Just another day in Harare
Life is difficult these days for Zimbabwe's
professional classes, a
dispiriting round of endless queues, power cuts and
perverse new layers of
bureaucracy. But as novelist Ian Holding discovers,
his troubles are minor
compared with those of the his black
employees
Friday August 19, 2005
The Guardian
My cellphone
illuminates the time, beeps at me. 4.45 am. I get up in the
dark - the power
is off again - and fumble my way to the car, scooping up
Jasper, my Jack
Russell, as I go. He's comfort, a slab of warmth across my
lap as I wait.
There are rumours of petrol at some shack of a garage out on
the fringes of
the industrial sites, owned by some crony with ties to the
army. I ought to
have a conscience: I don't.
I drive slowly, through streets draped in
predawn darkness. Eventually I
slip out of the suburbs and into the
wastelands where industry seeps on to
the gravelled beaches of shanty towns.
I choose my queue, join the tail end
of a snake of cars. It looks, at five
on a Saturday morning, longer than
infinity. I glimpse the sneaky winter
heat ahead, the dust and dryness, the
violent monotony of the wait. But for
liquid gold, one is prepared for
hardships. And I'm desperate - my gauge
sulks below a quarter of a tank, and
there's so much I can't do any more:
tennis, golf, boating with friends at
the dam. But here's my chance. Today's
my day. So I kill the engine, I
huddle Jasper to my chest. I am filled with
happiness.
I've been unsettled all night - I spent most of it reading
Schindler's Ark -
but now that I've secured my place in line, I find myself
dozing off. I set
my seat back, ease Tosca up on the stereo and recline in
groggy discomfort.
For five hours I veer between sublime nonchalance and the
jolting fear that
some thug is going to slash my windscreen with a chain and
make off with my
wallet. Odd bodies pass by, proffering trays of goods. I
wave them off
moodily.
At noon I surface to a distant low groan that
suddenly becomes a booming
roar, a plume of smoke and dust spills towards
me, and then a crash through
corrugated iron and a violent shake in the
ground: the shanty town lies
strewn across my bonnet. Stunned, I stare at a
windscreen piled with debris:
a squashed tin pot, flung cutlery, shredded
clothing. I get out, leaving
Jasper growling and puzzled on the seat. The
timber and metal sheets have
buckled like twigs and tinfoil under the
bulldozer's charge. I look up,
screening my eyes from the smoke and dust.
But I can see it all right:
sitting fat and squat on the rubble, purring,
then backing away with an
urgent jerk.
I bend down to access the
damage to my car: dents and scratches, nothing
serious. I'm not angry, not
yet. It's most likely some kind of freak
accident, a building operation gone
wrong. I stand, waiting for the foreman
to come running forward to offer me
an explanation. No one comes. And
something's not right. When I look back to
the queue, it has disappeared.
People don't vacate a petrol queue for
nothing. But I need an explanation. I
pick my way through the wreckage,
towards the punctured shanty town
perimeter. I wade in only three steps
before it happens again: 10 metres
away the iron wall crumples, a hut folds
like a cardboard box, toppling to
the dirt. The noise and shock shudder
through me, and I stumble, cutting
myself on splintered wood and rusty,
jutting nails. I grapple for my
footing, hop back towards the road. The
wounds are slight, the blood begins
to ooze. When the bulldozer breaks
through yet again, this time to the
chilling shatter of concrete slabs
exploding like glass, I rush forward and
grope frantically to free my bonnet
from the debris, make my escape.
I drive home. I sit on the edge of the
bath and dab disinfectant at my cut
legs. I'm shaken, but not enough to
subdue the anger that now comes, like a
blast. It's not because no one told
me to move in time, or that I've had my
car scratched, or I've been cut on
dirty planks. It's because I've wasted
all that petrol. I'd been so sure I'd
be lucky today, that I'd wait my turn
in the queue, fair and square, pay my
money, get my 20 litres. I'd have a
life again. I throw the bloodied cotton
wool into the toilet bowl, flush
hard and angrily.
I notice the
electricity's back. I go to make tea, give Jasper some
biscuits. It's now
that I hear Agnes, my maid, sobbing in the laundryroom.
"What the hell's
wrong with you?" I ask.
She breaks down, weeping. Her son, his wife and
five children have had their
home destroyed by the army, she tells me,
"commanding great big tractors".
And her brother too, and his three sons,
their families.
"They just came, baas, no warning, no chance, just tear
down homes, one by
one."
A dullness takes hold of me. It all makes
sense now. The fact that I had
been there, just on the fringes, conveniently
mobile, able to drive away,
extricate myself, makes me feel at once sick and
relieved.
But there's more. Agnes tells me that they've now all been
rounded up, piled
into trucks and taken to an army "farm" where they're
being vetted and held
in crowded tents until they're sent back to their
rural homelands, away from
the city. "They lost everything, baas,
everything," she wails.
"Yes, yes," I tell her. "That's very
bad."
And then comes her request: can I take her to go and fetch them
all, from
this "farm", and bring them here? "Just for a few days, baas,
promise."
This is all I need. I tell her we don't have enough space: her
kia
[servants' hut] only has one tiny room, one bathroom.
"We can't
have 10 people staying here, we just can't. And anyway, where do
you think
I've got the fuel to go all the way to this farm to fetch them
all? It just
can't happen, I'm afraid."
I leave her and go to the TV lounge, moodily
settle on a cricket match.
Jasper reclines at my feet, warm and loyal. Then
the phone rings. It's my
mother, more frantic than normal.
"My God,
they're coming round shooting dogs with no licences."
She says they've
heard of two instances already: the police searching the
suburbs, shooting
on sight any unlicensed pet. Jesus. I scramble for some
cash and the car
keys, fly down to the nearest municipal office, and all the
while the
thought of a gun aimed at Jasper savages my mind. Inside, the
commotion of
dog owners complaining bitterly. A short, shifty civil servant
explains over
and over that "we have no dog licences - we have no paper to
print dog
licences. Try elsewhere."
I go back to the car, drive to the next
municipal office, the next suburb.
Same story: yes, dog licences are
required by law, but we've run out. The
next one: no dog licences for three
months. Eventually, frustrated and
impatient, I drive into a police station,
demand to know what they expect us
to do. "Just get one," the constable
retorts. "How and where are not our
concern." I don't argue.
As I
leave, I unhook a slip of paper from under my windscreen wipers:
Z$100,000
(£3) for "not possessing red reflective tape on rear of vehicle".
My
existing reflectors are white, but white, it seems, isn't a good colour
any
more.
I drive, dumbfounded, infuriated, nervous. I conjure up a quick
solution,
I'll hide Jasper away, lock up his basket in the garage, deny I
own a pet.
Has it come to this, this pettiness?
I look dismally at my
petrol gauge, at the needle tottering on the E. I'm
going to have to ask for
a lift to work on Monday. But I throw that aside.
I'm tired now. I slip in a
tape of Bach, look out at the sun sunk in the
blue winter sky, the hills
lined with darkening firs. I'll chug on home
slowly, conserve my petrol,
make a pasta dish, settle down with a glass of
red, watch a black and white
movie on TV.
At home there's a not too unexpected surprise. As I walk out
to fetch
Jasper's bowl, I see them: a crowd draped about, men, women,
children. My
anger lurches, I scream for Agnes, demand an
explanation.
"They just come, baas, on their own. They can't stay at
farm, there no food,
no shelter. It very cold at night, especially for
children."
An elderly man comes up to me, Agnes' brother. He greets me,
smiling through
crooked teeth, and tells me, very calmly, what they've been
through, the
bulldozing of their homes, the loss of their belongings, being
horded by the
army against their will, being transported to this place,
being told to line
up by the army commanders, being shoved and shunted
...
I stop him. "Look, I'm sorry, but you just can't stay. There's simply
no
room here on this property. And it's not my problem, really it isn't." I
turn to Agnes. "Tomorrow they have to be gone - all of them.
Right?"
"Yes, baas," she says, quietly.
I storm back into the
house, go around the various rooms closing the
curtains. My mood has
changed. I grab a beer, flick through the stations. I
sit, not really
watching, my mind fuzzy and indignant, the culmination not
just of today,
but every day of the past five years, every worry, every
tension, every
dismay and disbelief, every thin gasp for survival comes up
on me like a
sandstorm. I'm 27. But I'm old in this place, in this country
where you
fight and fight, clawing and scratching at indefatigable deafness,
blindness.
I breathe in, breathe out. Sip my beer. Then the power
goes out. Fuck.
In the dark I grope for a candle from the TV cabinet,
light it. I walk to my
bedroom, fiddle around for Schindler's Ark. I cuddle
up to the candle,
strain to accustom my eyes to the print. Off the pages
roll descriptions,
harrowing screeds of the Jews being rounded up, harassed,
their property
looted, their rights stripped. I close the book. I lie
looking into the dark
room, seeing the desolate farm that Agnes' family
fled, 10 to a tent, the
stiff reek of sewer in dank puddles, the dead, deep
winter's nights.
I close my eyes, spread my presence throughout the
house, the empty
bedrooms. I have everything. I have nothing. I'm cold. I'm
alone.
I walk now towards the bonfire where they all sit. I've draped a
blanket
round my shoulders, Jasper trots at my feet. They welcome me into
their
circle. I've brought a crate of beers from the pantry. They offer me
sadza
and relish. I squeeze it into balls in my hand, take it to my mouth.
In the
firelight their eyes dance, black pupils on gleaming white. The
spirit of
survival, the will to endure. One man offers me his weed. I take
it, inhale
the drug deep into my lungs. I huddle Jasper close to
me.
A while later, languid and light-headed, the old man starts singing a
traditional song, and the children listen as if they're hearing a sermon,
God himself speaking through the ages. Somehow, despite everything, I know
we'll all see tomorrow.
· Unfeeling by Ian Holding is published by
Simon and Schuster, price £10.99.
Ian Holding will be appearing at the
Edinburgh International Book Festival
on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 August.
See www.edbookfest.co.uk for more
information
www.fidh.org [english] > Africa >
Zimbabwe
18th/08/2005
Arrests during a peaceful
demonstration
The Observatory for the Protection of
Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of the World Organisation Against
Torture (OMCT) and the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH),
requests your urgent
intervention in the following situation in
Zimbabwe.
ZWE 002 / 0805 / OBS 068
Arbitrary arrests /
Releases on bail /
Judicial proceedings
Brief
description:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about
the arbitrary
arrest of two human rights defenders during a demonstration in
favour of
constitutional reforms.
According to the information
received, on August 4, 2005, the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a
grouping of independent NGOs dedicated to
the promotion of democracy and the
rule of law in Zimbabwe, decided to
spontaneously organise a demonstration
in Harare in favour of a new
constitution.
The police then called in
a riot squad in order to foil the public protest,
which arrested Mr.
Lovemore Madhuku, NCA Chairman, along with Mr. Bright
Chibvuri, a journalist
at The Worker, a newspaper published by the country's
biggest labour
movement, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
Mr. Madhuku and
the other marchers planned to stage a demonstration outside
the Harare
International Conference Centre, where the Parliamentary
Committee on Legal
Affairs was holding a consultative public meeting on
planned amendments to
Zimbabwe's Constitution. The planned amendments
include barring individuals
whose land has been seized from making a court
challenge except on the
amount of compensation, and also seek to
re-establish a lower house of
parliament to be known as the Senate and to
impose of travel restrictions on
Zimbabweans who are suspected of "engaging
in terrorist training
abroad".
Mr. Lovemore Madhuku and Mr. Bright Chibvuri were charged under
section 19
of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) (gatherings
conducting to riot,
disorder or intolerance), according to which they might
be condemned to a
fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars or to
imprisonment for a period
not exceeding ten years or to both such fine and
such imprisonment.
On August 5, 2005, both men were released on bail of
Z$ 250,000. Their trial
date has not been set yet.
The Observatory
recalls that this is not the first time that Mr. Lovemore
Madhuku is
subjected to acts of harassment and intimidation due to his
activities in
favour of constitutional reforms. Thus, in 2004, Mr. Lovemore
Madhuku was
arrested twice in February, and again in May and September 2004
(See
Observatory Annual Report 2004). The Observatory also recalls that
freedom
of demonstration is regularly violated in Zimbabwe.
The Observatory is
deeply concerned about these events, which blatantly
violate the provisions
of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted
by the General
Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, in
particular its
article 5.a, which states that "for the purpose of promoting
and protecting
human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the
right, individually
or in association with others, to meet or assemble
peacefully".
Actions requested:
Please write to the Zimbabwean
authorities and ask them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee
the physical and psychological
integrity of Mr. Lovemore Madhuku, Mr. Bright
Chibvuri, and all human rights
defenders in Zimbabwe;
ii. ensure the
unconditional release of Mr. Lovemore Madhuku and Mr. Bright
Chibvuri, and
that they be granted a fair and impartial trial so that the
charges against
them be dropped, as they are arbitrary;
iii. end all forms of harassment
and ill-treatment of human rights defenders
in Zimbabwe, and guarantee in
all circumstances that human rights defenders
and organisations are able to
carry out their work without any hindrance;
iv. comply with the
provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders
adopted by the UN
General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular
article 1, which states
that "everyone has the right, individually or
collectively, to promote the
protection and fulfilment of human rights and
fundamental freedoms at the
national and international levels",
above-mentioned article 5.a, and article
12.2, which states that "the State
shall take all necessary measures to
ensure the protection by the competent
authorities of everyone, individually
and in association with others,
against any violence, threats, retaliation,
de facto or de jure, adverse
discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary
action as a consequence of
his or her legitimate exercise of the rights
referred to in the present
Declaration";
v. guarantee the respect of
human rights and fundamental freedoms in
accordance with the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights and other
international human rights instruments
ratified by Zimbabwe.
Addresses:
President of Zimbabwe, Mr.
Robert G. Mugabe, Office of the President,
Private Bag 7700, Causeway,
Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 708 211
Mr. Khembo Mohadi, Minister of
Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs,
11th Floor Mukwati Building, Private
Bag 7703, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe,
Fax : +263 4 726 716
Mr.
Augustine Chihuri, Police Prefect, Police Headquarters, P.O. Box 8807,
Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, Fax : +263 4 253 212
Ambassador Mr.
Chitsaka Chipaziwa, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the
United Nations in
Geneva, Chemin William Barbey 27, 1292 Chambésy,
Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22
758 30 44, Email: mission.zimbabwe@ties.itu.net
Please
also write to the embassies of Zimbabwe in your respective
country.
***
Geneva - Paris, August 12, 2005
Kindly inform
us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in
your
reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the
protection of
Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support
in their time
of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998
Human Rights Prize of the French
Republic.
To contact the
Observatory, call the emergency line:
Email: observatoire@iprolink.ch Tel and fax
FIDH: 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 01
43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT: + 41
(0) 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
The Times
August 19, 2005
White farmers
face eviction under 'apartheid-era' laws
From Jan Raath in
Harare
THE Government of Robert Mugabe tabled
draconian laws yesterday
to drive the last white farmers from their land and
crush dissent.
The constitutional amendments debated in
Parliament will
nationalise all agricultural land that has been listed for
seizure since
2000. Landowners will have no right to contest the
confiscations and will be
barred from receiving
compensation.
Another clause in the legislation gives
the Government powers
"in the national interest" to stop people leaving the
country. Lawyers said
that this echoed apartheid-era South African laws that
stopped critics from
travelling abroad to condemn white-minority
rule.
Another section will introduce an upper chamber in
Parliament,
with 16 of the 66 senators effectively appointed by President
Mugabe. Also
on Parliament's order paper is a Bill to put private schools, a
preserve of
generally pro-opposition middle-class families, under state
control. Yet
another amendment will ban civil servants from joining trade
unions.
The legislation comes after parliamentary elections
in March
that the ruling Zanu(PF) party won amid accusations from Western
nations and
the Opposition that they were neither free nor fair. The
legislative
onslaught also comes after demolitions and evictions in mostly
urban areas
that made 700,000 people homeless and jobless, according to the
UN.
The package comes as Mr Mugabe is negotiating with South
Africa
for a loan, thought to be £279 million, to prop up the Zimbabwean
economy.
It is believed that the loan is conditional on Mr Mugabe reversing
his
crackdown on democracy that began in 2000 when the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) nearly won elections.
Brian
Raftopoulos, of the Zimbabwe in Crisis Coalition, said
that the changes
showed Mr Mugabe's scorn for the hopes of President Mbeki
of South Africa to
start political dialogue in Zimbabwe. "Mugabe will never
accept political
conditionality," he said.
