Zimbabweans finding some more indigenous than others

Harare, Zimbabwe (IRIN) – Stallholders at the Mupedzanhamo market on the outskirts of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, thought they were immune to the 2008 Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, which requires large businesses such as banks and mining companies to relinquish at least 51 percent of their shares or interests to indigenous Zimbabweans.

They were wrong. Bustling Mupedzanhamo, where shoppers can buy anything from hairpins to refrigerators, has for many years provided traders with a small income and an escape from the country’s economic woes, but recently groups of youths have descended on the market, brandishing letters they claim authorize them to eject any trader that they believe is opposed to the black empowerment program.

Miriam Raradza, 38, a stallholder and widow living in the populous nearby suburb of Mbare, was forced out of the market last month after they accused her of belonging to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister in a coalition government formed in early 2009.

”They accused me and other stall owners of belonging to the MDC, which they said is opposed to indigenisation, and said we should stop doing business at Mupedzanhamo. Hundreds of people who are known MDC supporters have been booted out since the beginning of this year,” Raradza told IRIN.

She said members of the Chipanganos – a gang with a reputation for violence, based in Mbare and thought to have links with President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party – had hijacked the stalls and, in some cases, also the goods that their victims were selling, she said.

”I have been robbed of the only source of income that I had for about eight years. The money that I realized from the sale of used clothes was enough to send my three children to boarding school and buy all basic items,” Raradza said.

Stanley Ziwakaya, 42, a teacher from the low-income Harare suburb of Highfields, whose wife runs a small informal convenience store, or tuckshop, described the gangs preying on the traders as ”vultures feeding on the flesh of the poor who are at the edge of death”.

Empowerment brigades

”The militia in this area call themselves the Empowerment Brigade and are notorious for visiting vending sites, where they demand bribes from the poor vendors. They claim to be representing the youths who need economic empowerment,” Ziwakaya told IRIN.

A member of the ”brigade”, who identified himself only as Peter, defended their actions. ”Empowerment does not mean just taking over the mines, banks and big factories. We cannot do that because we don’t have the money, so we will start with the sell-outs who are opposed to indigenisation.”

The MDC opposed the indigenisation act, passed on the eve of the violent 2008 elections, when ZANU-PF lost its parliamentary majority for the for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, and Mugabe lost the first round of the presidential elections to Tsvangirai, who subsequently withdrew from the second round in protest over the political violence.

After pressure from the Southern African Development Community, a regional body, and the international community, a unity government was set up in 2009.

Tsvangirai has called the indigenisation program a ZANU-PF political campaign strategy meant to win votes, and during a recent visit to the US described it as a ”warped indigenisation policy [that] has eroded investor confidence”.

According to John Robertson, a Harare-based economic consultant, ”This policy is the direct opposite of empowerment. The number of Zimbabweans who are poor, and those who will become poorer, will increase. The net effect is far much more poverty and far less self-sufficiency.”

He said ZANU-PF militias were using the flag of indigenisation to take over the businesses of “already struggling people, and what is worrying is that the police seem to be blessing their actions because they are not being arrested”.

More job losses

Robertson told IRIN it was likely that the indigenisation policy would force many foreign-owned companies to close down, leading to further job losses, while people struggling to find jobs would fail to do so because investors would keep away.

He compared the indigenisation policy to the fast-track land reform program launched in 2000, which led to the forced eviction of more than 4,000 white commercial farmers, often leaving the farm workers homeless and without a livelihood.

”The land reform program seriously injured the economy, thrived on clear violations of human and property rights and led to widespread misery. This is what will happen with the indigenisation program,” he said.

Welshman Ncube, president of the smaller MDC faction and minister of industry and commerce in the coalition government, said there were problems with the implementation of the empowerment program and also a lack of transparency.

”There would always be cases of greed, abuse and personal gain in the implementation of a program like the indigenisation drive, but what is important is that everything that is done by the government is made transparent to avoid the problems. That way, we can also be able to bring the culprits to book,” Ncube told IRIN.

There have been signs of economic recovery since the formation of the unity government in 2009, but economic activities are often subject to political decisions.

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Instant Cash Help For Needy Persons

Getting a loan is very difficult these days especially for a person with poor credit profile. After the recent down turn in the economy now lenders have become cautious in granting loans. This all has just increased the problems of a common person who is need of money. To solve all such problems, today lenders have introduced money loans with bad credit.

Money loans with bad credit have been specially designed for the persons with poor credit history. These people generally find it very difficult to get money for their needs. They may take cash help under these loans. These are not only safe but quick too.

