http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Politics
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe’s plans to hold elections by June 29 continue to
draw
suspicion with analysts saying the dates are not tenable as long as
critical
political and other reforms have not been implemented.
Report by Patrice
Makova
But other analysts said implementation of reforms should be
speeded up as it
would be impossible to do that after June 29 when
Parliament is
automatically dissolved in accordance with the
Constitution.
Mugabe last week indicated in an urgent High Court chamber
application that
following the adoption of a new draft constitution in the
recent referendum,
harmonised elections will be held by June 29.
The
government on Thursday gazetted the draft charter as a constitutional
bill
paving the way for its tabling in Parliament on May 7.
University of
Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Shakespeare Hamauswa said
there was no
reason for holding polls in June other than intimidating Zanu
PF opponents
who still feared the violence which characterised the June 27
2008
Presidential election run-off.
He said most people still remembered the
month of June with “disheartening
memories”.
“If it is true that the
MDC-T lost some of its 200 supporters, then it is
not only the month that
will be significant to Zanu PF, but also the date
[29] because of it being
closer to 27,” said Hamauswa.
He said the process of adopting the new
constitution also required a lot of
time, making it impossible to hold
elections in June.
“If all parties are in agreement that they are in the
course of building the
nation and laying down fundamental democratic
principles, then why should
people be rushed into elections which can
recklessly plunge the country into
a definite crisis?,” asked
Hamauswa.
“But for political expedience and other motives beyond what an
ordinary
person can see, the holding of elections in June will only make
sense for
politicians.”
Political analyst, Alois Masepe said it was
now practically impossible to
come up with a clean voters roll and properly
register people before the
June 29 deadline.
He said elections and
reforms were not about the characters of Mugabe and
Zanu PF or Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC-T, but about the people
and the future of
the country.
Masepe said people wanted free and fair elections at the
“appropriate” time.
“It’s not a rushed job,” he said. “Nobody is holding
a gun at us. We need to
do these things in the correct manner; so that the
world can say we have
done a good job for the country.”
Masepe
accused parties of playing political games and gambling with the
lives of
people for expediency purposes.
He said rather than rushing to holding
elections, the inclusive government
should work to ensure that progress and
stability is achieved in a country
with an over 80% unemployment rate and
experiencing massive infrastructural
decay.
“Our leaders must act
like true statesmen and rescue our motherland and not
this feja feja
[gambling] and wapusa wapusa [you snooze, you lose] politics.
Zimbabwe is
now an embarrassment to Sadc because of such kind of behaviour,”
Masepe
said.
He said Zanu PF was rushing to hold elections in the hope of
regaining total
control of the country.
Political scientist, Dr Ibbo
Mandaza said a June election was not desirable
as the democratisation
process was still to be completed.
He said while Mugabe wanted to hold
elections before June 29 to adhere to
the Constitution, such a move could
not be reconciled with the reality on
the ground.
“But hurried
elections will on the other hand lead to an unconstitutional
outcome,” said
Mandaza. “There is a requirement that a voter registration
exercise has to
be done in a stipulated time frame. If this process is not
done then
elections become a farce.”
He said the issue of the voters roll has been
contentious for the past four
to five elections.
But another
political analyst, Phillan Zamchiya was of the view that it was
not the date
which mattered, but the political will to implement the
necessary reforms
within the shortest period of time.
He said as Parliament would
automatically dissolve on June 29, there would
be no legislative arm of
government to institute reforms being called for
such as the repealing of
the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act (Aippa) and the
Public Order and Security Act (Posa).
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Politics
MDC leader Welshman Ncube
has reiterated that an election is not possible
before the beginning of
August.
Report by Nqaba Matshazi
He said claims by both President
Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai that polls can be held in
June or July were “preposterous”.
In a strongly-worded letter to Sadc
Troika chairman, Tanzanian President
Jakaya Kikwete last week, Ncube accused
Mugabe and Tsvangirai of trying to
fix an election date without following
the dictates of the GPA.
“We write to you because we are gravely
concerned that the attempts to
unilaterally fix an election date without
consulting us and without due
regard to the imperatives of the law and the
election roadmap will
inevitably lead to a disputed election outcome,” Ncube
wrote.
“It is thus obvious to us that attempts to fix an election date
are
premature until such a time that the legal framework for the elections
has
been completed.
