http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Nqobizitha Khumalo Friday 30 April
2010
BULAWAYO – Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped government has instituted a
probe into
salaries of bosses of public companies as it emerged that some
are earning
as much as US$14 000 a month while their companies are
struggling
financially, a senior government official said this
week.
The government – that has failed to raise civil service salaries
from a
paltry US$240 a month to about US$650 demanded by the government
workers –
has ordered the more than 80 state-controlled entities to furnish
the
Ministry of State Enterprises and Parastatals with salary schedules and
unaudited financial statements so that the ministry can rationalise
remuneration policies.
The probe instituted almost a month ago has
met with resistance as the
majority of the parastatals have failed to
provide the government with the
required information. So far only 10
parastatals have provided the ministry
with the required
information.
“The probe is on to rectify and rationalise salaries of the
top brass in
public companies as some are earning salaries that do not
reflect the
performance of their companies on the ground but the response is
not
positive as there is some reluctance in providing the information and in
some instances we have been supplied with false details,” State Entreprises
Minister Joel Gabbuza told ZimOnline.
He said some parastatals were
failing to furnish the ministry with
information due to several reasons
which include lack of accounting systems,
lack of capacity while others know
that a lot of things are not in order and
furnishing the details would
expose them.
It also emerged that some of the parastatals’ chief
executive officers
(CEOs) were providing false information for fear that
their perks would be
reduced.
Officials from the parastatals
ministry, speaking on condition that their
names were not published said
some CEOs were pocketing as much as US$ 14 000
per month in
salaries.
The bosses of state enterprises also enjoy several perks that
include school
fees for their children at some top private schools, paid for
annual
holidays, unlimited fuel allocations for themselves and their
spouses, fully
paid for domestic servants, access to free products
manufactured or produced
by the parastatals and unlimited entertainment
allowances.
“We have so far in our own internal investigations discovered
that some
bosses of state enterprises are the most well paid in the country
despite
the fact that all state enterprises in the country are in financial
crises
and the vehicles used by managers at these state enterprises are top
of the
range,”said one ministry official.
Gabbuza however said some
parastatal heads were not complying as they have
political protection from
higher offices.
“We have serious problems with parastatal heads who are
protected from high
political office as they do not see any need to provide
us with the
information we want but others are frantically putting
everything together
for us,” Gabbuza said.
A ministry official said
in some cases parastatal heads were providing
information showing that they
earn less but perks and packages balloon the
earnings.
There is one
instance where the chief executive officer of one parastatal in
the
transport sector earns a salary of US$3 500 but when you factor in
allowances such as cellphone allowance, entertainment, travel allowances,
school fees, membership into clubs, holiday allowances and incidental
allowances the earnings shoot up to US$13 500,” said the
official.
The official said some boards were colluding with the CEOs to
hide
information. – ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Caroline Mvundura Friday 30 April
2010
HARARE – The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) on
Wednesday fired a
broadside at Finance Minister Tendai Biti for saying he
wanted labour laws
to be changed.
The ZCTU said it took exception to
the “insensitive calls” by Biti, which it
said if effected would result in
labour laws favouring business at the
expense of workers.
The main
labour body said it was surprised that Biti, who comes from the
pro-labour
MDC-M party led by veteran trade unionist and now Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai, would suddenly shift to support business.
“More shocking is
the fact that the said minister comes from a party that
has its ideals based
on labour,” said ZCTU acting secretary general Japhet
Moyo.
“With
just over a year in government, Biti is starting to sound more and
more like
those who have been in government for the past 30 years.
Retrenchment of
workers should be the last resort in any scenario but the
minister speaks
glorifying retrenchment and this makes us wonder which
planet he has sprung
from. The current laws regarding retrenchment are
inadequate hence the
proposals made by the ZCTU for the amendment of labour
laws.
“Biti is
indeed speaking like a capitalist hence we are inclined to believe
that he
might have business interests because why else would he seek to
protect
businesses so much. Biti has no right to speak on labour issues the
way he
does when we have a capable labour minister who has been progressive
since
taking office,” said the ZCTU.
The ZCTU said it was dsappointed with Biti
who also recently proposed
freezing salaries of civil servants amid
collapsed consultations with civil
service trade unions on salary
adjustments.
