Zimbabwe Online – The Zimbabwe Portal

Swiss multinational Nestle has suspended operations at its dairy plant in Zimbabwe, citing harassment.

After international criticism, Nestle announced in October that it would stop buying milk from a farm owned by President Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace.

The company said since then it had come under pressure to accept milk from “certain non-contracted suppliers”.

President Mugabe said he was unaware of the development and his prime minister said it was an “over-reaction”.

‘Solution sought’

In a statement, Nestle said government officials and police forced staff to accept a delivery on Saturday.
“Two Nestle Zimbabwe managers were questioned by the police and released without charges the same day,” the statement said.

“Since under such circumstances normal operations and the safety of employees are no longer guaranteed, Nestle decided to temporarily shut down the facility.”

Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told a press conference after the announcement that he thought the shutdown was an “over-reaction”.

“I am sure the minister of industry, who is responsible, is talking to the directors – and that a solution will be found,” he said.

Mr Mugabe, who was also at the press gathering, said he was not aware of the development

source/full story

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The UN torture investigator has been denied entry to Zimbabwe, despite being invited by the country’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the UN says.

Manfred Nowak said he was stopped by immigration officials after landing at Harare airport on Wednesday evening.

Mr Nowak’s week-long fact-finding mission was blocked by Zimbabwe’s foreign ministry at the last minute.

Early on Thursday, Mr Nowak left the country on a flight to Johannesburg, a UN spokesman said.

The blocking of Mr Nowak’s visit comes amid a renewed political crisis between power-sharing rivals Mr Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe.
source/full story: bbc

admin Politics entry, un, zimbabwe

President Robert Mugabe has accused the West of using “filthy clandestine divisive antics” to undermine Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government.

He again called for sanctions to be lifted, saying they were “ruining the lives of our children”.

The sanctions prevent him and his closest allies from travelling and accessing their assets abroad.

Donors are wary of releasing aid money to the government, fearing they could be misused by Mr Mugabe or his allies.

They also point to continued harassment of activists of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change, even after the MDC joined the government.

Long-time rivals Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, and Mr Mugabe signed a power-sharing agreement a year ago, after a disputed election.

During his address to the UN General Assembly, Mr Mugabe said southern African nations had made huge sacrifices to help his country during the global economic crisis, but the West’s sanctions had not been lifted.

“If they will not assist the inclusive government in rehabilitating our economy, could they please stop their filthy clandestine divisive antics?” he said.

The European Union recently sent its first high-level delegation to Harare for several years but afterwards refused to lift its travel ban on Mr Mugabe.

He is still allowed to attend UN meetings.

Mr Mugabe blames sanctions imposed after a disputed presidential election in 2002 for ruining the country’s economy.

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank have recently restored some funding to Zimbabwe after several years.

Zimbabwe’s economy was in meltdown before the MDC joined the government in February, with Mr Tsvangirai becoming prime minister.

The situation has since stabilised but Zimbabwe says it needs some $10bn to rebuild the shattered country.

Donors and the MDC say Mr Mugabe’s economic policies, including the seizure of productive farmland, were responsible for Zimbabwe’s economic collapse.

source bbc

admin Politics west dividing zimbabwe

The International Monetary Fund is giving Zimbabwe $400m to boost its foreign currency reserves. Zimbabwe which is currently in a serious economic crisis is being helped by the international community because of the perceved success of the national unity government lead by Morgan Tsvangirai

However, a further $100m will be kept in a special account and Zimbabwe’s government will not have access to it until it has cleared $1bn in debts.

Zimbabwe is in dire need of cash to rebuild its battered economy.

BBC Southern Africa correspondent Karen Allen says Zimbabwe’s financial crisis has been partially blamed on mismanagement of central bank funds.

Zimbabwe owes money to the IMF and other international creditors.

The IMF said it made a deposit of 262m Special Drawing Rights ($409m), the IMF’s own unit of currency, to Zimbabwe’s account with the IMF.

It said there would be no conditions attached to this allocation of funds.

However, it said 66m SDRs ($103m) would be held in an escrow account until its arrears had been cleared.

The funding is part of an agreement reached at the G20 summit in London in April, which pledged to strengthen the IMF’s reserves by $250bn.

admin Zimbabwe Online boost, central bank, g20, imf, reserves, zimbawe

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admin Web Hosting compare website hosts, comparison, host wisely, Web Hosting

A UK based online adult dating site which specialise in a niche called flirting and adult dating has just launched Southern African version of the UK based site in South Africa. Spokes person for the the site said they would have liked to launched Zimbabwe version of the site as well but situation in Zimbabwe at the moment is not conducive.

