Herald attacks Murerwa

In a rare criticism of one of president Robert Mugabe’s top lieutenants the Herald attacked Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa for failing to address inflation.

“The Achilles’ heel of Zimbabwe’s economy is the spiralling inflation, which has now reached a peak of 455.5 percent. There is need to act quickly to contain the rampant inflation, a major contributor to declining standards of living and deepening poverty levels,” the paper said.

“The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr. Herbert Murerwa, is aware of how bad the inflation has risen but has not done anything that could see a deceleration of the inflation.”

Full cable:

Viewing cable 03HARARE2080, MEDIA REPORT STATE NEWSPAPER ATTACKS GOZ MINISTER;

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170736Z Oct 03

UNCLAS HARARE 002080

SIPDIS

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TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI

SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT STATE NEWSPAPER ATTACKS GOZ MINISTER;

HARARE

¶1.   Under headline “Take urgent steps to arrest inflation”

the government-controlled daily newspaper “The Herald”

(circulation 50 – 70,000) dedicated its October 16

editorial to attacking Finance Minister Dr. Herbert Murerwa

and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for doing nothing to

arrest the run-away inflation in the country. This could

be the first direct salvo on one of Robert Mugabe’s key

minister’s since the economic downturn started in 1999 by

this newspaper that has long been the leading propaganda

organ for the Mugabe administration. Excerpts of the

unusual editorial follow:

¶2.   “The Achilles’ heel of Zimbabwe’s economy is the

spiraling inflation, which has now reached a peak of

455,5 percent. There is need to act quickly to

contain the rampant inflation, a major contributor

to declining standards of living and deepening

poverty levels. . .The Minister of Finance and

Economic Development, Dr. Herbert Murerwa, is aware

of how bad the inflation has risen but has not done

anything that could see a deceleration of the

inflation. . .It is that the minister and the

central bank, which acts as an adviser to the

government on economic matters, have not done

anything to ensure that inflation stops

accelerating. . .Both the Ministry of Finance and

Economic Development and the Reserve Bank of

Zimbabwe have apparently been spectators standing on

the sidelines while inflation has been worsening. .

.We urge Dr. Murerwa to act timeously (sic) on

critical issues like inflation, which have serious

repercussions on the entire economy and livelihood

of the people.”

SULLIVAN

(32 VIEWS)