“We are beginning to see clearly who is pro-workers and who
is not. The ZCTU
is not taking lightly this matter and will be soon acting
on it. The ZCTU
demands that Biti retracts his ill-informed statements and
concentrate on
reviving the economy. He should be man enough to admit that
he has failed
rather than using workers as a scapegoat. We will not stand by
and allow him
to make a mockery of the workers, and maybe he should just
shut up and go
back to the courtroom,” the statement said. –
ZimOnline
http://cricket.yahoo.com/
Yahoonews, Yahoo Cricket, 30 April
2010
After shocking Australia by a dramatic one-run win, Zimbabwe
convincingly
defeated title holders Pakistan by 12 runs in their ICC World
Twenty20
warm-up match at Gros Islet. Chasing 143 runs to win, Pakistan team
were
bundled out for 131 in 20 overs.
Zimbabwe skipper Prosper Utseya
claimed four wickets to give his side a
massive boost ahead of the
tournament. Apart from Kamran Akmal (37), Fawad
Alam (32) and Misbah-ul-Haq
(21) none of the Pakistan batsmen were able to
get into the double
digits.
Pakistan lost wickets as regular intervals chasing a modest
target of 143
runs.
Earlier, unbeaten Elton Chigumbura (49) and
Charles Coventry (30) helped
Zimbabwe to a competitive total. Hamilton
Masakadza (33) gave Zimbabwe a
good start and though they lost wickets at
regular intervals managed to
reach 142.
Skipper Shahid Afridi took
four wickets but could not save his side from a
shock defeat.
http://online.wsj.com/
* APRIL 29,
2010, 5:44 P.M. ET
By FARAI MUTSAKA And PETER
WONACOTT
HARARE, Zimbabwe-Small stock investor Godfrey Matindo is a human
indicator
of how swiftly the country's economic mood has
soured.
Until March, Mr. Matindo, who owns a corner shop in a poor suburb
of Harare,
Zimbabwe's capital, was making about $10 a day trading stocks in
a rising
market. In a country where the biggest employer, the government,
pays an
average of $200 a year, such profits appeared to signal a new era
for one of
Africa's worst-performing economies.
Zimbabwe's unity
government, formed in February last year after violent
elections, had beaten
hyperinflation, revived growth and attracted interest
from foreign
investors. From the government's inception to January-less than
a year-the
main index for the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange rose 118%.
But political
squabbling, and confusion over key economic policies, have
imperiled a
tenuous economic recovery, one of the coalition government's few
achievements. Those like Mr. Matindo, who bought stocks in the belief that
Zimbabwe's economy had turned a corner, have been burnt.
"The
politicians who promised us that this government is the answer are busy
fighting," said Mr. Matindo, who says he has lost more than $150 in the past
few months. "I just wonder whether they have any time and energy left to
work on the economy."
The Zimbabwe stock exchange index has fallen
about 10% since February, and
turnover has shrunk to $700,000 dollars a day
from about $2 million late
last year. Though the sums are tiny, the exchange
appears to be a barometer
of how foreign investor interest in Zimbabwe has
fallen off the table.
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange chief Emmanuel Munyukwi
said foreign investors
streamed into his office after the new government was
formed. Now they
aren't coming. "They are taking their money elsewhere," he
said.
Mr. Munyukwi and others trace the shift in sentiment to the
so-called
"indigenization" law published in January that would force foreign
companies
to sell majority ownership in Zimbabwe operations to local blacks
within
five years. Foreign investors were asked to present by mid-April
plans to
comply with the new law. The government has since pushed back that
deadline
by a least a month.
President Robert Mugabe, who has run
Zimbabwe for 30 years, backs the law.
The country's new prime minister,
Morgan Tsvangirai, who ran against Mr.
Mugabe in violent and flawed 2008
elections, has opposed it. Ministers loyal
to each have offered conflicting
signals about how and when the law might be
implemented.
As a result,
foreign investors have held off committing much-needed capital.
Zimbabwe's
Finance Minister Tendai Biti recently cut the 2010 growth
forecast to 4.7%
from about 7%, citing in part the failure of foreign
investment to
materialize in key industries such as mining.
