http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 19:39
BY PATRICE
MAKOVA
THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) is
investigating several
high-profile people including Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, Local
Government and Urban Development minister Ignatius Chombo
and Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono on allegations of
involvement in corrupt
deals, The Standard can exclusively
reveal.
Zacc chairman Denford Chirindo told The Standard last week
that the
anti-graft body was acting after receiving dossiers implicating
Tsvangirai,
Chombo and Gono in corrupt deals and was treating the matter
without fear or
favour.
He said the commission would however not
rush to arrest the bigwigs before
doing proper investigations to
substantiate the facts.
Chirindo said Zacc received a comprehensive
dossier produced by an ad hoc
Harare City Council land audit committee,
which fingered Chombo in alleged
corrupt land deals mostly during the tenure
of the commissions he appointed
to run the affairs of the city. “We received
the comprehensive report and
responded accordingly,” he said. “The public
will very soon know the outcome
of the investigations.”
The
committee, led by fired councillor, Warship Dumba, made a report to the
police two years ago, but it was the City Fathers themselves who were
instead arrested on allegations of criminally defaming Chombo and
businessman, Phillip Chiyangwa.
Chirindo said the Zacc also
received a report implicating Tsvangirai in the
alleged misappropriation of
US$1,5 million meant for the purchase of his
official residency. He however,
declined to reveal the identity of the
complainant.
“All I can
say is that work is in progress. Police are also working on the
same case
because the law allows us to work concurrently,” said Chirindo.
Tsvangirai is
accused of engaging in “double dipping” after getting the
US$1,5 million
from the RBZ and an additional US$1 million from Treasury to
buy and
renovate the same property at 49 Kew Drive in Highlands,
Harare.
Tsvangirai has however, repeatedly scoffed at the allegations
which are
widely believed to be spearheaded by members of the Joint
Operations Command
who want him arrested.
Chirindo said Gono was
being investigated after the wide circulation of a
letter purporting to have
originated from his former advisor, Munyaradzi
Kereke, which detailed
allegations of fraud and corruption by the central
bank
chief.
“We are investigating him (Gono) because the allegations are
very serious
and borders on theft, misappropriation, abuse of power and
other
improprieties in the conduct of affairs,” he said.
Chirindo
said the commission was also keenly following the case in which
Mines and
Mining Development minister, Obert Mpofu, allegedly demanded a
US$10 million
bribe from Core Mining director, Lovemore Kurotwi, after
facilitating a
licence to mine diamonds in Marange.
“The case is in our records as
it was reported to the former commission. We
are keenly following the issue
with a view to start our investigations,” he
said.
The Zacc was
also interested in the case in which Zanu PF chef’s allegedly
looted Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) inputs, which were meant for the ordinary
people.
Chirindo said it was a myth that there were certain
people who were
untouchable, insisting that the commission was independent
and took no
instruction from political leaders, including President Robert
Mugabe.
“There are no sacred cows when it comes to fighting corruption,” he
said. “I
don’t share the perception of the so-called small fish which we are
said to
be targeting. To me big fish refers to the gravity of the offence
while
small fish refers to the triviality of the
offence.”
Chirindo said MPs, who were recently arrested for abusing
the Constituency
Development Fund (CDF) but had their cases withdrawn before
plea, were not
off the hook. He said the MP’s were still being pursued
together with others
including cabinet ministers who also abused the
CDF.
The Zaac was also actively pursuing the case of rampant
corruption within
the police force, especially the traffic
section.
Chirindo said the commission was also worried about the
smuggling of
minerals such as gold and diamonds. He said the Zacc was
working well with
the Police and Attorney General whom he described as key
stakeholders in the
fight against corruption.
Tsvangirai, Gono
and Chombo could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
Tsvangirai
has in the past however denied any wrongdoing in the way he
handled the
money received from the State. Chombo has also maintained that
he is
innocent while Gono is yet to comment on the document allegedly
authored by
Kereke.
Kereke’s phone was unreachable on
Saturday.
Constitution empowers zacc to fight
corruption
The Zacc chief challenged Zimbabweans to participate
in rooting out
corruption, saying they were empowered by the Constitution
and the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act to do a citizen’s
arrest.
Chirindo said although the Zacc was facing the usual
challenges of shortage
of resources, it was up to the task it was mandated
to do.
“This is why there is too much hot and cold about us to the
extent that some
people who were behind the investigative and arresting
powers of the ACC
which was in office from September 2000 to August 31 2011,
are now
questioning the arresting powers of the Zaac,” he
said.
The Zacc was set up in terms of section 108 A of the
Constitution to
investigate any form of corruption, theft, misappropriation
or abuse of
power.
Chirindo, who chairs the body, has been a lawyer for
over 15 years.
He has worked in the Attorney-General’s office and is
a former soldier.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 19:37
BY NUNURAI
JENA
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe personally blocked Philip Chiyangwa’s ascendancy
to
the post of vice-chairman in Mashonaland West province during the party’s
politburo meeting recently, authoritative sources said.