Presently such loans are offered only to the persons of US. These persons should be the permanent citizens of US and must have attained an age of 18 years before they can apply for a loan. They should also have a valid bank account in US. Ultimately it is this bank account which would be created by the loan amount once it is credited. Borrowers should also be employed somewhere.

A person may apply for such loans via internet too. This is the fastest way to get loan approved. Here the borrower has to just fill in an application form available on the website of the lender with all details. Once the complete form is filled and submitted, it is sent for verification. This complete process does not take more than few hours to complete and the loan is approved and disbursed in a single day.

Though the interest rate on such loans is very high as compared to other bank loans, but seeing the various merits ad other features of such loans it’s not too high. A borrower may also go for market research before applying for such loans. This would certainly help him/her in getting the loan at best rates.

Tortured for ransom in the Sinai desert

Cairo/Tel Aviv (IRIN) – GA had looked forward to leaving Eritrea with her husband and living a better life in Israel, until they found themselves kidnapped for money by local Bedouins in Egypt’s Sinai desert.

“They threatened to kill me and my husband if we did not pay,” she said. “They did not beat me, but other people were told to take off their clothes and were beaten. At the end, they separated the women from the men; they came in the night and took two girls. When the girls came back they were crying. The others did not ask what happened to them because they knew they had been raped.”

GA, who spoke to IRIN in the Israeli city of Jaffa, is just one of the hundreds of asylum-seekers trafficked by international gangs every month from the Horn of Africa to the Middle East, mainly through Sudan, ostensibly in search of better opportunities. However, say human rights groups, many of them end up in captivity. Bedouin tribes in Sinai, which borders Israel, often hold them until their relatives pay a ransom.

“Over the past year, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel’s Open Clinic has treated thousands of victims of torture who have entered Israel after surviving captivity and torture in the Sinai desert,” said Shahar Shoham, director of the organization’s refugees and status-less persons department. “Out of 284 interviewed, 59 percent report being held captive in chains; 52 percent reported that they were subjected to serious violence, including punching, slapping, kicking and whipping.

“We salute our colleagues in Egypt working to protect and defend the rights of refugees and call on Egyptian authorities immediately to put an end to the horrific acts we have documented, to free the captives, and provide full protection to the victims.”

Testimonies

Like GA, another captive, F, left Eritrea after a friend said there was a good job in Sudan. “Seven people were taken, but the employer took us to a house in Kassala [northeastern Sudan], where we found two girls chained,” he said in Jaffa. “He [the employer] kept us in the house for one month, before he brought the seven to Sinai. It took 10 days to enter Sinai. Here, they beat us severely.”

After three days, he escaped but was caught again by the traffickers. “They beat me until my body was swollen,” he told IRIN. “Then they told me to beat the others. An old man told me to beat the others because I had no choice. I was crying while doing this, so did the persons that I was beating. Then I was forced to build a house with the other men. The men were working while chained.

“We escaped from the smugglers again. I was weak and had swollen legs. The others ran, but they caught me again. I did not call my mother because she is very poor and I have no family abroad to ask for money to pay the ransom. They tied me for many months, and made me do dirty jobs. For 12 days I did not eat. I stayed 10 months with them, working like a slave. I lost sense of the days and months. Eventually, they sent me to Israel after friends I met in the Sinai paid US$3,000 for my release.”

Another victim was AD, who also now lives in Jaffa. “After we arrived in Sudan from Eritrea, we waited for 21 days but the traffickers did not come,” he said. “During this time, five in the group died of thirst. I don’t dream of them but the words ‘give us water, give us water’ keep playing in my head. We drank our urine to survive. After the traffickers came, I was moved between five different groups [of smugglers]. I was held in a camp for 20 days, chained. I witnessed others die. I was beaten, denied food and water and tortured by exposure to the hot sun.”

Like the other three, A went through a traumatic experience. “I saw four people die of thirst, after they were left without water for four days in the desert. They cried for water and for their mothers and there was none to give to them. I was really traumatized by this experience, and never thought I would get out alive. I could not speak due to thirst; it was a terrible experience and I suffered from nightmares long after.”

Some of the survivors of this ordeal, now calling themselves the Sinai Group, regularly meet in Neve Sha’anan in Israel to pray both for those who died and for those still in captivity. “Some of the members come every month, some don’t, but it is good if they come and talk together,” GA said, adding that not all traffickers treated their captives badly.

“There are more than 15 groups in the Sinai,” he added. “Some of them treat the refugees well, give them food, advise them. There are three or four that are bad.”