“What we must be focusing on is the expeditious
implementation of the
election roadmap so that an election date can be
agreed upon based on the
achievement of the necessary preconditions as
should be contained in the
roadmap.”
Of particular concern for Ncube
and his party was failure by the inclusive
government to amend the Electoral
Act and to align it with the new
constitution, arguing that an election
could not be held before this was
done.
He said after the new
constitution is gazetted, it will have to wait for 30
days before parliament
could start debating and if this was fast-tracked, it
would take at least
seven days before it is signed into law.
Ncube said from there, the law
provides for a 30-day voter registration and
inspection outreach programme
after the new constitution is gazetted and
parts of it come into
effect.
“The parties have to negotiate and agree on necessary amendments
to the
Electoral Act to bring it into line with the new constitution,” Ncube
wrote.
“Once agreed, those amendments have to follow the usual enactment
processes
such as clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation and
cabinet before
being presented to parliament where they would have to be
scrutinised by the
Parliamentary Legal Committee for consistency with the
constitution before
being debated and passed by both the House of Assembly
and Senate. No one
can predict with any amount of certainty how long this
process will take.”
He said, what was clear was that no election
proclamation could be made
before the amendments were in place.
“It
is clear that a minimum of at least 70 days is required before an
election
proclamation can be made.
“This means that no lawful election
proclamation can be made before at least
the first week of June 2013. The
law requires a minimum of 58 days from the
date of the proclamation to the
date of the election.
This means that on a best case scenario, no lawful
election can be held
before the first week of August 2013.
“This best
case scenario has not taken into account the time it will take to
put in
place amendments to the Electoral Act,” he continued.
NCUBE TAKES SWIPE
AT MUGABE, TSVANGIRAI
In the letter also copied to South African
President Jacob Zuma, the
facilitator on the Zimbabwean dialogue, Ncube also
accuses Mugabe and
Tsvangirai of deliberately excluding his party from “GPA
processes”, saying
this was in violation of a Sadc resolution.
Among
a host of grievances, Ncube says Mugabe and Tsvangirai set a date for
the
referendum, agreed on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and Zimbabwe
Human
Rights Commission without consulting him, a clear violation of the
Sadc
resolution.
Mugabe has publicly declared that an election should be held
by June 29, at
the expiry of the current parliament’s term, while Tsvangirai
has said he
favoured a July poll.
Ironically, Tsvangirai has filed a
High Court application, seeking to stop
Mugabe from proclaiming June 29 as
the election date, saying he had not been
consulted.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Politics
Faction-riddled Zanu
PF, whose confidence has been boosted by recent poll
surveys that showed it
was ahead of its rivals, could suffer heavily from
the in-fighting that has
split it into two camps just three months before
the plebiscite, analysts
have warned.
Report by Caiphus Chimhete
Elections are set for June
or July this year.
But analysts said Zanu PF takes solace in that it is
squaring up against an
equally fractious MDC-T, which has, over the past
years, lost its
mobilisation steam and arguably, its support
base.
The issue of factionalism in Zanu PF came to a head after
traditional party
rivals, Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Defence minister
Emmerson Mnagangwa
held separate events in the same vicinity a fortnight
ago.
This set tongues wagging in Zanu PF echelons as this was an unusual
occurrence in the party, especially when one of the meetings involved a
member of the presidium.
Both Mujuru and Mnangagwa are positioning
themselves to succeed 89-year-old
President Robert Mugabe, who has been
ruling the country uninterrupted since
the country’s independence in
1980.
National Association of Non-governmental Organisations (Nango)
chairperson,
Effie Ncube said Zanu PF had to heal internal divisions if it
entertained
hopes of winning the next polls.
He noted that
factionalism had also devoured the rank and file supporters in
the
party.
“It [factionalism] is at the apex of the party and goes down to
the lowest
level,” said Ncube. “Remember, the party suspended the elections
of DCC
[District Coordinating Committee] executives because of factionalism.
They
can’t ignore this issue for too long because it has a significant
bearing on
the outcome of the polls.”
Last year Zanu PF disbanded the
powerful DCCs after it emerged that the
factions were promoting candidates
in their camps.
In the past few months, Zanu PF political commissar,
Webster Shamu has made
endless trips to Bulawayo, Masvingo and Mutare in an
attempt to address the
issue of factionalism.
Political analyst,
Phillip Pasirayi also believes factionalism would further
divide and weaken
Zanu PF ahead of the crunch harmonised elections.
