http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 21:14
GOVERNMENT is engaging Western countries and international donors to
expand
humanitarian assistance to include paying salaries to teachers,
health
workers and other civil servants.
The assistance would come under
the banner of "humanitarian aid plus"
and will also encompass the revival of
university education.Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara told Zimbabwe
Independent that "humanitarian aid
plus" was a concept that government was
developing with Western countries in
order to redress the collapse of the
education, health and civil service
sectors.
Mutambara
said: "It is a concept we are developing to expand
humanitarian assistance
to include teachers' salaries, health workers and
civil servants' salaries
and the issue of fees in universities. It's a
concept that we are developing
and we need support for that."
Under the scheme government would
not only invite aid to deal with
issues like cholera and HIV/Aids from
donors, but also seek funds to pay
civil servants who have since February
been earning a US$100 allowance.
Last month, Danish Development
Co-operation minister Ulla Tornaes was
in Zimbabwe on a fact-finding mission
and reportedly told the inclusive
government that her country was prepared
to pay civil servants for half a
year.
Diplomatic sources said
the government then asked Denmark to fund the
salaries for a year - a
request Tornaes said she would forward to her
government and parliament for
consideration.
In a written response to questions from the
Independent, the European
Union (EU) said re-engagement with the government
was a joint process and
exploratory discussions had been held.
"The re-engagement dialogue will be a joint process that will only
take
place when the EU and Zimbabwe agree to begin concretely the dialogue,"
said
EU press and information Officer Josiah Kusena.
Sources said the
United States (US) and European countries were
holding talks with the new
government on the "humanitarian aid plus" scheme.
However, US
ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee yesterday said his
government would not
finance the payment of civil servants or any other
economic programme until
there was restoration of the rule of law and
upholding of human rights in
the country.
McGee said: "It is illegal under the existing laws of
the United
States to pay salaries to civil servants - we call it budget
assistance. I
cannot pay a secretary for the Ministry of Health or an
economist in the
RBZ, I would go to jail for that.
"What we are
trying to look at is other ways of helping the government
of Zimbabwe like
revitalising Harare Central Hospital. The government itself
will have to pay
its civil servants and I hope it will be able to generate
money to pay its
civil servants."
McGee said the inclusive government was not yet
working in accordance
with the Sadc-facilitated Global Political Agreement
signed last September.
"That said, this imperfect union does seem
to be working," he said. "I
was talking to a minister earlier today who used
the analogy that this was
like a train trip from Harare to Bulawayo. Most
people thought that we would
only be 20 or 30 km outside Harare in the
transitional government, but
really the minister thinks, and I think he
maybe closer to the truth, that
they are probably half way to
Bulawayo."
"Things are moving much more rapidly in certain sectors
of this
agreement but there are other sectors where things are not moving
rapidly.
Farm invasions and the issue of political activists who are still
in jail
are outstanding issues that need to be resolved before we can go too
much
further."
He said the US would be pleased to see the
government taking care of
the will and needs of its people.
McGee said: "We have seen a lot of positive things happening . We no
longer
see the uncontrolled printing of money and the inflation that has
been
running in numbers that I am not familiar with - quintillions and
gazillions.
Last month inflation was -2,5% and that's very very
positive."
EU donors are understood to be setting benchmarks such as an
end to
farm invasions where further assistance will depend upon progress in
halting
the disruptions of agricultural disruption.
BY DUMISANI
MULEYA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
21:07
RESERVE Bank governor Gideon Gono has rescued Finance minister
Tendai
Biti from embarrassment after his showcase project involving the
setting up
of a domestic foreign currency clearance house to expedite
business
transactions collapsed last week.
Gono's rescue
operation over the payments system has eased tensions
which have been
simmering between the two. Gono and Biti appeared at a press
conference
together yesterday for the first since the new minister took over
in
February.
Although they appeared in concert at the recent launch of
the economic
recovery plan, yesterday's move was the first public display of
them
actually cooperating in executing their duties.
Biti and
Gono played down their in-fighting when they claimed to
journalists they
were working together well. However, their purported
newfound peace was only
prompted by the clearing house project disaster
encountered last week.
Otherwise, their cold war is still icy behind the
scenes.
Biti announced the re-introduction of the Real Time Gross Settlement
(RTGS)
system at the press conference as a damage-limitation exercise after
the
failure of the clearing house system launch.
An RTGS is a funds
transfer mechanism through which money moves from
one bank to another on a
"real time" and "gross" basis. It is regarded as
the fastest possible money
transfer mechanism through the banking system.
Settlement in
"real time" means transactions are not subjected to any
waiting period.
Transactions are settled as soon as they are processed.
"Gross settlement"
means the transactions are settled on a one to one basis
without bunching
them with others.
Biti said ZimSwitch, a local electronic
payment system, will be back
on April 28. ATM cards and till-point swiping
machines are also coming back.
Biti wants cheques and other forms of payment
introduced soon, but this
would need the setting up of the clearing house
first.
The failure of the clearing house project to take off
last week has
brought Biti and Gono together as they, in terms of the law
and necessity,
have to work together to sort out the botched payments
system.
The setting up of the clearance house and applicable
rules was
intended to regulate the transfer of payments between banks which
are
members of the clearance house on behalf of their
customers.
Sources within the banking sector said Biti burnt
his fingers last
week when he tried to introduce a domestic clearing house
to facilitate
transactions. The system was expected to start last Friday
but was
abandoned after a realisation that the Bankers Association of
Zimbabwe
(BAZ) had bungled the mission
what one banker described as
"blatant plagiarism and sheer
incompetence".
Gono was
sidelined during the scheming of the clearing house system,
but was later
roped in when the initial plan fell apart.
Sources said Biti
called for a meeting last Wednesday at 12.30pm to
unveil the clearing house
system. They said after delegates from the
Ministry of Finance, BAZ and
Reserve Bank had gathered, Biti gave BAZ
president John Mangudya the green
light to explain the system and how it
would be rolled out in 48 hours'
time.
"Mangudya gave an explanation of how the BAZ came up with
the
blueprint to set up the clearing house and indicated it was now all
systems
go," a source who attended the meeting said. "After that Biti then
invited
comments from Gono and others. All hell then broke loose. Gono said
the
presentation was good but "the devil lies in the detail". He went on to
say
first it was illegal for the Ministry of Finance and BAZ to work out the
system without the Reserve Bank and that second the document was plagiarised
from Kenya."
Sources said after Gono spoke, Biti was
dismayed. It was said Biti
felt Mangudya and BAZ had badly let him down and
embarrassed him before
Gono, his bitter rival and
subordinate.
After the flop, Gono later suggested the formation
of a committee
headed by Reserve Bank deputy governor Edward Mashiringwani
to rescue the
situation.
The 18-member committee headed by
Mashiringwani met last Wednesday
afternoon at the RBZ to discuss the
issue.
In his opening remarks Mangudya said the purpose of the
gathering was
a follow up on the meeting that had been called earlier by
Biti to work out
a domestic foreign currency payment system to reduce
reliance on cash.
Mangudya indicated that there was a proposal
for the adoption of the
Kenyan model of clearing and settling foreign
currency-denominated
instruments. He also said there was no need to
"reinvent" the wheel in their
planning.
However, sources
said Biti was riled because the BAZ document - which
he had apparently not
even read - was lifted from Kenya and there was
abundant evidence of
that.
BAZ maintained that Biti was aware of its proposal to
adopt the Kenyan
model.
On the cover page, the font used to
write Bankers Association of
Zimbabwe was not official, although there was a
bold line which said the
document was prepared by BAZ.
The
document was written on page two, "revised August 2004" and had on
every
page at the bottom right KBA which stands for Kenya Bankers
Association.
Wherever else there was KBA it was replaced by BAZ and the
Central Bank of
Kenya was substituted by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. The name
Kenya was
replaced with Zimbabwe.
The document also made references on
page 13 to the "Central Bank of
Kenya's mean rate of the day of exchange at
the clearing house". There is
also a reference to the Kenyan currency, the
shilling, elsewhere.
"It was an embarrassing affair," a source said.
"The system launch had
to be aborted after the problems were
discovered."-Staff Reporter
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April
2009 20:22
A 25-MEMBER parliamentary select committee to spearhead the
crafting
of a new constitution will be in place by Wednesday amid
suggestions that it
should be co-chaired by the three parties to the
inclusive government.
The appointment of the constitutional
committee by parliament's
Standing Rules and Orders Committee is a
requirement of the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) signed by President
Robert Mugabe and the leaders of the two
MDC formations -- Morgan Tsvangirai
and Arthur Mutambara -- which culminated
in the formation of the inclusive
government in February.
Parliamentary sources told the Zimbabwe
Independent that the Standing
Rules and Orders Committee met last Monday to
deliberate on the appointment
of the constitutional committee and agreed
that it should be made up of
legislators drawn from Zanu PF, the two MDC
formations, independent MP
Jonathan Moyo and representatives of traditional
chiefs.
During the meeting, the sources said, the
Tsvangirai-led MDC suggested
that the constitutional committee should be
chaired by a representative of
civil society in order to properly manage the
politics around the
constitutional issue and ensure a people-driven
process.
The sources said Zanu PF countered the suggestion
arguing that the GPA
would have to be mandated to accommodate the inclusion
of civil society in
the select committee.
"It should be a
parliamentary committee, hence its members should be
lawmakers," one of the
sources said.
As a compromise, the sources added, the Standing
Rules and Orders
Committee members then suggested that three political
parties should
co-chair the committee.
The members agreed
to sell the suggestion to their parties before
adopting it.
The MDC-T parliamentary caucus met two days later and resolved that
the
constitutional committee should be co-chaired.
Nyanga North
legislator Douglas Mwonzora was nominated to co-chair the
committee with MPs
from Zanu PF and the MDC-M.
Zanu PF's parliamentary caucus will
meet today to discuss, among other
things, whether or not the constitutional
commission should be co-chaired by
the three parties.