The
sources said Mugabe queried why the business mogul was suddenly elevated
when the party had resolved that he be re-admitted as an ordinary
card-carrying member.
They said Mugabe, who was visibly angry
during last Wednesday’s meeting,
took a swipe at Zanu PF Mashonaland West
politburo members, for failing to
stamp their authority in the
province.
“Mugabe felt that Chiyangwa could have used his vast
influence to fast track
his ascendancy while other party cadres were being
denied the opportunity,”
said one source. “He has also spoke against
imposition of candidates.”
Chiyangwa, said sources in Zanu PF, could have
managed to work his way back
into provincial leadership by exploiting
factionalism rocking the province.
But other sources said Mugabe has never
liked Chiyangwa following his arrest
and acquittal on allegations of selling
state secrets to foreign agents.
Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo,
played down the issue yesterday saying
the position taken on Chiyangwa was
by consensus.
“We sat as a politburo late last year and admitted
Chiyangwa back into the
party only as an ordinary card-carrying member and
then we discussed the
issue on Wednesday after hearing that he was elected
vice-chairman in the
province,” said Gumbo.
“We agreed as a party
that he will remain a party’s card-carrying member
only until the party
thinks otherwise, meaning that his election is null and
void.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 19:01
BY LESLEY
WURAYAYI
INMATES at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison are now
surviving on sadza with
roasted groundnuts (nzungu) after government banned
food assistance from
humanitarian organisations.
The deputy
minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Senator Obert Gutu said
the food
situation at Chikurubi was dire.
The International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other humanitarian
organisations, that have been
providing additional food assistance to
prisons for the past few years, were
stopped last year.
“It would appear that the decision to phase off
help from Red Cross was
premature and ill-advised. Prisoners are now
surviving on a diet of sadza
eaten with nzungu as relish.”
Gutu
said it was clear that Treasury does not have adequate financial and
material resources to enable the Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) to provide a
satisfactory diet to inmates in the country’s prisons.
In most
cases, said Gutu, a prison diet consists of sadza and roasted
groundnuts or
occasionally beans or half-boiled cabbages. Inmates are also
given porridge
in the morning, which in most cases does not have sugar.
He said this
was a gross violation of prisoners’ rights.
“I promise, I will
immediately engage the relevant authorities to enable the
dire food
situation to be ameliorated,” said Gutu.
In a report presented to the
House of Assembly, during debate on the 2012
budget allocation to the
Zimbabwe Prison Services last year, Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on
Justice, Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary
Affairs, chairman Douglas
Mwonzora, also confirmed that the withdrawal of
ICRC aid had affected the
prison operations, which got US$82, 7 million from
Treasury.
Mwonzora said with the 2012 allocation, it would be
very difficult for
government to adequately feed prisoners and refurbish
prison infrastructure.
The ICRC had been helping government feed prisoners
since 2008 when the
economic crisis in Zimbabwe reached frightening
proportions.
Investigations of prisons by the Parliamentary Thematic
Committee on Human
Rights in 2010 showed prisoners’ conditions had become so
dire that some of
them were suffering from food deficiency diseases such as
scurvy and
pellagra.
Apart from food shortages, prisoners have a
critical shortage of uniforms
and stay in rooms where they are packed like
sardines especially at
Chikurubi and Harare Central Prisons.
This
has resulted in the spread of communicable and water-borne diseases
such as
diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid.
For example Chikurubi, which has a
carrying capacity of 800 inmates
currently accommodates 1 780 prisoners.
Nationally, the country’s prisons
were built to accommodate 16 000 people
but the number has since shot up
resulting in an outbreak of diseases and
malnutrition due to food shortages,
Efforts to get a comment from ZPS were
fruitless last week.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 19:00
BY
OBEY MANAYITI AND CLAYTON MASEKESA
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said
perpetrators of political violence
will face the full wrath of the law
without protection from their political
parties.
Speaking at a peace
prayer in Sakubva stadium in Mutare yesterday,
Tsvangirai urged Zimbabweans
to shun all acts of violence saying it was
detrimental to
progress.
“Lessons to be learnt are that in everything there is God’s
plan and that we
have a choice in life about everything we do,” said
Tsvangirai.
“Gathering here exhibits team spirit from all political parties
and if you
choose to kill someone that is your plan. Zanu PF and MDC-T will
not be
there for you, you will stand (trial) alone.”
The
prayer meeting was attended by representatives of the three parties in
the
coalition government.
Tsvangirai urged party supporters to refuse to
take orders from top party
officials who send them to perpetrate violence on
innocent citizens.
The peace meeting comes at a time when the MDC-T alleges a
Zanu PF plot to
use violence against rival parties in the upcoming
elections, which the
former ruling party insists must be held this
year.