“Already, the political
campaigns and mobilisation for the party’s primaries
is showing these
divisions as both Mujuru and Mnangagwa seek to outwit each
other,” he said.
“The Mnangagwa faction has a mountain to climb though
because the party’s
presidium is populated by Mujuru loyalists who have in
the past emphasised
that there is a procedure and hierarchy to be followed
on the succession
issue.”
Pasirayi believes the fight between supporters of Mnangagwa and
Mujuru would
become more pronounced during the party’s forthcoming primary
elections.
Profiles and backgrounds of candidates who will represent Zanu
PF either as
councillors or MPs in some provinces are going to be
scrutinised, he said.
“Those candidates who do not show or demonstrate
their loyalty to either
faction will be blocked depending on which faction
is powerful in a
particular province,” he said.
Ncube said if
factionalism was not addressed, disgruntled Zanu PF members
would abscond
from voting or would vote for a rival as happened in 2008, in
what later
became the “bhora musango” [sabotage] strategy in Zanu PF
circles.
But Pasirayi differed saying the possibility of a protest
vote in the
forthcoming elections was distant.
“Unlike in the 2008
elections, Zanu PF MPs and councillors are solidly
behind President Mugabe
because they fear the reprisals and know the cover
and protection that they
got from him for their ill-gotten wealth,” he said.
“Mugabe’s cronies will
lead a ‘bhora mugedhi’ [pro-Mugabe] campaign this
time around as a way to
pay him back.”
Pasirayi said MDC-T’s chances in the coming elections
would be determined by
how well the party was able to articulate its
electoral agenda and
demonstrate that they are a viable alternative. It has
so far lost key
constituencies like the National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA), labour and
students, who have helped in previous
campaigns.
“So far, the MDC-T has not been able to coherently put
together an electoral
agenda that is pro-poor to debunk Zanu PF’s so-called
indigenisation and
empowerment programme,” said Pasirayi. “If the party
leadership [MDC-T] is
serious about winning the polls, there is need to
build bridges with these
key constituencies and craft a pro-poor national
agenda that addresses the
bread and butter issues of the majority
poor.”
Ncube seemed to agree saying MDC-T supporters were not as
well-motivated as
they were in previous elections. Issues of corruption,
nepotism and
factionalism have also dogged the party in recent
years.
“This election is going to be very close,” said Ncube. “The party that
will
win elections will have to do more in terms of motivating its
supporters to
go and vote but Zanu PF has to do more because it has
misgoverned the
country for the past 33 years.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Politics
THE bare-knuckle
infighting within Zanu PF has reached new heights, with
WikiLeaks being
resuscitated as party members try to discredit each other
ahead of the
party’s primary elections expected next month.
BY OUR STAFF
Some
of the rivals have taken the fight to social media network sites.
In
recent days, shadowy characters, Amai Jukwa and Baba Jukwa have emerged,
clearly taking opposing sides within Zanu PF and spewing vitriol against
each other on social media network sites such as Facebook and
Twitter.
So far unidentified, the Jukwas seem to be well-informed about
what is going
on within the party and have been releasing damaging
statements about Zanu
PF.
This comes amid reports that
Major-Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba was also
using a leaked WikiLeaks cable
to undermine the current Uzumba MP,
Simbaneuta Mudarikwa.
The
high-ranking soldier is reportedly eyeing the Uzumba parliamentary
seat.
Mudarikwa was accused of attacking Zanu PF after the whistle-
blower website
WikiLeaks posted a cable with his surname.
He has
since pleaded his innocence on the matter.
Nyikayaramba last week denied
attacking Mudarikwa saying he has no interest
of becoming a
legislator.
“Yes, I come from Uzumba, but why would I want to be an MP,
that’s a very
junior post, when I can be in the army that serves the whole
of Zimbabwe,”
he said.
But it is the Jukwa characters that have left
many followers of social media
spellbound and horrified at the twists within
the party.
Amai Jukwa, now a columnist at The Herald, was first on the
scene, as she
posted comments that seemed to attack Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono, but
at the same time praising Youth Development, Indigenisation
and Empowerment
minister, Saviour Kasukuwere.
There is no love lost
between Kasukuwere and Gono, as they have taken
polarised positions and have
clashed publicly on indigenisation laws.
From her posts, it was clear that
Amai Jukwa is someone in the know and
would be updated on everything within
the party.
