http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31 July 2008
20:30
ZANU PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
negotiators are inching closer to a power-sharing agreement expected to be
finalised next week after an intensive round of delicate
negotiations.
Informed sources said the talks - officially
expected to end on Monday
although the deadline looks set to be extended -
are taking shape fast and
edging towards a deal.
The parties
are agreed on almost everything on the agenda except
details on the
structure of the new government. This includes positions and
powers for key
leaders, as well as transitional and implementation
mechanisms.
While there is no deadlock on the issue, heated debate and
consultations are
underway on what roles President Robert Mugabe and MDC
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai should play in the new government. Tsvangirai only
hinted at some
"sticking points".
Yesterday Tsvangirai said he was "fairly
satisfied" with the talks.
"I am fairly satisfied, but there are,
like in any negotiations,
sticking points that need to be unravelled,"
Tsvangirai told reporters in
Dakar after meeting Senegalese president
Abdoulaye Wade.
South African President Thabo Mbeki this week met
Tsvangirai, Mugabe,
and the other MDC faction leader, Arthur Mutambara, to
brief them on the
talks so far. Mugabe and Mbeki have also said the talks
are progressing
well.
Regional leaders were expected to meet
today in Luanda to discuss the
Zimbabwe situation but there were doubts
whether the meeting would take
place.
Talks between Zanu PF and
the MDC resume on Sunday, a day before the
deadline, likely to be extended
until the end of next week.
"Two weeks may appear too short, but it
is not inflexible and I am
sure that the facilitation will adjust as
progress moves forward,"
Tsvangirai said.
It was becoming
increasingly likely, sources said, that Tsvangirai
would become prime
minister in the end, while Mugabe remains president in a
power-sharing
pact.
Sources said if Tsvangirai had sealed a coalition deal with
the MDC
camp led by Mutambara to take control of parliament in an
unassailable way,
he would have been almost guaranteed the post of premier -
head of
government - without problems, with Mugabe remaining as ceremonial
head of
state.
However, this was not done despite a coalition
agreement after the
March 29 elections and thus parliament remains
hung.
The sources said Tsvangirai's group had initially proposed
that the
opposition chief should become prime minister with two deputies,
one from
his party and the other from Zanu PF, while Mugabe becomes
non-executive
president. The MDC wants a two-year transitional period and
new elections
thereafter.
However, Mugabe and his party are not
amenable to this because they
want him to remain as executive president over
a five-year period.
The Zanu PF politburo met last week and
resolved that Mugabe's
position was "non-negotiable", reflecting the
attitude of party hardliners
and the Joint Operations Command (JOC) that
brings together army, police and
intelligence chiefs.
Sources
said Mugabe's diehards in the party and JOC do not want a deal
which gives
some power to Tsvangirai, but Mugabe has told them concessions
are necessary
and inevitable.
Negotiators say despite protests from hardliners
nothing was
considered out of bounds at the talks.
Sources said
there was a chance Mugabe could be a non-executive head
of state as he was
no longer rigidly opposed to this now as he was at the
start.
It was even probable Tsvangirai could be the president either now or
later
down the line, they say.
"Don't rule out anything. Tsvangirai can
be a prime minister or even a
president.
It's a fluid
situation; don't rule out anything because you will be
surprised," a senior
official close to the talks said.
"There are different models and
variations which were proposed. Debate
and negotiations are on the hybrid
model which should be adopted.
The deliberations on these issues
are intense, but there are no
disagreements or deadlock on anything. It's
about finding the middle
ground."
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai -
these days speaking the language of
compromise - said this week the talks
were a give-and-take situation.
Mugabe said he wanted a "speedy
conclusion" to the negotiations that
he understood were going on
well.
"I understand the talks are going on well," Mugabe said. "We
are still
negotiating, we want to succeed, negotiations are negotiations of
course,
they are different from gambling.
"You find room for
compromise, sometimes compromise is difficult and
you stand by your
proposals as presented. You debate again and again and
reach a compromise."
He said there would be "no winner or loser" in the end.
Tsvangirai
said on Wednesday he could not say what role Mugabe and
himself would play
in the new government because this was still being
negotiated.
"The role of Robert Mugabe and the role of Morgan Tsvangirai in the
envisaged co-sharing government will have to be discussed by the negotiating
parties. I am not in any position of defining what his role would be,"
Tsvangirai told Britain's Channel 4 News. "What I would hope is that it will
allow him (Mugabe) a process of an honourable exit."
By
Dumisani Muleya
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31 July 2008
20:20
WESTERN powers now pose a new threat to the outcome of the
on-going
talks for a negotiated political settlement between Zanu PF and the
MDC by
insisting they will only recognise an all-inclusive government if it
is led
by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Diplomatic sources told the
Zimbabwe Independent this week that the
result of the negotiations between
Zanu PF and the MDC should reflect the
"will of the people" as shown by the
outcome of the March 29 presidential
election.
Tsvangirai
outpolled Mugabe, but failed to garner the 50%-plus votes
to assume the
presidency, prompting a run-off on June 27 which the
opposition leader
boycotted.
South African president Thabo Mbeki is mediating in the
Sadc-brokered
talks between Zanu PF and both formations of the MDC and
expects a deal to
be clinched next week.
In a memorandum of
understanding signed by Zanu PF and the MDC, the
parties agreed as part of
the agenda to come up with a "global political
agreement".
But
the sources said any deal that failed to give Tsvangirai executive
powers as
the head of a transitional government would be rejected by a group
of
Western donor nations, commonly known as the Fishmongers Group, set up a
year ago at Britain's instigation.
The group includes the
United States, Japan, Germany, France, Sweden,
Holland, Norway, Australia
and Canada - countries which have since said
Mugabe was not legitimately
elected.
"Whatever agreement the talks produce, Tsvangirai must
head the
government," one of the diplomatic sources said. "The unity
government must
have close ties with the Western donors and that can only
happen if the
countries accept the outcome of the talks."
The
sources said once the donors reject the agreement, sanctions
imposed on the
country would remain intact and Zimbabwe's economic crisis
would
worsen.