David Coltart, the MDC's legal
director, said: "Mugabe said the
elections were meant to 'bury' the MDC. He
failed. Zanu (PF) didn't win a
single urban seat. What we are seeing now is
an incremental approach to
finish off the MDC."
After
five years of murder, assault and harassment of
white-owned farms by state
agents, the Government has managed to confiscate
legally only about 10 per
cent of the estimated 4,500 properties. All but a
handful of white farmers
have had their property listed for "compulsory
acquisition".
However, most of them have kept the
Government at bay by
fighting their eviction in court. About 450 farmers
have stayed on their
farms.
Mr Coltart said: "These
constitutional changes are designed for
once and for all to smash the white
farmers and to close any possible avenue
for using the constitution to
protect human rights."
'Zim Needs to Revive Relations With IMF, World Bank'
The Herald
(Harare)
August 18, 2005
Posted to the web August 18,
2005
Harare
ZIMBABWE should re-engage the International Monetary
Fund and World Bank in
its economic turnaround strategies as it continues to
foster economic
growth, a senior Government official has said.
"We
need to revive the relationship with the WB and IMF so that we have
support
in the balance of payments and access to foreign currency
supplements," the
president of the Chiefs Council, Mr Fortune Charumbira,
said.
He was
addressing delegates at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
breakfast
meeting to discuss the monetary policy and mid-term fiscal policy
review
statements held in Harare yesterday.
"The country has been failing to
generate enough foreign currency to meet
its requirements and in this
regard, we need to re-engage the multilateral
financial institutions," he
added.
Zimbabwe has been facing a critical shortage of foreign currency,
resulting
in its failure to import adequate supplies of fuel, raw materials,
capital
equipment and other necessities.
The central bank has in the
last two years introduced measures that have
improved foreign currency
inflows from US$301 million in 2003 to US$1,7
billion last year, but this
was still not enough to meet critical needs.
The situation has been
worsened by the rising international oil prices to
more than US$60 per
barrel that have resulted in more money being pumped out
for fuel
purchases.
Although it is still too early to quantify, the revision of
the exchange
rate to US$17 500 by the central bank last month is also
expected to boost
foreign currency inflows.
However, these
initiatives need to be complemented by balance of payments
support from
multilateral institutions. Zimbabwe's economy needs about US$3
billion per
year to meet its requirements.
The ballooning of the domestic debt, Mr
Charumbira said, was a sign of
inefficiency on part of Government ministers
who have not been producing the
desired results.
This was evidenced
by a request for more than $31 trillion in the
supplementary budget by all
the ministries, which the Ministry of Finance
turned down as it was deemed
inflationary.
"The only problem is that our ministers do not want to
admit failure. They
used to perform better before their elevation to
ministerial levels but that
performance has disappeared.
"We are too
defensive and this is the time to admit our failure for the
betterment of
the economy," said Mr Charumbira, amid applause from the
delegates.
He also took a swipe at industrialists who are taking the
advantage of the
challenges which the country is currently experiencing to
engage in illegal
activities which have proved costly to the
economy.
"We have seen several companies involved in shady dealings in
several
sectors of the economy, such as mining.
"Farmers have also
been getting heavily subsidised fuel but that commodity
had been diverted to
the black market, but they do not want to take the
blame," he
added.
Mr Charumbira encouraged the Government and industry to work hand
in glove
if the turnaround objectives were to be achieved.
He becomes
one of the few top Government personalities to challenge his
colleagues to
start producing results.
Addressing the same seminar, Kingdom Financial
Holdings economist Mr Witness
Chinyama said the economy could start
recovering if Zimbabwe exploited
available global opportunities.
"The
Government has adopted the Look East policy, but we are saying let us
also
look everywhere so that we can engage every country in the world in our
struggle.
"The increase in the interest rates also has a negative
impact on investors
because they are not favourable for investment promotion
and foreign
investors are not lured to invest in this country as well,"
added Mr
Chinyama.
Economist Mr John Robertson said "companies have
been over-taxed and they
will not be able to be productive as they require
more money to pay the
taxes".
However, the mining sector commended
the exchange rate movement.
"The new development will bring positive
returns to the sector as the
exchange rate will move in tandem with the
inflation movements," said Mr
David Matyanga, an official with the Chamber
of Mines.
The delegates concurred on the need to have a uniform economy
and move away
from situation were a multiple economy targeted at different
sectors of the
economy.
VOA
Mozambique's Chissano Voices Regret at Zimbabwe Mediation Setback By
Simeao
Pongoane
Maputo
18 August
2005
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's diplomatic snubbing of
former
Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano is likely to further isolate
Harare
and expand rifts in the Southern African Development Community and
African
Union, observers say.
Under Western pressure for years, Mr.
Mugabe has enjoyed support from other
African leaders. But one diplomat at
the SADC summit in Botswana this week
said that South Africa, Mozambique,
Botswana and Mauritius all want to keep
pressure on Mr. Mugabe for reform
because his policies are harming the
region. These countries also want the
United Nations to follow through to
ensure the recommendations made in the
report it issued on Harare's May-July
slum clearance drive will be
adopted.
However, Zambia, Namibia and Malawi are siding with Mr. Mugabe,
the diplomat
said.
Mr. Chissano, asked to serve as African Union
mediator in hoped-for talks
between the Zimbabwe ruling party and its
opposition, confirmed Thursday to
reporters in the Mozambican capital of
Maputo that Mr. Mugabe had told him
in discussions at the SADC summit in
Botswana this week that he was not
interested in mediation.
Mr.
Chissano expressed regret that his mission had come to an end in effect
before it started, but said everything now depends on Harare - though he was
ready to help.
Voice of America correspondent Simeao Pongoane spoke
with reporter Ndimyake
Mwakalyele of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe about Mr.
Chissano's briefing.
Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group issued a
report this week calling
for Nigeria and South Africa to assemble a team of
former African presidents
to try to persuade Mr. Mugabe to retire gracefully
and agree to a
transitional mechanism.
The ICG says the West must
maintain sanctions while stepping up aid to
democratic forces in Zimbabwe to
strengthen civil society and develop the
political culture.
Reporter
Blessing Zulu of Studio 7 asked Dr. Peter Kagwanja, ICG's director
for
Southern Africa, why he thinks former heads of state can get the job
done.
However, another South African based analyst, Obri Mashiq,
argues that such
an ex-presidential panel would be no panacea for the
complex crisis in
Zimbabwe.
Despite the setback at the SADC summit,
the Movement for Democratic Change
said it still believes opening talks with
the ruling party are the way to
resolve the crisis.
Studio 7 evening
show host Ndimyake Mwakalyele reached MDC spokesman Paul
Themba Nyathi who
outlined the opposition's stance at this juncture.
But officials of the
ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front,
or ZANU-PF, are
staying on message and accusing the MDC of trying to gain at
the negotiating
table what it failed to achieve in the March general
election (which the MDC
and a range of observers say was marred by voter
intimidation and
ballot-rigging).
Expressing this viewpoint was William Nhara, ZANU-PF
district chairman for
Harare, who spoke with Studio 7 reporter Ndimyake
Mwakalyele.
Business Day
Posted to the web on: 19 August 2005
Land Bank denies
Harare loan talks
Justin
Brown
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I-Net
Bridge
THE Land Bank has denied reports that it was engaged in talks to
loan the
Zimbabwean government money for the country to import food, the
agricultural
funding parastatal's marketing GM Herman Moeketsi said
yesterday.
He denied rumours yesterday that boosted maize futures to an
eight-month
high on the JSE's agricultural derivatives division or
Safex.
"Those rumours are totally incorrect," the marketing GM
said.
The Land Bank was involved in agricultural development purely
within the
borders of SA, Moeketsi said.
"There were rumours in the
market that came from a number of sources, with
people putting the funding
amount for Zimbabwe at enough for 1-million tons
to 1,5-million tons of
maize or food to be imported into Zimbabwe," a
Johannesburg broker
said.
For the current 2005-06 marketing year, SA exported 299823 tons of
maize to
Zimbabwe or 46,1% of total exports during the period.
In the
last financial year, the country exported 210335 tons of maize to
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's annual consumption of maize is about
1,8-million tons, while the
country's latest crop has been put at almost
600000 tons, leaving a
shortfall of 1,2-million tons.
Zimbabwe's
ability to import food and maize has been hampered by the country's
foreign
currency position, which has been deteriorating steadily since 1999,
with
the position having moved to a deficit of more than $600m last year.
Business Day
Posted to the web on: 19 August 2005
MDC MPs plan to defy
Mugabe in illegal march on parliament
Michael
Hartnack
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sapa-AP
HARARE
opposition legislators planned an antigovernment march in Harare
yesterday
and said they would not seek the state's permission - setting the
stage for
possible confrontations with police.
Lovemore Zimuto, a spokesman for the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), said the 41 MDC legislators
would march from party
headquarters to parliament to protest the ruling
party's proposed overhaul
of the constitution, its handling of the economy
and a crackdown on private
schools.
He said that they would not
request police authorisation, arguing that the
MDC legislators marching from
their offices to parliament do not require
permission.
But Zimbabwe's
sweeping security laws spell out that police permission is
required for any
political gathering. In the past, police have been swift to
use batons and
tear gas to break up any gathering of critics of President
Robert
Mugabe.
The antigovernment protest in Harare was planned the same day
the Central
Statistical Office announced annual inflation had jumped from
164% to 254,8%
in July. Moffat Nyoni, the acting director of the office,
told state media
it was the largest monthly surge on record.
Finance
Minister Herbert Murerwa told parliament on Wednesday that while the
economic turnaround was not as fast as he had forecast, he still expected
economic growth of 2% and that inflation could be reduced to 50% by year's
end and drop below 10% by the end of next year.
He also announced new
revenue measures, including an increase in value added
tax from 15 to 17,5%.
He said it would now be applied to a wide range of
previously exempt basic
foodstuffs.
The constitutional proposals the opposition is also
protesting would
establish a 40-seat senate, abolish all freehold title to
real estate,
restrict landowners' right to appeal expropriation and allow
the state to
refuse passports to critics.
Economist John
Robertson said the latest inflation figures showed "the
government is now
the victim of its own policies".
"We are heading for 1000% inflation by
year-end if we do not start behaving
better," he said
Zim Independent
Mediagate deepens
Dumisani Muleya
THERE were
frantic efforts this week to contain the fallout from the biggest
scandal to
rock the media industry since Independence in 1980 after
revelations in this
paper that the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
had taken over three
major private newspapers.
The editors-in-chief of the papers that were
reported to be owned by the
CIO, the Financial Gazette and the Mirror Group
titles, the Daily Mirror and
the Sunday Mirror, made desperate efforts to
deny the story which has sent
shockwaves in the media
fraternity.
Like his Mirror Group counterpart, Ibbo Mandaza,
Financial Gazette editor
Sunsleey Chamunorwa yesterday tried to deny the
story broken by this paper
last week with an opinion-editorial piece long on
words but short on
substance.
Chamunorwa could only say the paper
was owned by "a credible shareholder".
There were no names but descriptions
which raised the question of why the
sponsors of the paper should remain
anonymous. The description of the main
shareholder could match that of
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon
Gono, who has in the past denied
owning the paper but is a financial
advisor.
It has been learnt
that Mandaza fuelled trouble on Wednesday after
suspending without pay and
benefits his deputy editor-in-chief, Alexander
Kanengoni, allegedly deployed
to the Mirror by the CIO. Last night the
Zimbabwe Independent heard that
Kanengoni had been locked out of his office
at the Mirror
Group.
The story roped in the CBZ (Jewel Bank) and, by implication,
its main
shareholder, South African banking giant Absa, which provided $200
million
for the take-over of the Financial Gazette in October 2001. The
take-over
negotiations ran between October 2001 and November
2002.
Absa African division head Dana Botha said yesterday his bank
was not in a
position to deal with the issue. "We have a board
representation but we
don't have management and operational control over
CBZ," he said.
"The CEO Nyasha Makuvise should be able to deal with
that."
Marathon crisis management meetings at the media houses failed to
allay
anxiety among staffers.
Sources said there was no decision
on what to do at the Financial Gazette
after Chamunorwa tried but failed to
secure the support of Gono to deny the
story. Chamunorwa had to come up with
the opinion article, which he wanted
to pass for a company
statement.
On the main issue of the ownership structure, Chamunorwa
could only say his
newspaper was owned by "a group of individuals with
impeccable financial,
commercial and business credentials.
"They
are not CIO agents; neither does this newspaper have under its employ
anyone
answerable to the state or any of its agents."
Then there was the
disclosure: "I have not checked with the major
shareholder but for the
record, let me put this issue to rest once and for
all. The major
shareholder is a prominent banker, Zimbabwe's best known
turnaround expert,
farmer and businessman."
The description fits that of Gono, whom
Chamunorwa has in the past described
as "Mr
Turnaround".
Observers and readers who called the Independent said
the fact that Gono
could own a financial paper was in itself a
scandal.
"How ethical is it for a central bank governor to own a
business newspaper
which has failed to criticise the failed policies of the
perceived
shareholder?" said a manager with a commercial
bank.
The Mirror also ran into problems as management was divided on
what to do,
while the CIO maintained a low profile to avoid fanning the
crisis.
Accusations and counter-accusations flew thick and fast
during the week.
Sources said Mandaza, who tried to deny the story on
foreign radio stations
after he was shut out by the CIO, suspended
Kanengoni.
Mandaza told SAfm and Voice of America on Monday he was
the sole owner of
the Mirror newspapers but sources maintained the CIO were
the real owners.
He did not deny there were CIO operatives in his
newsroom, but claimed he
was not aware of it.
He said he had
launched an internal investigation to find out if CIO details
were operating
in the group. Mandaza said if the probe revealed the CIO were
there, he
would ask the authorities to withdraw them.
Government remained mum
as the furore intensified. Former State Security
minister Nicholas Goche,
under whose charge the newspaper scandal occurred,
refused to
comment.
"I am not the minister for the CIO," he said. "In any case,
I don't comment
on such matters over the telephone."
Acting
Information minister Chen Chimutengwende said: "I'm not sure what the
situation is. I have not been briefed."
Mandaza, who is also the
Mirror Group CEO, was said to have written a letter
to Kanengoni accusing
him of assaulting the news editor of the Sunday
Mirror, harassing
journalists, shouting obscenities, insubordination and
incompetence.
Kanengoni and his backers reportedly accused Mandaza of
misusing funds and
failing to ensure the papers increased circulation to
generate sufficient
advertising revenue.
Mandaza was said to be fighting for survival at
the company after a head-on
clash with a powerful CIO-backed group led by
his chairman, Jonathan
Kadzura. It was said the CIO had been angered by
Mandaza's antics and wanted
him booted out. He was understood to have
accused the CIO of trying to
destroy the Mirror, while the Kadzura faction
blamed Mandaza for leaking the
story.
Before the scandal was
exposed, sources said Mandaza complained to political
and business
associates about the presence of CIO operatives in his
newsroom.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba recently made
insinuations Chamunorwa
worked with and for the powers-that-be in his
Nathaniel Manheru column in
the Herald. Despite Chamunorwa's pretence that
he was not under political
influence, sources said there were instances when
stories were given to him
to publish directly from the President's
Office.
"We have many examples, including the false story the Fingaz
published in
December last year claiming (former Information Jonathan) Moyo
had
resigned," a source said. "It had come from the President's Office."
Zim Independent
Battle for control rocks state media
Ray
Matikinye/Augustine Mukaro
THE recent storming of the newsroom at Pocket
Hills by Information
secretary, George Charamba, constitutes an
unprecedented intrusion into the
management of the public broadcaster by a
civil servant.
Charamba stormed the Newsnet newsroom after its "hotline"
allegedly went
unanswered when he telephoned the newsroom. He wanted to find
out why the
leading story on a news bulletin on Heroes' Day had failed to
capture the
gist of the presidential speech.
Philliat Matsheza, a
former deputy director in the Ministry of Information,
said during his
tenure no government official ever acted in such a manner as
such issues
were "left to management".
"Our involvement in the affairs of the ZBC
as a ministry was minimal. Our
role was the facilitation of budgets to ZBC
that had independent revenue
collection of its own," Matsheza, now the
director of Southern Africa Human
Rights Trust, said.
