Embattled Zimbabwe hungry and broke: central bank

HARARE – Dozens of people were arrested as pro-democracy activists defied a police ban on demonstrations and took to the streets to protest growing economic hardship and repression in Zimbabwe.

The National Constitutional Assembly said many of those arrested were assaulted. It vowed to continue with the demonstrations.The demonstration Wednesday coincided with a bleak new warning by the head of the Zimbabwe state central bank that the nation is broke and using foreign currency needed for fuel and spare parts on food.Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono told a panel of lawmakers that many black farmers, including politicians, who resettled on former white-owned farms, were failing to produce food.Zimbabwe was once the region’s breadbasket.”There are some people who have become professional land occupiers, vandalizing equipment and moving from one farm to another,” Gono told a parliamentary committee on Home Affairs, according to the daily Herald, a government mouthpiece.He said his priority was to allocate hard currency for imports of corn, the staple, to avert a looming food crisis.Currency was diverted from almost every government department to buy food, he conceded.Under President Robert Mugabe’s land reform programme, at least 5 000 white-owned farms have been seized with virtually no compensation since 2000.Many are derelict.Mugabe has been on a state visit to longtime ally Namibia, where tens of people took to the streets with signs that read ‘Go Mugabe Go’ and ‘Go Home Dictator’.Mugabe also faces growing unrest and strikes at home.Last week police slapped a three-month ban on demonstrations following skirmishes with the opposition MDC.The NCA said it had defied the ban and marched in Harare and the cities of Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru.So far police had arrested 50 demonstrators in Harare and 25 in Mutare, it said.Many were assaulted.As the growing chaos at home drove Zimbabweans to emigrate, they face discrimination across the border, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday.The rights watchdog said South African officials involved in the arrest and deportation of undocumented migrant workers often assault and extort money from them, and that Zimbabweans and Mozambicans were most at risk of deportation – and abuse.As many as three million Zimbabweans are in South Africa seeking work and asylum.A reported 80 000 Zimbabweans were deported in the last seven months of 2006.Human Rights Watch also said commercial farmers ignored basic employment laws, paying illegal migrants lower wages than their South African counterparts.South African authorities have said they were trying to clamp down on corrupt officials who extort bribes and the agriculture minister has launched a campaign against abuse of farm workers by their employers.Official inflation is nearly 1 600 per cent, the highest in the world.Nampa-APIt vowed to continue with the demonstrations.The demonstration Wednesday coincided with a bleak new warning by the head of the Zimbabwe state central bank that the nation is broke and using foreign currency needed for fuel and spare parts on food.Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono told a panel of lawmakers that many black farmers, including politicians, who resettled on former white-owned farms, were failing to produce food.Zimbabwe was once the region’s breadbasket.”There are some people who have become professional land occupiers, vandalizing equipment and moving from one farm to another,” Gono told a parliamentary committee on Home Affairs, according to the daily Herald, a government mouthpiece.He said his priority was to allocate hard currency for imports of corn, the staple, to avert a looming food crisis.Currency was diverted from almost every government department to buy food, he conceded.Under President Robert Mugabe’s land reform programme, at least 5 000 white-owned farms have been seized with virtually no compensation since 2000.Many are derelict.Mugabe has been on a state visit to longtime ally Namibia, where tens of people took to the streets with signs that read ‘Go Mugabe Go’ and ‘Go Home Dictator’.Mugabe also faces growing unrest and strikes at home.Last week police slapped a three-month ban on demonstrations following skirmishes with the opposition MDC.The NCA said it had defied the ban and marched in Harare and the cities of Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru.So far police had arrested 50 demonstrators in Harare and 25 in Mutare, it said.Many were assaulted.As the growing chaos at home drove Zimbabweans to emigrate, they face discrimination across the border, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday.The rights watchdog said South African officials involved in the arrest and deportation of undocumented migrant workers often assault and extort money from them, and that Zimbabweans and Mozambicans were most at risk of deportation – and abuse.As many as three million Zimbabweans are in South Africa seeking work and asylum.A reported 80 000 Zimbabweans were deported in the last seven months of 2006.Human Rights Watch also said commercial farmers ignored basic employment laws, paying illegal migrants lower wages than their South African counterparts.South African authorities have said they were trying to clamp down on corrupt officials who extort bribes and the agriculture minister has launched a campaign against abuse of farm workers by their employers.Official inflation is nearly 1 600 per cent, the highest in the world.Nampa-AP