Joram
Gumbo, Zanu PF chief whip, yesterday confirmed the meeting.
"We
are having our caucus tomorrow to discuss a wide range of issues,"
Gumbo
said. "We will look into the appointment of the select committee. As a
party
we will nominate our representatives and forward their names to the
Speaker
of the House of Assembly who chairs the Standing Rules and Orders
Committee."
Gumbo said the constitutional committee must be
appointed by April 15
in terms of the GPA.
Efforts to get a
comment from Speaker of the House Lovemore Moyo and
clerk of parliament
Austin Zvoma were in vain yesterday as they were
overseas on
business.
Yesterday, the Minister of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs,
Advocate Eric Matinenga, met with stakeholders,
including civil society in
Harare, to chart the way forward in crafting the
new supreme law.
The meeting was a build-up to an
all-stakeholders conference scheduled
for June.
The
minister said he was going to hold similar meetings with people
from across
the country and from various social stations to create consensus
on this
important national issue.
The drafting of the new constitution
would lead to a referendum. If
people endorse the new constitution, free and
fair elections would be held
thereafter.
Civic
organisations led by the National Constitutional Assembly have
since
declared war against the constitutional-making process outlined in the
GPA
saying it was not people-driven.
Lovemore Madhuku, NCA
chairperson, said Zimbabweans should write their
own constitution directly,
not through politicians, parliamentarians or
government.
"The surest way to make sure that a constitution is respected is if it
is
written by the people themselves and carries their word," Madhuku said
after
the signing of the GPA on September 15 2008. "Article 6 of the
agreement is
a direct insult to the need for a people-driven constitution.
It is an
arrogant approach to the whole constitution-making process."
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions president Lovemore Matombo also
denounced
the process as flawed.
"It is merely an act of consolidation of power
taking us back to the
era of one-party states. Constitution-making processes
are algebraic in
nature. If you don't get the formulae right, then you won't
get the answer
right," he said.
Yesterday a group of
lawyers, Veritas, said the constitution-making
process and time-frame
outlined in the GPA was "essentially a
parliament-driven process, albeit
with some consultation" with stakeholders
and the public.
"The question is whether this will satisfy the aspirations of
Zimbabweans to
have a 'people-driven' constitution-making process," the
lawyers said. "As
Article 6 of the GPA is not written in stone, perhaps the
political parties
can agree to revisit the constitution-making process . to
satisfy all those
who have been working on a new constitution for the last
12
years."
According to Article 6 of the GPA, a parliamentary
select committee
will be composed of legislators and representatives of
civil society, but
the committee will have a final say in the crafting of
the draft
constitution.
The agreement states that the
select committee should be in place two
months after the formation of the
inclusive government and should convene an
"all-stakeholders" conference
within three months after its appointment. The
inclusive government was
formed on February 13.
The public consultation process, the
pact reads, should be completed
no later than four months after the
stakeholders' conference.
"The draft constitution shall be
tabled within three months of
completion of the public consultation process
to a second all-stakeholders
conference," reads the GPA.
"The draft constitution and the accompanying report shall be tabled
before
parliament within one month of the second all-stakeholders
conference."
The draft and the accompanying report would
then be debated and if
necessary amended in parliament within one month,
before it is gazetted and
a referendum conducted within three
months.
In the event that the draft is approved in the
referendum, it shall be
gazetted within a month of the date of the
plebiscite and should be
introduced in parliament not later than a month
after the expiration of a
period of 30 days from the date of the
gazetting.
Zimbabwe is currently governed under the 1979
constitution agreed at
the Lancaster House talks in London. The constitution
has been amended 19
times since the country's Independence in
1980.
An attempt to introduce a new constitution between 1999
and 2000
failed after the NCA and other civil society organisations, backed
by a
nascent MDC, successfully campaigned against a government-sponsored
draft.
A fierce political battle is expected when the draft
goes to a
referendum.
BY CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
20:17
TEACHERS have threatened to embark on another crippling strike
when
schools open for the second term next month in protest against poor
remuneration and conditions of service.
The teachers downed
tools for the greater part of last year and only
returned to work in
February after the formation of an inclusive government
whose Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said they would be paid in hard
currency.
Since February teachers and other civil servants have been receiving a
US$100 monthly allowance while their salaries are paid in local currency
that was rendered useless by the dollarisation of the economy in
January.
Teachers have described the allowance as an
insult.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta), the largest
teachers' union in
the country, this week said they would not go back to
schools in May because
the government was failing to pay them
salaries.
"A lot has been said about the plight of teachers and
the revival of
the education sector but little is being done to address our
concerns," said
Zimta spokesperson Sifiso Ndlovu.
He said
government and humanitarian organisations who had pledged to
revive the
education sector had failed to honour their pledges.
"We have
been forced to revisit our commitment to revive the quality
of education
offered in this country," Ndlovu said.
The Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said its members
would go on strike in May if
government fails to pay them a salary this
month.
PTUZ
spokesperson Oswald Madziva said: "We cannot continue to live on
fate and
hope that the government is going to resolve our issue."
He
said teachers went back to work in February in the hope that the
inclusive
government would deal with their plight.
According to
government's Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme, the
country's
worsening economic environment had negative impact on the
education sector
that resulted in most schools failing to open up for the
better part of 2008
and the beginning of 2009.
The government said it needed US$800
million to address immediate
challenges in the education sector and ensure
that teachers go back to work,
as well as addressing longer term restoration
of education infrastructure.
The strike by teachers saw some of
them leaving the country in search
of greener pastures, which affected the
administration of public
examinations.
Last year's Grade 7,
'O' and 'A' Level examinations results are yet to
be released. Besides
teachers, other civil servants are also disgruntled by
the government's
failure to pay allowances instead of salaries.
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions president Lovemore Matombo said
government has
reduced its workers to slaves.
"The government is using the
public service but is not paying them
salaries but an allowance that is way
below the poverty datum line," Matombo
said.
BY LUCIA
MAKAMURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
20:13
SPECIFIED Kingdom Meikles Africa Ltd (KMAL) chairman John Moxon
tore
to shreds claims by Nigel Chanakira that he is entitled to 51% of the
company in indigenisation option rights and called the banker
"delusional".
In a telephone call this week, Moxon was asked to
comment on a letter
obtained by the Zimbabwe Independent written by Nigel
Chanakira in which the
banker claimed that his company, Valley Field, holds
up to 51% of KMAL in
indigenisation option rights.
Moxon
accused Chanakira of dereliction of his fiduciary
responsibilities as KMAL's
chief executive officer (CEO) and director
because "if such a right exists
it is so material that it would have
required shareholder approval and
disclosure".
Moxon said: "I find it amusing that as a man who
declares his
fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders as a director and
CEO -- has
suddenly conjured up an option right so material that it would
clearly have
required shareholder approval and disclosure.
"I have never heard of such an option agreement - and certainly no
such
disclosures have ever been made to shareholders, nor have shares
requiring
shareholder approval been issued to entertain such an option."
He added: "The insertion of such a statement is sinister and
manipulative.
What kind of 'option' has no strike price, no expiry price, no
cost and no
conditions? You can't create an option by writing a sentence in
a
letter."
Moxon and Chanakira have been at each other's throats
since last year
after the latter accused the former of externalising US$18
million and R21,2
million.
Chanakira reported Moxon to the
Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) serious fraud squad resulting in the
specification of the KMAL
chairman. As part of his plan to resolve the
impasse, Moxon urged both KMAL
and KFHL boards to resign and allow
shareholders to constitute a
representative board that was not intimidated
by Chanakira.
Asked about reports that all the directors of
KMAL are supporting
Chanakira, Moxon said: "I believe Nigel and the other
directors are in
violation of their fiduciary responsibilities to
shareholders. They have
collectively and in collusion acted
irresponsibly.
"What the interests of the directors who backed
Chanakira are, I don't
know -- but they are now warned that if they continue
to defame me and my
family, I will find their assets anywhere in the world
and sue them for
every penny they have if I have to spend every penny I
have. Even if their
excuse was that they were intimidated -- their choice
was and is still to
resign -- and given that they haven't, they were clearly
and knowingly
violating their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders,"
Moxon said.
KFHL merged with Meikles Africa Ltd last year but a
few months after
the merger, Moxon called for an extraordinary general
meeting to have
Chanakira, and two other non executive directors removed
from the board.
According to Moxon, Chanakira reneged on a plan to refinance
the group's
prestigious Cape Grace Hotel located in Cape Town and it became
the last
straw to an already strained business relationship.
BY
CHRIS MURONZI
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April
2009 20:08
A HIGH Court judge has castigated the police for failing to
uphold the
country's constitution when they unlawfully detained 12 MDC
activists
accused of banditry.
In a hard-hitting ruling Justice
Charles Hungwe castigated the police's
conduct in failing to bring the
suspects to court on time and holding them
in communicado and especially for
detaining a two-year-old child.
"No-one is above the law or below
it," he said. "In the present case
the 3rd and 4th respondents have
callously demonstrated the affinity to act
as if they were above the
law".
Justice Hungwe made the ruling on November 11. However,
the High Court
only made the full written judgment available to the
accused's lawyers last
week.
The judge ruled that the
detention of Fidelis Chiramba, Terry Musona,
Fanuel Tembo, a Mrs Mutemagau,
Concillia Chinanzvavana, an Agrippa, Lloyd
Tarumbwa, Pieta Kaseke, Larry
Gaka, Emmanuel Chinanzvavana, Enerst Mudimu
and Collen Mutemagau last
October for allegedly training insurgents, bandits
and terrorists
contravened provisions of the constitution.
The judge made the
ruling in a chamber application filed by the
activists asking the court to
compel the state to release them.
"From the above (evidence) it
is clear that the police on or about
30th October 2008 took all the
applicants into their custody," Justice
Hungwe said in his written judgement
released by the High Court last week.