"We did not
conduct any surveillance over editors but gave the corporation
operational
autonomy. The ministry's mandate has obviously changed."
Matsheza said
the information secretary's role then was to make information
readily
available. Government encouraged a flow of information from
grassroots to it
and not the other way round as became the norm under
Jonathan
Moyo.
Charamba's recent actions appear as evidence of frustration by
both the
ministry and Zanu PF's department of information over how to rid
the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) of the remnants of Moyo's
legacy.
Sources say the current saga is partly due to a build up of
animosity
between the party information department headed by Nathan
Shamuyarira and
Information minister Tichaona Jokonya over
control.
While Shamuyarira wants the Ministry of Information to
effect changes in
government-controlled media, Jokonya and his deputy Bright
Matonga seem too
slow to act.
The turf war between the two
politicians has sucked in Charamba, who is
still smarting from not being
appointed minister.
Charamba, alongside Webster Shamu and Ephraim
Masawi, was touted as a
possible Moyo successor when the Tsholotsho MP was
expelled from Zanu PF
over the Tsholotsho rift.
Charamba has been
unable to come to terms with not being appointed minister
as evidenced by
correspondence between him and senior management at Pockets
Hill.
He has clashed with colleagues and ministers over policy
issues,
particularly regarding the running of the state media ending up
embroiled in
fights with ZBH workers over a report compiled by Policy
Implementation
minister Webster Shamu.
Last month Charamba
clashed with ZBH head of national productions, Douglas
Justice Dhliwayo,
over a number of issues, including the productions of
jingles, videos and
footage to promote Zanu PF policies and programmes in
the run-up to the
March general election.
The tiff ended up with Charamba accusing
Dhliwayo of "selling him out" to
Shamu, Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa,
Attorney-General Sobusa
Gula-Ndebele and Shamuyarira and his deputy
spokesman Masawi to solicit
favours from them and sabotage his chances of
being appointed a minister in
April.
Dhliwayo accused Charamba of
launching unwarranted attacks and insults
against senior government
officials he described "as mere politicians" who
can't do anything to
him.
The sources said Charamba subjected Dhliwayo to an hour-long
telephone
tirade over the issue and Dhliwayo reacted angrily with an
eight-page letter
accusing Charamba of being "malicious" and abusing the
President's Office to
pursue personal vendettas.
They said
Dhliwayo then asked Charamba why he was angry that he was not
appointed
minister if he thought being a minister was beneath him.
The sources
said the report that caused the infighting focused on the ZBH,
Zimpapers,
New Ziana and Kingstons, and concluded "all is not well" in the
state
media.
The latest issue of Zanu PF mouthpiece The Voice, viewed as an
impeccable
source of party policy, reported eminent changes at Pockets
Hill.
Another source said Shamuyarira wanted the state media rid of
all the
remnants of the Moyo era immediately but Jokonya has been resisting
this
overbearing attitude. Party sources say Shamuyarira wants the business
units
set up under Moyo disbanded and the broadcaster to revert to Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation.
The sources say at one routine meeting,
Shamuyarira railed at Matonga,
wanting to know when changes would be
effected. But Matonga replied that
"his hands were tied and the onus to
effect the changes lay with the
minister".
The broadcaster has
not been able to wean itself from Moyo's legacy that
brought in
inexperienced journalists to replace veteran broadcasters who
were elbowed
out because they could not qualify for Moyo's media decimation
programme.
Allegations of unprofessional conduct that have been
levelled against some
staffers at Newsnet reflect the power struggles
between the Zanu PF
information department and the Ministry of Information
over policy.
Zim Independent
You've failed, Biti tells govt
Ray
Matikinye
OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary for
economic
affairs Tendai Biti was on Tuesday booted out of parliament for
telling
government to admit failure to steer the economy out of a
debilitating
political and economic crisis.
Not wanting to lose
control, Speaker of the House, John Nkomo ordered Biti
to leave the chamber
just after Biti said: "I say Zanu PF has a lot to learn
from the sport of
boxing. When your boxer fails, you throw in your white
towel to signify
surrender. I say to this regime please throw in the towel."
Biti had
earlier censured government for lack of planning and economic
foresight by
crafting a mid-term budget that heavily taxes the poor.
Biti, the
member of parliament for Harare East and the MDC's shadow minister
for
finance, accused government of destroying the informal sector through
its
ill-conceived Operation Murambatsvina and now seeking to tax the poor
through more value added tax (VAT).
Contributing to debate on the
supplementary budget announced on Tuesday,
Biti said government had failed
and become so desperate that it had to come
up with a raft of taxes that
impinge on the livelihoods of the poor.
By destroying the informal
sector, which he said contributed between 40% and
60% to gross domestic
product, government had destroyed 60% of the economy.
"We have
failed. Now we want to squeeze the little income from already
suffering
people of Zimbabwe," said Biti. "What we are doing is that
'tavakukorokoza
mari' from our own people to run the country. VAT is a
direct tax that
affects the poor more than it does the rich," Biti said.
Finance
minister Herbert Murerwa announced, among other revenue measures, an
increase in VAT of 2,5 percentage points from 15% to 17, 5% in his $6,6
trillion mid-term supplementary budget. But he deferred reviewing individual
and corporate tax bands until the national budget in 2006.
Biti
said although government blamed inflation for the current economic
crisis,
it clearly lacked competency to craft credible development plans in
which
fiscal and monetary policies complement each other.
These measures
are essential for developing economies in the third world
countries like
Zimbabwe and should deal with social formations that address
structural
issues of poverty and underdevelopment.
Since 1990 development
blueprints have dealt with recurrent issues like
inflation without touching
on reasons for poverty and underdevelopment
Biti censured government for
profligacy at a time when it is in dire
financial straits by creating a
bloated bureaucracy. "We have created a
situation where every other second
person in parliament is a deputy minister
and seek to create a Senate with
60 members that is going to create yet
another onerous burden on the
fiscus," he said.
The MP decried the dollarisation of the economy
saying it deepened poverty
among 80% of the population that live under the
poverty datum line and have
to buy products pegged against the
greenback.
Beginning this month, Zimbabweans who have access to
foreign currency are
allowed to buy fuel at designated service stations
using hard currencies.
"When we buy our products at international prices,
this increases the gap
between the rich and the poor because the rich are
the ones who control the
dollarised economy. Dollarisation of the economy is
an acknowledgement of
failure," he said.
Zim Independent
Africa scrambles for Zim farmers
Augustine
Mukaro
MORE than 20 African countries - in a bid to develop their commercial
agriculture - are scrambling to snap up Zimbabwe's farmers displaced under
the chaotic land reform.
The stampede for Zimbabwean farmers,
renowned for their skills, comes at a
time when Zimbabwe is in financial
dire straits and cannot feed itself
because of the failed agrarian
experiment that has put an estimated 4,3
million people at
risk.
A Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) report circulated to its
members at its
annual congress two weeks ago shows that the success of the
farmers' venture
in Nigeria has generated interest from African governments
keen to develop
commercial agriculture.
"The Nigerian project has
opened many doors, and will continue to open more
doors in other countries,
with private companies, and government departments
approaching us, wanting
to put together similar projects," reads the report.
The report adds:
"Countries that have contacted us and with whom we are
currently dealing
include Ghana, Cameroon, Sudan, Guinea Bissau, Benin,
Central African
Republic and Namibia."
The CFU also said a team was currently working
on securing a project similar
to that in Nigeria in Senegal. "Three trips
have been made to Senegal and
proposals are being put together. All parties
involved are positive about
this venture," the farmers' organisation
said.
Alan Jack, leader of the pioneering group that has relocated to
Nigeria,
said up to 23 African countries had contacted his office with
propositions.
Fifteen farmers and their families have already relocated to
Kwara State in
Nigeria.
Most farmers who fled their farms at the
height of the land invasions have
found new homes in African countries such
as Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi and
Uganda.
Government continues to
harass white commercial farmers still on the land,
creating a lot of
uncertainty about the future of commercial agriculture in
the country. The
farmers say proposed amendments to the Land Act will
nationalise all
land.
The proposed amendments and their possible ramifications fly in
the face of
Finance minister Herbert Murerwa's call in his mid-term fiscal
review
statement this week for stability in the agricultural
sector.
Justice for Agriculture chairman, John Worswick, told a
parliamentary
hearing last week that the amendment would nationalise all
farmland, making
it lose its market value.
"If the amendment
passes, land in Zimbabwe will be owned on the basis of
patronage and not
one's productiveness or ingenuity," Worswick said. "While
China has accepted
the need for individual property rights, Zimbabwe is
moving completely in
the opposite direction," he said.
CFU president Doug Taylor-Freeme took a
swipe at the proposed amendment,
saying it would speed up the collapse of
agriculture.
"It is extremely alarming to note that a new
constitutional amendment to the
Land Act has been put to parliament which
proposes that all land gazetted
for acquisition since 2000 cannot be
contested in court. As virtually every
white farmer has been listed for
acquisition in some way or other this
surely provides direct evidence that a
process of ethnic cleansing is taking
place."
"If the objective of
the authorities, by introducing such draconian
legislation, is to get
agriculture back to work, they are wrong. It is
likely to increase the
conflict of ownership of the business on the land and
reduce meaningful
investment in agriculture," Taylor-Freeme said.
Zim Independent
Another transit camp opens at Hopley Estate
Grace
Kombora
ANOTHER transit camp in the mould of the disbanded Caledonia Farm has
opened
at Hopley Estate where scores of people have been dumped in an open
space
without any facilities despite government claims that it has closed
all
transit camps.
Former Porta Farm residents who were evicted under
Operation Murambatsvina
have been moved to Hopley Estate south of Harare,
where prison officers and
police are keeping the inmates under armed
guard.
The detainees are not allowed to speak to the media and civic
organisations.
Security officers earlier this week prevented the
Zimbabwe Independent crew
from interviewing residents at the transit
camp.
"You do not enter at your own will. You get clearance from the
Ministry of
Information first before I can permit your entry," said one the
officers.
He said journalists and civic organisations were barred
entry into the area.
Ministry officials yesterday refused to comment on
the issue referring all
questions to the Media and Information Commission
(MIC).
MIC officer Munyaradzi Nyamagodo however denied that the
commission had
issued instructions to shut out the media.
Hopley
Estate is one of the three farms subdivided into residential stands
to be
allocated to evictees under the controversial Operation
Garikai.
Living conditions at Hopley Farm, where the displaced have
been dumped for
the past three weeks, are described by civic groups as
"inhuman".
People are living without shelter while food and water
supplies are erratic.
Unicef and the International Organisation for
Migration (IOM) have started
providing aid to people at Hopley
Estate.
We are assisting these people with 45 000 litres of water
every day," said
James Elder of Unicef. The IOM is distributing blankets and
food at the
transit camp.
Most of the people at Hopley lost their
belongings during their
displacements to Caledonia.
Caledonia
transit camp was closed during the visit last month of UN special
envoy Anna
Tibaijuka to assess the impact and extent of Operation
Murambatsvina.
There are no latrines at the new transit
camp.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights' efforts to visit people
at Hopley
were also blocked by military personnel guarding the area. US
Ambassador to
the UN's FAO and WFP, Tony Hall, was barred entry into the
camp by the
security officers. Hall also visited Hatcliff Extension where he
expressed
concern at the situation there.
Zim Independent
Govt yet to pay for Byo stands
Susan
Mateko
GOVERNMRNT has not paid a cent for the stands it was allocated by the
Bulawayo city council under Operation Garikai/Hlalakani kuhle, the Zimbabwe
Independent has established.
At the beginning of July government
announced it had been allocated over a
thousand stands for the
reconstruction programme by the council but did not
indicate whether the
stands were a donation or they were to be paid for.
However, it emerged
this week that the council allocated only 360 stands
against 1 002 that
government said it would develop in Bulawayo.
The Bulawayo city
council's director of housing and community services,
Isaiah Magagula,
confirmed this week that government had not yet paid for
the 360
stands.
"We allocated 360 stands to government in line with Operation
Garikai/Hlalani kuhle, but government is yet to pay for the stands and we
are not sure when that will be," Magagula said.
Pressed to give
the estimated cost of each stand, Magagula said a single
stand cost in the
region of $6 million but that this could be two-fold.
"Currently the
council does not have an exact figure but the standard price
for a 200
square metre stand was $6 million for the last lot that we had.
Now it might
have doubled or gone beyond that," Magagula said.
The latest
revelation follows government plans to channel trillions of
dollars into
housing projects to resettle thousands of Zimbabweans displaced
under its
widely condemned Operation Murambatsvina.
Magagula also revealed that
Operation Garikai/Hlalani kuhle would benefit
only those people on the
council's housing waiting list when it comes to the
allocation of
stands.
"Only those who had been living in illegal structures and
were on the
council's waiting list will get stands," said
Magagula.
Operation Garikai/Hlalani kuhle is an ambitious project by
government to
provide accommodation for thousands of people left homeless
countrywide by
its clean-up exercise.
Zim Independent
Medical exam ordered for assaulted MDC
activists
Loughty Dube
AS police harassment of opposition supporters
continues, a local magistrate
has ordered that 12 MDC activists assaulted by
police while campaigning for
Bulawayo mayor, Japhet Ndabeni Ncube, be
medically examined to determine the
extent of their injuries.
The
activists, who were arrested last week in Emakhandeni suburb while they
were
giving out fliers urging residents to vote for Ncube, were allegedly
injured
when they were assaulted by police before and during their detention
at
Luveve police station.
The 12 were visibly swollen in the face and
other body parts when they
appeared in court last week on Friday to answer
charges of toyi-toying and
blocking traffic.
A young woman in the
group had a broken arm hanging loosely by her side when
she appeared before
Bulawayo magistrate, Kholwani Mangena.
After being briefed by the
lawyer representing the group, the presiding
magistrate ordered that the
group be taken for a medical examination.
The lawyer, Josphat Tshuma
of Webb, Low and Barry, told the magistrate that
his clients were assaulted
by police as they were being arrested and at
Luveve police station where
they were detained overnight.
"The worrying part is that the group
was assaulted by police and each of the
members in the group received
varying injuries, a case which should be
investigated by the courts," Tshuma
said.
The 12 were remanded out of custody to August
25.
Beside the incident involving the police and the 12 MDC
activists, the
Bulawayo executive mayoral elections were held in a peaceful
atmosphere with
no incidents of violence being reported throughout the
city.
Bulawayo executive mayor Ncube retained his seat after he
routed Zanu PF's
Dickson Abu- Basuthu by 29 575 votes to 5 509
votes.
Police have in the past been accused of taking sides with the
ruling Zanu PF
party during elections and several opposition officials and
supporters have
been arrested on the flimsiest of excuses.
Just
two weeks ago, Zanu PF supporters attacked and injured Mangwe MP in
Bubi-Umguza whom they detained at a homestead for the whole night and police
are alleged to have responded to the matter after 26 hours.
Last
month Mbare MP, Gift Chimanikire, was arrested on allegation of
illegally
possessing a firearm after he had gone to a police station to
report an
assault by Zanu PF supporters during a state function to
commission a
vegetable market.
Zim Independent
Stockbrokers on stay-away
Thomas
Mutswiti
STOCKBROKERS yesterday protested against Finance minister Herbert
Murerwa's
latest fiscal policy measures by staying away from the
bourse.
There was no trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange following a
major policy
shift that requires pension funds to increase government bonds
and bills as
a proportion of their portfolios, a ZSE official
said.
The directive on Tuesday includes a 10% tax on all shares sold
on the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
In tandem with this policy shift,
the industrial index lost its post-holiday
exuberance, shedding 0,41% on
Tuesday, 6,5% on Wednesday with only
1,3-million shares changing hands. This
was a far-cry from daily averages of
20-million shares in the past few
weeks.
Yesterday there was no trade in both the morning and afternoon
call overs as
brokers were just seated chatting away.
Pension
funds, the biggest investors on the ZSE, are required to invest 35%
of their
total assets in government bonds and Treasury bills, but have been
calculating that percentage based on book value.
Murerwa said
pension funds must calculate these assets based on market
value, a move
traders said would force companies such as First Mutual and
Old Mutual to
offload shares to raise money to buy bonds and bills to meet
the required
percentage.
The bourse has remained one of the few areas notching a
positive return on
investment in a crumbling economy. Inflation last month
raced to 254,8%, the
highest in more than a year.