Forms of torture

According to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, the forms of torture used include burial in the sand, electric shocks, hanging by the hands and legs, branding with hot metal, as well as rape and sexual abuse. “Forty-four percent of respondents stated that they witnessed violence and/or fatalities of other asylum-seekers,” Shoham said. “Most mention being deprived of food or water during their period of captivity in Sinai.”

In Egypt, local human rights groups have called on their government to ensure the asylum-seekers are protected in line with May 2010 legislation which criminalizes people-trafficking for labor and sexual exploitation.

“Our government must have clear plans for dealing with migrants who try to cross the border from here to other countries,” said Ahmed Badawi, chairman of NGO the Egyptian Organization for the Rights of Refugees. “Egypt has signed many agreements in this regard and it must abide by the terms of these agreements.”

In December, 13 Egyptian human rights groups issued a statement calling on their government to intervene. The victims, they said, were being beaten, burned, and lashed with electric cables, while the captors communicated with their relatives to pressure them to pay ransom.

“Women are separated from the men and repeatedly gang raped by their captors,” the statement said.

These groups say they have continued to get reports about the inhuman treatment the migrants receive at the hands of their Bedouin captors. A group of 200 Eritreans, they say for example, has been detained for months now in inhuman conditions in Sinai.

The Bedouin have traditionally occupied the Sinai peninsula, a triangle-shaped region wedged between the Suez Canal to the west and the Israeli-Egyptian border to the northeast. The Bedouin, a historically nomadic people, complain of government neglect and discrimination. As a largely demilitarized zone under the terms of the 1979 Camp David peace agreement, Sinai is only lightly policed by the Egyptian authorities.

Transit country

Egypt, according to the 2010 US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically for forced labor and forced prostitution.

The report says Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese, Indonesians, Filipinos, and possibly Sri Lankans migrate willingly to Egypt where they are sometimes subjected to forced domestic work.

A November 2010 report by the UN Refugee Agency said 39,461 refugees and asylum-seekers were registered in Egypt. Most of these, it noted, were Sudanese, followed by Iraqis, Somalis, Ethiopians, and Eritreans.

According to Human Rights Watch, a network smuggling sub-Saharan migrants through Egypt to Israel has been operating in the Sinai region since at least 2007. In addition to smugglers who guide people across borders unlawfully for money but who do not otherwise exploit and abuse them, there are also human traffickers operating in Sinai who abuse the migrants under their control and hold them for ransom.

The smugglers normally ask for $2,500-$3,000 for the trip to Israel border. But upon arrival in Sinai, the migrants often find themselves in the hands of traffickers who demand additional money – ranging from $500-$10,000. The traffickers threaten to kill or otherwise harm the migrants – in several cases, to remove and sell their kidneys for a large illegal market in Egypt – if they do not pay.

“Egyptian authorities frequently say they are cracking down on organized crime in the Sinai,” Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW warned , in December. “But the government is slow to react when human traffickers are holding hundreds of migrants for ransom.”

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Crisis-hit Belarus seeks IMF loan

Belarus has asked the International Monetary Fund for a loan of up to US$8 billion. The money is needed to boost the crippled economy and revive people’s faith in the government.

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Ten Dollar Payday Loan-Get Required Money When You Need It Desperately

Now-a-days most of the salaried people are suffering from financial crisis. Today expenses are increasing with a rapid rate, but salaries are same. So it becomes impossible to meet your day to day needs with in one salary. So to help you out from this, US lenders have crafted a new scheme named as ten dollar payday loans. This scheme helps you to attain instant cash for your short term needs.

For ten dollar payday loan you need to pay $10 as fee for every borrowed $100. Under this scheme you can have $100-$1500 with the repayment term of 14-31 days. These loans are short term in nature and needs to be repaid on next payday. If in any case you feel that you would not be able to repay the loan amount on coming payday then you can extend repayment term via rollover option. There are some conditions of lenders that every borrower must follow if he/she wants to avail cash, these conditions follows as:

1. Every borrower must have the residency of US and a valid SSN.
2. He/She must hold an active and valid bank account.
3. He/She must have a regular job.
4. He/She must be adult.

This scheme is free from all types of formalities. So you can avail cash even in the absence of collateral and good credit score. There would be no credit check formalities. So just leave the worry of poor credit score. This scheme will help you to gain cash in every situation. But one thing should be noted before applying for this scheme is this scheme is associated with high interest rate. It is advised to apply for this scheme when there is no other source to have cash. This scheme can be proven to best if you use it wisely. This scheme is not for buying toys or partying. It is to meet your urgent basic needs on time.

