Economy takes a battering

An estimated 200,000 Zimbabweans have lost their jobs since the beginning of this year, mainly because of pre-election violence and dwindling investments, according to the country’s employers confederation. At the same time, commercial farmers have threatened a nationwide strike - which could have serious economic and food security consequences - unless intimidation and violence on farms illegally occupied in the run-up to the June elections comes to an end. John Mufukare, the chief executive of the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) told IRIN that the bulk of jobs lost have been in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. He said the pre-election violence that accompanied farm invasions by liberation war veterans and landless communal farmers was the major factor in job losses. “The disruption in farming operations has had a direct effect on the manufacturing sector which depends on agriculture for its activities,” he said. At the same time, he alleged, the government’s land reform policy has further hurt investor confidence. “The uncertainty about whether investments or property will be expropriated has contributed to the dwindling of investments in the country,” Mufukare stated. According to news reports on Monday, the Zimbabwe Investment Centre has warned that year-on-year investment in the country has shrunk by up to 80 percent from January to May this year. President Robert Mugabe was also quoted as saying his country’s foreign currency reserves were down to two weeks of import cover, blaming this on low commodity prices on the international market. Said Mugabe: “We usually kept enough foreign reserves to last us six months. Now we have enough for the next two to three weeks.” In the ongoing land dispute, in which the government plans to compulsorily acquire farms for resettlement, commercial farmers northwest of the capital, Harare have stopped work in protest at what they call the breakdown in law and order. Reports said about 150 farms in the Karoi district - a main tobacco and corn growing area - began shutting their operations on Tuesday. Tim Henwood, the head of the Commercial Farmers Union, reportedly warned that farm stoppages are likely to spread unless the government halted acts of violence and intimidation on farms occupied by the war veterans. “In the interests of the safety of our members and their workers, it may soon become impossible for farming operations to continue nationwide,” said Henwood. Another 100 farmers in the neighbouring Tongwe district were also considering similar stoppages, said Henwood. He complained that production and land preparation for seasonal food and cash crops on some of the 1,600 occupied farms was being obstructed by the presence of the squatters.