"What will
happen is that pension funds will be forced to sell shares to
meet the
shortfall created by the new requirement, but no one in the market
has the
capacity to absorb the shares. There has not been any activity
today, the
afternoon session only lasted five minutes," ZSE chief executive,
Emmanuel
Munyukwi, said.
"The market becomes a sellers' market. It's a
disaster, and there is a very
high possibility that the market will
collapse. All is not well."
Rashid Mudala, a fund manager at First
Mutual Ltd, agreed. "As they rush to
conform with the new requirements,
pension funds will have to sell shares to
raise the cash."
Mudala
said the directive was most likely to cause a stock market collapse
as
pension funds dispose of shares in a market with no takers.
Pension
funds have until October to meet the new requirements.
There are 79
listed companies on the bourse, including South African
insurance firm Old
Mutual, Pretoria Portland Cement and tobacco giant BAT.
The ZSE's market
capitalisation stood at $37,6 trillion at the end of July.
Analysts
said government was desperate to raise funds to meet commitments
after six
years of recession. Government is increasingly relying on the
domestic
market for funds to finance budget shortfalls after a fallout with
multilateral lenders over President Mugabe's controversial land
policies.
"The government is trying to extract every last dollar that
might be out
there, but by so doing it is making people poorer when they
retire,"
economist John Robertson said.
Analysts predicted an
upsurge in black market activities like forex dealing
as investors seek
alternative avenues to realise real returns.
Government is trying to
satisfy its expenditure needs and at the same time
violating its social
obligations. This development might see pension funds
and insurance
companies raising premiums, analysts say.
An analyst with an
insurance company said the requirement will be taxing on
pension funds as it
implies that every time properties are revalued they
will fall short of the
prescribed asset ratios.
The equities market will suffer the most as
pension funds will have to
liquidate shares to meet these ratios.
Zim Independent
Airzim to pay $40 billion for leased plane
Roadwin
Chirara
AIR Zimbabwe is likely run a bill in access of US$2 million (about
$40
billion) in the next two months from the lease of a Boeing 767-300 plane
from PB Air of Thailand.
The plane, which comes into service today,
will be a relief for its Boeing
767-200 which is currently undergoing a
C-class service check by national
airline engineers at Harare International
Airport.
The terms and conditions of the lease arrangement, which
have been kept a
closely-guarded secret after its chief executive Tendai
Mahachi left
Thailand to negotiate the deal, will see the national carrier
paying US$3
200 per flight hour.
The plane is expected to fly for
up to 70 hours a week for two months. There
are also insurance costs and
minor services which are pegged in United
States dollars over the duration
of the lease agreement.
The 245-seater plane, which was put into
service in 1999, is expected to
cater for Airzim's Asian markets under
government's Look East policy.
The plane is expected to make its
maiden flight into the country tonight
from Beijing and then make a return
flight to the Chinese capital.
The plane under the lease agreement
will also be expected to make two weekly
scheduled flights from Harare to
Beijing via Dubai and Bangkok, Thailand
while it retains its owners' PB Air
livery.
The flights to Bangkok will be Airzim's first after the
national carrier
failed to launch the route as planned in July under its
Asian expansion
plan.
Currently Air Zimbabwe is charging $25
million for a return ticket to the
Chinese capital Beijing, and $12 million
for a return ticket to Dubai.
Travellers to Bangkok will be expected to
folk out $28,4 million for a
return ticket.
Mahachi confirmed the
airline was folking out over US$3 200 for every hour
the plane is in the air
under the Thailand lease agreement.
He however refused to disclose
further conditions of the deal saying the
lease agreement was in favour of
the national carrier as the rate paid was
far below the uniform IATA rate
which is in the region of between US$3
500-US$8 000 per hour depending on
the age and size of the aircraft.
"We are lucky that we found a
favourable deal which is charging us far below
the normal IATA rates
considering the size of the plane," Mahachi said.
He said the
decision to lease the aircraft had been necessitated by the need
to maintain
the airline's current routes while remaining consistent in new
routes.
"The decision to lease to plane has been mainly
influenced by the need for
us as an airline to maintain our routes and
customer base," said Mahachi.
"You have to realise the Asian routes have
registered tremendous growth over
the past few months," said
Mahachi.
The airline chief also confirmed the use of army engineering
personnel in
its operations.
"Yes we do have army engineering
personnel working for us. This is under a
secondment agreement we have
entered with the army as part of their training
process," Mahachi
said.
He also said the airline was planning to train army pilots in
flying
civilian planes in the near future.
"We are also looking
at training pilots to fly some of our planes such as
the MA60 as these are
similar to some of their planes currently in service,"
said
Mahachi.
The Air Zimbabwe chief said the third MA60, which was
offered for free under
the purchase arrangement of the initial two planes
with China, was due to
arrive in December or early next
year.
"The free MA60 is due to arrive in December or early next year.
It will be
used by the airline for routes such as Mutare and Buffalo Range.
Currently
one of the MA60 is plying the Joburg route," Mahachi said.
Zim Independent
Sting in the tail
By The Tetrad Group
WHILE most
analysts were still busy trying to come to grips with the
somewhat dodgy
figures in Tuesday's mid-term fiscal policy review, the
Central Statistical
Office (CSO) dropped an inflation bombshell behind them
just a day
later.
If the Finance minister had any inkling of what was in store he
certainly
gave little or no hint of it in his statement, citing only the
June figure
of 164,3% and concluding with a repetition of his view that
"inflation
remains a major obstacle to the realisation of the country's full
productive
potential".
After the CSO's revelation that the July
figure leapt to 254,8%, with a
month-on-month rise of 47,1%, 13,5%
percentage points above the previous
record monthly increase of November
2003, all that can be said is that
hardly anyone would dare contradict the
minister's sentiments in this
respect.
However, projections in
the review did not appear to take into account a
year-on-year rate of
inflation at the beginning of the second half of the
year of 90,5 percentage
points, or 55%, above that at the end of the first
half.
There will
be some really serious discrepancies to account for when the
budget for 2005
as a whole comes to be compiled towards the end of the
current calendar
year.
Even if the mid-term figures can be accepted as a half reliable
pointer to
the likely outturn to the overall budgetary outcome for the year,
which
looks unlikely, it is clear that the resurgence of inflationary
pressures
are but one of several major problems impeding the realisation of
the
economy's productive potential.
A major stimulant to the
spiralling prices is undoubtedly the fall in
domestic production. Although
the minister still clings to the hope that
there will be positive, albeit
lower than forecast growth in GDP in 2005,
all the available evidence points
to yet another year of significant
economic contraction.
This is
likely to take real national output down to nearly half what it was
six
years ago. One reason for this downward trend is the inability of
producers
to access more than a small fraction of the foreign exchange
needed to
sustain output. The auction figures show that just over 7% of bids
have been
met since the end of June compared with 27% in the corresponding
period last
year. Output must be falling across the economy, yet
supplementary estimates
provide increased public sector spending of $3,4
trillion although the
minister admitted that in the absence of foreign
funding the widening budget
deficit had to be financed entirely from the
domestic
market.
With falling real output and rising expenditure the budget
deficit for the
first half of this year was put at $5,7 trillion compared
with the original
estimate of $4,5 trillion for the whole year. This was
despite his refusal
to provide any further funds to the line ministries this
year and the
implementation of certain measures to increase revenue. The
after shock on
output, income and employment is certain to be felt
increasingly over the
next few months.
The reduction in revenues
is more a reflection of declining economic
activity rather than failure on
the part of Zimra. Increasing VAT and
surtaxes is counterproductive and will
not make up for the shortfall, nor
will introducing new
taxes.
More than likely these will actually cause a reduction of the
total amount
collected in the long-term. What is needed is a conducive
environment for
doing business such that companies are profitable (more
corporate tax),
workers are adequately remunerated (more PAYE), and thus
spend more which
means more VAT.
Of more serious implication to
the financial sector, particularly the stock
market, is the introduction of
a 10% withholding tax on the sale of
marketable securities. At the moment
every trade attracts an additional 4%
cost to both the seller and the buyer,
split evenly between the government
and the stockbroker. From September 1,
on the sale of securities the
government will get 12% (2% stamp duty plus
10% withholding tax) and the
broker 2%; makes a lot of sense doesn't
it?
Whilst working for the development of one's country is what many
are
expected to do, the above scenario means Zimbabwe probably scores
another
first by being the only country in which the government earns more
on a
financial transaction than the agent or intermediary. The logic has
left
many so astounded that there hasn't been any trading on the stock
market in
the past two days.
The other imponderable was the new
directive on the insurance sector and
pension funds to calculate the
prescribed asset ratios of 25% for short-term
insurance companies, 30% for
long-term insurers and 35% for pension funds at
market value, which in any
case changes almost daily.
In essence, what this implies is that by
September 30, most pension funds
would need to have liquidated at least a
third of their assets, which are
not prescribed, mainly shares and
properties.
The insurance and pension fund sectors are the main
players in both the
stock and property market, meaning that there will be no
buyers for the
properties and shares, unless of course if foreigners seize
the opportunity
to get these assets at basement bottom prices - unlikely in
current
circumstances.
This again will be contrary to the spirit
of the statement which seeks to
preserve the country's sovereignty by
directing that all foreign investment
will be through joint ventures, in
which foreigners will own 40% and locals
60%. Thus for a US$100 million
project (Zesa coal project for example) the
foreigner will inject US$40
million and the local partner will weigh in with
US$60 million, in a country
as short of foreign currency as we are?
This comes in the wake of
local consortia, even a state institution like the
Zimbabwe Investment
Trust, failing to raise funding for 15% of Zimplats and
Mimosa. Make sense
of it if you can!
Zim Independent
Enemy No1: the volatile exchange rate
IN the
latest monetary policy review (MPR) the Zimbabwe dollar was adjusted
against
US$1 to $17 500. Within a few days the parallel market rate moved to
within
$40 000.
It is important to note that the rate had not moved materially
before the
MPR, and from this it can be deduced that that movement was not
caused by
sudden changesin the market forces of demand and
supply.
Prior to the MPR, the parallel market value of the US$ was
approximately $18
000 while the auction rate was $10 500. This comparison
demonstrates that
the parallel market rate operates on a premium to the
"official" rate.
The problem of the parallel market is an issue that
seriously needs to be
addressed as it has downstream negative effects for
the economy.
In the same vein, it must be understood that a
parallel/black market for any
commodity exists when it is in short supply.
The way to destroy the parallel
market is to strengthen the performance
ofthe official market and therefore
devaluation or adjustments will
becomeunnecessary. Only four years ago the
parallel market value of the Zim
dollar against the greenback was$300.
Back then it was generally
agreed that even at this parallel rate the local
currency was undervalued,
but with the official rate at $55, the market was
placing both a corrective
premium to adjust the rate to realistic levels as
well as a risk premium -
in the event that if one got caught trading, it was
the while.
By
July 2002 the official rate was still $55,04 while the parallel market
rate
was $650. In three years the official rate is now $18 500,41 and the
parallel rate is $40 000. This clearly shows that there is a foreign
currency crisis.
Some technical and fundamental analysts are
predicting an auction rate of
over $100 000by the end of the first quarter
of 2006.
But there must be a solution and such solution must be
actively pursued
today. It would be a sad development if we nostalgically
look back at the
past three years ofdifficulty as "the good old days". The
solution is there
but it is not close at hand. In fact, it is moving further
and further away
with each day of delay. Most of Zimbabwe's current problems
would be taken
care of with a steady supply of foreign
currency.
Over the past few years we have moved so far from where we
were, which
itself was far from where we were headed, that what we are going
through now
will be with us for a while yet. What this calls for is action
now.
If action had been taken three years back we would be at a
different
leveltoday. It is interesting to note that Zambia went through a
similar
period when there were undue restrictions on foreign currency and
significantparticipation by the state in the economy.
When the
markets were liberalised and the government took a regulatory role
there was
a crash of the Zambian kwacha against major currencies (from
US$1:ZK60) but
that was 15 years ago!
In the ensuing period the government of Zambia
enforced bold market-based
policies not dictated by the West, and today the
Zambian kwacha is one of
the most stable currencies in the region, trading
both in Zambia and
internationally at an average of ZK4 350 to the
greenback.
Today the kwacha is stronger than the Zimbabwean dollar!
Economic history,
from our own Rozvi State to the modern G8 nations, has
demonstrated that
there is nothing thatcan beat a free market, and free
market policies need
to be actively pursued to correct the disparities
currently existing in our
market.
It is the exchange rate that is
the country's number 1 enemy and all stops
must bepulled out to fight it. We
remember well the abolishment of trade in
US dollars in early 2004 because
the Zimbabwean dollar was the legal tender
of the country. The private
sector's innovation had seen that dollarising
was the only way to go and
real estate, fuel and other commodities were
quoted in the US$, to give a
semblance of stability.
It appears we are now moving back to the days
of late 2003 with the
introduction of the payments of PAYE in foreign
currency, fuel being
purchased in foreign currency; the economy is slowly
dollarising and soon
most key costs (electricity, water, toll roads) will be
charged in foreign
currency.
As with fuel today, he who has
foreign currency, knows no shortage. Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) is one
way of ensuring that there is a steady supply
of foreign
currency.
While the country has resources that could easily give it a
positive balance
of trade, without capital equipment (which itself needs
foreign currency) we
cannot convert these resources into the hard currency
we seek.
Over the past two years, private sector involvement in
national development
has been relegated as the nation has monopolised the
salivation of our state
to the Asian giants. While this might be noble, no
economic turnaround has
succeeded with the involvement of foreign powers in
conjunction with the
government alone. The local private sector needs to be
involved to safeguard
the local interests.
We are not taking the
Asian model, but bringing the Asians themselves, whose
interests are to
safeguard their own commercial interests. Soon we will
bring them in to
resuscitatethe Feruka Refinery and to manufacture ethanol
for us, all things
the private sector can do with a little help. Private
sector innovation is
now regarded with suspicion in Zimbabwe, whereas
foreign innovation is
hailed.
Zim Independent
Skewed policies bad for investment
Thomas Mutswiti/
Itai Mushekwe
GOVERNMENT'S command approach to the economy has tainted its
investment
promotion initiative which has seen Foreign Direct Investments
(FDI)
dwindling to its lowest ebb since 2000 during the chaotic land
seizures.
President Robert Mugabe's call for 2005 as a year of investment
is proving
to be pie in the sky.
Despite the increase in Zimbabwe
dollar terms in FDI levels, the country
remains in dire need of foreign
capital injection amid calls for an
improvement in the investment
climate.
Statistics indicate that levels of FDI have been increasing
with the US
showing substantial interest in the tourism sector. It has
invested $4,9
trillion in the sector with China investing $620 billion in
the agricultural
sector for the half year to July. Total foreign and joint
venture investment
increased from $1,4 billion in 2000 to $5,8 trillion as
at July 31.
However, analystswho spoke to businessdigest doubted
these figures
indicating that FDI has been falling due to a host of
political and economic
problems in the country. Many spoke of the failure of
investment initiatives
due to policy uncertainties.
Economist
Eric Bloch said: "My perception of Zimbabwe's investment promotion
initiative is that it is all talk and no substance and, therefore, of very
minimal effect. As yet 2005, which is supposed to be the year of investment,
has witnessed very little investment. There have been some specific
investment projects agreed with China, but most have yet to convert to
reality."
Bloch added that it was not correct that the economy
has endured massive
capital flight, for the stringent exchange controls have
prevented
repatriation of capital by foreign investors. The only major
capital flight
has been externalisation of assets through the parallel
market. This has
compounded the scarcity of foreign exchange and exchange
rate movement in
the unofficial markets. Investors do not invest if there is
a lack of
national credibility.
Zim Independent
Dynamics of the SA rescue package
By Alex T
Magaisa
THE rescue package from South Africa to Zimbabwe has raised
considerable
interest in the last few weeks.
Zimbabwe has the worst
performing economy in Southern Africa. Even the DRC,
which has been involved
in conflict in recent years is recording positive
growth. That Zimbabwe now
needs a bailout package is official
acknowledgement of its precarious state.
No amount of denials will cover the
fact that the country is in dire
straits. Not even the headlines and
statements proclaiming that the country
is on the road to recovery.
However, the debate over what SA can do
for Zimbabwe and how it can achieve
that result appears to overlook the
wider politics of international
bailouts. In organising a bailout, SA is not
simply acting as a benevolent
big brother, but is also acting to safeguard
its interests. Such rescue
packages have been organised elsewhere
previously. SA must however realise
that in the pursuit of its interests
present a moral hazard. To the extent
that such moral hazard arises SA also
has at the very least, a moral
obligation to account to Zimbabwean citizens.
