SABC
August 14, 2008,
05:45
John Nyashanu
President Thabo Mbeki says he has no doubt a power
sharing deal will be
concluded soon between Zimbabwe's rival
parties.
Mbeki has briefed Angolan president Jose' Eduardo dos Santos,
who chairs the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) organ on
politics, defence and
security, which mandated South Africa to mediate in
Zimbabwe.
This comes as media reports of a purported power sharing deal
between
President Robert Mugabe and the leader of the smaller MDC faction
Arthur
Mutambara is collapsing in Zimbabwe. However, Mutambara has dismissed
these
reports as lies.
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai was making a diplomatic
appeal to express his
position. Yesterday, the opposition leader met African
diplomats accredited
to Zimbabwe. The inconclusive outcome of this week's
series of meetings
appears to have knocked some wind out of the sails of
ordinary Zimbabweans.
In the meantime, the political leaders and the
mediator remain in constant
contact, in a bid to reach agreement on the
outstanding issue, preferably
before this weekend's SADC summit in
Johannesburg.
Financial Times
Published:
August 14 2008 03:11 | Last updated: August 14 2008 03:11
With Zimbabwe’s
power-sharing talks once again stalled, the country’s fate
now depends on
which of the four negotiators – trade unionist, liberation
hero, former
McKinsey consultant or Africanist intellectual – will blink
first.
When he emerged on Tuesday night from power-sharing talks at
Harare’s
Rainbow Towers hotel, Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change who came first in March’s first
round of
presidential elections, was taciturn.
It appeared
initially that the former labour organiser, beaten up by
security forces a
year ago, might have been excluded from a deal.
Rumours circulated that
Arthur Mutambara, a business strategy professor and
consultant, who leads a
breakaway faction of the MDC, had cut a deal with
President Robert
Mugabe.
But Mr Mutambara contradicted the state mouthpiece that had
reported the
pact, saying there could be no agreement unless all parties
signed up. Some
members of his faction argue that Mr Mutambara’s political
reputation would
be fatally tainted by such an accommodation.
Even
so, he left little doubt as to where his sympathies lay, joining the
government in accusing Mr Tsvangirai, who insists that he is entitled to
lead any transitional government as executive prime minister, of
vacillation.
Commenting on the talks on Wednesday, Mr Tsvangirai
reiterated his
commitment to dialogue provided it reflected “the will of the
people”. He
did not reveal the key points of disagreement.
Senior
aides to Mr Tsvangirai have been ambivalent about the prospects for a
deal,
saying that one could be in the offing, but hinting that a breakdown
of the
talks could be in the opposition leader’s interests. “We will just go
off
round the capitals again,” said one aide, referring to a diplomatic
campaign
that has seen Europe and the US, as well as several of Mr Mugabe’s
neighbours, demand that Mr Mugabe cede power to his old rival.
With
the economy collapsing, the MDC holds one important card. Donors will
refuse
to hand over the $2bn (€1.3bn, £1bn) in planned reconstruction aid
should Mr
Mugabe and his followers retain power.
“Without Tsvangirai, neither
Mugabe nor Mutambara can form any sort of
government that will be credible
in the eyes of Zimbabweans, the region and
the international community,”
says Bella Matambanadzo, head of the Zimbabwe
programme at the Open Society
Initiative.
But Mr Mugabe has insisted he retain some executive power.
One person close
to the talks said his demands included the right to dismiss
the prime
minister.
Even if Mr Tsvangirai wins executive power, he
would have to overcome deep
divisions in his party.
As regional
leaders gather in Johannesburg this weekend for a summit of the
Southern
African Development Community, the MDC hopes its international
backers will
exert more pressure on Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s president
who has been
mediating the talks.
Mr Mbeki’s star has fallen since he hailed an
“African renaissance” more
than a decade ago. Much criticised for his “quiet
diplomacy” approach to
Zimbabwe’s crisis, he is scrambling for a deal that
will secure his legacy.
With Botswana threatening to boycott the summit
if Mr Mugabe attends, and
the powerful labour federation that is part of the
ruling South African
alliance planning a massive demonstration for Saturday,
Mr Mbeki will take
the bloc’s chair under unprecedented strain.
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71639?oid=97958&sn=Detail
Eddie Cross
14 August 2008
Eddie Cross
writes that the Zanu-PF leader's position can only weaken
Who said a
day is a long time in politics! Last night we all witnessed a
sombre Morgan
Tsvangirai walk out of the talks at 20h00 with a terse comment
to the press
'Mbeki will make a statement'. Then finally at midnight, a
clearly weary
Mbeki came out to say that the talks were being interrupted to
give Morgan
time to consider certain ideas.
On the sidelines Emmerson Mnangagwa
claimed that they had done a deal with
Arthur Mutambara under which the Mutt
would be Prime Minister and a Zanu/MDC
(M) cabinet. Mutambara was all over
the place - to one set of journalists he
confirmed a deal was in the making
and to another he denied any such deal.
Outside the Conference Centre, the
Mutambara faction supporters and their
elected Members of Parliament were
furious.
I once said to a visitor to our fair land, 'If you are not yet
confused, you
have not been here long enough!' We continue to live up to
this reputation
and the secrecy surrounding the talks does not help. I still
think that the
policy of quiet diplomacy is wrong - it should be a much more
open and
transparent process with much wider participation. Still that is
not our
call to make - but to treat the press in such a cavalier way is just
not
cricket!
Morgan Tsvangirai will address a press conference this
afternoon and after
that things should be a bit clearer [see here] but what
is already apparent
is that little progress has been made in 4 days of
intense talks. The main
issue remains power - who will exercise power in the
transitional
government. Morgan is saying that since we won the March 29th
election it
should be the MDC that controls the reins of government in the
transition.
Mugabe just refuses to accept that reality.
To bridge
this gap requires no skill - just brute strength. It's
hand-wrestling time.
Mugabe is playing a dangerous game - if he conceded the
main issue and then
worked on the other matters on the table he might make
progress. If he
continues to refuse to do so he runs the very real risk that
when he finally
has to give in he will not have the strength to defend the
essential
interests of his supporters.