"An economy is like a jet
engine. It requires a burst of energy," he said in
an interview. "We haven't
got that. We are just cruising on the runway."
Once one of southern
Africa's most vibrant economies, Zimbabwe now absorbs
little of the foreign
direct investment that flows to some neighbors. In
2008, Zimbabwe attracted
$1.5 billion in foreign direct investment, compared
with $119 billion for
South Africa, according to the United Nations
Conference on Trade &
Development.
Some of Mr. Mugabe's political allies believe that some
potential investors
are withholding capital in the hope of influencing
Zimbabwe's policy and
perhaps rolling back the indigenization
law.
One champion of the law is Zimbabwe's Indigenization Ministry.
Previously
known as the Empowerment Ministry and focused on helping the
disadvantaged,
it changed its name and mission-to empower blacks within
industry-under the
new government.
Indigenization Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere, from Mr. Mugabe's ZANU PF party,
says foreign investors "have no
business being here if they can't support
indigenous people. It is for this
reason, as well as the Western-imposed
sanctions [by the U.S. and others for
what they call human-rights abuses by
Mr. Mugabe and loyalists], that we
will implement the law without fear."
Yet the lack of foreign investment
has also forced local institutions to
revisit their outlook for Zimbabwe's
market and economy. "The new government
expected a flood of foreign funds.
That money didn't come," said Ranganayi
Makwata, research manager in Harare
for Zimbabwe investment house Tetrad
Group. "Optimism has shrunk."
As
shares slide amid political uncertainty, it's the overoptimistic retail
investor who has taken a beating. "The stock market was a better option than
keeping money under the pillow," said Tarisiro Kanda, a coffin-maker in
Harare's poor Mufakose suburb, who was making about $100 a week on the stock
market.
Those returns have dried up. So has his business. People are
opting for
cheap makeshift coffins now, he says.
http://news.radiovop.com
29/04/2010
19:05:00
Harare, April 29, 2010 -South African mediators arbitrating
Zimbabwe's
political parties on Thursday met with the three principals to
the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) and appealed to them to look at the
report by
negotiators on outstanding issues as a matter of
urgency.
The mediators, who have since left the country, met President
Robert Mugabe,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara
to present a report by the negotiators of the three
parties.
"We met with the President, Prime minister and the Deputy Prime
minister,"said
Lindiwe Zulu, spokesperson of the mediators sent by South
African President
Jacob Zuma. "It was agreed that they (principals) need to
look at the report
that has been given by the negotiators and then we will
move from there."
Despite forming a unity government more than a year
ago, Zimbabwe political
leaders are still trying to resolve outstanding
issues of the GPA that
include appointment of senior government
officials.
Mugabe's Zanu (PF) has been calling for the removal of
sanctions against
their senior officials while the Movement of Democratic
Change (MDC) led by
Tsvangirai wants their treasurer general , Roy Bennett
appointed deputy
Agriculture minister among some of the issues they need to
be solved.
The unity government, which was meant to pave way for free and
fair
elections after the writing in of a new constitution has been facing
numerous problems that include sourcing funding for constitution making and
resolving of outstanding issues.
The facilitators also held a meeting
with Tsvangirai and the Speaker of the
House of Assembly, Lovemore
Moyo.
Government sources confirmed that Tsvangirai and Moyo, in their
capacities
as the President and National chairperson of the MDC-T met the
team composed
of Zulu, Charles Nqakula and Mac Maharaj at Tsvangirai's
office at
Munhumutapa building in Harare.
Finer details of the
meeting could not be obtained, but the source said the
MDC-T leaders
impressed upon the team their unwavering position around the
appointment of
Bennett. Although the MDC-T was reported to have initially
agreed to have
Bennett re-assigned to another less sensitive ministry, the
party seems to
have backtracked on this position following the resistance it
received from
the rank and file of the MDC-T leadership and ordinary
supporters.
After the facilitation team's visit, it is understood
President Zuma will
once again appraise Mozambican President Armand Guebuza,
who chairs the
organ on politics, defence and security in the Southern
Africa Development
Community (SADC). It is not yet clear when and where SADC
leaders will meet,
but the source said the meeting would be "very
soon".
http://www1.voanews.com
The
facilitators were told on their arrival that there has been no progress
and
party negotiators have not written a comprehensive status report for Mr.