Zanu PF wants the elections to be held under the old
Constitution which
analysts say favours President Robert Mugabe, who has
been ruling the
country for the past three decades.
Addressing
party supporters at Honde Mission in Manicaland province
recently, MP for
Mutasa Central Trevor Saruwaka urged the Southern Africa
Development
Community (Sadc) to take note of the increasing human rights
violations by
Zanu PF as the party pushes for elections.
“We are saying that Sadc
must take note of the increasing violence. We are
urging Sadc to put an end
to these abuses,” he said.
“It is not a secret that Zanu PF is
pressing for elections so that it will
unleash election violence and
intimidation.”
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, who could not be
reached for comment last
week, has on several occasions denied that the
former ruling party was the
instigator of violence during elections blaming
in on rivals.
The MDC-T has on several occasions accused Zanu PF of
political violence and
intimidation against its supporters, especially
towards or during elections.
In some parts of the country, Zanu PF youth
militia and war veterans, who
spearheaded the violence in 2008, still has
“bases” where rivals are
tortured for supporting a different
party.
The MDC-T has said at least 200 of its supporters were killed
by state
security agents and Zanu PF youth militia during the 2008 violent
elections.
A sanctions mismatch at peace
meeting
Zanu PF secretary for administration for Manicaland,
Kenneth Saruchena also
denounced political violence but went on to preach
about his party’s
rhetoric on sanctions and
indigenisation.
“Those who called for sanctions should lobby for
their removal,” said
Saruchera. “And churches should pray for indigenisation
to be accepted by
Zimbabweans.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 18:58
BY
JENNIFER DUBE
A parliamentary committee on the media has resolved to summon
the Minister
of Media, Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu, after he
defied an
instruction by principals in the coalition government to implement
media
reforms.
Chairman of the parliamentary committee on media,
information and
communication technology, Settlement Chikwinya, who is also
MP for Mbizo,
last week, said they had agreed to summon Shamu to interrogate
him on why he
had failed to implement the reforms as directed by the
principals.
“We want to interrogate the minister’s position
and how he reacted to the
communication from the principals,” said
Chikwinya, adding that the
information minister is expected to appear before
the committee in May.
Shamu is expected to explain why the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe
(BAZ), the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust
(ZMMT) and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings (ZBH) boards were taking long
to be reconstituted.
The boards were declared unconstitutional as
they were appointed
unilaterally and were mainly composed of people who are
thought to be loyal
to President Robert Mugabe.
The State media
stands accused of spewing out vitriol against the MDC
formations while
propping up Mugabe and his party.
The three political parties in the
coalition government had agreed the media
be reformed before holding
elections.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, last week told the House
of Assembly that
he was surprised by Shamu’s reluctance to implement the
reforms which were
approved by both the principals and
Cabinet.
Efforts to get a comment from Shamu were fruitless on
Saturday.
Article 19 of the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
prescribes the need for
the opening up of the airwaves and ensuring the
operation of as many media
houses as possible.
Several companies
last month flighted advertisements indicating they had
applied for
free-to-air commercial radio licences while three others applied
for
television licences.
This followed the granting of the country’s
first commercial private radio
licences to journalist-cum-businessman, Supa
Mandiwanzira-owned AB
Communication’s Zi Radio and Zimpapers’ Talk
Radio.
Some sections of the media queried the granting of the
licences saying the
owners were aligned to Zanu PF.
Chikwinya said while
the committee was happy with the registration of some
newspapers, it was
concerned with the slow pace at which media reforms were
taking
place.
NewsDay, The Patriot and the now defunct The Mail were
registered under the
new dispensation while The Daily News was re-registered
after being banned
in 2003.
Parly committee to quiz Mahoso
over BAZ
The committee will also call BAZ chairman, Tafataona
Mahoso and chief
executive, Obert Muganyura, in May to answer questions
about media reforms
in Zimbabwe, a process which many in the media say is
taking longer than
necessary.
“Their appearance will be part of
our efforts to ensure that everyone who
intends to broadcast in the country
does so,” Chikwinya said.
“Broadcasting licences applicants, both
those who got the licences and those
who did not, will appear before us a
week before the minister and BAZ
officials’ appearance.
“We want
to hear the concerns of those who were not granted licences so we
can see
how best we can help them re-align themselves with BAZ policies so
they can
be granted licences. We are also keen to hear why those who were
granted
licences have not yet started broadcasting.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 18:58
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — A local businessman was last week acquitted on charges of
insulting President Robert Mugabe after the state failed to prove its
case.
Brian Foster, was acquitted by Lupane magistrate, Takudzwa Gwazemba,
due to
lack of evidence as the police officer who was a state witness could
not be
located.
One Sergeant Kuvarega, who arrested Foster in May last
year on accusations
of insulting Mugabe, did not turn up at the
courts.
Foster was arrested at a roadblock on charges of insulting the
President
after he accused traffic officers of fundraising for Mugabe’s
government,
which he said is broke.