"They were required by law to advise
the applicants of the reasons for their
arrest. The police did not do so
almost 14 days after they effected an
arrest!"
Hungwe said
the police were legally obliged to afford the detained
persons access to
legal counsel as soon as possible.
"The police did not do so 14
days after arresting the applicants,"
Hungwe ruled.
In
terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe the police were obliged to
release the
applicants if they failed to charge them with a criminal offence
or bring
them before a court of law within 48 hours of their arrest.
The
High Court judge said the police failed to uphold the law and when
they were
sued, they denied any knowledge of the applicants when clearly
they knew or
ought to have known that the activists were being held in their
custody.
Hungwe also castigated the conduct of Officer
Commanding CID Homicide
Crispen Makedenge and Constable Muuya who took leave
of absence from their
duties when they were dealing with the accused's case.
He also criticised
the police for initially denying that it had no knowledge
of the detainees.
"Such conduct by the police ought to be
deprecated. Being officers of
this court the respondents ought to have known
better than to deny such a
notorious fact as the detention of the
applicants. This denial has placed
their counsel in a position where he can
hardly oppose the order sought,"
said Hungwe in his
judgment.
He said the state denied the applicants the
protection of the law.
"The respondents (state) have permitted
the applicants to be detained
in communicado. People are at risk of torture
or other forms of
ill-treatment if they are detained in communicado," ruled
Justice Hungwe.
The judge said the risk increases the longer
they are held as this
allows for a longer period for injuries to be
inflicted and visible marks of
these injuries to fade.
Justice Hungwe said it was disturbing that the police had detained a
two-year-old baby alongside its mother.
"It hardly needs me
to point out that being a signatory to the
Convention on the Rights of the
Child, the Republic of Zimbabwe must be
seen, through the acts of its public
officials, to be protective of the
rights of the child," Justice Hungwe
said.
One of the applicants was arrested and detained together
with her
two-year-old-baby.
There is no suggestion that the
baby was suspected of having
committed, or being about to commit a criminal
offence at the time, Hungwe
ruled.
The activists were
released from custody at the beginning of the year
and are currently on
bail.
BY LUCIA MAKAMURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
20:07
THE Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) has called an urgent
stakeholders conference in Bulawayo today as it emerged that exhibitors who
had registered were pulling out in large numbers citing high participation
costs.
The fair is struggling to lure local and international
exhibitors to
the international trade showcase as very few have shown an
interest.
Industry and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube and
Regional Integration
and International Trade minister Priscilla Misihairabwi
are expected to
address the emergency meeting.
The ZITF has
also invited service providers to the meeting to iron out
outstanding issues
and address concerns raised by exhibitors forcing many to
cancel their
bookings.
A notice sent out by the ZITF said stakeholders
invited to the meeting
include accommodation providers, caterers, the
police, immigration officials
and those providing décor services for the
stands.
"All ZITF stakeholders are welcome including
accommodation and
catering services, stand design and décor services, hire
services, freight
forwarders, cleaning agencies, plant décor services,
police security
companies, immigration and Zimra," reads the notice sent out
by ZITF.
A source at ZITF said the meeting was called to
persuade service
providers to reduce their charges to save the trade
showcase, which has
been facing viability problems because of the prevailing
economic situation.
"The majority of exhibitors are cancelling
their bookings and are
citing high costs for accommodation that is charged
by hotels," one of the
sources said. "The struggling companies are also
being charged a fortune by
décor service providers and by freight companies.
As result, the ZITF has
called all stakeholders so that the issues can be
addressed and save this
year's trade fair."
Hotels in
Bulawayo normally raise their accommodation rates during the
trade fair
period and this week a leading hotel in the city had advertised
that a room
would be going for US$130 a night but the rate has since been
reduced to
US$75 after the ZITF engaged the hotels over the high rates.
This year's four-day edition of the ZITF kicks-off on April 28 and
will be
held under the theme Golden Platform for Dynamic Take-off.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to officially open this
year's
fair even though ZITF officials say the guest of honour has not yet
been
confirmed by the government.
The ZITF two weeks ago reduced
rates drastically in a bid to attract
more exhibitors.
External sites per square metre were reduced from US$25 to US$15 while
hall
space is now US$25 from US$40 a square metre.
A pre-constructed
nine square metre space is now being offered for
US$362, down from
US$587.
Last year, only seven countries, mainly from the Far
East,
participated at the ZITF while the rest of the exhibitors were
government
enterprises and parastatals.
A number of
countries that had confirmed participation withdrew at the
last
minute.
At its peak, the ZITF attracted dozens of international
exhibitors and
brought together multi-sectoral interests across the whole
business sectors,
mining, hospitality and tourism, among
others.
BY LOUGHTY DUBE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April
2009 20:06
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has turned down an offer to
take up
residence at State House and instead opted to live at his Strathaven
home,
the Zimbabwe Independent has established.
Tsvangirai as
head of government was expected to take up residence at
State House while
President Robert Mugabe continued living at Zimbabwe
House, his current
place of residence.
Sources in the Tsvangirai-led MDC said the
prime minster was made the
offer to live at State House and he turned it
down saying he had ample
accommodation at his home.
Mugabe,
the sources said, had extended the offer in the spirit of the
all-inclusive
government.
Tsvangirai's spokesperson James Maridadi could
neither confirm not
deny whether the offer was extended.
"The most important role for Prime Minister Tsvangirai is to work
towards
the rebuilding of Zimbabwe's economy and the democratisation of the
country," Maridadi said. "Issues of whether he stays at State House or not
are not important. What is important to him is to get the job at hand
done."
He, however, was quick to say that in future Tsvangirai
would consider
where he would live.
In the early 1980s
President Canaan Banana lived at State House while
Prime Minister Mugabe was
at Zimbabwe House.
Sources said Tsvangirai's decision not to
move into State House was
arrived at because the inclusive government was
not permanent and in case he
lost future presidential elections expected in
two
years, it would be embarrassing for him to move back to his
Strathaven
home.
"There were numerous factors which
determined whether he took up
residence at State House or not but the main
reason is that the Strathaven
house was more homely to Tsvangirai than
moving to a new place," another
source said. "The fact that the inclusive
government is not permanent meant
that he could be forced to move out
anytime."
State House used to be Government House, the home of
Southern
Rhodesian governors. The last governor to occupy it was Lord Soames
from
December 1979 to April 1980. Prime Ministers lived across the road at
what
is now Zimbabwe House. - Staff Writer.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 19:41
FIRED chairman of Dande Capital Holdings (DCH) and former Zanu PF
legislator
David Butau has launched a campaign to regain control of the
company by
convening an extraordinary general meeting to oust four rival
shareholders.
Impeccable sources in DCH and documents in
possession of the Zimbabwe
Independent reveal that Butau - who was stripped
of his chairmanship and
directorship of the company in February - wanted
co-shareholders Danisa
Mhlanga, Evison Musanjeya, Wilfred Hlanguyo and
Decent Chitsungo removed as
directors.
The boardroom tug-of-war
at DCH, a firm that offers financial advisory
services to local, regional
and overseas organisations, erupted when High
Court judge Justice Lavender
Makoni on February 4 granted an application by
Mhlanga, Musanjeya, Hlanguyo
and Chitsungo for Butau's ouster from the
company's board of directors for
absenting himself from its meetings in
excess of six months without
permission.
Makoni also barred Butau's brother, Grey, from
interfering in the
running of the company and confirmed that Mhlanga,
Musanjeya, Hlanguyo and
Chitsungo were the legitimate directors of
DCH.
Butau fled Zimbabwe in December 2007 when police said they
intended to
question him in connection with dealings in foreign currency on
the black
market and only returned to the country last month to launch a
fight to
regain control of DCH.
He is currently on bail on
allegations of attempted fraud, fraud and
violation of the Exchange Control
Act and Exchange Control Regulations.
In a notice to convene
the extraordinary general meeting on April 20,
Butau said the current board
of DCH must be reconstituted by firing Mhlanga,
Musanjeya, Chitsungo and
Hlanguyo.
A reconstituted board made up of Butau as chairman
and Tapera Mavura
and George Chikupo would be appointed during the meeting,
wrote the former
Guruve North MP.
Butau said he wrote the
notice on behalf of shareholders holding 55,2%
of the issued share capital
of the company.
He said the convening shareholders were of the
view that there was
general plundering of company assets and an attempt to
take over the
ownership of the firm by some members of the board of
directors in manner
that was inconsistent with their
mandate.
"There is discord between certain members of the board
of directors of
the company ("the board") and its executives which is
hampering the board's
ability to function effectively and in the best
interests of the company,"
the notice reads. "This discord is negatively
impacting on the company's
ability to sustain the company's operations and
to pursue new opportunities
which are required for the continued growth of
the company and the board
cannot continue functioning as it is at present in
such state of discord.
There is no production at all."
The
convening shareholders, the notice added, had lost confidence in
the board
as presently constituted and were of the belief that it needed to
be
reconstituted.
They want it restructured to "address the
current state of discord
which exists between board members, to end the
current impasse at board
level, to make the board more representative of all
shareholders, to
supplement the experience of the remaining board members
and to add to
stature of the board".
The fight to control
DCH has also seen Hlanguyo filing a criminal case
against Butau after the
ex-MP allegedly threatened the director in
connection with a vehicle he was
using on March 16.
Butau on Wednesday confirmed the convening
of the extraordinary
meeting of shareholders.
"The meeting
will go ahead," Butau said. "I am the majority
shareholder and I cannot
allow the plunder of assets currently going on."
DCH was
incorporated in 2000 and re-registered in 2002.
The company has
seven subsidiaries - El'e Resources (Pvt) Ltd,
Cynthesis Agriculture (Pvt)
Ltd, Cythensis Cotton (Pvt) Ltd, Tsakare
Chickens (Pvt) Ltd, Timbsbury
Timbers (Pvt) Ltd, Heldnet Enterprises (Pvt)
Ltd and Telequip (Pvt)
Ltd.