They need assistance to
survive these hardships but far more important is
that they need help to lay
down a foundation for restoration of prosperity
in the long-term.
Bailouts are not new and we can learn a bit from
recent history. The two
principal goals of bailouts are firstly, to prevent
total collapse of a
country's economic system and enable it to meet its
international
obligations and secondly, to prevent the spread of systemic
risk to other
countries. The total breakdown of a country's economic system
has major
social and economic implications on the region. It would mean mass
migration
to neighbouring countries, breakdown in trade relations and loss
of major
markets.
It would not have escaped SA's attention that
Zimbabwe is one of its major
trading partners in Africa. Zimbabweans flock
to South Africa as economic
migrants and political refugees. SA cannot
afford to have a total collapse
in Zimbabwe because it would entail a huge
loss of market as well as open
the floodgates of immigration. Total collapse
would negatively affect SA and
other neighbouring countries.
In
organising a rescue package for Zimbabwe, SA is doing no more than the US
did in 1994-5 during the Mexican financial crisis. At that time the US led a
major financial rescue operation to save Mexico partly to safeguard its own
interests. In the end Mexico received almost US$50 billion from the US, the
IMF and a consortium of other countries. Similar responses were taken during
the Asian financial crisis in 1997-8. The international community took a
pro-active stance to safeguard the international financial system from the
threats posed by crises in the emerging economies.
There is a key
theme in all this: protection of self-interest. It is
therefore not
surprising that SA would deploy its resources not so much for
the sake of
Zimbabwe, but for its own interests. And that is where the
problem lies: the
moral hazard created by such rescue packages and what SA
could do to
minimise it.
The assistance that was given to Mexico and Asian
countries was criticised
as giving rise to specific moral hazard in the
investment community. Besides
the superficial picture of assisting the
country in crisis, critics argued
that it was in fact assisting imprudent
investors who would otherwise have
lost their money if the crises were to
persist. In other words, the
interventions had the effect of encouraging
unwise and reckless behaviour of
investors knowing that whatever happens
they would recoup their losses.
Critics argued that the governments were
using taxpayers' money to bail out
reckless investors who should have
carried their losses.
Now getting back to Zimbabwe, there is a large
number of SA business
involvement in Zimbabwe. The South Africans who have
invested in Zimbabwe
would suffer great losses as a result of economic and
political collapse in
Zimbabwe. The package has the effect of cushioning
these investors and the
question really is for South Africans to question
whether they would allow
their taxpayers' money to be used to protect a
selection of businesses
investing in Zimbabwe. But for Zimbabweans there is
also a further moral
hazard and that is why SA should also be concerned with
their views.
The argument is that other than being a temporary
reprieve, the loan will
not really solve the core problem affecting
Zimbabwe's economy. Further, it
would be argued that far from rescuing the
country from economic malaise,
the loan permits the government to pursue
skewed economic and political
policies knowing that it has a cushion to fall
back on. It is this moral
hazard that SA ought to consider in its relations
with Zimbabwe.
The question they ought to ask themselves is: Are we,
by advancing this
rescue package to Zimbabwe permitting and encouraging
imprudent behaviour on
the part of the Zimbabwe government? If the answer to
that question is yes,
it does not necessarily mean that SA should not
advance the rescue package.
As I have stated already, SA also has some
self-interest to safeguard. It
means, however, that in making its decisions,
SA must balance the
self-interest and the interests of
Zimbabweans.
The question that arises therefore would be: If by our
assistance we create
such a moral hazard, what can we do to minimise it? It
is at this point
where the issue of conditions to the loan arise. In these
circumstances, the
principal purpose of the conditions should be to minimise
the moral hazard
created by advancing the bailout package. The loan should
not simply have
the effect of a temporary solution, but should be part of a
long-lasting
transformation covering economic, political and social aspects
pertaining to
Zimbabwe.
We ought to recall again that the issue
of conditions to rescue packages is
not new. In accepting the rescue
packages, Mexico and most of the Asian
countries had to also accept certain
conditions. These conditions had impact
on both economic and political
matters in the respective countries. It has
been said that Malaysia resisted
these conditions but most of the countries
believed that they had no choice
and duly accepted.
Conditions do not always work in the anticipated
fashion and the IMF-led
rescue packages have been widely criticised over the
years. The key,
however, as far as Zimbabwe is concerned, is for SA to
identify and
understand the causes of Zimbabwe's problems and negotiate
conditions that
have the effect of dealing with those specific
challenges.
Now there is also some controversy regarding the genesis
of Zimbabwe's
problems and care must be taken at this stage. In my view,
these causes may
be both external and internal to Zimbabwe. All too often,
however, there is
huge polarisation. On the one hand there are those who
argue that Zimbabwe's
problems are internal but refuse to acknowledge the
external factors and on
the other hand are those who argue that Zimbabwe's
problems are external but
refuse to acknowledge the internal factors. There
is need to accept the
reality that there is no single cause to the
problems.
Perhaps some are more prominent than others, depending on each
individual's
platform but it would be a mistake, as we have seen over the
years, to adopt
a narrow view and refuse to see the point from the other
side. So what's the
point of all this?
The point is that in
debating SA's position in relation to the rescue
package and how it can play
a role in helping Zimbabwe, we need to avoid a
narrow approach. We should
take a wider and more comprehensive plan that
addresses a wider
cross-section of issues impacting on the Zimbabwean
economy. The more the
issues we place on the table, the easier it is to
negotiate the major
obstacle.
The way I see it is that simply discussing the issue in
political terms has
the effect of placing SA in a difficult position. We
have seen over the
years that it is keen to avoid being seen as a bully by
the Zimbabwe
government and its allies. Yet in being soft it has also risked
being called
a poodle by its critics. The key however is that it must take
into account
the long-term interests of Zimbabweans and realise that its
actions have an
impact on their future.
In doing so SA has to
realise that the key question is not whether it gives
Zimbabwe the current
loan request, but what it will do next time when
Zimbabwe comes again
extending the begging bowl. This is because unless
there is fundamental
overhaul stretching from political to economic systems
in Zimbabwe, it is
more than likely that Zimbabwe will soon be broke again.
In order to avoid
that, SA needs to assist Zimbabwe out of this by taking a
more comprehensive
approach. In doing so it would also be assisting itself,
because it has
major economic and political interests to safeguard by
helping Zimbabwe to
be successful.
There are of course differences between the Mexican
and Asian crises on the
one hand and the Zimbabwean crisis on the other.
Unlike the Mexican and
Asian crises, the Zimbabwean crisis is not seen as a
major threat to the
international financial system. If anything, its impact
is limited to the
Southern African region, which explains why SA would be
interested in
keeping systemic risk at bay.
Secondly, the other
crises took place over a relatively short space of time
and were major
shocks to the international economic system at the time.
Zimbabwe's crisis
has unfolded gradually and visibly over a period of time
and its demise has
been predictable. The current liquidity problem is widely
seen as an
opportunity to halt that crisis.
Third, the crises in Mexico and Asia
were largely perceived as threats to
the model of the free-market economy,
which at the time was being largely
promoted by the Bretton-Woods
institutions the World Bank and the IMF.
Rightly or wrongly, the
Zimbabwean crisis is largely perceived as political
rather than a threat to
that model. In any event, as we saw in relation to
the Argentinean crisis,
the criticisms of the rescue packages of the 1990s
have discouraged
knee-jerk reactions on the part of the IMF in crisis
situations.
Hence, despite persistent talk about Zimbabwe and the
need for reform, it is
unsurprising that there has not been much
international mobilisation to
advance a rescue package.
Finally,
the key lies in the fact that financial injection alone will not
solve the
problems in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe and SA both need a clear plan on
what needs
to be done. The message must be driven home that the idea is not
to punish
Zimbabwe, but to help it out of its crisis. SA has a legal
obligation to
account to its citizens for using their money.
But at the very least,
it also has a moral obligation to the people of
Zimbabwe not simply to
assist them as neighbours but also to ensure that its
assistance is put to
good use.
Zimbabwe needs more than a temporary solution. It requires
assistance that
has long term implications on its political and economic
stability. SA is
not doing anything new. All it needs to do is learn from
history to avoid
making similar mistakes. It is free as a sovereign nation
to help its
neighbour and also safeguard its interests. Its key challenge
however is to
minimise the moral hazard that would arise from extending the
bailout
package.
* Dr Magaisa is a specialist in Corporate and
Financial Services Law. He can
be contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
Zim Independent
Yet another body blow to consumers
Godfrey
Marawanyika/Thomas Mutswiti
FOR a government which claims to have the
economically disadvantaged at
heart, the $6,6 trillion supplementary budget
presented by Finance minister
Herbert Murerwa this week is a slap in the
face for ordinary citizens as
they will now have to dig dipper into their
coffers.
Murerwa skirted any measures to curtail run-away government
expenditure,
instead opting for deficit financing by raising $1,6 trillion
from the
already squeezed financial markets.
This measure is
projected to raise the budget deficit to 8,7% of the gross
domestic
product.
So desperate has been the government for quick cash that it
will now levy
surtax on cellphone airtime, commuter and taxi
operators.
Apparently for political expediency's sake, government
continued with its
jobs-for-the-boys approach. The Senate will be given $30
billion to conduct
its elections.
The minister introduced a host
of taxes including widening the tax base to
cover already cash-strapped
parastatals.
Parastatals have been called upon to review service fees
to economic levels
in a bid to lessen the burden on the
fiscus.
The informal sector whose operations were almost blown to
extinction by
Operation Murambatsvina are now regarded as a source of tax
revenue.
This was long overdue given that about 75% of the economy
was operating
underground.
Small-scale miners were also not
spared and will have to pay 5% presumptive
tax.
The levels of
corruption, particularly at the ports of entry, are a cause
for concern but
Murerwa just talked of revision of strategies by Zimra to
permanently deal
with it.
The Anti-Corruption Commission was sworn in last week and
all Minister Paul
Mangwana has managed to do is gobble $300 billion of
taxpayers' money.
The Look East policy seems to be pinching the
revenue base - albeit mildly.
To minimise forex pressures due to spare parts
need, Murerwa prescribed the
use of yet another tax to address the
problem.
Car dealers who were complaining of low business levels will
now sing the
blues as all vehicles five years old and above will now attract
a surtax of
25%.
In South Africa, used cars are completely
outlawed.
In a move that is set to hit mobile phone users hard, a
special VAT rate of
22,5% will be levied on airtime.
Speculation
is rife that Econet and Net*One have proposed 180% and 250%
tariff increases
respectively, yet government rhetoric is the promotion of
telecommunication
levels.
Imported beer and cigarettes now attract a surtax of 50%.
Surtax on other
luxury goods has been pegged at 15%.
Given the
problems that passenger transport operators are facing due to lack
of forex
to buy spare parts and biting fuel shortages, the introduction of
presumptive tax can only be the final blow to their survival.
In
continued dollarisation to harness the much-needed forex, Murerwa
proposed
that PAYE be payable in the currency in which employees receive
remuneration.
In a bid to appease employees, the minister
proposed a $500 000 "windfall"
by broadening the tax-free threshold from $1
million to $1,5 million per
month though calls were for $2,5
million.
Further review of tax brackets has been deferred to the 2006
budget.
The overburdened taxpayer has however been guaranteed
continual payment of
withholding tax on any investments made in marketable
securities.
For the local bourse, that's a slap in the face to the
investors, since they
will now be levied a 10% capital gains tax on any
sale.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president, Luxon Zembe,
indicated that
he was relieved that government had recognised that the
country is in an
economic crisis requiring implementation of tough
measures.
"Some positive things did come out of the budget. There was
general
compliance with the monetary policy, particularly calls for a
conducive
investment climate, showing convergence of thinking by both the
monetary and
fiscal authorities," Zembe said.
Zembe added that
calls for order on the farms were very important and that
what was now
needed was practical implementation with the help of law
enforcement
agents.
He said calls for parastatals to charge economic prices where
possible were
welcome, adding that strategies should focus on restructuring
as the
problems the country is facing are structural.
Another
analyst said increasing tax the burdens had serious implications for
the
business community with respect to both equity and efficiency of the
regimes.
Zim Independent
Mawere decries abuse of property rights
Eric
Chiriga
EXILED businessman, Mutumwa Mawere, has said that the state takeover
of his
firms clearly indicates that the government has no respect for
property
rights.
Mawere's comments come in the wake of questions
recently posed in parliament
by MDC St Mary's MP Job Sikhala to Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa if he
was aware that the Reconstruction of State
Indebted Companies Act was in
breach of provisions of property
rights.
Sikhala also asked Chinamasa if he was taking any corrective
measures
especially in the light of the state of affairs at Shabanie Mashaba
Mines.
However, Chinamasa dismissed Sikhala's claims.
"I can
state categorically that the Reconstruction of State-Indebted
Insolvent
Companies Act (the Reconstruction Act) does not breach the
property rights
enshrined under our constitution," Chinamasa said.
"The
constitutionality or otherwise of a piece of legislation or an
administrative action is determined by our Supreme Court in terms of the
constitution."
Chinamasa said there is a presumption of
constitutionality in the
interpretation of our legislation and such
legislation is presumed to be
constitutional until declared otherwise by the
Supreme Court.
Chinamasa said the Reconstruction Act referred to by
Sikhala was
constitutional until the Supreme Court rules
otherwise.
"To my knowledge, SMM has not filed a constitutional
challenge of the
Reconstruction Order, which was issued on the 6th September
2004," he said.
SMM has since filed an application in the High Court
seeking the setting
aside of the Reconstruction Order.
Chinamasa
said it was difficult to understand the sort of corrective
measures Sikhala
wanted, given that SMM was as of September 6 last year
indebted to the state
to the sum of $115 billion and to other creditors to
the tune of $22,4
billion and unable to repay.
He said SMM was also overwhelmed with
debts to the extent that the state
could no longer lend it funds while trade
creditors and suppliers had ceased
dealing with it for
non-payment.
He said business had ground to a halt and government was
forced to pay the
creditors.
"All this was caused by the
externalisation of SMM foreign exchange earnings
of US$18,5 million by South
African-based Mutumwa Mawere," he said.
" It (SMM) faced imminent
closure and thousands of jobs and livelihoods were
at risk of loss. It could
not repay its trade creditors and the mining
concern was literally insolvent
and incapable of proceeding."
SMM was placed under reconstruction in
terms of the Reconstruction Act, with
government arguing that this was done
with a view to rebuilding it (SMM) and
ensure it returned to viability
through a proposed Scheme of Reconstruction.
Chinamasa said in any
event, it was also in the public interest that SMM be
placed under
reconstruction given the fact that it was owing public funds
and was a
debtor of the state.
He said based on the facts on the ground, one
would conclude that SMM was
indebted to the state and, therefore, the state
acted in the national
interest to pass a new law to prevent the imminent
collapse of the company.
"The role of the state in relation to SMM
needs to be examined in order to
determine whether the actions of the state
were justified," Chinamasa said.
"In addition, the conduct of the state
in relation to SMM and its
shareholder are issues that the minister failed
to address."
However, speaking from South Africa, Mawere said SMM is
a private company
beneficially owned by another private company, SMM
Holdings Ltd (SMMH),
through shares registered in England.
He
said the ownership of SMM goes back to 1965 and there has been no change
of
shareholding since then, adding that the shareholding of SMMH changed in
1996 when ARL, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, owned by
himself acquired by purchase, all the shares owned by T & N Plc, a
company
registered in England, but now in administration.
He
asked why the government did not allow the due process of the law to take
its course if the company was indebted?
Mawere said if the
relationship between the state and SMM was that of a
debtor and creditor,
then the recovery or reconstruction of the company
would certainly have been
a civil matter.
He said the protection of a debtor against a creditor
would be governed
under Section 18(9) of the Constitution that states:
"Subject to the
provision of this constitution, every person is entitled to
be afforded a
fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and
impartial court
or other adjudicating authority established by law in the
determination of
the existence or extent of his civil rights or
obligations."
He said in the case of SMM, the indebtedness alleged by
the minister was not
independently determined as provided for in the
constitution.
Instead, the state appointed its administrator who
dismissed the board of
the company and proceeded to unilaterally determine
the indebtedness of the
company.
"Even if SMM was indebted, the
minister would still have been obliged to
give notice to SMMH as the member
most affected by the Reconstruction
Order," Mawere
said.