Euro Breaks Above 1.4400; Kiwi Continues to Outperform to 26-Year Highs

Market conditions have returned to normal following the lightened holiday trade and with the resumption comes yet another round of USD selling…. Markets return to normal form on Tuesday following the lightened UK and US Monday holiday session, and there has been a fresh injection of risk appetite to go with the resumption in fuller [...]

This article ( Euro Breaks Above 1.4400; Kiwi Continues to Outperform to 26-Year Highs ) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News . Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.

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AXIS Obtains US$ 1.2 B Loan

JAKARTA (IFT) – PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler (Axis), a mobile operator, was granted a financing agreement amounting to Rp 10.5 trillion (US$ 1.2 billion) from several sharia banks. The company, which is 80.1 percent owned by the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), will spend the fund for the expansion of its telecommunication network in Indonesia.

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Instant Financial Help In Urgencies

If a person is in search for any instant loan then he/she should go for money now loans. These are short term small loans that are granted without any waste of time. In most of the cases the loan is granted within a single day. It not only saves time but also hassles.

Money now loans are usually granted for a very short span of time. The loan amount may vary as per the financial capability of the lender. In most of the cases, the loan amount generally varies from $100 to $1500. In certain instances this amount may be more as per the terms of the loan policies.

Presently these loans are meant only for the permanent citizens of US. A borrower should not be unemployed and his/her monthly income should also be not less than $1000. Also he/she should have attained 18 years of age at the time of application. These all conditions act as pre requisites in your loan application process.

Even persons with poor credit profile may apply for such loans. Lenders are here not at all interested in knowing about the credit history or credit score of the borrower. These loans may be granted with or without collateral. Secured loans though involve the borrower to keep any of his/her assets with the lender but it has very low rate of interest. On the other side unsecured loans have a higher rate of interest.

If a person is interested in such loans, it is advised that a person should do a little market research before applying for such loans. It would surely be of use in the loan term. It would help him/her in getting the loan approved instantly without any hassle. It also helps in selecting the most suitable lender.

The Graduating Student’s Guide to Managing Finances and Tackling Debt

If you are like most graduating college students, you probably have a few thousand dollars in credit card debt and even more in student loans. In fact, total outstanding student loan debt in the US has surpassed total outstanding credit card debt for the first time ever, and is projected to hit $1 trillion by 2012.

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Telemedicine Company Delivers Quality Care to Arizonans and US

Health Nation (www.myhealthnation.info), the leading Arizona based Telemedicine company that provides health care to members via phone, email and webcam, now offers quality medical care to Arizona residents for just $30 per month. With the Health Nation Connect monthly plan, clients can call, email or use web-conferencing to receive diagnosis, prescriptions and advice from licensed [...]

This article ( Telemedicine Company Delivers Quality Care to Arizonans and US ) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News . Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.

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Emergency Loans For Bad Credit Cash Help For Instant Needs

We all face a time when we are in desperate need of money. The need may be of small amount as well as large amount. Your need may be any, but the one thing that can really help you is our credit scheme. Loans under such scheme are known as emergency loans for bad credit.

In all urgent situations, emergency loans for bad credit prove to be a good way out. As the name suggests, these are small short term loans that are offered to bring a person out of the financial crisis. The amount of such loans may be small but as they are offered at a very crucial time so it proves to be highly useful for a needy person. These loans are generally offered for a very short period of time. This time period is usually between from 3 to 4 weeks. The amount of such loans may go from 100 dollars to 1500 dollars.

There are various conditions associated with such loans that you have to fulfill before applying for such loans:

- These are offered only to the permanent residents of US;
– The age of the borrower must not be less than 18 years;
– Borrower must not be without a job and should be earning a decent income each month;
– He or she must be having a valid checking bank account in any bank of US.
-
If all above conditions are met, you may very easily get the loan approved. This all makes such loans a very suitable form of lending. It helps a person in coming out of credit crises without any hassle.

Harder times as food, gas prices spiral

Cairo, Egypt (IRIN) – Abdel Moneim Ahmed was finally able to buy 10 loaves of subsidized bread after queuing for one-and-a-half hours with 30 people outside a bakery in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Another woman, known only as Zeinab, said she had waited two hours. “You can see the problem for yourself,” she told IRIN.

The scene playing out in this El Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood symbolizes a much wider problem. For the past few weeks, Egypt, which imports half its food and subsidizes bread prices, has experienced severe shortages of this key staple.

Egyptians call it “aish”, literally meaning life. The price is fixed at five piasters (less than one US cent per loaf), against 50 piasters per unsubsidized loaf. Economists say Egyptian families spend about 40 percent of their monthly income on food.