Amai Jukwa accused Gono of all sorts of crimes, including
pillaging the
central bank, while Baba Jukwa claims the Reserve Bank boss is
the victim of
a hate campaign instigated by Zanu PF strategist Jonathan Moyo
and
Kasukuwere.
Recently Baba Jukwa began posting leaked WikiLeaks
cables, which accuse a
number of high- profile Zanu PF members of secretly
meeting US envoys and
divulging the party’s secrets.
Baba Jukwa has
gone to the extent of releasing mobile phone numbers of Zanu
PF officials,
urging his followers to call high-ranking party members to
demand
answers.
He has posted a cable of Gono claiming that he tried to resign
but this was
turned down by authorities.
Among Gono’s reasons for
resigning were corruption and factional fighting
within the government,
according to the cable.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Local
SOME
Chitungwiza Town Council (CTC) employees are reportedly collecting
revenue
from defaulters for personal use and re-connecting water supplies
without
approval from the local authority, The Standard has heard.
BY SOFIA
MAPURANGA
The employees, who have not been paid for the past six months,
resorted to
the strategy after allegedly reaching a stalemate with their
employer, whom
they accused of “being oblivious to their
plight”.
They are reportedly collecting amounts ranging between US$10 and
US$30 from
defaulters after which they would re-connect water
supplies.
A council employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
the workers
had no other option to enable them to survive.
“Council
management is not affected by council failure to pay workers their
salaries
because the majority of them have a plethora of allowances,” he
said. “Even
if those in management do not get their monthly salaries, which
I am sure
they get, they can still take care of their rentals and travel
expenses from
the various allowances they give each other while we languish
in
poverty.”
The employee said the majority of the workers who are lodgers,
were given
notices by their landlords for failing to pay rentals on
time.
“Imagine telling your landlord that you have not received your
salary for
four consecutive months. Most of us were chased away by our
landlords from
their houses because it was too much,” said the employee, who
said he and
his family were now staying with a relative.
A council
official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that
the local
authority last paid the workers full salaries in September 2012.
In
October 2012, he said, some workers received part of their salaries.
Town
Clerk, George Makunde confirmed the workers had not been paid for the
past
six months.
“True, the workers have not been paid their salaries because
council coffers
are somewhat dry,” said Makunde.
He claimed that
council was failing to pay workers because most residents
were not paying
their rates. Apart from that, he said, the local authority
was also facing a
myriad of pending litigation cases.
“Council is reeling under immense
pressure from litigations for cases that
arose before my time,” said
Makunde, who however could not divulge how much
council had spent on these
cases. “We continue to dialogue with the view to
pay off all litigations so
that we start strategising for the council.”
On Thursday, Makunde said
council had organised small amounts for the
workers to use over the Easter
holidays.
“We have organised nominal payments for them to go for holiday.
We have met
with the residents and we continue to dialogue with the view to
map the way
forward. Otherwise in the interim, we are somewhat subdued,” he
said.
True to his words, the payments were nominal.
There was
chaos at council offices on Friday as the workers jostled for the
US$100
advance allowance they were being given by management.
Residents who spoke to
The Standard said they stopped paying rates because
of poor service delivery
by the city fathers.
Svodai Bhema of Unit J in Seke said, “We get water
once a week or sometimes
after 10 days and they expect us to queue at their
offices paying for their
failure? They can dream on!”
She said
residents keep getting exorbitant water bills and “engagement of
council
officials at both the council head offices and Seke South are a
waste of
time.”
Council owed us$30 million
The council is owed close to
US$30 million over unpaid bills and since last
year, it has failed in its
bid to entice residents to settle their bills.
Since December last year,
the council has been advising residents that if
they pay half of their debt,
the other half would be cancelled, a move which
most residents described as
a fundraising strategy “against poor service
delivery”.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Business
FULL-SCALE production of
ethanol at the Chisumbanje plant is expected to
resume this week while
offloading of ethanol stockpile onto the market is
ongoing, Agricultural and
Rural Development Authority (Arda) chairman Basil
Nyabadza has
said.
BY OUR STAFF
Preparations for the resumption of production
at the plant comes after
Vice-President Joice Mujuru recently toured the
plant and ordered its
immediate re-opening, saying outstanding issues would
have to be resolved
later.
“We are working on the administration
aspects, including logistics and
hiring of key personnel to run the plant.