In 1973 I was part of a small group of
exceptional young business executives
who were all also serving in one
capacity or another in the Rhodesian
security forces. We were all under 30
years of age, rapidly rising through
the ranks in business and all born
Rhodesians. We were a patriotic bunch
drawn from every possible
profession.
We agreed to put our heads together and project different
possible outcomes
for the war that was then in the second year of real
conflict. After a month
of work we thought we had it pretty well sewn up -
all our predictions were
for defeat in the long run and the different ways
to get the best deal out
of the process of seeking a solution. We drafted a
memorandum and sent it to
the Prime Minister with a letter asking him to see
us.
Within a week we were called to a private home in Highlands where we
found a
relaxed Ian Douglas Smith waiting for us. We sat on the floor and
after we
had presented our conclusions to him with supporting argument and
facts, he
responded by saying 'I simply cannot accept that we are not going
to win
this war, we are winning the war and I can see no reason for changing
course.' Within six months, only 8 of that outstanding group of men were
left in the country - the others just packed up and left saying that that
they could see no reason to sacrifice their lives on a lost
cause.
Three years later Smith was called to South Africa to meet a man
called
Henry Kissinger, along with the South African President. It was the
end of
his political career. When finally he got to Lancaster House to
negotiate
the end of the war, he had lost the power to dictate anything
except a short
transition protecting the narrow short-term interests of the
white
community. In 1973 we had argued to Smith that he should settle
immediately - negotiate the best deal he could and if you look at the
proposals on the table at that time, had he done so he might have saved all
of us a lot of stress and suffering.
The similarities with that
situation and the one we face today are uncanny.
Mugabe is winning the
political skirmishes but losing the war. He is
gradually being forced to
retreat and lose ground. It's a struggle he cannot
win, this is a numbers
game and it's already lost. The longer he hangs on
and tries to defend what
he has the less influence he will have over its
outcome.
Mr. Mbeki
says that the talks will go on and that he will stick at it until
a deal is
reached. He is probably right to adopt such a stance as to abandon
the talks
route is to open the door to bloodshed and violence and this can
only make
the situation much worse. With the economy now disintegrating fast
it is
unlikely that the regime will be able to pay the civil service at the
month
end. Tax revenues lag government payments by about two months on
average -
in two months with 42 million percent inflation; those tax
revenues will be
worthless.
At yesterdays parade pf the army, Mugabe thanked the Chinese
government for
a gift of new uniforms for the armed services - if he cannot
get them to
also pick up the tab on their salaries at month end he might
face a real
crisis and find himself - like the Romanian President Nicolae
Ceausescu in
1989 - ending up a casualty and in no position to negotiate
anything, not
even where he should be buried.
Kissinger wrote in his
autobiography, that it was the saddest day of his
life when he had to end
the career of Smith in Pretoria. But in doing so he
began the process that
ended a long and bloody war that was only going to
eventually conclude with
defeat for the tiny embattled white minority and
their supporters. History
has laid that mantle on the shoulders of Mbeki.
Eventually he will have to
pull the trigger or someone else will do it for
him. Like all unpleasant
tasks it is best not to dilly-dally about what is
inevitable.
This
article first appeared on Eddie Cross's website August 13 2008
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2573
August 14, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO - Elected House of Assembly elects representing
the breakaway
Arthur Mutambara led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have
reacted
angrily to reports of a secret deal between their leader and
President
Robert Mugabe.
MDC officials hastened to deny any such deal
had been signed.
The legislators, all representing constituencies in
Matabeleland, distanced
themselves from any signing of a power-sharing deal
between Mutambara and
the Zanu-PF leader behind the back of Morgan
Tsvangirai leader of the
mainstream MDC.
State-owned newspapers,
radio and television reported in detail on Wednesday
that Mugabe and
Mutambara had signed the deal after Tsvangirai walked out of
the talks on
Tuesday night. They reported that the signing would pave the
way for a
government between Mugabe and the Mutambara MDC. They quoted
unnamed senior
Zanu-PF officials as the source of the detailed information.
Legislators
representing the Mutambara breakaway faction who are mostly from
Matabeleland South and North provinces reacted angrily to this development.
They spoke to The Zimbabwe Times on Wednesday and warned that they would not
work with Mugabe if Mutambara signed any deal with the 84 year old Zanu-PF
leader in the absence of Tsvangirai.
Mutambara's faction has one
senator and 10 Members of Parliament who, like
the rest of the legislators
elected on March 29, are still to be sworn-in.
They represent constituencies
in Bulawayo and Matabeleland North and South
provinces. Mutambara himself,
his deputy, Gibson Sibanda, and secretary
general Welshman Ncube as well as
the rest of the leadership of his faction
were all defeated in the
elections.
There is a perception that Mutambara, who was not a
presidential candidate
and who was defeated as a parliamentary candidate has
used the 10 seats as a
bargaining point in the negotiations.
"So far
we have not been told anything about the deal but if the reports in
the
state media are true that Mutambara signed the deal, this will be
disastrous
as none of us will go with him. He would be committing political
suicide,"
said Abednigo Bhebhe, the MP elect for Nkayi South in Matabeleland
North.
"There is no way we would agree to a deal without our
colleagues in the
Tsvangirai MDC."
Another MP from the Mutambara
group accused Mutambara of allegedly making
his own decisions in Harare
without consulting the elected MPs.
"These guys are just making their
silly decisions in Harare without even
coming down to the electorate who
elected us,' said the MP who represents a
constituency in Matabeleland
South.
South African President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday confirmed that
Mugabe had
agreed on certain aspects of the proposed power-sharing deal with
a
breakaway opposition faction on Tuesday, but was yet to reach agreement
with
his main rival, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mbeki, mediating in talks to
end the political and economic crisis that has
paralysed Zimbabwe, said
negotiations had not broken down and Tsvangirai was
still reflecting on
certain aspects of the proposed deal.