Butau fled to Britain on a six-month tourist visa before
later moving
to Pretoria, where he was holed up until March 6 this
year.
He returned home after arrangements with the Attorney
General's office
that facilitated travel documents for him after he lost his
passport in
South Africa, and is due to face trial for alleged
fraud.
The state alleges that on October 19 2007, Butau asked a
Joseph
Manjoro to deposit Z$562,5 billion into his company, Nyamasoka
Farming's CBZ
account after having agreed that he would source US$450 000
using a parallel
market rate of US$1:Z$1 250 000 to purchase tractors from
Michigan Tractors
of South Africa on behalf of the
government.
"After receiving the money, and during the period
extending from
October 25 to December 19 2007, the accused sourced foreign
currency from
the parallel market, which foreign currency was never remitted
to Joseph
Manjoro," reads the state outline. "When he did so, the accused
knew very
well that he had no exchange control authority to deal in foreign
currency
thereby contravening the said (Foreign Exchange Control)
Act."
The state alleges that after receiving the Z$562,5
billion and
converting it on the parallel market, Butau gave Manjoro a copy
of a
telegraphic transfer dated October 23 2007 purporting that he had
transferred US$450 000 to the credit of Michigan for the purchase of
equipment meant for the Farm Mechanisation Programme.
Verifications made by Manjoro with Michigan proved that no funds were
deposited by the accused and when asked to clarify the issue, Butau
allegedly asked Manjoro to hand him back the copy of the telegraphic
transfer.
He then gave Manjoro a copy of cheque number
100146 for 215 000
British pounds drawn upon his HSBC account number
82435063 domiciled at
Channel Islands, United Kingdom, to the credit of
Michigan South Africa.
The accused caused the cheque to be
deposited into Michigan tractors
held by Standard Bank of South
Africa.
However, the cheque was returned by HSBC Bank late in
November 2007
unpaid marked "refer to drawer".
The state
alleged that Butau issued the cheque even though he knew he
had insufficient
funds in his account.
As a result of this misrepresentation,
the state alleged, government
suffered a prejudice of Z$562 billion and
nothing was recovered.
Last week, a Harare magistrate dismissed
Butau's bail application on
the basis that he may abscond.
Butau is
out of custody on bail.
BY CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
19:19
THE anticipated reforms to Zimbabwe's media landscape could test
the
inclusive government's sincerity in effecting the Global Political
Agreement
after years of maintaining a grip on public media and the stifling
of
dissenting voices.
Media experts have predicted that
prospective newspapers could soon
join Zimbabwe's media space but would-be
broadcasters might have to wait a
bit longer before being granted operating
licences by the new government,
despite promises espoused in the
GPA.
Last week government undertook a three-day ministerial cabinet
retreat
in Victoria Falls, where a 100-day work plan was adopted to tackle
the
socio-economic crisis in line with the Short Term Emergency Recovery
Programme (Sterp).
Among issues that were given top
priority at the get-to-know each
other meeting were matters of media reform
and dietary requirements for
Zimbabwe's hunger-stricken inmates after
mounting pressure from civic
organisations demanding an urgent address to
the dire situation in prisons.
Seemingly reacting to the
nerve-wracking documentary by the SABC,
government called for a 30-day
deadline to meet the welfare of prisoners.
The retreat ended
with government ministries being grouped into five
clusters that are tasked
to come up with key result areas in the next 100
days - economic, social,
rights and interests, security and infrastructure.
Government
tasked the Rights and Interests cluster comprising Media,
Information and
Publicity; Justice, Foreign Affairs, Constitutional Affairs
and National
Healing ministries to effect urgent reforms affecting current
and new media
players.
But clarity on how these reforms should be undertaken
and cash
constraints could be the missing links. The Short Term Emergency
Recovery
Programme will require $8,5 billion over the next two to three
years. It
will depend heavily on Western and regional aid.
Parliament is due to establish a Zimbabwe Media Commission, which will
replace the widely criticised Media and Information
Commission.
Resultantly a dilemma has arisen for new players
that have shown
interest to join the media turf. Wary of the current
regulatory vacuum, we
could see new players in wait-and-see
mode.
Experts contend that lack of clear policy and limited
frequencies on
the country's electro-magnetic spectrum could result in a
gold rush for new
players as the new inclusive government drives towards
freeing the airwaves.
Anticipated media reforms could see the
return of banned international
media such as the BBC, CNN as well as locally
owned broadcasters which
government hopes would aid in re-branding
Zimbabwe's stained image abroad.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara recently expressed his
commitment to bring international media
back in line with government's drive
to re-brand the country's unappealing
image. Such reforms could be a major
blow for state-controlled public media
such as the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation that not only has a
monopolistic advantage but also has
reflected a skewed partisan editorial
policy.
Under the September 15 power-sharing pact, which
underpinned decisions
that were made at the retreat, existing media and
prospective players should
register with the new regulatory
authority.
"The parties hereby agree: that the government shall
ensure the
immediate processing by the appropriate authorities of all
applications for
re-registration and registration in terms of both the
Broadcasting Services
Act as well as the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act,"
reads the GPA document.
"All
Zimbabwean nationals including those currently working for or
running
external radio stations be encouraged to make applications for
broadcasting
licences, in Zimbabwe, in terms of the law.
"In recognition of
the open media environment anticipated by this
agreement, the parties hereby
call upon the governments hosting and or
funding external radio stations
broadcasting into Zimbabwe to cease such
hosting and funding, and encourage
the Zimbabweans running or working for
external radio stations broadcasting
into Zimbabwe to return to Zimbabwe."
The inclusive government
treaty also bars public and private media
from using "abusive language" that
may incite hostility, political
intolerance and ethnic hatred or that
unfairly undermines political parties
and "other
organisations".
"The only regulation that the media would
require is that of the
airwaves because there is an infinite resource, said
Media Monitoring
Project of Zimbabwe head, Andy Moyse. "At the moment it is
not clear how new
broadcasters would come in. There is no national policy
for the allocation
of the bandwidth."
Currently
registration of broadcasters is undertaken by the
Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe in compliance with the Broadcasting
Services Act and
Aippa.
This policy shortcoming, Moyse added, could result in a
"stampede"
where politically or strategically positioned investors would
jostle to
secure permission to broadcast.
Zimbabwe
Voluntary Media Council chairman Muchadeyi Masunda expressed
optimism that
government could soon liberalise the "unnecessary restrictive"
legal
provisions affecting journalists and media organisations.
"We
would like to see a situation where there is proper liberalisation
of the
media -both print and electronic," Masunda said.
A code of
ethics has been drawn up by media practitioners and the
Zimbabwe Voluntary
Media Council has been established to effect
self-regulation of the media.
This Council also has as its object the
protection and advancement of the
freedom of the press.
"Ultimately the solution is the repeal of
unnecessary restrictive
constraints enshrined in Aippa," Masunda said.
"There are enough laws to
protect the public from a harmful media. More
importantly the media requires
a self-regulatory body along the same lines
as other professional bodies
such as the Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers and
the Law Society of Zimbabwe.
I don't think there would be any obstacles in
making reforms."
Section 80 of Aippa criminalises a journalist
for publishing
information without having reasonable grounds for believing
the information
to be true and the published information threatens economic
interests of the
state or public morality, or is injurious to the reputation
of other
persons.
Apart from Aippa, government has an
arsenal of laws such as Civil and
Criminal Defamation and the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act.
Government, Masunda added,
should ensure that there are no hurdles for
new players and allow the market
to determine whether a new media venture
can succeed.
"Repealing Aippa might not happen immediately but that has to be done.
We
have to look at the Constitutional Amendment 19 and see how we can move
that
agenda.
The new media commission should cater for all
stakeholders," said the
veteran attorney.
Officially
opening the lavish retreat, President Robert Mugabe pledged
to fully support
reforms that would bring to an end to a tight grip on media
which critics
said was a key to his longevity in office.
Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa said there was need to create a
political climate where
divergent voices can be heard.
BY BERNARD MPOFU
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 18:54
DEFLATION refers to a sustained fall in the general price levels in a
country. Theory restricts the use of the term to when annual inflation falls
below zero. The effect of deflation is to increase the real value of money
meaning that for every dollar held, one can buy more.
Since
late last year when we officially assumed the use of foreign
currencies,
prices of most commodities have been coming down. Official
figures from the
CSO show that prices fell by 2,8% in January and 3,1% in
February.
Indications are that the trend could be the same for March.
This
comes as a relief to most locals who believe that this is a
correction to
fair value after initial exploitative pricing by business.
Several valuation
theories have been put up with price parity being the most
popular. Using
this measure, it appears we are gradually approaching
regional
levels.
The fall in prices, one may say, stems from several
factors among them
the improved supply of largely foreign goods. This is on
the back of
depressed incomes. The government -- which is the biggest
employer -- and
some sections in business are struggling to pay a living
wage.
Most salaries below the poverty datum line. The process of
dollarisation also contributed to this phenomenon. The ideal situation would
have been that the central bank retires the local currency by replacing it
with a specific currency. However, this did not happen because the bank does
not have the foreign currency, leaving the economy with very little
disposable incomes.
While prices have been falling, it
appears efforts to raise money and
subsequently incomes are hitting a wall.
For local business, revenues remain
low. Most companies are not producing
optimally because of lack of working
capital.
They are also
facing cutthroat competition from foreign products.
Government on the other
hand is struggling to mobilise funding. This means
that disposable incomes
could remain constrained, which will affect consumer
demand. To remain
competitive, businesses have reviewed prices down.
Falling
prices have potentially biting consequences that could prolong
the recovery
of the economy. In this light, the country potentially faces
the danger of
being caught in a disinflation spiral; a situation where after
a certain
level, a fall in prices acts as a disincentive for businesses to
invest or
produce. This inevitably forces them to reduce wages. This will
have a
knock-on effect on disposable incomes leading to a further fall in
demand,
exacerbating further the fall in prices.