It’s a synchronised plant working
as a 24-hour operation so soon after the
Easter holiday, we expect to begin
production,” said Nyabadza.
After
the plant’s closure in February last year, the facility was left
holding
onto some 10 million litres of E10 ethanol following low uptake of
the
product on the market.
Nyabadza said with “enabling legislation” now in
place, offloading of the
ethanol was a work in progress, a key aspect that
would facilitate
full-scale production.
A Memorandum of Agreement
(MOA) for the ownership of the Chisumbanje ethanol
project was recently
approved by cabinet and now waits scrutiny from the
Attorney General’s
office.
The MOA would result in the conversion of the plant into a joint
venture in
which government would have 51% shareholding and the remainder
owned by
Billy Rautenbach’s companies.
The agreement follows
recommendations from a consultant engaged on the
conversion of the project
from a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) one into a
joint
venture.
Initially, the project was a 20-year BOT between Arda and
Rautenbach’s
Ratings and Macdom.
Government last month gazetted
regulations that made it mandatory for all
licensed oil companies to sell
petrol blended with a minimum of 5% of
locally-produced ethanol.
This
was captured under Statutory Instrument 17 of 2013.
An inter-ministerial
committee chaired by deputy premier, Arthur Mutambara,
had proposed the
adoption of mandatory blending beginning with 5% and
progressively moving to
10% and 20%, setting the way for the resumption of
operations at the
project.
The committee recommended that only E5 be mandatory while E10,
E20, E85 and
E100 blends continue as non-compulsory products on the market
for vehicles
compatible with them.
Ethanol plant a source of discord
in GNU
The ethanol plant has been a subject of infighting in the
inclusive
government. Ministers have argued for months on the way forward
after it
stopped operations in December 2011 as it had reached the storage
capacity
due to a slow uptake of the blended petrol.
Finance minister
Tendai Biti had previously questioned some aspects related
to the plant’s
operations while Energy and Power Development minister Elton
Mangoma argued
that mandatory blending was against the ideals of market
liberalisation.
Biti said the price of the country’s ethanol
production has a fixed cost
structure and questioned how 10% of a flexible
product would be determined
by cost structures rather than by politics, as
is the case with
hydrocarbons.
The promoters of the project then
begged government to introduce mandatory
blending, starting with 10%, as is
happening in other ethanol-producing
countries such as Brazil, as a way of
rescuing it.
They also argued that work stoppages at the plant had put in
danger the fate
of over 2 000 employees.
Basil Nyabadza said that he
believed all government departments were on a
similar position regarding the
matter.
“I am not aware of any variations, everybody is of a unanimous
position,” he
said.
Efforts to contact Mangoma pro-ved fruitless as
his mobile number was not
reachable.
Green Fuel believes the
introduction of mandatory blending of ethanol and
petrol would make the
project viable and assist the country to substantially
cut its fuel import
bill.
Some consumers on the market have raised concern over the quality
of the
resultant blend.
green fuel: the pros and cons
Research
indicates that ethanol can negatively affect electric fuel pumps by
increasing internal wear and undesirable spark generation.
Another
weakness is the fact that fuels with more than 10% ethanol are not
compatible with non E85-ready fuel system components and may cause corrosion
of ferrous components.
However, the advantages point towards support
for farmers and creation of
domestic jobs.
A vibrant ethanol
production industry can also reduce Zimbabwe’s dependence
on foreign oil and
increase the nation’s energy independence.
Experts say the introduction
of a 5% mandatory blending for petrol would
save the country US$2 million
monthly in imports. Zimbabwe imports at least
30 million litres of petrol
per month.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in
Opinion
With the new constitution having been overwhelmingly approved in
a popular
referendum, Zimbabwe can start to prepare for fresh elections —
the first
since the fateful polls in 2008.
Sunday View with Simukai
Tinhu
Crucial questions remain about whether we are ready. The European
Union
(EU), which recently eased sanctions purportedly as a reward for
political
progress, appears to think so.
Many also appear to have
been encouraged by the broadly peaceful referendum
on the new constitution.
But unfortunately, this optimism does not stand up
to scrutiny.
From
its inception, the coalition government has squabbled over how much
reform
is necessary before satisfactory elections can take place. Zanu PF
has
insisted that there is no need for reform — not surprising given its
chances
of retaining power rest on maintaining the status quo — while
opposition and
civil society insist extensive reforms are crucial.