Talks on power-sharing started in
Pretoria last month following Mugabe's
unopposed re-election in a vote that
was boycotted by Tsvangirai and widely
condemned around the
world.
But three days of meetings in Harare failed to reach any binding
agreement.
A Zanu-PF official was reported by The Herald to have told the
paper that
Mugabe would form a national unity government and convene
Parliament next
week.
If that happens, Mutambara's 10 seats would
give the coalition the majority
in parliament that Zanu-PF lost in March.
Analysts say, however, that
excluding Tsvangirai from any deal held little
prospect of healing the deep
rift between Zanu-PF and the MDC or of solving
the current economic crisis.
The Herald reported that Mugabe and
Mutambara had signed an agreement,
saying Tsvangirai had refused to do so at
the last moment, "but this does
not affect progress".
"The principals
of the other two parties have agreed that they cannot wait
any longer and
the nation demands progress. As such, President Mugabe will
go ahead and
form the next Government and Parliament will soon sit," the
newspaper quoted
the senior Zanu-PF official as having said.
"President Mbeki understands
that the negotiations cannot be stalled any
longer. The negotiators found it
unfortunate that Tsvangirai pulled out at
the eleventh hour, but the talks
are not over."
He said President Mbeki would be flying to Angola
Wednesday to brief the
Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security on the
progress of the talks.
Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos is the
current chair of the organ.
Mutambara and his secretary general, Ncube,
hastened to deny that any deal
been signed as widely reported.
http://www.nehandaradio.com/zimbabwe/talks/mutambara-mdc-split140808.html
14 August 2008
By Never
Kadungure
Officials from the breakaway Mutambara MDC faction were locked
in intense
meetings the whole day Wednesday amid speculation the party was
on the verge
of disintergrating after its leader Arthur Mutambara
unilaterally entered a
deal with Mugabe to share power.
On Tuesday
evening Tsvangirai stormed out of a meeting with Mbeki, Mugabe
and Mutambara
following a refusal by the Zanu PF leader to give up executive
power. With
the state owned Herald newspaper confirming a deal was later
struck with
Mutambara, the move created chaos within the faction.
Nehanda Radio
understands Mutambara was offered a third Vice Presidential
spot to add to
current Vice Presidents Joyce Mujuru and Joseph Msika. Other
officials from
the party like Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairambwi,
Gibson Sibanda and
others who lost elections were offered influential posts
under the set
up.
However 7 of the 10 MP's in the party threatened to resign if
Mutambara
formed a government with Mugabe. Edward Tshotsho Mkhosi the MP for
Mangwe
told journalists, 'No I will not watch history being repeated,we have
seen
ZANU PF's strategy of divide and rule in the past and this time it will
not
work, not this time.'
Abednico Bhebhe the MP for Nkayi South also
made his position clear, 'If
this has happened I don't agree. This will be
disastrous. None of us will go
with him. He would be committing political
suicide.' Senior official Trudy
Stevenson seemed to warn Mutambara in a
statement Wednesday that the
National Council of the party would not endorse
such a position.
Only 3 MP's are said to support Mutambara's position but
whichever way the
tide goes, Zimbabweans made their voice emphatic, telling
the faction it
risked becoming irrelevant if it proceeded with the
marriage.
http://www.zimbabwemetro.com
Local
News
August 14, 2008 | By Simba Dzvairo
MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti
took a swipe at MDC Faction leader Arthur
Mutambara in a new row over talks
and accused him of "Elitism".
As talks hit a deadlock last night over
executive power and ZANU PF 's
demand that Mutambara be made deputy to
Tsvangirai, all parties were on a
media stampede trying to explain their
positions.
Mutambara in a press conference called Tsvangirai indecisive
and the state
controlled media which usually publishes ZANU PF press
statements as news
declared that a deal has been sealed.
Mutambara
that Tsvangirai was indecisive,"Three times he agreed to this one
aspect and
three times he changed his mind." Last year Mutambara called
Tsvangirai an
'intellectual midget'.
In an interview with VOA's Studio 7 Tendi
Biti,MDC-Harare East took a veiled
swipe at Mutambara for rushing to commit
to a deal with President Mugabe.
"We are mindful that we cannot sell the
people of Zimbabwe and this party
cannot be swallowed and for positions and
elitism rush into any agreement.",
Biti said in an interview which was
broadcast last evening.
Biti also poured scorn over report in The Herald
that Mugabe will go ahead
and convene parliament next week.
"The
Memorandum of Understanding makes it very clear that no party during
the
duration of the talks will do anything that will structurally derail the
talks and it makes it very clear that they are too things that cannot happen
which are mentioned by name which the appointment of a government and the
calling of parliament ", he said.
"If anyone in his wisdom of lack of
it, is going to appoint a cabinet that
will amount to a unilateral
repudiation of the agreement in simpler terms a
declaration of war on the
talks", Biti said.
Meanwhile pundits say the inclusion of the smaller
faction in the power
sharing talks was a bad idea by Mbeki in the first
place and it was bound to
complicate matters.
"The presence of a
third party in any dialogue complicates matters, as you
will notice since
the talks began ZANU PF has been trying to curry favour
with the Mutambara
faction so they could get concessions from the Tsvangirai
MDC which a real
threat to ZANU PF."
"The larger MDC faction is also trying to avoid any
action that might upset
their colleagues so they have to maintain a delicate
balancing act while not
conceding too much ground", noted Asher
Tarivona-Mutsengi, a social
commentator.
Stephen Bevan writting in
the Times said the first time he spoke to
Mutambara he struck him as a
elitist and a man driven by ruthless ambition.
"Two and a half years ago
when he granted me a rare interview in
Johannesburg he refused to get up
from his desk to pose for the photographer
because his jacket did not match
his trousers. "I'm very concerned about my
image," he said.
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
14 August 2008
Posted to the web 14 August
2008
Dumisani Muleya
Johannesburg
ZIMBABWE's main opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai walked out of talks with
President Robert Mugabe on
Tuesday after Mugabe was unable to guarantee in
writing that Tsvangirai
would be head of government in a power-sharing deal,
it emerged
yesterday.
Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC), said yesterday he remained committed to the talks
and hoped the
sticking points would be resolved soon.
On Tuesday
evening he refused to sign a draft power-sharing agreement at a
meeting
chaired by President Thabo Mbeki.
Informed sources said he refused to
sign a document titled Functions and
Powers of the Prime Minister, the last
part of a consolidated draft
agreement. The sources said the draft made
Tsvangirai a prime minister, a de
facto but not de jure, head of government.
A new constitutional framework
would have given him the powers of a head of
government, but that title was
omitted from the draft.
It is
understood that Tsvangirai insisted on insertion of a clause
stipulating him
as head of government, but Mugabe refused, saying it would
render him a
merely ceremonial president. Talks then collapsed.
Yesterday, Arthur
Mutambara, leader of the smaller, breakaway faction of the
MDC, confirmed
that Tsvangirai had initially agreed to sign the document but
changed his
mind several times. "Tsvangirai has requested time to reflect
and consult.
Three times he agreed to this one aspect and three times he
changed his
mind."
Tsvangirai yesterday said he remained committed to the talks
because he
wanted a peaceful settlement.
"Our objective is simple --
a peaceful resolution to the crisis that
respects the will of the people.
The MDC remains committed to participating
in any meaningful and genuine
dialogue that urgently moves this process
forward," he said, adding that he
wanted a solution that recognised the
results of the March 29 election. His
party won 100 seats in parliament,
Zanu (PF) 99 and Mutambara's faction 10.
A majority of 106 is needed to form
a government. Mutambara yesterday denied
that he had signed a deal with
Mugabe, but said any party was entitled to
enter into bilateral discussions
should the talks fail.
MDC spokesman
Tapiwa Mashakada said to resolve the talks impasse would
require a "proper
distribution and balance of power" to ensure political
stability.
Mbeki has said the talks have not collapsed, echoing
remarks by all the
negotiators. "We have dealt with all the elements on
which President Mugabe
and Mutambara agree, but there is disagreement on one
element over which
Morgan Tsvangirai had asked for time to reflect," Mbeki
told reporters. "We
have adjourned to give Tsvangirai more time to consider
these matters."
Reuters
Wed 13 Aug
2008, 23:04 GMT
By Luke Baker
LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Like
millions of Zimbabweans living abroad,
Leslie Maruziva follows the tortuous
power-sharing talks going on at home.
He wonders about leaving London and
going back. But for now, he is
unconvinced.
Up to 4 million
Zimbabweans are estimated to live outside the country, in
neighbouring South
Africa, Mozambique or Botswana, or further afield in
Britain, the United
States and Canada, while around 13 million remain at
home.
If
President Robert Mugabe were to step down or agree to share power with
the
opposition, which boycotted June elections condemned internationally as
unfair, many might decide to return to Zimbabwe. But until there are
guarantees about the pace and extent of change, most will hold
off.
"I have one eye looking very closely at developments back home -- I
speak to
people, I have family there -- but I'm not going to rush anything,"
said
Maruziva, 38, a senior executive with the London Development
Agency.
He has lived in Britain since 1989 and is now married -- to a
Ghanaian --
with young children. His friends in Britain include Zimbabwean
investment
bankers and doctors.
"I've been here a long time, I have a
family here and it's not just a case
of upping and leaving and going back.
There's a lot to take into account. I
know a lot of Zimbabwean professionals
who are in a similar situation."
A large percentage of those who have
left Zimbabwe are well-educated
professionals -- the kind of people many
African countries want to lure
back. They have found jobs in their adopted
countries and started families.
Returning when things are uncertain is, for
many, just too much of a risk.
"I don't want to go back blind," Maruziva
said. "I need to be able to go
back and set myself up with a job that allows
me to provide for my family,
both my immediate family and the extended
family, and that is not going to
happen overnight.
"Political
stability is essential, and other things will fall into place
after that,
but it will take time."
EYEING THE PRIZE
Thousands of
Nigerians, Kenyans, Ghanaians and other Africans, who left as
refugees or to
study and work abroad, have returned home in recent years to
invest, eager
to help their countries' development and cash in on
opportunities for
growth.
But the countries that have enticed back their educated diaspora
are
generally relatively stable -- like Ghana and Nigeria -- or have enjoyed
several years of peace after war, like Liberia and Sierra
Leone.
Zimbabwe has not been at war but its once promising economy is in
ruins,
with the world's highest inflation and chronic fuel and food
shortages.
Without a resolution to the political crisis, there is little
hope of
economic recovery.
Zimbabweans, whether educated
professionals or the millions of less well-off
who have fled by foot across
the border, can't afford to wait forever for
their homeland to turn
around.
Traditionally a stable and productive nation, Zimbabwe has
natural beauty,
minerals like platinum, gold and diamonds and an education
system that is
the envy of the rest of Africa. As a place to invest, it is a
hot ticket and
the earliest movers may very likely have an
advantage.
Russian and Chinese entrepreneurs are already looking at
opportunities, and
wealthy Zimbabweans abroad are also lining themselves up,
having bought
property and small businesses on the cheap in recent years,
betting that the
situation would eventually turn and they would be well
placed.
This year, investors have so far poured an estimated $150-$250
million into
what was once southern Africa's major grain producer, and
Zimbabweans abroad
send back around $50 million a month.
Investors
from other African nations, such as Nigeria and Ghana, are also
staying
abreast of the situation, familiar with how rapidly nations can turn
around
and business opportunities spring up. Timing, for all, is of the
essence.
"Right now, the risk-takers are already taking up
positions," said Shingai
Ndoro, 29, the chief executive of JT Global Group,
a London-based
consultancy that is looking to help investors and skilled
Zimbabweans return
to the country.
"Even the regular man on the
street in Zimbabwe right now is very
entrepreneurial -- he has to be or
otherwise he won't make enough to
survive. I think that entrepreneurial
spirit is going to be carried forward,
and so people will have to be
sharp.
