Yearbook 2007
 Zimbabwe.
According to
CountryAAH, Zimbabwe remained one of Africa's most
controversial countries, in constant confrontation with the
Western world. Opposition politicians were subjected to
repeated police interventions and beatings. One of the few
who openly dared to criticize President Robert Mugabe and
his government was the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius
Ncube, who called for street protests and even foreign
intervention to overthrow the regime. As a church leader, he
enjoyed some protection against physical abuse, but when
state media accused him of lewdness and published a picture
purported to depict him in bed with a married female parish
worker, he was forced to ask for dismissal.
The disastrous economic situation persisted. Inflation,
which was just over 1,200 per cent at the beginning of the
year, had officially risen to 7,892 per cent in September,
but in practice was thought to be higher. The head of the
Statistics Office then said that until now more inflation
figures would not be possible because the shortage of goods
was so great that accurate measurements were impossible. The
shortage of goods was considered to be partly due to the
price control ordered by the government in June, when the
price of a number of basic commodities was halved. As a
result, production decreased and many businesses closed when
operations would otherwise have been at a loss.
In April, the state power company increased the
electricity price by 350 percent and announced more
increases during the year. This was justified by the fact
that the power companies did not receive reimbursement for
their costs and could not afford new investments, which
resulted in many power outages. However, the price increase
did not help, and in May electricity supply to households
was limited to 4 hours per day.
The regional cooperation organization SADC (South African
Development Community) avoided criticizing Mugabe but
appointed South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to mediate
between the regime and the opposition. One result of the
mediation was that in September, with the opposition's
support, Parliament passed a constitutional amendment that
gives the president the right to appoint his successor if he
resigns during the term of office. The decision must then be
approved by Parliament. The change also meant that the next
parliamentary elections were scheduled for two years until
2008, at the same time as the presidential election. Robert
Mugabe announced his decision to stand for re-election and
was supported by the ZANU-PF government party.
In September, Parliament passed a law on black, domestic
majority control of foreign-owned companies. It completed
the process that began with the 2000 confiscation of
white-owned agriculture. The Supreme Court granted the
government the right to seize equipment from confiscated
white farms. Prosecution was brought against eleven white
farmers who did not obey the order to leave their homes by
September 30.
In March 2003, observers spoke of unprecedented repression
in the frequent clashes around the earth. In December 2003,
the Commonwealth formally extended its sanction on Zimbabwe.
In March 2004, 70 South African mercenaries were arrested
in Harare after admitting to planning a coup in Equatorial
Guinea. They were arrested when their private aircraft
landed at Harare airport. They admitted only the least
relevant charges as a violation of the country's immigration
and aviation laws. They were convicted by a court in the
capital. The mercenaries had stolen weapons in various
weapons depots in Zimbabwe. One of the accused was Simon
Mann, British pilot and leader of the group. In September,
he was sentenced to 7 years in prison on charges of illegal
arms purchases. The others were sentenced to 12 months in
prison, the pilots however 16. All of them declared innocent
and Mann explained that the weapons should have been used by
security people in a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic
of Congo.
In June, as one of the last African leaders, Mugabe
admitted that his family was also affected by HIV/AIDS. At
a conference on AIDS in Zimbabwe, the president said that
the disease had also spread to his family, without even
naming who. He stated that AIDS is one of the biggest
challenges in the country's near future, but had confidence
that the disease could be combated.
Some government critics felt that the AIDS conference
that touched on an otherwise taboo topic should only cover
far more serious problems in the country. The target group
of the conference was members of the government, health
workers and local groups. Its purpose was to formulate a
strategy to combat the disease - in a country that has one
of the largest indices in the world for infected adults.
About 3,000 die of AIDS in the country per week.
In July 2004, Bulawayo's Archbishop Pius Ncube declared
that there was a risk that the 2005 presidential election
would not be free or fair. He stated that there was much
evidence that a massive scam was being prepared during this
election. He therefore called for the establishment of an
independent electoral commission to monitor the elections.
The Archbishop who is an open critic of Mugabe pointed out
that during the 2002 elections, about 800,000 people
appeared on the electoral rolls. Following the archbishop's
statements, Mugabe announced that he was planning reform of
the electoral laws. |