It was the State’s case that
Foster, who is the director of Foster
Irrigation Scheme in Bulawayo, was
allegedly driving a Toyota Fortuner along
Victoria Falls road when he was
stopped by police at a roadblock in Lupane.
He was charged for
speeding and when asked to produce his driver’s licence,
Forster allegedly
told the police officers that they were trying to “raise
money for the poor
and broke Mugabe government.”
Foster was charged with violating a
section of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act for undermining
the authority of or insulting
the President. But his lawyers, Matshobana
Ncube and Kucaca Phulu, argued
that Foster did not insult the President
because “Mugabe is not government
and it is not a secret that the government
is broke.”
It is an offence under Zimbabwe’s laws to undermine or
insult the President
and scores of people have been charged for insulting
Mugabe in the past few
years.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012
18:57
BY OUR STAFF
BULAWAYO — Lack of funding has crippled a campaign
by churches and civic
groups here to gather one million signatures to be
used to petition the
government to speed up the implementation of the
Matabeleland Zambezi Water
Project (MZWP).
The campaign envisaged involve
road shows, culminating with a water summit.
Pastor Anglistone
Sibanda from Habbakuk Trust, which was spearheading the
project recently,
said they had not secured a donor for the campaign.
“Most donors are seized
with the constitution-making process while at the
same time there seems to
be donor fatigue,” said Sibanda.
“The main objective of this campaign
is to pressurise the government to
declare Matabeleland region a water
problem area to facilitate the
interventions that will come in to alleviate
the region’s water problems.”
The campaign comes amid reports that
Bulawayo is on the brink of another
water crisis as the local authority is
going to decommission one of its five
supply dams, Umzingwane, this month
due to low water levels.
Bulawayo has faced perennial water problems
since its founding, prompting
both residents and the city fathers to pin
their hopes on drawing water from
the Zambezi River.
The MZWP, a
long held plan to tap water from the Zambezi through the
construction of a
450km pipeline to arid Matabeleland, was mooted way back
in
1912.
Water Resources minister, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo recently said his
ministry had
obtained US$864 million from China’s Export-Import Bank of
China (EximBank)
for the construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam and the
laying of a 450 km
pipeline to Bulawayo.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March
2012 18:53
BY PATRICE MAKOVA
THE Mujuru family has insisted that the
mysterious death of retired Army
General Solomon Mujuru can only be brought
to finality by exhuming his body
and conducting a fresh autopsy as they are
still highly suspicious that he
was murdered.
Mujuru died in an
inferno at his farmhouse in Beatrice last August.
Family
lawyer Thakor Kewada told The Standard that Mujuru’s family and his
associates suspect that some of the workers and security personnel at the
farm knew of what really happened to Mujuru.
He said coroner
Walter Chikwanha, who conducted an inquest into the General’s
death, erred
by concluding in his findings that there was no foul play, as
ample evidence
was provided that investigations were botched, raising a lot
of questions on
circumstances under which the general died, including how
the fired
started.
“My clients are highly suspicious that the general did not
die in that
fire,” said Kewada.
“They suspect he was killed
before the fire started. Thereafter the body was
planted in the house and
the fire was started as a cover up”.
He said the family suspected
that those who murdered Mujuru were already in
the house when the General
arrived at the farm at around 8.20pm on the
fateful day on August 15 last
year, or they tranquillised him using a dart
gun while he was stepping out
of his vehicle.
There was also a theory that white phosphorous or TNT
explosives were used
to burn Mujuru’s body after the alleged
murder.
Kewada pointed out a lot of inconsistencies which the family
believe prove
there was foul play.
The Harare Fire Brigade said
investigations showed that the fire started in
two places, an indication
that arson could have taken place. Kewada said if
the fire started around
8.20pm, Mujuru, a trained soldier and hero of the
war of liberation, should
have felt the heat and smelt the smoke before the
fire had
spread.
He said Mujuru’s vehicle was unusually parked at the back of
the house. It
was unlocked, and his cellphone, groceries and jacket were
still inside,
which was strange considering that he wanted to wake up early
in the morning
at around 2am.
The vehicle keys have never been
found up to today.
Mujuru’s maid, Rosemary Short told the inquest
that she locked the house
including the bedrooms.
But if the
General had indeed left his keys in Harare as she claimed, why
did she not
tell him that she had also locked all the doors to the house,
particularly
when Mujuru had earlier indicated that he wanted to sleep in
the car if keys
were not available?
South African forensic experts admitted the
samples they were given were
contaminated because of poor storage by police
in Zimbabwe. They did not
find any traces of explosives yet the
investigating officer, Chief
Superintendent Crispen Makedenge brought 6kg
of ammunition, including spent
cartridges which exploded due to the intense
heat.