"A lot of colleagues and professionals living here in England have
already
developed their networks back home. For me, it wouldn't take me more
than a
few months to go back, even if it might take five years for the
situation to
really turn around, or even for the exchange rate to
stabilise."
WHAT ABOUT JUSTICE?
Opportunities may abound, but
the challenges run deep.
Inflation is running at more than two million
percent, a figure that is
essentially meaningless -- until a redenomination
of the currency this
month, the largest note was worth 100 billion. Most
fundamentally, there is
not enough food.
Even if Mugabe, 84, were to
step aside, or at least share power, the
differences between his ZANU-PF
party and their rivals would not be settled
overnight, and the militant mobs
who support him are unlikely to stop their
attacks on
opponents.
Thousands of people who have voted against Mugabe or openly
opposed his rule
say they have been beaten and tortured by his followers
before fleeing into
exile. They want justice, or at least a fair hearing,
and won't return until
they feel sure.
"There are many, many people
who would want to return and contribute to the
rebuilding of Zimbabwe, but
there is still uncertainty and a lack of clarity
about what role the
diaspora would play," said Gabriel Shumba, the director
of the Zimbabwe
Exiles Forum, a support group based in South Africa.
"There are people
who have been tortured, raped, people whose families have
been killed. Do
they want to return right away, without knowing if there
will be
justice?
"I think many people will wait to see how the situation
develops, to make
sure that there is no longer violence, that inflation has
gone down. Perhaps
it will be one or two years."
For Maruziva, who
left as an adventurous 18-year-old to go backpacking in
Europe and didn't
return partly for political reasons, the key will be
striking a balance
between keeping the family he now has in Britain
comfortable, and not
missing out on opportunities Zimbabwe may soon offer.
"I think you will
see Zimbabweans making new ties, testing the water to go
back, but not
leaving everything they've got here because they can't afford
to go back and
lose everything.
"People with money to invest, whether in property or
small businesses or
mineral processing, they are ready. But the time is not
yet. It's still some
time off," said Maruziva.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/national.aspx?ID=BD4A822013
14
August 2008
Wilson
Johwa
Political
Correspondent
THIS weekend's Southern African Development Community
(SADC) summit has all
the elements of a dysfunctional family's Christmas
gathering, if one member
comes another chooses to stay
away.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was invited despite the wish
of some SADC
members that he be shunned. He is accused of stealing the
country's
presidency and orchestrating a terror campaign against the
opposition. His
presence is likely to split the 14-member
grouping.
SADC executive secretary Tomaz Augusto Solamoa yesterday
said all regional
heads of state and governments, including Mugabe, had been
invited to the
summit.
"It's now up to the relevant authorities in
Zimbabwe to decide who's going
to come," he said at a media
briefing.
Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Zimbabwe had
confirmed its
attendance but not who would represent the country at the
Johannesburg
meeting.
It was also unclear if Botswana head of
state Ian Khama would attend .
Dlamini-Zuma said it would be sad if he
stayed away. A critic of events in
Zimbabwe, Khama had threatened to boycott
the summit if Mugabe was invited.
The outgoing SADC chairman, Zambian
President Levy Mwanawasa, is
recuperating from a stroke, and it is uncertain
if acting head of state
Lupando Mwape will attend.
Dlamini-Zuma
said it was unclear if the Zambian constitution allowed an
acting head of
state to be out of the country in the president's absence.
President
Thabo Mbeki is due to take over chairmanship of SADC from
Mwanawasa.
Siphamandla Zondi, of the Institute for Global
Dialogue, said the weekend
summit would reflect an uncanny tussle between
"the normal security agenda
that usually dominates" and issues of economic
and human development. The
challenge for the outgoing chairman was to strike
a balance between the two
agendas, thereby setting the brief for Mbeki, the
incoming chairman. For
SA - the dominant economy that elicited a measure of
hostility in the
region - perceptions that it was placing its own economic
interests ahead of
regional interests could undermine support for the
political agenda, said
Zondi. With Sapa.
http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4557929
August 14, 2008 Edition 1
Hans Pienaar
The SADC
weekend summit was heading for disarray yesterday, with the two
presidents
critical of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe unlikely to attend, and no
official yet
on hand to hand over the reins to South Africa.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called on President
Thabo Mbeki to use
the summit to reverse Mugabe's ban on humanitarian
agencies.
"I would
feel very sad," said SA foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,
when asked
about Botswana's mooted non-attendance.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa
is due to officially hand over the SADC
chair to Thabo Mbeki. Since he is in
hospital with a heart complaint, he
will not be able to perform this
duty.
Mbeki flew to Luanda yesterday to discuss the crisis with President
Eduardo
Dos Santos, who heads the SADC's organ on politics and
security.
Meanwhile, Arthur Mutambara, who has been negotiating with
Mugabe and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, denied he had signed a deal
with
Mugabe. A well-placed source in the talks said Mutambara had initialled
the
draft agreement prepared by negotiators in South Africa before the
Harare
meeting. The four went through it until they came to a section on the
prime
minister's powers.
The draft would keep Mugabe as chairman of
the cabinet and appointer of the
prime minister, and he would retain most of
his powers. After Mugabe and
Mutambara had initialled the page, Tsvangirai
refused.
Yesterday Tsvangirai issued a statement to the "people of
Zimbabwe",
describing Zimbabwe as "one of the worst man-made humanitarian
disasters of
a new and hopeful century".
He said a deal would have to
be based on the wishes of the electorate as
expressed in the March 29
elections. - Mercury Foreign Service
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2570
August 14, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Runyararo Mugauri, an MDC activist who was
severely attacked by
Zanu-PF supporters early this month in Chiweshe, died
in Harare on Saturday.
According to medical reports, Mugauri, who was the
MDC youth secretary for
Mazowe District was attacked with blunt objects at
his homestead. He
sustained serious injuries.
Party officials ferried
Mugauri to Harare for treatment but due to the
nature of the injuries
doctors failed to perform skin grafting leading him
to succumb to his death
on Saturday night.
"We tried our best to help him but due to the
seriousness of his injuries,
Mugauri could not live for long. He was in
urgent need of skin grafting on
his buttocks but this could not be performed
as he was in a very bad state,"
said the doctor who was attending to
Mugauri.