The online dating site called Very Naughty is targeted adults who love “the thrill of dating with a naughty edge”. Announcing the launch of the new South African version of the site, the Very Naughty team said “South Africa is a naughty country, just like UK” we dare say SA is even naughtier than UK, for a start, President Jacob Zuma has three wife compared with our prime minister who only have one. We are confident South Africans will embrace our brand of adult dating and may even teach us a thing or two about how to be naughty.

The South African Very Naughty site covers all the regions and provinces of South Africa including Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape or Western Cape. Some of the features of Very Naughty UK are not immediately available on the South African version but the team assures SA users that within 6 month all features of their UK cousin would be available.

The South African version of Very Naughty was launched at South African web address of the same name VeryNaughty.co.za . One of the things that makes Very Naughty approach to adult dating different is the fact that members can register, upload their profile and browse pictures of potential dates free of charge, they only need to pay if they want to make contact with other members. Very Naughty adult dating sites also feature exciting array of adult gift members can send to one another to show their affection.

Other features Very Naughty adult dates boast of includes:

Advance search feature
Flexible payment option (You can pay by mobile phone as well).

Send gift to the object of your desire

Free registration
Personality profiles
Horoscope
Online Chat
Online Diary
Winks
Profile doctor
Cupid
Featured profile

To be part of the very naughty fun in South Africa, click here to register free.

admin Lifestyle adult dating south africa, Lifestyle, online dating, very naughty

The national executive of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party has agreed to join a unity government with President Robert Mugabe, the BBC has learned.

The national council of the opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) still needs to endorse the deal.

Regional mediator South Africa had said the MDC would commit to the deal signed last year.

Earlier in the week the MDC had appeared reluctant to endorse the power-sharing agreement.

The party said that the outcome of the latest summit fell “far short” of their expectations.

On Friday, Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and the MDC agreed to set up a joint committee to monitor the power-sharing pact.

The body is the first structure to be formed as a result of political agreement, according to South African mediator Sydney Mufamadi.

Correspondents say the move is a further sign that the political rivals may be close to implementing a power-sharing agreement.

The wrangling over power-sharing has paralysed government for nearly a year.

source: bbc

admin Politics Morgan Tsvangirai to become Prime Minister in February 09

Conditions for ordinary Zimbabweans are growing ever more desperate as the political crisis continues, says human rights group Amnesty International.

In a report, Amnesty warns that many people are at risk of extreme hunger after a failed agricultural season.

It says many victims of the political violence that followed the March elections were subsistence farmers.

Some of them have been crippled and are now unable to work the land, it says, leaving them dependent on food aid.

Amnesty says much of the violence was state-sponsored, often perpetrated by members of the security forces in government vehicles.

full story

admin Politics

Zimbabwe Dollar problem was not cured bu the massive quantitative easing, devaluation and other know economic measure so the currency has been suspended and foreign currencies legalised. A BBC  report quoted Economic planning Minister saying: “There was nothing to support the value of the Zimbabwean dollar,” Since January use of foreign currency has been allowed, to combat hyper-inflation that had left even top-value Zimbabwe dollar notes worthless.

Since the move, consumer prices have fallen for three months in a row.

Consumer prices are currently falling by 3% month-on-month, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) said using figures collated in March. In February, prices fell by 3.1% according to the CSO.

The power-sharing government led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has prioritised rebuilding the devastated Zimbabwe economy since taking office in February.

State-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper said the government had decided the Zimbabwe dollar should be brought back only when industrial output returns to about 60% capacity from the current average of 20%.

admin Politics

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has returned to Zimbabwe after an absence of more than two months.

The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is to have fresh talks with President Robert Mugabe on a stalled power-sharing deal.

The rivals will discuss a four-month-old unity government agreement, never implemented amid ongoing disputes.

Mr Tsvangirai says he was issued a new passport only on Christmas Day – after a six-month wait.

He left Zimbabwe on 10 November to seek help from regional leaders on Zimbabwe’s crisis.

The MDC leader has spent much of the last two months in Botswana but he flew home via South Africa on Saturday.

Mr Tsvangirai, who remains prime minister-designate, and Mr Mugabe are due to meet on Monday for talks mediated by South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, his predecessor Thabo Mbeki and Mozambican leader Armando Emilio Guebuza.

The MDC leader is expected to meet members of the MDC national executive this weekend.

“I’m glad to be back home,” Mr Tsvangirai was quoted by AFP news agency as saying, after arriving in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare from Johannesburg. “I hope the meeting will find a lasting solution to the crisis.”

full story: bbc

admin Politics Tsvangirai, zimbawe