The experts also said the examination was limited at tracing
three liquids
namely paraffin, petrol and diesel. Kewada said the Mujuru
family was
questioning why the South Africans were told to limit their
investigations
to only three liquids yet substances such as white
phosphorous and TNT could
have been used.
He said four police
officers were supposed to be guarding Mujuru instead of
the three who were
on duty that day.
Kewada said the police’s rest and guard rooms were close to
the house, but
it was surprising that all of them never saw the fire or
smelt smoke until
it was too late.
Zesa experts also ruled out an
electrical fault as the cause of the fire.
“With all due respect, the
coroner praises all witnesses and makes excuses
for them,” said
Kewada.
He said despite claims by Attorney-General Johannes Tomana
that the case was
now closed following the release of the inquest report,
the Mujuru family
would apply to the co-Ministers of Home Affairs for the
exhumation of the
body. This would allow the family’s independent
pathologist Dr Reggie
Perumal of South Africa or another expert to do a
second autopsy.
“My clients want to get to the truth of the matter,”
said Kewada. “If a
second pathologist comes to the same conclusion, that
Mujuru died of
carbonisation, this will bring the matter to finality and end
all the
suspicions surrounding his death.”
The mystery of unburnt
curtains
While Mujuru’s body was charred, it was surprising that the
curtains
survived the inferno. Questions therefore still remain as to how
the
curtains survived while Mujuru did not, suggesting that the general
could
have been burnt in a controlled fire which later spread to the whole
house.
Pathologist was ill-equipped for the job at hand, argues Thakor
Kewada
The Cuban pathologist, Dr Gonzales Alvero admitted he did
not do a thorough
examination because he could not draw blood samples and
test organs because
Mujuru’s body was completely charred. But pictures of
the body which were
shown to The Standard prove that from the neck to the
groin, body parts,
including the lungs and kidneys were
intact.
Kewada questioned why Alvero, who does not speak English,
destroyed the
original autopsy report which he wrote in Spanish. The Cuban
pathologist
also admitted that he did not have the requisite equipment such
as an X-Ray
machine, but the coroner praised him and ruled that the Mujuru
family was
talking about textbook pathology.
Kewada questioned
how Chikwanha knew that this was textbook pathology as he
was not an expert
in that area.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 18:50
BY NUNURAI
JENA
CHINHOYI Town Council is discharging raw sewage into Manyame River, the
town’s
major source of drinking water, exposing over 150 000 residents to
water-borne diseases.
Water-borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera
have killed scores of
people in Harare and surrounding areas in the past few
years.
Chinhoyi Town Council acting engineering services manager,
Timothy Maregere
said the situation was “really bad” and council had no
resources to address
the problem.
He however added that a German
company, GZI, had promised to make available
about US$400 000 for the
upgrading of the sewer system and council was in
the process of identifying
companies that could undertake the project.
But council director for
health services, William Mayavo, played down the
looming health crisis
saying the water was safe because it was approved by
experts accredited by
government.
“Despite the continued sewer system problem in Chinhoyi,
our water is safe
as we send it to Harare every fortnight for
double-checking to determine if
it is safe for human consumption,” said
Mayawo. He added that council was
also “retraining” its water analysts at
Chinhoyi University of Technology.
But chairman of Environmental
Work, Planning and Management Ward 10
councillor, Tendayi Musonza concurred
with Maregere saying the situation
remained “dire” as the sewer plant had
not been functional for over a
decade.
“These guys are misleading
the residents,” said Musonza. “The situation is
far from over as GZI funds
are covering the new Ruvimbo high density suburb,
which is only a drop in an
ocean.”
Chinhoyi residents have always complained about the quality
of water at
every meeting they hold.
Fears of disease outbreak in
Chinhoyi come amid reports that the council was
sitting on US$2,9 million
for the sewer upgrade which it failed to use
because of squabbles that arose
over allegations of irregularities in the
tender process.
EMA
slams council over sewer delays
Environmental Management Agency
(EMA) education and publicity manager Steady
Kangata accused the council of
delaying the addressing of the sewer problem
in the town.
“We
called Chinhoyi council for a hearing recently in connection with the
health
dangers likely to face residents of Chinhoyi,” said Kangata. “Chances
that
an outbreak of water-borne diseases can occur are very high, especially
to
all those living in downstream areas.”
He said council had promised
to repair all pump stations that were not
working but up to now they had not
addressed the problem.
Kangata said council must realise that people
have the right to live in a
clean, safe and healthy environment.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 18:48
BY NQOBANI
NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — A local pressure group has written a letter of protest to
Police
Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri complaining about continued
gross
human rights violations by the police.
In a letter dated March 8
2012, Bulawayo Agenda said peace and credible
elections in Zimbabwe could
only be achieved if the police were
“depoliticised” and trained on the
importance of upholding human rights.
“We are very much concerned and
disturbed by the increase in the shrinking
of the civic operating space as
evidenced by arrests and intimidation of
civic activists, journalists and
even other political parties,” said
Bulawayo Agenda director, Thabani
Nyoni.