Zuma
Blessing Zulu & Patience Rusere | Washington 29 April
2010
South Africa officials who returned to Harare Thursday to resume
mediation
among Zimbabwe's fractious power-sharing parties expressed some
exasperation
at the failure of the three governing parties to reach accord
on
longstanding issues and to prepare a key briefing document for President
Jacob Zuma.
The facilitators were told on their arrival that there
has been no progress
and party negotiators have not written a comprehensive
status report for Mr.
Zuma. President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara were to have met two
weeks ago to resolve a
range of issues.
The principals must still
come to grips with the most divisive issues on the
agenda including the
leadership of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the
Office of the Attorney
general, among other vexed questions.
South African facilitation team
member Lindiwe Zulu told VOA Studio 7
reporter Blessing Zulu that they met
with the three government principals
Thursday in an effort to push the
process forward.
Political analyst Joy Mabenge of the Institute for A
Democratic Alternative
for Zimbabwe said Mr. Mugabe is under intense
pressure from ZANU-PF
hardliners not to make any compromises.
As the
talks resumed, many Zimbabweans and observers were voicing impatience
at the
lack of solid progress in the talks and the implementation of issues
where
the negotiators had supposedly achieved a meeting of minds.
That lack of
progress and visible results leads many to conclude that the
country is
headed for elections in 2011 because power-sharing by then will
have run its
course. However, some argue that the government for all its
faults is fairly
stable and has at least brought a reduction in the human
rights violations
and political violence.
For an assessment of the status of and outlook
for the unity government, VOA
Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere turned
National Constitutional Assembly
Director Earnest Mudzengi and political
analyst George Mkhwananzi for views
on the odds for success in the talks and
the likelihood of elections in
2011.
Mkhwananzi said the talks have
stalled and are unlikely to yield results at
this late stage of the
exercise.
http://www1.voanews.com
The
statement followed protests by activists who have threatened to disrupt
training in Bulawayo, blaming North Korea for training Zimbabwe's Fifth
Brigade which is accused of carrying out massacres in Matabeleland in the
1980s
Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye | Washington 29 April
2010
Zimbabwe Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said on Thursday that
authorities
have not yet decided where North Korea's World Cup soccer team
will train
while in the country ahead of the June kickoff.
The
statement followed threats by activists who have threatened to disrupt
training if it is set in Bulawayo, blaming North Korea for training
Zimbabwe's Fifth Brigade which is accused of carrying out massacres in
Matabeleland in the 1980s Gukurahundi fighting between rival liberation
movements.
Mzembi told VOA Studio reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye
it is early days
for a decision on the city to host the North
Koreans.
He said the 2010 World Cup Ministerial Committee of
representatives from
Zimbabwe's unity government will reach a decision on
where the North Korean
squad will settle for its pre-Cup training
program.
Mzembi noted however that the country has just three FIFA
approved
stadiums - two in Harare and one in Bulawayo - limiting the choices
of
venue.
Human rights activists have urged Harare to review its
decision on putting
up the North Koreans in Bulawayo, capital of the
Matebeleland region, saying
this risked opening up old wounds. Mzembi
responded that there is no need to
mix politics and sports.
http://www1.voanews.com
Abednico Ndlovu, member of the board of the National Railways of
Zimbabwe
Pensioners Association, said survivors of deceased workers are
worse off,
getting just US$10 dollars monthly.
Gibbs Dube |
Washington 29 April 2010
Dollarization of the Zimbabwean economy since
early 2009 has worsened the
plight of pensioners living from hand to mouth
with most receiving US$20 a
month.
Abednico Ndlovu, who sits on the
board of the National Railways of Zimbabwe
Pensioners Association, said the
survivors of deceased workers are even
worse off, receiving just US$10
dollars monthly.
Ndlovu told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that most
Zimbabwean pensioners
are suffering economically and are in urgent need of
food assistance.
"It's a mystery how these people are surviving but
indications are that many
pensioners cannot afford to have a decent meal per
day," Ndlovu said.
