ZIMBABWE'S Treasury has instructed the Foreign Ministry, which is broke, to recall non-essential staff from Zimbabwe's 37 foreign missions because the government is unable to meet the costs of keeping them there, government sources said.
According to top government officials, the Ministry of Finance had also advised Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge and his senior staff to freeze new diplomatic postings until the next budget, which is seven months away. The Foreign Ministry has already used up its budget of $391 million for the fiscal year 1999, less than three months into the fiscal year.
Assault with a friendly weapon . . .
TWO women got the shock of their lives during a round of golf at the Wingate Park Club in Harare recently. Two nude thieves jumped from bushes, performed a war dance and then grabbed their handbags as the golfers ran for dear life.
The women, one of them an elderly visitor from England, lost their purses, cash, a cellular telephone handset, car and house keys and other valuables to the men, whose only weapons were their birthday suits. Police are said to be looking for a pair of naked aggressors . . .