“The real reason for the current inflation is that governments, even the existing one, do not protect consumers from merchants’ abuse,” said Ahmed El-Naggar, head economist at Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, and editor in chief of its annual publication, Strategic Economic Directions.

The Egyptian economy took a bashing from protests that swept across the country earlier this year, hurting tourism revenues and affecting trade. “This led to a six percent decrease in exports in January and February,” said El-Naggar.

According to the Finance Ministry, urban consumer inflation rose to 11.5 percent in the 12 months to March, its highest level since April 2010, from 10.7 percent in February.

“We no longer buy beef and chicken,” Samira Abuzaid, a 45-year-old housewife, said. “I tell my children that we need to adapt to a diet without these two items.”

Gas scarce

Another vital commodity that has become scarce and more expensive is cooking gas.

“Gas cylinders have suddenly disappeared,” Emad Abul A’as said as he waited to buy a cylinder in the southern industrial city of Helwan. “If I do not get the cylinder from this center, I will have to pay a lot for a cylinder outside.”

Abul A’as, a 37-year-old cement factory worker and father of two, would have to pay six times the price of a subsidized gas cylinder elsewhere.

The government blames the situation in Libya and Gaza. Recently, Social Solidarity Minister Gouda Abdel Khaliq cited smuggling to Libya and Gaza as a reason for cylinder scarcity in Egypt, which imports 60 percent of its solid gas from Saudi Arabia and Algeria.

“Smugglers benefit from the difference in the price of the cylinders in Egypt,” said Hossam Arafat, chairman of the petroleum section at the Federation of Commerce Chambers. “What makes this possible is that the government subsidizes the cylinders to the tune of 90 percent here.”

Prices of other commodities have also risen dramatically in recent weeks. The prices of tomatoes, onions, green peppers, lemons, eggplants, potatoes, zucchini and beans have trebled, while items such as lentils are out of the reach of many.

“The future might be worse,” said Rashad Abdou, an economics professor from Cairo University. “The prices might increase even more.”

Consumer protection?

On- April, the World Bank said global food prices were 36 percent above their levels a year ago and remained volatile, driven in part by higher fuel costs connected to events in the Middle East and North Africa .

Another 10 percent increase in global prices could drive an additional 10 million people below the $1.25 poverty line, it added.

“More poor people are suffering and more people could become poor because of high and volatile food prices,” said World Bank President Robert Zoellick. “We have to put food first and protect the poor and vulnerable who spend most of their money on food.”

The government says it will try to bring down prices, according to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf in an address last week.

The deputy director at the at Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Abdel Fatah Al-Gibali, called for consumer protection, saying the supply of certain commodities had been monopolized by a small number of merchants, which affected the dynamics of the market.

“During the last period, or specifically since the start of the [protests] that toppled Mubarak, the society was not producing at all and the supply was less than the demand, [hence] an increase in prices,” he added.

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HSBC suffers again as US losses mount in wake of foray into sub-prime mortgages

HSBC has taken a further £245m hit on its US loan book as it continues to count the cost of its ill-starred foray into sub-prime mortgages. Britain’s biggest bank admitted the tentative bounce in the American housing market had faltered, or in some cities gone into reverse, cutting the value of its portfolio of US debt.

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JAMAICA-ENERGY-Jamaica seeking multi-million dollar loan for energy project

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government is holding discussions with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on financing for a US$13 million energy saving programme for the public sector, projected to start this year.

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Diverging Trends in Q1 US Bank Results

Alicia Damley submits:

With US interest rates poised to increase, earnings momentum at US banks has reached a turning point. Over the past four quarters, earnings have been driven by near-zero short-term interest rates and a steep yield curve. This risk-free revenue was further bolstered by stablized margins, declining loan loss provisions, a strengthening economy and cost management. Based on current economic indicators, the next drivers of earnings will focus on underlying business positioning.

Q1 ending Mar 31, 2011

($ millions)

Revenue

Net income

RoE (annualized)

Core Tier 1

JPM Chase ( JPM )

25,791

5,555

13%

10.0%

Citigroup ( C )

19,726

2,999

7.3%

11.3%

BofA ( BAC )

26,877

2,049

6.2%

8.6%

Wells Fargo ( WFC )

20,329

3,570

12.0%

8.9%

Goldman Sachs ( GS )

11,894

908

12.2%

12.8%

Morgan Stanley ( MS )

7,635

966

6.2%

11.8%

Beyond the solid headline numbers above, first quarter results for the large banks are revealing some worrying underlying trends. On a positive note, bread-and-butter Complete Story »

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