Government pensioner Lulu McKenzie, 80, has gotten
help from a South African
organization, but said she has had to return to
work to make ends meet.
McKenzie said that although she worked for the
government for more than 35
years, she stopped getting her pension a couple
of years ago due to
hyperinflation, which was ultimately vanquished by the
adoption of a mix of
hard currencies - but which left those on the margins
almost locked out of
the cash economy.
Samaritan Johannes Botha of
the Zimbabwe Pensioners Supporters Fund said his
group is helping about
1,000 elderly Zimbabweans survive. His group supplies
them with food,
clothing and basic medicines every three months from
Mpumalanga, South
Africa.
"A lot of pensioners don't receive their pensions, some get
little pensions
and the most serious problem is that the majority of these
pensioners have
no means of getting dollars," he said.
http://www.thedailynewszw.com
April 29, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG - South African President Jacob Zuma has
reiterated that his
government will not tolerate the lawless invasions of
commercial farms as
witnessed in Zimbabwe over the past 10
years.
Zuma, however, acknowledged that his administration had to move
with speed
to address land imbalances in the country.
South Africa,
which celebrated 16 years of independence on Monday, is
struggling to solve
the delicate and often emotive issue of land reform
which seems to be
gathering momentum on a daily basis with everyday protests
and farm
killings.
Zuma told BUA News, the South African government's official
news outlet
Thursday, that there would not be any Zimbabwe-style land
invasions in South
Africa.
"There will be no similar kinds of land
invasions in this country, because
we do things within the law," said
Zuma.
He, however, hinted at his government's frustration with farmers'
reluctance
to release land for sale to the government.
Zuma said that
current land redistribution method of "willing buyer willing
seller" must be
revisited.
"Significant changes will need to be made to the 'willing
buyer, willing
seller' model. Government is investigating less costly ways
of land
redistribution," said Zuma.
"The general view is that the
'willing buyer, willing seller' model has not
worked appropriately or
adequately thus far. It is very important, however,
that it's done within
the ambits of the law."
Most farmers appear adamant to hold on the land.
In rare cases where they
have heeded the call to the 'willing buyer willing
seller' policy, they
often priced their farms way out of the government's
reach.
The situation has raised fears of farm invasions with reports that
white
farmers being murdered at a rate of 3000 a year, according to
agricultural
organisation Agrisa.
South Africa had set a target to
redistribute land to about 30 percent of
its population by 2014, a target
that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development Gugile Nkwithi has
already ruled out.
The resettlement exercise will need R80 billion, an
amount that the South
African government - already dealing with a wide range
of other problems
such as service delivery, housing, education and health
problems - will
struggle to mobilise.
There are growing fears that
Africa's biggest economy will deteriorate in
sporadic Zimbabwe-style land
invasions if the land issue is not addressed as
a matter of
urgency.
Unlike their Zimbabwean counterparts Zanu-PF, South Africa's
African
National Congress (ANC) is not in danger of losing political power.
But
inequalities among blacks and whites in might soon force the ANC - led
government to push through some form of radical reforms.
http://www.thedailynewszw.com
April 29, 2010
By Rebecca Davis, a
member of Action for Southern Africa
LOVEMORE Matombo looks tired. It’s
not surprising: it’s 9am on Monday
morning, at his hotel near Euston, and
he’s had a gruelling few days
already. These trips to London are important.
As the President of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), it’s his
job to ensure that
relationships are maintained with the powerful UK unions,
NGO allies, and
agenda-setters in Brussels.
The ZCTU has been a
potent force in Zimbabwean politics for almost three
decades. Formed in
1981, it provided increasingly vocal opposition to the
regime of Robert
Mugabe during the 1990s. It was the ZCTU which contributed
the impetus
behind the formation of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change: MDC
head Morgan Tsvangirai is a former Secretary-General of the
ZCTU.
It’s been over a year since Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai’s
MDC entered
into a power-sharing agreement, but the ZCTU’s scrutiny of
labour practices
will not be relaxed until conditions for Zimbabwe’s workers
improve. There’s
still a lot of progress to be made. Matombo talks of
ongoing human rights
violations against the workforce.
“In a mining
company known as Mashaba Mining, workers were not paid for nine
months last
year. This was a company under state control. Workers were
contemplating
striking, and police went in and shot three of them. They were
seriously
injured, but they did not die.”
