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ZIMBABWE: Year in Brief 2005 - A chronology of key events
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
JOHANNESBURG, 12 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Over the course of 2005 the Zimbabwean government strengthened its political grip with landslide victories in parliamentary and senate elections, and a split in the main opposition party. However, the country's humanitarian and economic crisis deepened, with worse expected in 2006.
JANUARY
17 January: Zimbabwean opposition parties and civic groups warn that unless the voters' roll is reviewed by an independent body, the credibility of the 31 March legislative elections could be called into question.
31 January: Humanitarian workers express concern about the food security situation. The US-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network earlier in the month said 5.8 million Zimbabweans - almost half the population - were in need of food aid.
FEBRUARY
2 February: A 15 member delegation from the Congress of South African Trade Unions, on a fact-finding mission ahead of the elections, is barred from entering Zimbabwe.
9 February: Three Zimbabweans jailed for selling state secrets to South Africa are convicted of breaching Zimbabwe's Official Secrets Act, and sentenced to between five and six years in prison.
14 February: The government announces it will reduce the number of local election monitors and bar teams from the European Union from observing the March poll.
18 February: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) gives Zimbabwe another chance to prove its commitment to fiscal discipline and meet its debt repayment obligations.
20 February: The architect of Zimbabwe's tough media laws, Jonathan Moyo, is sacked as information minister for his role in organising resistance to President Robert Mugabe's succession plans.
MARCH
2 March: The government announces that it may soon de-register at least 30 NGOs for failing to provide details of donor funding. The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Paul Mangwana, says funds meant for rural development may have been redirected into supporting "anti-government activities".
17 March: The UN Children's Fund appeals to donors to look beyond politics in Zimbabwe. It says one in five Zimbabwean children are orphans; a child dies every 15 minutes due to HIV/AIDS; and 160,000 children will experience the death of a parent in 2005.
APRIL
2 April: The ruling ZANU-PF election victory is condemned as a sham by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). ZANU-PF wins 78 of the 120 contested seats, while the MDC slumps to 41 - down from the 58 seats it captured in 2000 in its maiden election. Jonathan Moyo wins as an independent candidate.
12 April: A survey in 10 districts across Zimbabwe reveals alarmingly high levels of malnutrition among children. Official statistics shows stunting or chronic malnutrition levels as high as 47 percent among children aged from six months to 59 months on commercial farms.
MAY
14 May: Sixty-two alleged mercenaries, jailed by Zimbabwean authorities for violating immigration, aviation, security and firearms regulations, are deported to South Africa. The 62 were arrested in March 2004 after their plane made a stop-over in Harare allegedly en-route to Equatorial Guinea.
19 May 2005: Reserve bank governor Gideon Gono devalues the Zimbabwean dollar by 31 percent against the US dollar from Zim $6,200 to Zim $9,000. Zimbabwe's flourishing parallel market rate is Zim $18,000 to US $1.
23 May: First reports of the government's controversial Operation Murambatsvina (a Shona word for "clean-out the garbage") emerge. Human rights activists condemn the police for their heavy-handed crackdown on the informal sector.
30 May 2005: Thousands of Harare residents flee the capital after armed police continue demolishing illegal dwellings and traders' stalls. President Mugabe endorses the crackdown.
31 May 2005: Aid agencies warn that government's cleanup operation could worsen food shortages.
JUNE
1 June: Mugabe tells visiting UN Special Envoy to Southern Africa, James Morris, that the country needs food aid. Mugabe had earlier rejected the need for general feeding programmes saying the country was expecting a bumper harvest.
9-10 June: Opposition and civil society groups hold an unsuccessful two-day stay away to protest Operation Murambatsvina.
14 June: Reports emerge that around 190,000 homes have been destroyed in the operation.
26 June-8 July: UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe, Anna Tibaijuka, visits Zimbabwe to assess the impact of the cleanup campaign.
27 June: Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing with the UN Commission on Human Rights describes the failure of African leaders to protest the forced eviction of informal settlers as "distressing".
JULY
8 July: An African Union envoy leaves Zimbabwe without completing his mission to evaluate the impact of Operation Murambatsvina. The official Herald newspaper reports the envoy's mission had been "unprocedural", as diplomatic protocol had not been followed.
15 July: Reports emerge that Zimbabwe is seeking a massive loan from South Africa to offset chronic food, fuel and electricity shortages. South Africa demands economic and political reforms.