The letter was copied to the Sadc facilitator, South African
President
Jacob Zuma, Home Affairs ministers Kembo Mohadi and Theresa
Makone.
It was also copied to the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
negotiators and
the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee
(Jomic).
MDC-T has on several occasions accused the police of openly
supporting Zanu
PF.
The party’s deputy organising secretary last
week said MDC-T was documenting
names of all police officers who are
harassing civilians, politicians and
human rights activists so that they can
be prosecuted and fired from the
police force in future.
Chihuri
has openly declared his support for Zanu PF although he is supposed
to be
apolitical.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 18:46
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
Consternation has gripped Zimbabweans over the possibility of
political
chaos in the country should President Robert Mugabe die in office,
resign or
become incapacitated without putting a strategic succession plan
within his
fractious party.
The 88-year-old leader, who was in December
endorsed as Zanu PF presidential
candidate in the forthcoming polls, visited
Asian countries for medical
check-ups several times last year but his health
remains a tightly guarded
secret.
Mugabe himself claims to be “as
fit as a fiddle”.
People who spoke to The Standard last week said
they feared for the worst
should Mugabe die in office saying the country
would erupt into political
mayhem as his cronies fight to succeed
him.
This fear is so omnipresent among some business people who are
said to have
frozen their investment plans in the country until it becomes
clear who
takes over from Mugabe in Zanu PF. They also fear that security
chefs would
not permit Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai or any other
presidential winner
to take the reigns should they lead in the
elections.
There are several distinct camps in Zanu PF vying for
Mugabe’s post,
pointing to a “dog eat dog fight” should Mugabe die in
office.
Minister of Defence, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President
Joice Mujuru,
whose husband the late retired army commander Solomon Mujuru
died in a
mysterious fire last year, have been separately strategising to
succeed
Mugabe.
This is further complicated by reports that Army
Commander General
Constantine Chiwenga, now touted as Zim2 in political
circles, also harbours
presidential ambitions.
Chiwenga has not
however publicly declared his interest.
But the succession matrix
would favour the last acting Vice-President,
should Mugabe resign or die in
office, bringing in another possible
contender, Vice-President John
Nkomo.
It is widely feared that the securocrats, who are reportedly
directing
crucial operations in the shaky coalition government, would not
allow
Tsvangirai to rule should he win elections.
This is
buttressed by previous statements by security chiefs that they would
not
salute anyone without liberation credentials.
Tsvangirai, who rose to
political fame through the labour movement, has
none.
University
of Zimbabwe political analyst Shakespeare Hamauswa said if Mugabe
died
without appointing a successor, Zanu PF would disintegrate due to
intense
internal fighting.
“If such a thing happens, the military will resort
to force to protect their
political and economic interests,” said
Hamauswa.
He said the generals’ interests in farms, diamond, gold and
platinum mines
would force them to resist vehemently any change of
government with a
different political ideology.
With his
deteriorating health and advanced age, Mugabe surely cannot manage
a smooth
transition in Zanu PF as the political system he built with sole
purpose of
keeping himself in power is now too complex for him to control.
“You
cannot expect Mugabe to manage smooth transition now when he failed to
do so
in the past three decades,” said one senior Zanu PF official.
“He has not
tried to manage it because he wants to die in office.”
Economic
analyst John Robertson also hinted at the risk of a coup but said
the
business community was more concerned about the indigenisation
laws.
“Indigenisation is the most worrying factor,” said Robertson. “But if
there
is chaos over the post-Mugabe era, the generals might say they don’t
want to
see conflict and impose a military leader instead.”
But a
book by Geof Hill, entitled, What Happens After Mugabe? Can Zimbabwe
Rise
From The Ashes?, sees a better Zimbabwe after Mugabe.
“Instead, there
seemed to be a notion that, if only the bad guys would go,
the spirit of
Mother Teresa would descend from heaven and guide the rulers
as they set
about creating a paradise, where people would live in joy to the
end of
days,” says Hill, in the book that was published in
2005.
Military will take over, says
Mavhinga
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition regional coordinator Dewa
Mavhinga warned the
MDC factions against agreeing to elections without
reforms saying it “is not
wise and will not change
anything”.
“The military will most likely take over,” said Mavhinga.
“There will be no
vacuum — if Mugabe loses they will take over and announce
two years to
return to civilian rule — the military factor is the central
problem in
Zimbabwe.”
But Mavhinga added that Sadc and the
international community would not allow
Zimbabwe to slide into chaos as the
contagion effect would destabilise the
whole region. Already, millions of
Zimbabweans are political and economic
refugees in the Diaspora.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012
18:43
BY OUR STAFF
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti has appointed five
members to sit in the Audit
Commission, as Treasury moves with speed to
strengthen the office of the
Comptroller and Auditor-General into an
autonomous body.