In such a situation,
falling prices become an indication of ailing
economic activity, in
particular, demand. If nothing is done to reverse
this, there is an
underlying risk that companies will go belly up.
Growth theorists
suggest that an injection, aimed at increasing the
level of spending or
disposable income in the economy is needed to break
this cycle. Ideally
authorities should achieve this by adopting, measures in
the form of
expansionary monetary and fiscal policies.
However, the Treasury is
dry and the Central Bank is at the moment out
of the picture. If anything
the country is heavily indebted to the tune of
nearly US$3 billion. This
leaves us with only one alternative; the
international community but
developments to date have not been encouraging.
If what Sadc
approved is anything to go by, we don't need a lot of
money. The body
endorsed an $8,3 billion package with $2 billion needed
urgently to
recapitalise companies and rehabilitate the economy.
Sadly South
Africa, the biggest economy in Sadc, has only pledged $30
million over three
months, hardly enough to cover our monthly cash budget of
$100 million,
while the other nations have said in one way or the other that
they are
incapacitated to help. This is despite them being the biggest
underwriters
of the GNU.
To put it into perspective, billionaire Warren
Buffet spent US$5
billion in Goldman Sachs late last year while our
neighbours Mozambique are
reported to have raised a similar amount for 2010
tourism related
expenditure. This figure is more than double our urgent
needs and compared
with some of the bailout spending we have witnessed, our
requirements become
almost negligible.
The recent G20
summit recommended that countries spend at least US$ 2
trillion in bailout
money to avert the global recession. Evidently a
partnership with one of the
big eight countries can easily settle the bill.
An example is the Mexicans
who once got US$50 billion from the USA after
their crisis in the
1990's.
The biggest question then becomes why we have been
failing to get this
desperately needed funding. Instead the IMF has adopted
a rather harsh
stance that the country will only access funds after settling
its arrears.
This is despite it being a given that before we can start
paying we need to
earn and that is the reason we need the assistance in the
first place.
Certain conditionalities continue to crop up from
all other possible
investors and funders including private bodies. There
appears to be some
pussyfooting around some of the harsh decisions that have
to be made to meet
these. These include issues to do with property rights,
clearly defined
exchange control laws and practices and an oversized civil
service that
needs to shed a bit of weight.
Donors are
particularly concerned about human rights, something that
unfortunately as a
nation we have earned a bad reputation.
We need help and we
need it badly. While reforms have been made, there
is a need to be more
radical about removing the "risk image'' on the
country.
The
bilateral agreement with the South African businesses is a step in
the right
direction. However, only a few companies of interest to them stand
to get
these credit lines.
Whatever concessions that they are trying to
get from the bilateral
agreement mirror the general concerns of every
international investor or
donor out there who may have interests in coming
in.
There is an apparent need to create conditions that will make
the
whole economy a safe haven through changes in legislation using these
concessions as a basis, and not selective cosmetic touches that favour one
group and not the other.
This will in the long haul
determine whether we sink or swim and
whether incomes improve or
fall.
BY RONALD NYAWERA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 18:06
BINDURA Nickel Corporation (BNC) managing director David Murangari
says the
company has put on hold a US$100 million investment planned for
another
nickel mine in the midlands.
Murangari told businessdigest that the
Hunters Road BNC long-planned
investment, has been shelved owing to weak
prices of the nickel obtaining on
the international market.
"Right now we cannot talk about Hunters Road project because the
mines that
we have are not operational. We have to wait until the situation
changes,"
Murangari said.
This comes after the nickel miner announced
this week that operations
at Trojan and Shangani Mines would remain under
care and maintenance until
world nickel prices become viable for
business.
BNC also warned of job cuts.
The
company had been reinvesting in its operations in the country with
a view of
extending mines' life spans while hoping that once prices become
attractive,
the mines would go on for another 20 or more years.
"The
drastic action to curtail expenditure was taken in order to
ensure the
long-term survival of the company," said the company in a
statement this
week. "BNC's intention is to maintain the critical
infrastructure to allow a
return to production as and when more favourable
business conditions
return.
Regrettably, it will not be possible to avoid a large-scale
retrenchment."
The company says it will remain on care and
maintenance for some time.
The ZSE-listed nickel producer
temporarily shut down operations in
November last year after world nickel
prices fell rather dramatically.
Murangari says it is costing the company
US$13 000 to produce a tonne while
the price on the international markets
are ranging from US$9 000 to US$10
000 per tonne.
But BNC's
holding company Mwana Africa plc has not lost all hope
despite the negative
developments on the nickel front amid reports that the
London Stock
Exchange-listed junior would re-open its Freda Rebecca Gold
Mine, which had
also been put on care and maintenance.
Mwana Africa owns 53% of
BNC and a controlling shareholding in Freda
Rebecca Gold
Mine.
Strong demand for metal in China and India kept prices
surging in the
past years but a global economic recession has not brought
joy to businesses
worldwide.
Zimbabwe mines missed the
global commodity rally of the last five
years because of administrative
pricing and implicit taxation on the back of
many schemes by policy makers
that negatively affected the sector.
With that, they missed the
biggest opportunity in a century to beef up
the physical capital and
strengthen their financial reserves. The threat and
confusion regarding
indigenisation scared off potential exploration, while
power shortages and
the associated illogical exchange rate regime left big
scars on the mining
landscapes that are much more visible than the dump
sites the mines
created.
BY CHRIS MURONZI
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April
2009 18:04
THE economic revival of Zimbabwe hinges on the inclusive
government
fully utilising the land to ensure that the country does not
import food.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Africa Business Opportunities
on Tuesday,
economist John Robertson said land reform has had a devastating
effect on
the economy hence the "urgent need to partially reverse
it".
"The Short Term Recovery Programme (Sterp) would not achieve
much as
long as the land is still not on the market having no value," he
said.
Robertson said the country first needs to recover from
the "chaotic
land reform" which rendered land "valueless and unattractive as
collateral".
He said most of the beneficiaries of land had no
knowledge or money to
farm.
"Therefore it is my view that
the land reform, although it was needed
at one stage, has had a devastating
effect on the economy. The value of the
land has to be urgently restored,"
he said.
Robertson said since the land reform started in
February 2000 after
the rejection of the government-sponsored constitution,
the country has been
importing more food than it has been
producing.
He said beef production had been cut by as much as
75% in the last two
years.
"The remaining herds countrywide
are now at risk from foot-and-mouth
because of the destruction of fencing
and the illegal movement of animals
from high-risk zones," he
said.
On the dairy sector, he said severe losses of dairy
cattle had cut
milk supplies significantly and its future looked
bleak.
Milk production dropped from as high as 250 000 litres
in 1999 to just
under 50 000 litres last year.
"Many dairy cows
have been sent for slaughter because of the
displacement of farmers and the
high cost of stock-feed," he said.
Robertson said if Sterp was
to be successful, banks, which used to
finance agricultural activities,
should be re-capitalised.
"Banks need fresh cash injection. As
it stands some banks are broke
and might soon close. Shareholders need to
vigorously scout for money," he
said.
He said with banks
not financing agriculture, farmers would continue
"begging a broke
government to finance their activities".
BY NQOBILE BHEBHE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April
2009 19:35
THE inclusive government must move urgently and boldly to
implement
those key provisions of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that
have a
bearing on the successful implementation of the Short Term Economic
Recovery
Programme (Sterp).
Members of that government should
not be overwhelmed by the "feel
good" sense derived from the major
political parties' newly found
collaboration, as evidenced by the recent
stakeholder meetings and the
retreat held at the Victoria
Falls.
This government was formed with two major purposes in mind.
The first
was to immediately stop the haemorrhaging of the Zimbabwean
economy and put
it on the road to recovery, and thereby alleviate the
suffering of its
people.
The second was to draft a new
constitution, submit it to public
debate, conduct a national referendum on
it, and hold free and fair
elections to enable Zimbabweans to elect a
government of their own choice.
Clearly the writing of a new
constitution will be a rather futile
exercise, unless economic recovery is
achieved.
This makes Zimbabwe's economic recovery the inclusive
government's
raison d'être. Should it fail to achieve that objective, the
inclusive
government will become irrelevant and collapse.
A
reality check is therefore in order at this point.
Three major
points emerged from the Sadc summit held in Swaziland
recently to consider
assistance for Zimbabwe's efforts to jumpstart its
comatose economy. The
first is that the grouping gave their approval to
Zimbabwe's US$8,5 billion
budget for the next two years; in fact they are
reported to have upped it to
US$10 billion.
Secondly they agreed to actively campaign for
the lifting of economic
sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the EU and the
USA.
The final and most significant point is that only South
Africa, out of
all the 14 Sadc countries, actually pledged material
assistance at the
summit. The regional economic powerhouse committed US$30
million over a
three-month period, with more to follow.
There is no doubt that South Africa will follow up on its pledge.
However it
is difficult to imagine that any of the other Sadc countries,
perhaps with
the exception of Botswana, will be able to match, let alone
surpass, South
Africa's contribution.
In the case of the more capable
economies of South Africa and
Botswana, the current global financial crisis
is the major constraint. But
for the rest of the countries in the region,
their own poverty, abject in
some instances, will simply make it impossible
for them to spare anything
for their crisis-stricken
neighbour.
This means that as unlimited as Sadc's moral support
for Zimbabwe
might be, the group can provide only a very limited portion of
the external
assistance that Zimbabwe requires at this stage. Hence Sadc's
emphasis on
the lifting of sanctions and other restrictive measures imposed
on Zimbabwe
by the USA, EU and the multi-lateral lending
institutions.
The key point here is that the external financial
assistance that we
require cannot come from Sadc. It has to come from
elsewhere.
I believe, with others, that our long-term
development strategy should
be premised on adding value to our own local
resources, rather than on
external aid. However, there is no question that
before we can fully exploit
our abundant natural resources, we need some
bridging finance, which, at the
moment, is only externally
available.