"However, the minister chose not to inform SMMH although the
constitution
provides no latitude. By failing to afford the shareholder a
hearing before
issuing the Reconstruction Order, the decision to issue a
Reconstruction
Order by the minister in respect of SMM was contrary to the
rules of natural
justice. The minister did not address this issue in
parliament."
Mawere argues that Chinamasa failed to inform the House
that there was no
legislative framework which allows the state to loan funds
to individual
companies in Zimbabwe.
He said that the broadening
of the definition of the state in the
Reconstruction Act not only undermines
the juristic persona of state
institutions and the fact that it operates
retroactively offends all rules
of natural justice.
"The SMM saga
illustrates the classic case of abuse of power by the
executive on the
pretext of national interests. The minister alleges that
there was no
ulterior motive in placing SMM under reconstruction," he said.
"In
the response of the minister it is clear that the government was in no
way
involved in the ARL acquisition and yet now has effectively dismembered
a
private company of its property rights in Zimbabwe."
Zim Independent
Power licences: 4 in race
Conrad Dube
FOUR private
players have applied to the Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory
Commission
(Zerc) for licences to develop power generation plants in the
country.
Zerc was set up to create and preserve efficient industry
structures for the
provision of electricity power. It also seeks to promote
competition and
private sector participation in the power generation
sector.
The regulatory commission has invited applications for the
generation of
electricity as the initial stage of demonopolising the
electricity industry.
Commissioner general Mavis Chidzonga said this week
Zimbabwe had a deficit
of 240MW on total demand of about 2
070MW.
The country produces 1 330MW, with Hwange Power station
producing 550MW,
Kariba 730MW while small thermal stations account for the
remaining 50MW.
About 500MW is imported from Mozambique and South
Africa.
Chidzonga did not disclose the identities of the applicants,
citing client
confidentiality.
The commission is looking for
other options to increase power generating
capacity and is encouraging
small-scale hydro-electricity generators to
reduce the current electricity
shortfall.
"New players have shown interest in greenfield investments
and they want to
bring in a different type of technology from the existing
one that can
enhance electricity generation," said
Chidzonga.
Among some of the conditions demanded in the application
is the technical
capacity of the applicants.
The commission is
also looking at the availability of resources such as
financial and primary
energy sources.
The executive commissioner responsible for technical
and economic
regulation, Gloria Magombo, said the commission would eliminate
briefcase
companies through a rigorous vetting exercise.
"We will
eliminate speculators because this has to do with the security of
the
nation. We do not want a situation where new players destabilise
existing
systems and infrastructure due to use of non-compliant equipment,"
Magombo
added.
Zim Independent
Comment
South African farmers' fatal
mistake
WHEN in 1999 President Robert Mugabe threatened to seize land
owned by white
commercial farmers without paying compensation, everybody
said it was
impossible. Such an act of madness had no historical precedent
in modern
times. It was against property rights and the international
community would
not stomach such errant nonsense. After all the white
commercial farmers had
title to the land.
Sure, such an abomination
had never been committed before. When the
Bolsheviks and the Chinese did it,
it was against the kulaks and other
remnants of the landed aristocracy from
the feudal era, not against the
children of a former colonial power. It was
a typical "internal affair".
We all now know what Mugabe did soon after.
Unfortunately white landowners
and the opposition in South Africa don't seem
to have learnt a lesson. They
are still in denial about the need for speedy
land redistribution to avert a
replay of the Zimbabwean tragedy. This became
stark clear in their reaction
to newly appointed deputy President Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka's vexatious
"joke" about South Africa learning "how to do it
fast" from Zimbabwe's
experience.
"We may need some skills from
Zimbabwe to help us," she said. The anger
quickly crystallised around the
opposition Democratic Alliance's response
when its spokesperson Kraai van
Niekerk warned Mlambo-Ngcuka to act "in a
more balanced and responsible
manner" during public appearances. "Zimbabwe
offers a textbook example of
ways in which land reform should not be carried
out," the DA said. They are
right and wrong.
Just as happened here a few short years back, the South
African government
was accused of not allocating enough funds to buy land,
as if it has
limitless resources at its disposal. Farmers in SA should need
no reminding
that whatever the shortcomings of Mugabe's disastrous method,
it was partly
in response to the failure of the "willing seller, willing
buyer" approach
to deliver as it was to Mugabe's fight with Tony
Blair.
More importantly, the land became Mugabe's biggest largesse yet to
stem a
tide of discontent from the constituency of war veterans and the army
who
had not benefited from the expensive DRC debacle.
While the
political imperatives for fair land redistribution should have
been obvious
to all, farmers behaved as if government was to blame for
lacking money.
Similarly, while South African farmers are keen to point out
the legal
framework for land reform, they deliberately ignore the political
pressure
on government and hope cynically that what happened in Zimbabwe
cannot
happen there. It is very dangerous self-delusion.
We understand very well
how President Thabo Mbeki has tried to stick to the
law and tread with
caution even on the Black Economic Empowerment programme.
He may not have
Mugabe's petty vindictiveness, but there is a danger in
making him feel like
an Uncle Tom in the eyes of poor blacks.
Mlambo-Ngcuka's gaffe may be a
timely warning against complacence by white
commercial farmers and of the
restlessness among the poor agitating for
Zimbabwean-style farm invasions.
There is a danger of the "right approach"
frustrating Mbeki and his ANC
party into ultimately believing that there is
in fact a "method to Mugabe's
madness". South Africa and the entire region
will be the biggest losers from
the fallout.
There may be no skills to be learnt from Mugabe's approach,
but South
Africans have had ample opportunity to know what can be avoided by
seeking
compromise on the price of land. Their country has not yet gone down
the
tubes but its farmers and the opposition are proving just how difficult
it
is to learn from the mistakes of others, even when they are as close as
Zimbabwe is.
It should also be borne in mind that there are black
South Africans who
regard Mugabe as a hero for tormenting whites. Mugabe
would like to infect
such South Africans and
those in the land lobby with
the fast-track virus.
The core group of potential hosts of the virus is
already there in the form
of the Landless People's Movevement, the Northern
Province Land Rights
Coalition and elements in the Pan Africanist Congress.
Merchants of terror
in the country, notorious for murdering white farmers,
mainly with the
motive to rob, can also be roped in to form an alliance of
convenience. The
product will have a "made in Zimbabwe"
sticker.
Zimbabwe's mistakes can be avoided with some modicum of public
spiritedness
and a genuine sense of equity. If South Africans can achieve by
moral
suasion what Zimbabweans are trying to achieve through force,
they
would have learnt something and can set a better example for other
countries
in a similar conundrum.
Zim Independent
Zim's rot: the face of Mugabe's humiliation
By Chido
Makunike
THE last several months have not been good for President Mugabe and
his
regime. Many at home and abroad believe his party rigged the recent
parliamentary election. Operation "Destroy Homes and Livelihoods" was an
unmitigated disaster not only for the hundreds who were at its receiving
end, but for President Mugabe's already tattered stature as
well.
Then came the trip to China, from which it was hoped he would
return
triumphantly laden with gifts, shaking his raised fist at the airport
as
Zanu PF Women's League members wearing his face on the bosoms or buttocks
of
their dresses ululated, cabinet members shuffling dutifully. Alas, it was
not to be!
No multi-billion dollar aid or investment package
materialised. Instead he
was said to have been thrown US$6 million for
starving Zimbabweans.
I wondered whether this humiliation was why,
when inspecting a guard of
honour alongside a relaxed looking Chinese
president, President Mugabe's
face was locked in a grim, mouth-down turned
countenance. I felt so sorry
that it has come to this for him.
He
has previously railed against the veto at the United Nations, but took
cover
under Chinese assurances that they would use theirs to shield his
regime
from Security Council scrutiny.
Rather than appearing to be the
leader of a proud, sovereign nation, this
seemed to confirm how President
Mugabe is so desperate, frightened and
cornered that he must find protection
wherever he can get it, whatever the
cost and no matter how it contradicts
his rhetoric.
While China may be quite happy to sell us buses,
transformers and rickety
old-tech technology like the MA 60 planes that the
government has
embarrassingly been crowing about, they are clearly not
interested in
extending any large scale injection to a regime that has
squandered
Zimbabwe's wealth and potential.
The suggestion that
President Mugabe was playing off the Chinese and the
South Africans against
each other in his appeal to both of them for a big
rescue package was
laughable.
You must be in a position of relative strength to pull
this off and
President Mugabe has ensured that Zimbabwe at the moment is the
weakest it
has ever been.
Reports from South Africa say that
country's government is being very
careful not to be seen to be
"humiliating" Mugabe in the negotiations over
the terms of that country's
loan to Zimbabwe.
But what "humiliation" could be worse for him than
the state of Zimbabwe and
what he has been reduced to, trying to stem the
rot?
The greatest humiliation to Mugabe is the mess he is presiding
over. All his
rhetoric at the AU, UN and other summits that he so enjoys
pontificating at
is neutralised and contradicted by the dysfunctionality of
the country he
rules over.
He would be better off staying at home
and getting his country to be in a
more respectable shape before he ventures
out to be cheered in front of his
face while he is laughed at behind his
back.
The contradictions caused by his unenviable position just keep
coming. A big
part of the South African loan is to pay off arrears to the
IMF. But
countless times Mugabe has attributed many of the country's
economic woes to
that organisation and suggested his government would get
along without it.
The scramble to make a part payment and avoid
imminent expulsion is an
admission that his rhetoric was mere populist
posturing. The need for the
loan and the arrears in the first place are also
signs of how the economy is
not performing.
A borrower, even one
who is in good standing with the world, is not in a
position to dictate the
terms of a loan even at the best of times. So
whatever the public posturing
of both governments to protect a fragile ego,
Mugabe and his regime will
have to swallow some unpalatable conditions to
get South African
assistance.
No matter how it is explained, the fact of the loan, the
conditions and the
fact that the lender does not trust the borrower enough
to give him direct
cash are all very loud statements that say "mistrust,
lack of confidence".
If Mugabe says "go to hell" to the South Africans
over their conditions, it
will cement the world's view of Mugabe as a
churlish despot who sulks easily
and does not accept reality enough to
manoeuvre in the modern world for the
benefit of his people. He would have
confirmed his growing reputation as a
remote cold seeker of power with very
little regard and concern for the
misery he has been responsible
for.
I wish I could think of some ways in which things were going
President
Mugabe's way but I can't. This is a great pity because a person of
81 who
has lived a privileged and eventful life should have the comfort of
his
golden years filled with happy events, the respect and adoration of
those
around him for a long life well lived.
Ideally, people
should be looking to your eventual exit with trepidation,
not with joy and
eager excitement.
The bigger and more important story is the
destruction of a beautiful
country. But a smaller, more personal
accompanying tragedy is how a man over
several decades managed to replace
possible greatness with ignominy. It need
not have turned out this
way.
*Chido Makunike is a Harare-based writer.
Zim Independent
State-ownership of land a backward step
By John
Robertson
GOVERNMENT'S proposals to replace the former freehold title to
agricultural
land with a 99-year leasehold system appear to offer political
advantages
that make the concept attractive to political authorities. These
centre on
features of the arrangements that permit the state: * to retain
ultimate
control over the land; * to protect peasant communities from the
harshness
of market forces; * to prevent the development of empowered
pressure groups
of farmers; * to re-allocate land that officials consider is
not being
efficiently used, and * to directly influence the selection of
successors
when existing lessees choose to vacate their
properties.
In the proposed legislation to control leases, government
intends to
separate the land from improvements on the land. As the initial
beneficiaries of land redistribution were given the land free of charge,
their successors would also take over the land free of charge, but would be
expected to pay the former occupant for improvements if the new lessee
agreed these were of value.
In support of the 99-year leasehold
proposition, government has cited the
fact that considerable areas of land
in certain developed countries are
successfully leased to
farmers.
Unfortunately, the conditions the government of Zimbabwe
intends to entrench
in the leases make them distinctly different from those
that apply in first
world countries.
In all the countries
concerned, the land is not owned by the state, but by a
property-owning
individual, family or company under title deed. In all cases
the land itself
has value, so each lease has a market value and is
marketable as well as
being protected by tenant right laws.
In the event of a lessee
deciding to relinquish a lease, the market value of
the remaining years will
be established in the market, a buyer will be
sought through the market and
the transaction will be formalised and
registered in the market by estate
agents and conveyancers.
Other than collecting transfer duties and
registering the new owner, the
state plays no part in the
procedures.
These features make the lease not only transferable but
also bankable within
a free market. Lessees wishing to invest in useful
improvements on the land
can therefore use the lease as collateral for a
bank loan. Should the lessee
fail to meet the bank's repayment conditions,
the bank is entitled to
foreclose on the borrower and offer the lease for
resale on the market to
recover the outstanding loan.
Leasehold
arrangements evolved from the earlier feudal systems in Europe as
landlords
and tenants tried to find means of unlocking the capital value of
land.
As the short-comings of leasing became apparent and as the
power of the
landed aristocracy waned, freehold ownership rights evolved.
When new areas
of settlement and investment were being established in the
Americas, the
feudal systems of Spain and Portugal were transplanted into
South and
Central America and the evolving freehold land tenure systems were
adopted
in North America.
Today, hundreds of years later, South
and Central America remain a
collection of developing countries and North
America encompasses the most
prosperous countries in the
world.
The essential difference between these two vast areas - and
the essential
difference between the former communal and commercial areas of
Zimbabwe - is
that, where they had individual title, the owners of the land
used its
capital value to develop its potential and their own as
well.
With the backing of capital, they achieved remarkable success.
Their title
deeds provided them with security of tenure and a powerful
bridge directly
into the banking sector. Their eagerness to repay their
loans, plus their
ability to make long-term plans, drew from them
resourcefulness, ingenuity
and their most determined efforts to
succeed.
By contrast, where the occupants of the land were tenants,
their ability to
raise money to carry out development work or to enhance
their own skills was
severely limited. Their uncertain hold on the property
they occupied, but
could not own, left them with little incentive to plan
ahead or to invest in
something that might have a pay-back only in the
longer-term and probably
only for someone else.
China has
accepted the need for individual property rights, and ownership
rights are
being restored to East European families that were dispossessed
of
properties after the USSR extended its territories after World War
II.
Zimbabwe's proposals are taking the country in the opposite
direction. As
they will effectively eliminate the collateral value of the
land, they will
make development funding entirely the responsibility of the
state and they
will make each individual's performance dependent on state
subsidies and
support.
Personal progress will become dependent
upon political patronage rather than
resourcefulness, ingenuity and hard
work.
Although fixed assets of some value could be built with money
loaned by a
bank, the separation of land from the improvements on it makes
the recovery
of the debt almost impossible if the borrower defaults. This is
because the
farmer's right to remain on the land is conferred, not by a
business
procedure, but by a political act that the bank cannot
challenge.
Investment is the first requirement for economic growth, and
by according a
capital value to land, considerable capital sums are unlocked
and made
available to the investment process.
The responsibility,
accountability and legal obligations that go with
individual freehold
property rights quickly help communities to accept the
challenges of modern
economic development and they place the means of
achieving profound economic
empowerment within reach of the majority.
A decision by Zimbabwe to
revert to feudal state-ownership of land would be
a massively retrograde
step.
*John Robertson is a prominent Zimbabwean economist
Zim Independent
Mbeki ideal candidate for Marxist study
By Michael
Hartnack
BEFORE Zimbabwe's land seizures nervously made him into a Zanu PF
fellow-traveller, my old friend and colleague, retired South African editor
Ken Owen, used to mock the ANC as "Walkies".
This, he told us, stood
for "World's Last Communists".
However, one of the blindest things
you can do in today's Africa is mock the
thinking of Karl Marx (1818-1883).
The more you abhor the societies that
once claimed him as their
inspirational genius, the greater your duty to
learn what the pioneering
sociologist actually said.
The easiest way to grasp the blunder
President Thabo Mbeki made when he told
the National Land Summit in
Johannesburg it was "wrong to conclude
Zimbabwe's debt had been accrued
through financing corruption and
repression" is to think about its history
from a Marxist, or "Marxian",
perspective.
Unfortunately, it is
hard to get many people to do this nowadays, since
minds close up at the
mere mention of Marx's name.
Marx dreamt of creating a future without
class and without private property.