All Zimbabwean
elections since independence in 1980 have been characterised
by Zanu PF
violence against opposition. When the MDC emerged in 1999 and
seemed to have
a genuine chance of unseating Zanu PF, the ruling party again
resorted to
physical force. The presidential elections of 2002 and 2008 in
particular
were marred by violence and the deaths of hundreds.
Will 2013 be any
different?
Many are hoping that 2013’s election will break this history
of violence.
But despite a new constitution, the political landscape is far
from
reformed.
Firstly, while there have been repeated calls for
peace by government
leaders, there is still widespread state-sponsored
political violence
directed at civil society, human rights defenders,
journalists, and
political activists.
Secondly, groups of liberation
war veterans and Zanu PF youths, who were
responsible for much of the
torture and abuse perpetrated against civilians
in the run-up to the last
two elections, remain intact. These groups also
contributed to the
infringement of rights to freedoms of expression,
assembly and
association.
Thirdly, the media in Zimbabwe remains muzzled. There are
very few
privately-owned newspapers and radio stations. This has meant that
public
information remains under the firm grip of Zanu PF, which continues
to use
state-owned media to manipulate public opinion.
Fourthly, and
most significantly, the security sector is still deeply
involved in the
political affairs of the country.
Despite Article XIII of the GPA clearly
stipulating that “state organs and
institutions do not belong to any
political party and should be impartial in
the discharge of their duties”,
Zanu PF has retained control of the security
apparatus, the ultimate line of
defence of its dominance.
This raises fears that this year’s elections
could lead to a repeat of 2008
when Zanu PF, in partnership with the
“securocrats”, thwarted a de-
mocratic transfer of power. Senior military
personnel have been quoted on
several occasions openly supporting Mugabe and
Zanu PF, and vowing to enable
the party to stay in power, flouting the GPA
and the codes of conduct of
their own establishments.
Meanwhile,
Sadc’s calls for the reform in the military, police services,
state
intelligence services and other critical arms of the security sector
have
fallen on deaf ears. At its December 2009 party congress, Zanu PF
boasted
that it would not allow security forces to be subject to reforms.
It
appears that the coalition government has also failed to make any changes
to
repressive laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy
Act, the Public Order and Security Act, and the Criminal Law
(Codification
and Reform) Act. These laws have been used to severely curtail
basic rights
through vague defamation clauses and draconian penalties.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Opinion
This
report by the Election Resource Centre (ERC) is an attempt to
interrogate
and analyse the voter behaviour that influenced the relatively
“high voter
turnout” in the referendum.
Sunday Opinion by The Election Resource
Center
What could have driven Zimbabweans to come out and vote in such
unprecedented large numbers, what is the comparative analysis? Could the
numbers have been tampered with? And what does this mean for the coming
crucial elections in Zimbabwe?
A glance at the results shows that
while there had been reports of voter
apathy, comparatively; Zimbabweans
came out in their large numbers to cast
their votes.
The March 16
poll recorded the biggest voter turnout since 1980.
Interestingly, there has
been a marked increase in each province for this
referendum in comparison
with the March 2008 elections.
The reasons have varied from vote rigging,
to an increased interest in the
electoral process. The ERC unpacks some of
the reasons which could have led
to the comparatively high voter
turnout.
l Relaxed voting requirements: The requirements for casting a
vote in a
referendum were not as stringent as those in an election. Voters
were only
required to use their national IDs in the absence of a voter’s
roll which
enabled a number of unregistered, but ineligible voters, to cast
their
votes. This included almost three generations of voters who turned 18
years
between 2008 and 2013.
l The voting procedure was less complex
as compared to an actual election,
exemplified by the average three minutes
that voters took to complete
voting.
l The relatively prevailing
peaceful political engagements could have
revitalised confidence in the
electoral processes.
l Political party canvassing manifested in the
tussle for numbers between
the two main political parties: Zanu PF and
MDC-T.
l The utilisation of social media as a platform for public debate
increased
the interest in the referendum. The social media platforms that
were widely
used especially by the young people included Facebook and
Twitter.
l A new generation of first-time voters that
voted.
l Effectiveness of voter awareness programmes speaheaded by both
civil
society and the main political formations who are party to the GPA
contributed to the turnout.
l The swirling desire to end the
transitional period, it might be that most
Zimbabweans have grown weary of
the tripartite governance framework and they
believe that since the
constitutional reform exercise was one of the major
obstacles, ensuring its
passage would help.
