Daily Digest of Messages on Adriana Stuijt's "journalism during apartheid "site

Adriana Stuijt's "journalism during apartheid "site | 09-05-02 | staff

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	Daily Digest of Messages on Adriana Stuijt's "journalism during apartheid "site

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ZIMBABWE (4 new messages) Farm News from 8-2002 (1 new message) </FONT< TD>

SA's gen-crops also feed starving Zimbabweans (1 new message)

ZIMBABWE

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Message 90 in Discussion

From: AdrianaStuijt

Experts warn of mass starvation in Zimbabwe

 

Harare - May 20 -- A team of international food experts has concluded that Zimbabwe faces starvation on a massive scale because of serious disruptions in its farming activities.

The warning of mass starvation was contained in a study concluded last week by a team of food experts from the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the early warning unit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

 

The team was in Zimbabwe to establish the impact of the disruptions in farming activities by restive war veterans and supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

 

The team confirmed estimates by Zimbabwe's own farming industry that the nation would face a 600,000 ton deficit of maize, the country's staple crop, this year. The country needs at least 1,8-million tons of maize annually to feed its population of 12-million.

 

This year farmers are expected to produce only 800,000 tons of maize in addition to the 500,000 tons that would be drawn from the strategic grain reserves, leaving a deficit of about 600 000 tons.

 

Most of the maize crop this year can only be drawn from subsistence peasant farmers scattered throughout the country. The large-scale commercial farmers who have always provided Zimbabwe's annual needs hardly engaged in maize production last season because Mugabe's storm troopers stopped commercial farmers from sowing new crops and refused access to their own farms and seed stocks.

 

The team also estimated a massive deficit exceeding 200 000 tons in wheat output. A possible wheat deficit has already been confirmed implicitly by the Zimbabwe government, which last month banned all wheat exports.

 

 Zimbabwe needs about 450 000 tons of wheat annually and might find itself having to import a substantial part of this.

 

The SADC, FAO and WFP team forecast deficits for other crops such as sorghum, peanuts, soya beans and an assortment of vegetables.

 

In rural areas, people are already complaining that they cannot buy basic foodstuffs because of rampant inflation.

 

The price of bread was raised by an average 12 percent this year, and even reports in state-controlled media warn that the new prices of basic foodstuffs had gone far beyond the reach of poor families.

 

The price of bread will rise again soon after Zimbabwe runs out of its wheat stocks and must start importing the grain. However, the country has no hard currency to pay for imports.

 

Mark Prior, the chairperson of the National Bakers' Association, said there was not much the bakers could do as they could no longer absorb the ever-escalating input costs.

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Message 87 in Discussion

From: AdrianaStuijt

ZIMBABWE ROLL OF HONOUR - VICTIMS MURDERED BY THE MUGABE ETHNIC TERROR CAMPAIGN

http://africantears.netfirms.com/sitemap.htm

 

-- Zimbabwe's roll of honour. March 2000 - current. We remember

 them. We mourn them. We salute them. All the men and women listed here have died for their political beliefs or been killed in political violence in Zimbabwe since March 2000.

 

This is not a comprehensive list. There are 20 unnamed victims whose details are not included here and another 9 for whom only the names are known. They have not died in vain. This list does not include the thousands of men and  women all around Zimbabwe who have been raped, tortured and lost their homes and all their  belongings. Grateful thanks to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum for checking and updating the list.

 

1. 26th Mar 2000 Edwin Gomo. (MDC) Bindura.

2. 26th Mar 2000 Robert Musoni. Mazowe West.

3. 2nd Apr 2000 Doreen Marufu. (MDC) Mazowe.

4. 4th Apr 2000 Tinashe Chakwenya. (Z.R. Police constable) Marondera.

5. 14th Apr 2000 Tichaona Chiminya. (MDC) Buhera North.

6. 15th Apr 2000. David Stevens. (MDC) Commercial Farmer. Murehwa.

7. 15th Apr 2000. Talent Mabika. (MDC) Buhera North.

8. 18th Apr 2000. Martin Olds. Commercial Farmer. Bubi-Umguza.

9. 20th Apr 2000 Julius Andoche. Farm Foreman. Murehwa South.

10. 23rd Apr 2000 Peter Kareza. (MDC) Shamva.