In the end it was the anthropologists
rather than the economists who
shattered this dream when they showed that
humans, like most vertebrates,
let alone higher mammals, are innately
territorial and hierarchical in their
social organisation.
The
best we can work for (from a moral and ideological standpoint), is that
we
make the best ecological use of our territories, and that our social
hierarchies will be creative, allowing those with talent to express
themselves or assume responsibility.
The anthropologists
confirmed what courageous Eastern bloc scholars reported
before they were
dragged off to the slave labour camps - that "the Marxist
bureaucracy was
the most intractable of all class systems".
The ability of the Soviet
nomenklatura to carve out territories for their
relatives outdid the Tsarist
aristocracy that went before.
Marx was one of those thinkers, like
Darwin and Freud, who left us with a
wealth of magnificent ideas, even if he
was in some areas spectacularly
wrong, with dire consequences for
humanity.
Whether President Mbeki and the ANC can perceive what those
errors were is
another matter.
To the immense delight of
Zimbabwe's state propaganda machine, Mbeki told
the National Land Summit
Zimbabwe's debt had been accrued "to respond to the
demand to meet the
urgent needs of the people after liberation. The
government of Zimbabwe had
to spend more money than it had."
If that is so, why are Zimbabweans
not just vastly worse off than in 1980?
Why is the gap between 12 million
poor and the rich - the political elite -
so much wider?
The
particular piece of Marx's theory most relevant to this is the sage's
view
that societies pass through economically "necessary" (unavoidable)
phases of
development - from feudalism to capitalism, from capitalism to
socialism.
He doubted any hope for socialism in Tsarist Russia
because, he said, the
great, backward empire had yet to pass from feudalism
to capitalism, which
permitted a widening degree of individualism,
particularly for those able to
accrue private wealth -
capital.
The remaining handful of Marxist ideologues in President
Robert Mugabe's
Zion, China, contend, interestingly, that the United States
is nearer a
socialist revolution than they are, because it is at a much more
advanced
stage of capitalism.
Under feudalism - to quote a Zanu
PF slogan - "Land is the economy and the
economy is
land".
Economists define a "pure rent" as a payment for owning "the
free gifts of
the soil" or "the free gifts of nature". They talk of
"rent-seeking
behaviour": the desire to sit back and have funds roll in
without having to
make any productive effort, take any risks, keep
up-to-date with any new
ideas.
Feudalism may be described as a
system of licenced "rent-seeking behaviour"
but it has the advantage of
giving a measure of social stability in a
turbulent world, such as Europe in
the wake of the Dark Ages.
The nub of it is, if you don't adore the
king, you have nowhere to live,
nowhere to farm, you starve.
Does
that sound familiar to Zimbabweans? Zimbabwe has certainly been dogged
by
incessant corruption scandals since Independence: the massive fraud over
1982-84 drought relief, the 1988 "Willowgate" vehicles racket, the 1994
farms-for-ministers swindle, the 1997 "war disabilities" scam. It goes on
and on and on. And the guilty were always spared.
These all grew
out of President Mugabe's deliberate gift of "rent-seeking"
privilege to his
loyal underlings, the gift of impunity, in return for
absolute political
loyalty. Such is feudalism, Marx would say.
If Mbeki plans to give
Mugabe US$1 billion help, he is propping up a feudal
state hardly less
backward than tribal Swaziland, and not nearly so honest.
President
Mugabe's planned new constitution will entrench his powers of
feudal
patronage not just by creating a host of sinecures in a Senate, but
by
giving him ownership of all real estate, to distribute and redistribute
among loyal followers at whim.
Those who rage about the evils of
Marxist-Leninism often fail to grasp it
was an intellectually dishonest
system of government for societies such as
Russia that had tried to throw
off feudalism, with the liberation of the
serfs in the 1860s, and failed.
Incipient instability drove Russia back into
a serf-and-overlord system of
social organisation, with its hugely
inefficient form of
economy.
Say what you will against King Mswati with his brides and
palaces, he is not
trying to enveigle Mbeki into doing the Reed Dance with
the typing pool from
Pretoria's Union Buildings.
Like Stalin and
Mao, however, President Mugabe brags that his hopelessly
backward,
profligate and cruel system is "the wave of the future".
The brutal
fact is that Zimbabweans' living standards are half those of the
war-ravaged
1970s, despite vast sums of (donated aid) money pumped into
education,
health, roads, communications, land reform and black empowerment.
If
South Africa's presidential graduate of the University of Sussex can't
see
that, they need to send him to a Marxist re-education camp, preferably
run
by the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.
*Michael Hartnack is a
veteran foreign correspondent based in Harare
Zim Independent
Radical changes in wrong direction
Ray
Matikinye
FEW Zimbabwean parents still remember the promises made by
Aeneas Chigwedere
on being appointed deputy Education minister in 2000, when
he said: "I feel
I have come at the most opportune moment for one main
reason, that the
Nziramasanga Report which contains radical changes in
education is being
considered for implementation. I have been clamouring for
changes in the
education system. I feel I will assist the minister to forge
the education
system so that the youths will benefit."
Now the
changes he intends to make are radical in the wrong
direction.
Stakeholders predict Zimbabwe's education system would reach
the pitch of
disintegration if the proposed Education Amendment Bill that
seeks to repose
unrestrained powers in the minister rather than address
pertinent issues to
halt deteriorating standards is allowed to pass through
parliament.
Human rights lawyers, teachers' unions and associations have
urged MPs to
throw out the Bill as it is deemed detrimental to
education.
The Education Amendment Bill 2005 has heightened public
anxiety that
government wants more control over the education system by
curtailing
freedoms and privileges enjoyed by education administrators,
particularly in
privately-registered schools.
Stakeholders view the
Bill as a sinister desire by Chigwedere to avenge what
he lost in a court
battle against private schools over fees charged by
introducing the
Bill.
Last year, outraged parents shot down Chigwedere's directive for
all schools
to prescribe one uniform. Parents also turned up their noses at
an arbitrary
ministerial directive to rename schools arguing that the costly
exercise did
not add value to the education system.
The proposed
legislation vests more powers in the minister to determine who
these schools
can employ. The ministry is also empowered to determine the
levies that
schools can charge.
The Bill has raised the hackles of both human rights
lawyers and teachers'
representative associations. The amendments also
impinge on the right of
both church-run and private schools to recruit staff
of their own choice.
The Bill empowers the minister to determine what
school uniforms children
should wear and what association a teacher should
belong to.
Human rights lawyers say the amendments raise serious concerns
as they
impinge on some provisions under the Convention of the Rights of
Children
and the African Charter on the Rights of the Child.
The
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child places the onus
on
governments to respect the rights and duties of parents to choose their
children's schools, other than those established by public
authorities.
In contravention of the African Charter, the Bill seeks to
reinforce zoning
regulations which determine what school a child can
attend.
Rangu Nyamurundira of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR) says the
proposed law effectively denies parents the right to enroll
their children
in schools of their choice and whose fees they can
afford.
"The Bill raises concerns coming as it does after government last
year
closed 46 schools in a bid to control school fees in contravention of
the
provisions of that Charter which it ratified," Nyamurundira
said.
The Amendment Bill seeks to punish schools which fail to comply
with
ministry directives on school fees and levies by arbitrarily dissolving
school development committees, or placing the schools under direct
management of the ministry.
Dissenting schools also risk being
de-registered.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ)
secretary-general Raymond
Majongwe says his union is not happy with the
proposed amendments.
Majongwe says the proposed amendments are nothing
more than "the ministry's
misplaced desire to extend needless control over
education".
"The prescription of fees charged by non-governmental schools
will cripple
these schools considering that it takes more than six months
for the
minister to decide what fees are to be paid," says
Majongwe.
The PTUZ suggests a commission comprising representatives of
these schools
and senior ministry officials should be set up to deliberate
on the fee
increases.
Majongwe says it is not only these amendments
that concern the PTUZ but the
new Labour Bill that takes back the teacher to
the Public Service Commission
where teachers are proscribed from becoming
members of a trade union.
"It's more political than
professional."
He said the ministry was failing to keep its finger on the
pulse of what is
going on in schools and failing to manage them as
illustrated by the
widespread sexual abuse of students at Macheke government
school.
"The ministry has a lot on its hands which needs attention other
than
seeking to control who private and church-run schools
employ."
The combative teachers' union says the ministry should direct
its energies
towards improving conditions of service for teachers. Teachers
with
disabilities receive no special allowances.
For instance, a
blind teacher has to employ an aide in order to execute
his/her duties
efficiently. Such a teacher is required to pay the aide from
his meagre
salary.
Another amendment to the Education Act that is on the cards seeks
to
recognise more representative associations for teachers.
Observers
say instead of making efforts to implement recommendations
contained in the
1999 Nziramasanga Commission Report into Education and
Training , Chigwedere
has launched a vigorous assault to break the spirit of
private and
church-run schools.
The commission recommended a nine-year compulsory
basic education (junior
school) cycle for all pupils in order to cultivate
the habits, attitudes,
interests, skills and entrepreneurial opportunities
which would prepare them
to be good citizens and provide
them with a good
foundation for training in occupations of their choice at
senior school and
beyond.
It also recommended an outcomes-based curriculum which is
broad-based in
terms of subject offerings and which focuses on learning
areas, employment
related skills and other essential skills to be developed
across the
curriculum.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
SA lessons
WHEN Joice Mujuru
was appointed vice-president last December, there was a
feeling that she
would add fresh energy to government leading to an economic
recovery and
social regeneration. Our confidence was boosted when on
Christmas eve she
told SABC that she was equal to the task of leading by
example and tackling
the challenges ahead.
"I hope my behaviour will spur on the population to
tackle the many economic
challenges ahead," she said. She was ready to
tackle the problems head-on.
These included sprucing the image of the
country and ensuring that the
British "toe the line" about what was agreed
upon regarding land
redistribution at Lancaster House in 1979.
I
hope the VP was not being charitable with promises because of the
Christmas
spirit. The jury is still out on her ability to deliver on these
pledges.
She is yet to assume the stature of a white knight riding in to
save the
country from an economic quagmire.
To say that she is not anywhere
close to making sure that the British toe
the line is an understatement. She
is yet to attract the attention of the
British. She is yet to take the first
step. Mugabe has at least made an
approach to Tony Blair by demanding
talks.
I have not heard much in the form of diplomatic moves by the
VP to cleanse
the country of its bad-boy image, especially in the light of
the stinging UN
report on Operation Murambatsvina. It is still early days
perhaps to expect
diplomatic coups engineered by her office. She is still
testing the waters.
But she must be seen to be doing something to
fulfil her promise to
straighten the economy. This is a good opportunity for
the vice-president's
office to do a national service and convince us that
her appointment brought
in positive energy in government.
She is
behind schedule as the economy is in a more dilapidated state than it
was
when she assumed office. She came in when inflation was 132,6%. It is
now
254,8%. Domestic debt has almost doubled to $16 trillion. The Zimbabwe
dollar has crashed at rollercoaster speed.
There is no
foreign direct investment to talk of and the nation is getting
poorer by the
day. Central bank governor Gideon Gono's projected growth in
GDP and
agriculture have remained a mirage. The economic pointers are
heading south
at a faster rate. The central bank's policies have proved to
be inadequate,
hence the dreamy projections devoid of economic reason.
Mujuru's starting
point should be to advocate the drawing up of a recovery
plan incorporating
righting the political dispensation and restoring
national confidence in
government. This is the spur required by the nation.
She cannot perform a
Houdini here. She needs a plan to work with. There is
no coherent economic
blue-print with targets for her to preside over.
Her counterpart in
South Africa, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, is in a more
enviable position. Last
month President Thabo Mbeki appointed her to head a
government taskforce to
ramp up the country's economic growth rate above 6%.
Her brief is to achieve
growth so that more jobs are created and new
investment flows into South
Africa.
The Mlambo-Ngcuka team comprises senior economic ministers,
including
Finance minister Trevor Manuel, Trade and Industry minister
Mandisi Mpahlwa,
and the premiers of Eastern Cape and Gauteng. It is
expected to come up with
firm proposals by end of next month, which have to
be budgeted for in the
Medium Term Expenditure Framework, due before
parliament in October.
The team is not expected to re-invent the
wheel because it has a template to
work with in the form of the
microeconomic reform strategy, decisions of the
2003 Growth and Development
Summit which set a target of 5% growth, the
Expanded Public Works Programme,
and reform of the labour market.
The team of six is tasked to speed up
the process of achieving growth.
Despite having targets to achieve and a
clear outline to follow, the South
African government has strived to garner
buy-ins from as many stakeholders
as possible, including powerful labour
unions and big business. This
enhances the sense of
purpose.
Mujuru will not achieve the goals she set out last year
so long as the
economy is being run in a policy vacuum. A key facet in any
economic
recovery - human capital - has been subtracted from policy
formulation.
Workers, business and other key stakeholders do not have
ownership in the
economic reform processes.
Gono's style has been
"do it or face the consequences". The mindset of the
ordinary citizen has
been poisoned by negativity which explains why there
were celebrations at
Roadport when Gono devalued the currency by 94% last
month. Those smart
enough to make money in these trying times would rather
purchase luxury cars
or household goods than invest in the productive
sector.
The
country is crying out for a moral leader and Mujuru has a role to play
here.
She has a role to talk to her comrades in government so that they
serve the
country and not destroy it. The government's public relations
thrust is
obtuse. Foisting government policies on to people has never worked
in this
era. Zimbabweans today do not trust the government. What an
opportunity for
her to change that by presenting the face of government that
cares and is
ready to listen. And, of course, less vituperative.
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch Column
Double standards on curbing
inflation
WITH ever greater frequency, government is demonstrating its
policy: "Don't
Do As I Do, Do As I Say!"
Whilst Zimbabwe has, almost
endlessly over the last seven years, suffered
the intense pangs of
hyperinflation, the media controlled by the state has
vigorously and
repeatedly given great prominence to the innumerable
endeavours of
government's spokesmen to berate the totality of commerce and
industry for
the supposed causes of that inflation.
The recipients of the
never-ending, scathing abuse of government have been
profusely castigated
for alleged profiteering, inhumanely bringing poverty
to the masses and for
creating the inflation that has been a pivotal cog in
the decimation of the
economy, and repeatedly blamed for breaching
non-existent price
controls.
With very great frequency, ministers, permanent secretaries and
others
within the corridors of government have threatened diverse sanctions
against
private enterprise that increase prices without governmental
approval,
notwithstanding that most of previously-legislated price controls
were
abolished.
Then, approximately two weeks ago, the Ministry of
Industry and
International Trade announced that it had reached agreement
with the
manufacturing and distributive sectors on price increases for a
variety of
basic commodities, including bread (from $4 500 to $7 500 per
loaf), cooking
oil (from $8 100 to $22 200 for 375ml bottle), 2kg white
sugar (from $8 300
to $14 500) milk (to $8 500 for 500 ml and $16 600 for a
litre).
On average, the increases approximated 174%, and were determined
after
extensive consultations between government and the private
sector.
However, whilst government is usually rigorously opposed to price
increases
by commerce and industry unless they are lower than the rate of
inflation,
and have been determined after very extensive consultation, the
same
criteria do not apply to government, and to its "commercial" operations
through its parastatals.
It usually effects increases of its prices,
and charges for its services,
willy-nilly, in disregard for the inflationary
consequences, and for the
repercussions of that inflation, and without any
prior dialogue with
consumers or with consumer representative
bodies.
The examples of those actions by government and by the parastatal
enterprises controlled by it, are very many, clearly evidencing that it does
not practice that which it preaches.
In the year ended June, wherein
the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based rate of
inflation was 164,3%, postal
charges rose by 4 641,5%, being more than 28
times the annual rate of
inflation!
In the month of June, those charges rose by 309,3%, whereas
the
month-on-month rate of inflation was 18,1%. Even accepting that Zimpost
is,
to some extent, impacted upon by movements in foreign exchange rates,
and
that it had been subjected to some very significant wage increases, it
appears to be incomprehensible that postal charges should escalate with such
immense magnitude. That is even more particularly so as it appears that
increasingly the reliability of mail delivery is declining in inverse
proportion to the soaring charges.
Prices of state-controlled
newspapers have increased by more than twice the
rate of inflation.
Undoubtedly such increases were necessary, in the light
of surging cost
increases of newsprint and ink, and of wage increases. But
many in the
private sector can equally justify their need for price
increases in excess
of the rate of inflation.