The “Yes” vote must have come from core supporters of
the three parties in
the GPA, forced voters and women (who constitute the
majority of voters).
There was consensus among women from all walks of life
that this
constitution is a good document for them, hence the massive
mobilisation by
women’s groups and women politicians to endorse the
draft.
The youth vote also contributed, although more still needs to be
done to
ensure that young people participate in electoral
processes.
The “No” vote could have come from core members of the
National
Constitutional Assembly and its consortium (ISO, PTUZ and MDC-99).
Some MDC
members whose voting was not polluted by group action and party
opinion
leaders could also have voted against it. They retained their
freedom of
choice.
There was a clique within Zanu PF which found
expression through Jonathan
Moyo, which at some point vehemently opposed the
completion of the
constitution-making exercise.
There is no telling
that this clique could have made a sudden about turn to
endorse this draft,
given how vigorously they campaigned for the disbandment
of Copac and the
holding of elections under the Lancaster House
Constitution.
Some Zanu PF
members, who at some point were told about the “toxic” issues
in the
proposed constitution, may also have voted against the new
constitution.
For instance, those who were once told that the Copac
draft would allow gay
and lesbian rights — at some point Zanu PF embarked on
a campaign against
the draft which spread to most areas like Gokwe
Chireya.
However, following their ultimate agreement, Zanu PF could have
failed to
effectively reach some of its members who had already embarked on
a campaign
against the draft to reorient them on the party’s new
position.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Editorial
President
Robert Mugabe is determined to force Zimbabweans to go for
elections on June
29 before key reforms necessary for free and fair polls
are
implemented.
The Standard Editorial
Mugabe, who is the Zanu PF
candidate for the presidential election for the
umpteenth time, is for
reasons best known to him pushing for early
elections, despite a groundswell
of opposition.
He and his political strategists know the advantages of
going to election on
an uneven playing field. They see any delay as
necessitating reforms that
may put them at a disadvantage. They know it
would be extremely difficult
for their party to win when media and security
sector reforms are
implemented.
Of late, they have been emboldened by
poll surveys which suggested Mugabe
can pull a victory if elections were
held without delay.
But Mugabe and his protégés, who include former
Information minister
Jonathan Moyo, need to take congnisance of the fact
that they are in a
power-sharing government and therefore cannot behave in
an imperial manner
by acting unilaterally.
Mugabe’s actions should be
guided by the common will of all the parties that
signed the Global
Political Agreement in 2009.
All these parties, with the guidance of Sadc,
are charged with working
towards establishing an environment that makes it
possible for peaceful,
free and fair elections to take place in Zimbabwe,
and not the opposite.
Instead of arguing over the June election, the
parties should focus on
solving the outstanding issues that need to be
addressed.
Among these are fixing a shambolic voters’ rolls, ending political
violence,
reforming partisan security forces and repealing laws that impinge
on people’s
right to free assembly.
The principals should also stop
the harassment of civic society and human
rights defenders going about their
legitimate business.
Clearly, there is a lot of work that needs to be
done before Zimbabwe can be
able to hold democratic elections that can end
the political uncertainty
that has also discouraged investors from coming to
the country.
Sadc should therefore intervene and ensure Mugabe does not
derail the reform
agenda by foisting his own preferred election dates on the
electorate.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
March 31, 2013 in Editorial
Tomorrow
everyone will be trooping back into town; I mean those who would
have
survived the holiday madness.
Editor’s Desk by Nevanji
Madanhire
The papers will be full of bad statistics. The debate will be
on again about
why there are so many accidents and so many deaths on
Zimbabwe’s roads.
Bad roads will be blamed. Alcohol will also be blamed.
The police will again
attribute the accidents to reckless driving and
driving under the influence.
A few days later the debate will die down only
to be resurrected in August
during the Heroes’ Day holidays.
Let’s
look at the problem another way. I will begin by asking a question.
Who
trains Zimbabwean drivers?
An unemployed person happens to have a car,
writes on it “Good Luck Driving
Academy” and he is on the road teaching
people how to drive. Raise your hand
if this is not what’s happening in
Zimbabwe? And what kind of drivers does
he produce? Good luck drivers of
course!
A person cannot be deemed to have a skill if he hasn’t been to
college!