Matombo himself continues to experience
the wrath of the government.
“In October I was arrested when I travelled
to another district to hold
meetings.” He pauses, seeming to choose his
words carefully. “It was
disturbing because it revealed that the MDC would
allow the president of a
labour centre to be arrested.”
If he feels a
sense of betrayal towards his old ideological comrades, he
doesn’t show it.
Matombo has been fighting his fight for over 25 years at
this point, and has
been detained and harassed on more occasions than he can
count. Even during
the halcyon post-independence days, with Mugabe still
widely revered as a
liberation hero, Matombo was making himself unpopular
with the
state.
“Some of us could already see at that point that this government
was going
to take an authoritarian route,” he says. “As early as 1985 I was
removed
from my role as President of Communications of the ZCTU, in what
some
claimed was a politically-induced dismissal. Then in 1989 I was
arrested
when there was a workers’ strike.” According to the government and
police,
the strikers were influenced by Matombo.
Looking back,
Matombo places much of the blame for Zimbabwe’s economic and
political
collapse on the implementation of the IMF’s Structural Adjustment
Programme
(SAP). The IMF’s conditions for loans included reducing the pay
of the
civil service, devaluing the currency, and instituting retrenchments
to
ensure a smaller but more productive workforce.
“The Zimbabwean
government had no option but to agree to accept the
conditions, and in doing
so, they created real hatred between themselves and
the workers,” Matombo
explains. Strikes and collective action followed in
the mid-90s, but to no
avail. “The workers realised that the government
would not listen unless
they attacked them in their own political arena,
which is how the MDC was
formed in 1999.”
Matombo concedes, however, that bad unilateral choices
made by the
government at this time also had a disastrous effect on
Zimbabwe’s economy.
In particular, the decision during the mid-90s to give
the veterans of the
liberation struggle (‘war vets’, in colloquial
Zimbabwean parlance) a
one-off payment of 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars each, as
compensation for war
roles, was an act of political expedience which had not
been budgeted for
and saw the beginning of uncontrollable inflation.
Similarly
poorly-considered was the decision to enter the war in the Congo
without an
accompanying budget.
One of Mugabe’s most criticised
policies has been the handling of land
redistribution, which has seen
Zimbabwe’s formerly high-yielding farms
distributed to government cronies
with little agricultural experience. The
results have been disastrous:
Zimbabwe’s tobacco crop, for instance, once a
profitable export, has been
decimated by two thirds, and the country now
struggles to feed its own
citizens.
Matombo is scathing about the government’s land redistribution
policies – he
says “farms were handed to people who simply did not know how
to till the
land” – but has been a supporter of the principle of land
redistribution of
1996. In that year, he says, the ZCTU released a document
entitled ‘Beyond
the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme’, where they
laid out
alternative development plans which would no longer rely on
handouts from
the World Bank and the IMF. Redistribution of land, in a
structured,
incremental way, formed a critical part of the document - but
it went
ignored. In 2001 Mugabe’s ZANU-PF introduced their
land-grab.
“It was a revolution which went mad,” Matombo says. “And
that’s when
Zimbabwe started to disagree with everyone who cared to advise
them.”
He is referring primarily to Robert Mugabe’s very public attacks
on the UK
and in particular Tony Blair, who was an outspoken critic of
Mugabe’s
regime.
On the day we meet, it’s almost 30 years to the day
since Zimbabwe gained
independence. A day earlier, Robert Mugabe has
addressed a rally in Harare.
His rhetoric is less divisive than normal: he
calls for an end to political
violence, and his trademark bitter slurs about
England and its leaders are
absent. He still forcefully deplores, however,
the intervention of
imperialist forces in Zimbabwe. The same weekend, Graca
Machel – the widow
of Mozambiquan president Samora Machel and now wife of
Nelson Mandela – gave
an interview strongly critiquing Britain’s stance on
Africa generally, and
Zimbabwe particularly. The UK government should stay
out of Africa’s
business, was her message.
Matombo
disagrees.