Such justifications are invariably ridiculed
and ignored by the government,
which is motivated only by showing consumers
that government is caring in
the extreme, striving to protect them (even if
in so doing businesses are
forced into closure, causing unemployment and
product scarcities).
Amongst some of the most radical of governmental
increases in charges are
those gazetted on August 4 in respect of services
of the Registrar of
Companies. The minimum cost of registering a new company
rose by 400%,
whilst the minimum fee payable for lodgement of a company's
annual return
rose fro $5 000 to $60 000, being an increased charge of $55
000, or an
additional eleven times the previously payable
fee.
Admittedly, some time has elapsed since the previous increase in
fees, but
nevertheless the new fee levels are so great as to provoke a sense
of shock.
Not only is the extent of increase, in one fell swoop, untenable
in the
light of government's attitude to proportioning lesser price
increases in
the private sector but, in addition, the new scale of charges
is likely to
discourage many first-time entrepreneurs utilising corporate
structures, and
will instead motivate them to operate within the informal
sector,
Over the last year, Air Zimbabwe has increased most of its fares
by more
than 500%. Again, it has to be accepted that a high element of its
costs are
foreign currency based, including aviation fuel, spares, major
aircraft
services, foreign landing fees and services, and much
else.
However, in a year in which foreign exchange rates have moved by
less than
300%, the airfares have risen considerably more and that despite
that
airline's recent many proud statements that its newly acquired aircraft
are
very greatly more cost effective than its older fleet of larger
aircraft,
and despite its lesser service to its passengers on those routes
where it
has the monopoly. Its fares go up almost as frequently as do its
aircraft!
Allied to the immense increase in costs of flying with Air
Zimbabwe is the
inexplicable disparity in the airport departure taxes levied
by the Civil
Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ). If the flight is to a
destination
within Zimbabwe, the departure tax is $90 000, but if it is to a
destination
outside Zimbabwe, a resident has to pay a departure tax
equivalent to US$30,
presently fixed by CAAZ at $530 000.
Why does it
cost $440 000 more to provide the services of an air terminal,
runway
take-off facilities, and support services, if the flight is
proceeding to
another country, than if it is going to another airfield
within Zimbabwe?
(The only evident differential is that some air terminal
space has to be
made available to Immigration and Customs officials!) This
gargantuan
differential smacks of being yet another governmental "rip-off"
of the
captive customer.
The saga of government's rampant stimulation of
inflation, as distinct from
its ongoing attribution of blame to the private
sector, does not begin and
end with Zimpost, Zimpapers, the Registrar of
Companies, Air Zimbabwe and
CAAZ.
Tel*One is equally guilty of
increased charges at rates very considerably
greater than the rate of
inflation. That is understandable insofar as
regional and international
telecommunications are concerned, in the light of
the depreciation of the
Zimbabwean dollar, but not credibly explainable in
the case of local and
national calls. In like manner, the mammoth increases
which have been
inflicted upon electricity consumers by the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply
Authority (Zesa) make inflation-related price increases
seem
insignificant.
So too have been the increases in charges by the
state-owned hospitals. It
is undeniable that their costs have risen very
considerably (even if they
still under-reward doctors, nurses and other
medical personnel, motivating
ever more to seek employment outside
Zimbabwe).
However, in an economic environment where almost four-fifths
of the
population exist below the poverty datum line, its is humanly and
socially-
unacceptable to price essential health services beyond the grasp
of the
majority.
As government must, (in order to contain inflation,
and in order to restore
national and international fiscal credibility),
contain its spending, it
should cut back on defence spending, and much other
spending of lesser
priority than health. Instead, it raises its charges to a
stressed,
increasingly unhealthy, population.
But the must recent
piece-de-résistance of government's stimulation of
inflation, and of placing
essentials beyond the means of the populace, has
been the vicious,
pernicious imposition of a 1000% in school fees, with
retrospective effect
from January.
Last year the Minister of Education Aeneas Chigwidere,
forced the temporary
closure of 45 private schools for fee increases for
lesser in extent, which
he had not been prepared to approve, and is
currently pressing for the
promulgation of far-reaching, disastrous
amendments to the Education Act,
likely to bring about an end to all private
schooling in Zimbabwe.
Whilst he would vigorously protest to the
contrary, few believe that there
are any motives to his actions other than
to seek revenge for the private
schools defeating him in the courts, and to
wholly subjugate the private
schools to his desired omnipotent power. And
yet, at the same time, he
inflicts fee increases so great that tens of
thousands are having to forfeit
education, and many more are relocating to
rural areas where some school
fees are somewhat less.
Government's
stance is evident, being that of double standards. It is that
necessary,
survival, price increases of the private sector must be
vociferously
condemned, and the private sector blamed or inflation. It is
that government
and its parastatals are immune from any need to contain
their prices and
charges increases, but that those increases can be effected
irrespective of
extent, irrespective of consequences, and oblivious to the
impacts upon
society as a whole, and upon the economy.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
Zanu PF remains party of rural
poverty
SO Dr Ndlovu: Who thumped who?
Zanu PF's secretary for
education, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, was quoted in the
official press on Friday as
saying his party's candidate for Bulawayo mayor,
Dickson Abu-Basutu, would
"thump" the MDC's candidate, incumbent mayor
Japhet Ndabeni Ncube, in last
weekend's poll.
In the event, Abu-Basutu managed to pick up a paltry 5
509 votes to Ndabeni
Ncube's 29 575. Zanu PF once again got a good thumping
in Bulawayo.
The Herald tried to find a silver lining to this gloomy
result by pointing
out that the MDC lost in six rural district council
by-elections. But what
this message only confirms is that Zanu PF remains
the party of rural
poverty and ignorance. Where people can think for
themselves it makes no
inroads.
The result represents another defeat
for Ndlovu who remains without a seat
in a hostile terrain. On Friday he had
confidently forecast that Abu-Basutu
was the "mayor-designate and he is just
waiting to be sworn in on Monday".
He will have to wait now until hell
freezes over. The ruling party's
coercion evidently doesn't work in
Bulawayo.
While Ndlovu graciously conceded defeat, it may be time for him
to review
his position after promising that Bulawayo would be "reclaimed to
the
people". On Sunday he conceded that "the people have spoken". It would
seem
he is somewhat confused as to who the people are!
We heard
similar bombast from the author of the Herald's Manheru column. He
was busy
on Saturday claiming that Anna Tibaijuka was a liar and that the
people of
Harare were well-housed and well-fed.
"Where did the multitudes come
from?" he asked with reference to those who
turned up to listen to President
Mugabe's speech at Heroes Acre.
The answer is very simple: They were
bussed in. A policy decision was taken
by the Department of Information a
few years ago to ensure these functions
were well-attended. This followed
several years of declining attendances and
pesky members of the public
telling Mugabe that things were better under
Smith. As a result steps were
taken - in the best Stalinist tradition - to
reorganise the people. Today
the president is greeted by hired crowds
wherever he goes. They even hold up
banners produced by his officials. But,
as Bulawayo shows, the Information
ministry is incapable of winning back
hearts and minds. It is too late for
that now.
Last week we referred to the row surrounding BAT's Tobacco
Grower of the
Year Award made to Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa's wife.
The award
stirred controversy because of the manner in which the farm had
been
acquired. The company put out a statement saying "BAT do not interfere
with
award decisions".
This prompted a reader to remind us that BAT's
statement contrasted with its
behaviour a couple of years ago regarding the
annual ZIPR Communicator of
the Year Award which went to Jenni Williams,
then CFU spokesperson.
"They vetoed this, for obvious reasons, and made
ZIPR cancel the award," our
reader reminded us.
As we pointed out
last week, corporate cowardice is a national curse and
deserves public
exposure whenever and wherever it occurs.
South Africa's new ambassador
to Harare, Prof Mlungisi Makalima, has not got
off to a good start as he
begins his tour of duty. After presenting his
credentials to President
Mugabe, he launched into an attack on the press for
speculating about the
conditions attached to Zimbabwe's loan.
"I am surprised to learn that you
(the press) talk about conditions,"
Makalima scolded. "Matters of this
nature do not entail the discussion of
the arrangements the two parties have
entered into."
These remarks provided an opening for a government
spokesman to throw dust
in the public's eyes about inter-party
talks.
Why does Makalima think the press should not discuss
conditionalities? Is
this not a matter of public interest? Are these not
public funds? Does this
government's long record of failing to repay debt
and wasting other people's
money not enter into the argument at any point?
South African officials such
as Joel Netshitenzhe have been very clear on
the need for "political
normalisation" in Zimbabwe as well as economic
recovery. Will those things
happen without South African
prompting?
If Makalima is "surprised" that the media is pursuing these
matters, he
clearly does not understand the role of the press in society -
which may be
a disadvantage in his diplomacy.
Muckraker understands
however that the state media likes to ambush new
envoys and that it is
probably too early to judge how the ambassador will
fare.
Reading
through Manheru's rabid column against talks between Zimbabwe's main
political parties, you get the feeling that there could be some truth in
those who believe there are many in Mugabe's government who thrive on the
current crisis. Other than regurgitating Mugabe's statements that MDC
leaders are puppets of the West, there has never been any convincing reason
why Zimbabweans cannot discuss their problems. Why is it so unpatriotic of
the MDC to try and find a way out of this mess?
Last week there was a
gratuitous attack on former Mozambican president
Joachim Chissano for
offering to mediate in the envisaged talks between
Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai. He was reminded that Zimbabwe had "staved off
Renamo" and warned
not to repeat "Western diatribes about the need for
presidential term
limits".
For a start Mozambique has since moved on from civil war to
presidential
elections. Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama is a respected
politician despite
his despicable past. The people of Mozambique have not
allowed themselves to
be unduly encumbered by a history of petty
vindictiveness and rivalry. While
in 1980 Mozambique was way behind Zimbabwe
in terms of development,
investment there is now booming while the likes of
Manheru thrive on dark
deals at the expense of national progress. Talk of
patriotism!
And why shouldn't people propose presidential term limits? Of
course we know
that's an office far beyond Manheru's criteria based on
beauty and his "six
feet tall" American heroes. Even if one's liberation war
record were to be
the criteria, how many would attain the office of
president if one man wants
to rule until eternity? Incidentally, is it now
official policy that
government spokespersons who presume to be oracles of
the president can call
foreign leaders "impudent quislings"? What is the
Nigerian embassy's view of
its leader being likened to a harlot in the
government media?
And the Herald's editor evidently hasn't got a clue how
Commonwealth
countries lined up at the Abuja Chogm in 2003. Most of the
African,
Caribbean and Pacific countries which the editor thinks were
"betrayed" by
Obasanjo in fact voted against Thabo Mbeki's attempts to lift
Zimbabwe's
suspension.
It shouldn't be too difficult for the editor
to check how countries like
Jamaica, Ghana and members of the South Pacific
Forum decided.
By the way who is propagating the nonsense that the one
parliamentary seat
won by Jonathan Moyo in Tsholotsho "represents one
percent of Zimbabweans"?
We thought people like Manheru would know better
but we were definitely
expecting too much. Another one in need of help with
her maths is the mother
of a son who was allegedly denied a visa to go and
study in the US. She
fumed in the Herald that the interview lasted three
minutes, her son was
asked only three questions before he was dismissed,
"yet I had paid $1 320
million for the visa fees". What junk currency is
that we wonder? And why
sacrifice so much to study in an imperialist
country?
The debate on the Education Amendment Bill appears to be getting
muddled.
This was evident in a contribution by Dr Obedia Mazombwe in the
Sunday Mail
who appears to think government rules for itself and can impose
laws on
flimsy claims of national interest. The first issue is whether our
education
is the most pressing problem the country faces at the moment. For
if a
government cannot get its priorities right, it loses the moral
authority to
superintend policy issues. Why is government trying to smuggle
through
parliament an education amendment Bill at a time when people are
distracted
by critical food and fuel shortages to fully pay attention to
what Aeneas
Chigwedere is trying to achieve?
Mazombwe takes issue
with assertions that Zimbabwe's education system is one
of the best. This,
he says, is doubtful because it carries questionable
values. The "values
inculcated in that education are those of the people who
gave that education
in the first place - the colonisers".
How have the colonisers affected
the quality of our nurses, doctors,
engineers, teachers, lawyers and
architects who are in demand all over the
world?
Nobody says people
should not be taught vernacular languages or our history
of the struggle.
But that content cannot be decided by Chigwedere alone
while other
stakeholders are stuck in fuel queues or are trying to get food
for their
children.
Chigwedere himself has been responsible for the ruin in our
public schools
and now wants to spread the cancer to private schools under
the phoney claim
that they are elitist. Surely one of the benefits of the
liberation struggle
should be the choice of what school a parent wants to
send his child to.
That includes hypocritical ministers who send their
children to imperialist
universities overseas "because such courses are not
available locally". What
sane minister would propose the same uniform for
all schools in the country
as if Zimbabwe were one huge barracks? Answer -
Chigwedere of course.
What our education is in dire need of is protection
from a predatory
minister who has failed to administer examinations to
ensure the integrity
of the results. Don't tell us colonisers taught
Zimbabweans how to leak exam
questions! If anything, Chigwedere and his
supporters should be ashamed of
the havoc they have caused to our education
system - so much so that parents
spend millions of dollars sending children
for extra lessons during holidays
when they should be resting. Most schools
lack basic textbooks and
furniture - a legacy only Chigwedere can be proud
of.
Street kids, illegal vendors and beggars are back in full force in
urban
areas, according to ZBC's Reuben Barwe. The abominable vehicle touts
have
become a nuisance once again. But there is no respite yet for Harare
residents. Harare Commission chair Sekesai Makwavarara said they were
training officers to deal with the menace. What has happened to those who
carried out the clean up in the first place?
Zim Independent
Murambatsvina: the pogrom hasn't ended
ZIMBABWEANS
who feel strongly about democratic principles and processes
would have
welcomed the full report of UN special envoy Anna Tibaijuka,
which views
Operation Murambatsvina from many perspectives - socially,
historically and
politically.
It is a comprehensive and clearly articulated report. The
report gives many
recommendations for making reparations and calls on the
government "to
facilitate humanitarian operations within a pro-poor, gender
sensitive
policy framework".
Most of these recommendations
naturally revolve around helping affected
persons to pick up the pieces of
their lives and to be given some form of
shelter and sustenance; the sorts
of things that most caring people would
suggest.
The report also
speaks of crimes against humanity (Article 7 of the Rome
Statute) and
examines the sustainability of prosecution for "all those who
orchestrated
this catastrophe".
One hoped that on reading the report, the
government would take heed of its
dismal record of human rights abuses, so
clearly described within, and
thereafter attempt to make
amends.
And so the horror of August 15 to witness Reuben Barwe on ZTV
news
complaining about children, blind beggars and women coming back onto
the
streets and how they are going to be dealt with: a batch of newly
trained,
baton-wielding municipal police on the way! He asks in an
exasperated voice:
"But why are they coming back?" This is Barwe being
"pro-poor".
The pogrom hasn't ended, and this government has no
intention of helping the
poorest members of our society as recommended by
Tibaijuka. The government's
solution is just to drive them away
again.
Since the beginning of the demolitions ZTV's Newsnet, in
particular its
chief reporter Reuben Barwe, has consistently filmed and
gloated over the
fate of these poor displaced persons, without once
questioning the morality
of it all, or to offer possible solutions to the
problems.
The tones of the reporting and innuendos always cast these
persons as some
sort of criminals - children, grandmothers, blind people
included. Film
footage was often dishonestly edited to distort events. It
was and seemingly
still is Barwe's pet project.
Surely persons
who stand by and film and report on citizens having their
houses destroyed
by their own government are as guilty of crimes against
humanity as those
doing the destruction. Just as those who gave the orders
are
guilty.
I trust that the strong, principled, champion of democracy,
Tibaijuka, is
still watching and taking
notes.
Umbrage,
Harare.
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2005 12:17 AM
Subject: BTH: The hazards of working as a journalist in
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Standard journalist
Foster Dongozi, is the guest on Behind the Headlines. He speaks to Lance Guma
about the hazards of working as a journalist in Zimbabwe, such as the experience
of being arrested and sharing cells with hardened criminals. As Secretary
General of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, how well has the Union done in
lobbying against the draconian laws dangling above their operations? He talks
about the closure of the Daily News and the trauma most journalists went through
over the destruction of their livelihood, given the government onslaught.
Dongozi also talks about Jonathan Moyo's attempts at re-invention. Don’t miss
the programme.