Biti appointed retired judge, Justice Mohammed Adam, Diana
Guti from the
Public Service Commission, Comptroller and Auditor-General,
Mildred Chiri
and her two deputies Spears Mutsau and one R
Kujinga.
In a notice in an extraordinary Government Gazette published
on March 13,
the appointment is for a period of three years and is effective
on the
publication of the notice.
However, the Audit Office Act
under which the appointments were made states
that the commission should
have 10 members.
According to the Act, the commission should have a
retired judge of the High
Court or Supreme Court who shall be the chair and
a member of the Public
Service Commission.
The Act says the
Commission should be composed of the Comptroller and
Auditor-General and two
members who shall be Deputy Auditors-General or if
there is one, the deputy
Auditor-General and a member of the Audit Office
next in
seniority.
It should have five members appointed by the President on
recommendation
from the Minister of Finance.
The functions of the
Commission are to appoint persons to the Audit Office
on a permanent or
contract basis, assign and promote them and fix condition
of service among
others.
The appointment of the Audit Commission is part of a raft of
reforms
introduced by Treasury to give more teeth to the office of the
Comptroller
and Auditor-General.
The Audit Office Act (Chapter
22:18) strengthens the powers, duties and
independence of the Comptroller
and Auditor-General, including procedures
for reporting to
Parliament.
Section 11 of the Act empowers the Comptroller and
Auditor-General to make
special reports if he or she sees it desirable that
any matter relating to
public money should be drawn to the attention of the
Public Accounts
Committee.
The reports would then be transmitted
to the Minister of Finance and if they
relate to a public body or statutory
fund, copies would also be passed on to
the appropriate
minister.
Any report transmitted to the minister or an appropriate
minister shall be
laid by the said ministers before the House of Assembly on
one of the seven
days on which the House of Assembly sits next after he/she
has received such
reports.
The Act says the Comptroller and
Auditor-General shall transmit copies of
such reports to the Speaker of the
House of Assembly to present them before
the house.
The Act
amends the Public Service Act by removing members of the Audit
Office from
the Public Service Commission.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 18:39
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
THE European Union (EU) says it intends to increase trade and
investment
relations with Zimbabwe and has urged the country to take
advantage of the
bloc’s support for the Common Market for East and Southern
Africa (Comesa).
The EU is funding and providing technical assistance to
Comesa in order to
enhance regional integration and trade
activities.
EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Aldo Dell’Ariccia, said the
bloc was working
towards attracting the attention of business persons in
Europe to invest in
Zimbabwe as the country is moving towards creating
predictable economic
policies.
Last week, government launched the
Industrial Development Policy (IDP) and
the National Trade Policy in a bid
to increase the country’s export
competitiveness, a development which the
ambassador described as a great
example of strengthening democratic
institutions in the country.
“The EU is looking forward to deepening
relations with Zimbabwe in areas
that include trade and investment,” said
Dell’Ariccia, adding that trade
between Zimbabwe and the EU had doubled
since the inception of the inclusive
government in 2009.
The EU
provided technical assistance in the crafting of Zimbabwe’s recently
launched trade policy.
Dell’Ariccia said trade between Zimbabwe
and the EU had increased by 36%
between 2010 and 2011. “This in turn created
a positive trade balance of
US$271 million in favour of Zimbabwe,” he said,
adding that Zimbabwean
products were in high demand on European
markets.
The EU was once Zimbabwe’s major export destination
accounting for
two-thirds of total exports but political and economic
problems led to
sustained decimation of the country’s productive capacity
since the year
2000.
The inception of the inclusive government in
2009 witnessed the adoption of
multiple currencies, leading to increased
investor confidence in Zimbabwe.
The EU intends to engage Zimbabwe
under the auspices of interim Economic
Partnership Agreements (EPAs) under
its multilateral and bilateral trade
framework.
Under this
arrangement, exports from Zimbabwe, among other countries within
the Comesa
group, would enter European markets duty and quota-free.
The
framework for regional partnership agreements came against the
background
where non-African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries
challenged the
special trade provisions between the EU bloc and ACP
countries at the World
Trade Organisation, citing unfair competition.
The EU and ACP blocs
then instituted interim agreements that would serve to
counter this
challenge and increase trade ties between both blocs.
In August 2009,
Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe signed the
interim
arrangement.
Dell’Ariccia said critics had cited the EPA structure as
a threat to
Zimbabwe’s efforts aimed at resuscitating local industry, as
most European
products emanated from a background of subsidies, among other
advantages.
“Rules of origin will be used as a method of ensuring
that nascent industry
is protected (from the influx of imports) in order to
optimise on installed
capacity. The EPAs will further enable Zimbabwe to
gain access to funds
through Comesa as part of the EU’s regional support
programme,” he said.
Rules of origin are used to determine the
country of origin of a product for
purposes of fairness in international
trade. These may be for purposes of
quotas and anti-dumping among
others.