“It may be that Graca Machel or Mister Malema don’t know
exactly what is
happening,” he says, sarcastic emphasis heavy on the
‘Mister’ he appends to
the name of Julius Malema, “or are basing their
opinion on certain benefits
which they have been given.”
The
firebrand leader of South Africa’s ANC Youth League, Malema recently led
an
expedition to Zimbabwe where he waxed lyrical about Mugabe’s economic
programme and declared that South Africa should look to its northern
neighbour for inspiration on how to handle the nationalisation of the mines
and land redistribution.
Matombo believes that a good relationship
with the UK is critical for
Zimbabwe. He’s adamant that the West needs to
apply more pressure, rather
than less, to ensure that the Global Political
Agreement – which led to the
formation of the ZANU-PF and MDC unity
government in February 2009 – is
implemented properly.
Matombo is
also appreciative of the support rendered to ordinary Zimbabweans
by western
NGOs. In particular, the ZCTU has a strong relationship with UK
organisation
ACTSA, Action for Southern Africa, the successor organisation
to the
Anti-Apartheid Movement in the UK, which now campaigns on southern
Africa-wide issues. He specifically singles out for praise ACTSA’s ‘Dignity!
Period” campaign, which provides the ZCTU with sanitary pads to distribute
to Zimbabwean women who have no chance of affording these items on their
own. For Matombo, it’s a perfect illustration of a positive external
intervention.
“This is a contribution which has had clearly
observable outcomes,” he says.
In the absence of the unaffordable
sanitary products, many Zimbabwean women
resorted to using unsanitary
materials like old cloths or bits of newspaper,
which sometimes led to
infection. The six million sanitary pads distributed
by the ZCTU on ACTSA’s
behalf have largely put a stop to this.
In the past, the government’s
antipathy towards foreign NGO interventions
saw the supplies of sanitary
pads being confiscated, but Matombo says this
is no longer the case. It’s
not the only change he sounds upbeat about: he
expresses enthusiasm about
Zimbabwe’s gradual economic improvement under the
unity government, largely
as a result of the decision to dollarize the
currency.
“Businesses
have started to operate, workers in the civil service have begun
to go back
to work, and the supermarkets are stocking food again,” he lists.
For a
country brought to its knees over the past decade, these are
immeasurable
improvements. Matombo is optimistic that they’re only the
beginning of the
recovery.
“I believe that the future will be bright,” he says. “It may be
soon, it may
be later, but the life of an authoritarian system has always
been
unpredictable. We know for certain that things will change for the
better.”
http://www.thedailynewszw.com/
April 29, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku says the
delay in holding
by-elections to fill up to 20 vacancies in Parliament is
illegal.
Madhuku says President Robert Mugabe is answerable for the
delay, and can be
taken to court for breaching the Electoral Act and the
Constitution.
Sources say by-elections will only be held by the new
independent electoral
commission.
Insiders said the delay in holding
the by-elections was deliberate to ensure
that the elections were conducted
by the new electoral body.
Former Zimbabwean Supreme Court judge, Simpson
Mutambanengwe, who was
serving as acting chief justice in the Namibian
Supreme Court, was appointed
head of the new electoral
commission.
Other members of the commission are Joyce Kazembe, the
vice-chairperson,
Daniel Chigaru, lawyer Geoff Feltoe, Theophilus Gambe,
Petty Makoni,
Sibongile Ndhlovu, Bessie Nhandara and Mukuni
Nyathi
However, the commission is not yet operational.
Some of the
seats in both the Senate and the House of Assembly have been
vacant for more
than a year.
Senate seats to be filled include Gokwe South, Chiredzi,
Chegutu,
Gokwe-Chirumhanzu. House of Assembly constituencies that are vacant
include
Matobo North, Bindura North, Mutare North, Guruve North and
Emakhandeni-Entumbane.
Three vacancies were created following the
expulsion from the MDC party led
by Professor Arthur Mutambara of Norman
Mpofu (Bulilima East), Abednico
Bhebhe (Nkayi South) and Njabuliso Mguni
(Lupane East).
Several members of the mainstream MDC have pending cases
in the courts; if
they are all convicted and sentenced to more than six
months imprisonment,
the number of by-elections due could increase to more
than 30.
