's suburb of Mabvuku, peacefully took to the streets. They were soon joined by ruffians who immediately hijacked the cause of the demonstration. The hooligans went about inflicting damage to both movable and non-movable-properties, leaving a pathetic trail of destruction while looters took away anything they could lay their hands on. Some of the destroyed properties could take months to bring back to life. Most affected were Harare and Chitungwiza. The latter immediately went berserk after Mabvuku. Residents in Norton, Chegutu, Gweru, Mutare, Masvin.go and Marondera - joined in spon- * taneously but were hastily restrained by the police. In Harare and Chitungwiza though, members of the Defence Forces had to be summoned to help restore law and order as the demonstrations had virtually degenerated into looting escapades and hooliganism. The food riots ran for three days. At the time of going to press, about 3 000 of the hooligans and looters had been apprehended with most of them already charged. 'Independent' press The local 'independent' press, always vicious against the ZANU PF Government and President Robert Mugabe, raised the spectre of horrors like those of Somalia, Rwanda and Zaire. OContinued on next page ZIMBABWE NEWS VOL. 29 NO. 2 Food demonstrations OContinued from previous page eign press dwelt on the issue of white- and, urban residents will still demand owned farms. for justifiable price increases. A government-run daily too, charged in its editorial that "it will be difficult to convince the outside world that the Victoria Falls is not flowing with blood." And two professors at a local university predicted that President Mugabe shall not last his term of office which runs to the year 2002. The 'independent' press diid not explain how tragic ethno-nationals , in Somalia, master-minded by bigoted warlords, or the dictatorial governance of Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko (now late), compared to the food riots. Worse still was the assumption by the daily paper that the outside world was convinced the Victoria Falls was flowing with blood. Whose blood, spilled by who - again, there was no explanation. It is also a pity that the two learned professors expect President Mugabe to succumb to stubborn Rhodies bent on discrediting his government and, ruffians and looters. They too, did not explain their fate in the event the president bowed to hooligan pressure. But if their views represent their true understanding of democracy, then they are making a sick joke of their professorship. Foreign press The foreign press, as usual, had headlines screaming: "Mugabe on the ropes", "Mugabe sowing the sees of his own demise" and, "Cornered Mugabe still without challenger." A Lawrence Bartlett of AFP wrote on January 21, 1998 "The food riots in Zimbabwe, long seen as one of independent Africa's success stories, suggest the country is on a slippery slope towards the disaster that has engulfed other countries of the troubled continent." He further wrote: "Economists say this (decision to acquire farms for redistribution amongst the landless) sparked uncertainty over the future of agriculture in the country's farm-based economy and, along with other economic factors, led to a collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar. This in turn led to the price increases which caused the riots, they say." Bartlett, like his colleagues elsewhere, did not bother to name his economists - dearly showing that these were their own views. Interesting too is the fact that the apocryphal accounts by the for- They claimed, without substantiation, that "the government will be forced into a partial U-turn on land rather than risk the international opprobrium of expropriation without fair compensation." But these are dearly self-serving