International media reports this week suggested the
Fishmongers Group
had a "veto" over the negotiations and were waiting in the
wings for the
outcome of the talks.
The US ambassador to
Zimbabwe, James McGee, this week told the
Independent that Mugabe should
respect the will of voters as expressed on
March 29.
"Ordinary
Zimbabweans clearly stated a desire for change in the March
29 elections and
the US wants to see the will of the Zimbabwean people
respected," McGee
said.
He added that the US imposed fresh sanctions last Friday to
pressure
Mugabe and his government to accept the outcome of the first round
of the
presidential election.
Britain on Tuesday said the
United Nations Security Council may have
to review its position on Zimbabwe
if there was no progress in resolving the
country's decade-long
crisis.
Karen Pierce, Britain's deputy UN ambassador, said the
Security
Council had received a sober report on Zimbabwe's situation from
the
multilateral organisation's special envoy to the crisis, Haile
Menkerios.
"We wish those efforts well but it's clear that if we
don't make
progress soon or don't see progress soon in Zimbabwe, that the
council will
have to come back to this issue," Pierce said.
By
Constantine Chimakure
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31 July 2008
20:14
ZIMBABWE Electoral Commission (ZEC) vice-chairperson Joyce
Kazembe
yesterday blasted Sapes Trust chairperson Ibbo Mandaza for alleging
that she
had taken part in rigging the presidential election in favour of
President
Robert Mugabe.
Mandaza last week said Sapes
Trust board members wanted Kazembe fired
from the organisation for her
involvement in the alleged rigging of the
election.
The former
government permanent secretary said board members had
"written letters" that
Kazembe be fired from Sapes.
But Kazembe yesterday said she had no
memory of ZEC rigging the
election in any way to Mugabe's
advantage.
"If I remember pretty well, there was a statement that
we released as
a commission to address that issue of rigging the election in
favour of
Mugabe immediately after the election," Kazembe said.
"We stated clearly that as a commission, we did not rig the election
as it
was impossible for anyone, including (President) Mugabe himself, to
rig the
election in his own favour."
She said no member of the commission
or its employees had the capacity
to rig the elections.
"What
Mandaza is saying about rigging the election by either myself or
ZEC is just
far from the truth. It's just allegations that are being brought
about by an
individual for reasons best known to himself. I have no clue on
how the
election was rigged as alleged by Mandaza. I repeat and stress that
ZEC did
not rig the election at all," Kazembe said.
Kazembe said she had
not seen any letters from Sapes Trust board
members asking for his
expulsion.
"I am the secretary to the board and an employee of the
trust at the
same time. I have not set my eyes on any letter that Mandaza
claims was
about my dismissal from the trust," she said.
"I
only recall one letter, which was supposedly coming from Dr Mudenda
asking
me to resign from the board. I questioned the letter as it was on a
different letter head from the usual Sapes Trust letter head which is used
when there is communication among board members."
Kazembe said
the issue died down after she raised issues about the
letterhead and the
fact that the letter was not signed.
By Nkululeko Sibanda
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31
July 2008 20:12
ZANU PF has re-admitted into its structures former
chairpersons
suspended in 2004 for attending a meeting in Tsholotsho
allegedly convened
to re-configure the party's
presidium.
Sources in the party said the members'
suspensions were lifted prior
to the March 29 harmonised
elections.
Among those suspended were provincial chairpersons Mike
Madiro
(Manicaland), Daniel Shumba (Masvingo), Themba Ncube (Bulawayo),
Jacob
Mudenda (Matabeleland North), July Moyo (Midlands), and Lloyd Siyoka
(Matabeleland South). Shumba formed his own political party, the United
People's Party.
The six were suspended after they took part in
a meeting held at
Dinyane primary school in Tsholotsho allegedly to discuss
changes to the
party's leadership that could have seen Zanu PF strongman
Emmerson Mnangagwa
becoming the party's vice-president, a post that went to
Joice Mujuru.
President Robert Mugabe at the time said the meeting
was called to
discuss a coup plot against the Zanu PF
leadership.
The meeting had allegedly been convened by the then
Information
minister Jonathan Moyo, now independent MP-elect for Tsholotsho
North.
Zanu PF sources this week said the party realised that it
needed the
suspended members to be part of its campaign and also to patch up
divisions
in Zanu PF that resulted from those suspensions.
"Those people who were on suspension are back in the Zanu PF fold,"
one of
the sources said.
"Most of them engineered Mugabe's victory in the
election and there is
now unanimity that they should be re-admitted into the
party structures
formally."
Zanu PF deputy secretary for
information Ephraim Masawi while refusing
to fully acknowledge the return of
the suspended members, said it was likely
that their suspensions were
lifted.
Said Masawi: "I am yet to hear of a formal re-admission of
the
suspended persons being referred to. What I can clearly say is that
provinces were requested to look at the behaviour of the suspended persons
and make recommendations on the way forward."
He added that
their re-admission could mean the suspended members had
behaved
well.
"If they did behave themselves well and in line with the
provisions of
the party constitution, there will be nothing wrong in the
provinces cutting
their suspensions and then re-admitting them into the
party structures,"
Masawi said.
Asked whether there were
provisions that enabled them to reclaim the
positions they held prior to
their suspensions, Masawi said at present there
were people holding onto
posts after they were elected.
"If they want their positions back,
they can then contest in the
elections which are supposed to be held anytime
soon," he said.
By Nkululeko Sibanda
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31 July 2008 19:39
LIFTING of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe,
addressing the land question
and restoring the rule of law are some of the
challenges a government to
come out of the on-going talks for a negotiated
political settlement to the
country's decade-long crisis between Zanu PF and
the MDC will face.
The agenda of the talks being
facilitated by South African President
Thabo Mbeki has a number of issues
the protagonists should find solutions to
before the negotiations' August 4
deadline.
These include the rule of law, which implies the need to
stop the
prevailing culture of violence and impunity, upholding property
rights and
free political activity, and reforming state organs and
institutions.
Many of the state institutions have been militarised
and the army is
now interfering with civilian affairs to the extent of
threatening to refuse
to salute elected officials.