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Message 88 in Discussion

From: AdrianaStuijt

SA farmer wants Mugabe arrested for crimes against humanity
-- ( ALSO  refer to previous posting for the known names of the murder victims in Mugabe's ongoing terror campaign against his own citizenry)

 

Cape Town - Sept 4, 2002 -- Richard Barry, a Robertson farmer with property interests in Zimbabwe -- wants Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe arrested and prosecuted in South Africa for crimes against humanity.

 

At a press conference in the office of the Democratic Alliance in South Africa's parliamentary buildings,  Barry on Wednesday invoked an international statute which has been incorporated into South African law and which gives local courts jurisdiction in cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

 

Mugabe had left South Africa by the time the call for his arrest was made, according to South African foreign ministry spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa. Mamoepa told reporters that "any head of state attending the earth summit had diplomatic immunity". He declined to comment further.

 

"Immunity excuse is not valid for crimes against humanity:"
However, a Stellenbosch University lecturer in international criminal law, Gerhard Kemp, said the South African law expressly excluded the defence of immunity for heads of state accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

 

Referring to the allegations of state-sponsored torture, rape, violence and mass removal of people in Zimbabwe, Prof Kemp said these could be viewed as crimes against humanity in terms of the Act.

 

SA courts would have jurisdiction over non-South Africans visiting the country:
Kemp said South African courts would also have jurisdiction even if the victims were not South Africans, as long as the alleged perpetrator was visiting the country.

 

Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba was not available for comment.

 

National directorate of public prosecutions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said the process to be followed in such a case involved that a formal complaint should be lodged, a statement m

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Message 89 in Discussion

From: AdrianaStuijt

Zimbabwean nightmare for food aid transports -- as described by Eddie Cross:
http://africantears.netfirms.com/foodcrisis.htm

 

Eddie Cross, the writer of the following article published on Zimbabwean farmer Cathy Buckle's African Tears website, has previously held very senior positions in the agricultural industry in Zimbabwe. His in-depth knowledge gives full credence to what he has to say about the government-created staple food shortage. Cathy writes that "it is common knowledge that Zimbabwe was once known as the food basket of Southern Africa."
 
Eddie Cross writes:
"On the 23rd November 2001, the Grain Marketing Board had 93 000 tonnes of maize left in stock. Of this about 70 per cent (64 000 tonnes) was fit for human consumption. Sales from the GMB have been running at over 20 000 tonnes a week for the past two months. Technically therefore, today - the 19th of December, GMB stocks will be virtually exhausted.

 

In the past three weeks the standard product of the maize industry - roller meal as it is known, has been in very short supply in the south of the country with the shortages now manifest in the north. As commercial stocks run out, this shortage will become more and more serious and it can be expected that by mid January, the unthinkable will happen - Zimbabwe will run out of its staple food.

 

This has enormous implications - Zimbabwe needs a total supply of about 150 000 tonnes of maize a month. Two-thirds goes into production of roller meal and super refined meal and the balance goes as stock feed. Sight is often lost of the needs of the poultry, pig and dairy farmers who are very dependent on maize as a stock feed component. Failure to secure adequate supplies of raw maize will therefore threaten not only the basic welfare of 12 million people but also a very substantial proportion of the countries livestock industry.

 

Once a total stock out has occurred it is very difficult to get this essential product back into free supply throughout the country. Panic buying and hoarding as well as profiteering takes place and all of this serves to distort market forces and normal distribution channels. We have three months to go to the start of the new agricultural marketing season, but 7 months to go to the first real intake of maize from the current crop.

 

Zimbabwe must therefore import up to 1 million tonnes of maize in the next 7 months to avoid starvation and wid

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Message 90 in Discussion

From: AdrianaStuijt

29/08/2002 00:12  - (SA)

Absa Bank, Zimbabwe, Libya - an unusual tale

 

Johannesburg - It is an unusual partnership between South Africa's Absa Bank Ltd, Libya and the Mugabe government. But to a large extent it reflects the realities of doing business in Africa.

 

It is not common knowledge that Absa Bank Ltd is the largest shareholder in the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ), the second-largest commercial bank in that country. In itself, this is not necessarily newsworthy, except that CBZ handles the greater majority of the controversial oil transactions between the Mugabe government and Libya.

 

The Zimbabwean government is also a large shareholder in CBZ.

 

Recently, the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank (LAFB) increased its interest in CBZ. But Absa, with its 25.9% interest, says there is no cause for concern. Its investment is safe and is earning a good profit.

 

Absa group CEO in charge of corporate and merchant banking as well as international operations Rupert Pardoe has given the assurance CBZ is running no credit risk with transactions in terms of which Libyan oil is imported into the country.