It is anticipated that at least 45% of the EU’s product lines
would enter
Zimbabwe duty- free from 2013 should the EPAs be concluded
soon.
Trade policy seeks to boost exports
One key
objective of the trade policy launched last week is to increase
exports and
promote the diversification of the country’s export basket by
harnessing
comparative advantage in key priority sectors.
The policy also
targets to increase export earnings by 10% annually to US$7
billion by 2016
from the US$4,3 billion recorded last year.
The trade policy
encourages the business community in Zimbabwe to be more
aggressive and take
advantage of existing bilateral, regional and
international trading
arrangements which offer duty-free and quota-free
market access in order to
improve export performance.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 31 March 2012 18:35
BY
NDAMU SANDU
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is still incapacitated to bail out
banks in
the event of liquidity mismatches, three years after Treasury
embarked on
reforms to ensure that the bank sticks to its core business
.
In interviews with Standardbusiness, bankers — who could not be
named for
professional reasons — were unanimous that government is not
serious about
its reforms of RBZ as it has taken a long time for the bank to
perform its
lender-of-last-resort role.
RBZ last performed that role in
2008.
While Finance minister, Tendai Biti, pushed through
Parliament amendments
allowing the bank to concentrate on its core business,
analysts say the
critical role of RBZ’s involvement in the event of
short-term liquidity
mismatches in the market has not been given the
attention it deserves.
If the bank was playing its role, banks would
trade on the inter-bank
market, knowing that in the event of normal
settlement challenges, they
could seek accommodation from the central
bank.
Treasury recently gave RBZ US$23 million, making it a pool of
US$30 million
which analysts say is inadequate.
Treasury also
announced plans to privatise the lender of last resort role by
creating a
special purpose vehicle whereby government and its cooperating
partners
would inject funds.
“We need a functional interbank market where
instruments are traded and RBZ
is a participant but at the moment, the
central bank cannot participate
because it does not have the money,” a
banker said on Thursday.
“Very few banks are trading with each other
and a bank has to fend for
itself if involved in problems,” he
said.
Through open market operations, the central bank buys and sells
government
securities to manage liquidity.
If the market faces
challenges, the central bank buys securities to inject
liquidity. If there
is excess liquidity, the bank mops that out through
selling the
securities.
According to an investment banker, central banks in
Europe have been able to
intervene in the Euro crisis by using or adjusting
their monetary policies
through introducing austerity measures as and when
needed.
An austerity measure is an official action taken by
governments through
central banks in order to reduce the amount of money
that it spends or the
amount that people spend. This ultimately has an
effect on the liquidity
position of a country’s financial
markets.
Without an ability to control a country’s monetary
policy and implement it,
analysts said, you are ineffective in introducing
austerity measures when
needed.
“So although the ongoing reforms
are good, they will be slow and painful for
the country because of the lack
of our ability to have an effective monetary
policy.
“Dollarisation without strong liquidity support is a
painful pill and cannot
be sustained for too long,” the investment banker
said.
In a dollarised environment, RBZ is incapable of doing its job because
it
has lost its ability to print money. This means that it cannot influence
money supply.
RBZ recently instructed banks to bring 75% of the
Foreign Currency Accounts
balances held in foreign banks onshore to ease the
liquidity constraints but
analysts say in the absence of short-term
instruments such as treasury
bills, that money is not evenly
distributed.
“Money has come in but you have no instruments. The role
of monetary policy
is to distribute the funds and because it is not doing
that, liquidity is
not in the hands of the economy.”
RBZ boss,
Gideon Gono, is set to issue instruments against the amounts owed
to banks
(US$83,58 million) in statutory reserves. The instruments will have
tenors
of two, three and four years with interest rates of 2,5%, 3% and 3,5%
respectively.
RBZ scrapped statutory reserves — the amount of
money any bank has to
maintain with the central bank at zero percent for
every deposit received
from a customer — in June 2010.
“It’s just
a certificate and whom do you sell to? If interbank market is not
workin who
would buy the paper of so and so?” an executive asked.
Investigations
by Standardbusiness show that banks had proposed to create a
window to
support the revival of the lender of last resort, which was going
to create
not only paper for statutory reserves but more instruments that
would allow
movement of funds among banks.
“With the laid-back approach by
government, the proposal will gather dust in
one of the offices,” a bank
executive said.
Multi-currency environment limits RBZ
ROLE
Observers say in a multi-currency environment, the central
bank’s
functionality is going to be limited.
“Determining a
monetary policy and implementing it is at the core of any
central bank and
for as long as we don’t have a local currency, RBZ will
always have limited
impact in the smooth operations of financial markets in
Zimbabwe,” an
investment banker said.
“The best RBZ can do now is being a regulator
of our local financial
markets, but a regulator without ability to introduce
relevant instruments
to ensure smooth operations of our financial markets in
case they are needed
is weak. And only through a monetary policy are you
able to intervene
effectively.”