Respecting
the principle of the separation of powers, including an end
to interference
in the judiciary, would be a major challenge for the new
government.
The new government would also have to address the
chaotic land reform
programme which has sabotaged agriculture and
precipitated the current
economic meltdown, while spawning
starvation.
The new government would also have to stop the
persecution of
political opponents, ethnic minorities and other weaker
groups which have
borne the brunt of state brutality for years. Zimbabwe has
been plagued by
repression, violence and corruption since 1980.
The sanctions by the United States and the European Union are linked
to
these issues and they would be difficult to remove unless underlying
problems are first addressed.
Political analysts argued that it
would be difficult for sanctions
imposed by the United States, Britain and
European Union to be lifted
overnight even if a political solution to the
crisis is found.
Sanctions, especially those imposed by the US,
would take longer to be
removed because they were imposed by Congress
through the Zimbabwe Democracy
and Economic Recovery Act of 2001. The Act
would have to be repealed, the
analysts said.
In the memorandum
of understanding signed between Zanu PF and the two
formations of the MDC,
the parties agreed to find solutions aimed at
restoring economic stability,
revisiting the land question, and promoting
equality, national healing and
the rule of law.
They also agreed to find a solution on how to deal
with institutional
reforms, among them the demilitarisation of parastatals
and government
departments.
Most of the issues on the agenda,
analysts observed, would take a long
time to deal with.
Meanwhile, the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC has denied instigating the
imposition of US sanctions on 17 Zimbabwean entities propping up President
Robert Mugabe's government arguing that the matter was a bilateral issue
between the southern African nation and the super power.
The US
last week slammed Zimbabwean companies with sanctions, among
them
parastatals, linked to Mugabe's regime.
Acting MDC spokesperson
Tapiwa Mashakada said his party neither played
a role in the imposition of
the sanctions nor benefited from them despite
Zanu PF accusations that they
were behind the embargoes.
Tsvangirai however has been on record as
supporting targeted sanctions
against top Zanu PF officials and
supporters.
Mashakada said: "The MDC is a political party and the
sanctions are a
government to government affair. The MDC has nothing to do
with that, the
sanctions are a dispute between two independent governments
and it's up to
them to solve the disputes.
"If we were in
government we would have a say in as far as sanctions
are concerned, but we
are not. Zanu PF has blamed us on the sanctions but
that is just
propaganda."
He said instead of looking at the sanctions, people
should think
broader and find out why they were imposed.
"The
debate should focus at the causes of the sanctions. These need to
be looked
at and solved. We are not beneficiaries of the sanctions but we
want to be
beneficiaries of a functional government."
US President George Bush
last Friday signed a new Executive Order that
expanded sanctions against the
"illegitimate government" of Zimbabwe which
he said perpetrated
politically-motivated violence.
The US passed a sanctions law on
the country in 2001, the Zimbabwe
Democracy and Economic Recovery Act
(ZIDERA).
The objectives of the ZIDERA were to support the people
of Zimbabwe in
their struggle to effect peaceful democratic change, to
achieve broad-based
and equitable economic growth and restore rule of
law.
The Zimbabwe government argued that the sanctions were hurting
ordinary people and were meant to effect regime change in the country. US
ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee this week said the US had nothing against
the ordinary people and that the recent sanctions were meant to force Mugabe
to respect the will of voters as expressed in the March 29
elections.
Tsvangirai out-polled Mugabe in the presidential
election but failed
to garner the required votes to assume the
presidency.
The opposition leader withdrew from a presidential
run-off that was
set for June 27 in protest at escalating political violence
against his
supporters, but the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission went ahead
with the poll
arguing that his pull-out had no legal effect.
"Ordinary Zimbabweans clearly stated a desire for change in the March
29
elections and the US wants to see the will of the Zimbabwean people
respected," McGee said in written responses to questions from the Zimbabwe
Independent. "Pursuant to that goal we have sanctioned those people
responsible for thwarting the will of ordinary Zimbabweans."
McGee said the new sanctions built upon existing embargoes put into
force in
2001 and 2003 against more than 100 individuals in the inner-circle
of the
Zimbabwe government who have contributed to the undermining of
democratic
processes and institutions in the country.
"These are targeted
sanctions that focus on the regime and its
supporters not on the people of
Zimbabwe or the broader economy. American
businesses are free to do business
with any Zimbabwean, individuals or
companies that are not on the sanctions
list," McGee said.
"The US is committed to provide humanitarian
assistance for as long as
it is needed by the people of Zimbabwe," he said.
"In addition to this
assistance, the US government committed up to $2,5
million from the US
emergency refugee and migration assistance fund to
assist Zimbabwean
refugees and asylum seekers who have been displaced due to
the ongoing
violence in the country."
The 17 entities
designated on July 25 by the US Department of the
Treasury's Office of
Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) include the Minerals
Marketing Corporation of
Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation, the Zimbabwe Iron and
Steel Company, the Agricultural
Development Bank of Zimbabwe, the Industrial
Development Corporation of
Zimbabwe Ltd, the Infrastructure Development Bank
of Zimbabwe, Zimre
Holdings Ltd, ZB Financial Holdings Ltd, ZB Bank Ltd,
Intermarket Holdings
Ltd, and Scotfin Ltd, among others.
By
Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31 July 2008
19:03
THERE is growing uneasiness with the on-going talks between Zanu
PF
and the MDC among former PF Zapu members in Matabeleland who fear an
agreement will dilute their influence in the region.
The former PF Zapu members, according to sources, fear that they would
be
shunted aside by the MDC which will use its dominance at the polls to
bargain for the leadership of the three Matabeleland provinces.
The Zimbabwe Independent yesterday established that the two factions
of the
MDC want their members to be appointed governors in the three
provinces by
virtue of their domination at the polls.
"There is serious
apprehension in Matabeleland over the talks and that
is the reason why the
Zanu PF leadership in Matabeleland has not been coming
out in support of the
Sadc-led talks," one Zanu PF source speaking on
condition of anonymity
said.
"The language that they are using is denigratory of MDC
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
"However, their worst fear is that
they will lose the positions that
have been reserved for them since the
signing of the Unity Accord in 1987."