The delay by Mugabe in calling for the by-elections is, however,
in breach
of the Electoral Act and the Constitution of Zimbabwe, said
Madhuku.
According to Section 39 of the Electoral Act, the Speaker or the
President
of the Senate is supposed to notify the state president as soon as
possible
after he or she becomes aware of a vacancy.
The state
president then publishes a notice in the Government Gazette within
14 days
after he has been notified of the vacancy ordering a new election to
fill
the seat.
A nomination court of candidates would sit not less than 14
days or more
than 21 days after the publication of the proclamation. An
election date
would then be set not less than 28 days and not more than 50
days after the
nomination of candidates.
Madhuku, leader of the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), said Mugabe
could be taken to court
for violating the Electoral Act and the supreme law
of the
country.
The other option, he said, would be to accuse him of misconduct
and impeach
him.
Madhuku dismissed claims by the political parties
that ZEC was dissolved by
Amendment No 19.
Contrary to that
assertion, he said the amendment only outlined a new
selection process of
commissioners.
"The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission remains in place until
another one is
constituted. So it is not true that ZEC was dissolved," he
said.
ZEC chairperson Justice George Chiweshe is on record as saying the
commission did not have enough money to hold by-elections, indicating that
the polls were not going to be held any time soon.
http://www1.voanews.com
Women's
Coalition Deputy Chairwoman Rutendo Hadebe said delegates agreed
meaningful
change won't come unless the government opens the airwaves and
licenses new
independent newspapers
Sandra Nyaira | Washington 29 April
2010
An international women's conference ended in Harare on Thursday
with
participants agreeing to pressure the leaders of country's three
governing
parties to step up the pace of Zimbabwean media
reform.
Women's Coalition Deputy Chairwoman Rutendo Hadebe said delegates
agreed
meaningful change won't come unless the government opens the airwaves
and
licenses new independent newspapers.
Hadebe said women from the
region and beyond taking part in the conference
agreed to support and
strengthen the role of Zimbabwean women in governance
and in the ongoing -
if slow - constitutional revision process.
Former Irish President Mary
Robinson, the founding president of Realizing
Rights, and team members from
Kenya, Liberia, South Africa, Uganda and
Zimbabwe, led a high level mission
to Zimbabwe, engaging senior officials
including President Robert Mugabe,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara,
and visiting to Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland West and Matabeleland
provinces.
(AFP) - 12 hours ago
ADDIS
ABABA - Dozens of Ethiopians marched Thursday to rebury family members
massacred during dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's "Red Terror" purge which
claimed tens of thousands of lives some 30 years ago.
A funeral
convoy of dark vehicles made its way through the capital's main
streets
carrying coffins draped in the Ethiopian flag, as a military band
played
sombre tunes.
Relatives observed a minute's silence at a museum where
they were to be
re-buried.
The museum opened last month after three
years of construction. It is to
honour victims of the 1977-78 campaign of
state terror carried out on
Mengistu's orders to wipe out his
opponents.
Only ten bodies have been identified since they were exhumed
in 1994 by
Argentinian forensic experts from a former security compound in
the north of
Addis Ababa.
"These young Ethiopian victims were rounded
up by government agents and
strangled by rope in 1978," Ayne Tsige, the head
of the victims'
association, told AFP.
Sixty-seven year-old Zeineba
Seid recalled the events that followed her
brother's
disappearance.
"They kept telling us he was alive and well. We only
confirmed after the
bodies were found," she said, referring to local
authorities.
Her brother's remains were identified in 1994 with the help
of her own DNA.
"Although his loss is painful for us all, I am extremely
happy that we have
finally laid him to rest," said Meaza Gulema, a cousin of
the slain man.
Mengistu, now in exile in Zimbabwe, was sentenced in
absentia two years ago
to death for genocide along with 17 of his henchmen
following a decade-long
trial in Addis Ababa.
The former army
lieutenant-colonel was a member of the Marxist junta known
as the Derg which
ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991 after the ouster of
emperor Haile
Selassie.
As many as 100,000 people were killed during the campaign as
Mengistu sought
to transform the country into a Soviet-style workers'
state.
The regime, then battling a number of insurgencies throughout the
country,
used several tactics to scare opponents, one of which was leaving
dead
bodies on streets as a warning.