Driving instruction is not unskilled work. To be an instructor in
any field,
one has got to have a qualification. Is it possible to belabour
this point?
Now let’s begin from the beginning. Let’s have something
called the “College
of Driving Instructors” or whatever you may choose to
call it. Like all
colleges, there have to be entry qualifications. Last time
I said drivers
should have at least some proof that they sat for Ordinary
Level
examinations. Of course I was accused of elitism.
What about
instructors? Of course one cannot be entrusted with imparting an
important
skill such as driving without having a certain academic
achievement.
Teachers go to college for at least three years before they can
be trusted
with our children! Likewise, driving instructors should go to
college before
they can be trusted with learner drivers.
The college should have a
curriculum properly developed by experts. One of
the subjects should be
basic mechanics. Any driver ought to know what
happens in the engine when he
or she turns the key in the ignition.
They should know what a propeller
shaft is or what drive shafts are.
They should know what it means to
close car doors; they should know what the
codes moulded on the side of the
tyre mean. The codes tell the size of the
tyre and also its limitations. It
tells what loads the tyre can carry and
also the maximum speed it can go
at.
Did our instructors ever give us this information? They didn’t, hence
one of
the causes of road accidents is overloading and the other is
speeding.
Motorists drive at speeds their tyres cannot sustain.
They
load their cars to the roof when the tyres cannot carry the weight. It’s
not
their fault; their instructor never told them anything about tyres,
mainly
because he too didn’t know.
If you go to some backyard tyre sales, you
will find workman deepening used
tyre treads using scalpels! They tell their
customers to look at the deep
tyre treads and the innocent motorists buy the
modified tyres. Too bad!
Their driving instructors never taught them what
tyre treads do on the road
nor how fake treads change the tyre profile
completely.
How often have we heard motorists tell service station
attendants to “faka”
pressure in their wheel and to “please over inflate it
because it has a slow
puncture!” The argument is that by the time the
motorist reaches his
destination, there would still be “enough pressure”.
But the truth is the
tyre never had the same profile at any two moments
throughout the journey!
That is very dangerous. If a wheel has a slow
puncture, it has no business
on the road, the driving instructor should have
told his students that.
Learner drivers should be taught about the
different lights on their
vehicle. Most drivers have no clue what brake
lights are all about.
They don’t know what role reverse lights play.
Forget about parking lights.
One of the greatest jokes — a sad one at that —
on our roads is what some
motorists use in place of breakdown triangles.
Some put green leaves on the
tarmac; others place an empty plastic
container. They don’t care what colour
it is.
I have seen black
containers on the tarmac. What it means is the driver has
absolutely no clue
what purpose the reflective breakdown triangle serves.
This is exactly what
learner drivers should be taught in college by
qualified
instructors.
During the festive season last year 63 people perished in a
single accident
when a haulage truck driver loaded them on his truck. This
was the result of
a lack of education. He didn’t know how many tonnes the
people weighed or
what load his tyres could carry. All this didn’t matter to
him; he must have
just loaded the people and told them, “Good
luck.”
The curriculum should also include elementary civil engineering so
the
drivers can appreciate all the forces at play on the roads. They should
appreciate the centrifugal and centripetal forces at play when they
negotiate a curve. Often motorists lose control of their vehicle because
they are negotiating curves at high speeds.
They are not aware that
there are forces on the roads pushing the vehicle
outward when the vehicle
is trying to go inward. The road more often than
not wins the
battle.
Just before the Easter holidays, the Traffic Safety council of
Zimbabwe
invited various drivers for a “pre-Easter road safety awareness
march”. The
procession started at Africa Unity Square and proceeded along
Jason Moyo
Avenue to the Glamis Arena. Poor souls! They wasted three hours
of their
precious time in a fruitless walk. How their walking was supposed
to help
their driving — and therefore improve their safety — no one will
ever
understand.
The three hours could have been better used
reminding the drivers of the
importance of wheel balancing and wheel
alignment. They could have been
reminded about braking and how important it
is that their brake pads are
monitored regularly. Motorists know all this
but they need reminding
especially going into holidays during which they
have to drive long
distances.
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe
should take up the challenge of
ensuring that driving instructors are
properly qualified. They should work
with the police to ensure standards are
maintained.
Any instructor without proper qualifications should be
arrested. There
should come a time when instructors are asked which college
they graduated
from. This should keep them up to scratch.