 

"We only arrange financing for oil transactions, but don't provide any financing ourselves," Pardoe says.

 

"We regard our interest in CBZ, also known as the Jewel Bank, as an ordinary investment which should not be seen as support of Libya or the Zimbabwean government."

 

CBZ is at present, and was in the past, involved in oil transactions with Libya. Libya supplies about 80% of Zimbabwe's oil needs after Libya undertook to supply oil to the value of $360m (at the time about R2.9bn) to Zimbabwe following a visit to the country by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. But ever since then, Zimbabwe has been experiencing problems with the repayments.

 

For the past three years, CBZ has also been acting as an adviser to the Zimbabwean government when any transactions are signed. Pardoe stressed that there is no question of overdraft facilities or loans worth billions of rands, as some circles are speculating.

 

"We will only make these facilities available if we receive government guarantees and it makes good business sense to us."

Absa has five board members in CBZ - Pardoe and Robert Emslie and Peter Gordon, with two seconders.

 

Absa bought its interest in CBZ in 1998 as part of a strategy to do business in Africa on a larger scale. The Zimbabwean government owns 17.3% of CBZ. About 28% of the bank is owned by smaller companies and individuals.

 

The LAFB acquired a 12.4% interest in CBZ last week. This interest was formerly held by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector branch of the World Bank. No information was made available on how the interest was financed or what amount of the purchase price was.

But the independent Zimbabwean newspaper, the Financial Gazette, reported that the LAFB had acquired the interest in CBZ as a way of becoming more involved in its financing activities, and possibly also as a payment for the oil already provided. The reason for this is that Zimbabwe does not have enough foreign exchan

Farm News from 8-2002

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Message 34 in Discussion

From: Top Cop

Maize thefts from SA farm fields up by 80%

July 30, 2002 -- As already reported by Censorbugbear yesterday, the Transvaal Agricultural Union has warned of an 80% increase in organised thefts of ripening maize crops from farmers' fields -- especially those bordering famine-struck Zimbabwe.

 

Paul van der Walt of the TLU  said it is widely believed by police and farmers alike that organised crime syndicates are stealing the maize from the SA fields and smuggling the staple food to famine-struck Zimbabwe, where huge profits are being made from black-market maize. Farmers demand that the regime increase security to help protect the South African maize crops. Farmers are reporting that organised, heavily-armed criminals pay farm workers to steal the crops from loaded harvesters at night.

 

Crop thefts lead to food insecurity:
If these crop thefts -- at the height of the maize harvest season in the countyr's only maize-producing regions -- are allowed to continue, South Africa could also be faced with an increasing food shortage, farmers are warning.

 

The TLU also slammed police for arresting victimised farmer Pieter Johannes Venter (27) of the farm Makoeispan at Biesiesvlei. Venter had allegedly injured one of four armed attackers -- who had been sent to kill him for R100 by a crime syndicate, the TLU claims.

 

The farm attackers had been sent to kill Venter in revenge for the arrests of organized maize robbers and the recovery of 11 tons of maize which had earlier been stolen from Venter's farm. The injured alleged maize robber -- now under police guard at Duff Scott hospital -- had laid a charge of attempted murder against the farmer. The TLU said it was disgraceful that the victim had been arrested and jailed after he had tried to defend himself from a gang of vicious, heavily-armed killers.

 

A Coligny farmer yesterday also reported the nighttime robbery of 14 tons of maize from his harvesters. Police have arrested eleven people whose arraignment is expected shortly.
 Reported by:  ldupree1@beeld.com http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Provinsiaal/0,4127,

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Message 33 in Discussion

From: AdrianaStuijt

Two agricultural researchers gang-raped in Eastern Cape

 

Vera Schoeman -- Peddie - Eastern Cape -- Sept 4 2002 -- In what has been described as the most sadistic attack since a mother and her daughter were murdered in the same area two years ago, two young researchers were gang-raped, punched and had their faces slit with a knife before being left in the veld to die.

 

The women - a senior University of Stellenbosch lecturer and a colleague from Rhodes - were found by a herder on Tuesday morning. They were semiconscious and could only whisper their names. The women were taken to the St Dominic Hospital in East London where both underwent emergency surgery.

 

One woman was four months pregnant, but lost the baby as a result of the attack.

"The assailants clearly had the intention to inflict the most intense and possible suffering to their victims," said Mark Welman, chief of the MTN crime prevention centre at Rhodes.