The death of Mugauri brings to 125 the number of MDC supporters
who have
been murdered at the hands of Zanu-PF militants.
Last week
Zanu-PF supporters allegedly killed two more MDC supporters,
including
Fungisayi Ziome also of Chiweshe. Although a report was filed with
the
police with some of the alleged perpetrators being identified, no
arrests
have so far been made.
Mugauri is expected to be buried in Chiweshe on
Friday.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2620
August 14, 2008
By Geoffrey
Nyarota
(Published in The Financial Gazette, 2006)
ANY Zimbabwean
politician who despises those of his compatriots who are less
academically
inclined or accomplished than him invites the wrath of people
who constitute
the majority of the electorate.
While our country's adult literacy
figures are high by any standard, the
highest on the African continent, men
and women of outstanding scholarly
achievement constitute a tiny percentage
of the population of Zimbabwe.
Long before the October 2005 split within
the ranks of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, the much-talked
about lack of dazzling
academic accomplishment of party leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, had become a
potentially divisive matter among the top hierarchy
of the party. As a
parliamentary committee worked on the draft of the 2005
constitutional
amendments, which ushered in the controversial revival of the
senate, the
then MDC secretary for legal affairs, David Coltart, attempted
to sneak in
an amendment clause which would have barred non-degreed
politicians from
aspiring to be President of Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai was
the obvious target of the proposed amendment. Coltart
submitted the clause
without the knowledge of Tsvangirai, who only got wind
of the intrigues
taking place behind his back after the proposed clause was
rejected by the
committee. The same Coltart now portrays himself as arbiter
in the dispute
which subsequently raged, pitying MDC secretary general, Prof
Welshman Ncube
against Tsvangirai and which Coltart quite clearly fuelled in
its
infancy.
Those within the leadership of the MDC breakaway faction who
collectively
despise Tsvangirai's lack of higher education do not all
possess the
attribute of an impressive academic record, unless, of course,
they now
consider themselves well-read merely by their association with
their learned
secretary general. They must now feel an enhanced sense of
accomplishment as
they bask in the reflected glory of the academic
distinction of Prof Arthur
Mutambara.
Gibson Sibanda, Priscilla
Misihairambwi-Mushonga and Trudy Stevenson, for
instance, are politicians of
modest academic attainment. Sibanda was a train
driver before he became a
trade unionist. Before him, Sir Roy Welensky, who
became Prime Minister of
the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1956,
was a former train driver
and trade unionist as well. In his younger days he
was Southern Rhodesia's
heavy-weight boxing champion.
While Harvard and Yale Universities are the
veritable training ground for
United States politicians and business
leaders, academic prowess does not
always translate into fine political
acumen and socio-economic benefits for
ordinary people. If the
long-suffering masses of Zimbabwe have derived any
direct benefit from the
fine intellectual aptitude of their compatriots of
profound erudition such
benefit must be of miniscule proportion.
Names of individuals such as
Prof Ncube, former Information Minister Prof
Jonathan Moyo, education
minister, Dr Stan Mudenge and Dr Tafataona Mahoso,
chairman of the Media and
Information Commission, as well as a host of other
Zimbabweans, including
the President himself, immediately come to mind.
They include the
ultra-eloquent Dr Herbert Ushewokunze, the politically
shrewd Dr Eddison
Zvobgo, the cosmopolitan Dr Bernard Chidzero, now all
late, Dr Nathan
Shamuyarira, the eminently loyal Zanu-PF cadre, the gifted
but lackluster Dr
Simba Makoni and the once all-powerful Dr Charles Utete.
Dr Naomi Nhiwatiwa,
now in the Diaspora, Dr Ibbo Mandaza, who became
disastrously imbedded with
the CIO, the uninformed Dr Joseph Made, and of
late the headstrong Professor
Mutambara and the voluble Mr David Coltart
also deserve mention in this
regard. Prof Phenias Makhurane, Dr Themba
Dlodlo and the illustrious Dr
Frank Khumalo should also be cited.
Before her sojourn at Harvard
Margaret Dongo was a political firebrand. On
return from there the shrew in
her had been tamed. As I write, two
well-educated Zimbabweans, Prof Moyo and
dispossessed entrepreneur, Mutumwa
Mawere, are locked in disgraceful and
mortal conflict. Having both benefited
from Zanu-PF patronage in the past
they are now engaged in mutually
destructive combat on a Zimbabwean website,
where they have taken to
exposing as much as possible of each other's
allegedly sinful past, much to
the delight of readers. Discerning observers
must wonder, however, whether
their combined energy cannot be exploited more
profitably for Zimbabwe.
At the attainment of independence in 1980 the
Mugabe cabinet was hailed as
one of the most educated in the world. Today
what benefits do Zimbabweans
have to show for that rare collective
distinction?
In fact, some of our learned professors have aggravated a
national dilemma,
whose origins can be traced back directly to the policies
and actions of our
much-degreed President and his equally erudite cohorts.
Generally, the rest
of Zimbabwe's educated elite have a disturbing tendency
to recline in the
comfort of their armchairs while puzzlingly lamenting that
President Thabo
Mbeki of South Africa does not intervene to extricate their
country from its
current predicament.
It was in such circumstances of
political lethargy among the educated that
Tsvangirai overcame his own fear
and academic handicap to challenge
government's growing authoritarianism and
provide leadership to a robust
opposition movement. If it wasn't for the
cunning intervention of the same
scholarly Prof Moyo on behalf of the ruling
Zanu-PF in 2000, the MDC's
campaign against dictatorship would have, in all
probability, succeeded
then. Once his subsequent divorce from Zanu-PF was
finalized, the same Moyo
announced that he was forming a political party of
his own. The name eludes
my memory. The party died in its infancy, however,
despite Moyo's much
acclaimed education. He immediately assumed the role of
self-appointed
advisor to those established politicians whose parties remain
the mainstay
of our politics.