The source said the PF Zapu
leadership in Matabeleland also wanted
guarantees that they would get a
ministerial quota in cabinet even if they
did not win seats in the March 29
elections.
People who have benefited from the unity quota in the
past are
Vice-President Joseph Msika, John Nkomo, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, and
Sithembiso
Nyoni and who have been appointed to cabinet without winning
elections.
Governors Sithokozile Mathuthu of Matabeleland North,
Cain Mathema of
Bulawayo and Angeline Masuku of Matabeleland South have also
benefited from
presidential appointments.
The sources said the
MDC was keen to have its members appointed
governors in Matabeleland North
and South and in Bulawayo.
President Robert Mugabe was unlikely to
appoint any losers from the
Matabeleland region as he juggles about who to
maintain in his cabinet as he
only has five non-constituency senators whom
he can appoint.
The sources said Mugabe had limited choices because
he still has to
appoint Tsvangirai and ArthurMutambara as non-constituency
senators to
enable him to accommodate them in cabinet.
He also
needs to accommodate Msika and trusted lieutenant Patrick
Chinamasa who lost
his seat in March.
The Matabeleland leadership is divided over the
issue of allegiance.
Two weeks ago Msika accused politicians in the region
of de-campaigning
their colleagues.
He further alleged that
some politicians were going behind his back
straight to Mugabe seeking
ministerial positions.
Meanwhile, the decision to confine the
on-going talks to the MDC and
Zanu PF has irked smaller political parties
and civic organisations, who
fear any agreement between the two would be
similar to the 1987 Unity
Accord.
The parties include the
United People's Party (UPP) and the
Dawn/Mavambo/Kusile project which have
lashed out at what they termed
"elitist" talks between the MDC and Zanu
PF.
Leaders of the Federal Democratic Union (FDU) and the
Progressive
Union of Matabeleland (Puma) Paul Siwela and Leonard Nkala
respectively,
said they were disappointed at the discriminatory nature of
the
Sadc-brokered talks.
Siwela said the two MDC formations
should be wary of being used to
endorse the perpetuation of Mugabe's rule
through the talks as happened with
PF Zapu in 1987.
Siwela said
South African President Thabo Mbeki, the talks mediator,
should lead to a
process that is inclusive of all political parties.
"In South
Africa all political parties were involved in the process of
dismantling
apartheid and if these talks succeed, it is clear that they will
result in a
miscarriage of political expediency," Siwela said.
"The talks will
produce a hung-back democracy which shall remain an
albatross for this
country and a source of discomfort for many years to
come."
He
said the problems facing the country were not between Zanu PF and
the MDC,
but ranged from abuse of human rights, corruption and diplomatic
bungling.
"The talks are beyond Zanu PF and the MDC, but are a
strategy to
maintain some individuals in power," Nkala said.
"It is the same strategy that was adopted in 1987 to keep and prolong
some
people's stay in power. The talks will not solve the country's
problems."
He said the talks should embrace other political
parties, which
include UPP, Puma, FDU and Zanu Ndonga.
The
party leaders are unanimous that issues to do with killings during
the
current elections, genocide in Matabeleland, human rights abuses and
corruption should form part of the agenda of any talks to chart the
country's
future.
By Loughty Dube
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31
July 2008 19:01
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is now asking
recruits to pay for
their upkeep during their six months
training.
Police sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that
it was a new
requirement for cadets to pay for their meals to ease the
strain on the
force's budget.
Cadets, the sources said, were
last Friday each asked to deposit $700
billion into the ZRP bank account to
cater for their food.
Wayne Bvudzijena, police national
spokesperson, yesterday confirmed
that recruits were supposed to finance
their upkeep, adding that it had been
the norm in the force.
"It is a basic requirement that every recruit pay for his own
feeding,"
Bvudzijena said.
"This is not something new as during my time as a
recruit we used to
pay for our food.
The recruits need to be
physically and emotionaly fit during their
course."
He said the
payments were being done to ease pressure on the police
budget.
But some of the cadets told the Independent that this was the first
time the
force had requested them to finance their upkeep since embarking on
training
early this year.
"Our group started training early this year and
last Friday was the
first time we were told to pay for the food we eat," one
of the recruits who
declined to be named said.
"We were told to
transfer $700 billion from our salaries into a ZRP
CBZ
account."
The recruits said they often received inadequate supplies
of food
resulting in them having to eat once a day.
The ZRP is
currently faced with a serious shortage of uniforms and
cadets were also
being asked to contribute money towards the sewing of new
uniforms.
As a result, there is disgruntlement in the force,
which at times
results in increasing number of officers absconding from work
without
official leave.
Last year, Police Commissioner-General
Augustine Chihuri told a
parliamentary committee that he was frustrated by
the government's perennial
under-funding of the police.
Chihuri
said there were no funds to implement a computerisation
programme within the
force, roadblock equipment, vehicles, accommodation and
enough firearms or
adequate uniforms, among a host of other requirements.
By Lucia
Makamure
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31 July
2008 18:57
NINE MDC MPs have reportedly gone into hiding claiming that
their
lives were in danger from state security agents, Zanu PF militia and
war
veterans.
According to the party, the lawmakers
sought sanctuary before the June
27 one-man presidential election
run-off.
Tapiwa Mashakada, the MDC deputy secretary-general, told
the Zimbabwe
Independent this week that the party was not aware of the
whereabouts of the
legislators and was worried that parliament may be
inaugurated in their
absence.
The MPs are Shepherd Mushonga
(Mazowe Central), Elijah Jembere
(Epworth), Pearson Mungofa (Highfield
East), Naison Nemadziwa (Buhera
South), Broadwin Nyaude (Bindura South),
Costin Muguti (Gokwe Kabuyuni),
Pineal Denga (Mbare), Edmore Marima (Bikita
East) and Tabitha Khumalo
(Bulawayo East).