 

A police spokesperson said the women had been doing agricultural research in the Hamburg area. They were seen in Peddie on Monday afternoon, where they dropped off two men who had acted as translators for the women and assisted them with their research.

 

Inspector Phindile Tsaba of the Bell police station says the women might have offered a lift to four men standing at a crossing 10km outside Bell in the direction of Port Alfred or they might have been hijacked.

 

The men had forced them to turn into an unused dirt road leading through thick vegetation. The women were dragged from the car, assaulted, raped, gagged and their hands and feet tied. The assailants used the women's clothes to gag them and tie their hands and feet. The suspects fled in the women's rented car.

 

The two traumatised, injured women spent the rest of the icy cold night in the open.
By Tuesday afternoon the suspects were still at large. However, the police say they are following several "important" leads.

 

Police could not confirm a possible link between the attack and an armed robbery in Port Alfred two weeks ago. In that incident a gang of four

SA's gen-crops also feed starving Zimbabweans

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Message 15 in Discussion

From: AdrianaStuijt

South Africa's genetically-modified crops also feed starving Zimbabweans:

Aug 8, 2002 -- A Dutch anti-GM food activist  --Regien van der Sijp, director of a Harare-based anti-gencrop organisation --  today attacked only the United States for the "unethical dumping of gentech food aid in Southern Africa."

 

However, Van der Sijp somehow completely overlooked the fact that most of the present gentech food aid now being shipped directly to famine-stricken regions come from previously disadvantaged farmers inside South Africa -- who for the past three-four years have been growing gen-tech crops such as  mais, soy, cotton and other cropsand marketing them  in huge quantities with the direct approval of the South African government.:

For original story in Dutch access:
http://www.oneworld.nl/p_or_re.asp?BerichtID=1019

 

For links to South African genetically-manipulated crop production, access:
COTTON (original Afrikaans story:
http://www.landbou.com/LandbouWeekblad/Akkerbou/0,5471,1294-1303_1204856,00.html

MAIZE, SOYA: (original Dutch story:)
Larger crops with GM-maize, cotton and soya in South Africa:
http://www.nieuwsgrazer.nl/forum/read.php?f=8&i=3513&t=3513

MAIZE, SOYA, COTTON, (original Afrikaans story by Nico van Burick, Landbouweekblad:)
Bron: http://www.landbou.com/LandbouWeekblad/Nuus/0,5471,1294-1295_1215925,00.html

 

SUMMARY in ENGLISH
Larger harvests with GM-maize, cotton and soya in South Africa:

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Message 15 in Discussion

From: AdrianaStuijt

EU report on spread of transgenic crops worldwide also included South African statistics:

 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/publi/gmo/cover.htm

 

 

 

---

Table 1.3 Development of GM corn area
 

 

This EU report notes that since 1996, worldwide planted areas of transgenic crops have increased dramatically to reach 42 Mio hectares by the year 2000. South Africa's transgenic maize crop share had risen to 5% (5,000 hectares) by 1999 -- and we know from later reports that this has at least doubled to more than 100,000 hectares planted this season.

 

The EU report notes:

 

"Adoption of transgenic crops is progressing at a much faster pace than has been the case for other innovations in plant varieties, e.g. hybrids."

 

The first generation of GM crops was developed to improve pest resistance. 
 
1. Herbicide tolerant crops:
The insertion of a herbicide-tolerant gene (glyphosphate or glufosinate tolerance) into a plant enables farmers to spray wide-spectrum herbicides (such as Monsanto's Roundup Ready or AgrEvo's Liberty Link) on their fields -- which kill all plants but GM's. For that reason, the new GM seeds opened new markets for both products.

 

2. Insect resistance (IT) has plants kill their own insect pests
By inserting genetic material from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) into seeds, scientists have modified crops to allow them to produce their own insecticides. The Bt gene responsible for producing the toxin is directly inserted into the plant to produce pest resistant varieties. For example, Bt

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Rhetoric of blame is now a white lie (AFRICA, HEAL THYSELF)
The Daily Telegraph ^ | September 3, 2002 | Tim Butcher
"I remember Africa in the 1960s, everyone was filled with high expectations after independence. Forty years on, Africa is a series of kleptocracies, many worse off than they were under colonial rule. Almost all of the common people in relative worse shape to the rest of the world than they were before independence. Africans after 40 years have no one to blame but their own leadership for their problems. The leaders want to deflect blame to the West. The West's not buying it anymore..."

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