22 July: Anna Tibaijuka's report condemns government's programme of forced evictions and estimates 700,000 people were left homeless and 2.4 million affected by the operation. The report calls for those responsible to be held accountable.
22 July: Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono announces that service stations can sell fuel in hard currency from 1 August. Almost all sectors of the economy have been hit by a forex shortage.
AUGUST
2 August: Treason charges against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai are dropped.
11 August: A report by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development says Zimbabwe's economy had contracted to 1953 levels.
16 August: Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa scraps duty on maize and wheat imports, and announces that the state-owned Grain Marketing Board would no longer enjoy a monopoly. Observers say the measure an acknowledgment that Harare is unable to import sufficient maize to offset shortages.
18 August: The Central Statistical Office reports that it has recorded the highest ever increase in prices in July. The price of goods and services in Zimbabwe rose by at least 47 percent in that month.
22 August: The UN country team in Zimbabwe asks for unrestricted access to people affected by Operation Murambatsvina.
29 August: The government refuses to endorse a US $30 million emergency appeal to provide food and medicine for 300,000 Zimbabweans hardest hit by the cleanup campaign. It says the UN's response to the country's current socioeconomic challenges is inappropriate and misguided.
30 August: Parliament approves sweeping constitutional amendments which removes a landowner's right to appeal expropriation and can restrict movement of Zimbabweans in the name of national security. The draft amendment bill also seeks to reconstitute parliament as a bicameral legislature, introducing a 66-seat senate.
SEPTEMBER
1 September: Zimbabwe pays off US $120 million of the US $295 million owed to the IMF. The authorities say the funds had been sourced from exporters and holders of free funds.
9 September: The IMF grants Zimbabwe a six-month temporary reprieve, but says the country must implement broader economic reforms to avoid expulsion.
OCTOBER
13 October: First reports of divisions within the opposition MDC over participation in the senate elections scheduled for 26 November emerge. Tsvangirai publicly disagrees with the party's spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi and its national council.
20 October: Reserve bank governor Gideon Gonon calls for an immediate end to a recent wave of farm invasions, warning that any further steps towards forced expropriation would seriously undermine efforts towards economic recovery.
24 October: Divisions in the MDC deepen when at least 27 members ignore an order by Tsvangirai not to register for the senate election.
NOVEMBER
1 November: UN Secretary-General expresses concern over the government's rejection of help to those affected by Operation Murambatsvina, particularly in terms of shelter needs. The government maintains there is "no humanitarian crisis".
17 November: The government does an about-turn and says it is willing to accept UN assistance to house people affected by the cleanup campaign. Subject to funding, the UN is to construct 2,500 housing units during the first phase of the programme, which intends to build 20,000 units at a total cost of US $18 million.
24 November: MDC's pro-senate faction led by vice-president Gibson Sibanda suspends Tsvangirai, claiming a disciplinary committee found him guilty of violating the party's constitution by issuing a call to boycott the poll.
28 November: ZANU-PF wins 43 of the 50 directly-elected seats, while MDC bags seven. Out of the remaining 16 seats, six are nominations by the president and 10 got to traditional chiefs.
DECEMBER
1 December: The UN launches a US $276 million appeal and warns at least three million people will need food aid as only an estimated 600,000 mt of maize had been harvested, compared to a national requirement of 1.8 million mt.
1 December: A pro-Tsvangirai national council meeting revokes his suspension and "disassociates" itself from the pro-senate faction, as the crisis in the opposition continues.
3-7 December: UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland visits Zimbabwe and meets with Mugabe. At the end of his mission he criticises the "disastrous" eviction campaign, and describes it as "wholly irrational in all of its aspects".
8 December: Zimbabwe becomes the first southern African country to register a decline in HIV prevalence. The rate among pregnant women declined from 26 percent in 2002 to 21 percent in 2004.
9 December: A High Court dismisses an application by the MDC 'rebel' faction seeking to remove Tsvangirai as leader of the party.
13 December: A South African spy arrested in 2004 for running an espionage ring in Zimbabwe is deported back to South Africa.
15 December: Police and officials from the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe raid the country's only private radio station, Voice of the People, and arrest three of its reporters for working without accreditation for an unlicensed station.
20 December: The Government criticises a model house built by the UN for those made homeless by Operation Murambatsvina.
21 December: The UN Resident Coordinator Agostinho Zacarias expresses surprise at the government's comments since the model was a joint effort by the Zimbabwean government and the UN.
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