"These MPs have been
on the run since the period before the June 27
run-off election after they
were threatened by Zanu PF youth militia, war
veterans and even state
security," Mashakada, who is the MDC acting
spokesperson, said. "I am sure
they are still afraid of being harassed,
which can either be forceful arrest
or physical abuse and psychological
harassment. There are others who are
wanted by the police, but ran away
afraid that if they got arrested they
would not get fair justice because of
the lawlessness that
prevailed."
Mashakada said the party wanted the MPs-elect to return
in time for
the swearing in of parliament.
President Robert
Mugabe is yet to gazette the date when the sixth
parliament will commence
business awaiting the outcome of the on-going
Sadc-brokered talks between
Zanu PF and the MDC meant to culminate in an
all-inclusive
government.
"If the MPs don't turn up, the MDC will not have a
majority in the
House of Assembly to elect a speaker of their choice. This
will be to the
benefit of Zanu PF. I am sure the security concerns of the
legislators must
be addressed in the on-going talks between MDC and Zanu
PF."
Zanu-PF for the first time since Independence in 1980 lost its
majority in the House of Assembly to the MDC in the March 29
elections.
Asked if the MPs' disappearance was not a betrayal of
those who voted
for them, Mashakada said the people in their constituencies
were actually
sympathetic to their lawmakers.
Earlier, the MDC
had complained of a police crackdown on its members.
It said over 1 500 of
its activists were arrested on allegations of
perpetrating political
violence, while Zanu PF members accused of the same
offences were not being
nabbed.
However, police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena
denied the crackdown saying the police would not hesitate to
arrest anyone
who committed crimes regardless of which political party they
were aligned
to.
By Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Local
Thursday, 31 July 2008
18:53
THE state has set August 27 as the trial date for Zimbabwe
Congress of
Trade Unions president Lovemore Matombo and secretary-general
Wellington
Chibebe who are facing charges of spreading falsehoods
prejudicial to the
state.
Matombo and Chibebe appeared
in court on Wednesday before Harare
Magistrate William Bhila who remanded
them out of custody to the trial date.
The militant ZCTU leaders'
charges of inciting public violence and
making statements considered
prejudicial to the state arose from the
addresses they made at Dzivaresekwa
Stadium on Workers Day.
The pair were arrested on May 8 and spent
eleven days in custody
before they were granted $20 billion bail each by the
High Court.
Matombo and Chibebe are also being charged with
"inciting the public
to rise against the government".
It is the
state's case that Matombo told the workers that the ZCTU had
received
information that Zanu PF supporters had killed two teachers at
Kondo School
in Guruve, Mashonaland Central. It is also alleged he then
urged the workers
to avenge them.
According to the state, the utterances were false
and calculated to
incite the workers to revolt against President Robert
Mugabe's government.
The trial was postponed last month because
there was no trial
magistrate and state prosecutor. Tawanda Zvekare was said
to be away on
business. No reason was given why the trial magistrate was not
present.
As part of the conditions for granting bail, the two
accused were
barred from addressing any political gathering until their
cases were
finalised. They were also ordered to reside at their given home
addresses
and not to interfere with state witnesses.
By Lucia
Makamure
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Business
Thursday, 31 July
2008 19:13
THE stock market responded weak to the half year Monetary
Policy
statement on Wednesday as the benchmark index only rose 14,18% to
close at
243 284 252 308 732 points from 213 065 606 668 288
points.
The mining index also rose marginally by 18,99% to
close the day at
282 604 004 481 835 points
Market analysts
however said the market will in the short term
maintain a broad-based rally
that drove it to historic levels as the market
was offering better returns
compared to other investment vehicles.
The major movers were
Halogen, Border Timber, Medtech, Pelhams and
Hunyani.
The least
performers were Old Mutual whose share price is largely
determined by the
movement of the exchange rate on the parallel market.
Other
companies that performed least were Natfoods, Afdis, Nicoz
Diamond and
Phoenix.
With 78 counters trading, which are involved in activities
such as
manufacturing, agriculture, mining, banking and retail, the stock
market has
been providing investors with returns that are in line with
runaway
inflation.
Momentous movements have not been
experienced in the market for a
while.
After making history as
the world's second best performing bourses in
2006, political events weighed
heavily on the stock market early this year.
Protracted bearish
spells have occasionally dragged the market's
performance below
inflation.
The central bank said it was determined to assert its
role as the
lender of the last resort keeping key interest rates unchanged
at 8 500% for
secured borrowing and 9 500% for unsecured overnight
accommodation,
respectively.
Reserve bank governor Gideon Gono
said the rates were 'high enough to
restrict banks to the interbank market
for the financing of end of day cash
deficits'.
However, given
the market conditions in the country, interest rates
can only be attractive
if inflation goes down
The reserve bank has this week announced it
will drop 10 zeros off its
currency, turning $10 billion into $1 during a
policy which drew mixed
reaction from business and economic
analysts.
Decidedly, business leaders felt the policy was much of a
"currency
reform statement" as it left untouched fundamental economic
problems like
inflation, money supply and production.
Shop
shelves are empty and there are chronic shortages of everything
almost
everything including medication, food, fuel, power and water.
Eighty percent of the workforce is estimated to be unemployed and many
who
do have jobs do not earn enough to pay for bus fare the whole
month.
Zimbabwe is suffering from the curse of hyperinflation --
extremely
rapid growth in the supply of "paper" money.
Cutting
zeros off is one way of trying to tame hyperinflation -- it
was tried in
Germany in the 1920s when people shopped with wheelbarrows full
of money --
but other measures need to be introduced as well.
Germany, the most
frequently cited example of hyperinflation finally
got to grips with the
problem when it produced a currency, the Rentenmark,
backed with American
gold.
In 1924, the US' Dawes plan, named after the American banker
Charles
Dawes, set realistic targets for German reparation payments and gave
Germany
a $200 million loan.
Germany, however, did not suffer
from the worst case of hyperinflation
in history. That dubious honour goes
to Yugoslavia in the early 1990s when
it was sliding towards war and
disintegration.
Yugoslavia's inflation in 1993 reached 2% an hour,
with retail prices
doubling every two days.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Business
Thursday, 31
July 2008 18:46
ZIMBABWE'S domestic debt soared by 7 417,5% inside four
months to
$790,6 quadrillion ($79,6 million new currency) on July 15 from
$10,5
quadrillion ($1 500 000) recorded during the first week of April,
official
figures revealed this week.