It is not the uneducated masses who
relegated Zimbabwe, once the prosperous
and bountiful breadbasket of
southern Africa, to a basket case itself. The
educated unleashed Gukurahundi
on Matabeleland and peasants of limited
educated suffered the dire
consequences. The uneducated may have physically
planted the bombs that
destroyed the Daily News printing press, but they
were assigned by the
educated. It is not the unschooled who amended the
constitution to create a
de facto life-presidency before enacting the
draconian AIPPA and POSA. It is
a select few who now seek to further
undermine Zimbabwe through senseless
pursuit of the so-called Republic of
Mthwakazi?
At the height of
Moyo's reign as Minister of Information, I was
editor-in-chief of The Daily
News. We published in the paper a touching
letter to the editor. Submitted
by a Bulawayo reader its content has
remained indelibly imbedded in my
memory.
"If that is what education does to people," the correspondent
opined with
regard to Moyo, "I will not send my children to
school."
That notwithstanding, Tsvangirai, on the other hand, needs to
address the
cause of general disaffection with his leadership qualities. He
must take
cognisance of Joyce Mujuru's remarkable achievement. When she
arrived in
Harare at the end of the war of liberation in 1980 she was barely
literate.
I hear that today, while still lacking political charisma, she has
become a
fairly articulate Vice-President, after she went back to the desk.
As they
say in Ndebele: "Ukufunda akupheli." There is no end to the learning
process.
Strictly speaking, however, while a reasonable level of
education is a
prerequisite, one does not need to be a man or woman of much
book to be an
effective leader. A more critical attribute is the capacity to
attract
experts in various fields of human endeavour in order to build a
broad-based
and multi-skilled team. A head of state cannot be expected to be
a farmer,
an economist, a surgeon, a lawyer, a metallurgist, a media expert,
a
military strategist and a sociologist, all rolled into one.
A
significant weakness of the Mugabe administration has been the element of
cronyism. This resulted in the appointment of Zanu-PF stalwarts to
ministerial portfolios for which they possessed no relevant qualification or
previous experience. Notable examples are the appointment of Enos Mzombi
Nkala and Dr Herbert Murerwa to the crucial Ministry of Finance and the
selection of the late Enos Chikowore to head the Ministry of Transport.
Zimbabwe suffers today from the disastrous consequences. In similar fashion
Mugabe shunted Victoria Chitepo and Joyce Mujuru subsequently to the
Ministry of Information.
Above all, a political leader must
demonstrate that not only is he or she in
touch with the people, but that he
or she is also prepared to make personal
sacrifices for their welfare and
benefit; not just for self.
From a different perspective, an entrenched
lack of ethnic cohesion within
the ranks of the political opposition will
continue to bedevil the
achievement of genuine democracy, development,
peace, and prosperity long
after Mugabe has departed, unless this dilemma is
addressed squarely without
delay.
To strengthen the position of the
opposition in the face of a weakening
ruling party, Tsvangirai must be
magnanimous as he rides on the crest of
what appears to be a current wave of
political popularity. He needs to
extend a hand of friendship and
reconciliation to his erstwhile colleagues
in the MDC executive in a bid to
restore the MDC to its former national
grandeur and supremacy.
On
their part, Welshman Ncube and Gibson Sibanda must swallow their
misplaced
pride, especially now that it is apparent their largely
ethnic-based
break-away faction of the MDC stands limited prospect of
generating a
national political following, whatever Mutambara may say about
the alleged
irrelevance of numbers in politics.
Placing nation before self, all three
politicians should reconcile their
differences, whatever Coltart says now
about the alleged violent disposition
of Tsvangirai.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2629
August 14, 2008
By Jonathan Moyo,
MP
(NewZimbabwe, December 2007)
IF PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe truly and
honestly believes that he is a serious
presidential candidate in the general
election scheduled for March 2008 and
that he can best govern this battered
country until 2013 should he win, then
he miserably failed to demonstrate
that at the controversial Zanu PF
extraordinary congress which started late
yesterday afternoon.
The simple truth is that Mugabe has no national
reason to seek reelection
and that Zanu PF is being particularly
irresponsible by allowing him to do
that in a disgraceful manner as shown
yesterday at the special congress.
So pathetic was Mugabe's performance
that when he was formally declared the
ruling party's presidential
candidate, fair-minded Zimbabweans in and
outside Zanu PF who had or still
have a soft spot for him for one reason or
another did not know whether to
laugh or cry.
The televised ill-fated declaration was as unwise and as
sad as a different
but morally equivalent event some 29 years ago when an
aged and out-of-shape
Muhammad Ali unwisely agreed to defend his world heavy
weight boxing title
against a young and agile Leon Spinks who went on to
clobber and humiliate
him on February 15 1978.
Because Zanu PF's
irresponsibility has caused it to fail to protect the
national interest and
because Mugabe is apparently determined to thrive
under that failure in
pursuit of his personal ambition to be president for
life, it is now up to
Zimbabweans across the political divide to rise to the
challenge by finding
a united front to stop Mugabe and his cronies from
turning their
self-indulgence into a national catastrophe.
Before he was declared as
the Zanu PF candidate yesterday, Mugabe opened the
Zanu PF special congress
with an uncharacteristically insipid speech,
delivered in a cracking voice
and notable for its shocking incoherence,
irrelevance and lack of
inspiration. His rambling speech sent a clear, loud
and very worrying
message to bemused delegates that Mugabe now represents an
unhappy
past.
But if Mugabe's speech was pathetic from the point of view of
someone who
desperately needed to convince his special congress delegates
and the
television audience that he has what is required to solve the
nation's
daunting problems many of which have been caused by him or during
his
controversial rule over the last 27 years, the proceedings that followed
his
uninspiring speech proved beyond any doubt that the Zanu PF special
congress
was a charade.
Consider the following: Mugabe's hopeless
speech, which was full of the same
old clichés he has been saying over and
over again to no useful end, was
immediately followed by a perfunctory
tabling of the central committee
report for adoption by Vice President Joice
Mujuru who had the appearance of
someone who was so removed from it all that
she could not care less. Her
dutiful act was followed by long-winded and
useless vote of thanks from Vice
President Joseph Msika whose essence was to
confirm that the Zanu PF
presidium would be better consigned in a museum
than anywhere else in a
properly functioning society, let alone a democratic
one.