To the extent that we believe that such external
assistance can, or
should, come from the West, and to the extent that we
believe that our
current economic turmoil is attributable to sanctions
imposed by the West,
we need to pay close attention to what the West has
said in the past, and
what it says now, about development aid in general and
the Zimbabwe
sanctions in particular.
We also need to note
that most Western governments prefer to extend
development aid to Africa at
the bi-lateral level.
The West's most succinct policy statement
on development aid for
Africa was made at the G8 summit held at Kananaskis
in Canada in June 2002,
when, in response to Nepad's request for development
aid, the group referred
to Nepad's "peer review mechanism".
The Africa Action Plan, put together by the G8, was very unequivocal
on
economic assistance:
"They (the African leaders) have
emphasised good governance and human
rights as necessary preconditions for
Africa's recovery .we (the rich
nations) each undertake to establish
enhanced partnerships with African
countries whose performance reflects
Nepad commitments. Our partners will be
selected on the basis of measured
results.
"The peer review process will inform our
considerations of eligibility
for enhanced partnerships. We will each make
our own assessments in making
these partnership decisions. We will not work
with governments which
disregard the interests and the dignity of their
people."
In this regard comments made last week by the German
Ambassador to
Zimbabwe, Dr Albert Conze, are very
instructive.
Speaking at one of the stakeholders consultative
meetings that have
just been held, the ambassador alluded to a meeting held
on March 20 by a
group of "like-minded" countries that brought together
literally the whole
globe's economic powerhouses, outside China, and also
all the major
international lending institutions, including the IMF, WB, and
the ADB.
Dr Conze told the stakeholders that the meeting agreed
to work with
the transitional government to achieve specific goals
identified in the GPA,
notably the restoration of the rule of law, economic
stability and growth,
freedom of assembly and commitment to democratic
process, respect for human
rights and personal security, and full access to
humanitarian assistance.
As pointed out by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, and others,
Zimbabwe has already started working on all
of these. Moreover, some of
them, like "economic stability and growth" are
unachievable until the very
assistance that the West is withholding becomes
available.
However, the important point is that the group
commended the reform
efforts undertaken by the transitional government and
progress achieved to
date. They also noted that the government deserves full
support and agreed
to work with it to achieve specific goals identified in
the GPA.
It is of monumental significance that the conditions
that we have to
meet for the full resumption of Western development
assistance, are, in
essence, objectives that the inclusive government has
already set for itself
in the GPA - any subtle nuances and difference of
interpretation
notwithstanding.
As was the case with Nepad,
the group of "like-minded" countries is
insisting that the parties
constituting the transitional government meet the
commitments they made to
themselves and to the Zimbabwean people in the GPA.
The fact
that the group agreed to work with Sadc and the AU "to
monitor and encourage
swift and effective implementation of the GPA", before
they will "work with
international finance institutions to develop an
appropriate framework for
re-engagement", signals the fact that, in their
thinking, the processes we
have initiated have not yet reached the requisite
threshold to trigger their
cooperation.
Because it is us who need the group's assistance,
and not vice-versa,
our options are very limited, and we have to exercise
them very fast. We
either look at how we can achieve that threshold in the
shortest possible
time, or we look elsewhere for the external assistance
that we so badly
need.
Zimbabweans should also note that a
comprehensive and credible
implementation of the key aspects of the GPA is
necessary, not only for
meeting the conditions set by the West for extending
financial assistance.
It is also necessary for the achievement of
the national cohesion and
the unity of purpose that we badly need now. We
need national cohesion and
unity of purpose just as badly as we need the
external financial assistance.
Tsvangirai made exactly that
point in his address to the ministerial
retreat in Vic Falls on
Friday:
"The other key benchmark that will inspire confidence,
not just
amongst donors but amongst Zimbabweans as a whole, is evidence that
all the
parties are adhering to the GPA.
"This entails
clear evidence that we are bound and guided by the GPA
and that there is no
faction-ridden parallel process that serves to
perpetrate the culture of
entitlement and impunity," he said.
The Prime Minister went on
to list what he referred to as "the
outstanding issues", which he said still
have to be resolved by the
president, vice presidents, the prime minister
and the deputy prime
ministers.
It is probably such
processes that the West will monitor closely, and
on the basis of which they
will make their decisions on whether or not to
lift sanctions and to extend
development aid.
Dr Mazombwe, a local academic, can be
contacted at obby@mweb.co.zw
BY OBEDIAH MAZOMBWE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
16:47
WHEN the recently appointed Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti,
opened
the parliamentary debate on Zimbabwe's 2009 Budget, he started by
referring
to the "severe socio-economic challenges which confront the
country",
stating that "at the epicentre of these socio-economic challenges
have been
unprecedented levels of hyperinflation and declining productive
capacity and
hence massive deteriorating public service delivery,
particularly education,
health, sanitation as well as public utilities and
infrastructure. giving
rise to an unprecedented increase in poverty levels
and general
despondency."
The minister matched this commendably
frank, factual and transparent
acknowledgement of Zimbabwean realities with
an equally frank and realistic
recognition that Zimbabwe does not have the
capacity to resolve the
appalling circumstances and bring about an economic
transformation without
the assistance of the international
community.
In continuing his Budget address to parliament he
said "it is
imperative that we engage the international community for
financial support.
Such support is required to augment items in the Budget
related to the
delivery of urgent public services in health, education,
water, sanitation,
food security, infrastructure rehabilitation, among
others. The
international community will also play a critical role in
supporting
self-liquidating lines of credit required by our industries to
restore
production levels".
Amplifying on motivating and
sourcing the critically needed
international financial support, minister
Biti said that "In short, what is
required is to create confidence and
sculpt a construction that Zimbabwe is
in an irreversible paradigm
shift.
Over and above the Sadc initiatives underpinned by South
Africa, there
should be serious engagement with all cooperating partners,
including the
World Bank, International Monetary Fund, as well as the
African Development
Bank, with the objective of restoring the country's
status as a credible
recipient of external financial assistance. Hence, as
part of this strategy
should be an aggressive programme of bilateral
engagement with all the key
strategic countries".
A little
later in his presentation, the minister identified the
critical measures to
transform the identified need for international support
into reality,
stating that "the key pillars include: The rule of law;
crafting of a new
people-driven constitution; restoration of property
rights; restoration of
political legitimacy; freedom and liberties;
restoration of personal
measures; opening up of the media as well as the
restoration and
re-integration of Zimbabwe into the community of nations".
A
little more than one month later, whilst addressing a joint press
conference
with the Norwegian Development Minister Erik Solheim, the
Minister of
Finance effectively reiterated the desperate Zimbabwean need for
international support, saying that the inclusive government was set to fail
without donor support.
Since the inclusive government came into
being, there have been
significant indications that much of the
international community is
sympathetically disposed towards assisting
Zimbabwe in bringing about the
metamorphosis from destitution and poverty to
national wellbeing.
These indications include a Sadc determination
to try to facilitate
Zimbabwe accessing support packages aggregating to
US$8,3 billion, positive
statements of potential support from Denmark and
Norway and from a number of
other donor countries. And the report from the
recent IMF mission to
Zimbabwe, whilst understandably voicing some
considerable concerns, was
nevertheless more favourable than any IMF reports
in recent years.
Commending various structural reforms which have
recently been
effected, and describing them as positive, the statement did,
however, state
that "Going forward, strengthening the investment climate,
ensuring
protection of property rights" and divers other specified actions
"will be
essential for increasing domestic and foreign
investment".
Last week, when opening a three-day ministerial
retreat, President
Robert Mugabe addressed the foremost Zimbabwean need to
bring about an
urgent and comprehensive economic recovery in order to meet
vitally
essential rehabilitation of the grievously impoverished and
suffering
Zimbabwean population. He said that Zimbabwe cannot "indulge in
the luxury
of engaging in unending theoretical discourse, for our thematic
slogan
should be resonantly Implementation, Implementation, and
Implementation".
The tragedy is that this praiseworthy
contention is not matched by
performance and, as yet, virtually none of the
economic recovery "key
pillars" identified by minister Biti, and as
foundation of the Short Term
Economic Recovery Programme (Sterp) are being
brought into being. Although
President Mugabe and Vice President Joice
Mujuri have publicly condemned
violence and called for its cessation, the
violence is continuing,
especially so in rural areas and in police action
against activists and
protestors. Moreover, much of that violence is tacitly
or directly motivated
by some in senior political
positions.
Similarly, although Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai
has called for an
end to unauthorised, unlawful farm invasions, those
invasions are continuing
unabated and, in some instances, are actually led
by the so-called
"guardians of law and order" and, in other instances, those
"guardians" turn
a blind eye to the invasions and do nothing to contain
them.
In like manner, minister Welshman Ncube stated last week
that
Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (Bippas) must
be
respected and honoured, but there is no sign of any governmental intent
to
do so, including a notable absence in the national Budget of any
provision
whatsoever for payment of any of the considerable - and grossly
overdue -
compensation payments that are major liabilities of
government.
Although the inclusive government and the presidium
are increasingly
and commendably saying the right things, being those which
should long
before have been said and done, most of what is being said is
not being
married with requisite actions. There appears to be little or no
recognition
that speech without concomitant deeds and actions will yield
nothing.
In the absence of properly and assiduously pursued
appropriate
actions, international funding (other than the most pronouncedly
needed
humanitarian aid) will not be forthcoming, Sterp will fail and the
suffering
of Zimbabweans will increase exponentially.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
16:46
ZANU PF ministers in the unity government can be forgiven for
feeling
confused nowadays. Some are still wedded to the postures of
yesteryear where
the rule was "deny, deny and deny".
But that
is no longer tenable when they may find themselves
contradicted by more
enlightened colleagues. Zimbabwe's Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa last
week dismissed as "false" an SABC documentary which
aired shocking footage
exposing how prisons in Zimbabwe have become death
camps for thousands of
inmates who are deprived of food and medical care.