The new debt
levels mean that with an estimated population of 13
million, every citizen
owes $61,2 billion (US$6) to local banks and
financial
institutions.
"The stock of government domestic debt by mid July
stood at $790,6
quadrillion, reflecting an increase of 7 417,5% from $10,5
quadrillion,"
Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono, said on
Wednesday.
Government is also sitting on a US$4 billion foreign
debt.
The rise in government domestic debt levels, which over the
years was
sparked by huge interest payments, has been ballooning due to the
Reserve
Bank's advances to government, largely for the March 29 harmonised
and June
27 presidential run-off elections.
The mismatch
between fiscal revenues and expenditures also opened a
significant funding
gap resulting in government utilising the overdraft
window at the Reserve
Bank, while at the same time borrowing from the
domestic debt.
"Cumulatively, since the beginning of the year government raised
365-day
treasury bills amounting to $211,5 quadrillion ($21 150 000) of
which 995 or
$210,3 quadrillion ($ 21 030 000) was raised between April and
July," Gono
said.
The RBZ advances to government have over the past five years
accounted
for about 80% of total debt, a situation bank economists say is
evidence
that government was broke and had no other source of revenue than
the
domestic market.
Figures from the RBZ show that the
solvency of government was already
seriously compromised with the current
interest rates, and technically
government finances will not be better with
even a 1% rise in interest
rates.
The increasing government
debt stock raised fresh fears of renewed
turbulence in the crisis-strapped
economy, battling with high inflation
currently at 2,2 million
percent.
The surge in domestic debt was the result of high
interests on the
market which were in line with the inflation
rate.
Government has also been forced to rely on domestic
borrowings because
their tax revenue base has dwindled due to company
closures which have led
to retrenchments. This means that in real terms, the
government is
collecting less revenue through corporate and income
tax.
"The monetary sector remained the major holder of government
domestic
debt at 95% or $751,5 quadrillion, ($75 150 000)," Gono
said.
Analysts say the debt stock was likely to rise further on
increased
borrowing by government to finance the import of wheat and maize,
electricity, civil servants salaries and sustain the Basic Commodities
Supply Side Intervention (Baccosi).
"Commercial banks accounted
for about $750,7 quadrillion ($750 700
000) or 99% of the monetary banking
sector's holding of domestic debt. This
is attributed mainly to bank's
active participation in Open Market
Operations," said Gono.
The
major effects of rising government debt would be an escalation of
the
inflationary rate due to increased recourse to the domestic market for
funding.
With inflation at 2 200 000%, the government's huge
appetite for cash
is also likely to spur increased money printing, pushing
money supply growth
upwards.
The fact that Zimbabwe has no
access to international capital has only
aggravated the worse.
"The figure has a huge bearing on the returns that investors will be
getting
from the money market. The money market is bound to continue issuing
investors with negative returns in the short-term to minimise the harmful
effects of the huge interest cost component on the debt figure," an
economist with the central bank told businessdigest.
Money
supply (M3) growth continued on an upward trend, increasing to a
new record
of 420 867,4% in April from the December figure of 64 113% it
also emerged
this week.
According the RBZ annual broad money supply growth has
maintained an
upward trend reflecting the inevitable Reserve Bank's
intervention to
stimulate the supply side of the economy in the absence of
external support.
"Resultantly, broad money supply growth increased
from 64 113% in
December last year to 420 867,4% in April," the bank
said.
Money supply is the total supply of money in circulation in a
given
country's economy at a given time. It is considered an important
instrument
for controlling inflation.
The continuous rise in
money supply would further trigger inflation.
Economists said the
money supply figure would be over 600 000 percent
by August, due to
expansionary fiscal and monetary policies being
implemented by the
government and the central bank.
On an annual basis domestic credit
grew by 482 460,9% in April,
largely driven by growth in credit to the
private sector - 412 919,7%,
credit to government - 734 013,7% and claims on
public enterprises - 216
066,7%.
"Credit to government has
largely been from domestic banks due to the
drying up of external
lines.
The bank said inflation had led to an increase in cash
holdings for
day to day transactions. Resultantly on an annual basis,
currency in
circulation grew further fueling inflationary pressures in the
economy.
Economic commentator, John Robertson, said lenders in the
domestic
market no longer had the capacity to meet the needs of
government.
"Government has slowly been pinching away the nation's
savings through
very low interest rates, well below inflation," Robertson
said.
"They are their own victims. No one has enough money to meet
their
borrowing needs," he said.
By Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Business
Thursday, 31 July 2008
18:44
ZIMBABWEANS have become quite an expectant
bunch.
The rumour-mill is probably always ready to provide
the nation with
some new gossip about where we are all heading. And despite
previous
disappointments, it looks like that hope never really
fades.
For many, such a feeling should have been heightened this
past
Wednesday morning when bankers, business executives and ordinary
citizens
alike were all waiting for the half yearly monetary policy
statement (MPS)
from the central bank governor. The scene was set, with the
governor looking
ready to announce a comprehensive economic rescue package.
The initial delay
and then the eventual arrival of the head of state must
have caused its fair
share of speculation. Expectations were
high.
For the most part it ended up seeming like less of a full
scale policy
statement than an announcement of a change in
currency.
The removal of zeros ushered in a new currency while cash
withdrawal
limits were also increased.
The motivation behind
getting rid of the bearer note system before
addressing the fundamentals is
indeed baffling. At this point the only good
to come from removing zeros is
to improve the convenience of transacting.
In any case most
businesses had already unofficially removed several
of them to keep their
internal systems going. Even coffee shops had long
adopted the use of
thollars (thousand dollars) quite a while back. A return
to a standardised
measure was needed. So what was the point especially if we
will have to go
through it again a few months down the line?
Again, if the point
was to increase convenience for consumers then
surely converting $1 trillion
into the new dollar is probably easier than
working with a $10 billion
conversion rate.
This would have had the added advantage of
actually making the new
family of coins worth something.