When the presidium was done, the secretary for legal affairs,
Emmerson
Mnangagwa, was asked to announce the main purpose of the special
congress
and he outlined two. First, he said that the special congress was
being
asked to ratify constitutional amendment 18 and he narrated the
background
to its enactment by the Parliament of Zimbabwe which he situated
in the Sadc
mandated South African led talks between Zanu PF and the two MDC
factions.
What was shocking is that Minister Mnangagwa did not seem to
appreciate the
absurdity of asking a Zanu PF congregation, with no standing
in our
Constitution whatsoever, to ratify an Act of the Parliament of
Zimbabwe. The
matter would have been different and even understandable if he
had asked the
Zanu PF special congress to ratify decisions of the Zanu PF
central
committee in support of processes, including the inter-party
dialogue,
leading to the enactment of Amendment 18.
Someone needs to
tell Zanu PF's manipulative barons that once a law has been
enacted by the
Parliament of Zimbabwe, and assented to by the President,
only the courts
can pronounce themselves on that law one way or the other.
No other body has
the competence to ratify or do anything else about that
law besides abiding
by it.
After the absurd and meaningless ratification of Amendment 18,
Minister
Mnangagwa then announced that the second, and obviously most
important,
business of the day was to declare Mugabe as the Zanu PF
presidential
candidate in the 2008 presidential election allegedly "in
compliance with
Article 5 section 22(4) of the party's constitution and in
terms of Article
6 section 30(3) of the same constitution".
Article 5
section 22(4) of the Zanu PF constitution deals with the convening
of an
ordinary, not special, congress and provides that resolutions
emanating from
the party's provincial structures, youth league and women's
league shall be
circulated to the constituent organs of congress at least 14
days prior to
the date of congress.
A number of these organs did not meet the
requirement for making resolutions
14 days before the congress and some of
them, like Matabeleland North, made
their resolutions in support of Mugabe
only last Saturday on December 8
while Masvingo reported to have done so
only yesterday on the day of the
congress! In the circumstances, while all
the reporting organs recited
Article 5 section 22(4) of the Zanu PF
constitution to justify the
resolutions they read in support of Mugabe, a
majority of them violated that
provision and shamelessly displayed their
violation on national television.
In addition to this, all the reporting
10 provinces along with the youth
league and women's league claimed that
they were declaring Mugabe as the
candidate of the party in terms of Article
6 section 30(3) of the Zanu PF
constitution which deals with the powers and
functions of the national
people's conference. Section 30(3) of that article
provides that the
national people's conference "shall declare the president
of the party
elected at congress as the state presidential candidate of the
party".
What is instructive here is that this article is specifically
about the
powers and functions of the national conference and not congress
or a
special congress. It was very strange, and indeed incomprehensible, for
the
youth league, women's league and 10 provinces to pretend to be following
the
Zanu PF constitution when they were in point of fact using a provision
on
the national people's conference and mischievously conflating it with the
special congress.
While those who read the strange resolutions in
support of Mugabe's
candidacy did not know what they were doing and clearly
are not familiar
with the Zanu PF constitutional provisions that they were
invoking, those
who drafted the resolutions new exactly that they were
manipulating the
party's constitution in order to violate it . This was done
as part of the
desperate efforts to impose Mugabe's candidacy on an
unwilling but helpless
ruling party now incapacitated by deep
divisions.
After all the organs had read the resolutions that had clearly
been written
for them by manipulative powers behind the scenes, Zanu PF
national
chairman, John Nkomo, formalised the declaration of Mugabe as the
presidential candidate by acclamation.
The delegates responded by
looking at each other in bewilderment. The usual
chanting of slogans,
singing and dancing were all forgotten. Even the
singing national commissar,
Elliot Manyika, remained glued to his seat
looking as confused if not as
sorry as everyone else. Mugabe himself looked
equally perplexed and even
fearful. As if there was the hand of God at work,
Nkomo looked at Mugabe and
sought to reassure by saying, "Cde. President we
have tried".
All
this was live on television. There was something about the images which
seemed to foretell what we are most likely to see on the day of the results
of the 2008 general election.
To any discerning observer who was
either inside the special congress
yesterday or who watched the charade
unfold from the beginning to the end on
television, it was clear that nobody
in Zanu PF actually supports Mugabe's
candidacy. Everyone understands that
it is wrong and the most telling
statement in that regard is the holding of
a sham special congress when a
national people's conference was in
order.
The tragedy in Zanu PF is that its leading factions, especially
those
associated with Solomon Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa, are now using
their
mutual hatred as a way of expressing their support for Mugabe. The
divisions
between these factions has widened and deepened as they compete to
prove
which faction supports Mugabe more than the other. One can only
imagine what
would happen if these factions were to unite against Mugabe in
support of
Zimbabwe.
* Professor Jonathan Moyo is the Independent MP
for Tsholotsho. He can be
contacted on e-mail: moyoz@mweb.co.zw
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2603
August 14, 2008
NOW that Arthur
Mutambara has shown his true colours to the people of
Zimbabwe as a sellout,
it is now time to expose his true past.
Can you please solicit a comment
from him under what circumstances he left
Standard Bank in South Africa? Can
he explain to you why he was fired from
there? I will supply you with the
true information once he has explained the
circumstances under which he
left.
This is certainly going to be breaking news!!! Zimbabweans will not
be raped
by the likes of Mutambara again!!!
Charles
Chemhere
EDITOR: A set of 19 questions was submitted to Professor Arthur
Mutambara by
The Zimbabwe Times at the beginning of December, 2007, in
preparation for an
interview scheduled with him.
Question Number 17
read as follows: "Is it true that you left Standard Bank
in Johannesburg
under a dark cloud?"
To date no response to this or any other of the
wide-ranging questions has
been received from the good Professor.