The documentary,
shown last Tuesday night on South Africa's state
broadcaster SABC3, and
repeated this week, documented the "living hell" for
prisoners at
Beitbridge, Khami and Chikurubi Maximum Security prisons.
In an
interview with Radio VOP last Wednesday, Chinamasa said the
documentary,
which shocked viewers with its horrifying pictures of gravely
ill inmates,
had been fabricated by the SABC team.
"What was shown by the
SABC3 is not true," said Chinamasa. "The SABC
is lying. We do not allow
cameras into our prisons. We have made
investigations and found out that the
footage is not from Zimbabwe but other
countries," he said.
Our thanks to Radio VOP for that excerpt.
But then on Monday
morning he was singing a different tune. Ministers
in the so-called rights
cluster had made a commitment at Victoria Falls to
addressing the plight of
prisoners, he told journalists.
"We have agreed to meet the
basic needs of all prisoners in terms of
food, clothing, bedding and health
in the next 30 days."
So what spurred this sudden bout of
activity? The SABC documentary of
course. And Beitbridge, we can safely say,
is in Zimbabwe.
It was good to have Chinamasa's commitment to
reform. But we were
quickly reminded that elements of the ancien regime are
still with us. A
report in the Standard said three prison officers had been
arrested and
charged under the Official Secrets Act with facilitating the
SABC
documentary.
The Official Secrets Act, needless to
say, is one of many colonial
laws on our statute books begging for reform.
And the fact that the
government hastened to exercise damage limitation
suggests SABC performed a
public service in exposing conditions in
Zimbabwe's jails.
So let's have less denials and more
action.
The same applies to media reform. Chinamasa said reform was
necessary
to "create a political climate where divergent voices will be
heard".
So we have finally got to that part of the global
accord that deals
with freedom of the press, two months after the formation
of the unity
government. What took them this long?
The
answer is simple. The hard-line gang that still gravitates around
President
Mugabe has been blocking progress, just as it has in other
matters. A
conference to which Media minister Webster Shamu had given his
approval was
cancelled at the last minute following intervention by a Mugabe
mandarin.
Instead of exposing this bad behaviour, MDC
ministers kept quiet. Now
we hear Morgan Tsvangirai claiming there has been
progress on media reform.
He can obviously see in the dark! The
media community would like to
know what progress he thinks government has
made since the media conference
that would have set the agenda for reform
was cancelled.
Let's be clear on this. There must be no more
back-room deals of the
sort that led to amendments to Aippa and Posa at the
beginning of last year.
Those changes proved worthless.
There must be comprehensive reforms that liberate the public media
from the
clutches of Zanu PF and establish it on a professional basis where
reporting
is fair and balanced, as required by the September accord. Above
all the
public media, as Chinamasa pointed out, must provide a forum for
divergent
voices.
That is clearly not happening as the ruling party maintains
its
arthritic grip on both its newspaper empire and a next-to-useless
broadcaster where land-grab beneficiaries moonlight as
journalists.
The government needs to demonstrate its commitment
to reform of the
media by welcoming home Zimbabwean journalists from the
diaspora and foreign
correspondents booted out over the past 10 years, one
in violation of a
court ruling. That is a democratic deficit that has been
outstanding for far
too long.
It has been 10 years since
the Supreme Court struck down ZBC's
monopoly of the airwaves yet not a
single applicant has succeeded in
occupying that space, thus forcing many of
our media workers to operate from
abroad. We need to open the door to all
those who think they could run a
better service than ZBC - which shouldn't
be terribly difficult.
The Zimbabwe Independent drew attention
recently to the fact that the
Media and Information Commission no longer had
a legal mandate. The amended
constitution makes provision for a Zimbabwe
Media Commission but it will
only begin work after parliament's standing
rules and orders committee has
submitted a list of names to President
Mugabe. He will in turn need to
consult and agree with Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai before appointing
the commission.
Despite these
clear provisions, Muckraker is reliably informed that 10
Norwegian
journalists accompanying Development minister Erik Solheim were
each made to
pay US$1 500 to cover the minister's recent visit to Zimbabwe.
We would
welcome a clarification on this. What is the Norwegian for
"daylight
robbery"? Come to think of it, they don't have much daylight up
there at
this time of year!
Muckraker was amused by the Herald's headline
story on Tuesday: "SA
business leaders jet in".
In fact
they had jetted out the same day. Zimbabwe and South Africa
are due to sign
a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement
(Bippa) on April
14. Welshman Ncube was quoted in the local press this week
as saying Bippas
would not protect farms from acquisition.
That must have gone
down well. So must the Herald's headline on
Wednesday. "Six farmers
arrested." And what was their heinous offence?
Continuing to feed the nation
in the teeth if violent resistance from
land-grabbing politicians and
officials using hired gangs.
Morgan Tsvangirai's word is
evidently not his command!
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
17:08
WELCOME remarks this week from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
and
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa suggest that progress is being made
in
regards to governance, an area that cannot be separated from economic
recovery where the focus has mainly been.
Speaking at the
Victoria Falls government retreat last weekend,
Tsvangirai made the point
that human rights were not some foreign-imposed
concoction.
"Human rights are neither culturally specific nor are they to be
imposed
upon one society by another," he said. Zimbabweans will have an
opportunity
through the constitution-building process to define those
rights, he
said.
"These political and civil rights serve not only as
guarantees of the
people's freedoms but as the essential foundation of the
nation's economic
development, he said. Therefore, if we as leaders are
committed to economic
growth and development, we must in turn be committed
to entrenching and
upholding political and civil rights."
He made another pertinent point in this regard.
"In addition,
while this government understands the need for the
removal of restrictive
measures that have been applied to individuals,
success in this area is also
tied to the restoration of the rule of law.
"This means that
the police must be empowered to protect those
protected by the law, to
enforce all court orders, and that the courts must
process cases brought
before them timeously and impartially. These are
measures that can and must
be implemented immediately."
Investors, who we saw this week
testing the waters, will want to see
evidence, the prime minister said, that
parties in Zimbabwe are adhering to
the Global Political Agreement and that
there is no faction-driven parallel
process that serves to perpetuate a
culture of entitlement and impunity.
This needs to be said.
There is a view in government that Tsvangirai's
job is to remove sanctions
and encourage investment while Zanu PF goes on
behaving badly as
before.
As Tsvangirai was giving his address at the Falls,
ruling-party
followers were invading farms in Mashonaland West using
violence to displace
the current occupants who include farm workers and
their employers.
The farmers say the police have done little or
nothing to assist the
victims of violence. Detailed reports of the assaults
on law-abiding
citizens by local thugs are appearing in the foreign
press.
Nothing could have served more eloquently to illustrate
the
lawlessness that stalks our land despite the GPA.
A
flickering light at the end of this long dark tunnel is that of
media
reform. Tsvangirai suggested it was a matter in hand in his Victoria
Falls
address and Chinamasa, speaking to journalists later, said there was a
need
to review media policy so as to create a political climate where
divergent
voices can be heard.
That is the right attitude. Voters cannot
make an informed choice at
the polls if they have not been exposed to a
diversity of views.
But what surprises us is that despite
Tsvangirai's remarks on the
importance of good governance, the MDC's
parliamentary caucus appears to
have no agenda. So let's provide them with
one. The following laws must go:
Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures)
Act, Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Act, Aippa, Posa, the BSA,
Official Secrets Act, Miscellaneous
Offences Act, and the Land Reform
(Consequential Provisions) Act.
That's just a start. None of
these measures have a place in a
democratic society. They were passed by a
totalitarian regime seeking to
punish opponents and consolidate power in its
own hands. They all "sailed
through" parliament with little scrutiny. Why, a
year after the election,
are they still on the statute books? People voted
for change, not more of
the same.
The first step we want to
see is the media reform conference which was
designed to provide a way
forward for media law reform. It was inexplicably
postponed at the last
minute, no doubt after intervention by the reactionary
clique that is doing
its best to block change across the board.
They are making it
difficult for Tsvangirai and his ministers to
convince development partners
that Zimbabwe is a safe destination for aid
and investment. How for instance
can Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti claim they
are in charge when farmers are
under siege, the press is muzzled, and law
enforcement
suborned?
This is not democracy by any definition. Tsvangirai
was right on the
ball with his remarks at the Victoria Falls last weekend.
Now he must walk
the talk.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday,
08 April 2009 17:01
THE Constitution Amendment No 19, which was drafted
and piloted
through parliament by Patrick Chinamasa, the current Minister of
Justice,
has made most of the former citizens of Zimbabwe stateless
persons. Even
the President of Zimbabwe is no longer a citizen of this
country.
Amendment No 19 repealed the former Chapter II of the
Constitution and
substituted a new Chapter.
The new Chapter II
provides as follows. In Section 4 it states that
there is a common
Zimbabwean citizenship (whatever that means) and that all
citizens are equal
(which also is nonsensical). It then goes on to spell
out the duties of
every Zimbabwean citizen to observe the constitution and
to respect its
ideals and institutions, to respect the national flag and the
national
anthem, and, to the best of his or her ability, to defend Zimbabwe
in time
of need.
It says that every Zimbabwean citizen is entitled to
the protection of
the state wherever he or she may be (even though he or she
might not get
it). Finally, section 4 (4) provides that Zimbabwe
citizenship may be
acquired by birth, decent or registration.
The new Section 5 spells out the provisions for acquiring citizenship
by
birth as follows. Everyone born in Zimbabwe is a Zimbabwean citizen by
birth if, when he or she was born, either of his or her parents was a
Zimbabwean citizen or either of his or her grandparents was a Zimbabwean
citizen by birth or descent. Similarly with citizenship by
descent.
The new Section 6 provides that anyone born outside
Zimbabwe is a
citizen by descent if either of his or her parents was a
Zimbabwean
citizen.
To take one well-known example. The
president, who recently
celebrated his 85th birthday, was born on February
18 1924. Neither of his
parents could possibly have been a Zimbabwean
citizen because there were no
Zimbabwean citizens at that time. Therefore
the president is no longer a
citizen of Zimbabwe.