I can
hardly think of anything I can buy for the new dollar. In
addition, having
the new dollar set at a trillion would have increased its
longevity given
the inflation level we are currently experiencing.
An interesting
observation is that if cash withdrawal limits have been
increased to $2
trillion (or 200 new dollars), who is going to be able to
access the new
$500 note? Would it by implication be illegal to have it?
Maybe it is meant
for those who kept their old coins and are hoping to have
enough to reach
the new $500.
It would all seem like there was no point to this
exercise at all.
Or perhaps there is some order in chaos. The new
notes seem to have
"Harare 2007" imprinted on them (if the RBZ posters going
round are anything
to go by). Would this be a batch from that botched
attempt at currency
reform at the end of last year?
Conspiracy
theorists would have had a go that the monetary authorities
might have some
insider info on the political developments. After all since
a new batch of
currency is said to be sitting somewhere in Germany, making
use of the money
already on hand might just make sense.
The idea would be to
increase convenience while, knowing fully well
that a similar operation
would be necessary in the not too distant future
(hopefully when foreign
direct investment starts trickling in).
The problem, however, comes
when the exercise keeps happening over and
over again. A change in currency
normally goes hand in hand with a further
deterioration in the perception of
any currency.
For as long as an active drive towards stimulating an
increase in
actual production is not undertaken then any policy statement
would be of
little effect.
The supply side remains largely
ignored (with the decrease in
retention ratio doing little to encourage
production). The status quo should
remain largely unchanged with inflation
expected to gallop away at an even
faster pace.
Many expect
this move alone to have an inflationary impact but one
would think we are
past the stage where rounding up prices would make a
significant
contribution to inflation figures. Give it a few months and
expect fresh
calls for another round of zero slashing.
The point here is not so
much that this exercise was an unnecessary
one but more so that it would be
pointless without the requisite
preconditions to support the economic
rejuvenation.
Zimbabwe needs to address issues around production
and foreign
currency generation as a means to sorting out the
hyperinflationary
environment we are in.
For all the pomp and
fanfare created ahead of the MPS a currency
reform was on many levels not
expected to be the highlight of Wednesday's
statement. Far from it. At most
it should have perhaps been as a supporting
addition to a more encompassing
solution.
Then again, as the governor quite rightly put it,
everything hangs on
a resolution to the political quagmire we are currently
in. And perhaps for
as long as a second round of handshakes does not happen
then anything beyond
chopping off of zeros is a bit too much to
expect.
For any comments and suggestions please contact Tich
via email on
atthemarket@tetrad.co.zw
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Business
Thursday, 31
July 2008 18:40
PRICES of basic commodities increased by an average of
1 300% in July
because of high inflation, depressed production and
profiteering by some
retailers.
The increase means a
family that spent $1,723 trillion on July 1 needs
$6,8 trillion ($680
revalued) for the same goods as at July 30.
The same family could
probably need about $8 trillion ($800) by the
end of next week.
This also means the increase in the price of basket essentials surged
by an
average of 67% every week during the month or about $1,2 trillion
($120),
according to the Zimbabwe Independent cost of living index.
The
rate at which prices increased during the month jumped alarmingly
from 9,5%
in January, a 570% rise inside seven months.
There is now a
countrywide crisis over supplies of basic commodities
and affordability of
the few that is available in shops.
Salaries have failed to match
the rate at which prices are rising due
to increased production and
operational costs which has resulted in some
companies either reducing staff
and working hours or closing down outright.
Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries president Callisto Jokonya said
manufacturing industry
capacity utilisation averaged 18,9% in 2007, down
from 33,8% registered in
2006.
Two litres of cooking oil now cost above $900 billion ($90)
this week
from $250 billion on July 1.
A loaf of bread if
available costs $250 billion ($25) from $30 billion
during the same
period.
Two litres of mazoe, which is no longer affordable for most
households, this week cost above $1 trillion ($100) from $120
billion.
Transport recorded the biggest increase during the period
under review
to $70 billion ($7) from $5 billion.
Economist
Tony Hawkins described the price increase as "very sad for
everyone" adding
that nobody wants to hold Zimbabwe dollars because it was
increasingly
losing value as a result of the very high rate of inflation.
During
the 2008 mid term monetary policy review on Wednesday,
President Robert
Mugabe warned the country's business sector to stop
profiteering or face
emergency measures.
"If you drive us more than you have done we
will impose emergency
measures, and we do not want to place our country in a
situation of
emergency rules, they can be tough rules you know," Mugabe
said.
"We want to leave you with the freedom, the flexibility to
make
decisions . . . You (businesses) need to be rewarded for your efforts,
customers also need a fair price not ripping them off," he
said.
National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) chair
Goodwills
Masimirembwa said prices being charged were not
justified.
"The rate at which prices are rising is a major cause of
concern which
needs to be addressed," he said.
Masimirembwa
said business has been ignoring prices which have been
set by the
commission.
The prices being approved by NIPC are way out of sync
with the real
prices that are already prevailing on the market.
A survey conducted by businessdigest this month showed that by the
time the
NIPC approves a price, the actual price on the market will be
almost three
times higher.
Most consumers are performing what appears to be
carefully
choreographed dance routine: pick up, sigh, put down and move on
if not out
of the shop.
In supermarkets across the country, the
activity along the shelves is
the same. The young and old wander the aisles
confused and baffled as the
assortment of goods $3 trillion ($300) can
buy.
The rise in the prices of most basic commodities has been
blamed
largely on speculative tendencies in the country's frail economy now
in its
ninth year of recession.
But economist said the
dwindling production levels on the back of
increased money printing and a
weak currency has resulted in too much money
chasing too few
goods.
This has been worsened by an acute foreign currency
shortagewhich has
triggered a run on the Zimbabwe dollar on a thriving
foreign currency
parallel market.
By Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Business
Thursday, 31
July 2008 18:38
THE correction in platinum shares might be a healthy
one, but Impala
Platinum -- down a third since June -- may have its
long-standing investment
in Zimbabwe finally pay
dividends.
That is if Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party is
able to share power with
the Movement for Democratic Change.
