Principals stall Zuma mediation: SA official

HARARE — The country’s annual inflation has shot up to 4.8 percent, despite a decline in food prices, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) said last week.

“The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of April 2010, as measured by the all items consumer price index (CPI) stood at 4.8 percent, gaining 1.3 percentage points on the March 2010 rate of 3.5 percent,” the government data agency said.

“This means that prices as measured by the all items CPI increased by an average of 4.8 percent between April 2009 and April 2010.”

Last month, Finance Minister Tendai Biti accused business of unnecessarily hiking prices to stoke up inflation.

Hyperinflation and the shortage of banknotes were the most visible signs of a severe economic crisis blamed on President Robert Mugabe’s policies and also seen in shortages of food and every essential commodity.

But the decision by the unity government of Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to dump the Zimbabwe dollar for a basket of foreign currencies doused hyperinflation to allow the economy to register its first growth in a decade last year.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year grew by 5.1 percent compared to an earlier projection of 4.7 percent. However Biti as well as the International Monetary Fund have said the economy will grow at a slow rate this year because of a variety of reasons including uncertainty about the countrys political future that has kept away investors and foreign donors.

Principals stall Zuma mediation: SA official

HARARE President Jacob Zumas mediation effort in Zimbabwe is being thwarted by failure by the three principals in the Harare unity government to meet and discuss the final report submitted by their negotiators, a top South African official has said.

The talks to iron out issues still outstanding from implementation of a 2008 power-sharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party and the two MDC formations led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara have dragged on since the former foes agreed to join hands in February 2009 in a coalition government.

Negotiators from Zanu (PF) and the two MDC formations concluded talks on April 3 2010 and gave their final report to Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara and Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediator Zuma.

But Zuma’s international relations advisor Lindiwe Zulu who is also a member of the South African leader’s facilitation team in the Harare talks, said last Thursday that since April 3 the three principals have failed to meet due to tight schedules.

Zulu said the facilitation team, which also includes former Cabinet ministers Charles Nqakula and Mac Maharaj, was waiting for Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara to first meet and deliberate on the negotiators’ report before the South Africans can resume their mediation process.

Zulu said Zumas next visit to Zimbabwe depended on the principals recommendations to him on the way forward regarding the contentious issues.

She said: As the South African facilitation team, we are waiting for the principals to meet over the final report submitted to them. Since we left Harare about three weeks, they have not met because of various reasons. When we were last here the three principals were busy attending the World Economic Forum (WEF). she said, referring to the forum that took place in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania more than a week ago.

Zulu added: But it is our hope that they meet soon to accept the final report, work on the recommendations of the report and indicate what they intend to do on the outstanding issues.

She said it would be futile for Zuma or the facilitation team to visit Harare when the three principals were yet to meet and deliberate on the final report.

President Zuma can only come once the principals have met and when there is a way forward on the outstanding issues. When he eventually comes, he will be coming to engage but only after the principals have set the ball-rolling by meeting, she said.