Everyone born
in this country before April 18 1980 has likewise ceased
to be a Zimbabwean
citizen. The new Section 7 provides that anyone who has
been voluntarily
and ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe for at least 10 years
may apply to
become a Zimbabwean citizen by registration. Can our
Citizenship Office
handle three or four million applications for
citizenship?
Ordinarily, when a provision such as the new Chapter II is introduced,
there
is a savings clause. Thus, when the 1979 Constitution was drafted (by
a
more competent draftsman, obviously) the first section of Chapter II,
which
Amendment No 19 repealed, provided that a person who, immediately
before
April 18 1980, was or was deemed to be a citizen by birth, descent or
registration shall, on and after that day, be a citizen of Zimbabwe by
birth, descent or registration, as the case may be. The new Chapter II,
does not contain such a provision.
If the constitution is
not changed so as to provide that persons who
were Zimbabwean citizens
immediately before Amendment No 19 was promulgated
will retain their
citizenship, there will be problems in finding candidates
for the next
presidential election.
Section 28 of the constitution provides
that, to be qualified for
election as president, the person must be a
citizen of Zimbabwe by birth or
by descent and must have attained the age of
40 years. Under the current
provisions of the new Chapter II persons who
have attained that age can only
become citizens by registration. Under
Chinamasa's new law there will be no
Zimbabwean citizens by birth or descent
who are 40 years of age until 2020!
Justice Smith is a retired
High Court judge.
BY GEORGE SMITH
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
16:40
ELSEWHERE in this edition we carry details of a recent High Court
ruling by Justice Charles Hungwe in an application by MDC activists who were
abducted by the state and illegally detained by police.
The
ruling by Justice Hungwe is a distressing illustration of the
difficulties
that face the unity government in the area of law and order.
It is
evidence that among all facets of this society crying for
change, the reform
of the police must be attended to urgently. In the case
we report on,
Justice Hungwe heard of how the police detained the activists
including a
two-year-old child for extended periods of time, in breach of
international
conventions and the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
"The respondents
(police and the state) have denied the applicants the
protection of the
law," said Hungwe. "The respondents have permitted the
applicants to be
detained in communicado. People are at risk of torture or
other forms of
ill-treatment if they are detained in communicado. The risk
increases the
longer they are held as this allows for a longer period for
injuries to be
inflicted and visible marks of these injuries to fade.
"Further, detainees have a right of access to legal advice without
delay.
They should be able to consult with a lawyer in private while in
custody, to
have a lawyer present during interrogations and to represent
them when they
appear in court. Lawyers should be able to advise and
represent their
clients in accordance with professional standards free from
intimidation,
hindrance, harassment and without improper interference from
any quarter.
This is trite."
He added: "No-one is above the law or below it.
In the present case
the 3rd and 4th respondents have callously demonstrated
the affinity to act
as if they were above the law."
This
conduct by the force -- as spelt out by Justice Hungwe - is a
wake-up call
for the unity government in which the MDC and Zanu PF co-share
the ministry
of Home Affairs responsible for the police. They urgently need
to consider
reform of the police as a priority.
This strong statement by
Justice Hungwe is not the first such
indictment of police by the court. But
condemnation alone is not enough.
What is required is real action by the
government to improve policing in
this country.
In
parliament last week co-Home Affairs minister Giles Mutsekwa was
coy when
responding to questions on the use of torture to extract
confessions by the
police. He said the ministry does not approve of this but
failed to
unambiguously condemn the practice.
In response to another
question about police failures to investigate
complaints of torture, he
pointed to the difficulty of proving such cases.
That is not reassuring at
all, nor was his bashful comments in an SW Radio
interview recently on the
task to hand in reforming the police.
"The challenge that I see
and face is that of trying to transform the
thinking, the behaviour and
indeed the face of the entire workers of the
ministry and that includes the
police force itself," he said.
"I know that is going to take
some time but as you know we are now
under this inclusive government and
people who are watching us from afar -
both regionally and internationally -
would want to judge the success or
failure of the inclusive government
through my ministry because we are in
charge of ensuring that there is law
and there is also order in the
country."
How long do we
have to wait for this to happen? One way this
government can demonstrate
resolve in solving this crisis is ensuring that
the country's image is
restored. That entails demonstrating the ability of
the police to enforce
the law competently without abridging civil liberties
and not blatantly
taking sides.
As Morgan Tsvangirai pointed out last weekend, it is
a fact that
lawlessness is an affront to economic development. It is
unlikely Zimbabwe
will succeed in an environment where property rights and
human rights are
non-existent. Lawlessness only perpetuates
poverty.
Reforming our police so that they are a professional
service that is
not misused for partisan purposes is central to ensuring
basic security and
fighting crime. Doing so will ensure that protecting
Zimbabweans is the
first priority of law enforcement and the foundation for
good governance.
Although such reforms have been encouraged for
years without much
progress, we urge all politicians involved in the unity
government to
acknowledge that police reforms are too important to neglect
and too urgent
to delay.
There is need to ensure that the
police command structure is not
tainted with politics and that senior
appointments are carefully vetted to
guarantee professionalism. There must
be investment in training and ensuring
the force is properly equipped to
fight crime.
Then key to the process of reform must be measures to
ensure police
desist from asking for bribes. This is now being done so
openly that one
would think it was legal.
This is key in
shaping a police service committed to upholding the law
rather than a
coercive force shoring up political patrons.
BY VINCENT
KAHIYA
http://britavoice-zim-girl.blogspot.com
'Giving
Voice'
A couple of days ago, the ZIFA Chief Executive, Henrietta Rushwaya
made not
only misguided, but mischievous and careless statements concerning
the
refurbishment of Barbour Fields (BF) stadium in Bulawayo. She asserts
that
the submissions by the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) for the
refurbishment of
the stadium came in too late, such that refurbishment will
not be possible
before the 2010 Soccer games.
Rushwaya's assertion
falls in contraction to the sentiments by the BCC
Acting Director of Housing
and Community Services, Mackenzie Widzani Moyo
who argues that if funds were
to be availed, there is indeed adequate time
falling between now and 2010 to
complete the refurbishment project. In
defending her stance that BF stadium
cannot be refurbished any time soon,
Rushwaya attempts to create a scenario
where the BCC as an institution
running the City's affairs, has a
lackadaisical attitude towards their work.
This runs contrary to the well
known fact that Bulawayo has been ranked one
of the most progressive City
Councils in Zimbabwe even in the face of the
stiff and hostile challenges
she has been facing from the Mugabe government,
which resulted in Zanu pf's
Minister of Local Government continuously poking
his fingers in the City
Council's Affairs. Thus for instance, Bulawayo
reportedly falls as the only
City in Zimbabwe which has some of its Council
Clinics now offering free
consultation to HIV/AIDS victims.
Rushwaya, in her reaction to the
attacks she is receiving over her unhidden
stance which marginalizes
Bulawayo, ashamedly evades the real crunch of the
issues at stake; that the
limiting factor to the refurbishment of BF has
been the failure by ZIFA and
the government to avail some funds to the BCC.
In her mischief, Rushwaya
belittles through equating the time falling
between now and 2010, to '30
days', and that no viable project can be done
in that limited time
frame.
Technical issues relating to refurbishment of stadiums and other
structures
should be left to technically minded people, and Rushwaya has to
be reminded
that she is not one of such. Her attacks on Zimbabweans in her
article
(http://www.zimeye.org/?p=3720); 'You
need to be educated on some of these
things so as to avoid accusing poor
CEOs who will be merely executing their
duties', are attacks more befitting
her own conduct as ZIFA CEO because she
is dismally failing to draw a line
of distinction between her duties and
those of the City Council's
technocrats, and in the process she is running
all over the show. She may as
ZIFA CEO spell out the standards called for,
but the determination of how
many days it takes an engineer to screw and
bolt up a structure is really
not something within her portfolio.
Rushwaya fails to comprehend that the
issue that BF does not meet the
standard procedures required to host
international teams is not under
dispute. All that the Bulawayo people are
asking is the release of funds to
enable the refurbishment.
The
problem of potholes in Bulawayo, as she puts it, is not a feature only
common to Bulawayo. Harare has also got many potholes, if not more than the
potholes in Bulawayo. Her reference to the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo
International Airport only but fuels more anger given that this is also yet
one of the unfinished stories in Bulawayo.
And Rushwaya's having a
mama originating from Bulawayo in concert with her
claims, is neither here
nor there, and is thus uncalled for in the context
of this discussion. It is
really not an issue of who is Ndebele and who is
Shona, or who has traces of
the Ndebele blood and who does not. It is simply
an issue of advocating for
equitable treatment of the whole of Zimbabwe. If
ZIFA managed to get funding
to refurbish Rufaro stadium in 2007, what
explains ZIFA's prioritization of
only Rufaro stadium, to the exclusion of
Barbour Fields? Back then in 2007,
ZIFA had said whilst the refurbishment of
Rufaro was underway, plans were
underway to offer the same services to BF.
In any case, there is life
even outside the upcoming World Soccer games. So
refurbishment of BF is
still urgently called for so as to protect the lives
of the Zimbabweans who
use the stadium from time to time.
Bias of this nature speaks for itself.
Behind some of these statements by
the ZIFA CEO lies some bitterness and
jealousy; probably emanating from the
knowing that Bulawayo, The City of
Kings, given the backing and support has
great potential to grow and even
outshine Harare.
Justice can only reign if Coltart, the Minister
responsible for Education,
Sports and Culture, revisits the appointment of
this ZIFA executive, as
argued in my other earlier article relating to
ZIFA;
(http://www.nehandaradio.com/zimbabwe/opinionwriters/bridgettapuwa/rushwaya230209.html)
The
writer, Bridget Tapuwa is based in Belgium and she can be reached at
britavoice@gmail.com