According to Neill Young, a fund manager at Coronation Fund Managers,
Impala's Zimbabwe platinum operations have a lot going for them. Cash
margins are high, they are shallow and easy to mine, and the resource is
big, equal to about 40% of Impala's total.
"So there clearly is
significant potential to scale up beyond the
current expansion plans," he
told Fin24.com.
"But this would clearly require political stability
and a far more
conducive investment environment."
Impala
operates two mines in Zimbabwe: Zimplats in conjunction with
Aquarius
Platinum, a London and Johannesburg listed firm, and Mimosa which
produced
78 200 ounces of platinum last year. Zimplats delivered 96 500
ounces.
Capital expenditure has been approved to increase
annual production to
160 000 by 2010 at Zimplats which is estimated to have
as much as 184,3
million tonnes of ore in platinum group metals
(PGM).
According to another analyst, very little value has been
attributed to
these assets in Impala's share price. But should political
stability be
achieved in Zimbabwe: "a positive differentiating factor for
the group".
Said Young: "Zimplats is listed in Australia and has a
market cap of
about US$1bn. Impala own 87% of it, so one could make the
argument that
about 5% of the Impala share price reflects its holding in
Zimplats."
"The problem with the argument is that the Zimplats
share is not very
liquid, so one can question how realistic the share price
is." This figure
also excludes any contribution from Mimosa, Young
said.
Not all agree. Liston Meintjes, chief investment officer at
Lion of
Africa Fund Managers said Impala's SA assets were better value than
the
Zimbabwean assets.
"The Zimbabwean mines are quality assets
but the real benefit will
only be seen when the operating environment that
they are working in
improves." Meintjes said there was room for improved
operating margins at
these mines.
Political interference has
become a way of life for business in
Zimbabwe and this threat hangs over
mines in the region.
The Zimplats operations were recently the
subject of an audit by the
Zimbabwean central bank. -- fin24
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Business
Thursday,
31 July 2008 18:36
THE United States government has paralysed any
future plans by two
listed companies -- ZB Financial Holding and Zimre
Holdings -- to invest in
Atlantic markets for allegedly supporting President
Robert Mugabe's
government.
This development comes at a
time when most local companies are
diversifying their portfolios to regional
markets in an effort to escape the
country's operating environment which has
been hostile over the last eight
years.
But what does this mean
to the investors and the company?
Analysts who spoke to
businessdigest this week said the immediate
danger the companies might face
was having their "wings clipped" when
dealing with American companies or
trying to expand in regions that
Americans dominate.
"Developments like (sanctions) will in the long term result in a
number of
investors being reluctant to invest in the company, for a bank it
could send
the wrong signal which might affect deposits and the banks
liquidity," an
analyst told businessdigest yesterday.
Some analysts said investors
would ignore the sanctions as they were
"unjustified".
"Listed
companies' main objective is to make money and when such sad
developments
happen one wonders the real motives (behind the move) and which
companies
where government is one of the major shareholders could be next,"
a bank
economist said.
Government has shareholding in Zimre Holdings of
44,5%, in the
National Social Security Authority (NSSA), it has 19,89%,
Spencer Colby
Investment 9,82%, Nickdale Enterprises 9,15% and other minor
shareholders.
ZB Financial Holdings major shareholders are NSSA
(45,87%), Government
of Zimbabwe (28,68%) , Old Mutual Life Assurance
(6,58%) and Zimre Holdings
(3,96%). The two listed companies traded
differently to news of these
sanctions which were revealed last
Saturday.
ZB gained $45 billion ($4,5) this week to close at
position 13 up from
last week's drop of 56. Zimre on the other hand only
gained $2 billion (20c)
for the week ending on yesterday. The reinsurance
group closed at position
59 down from 35.
Other unlisted
companies included on the sanctions are loss-making
parastatals- Minerals
Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation,
Zisco, Agribank, Industrial Development Corporation
of Zimbabwe which
handles a number of projects and Infrastructure
Development Bank of
Zimbabwe.
Analysts warned that the inclusion of public companies on
the latest
round of sanctions would result in "catastrophic ripple
effects."
"The Reserve Bank which has become the redeemer of
loss-making public
enterprises will face the biting consequences of these
sanctions," said a
financial analyst at a local bank.
"These
effects could put thousand of jobs on the line and local
investors alike
will fell the pinch."
The central bank, which is currently
overstretched through its
quasi-fiscal undertakings, aimed at mitigating
effects of a bruised economy.
The US Department of the Treasury's
Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC) said it was imposing sanctions on
the seventeen entities for their
alleged support for President Mugabe's
administration which they accused of
"undermining the democratic processes
and institutions in Zimbabwe."
"In light of the continued
intransigence of the brutal Mugabe regime,
the US is imposing further
sanctions against this regime and its
supporters," said OFAC director Adam J
Szubin.
"These actions send a clear warning to those who would
protect Mugabe
and his assets at the expense of the Zimbabwean people." The
MDC claims that
more than 120 of its supporters have been killed with
thousands displaced
during and after last month's polls.
Other
analysts said the new sanctions were "ideal political tactics"
by the
super-power to question Mugabe's sincerity on the talks.
Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono criticised sanctions on listed
companies as
misplaced.
"That inclusion provides the clearest evidence to date
that these
sanctions do indeed seek to cause the suffering of ordinary
people who have
nothing to do with the conduct of the politics of the day in
the country,"
Gono said.
He said the trade blockade would
negate the "path breaking
negotiations" adding that the central bank would
respond to these sanctions
through collected calmness.
Acting
World Bank country representative Mungai Lenneiye this week
said the
country's lifeline could only extended if her creditworthiness
improved. An
earlier report by the institution indicated that there is more
business risk
in Zimbabwe than in strife-torn Iraq.
"The government of Zimbabwe
is still a member of the World Bank,"
Lenneiye said. "We still continue to
wait for the Zimbabwe government to
come up to discuss its economic
management strategy."
By Bernard Mpofu/Paul
Nyakazeya
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Opinion
Thursday, 31 July 2008 18:23
IN the countdown to the
June 27 presidential election run-off some
parts of Epworth -- a sprawling
township outside Harare -- were turned into
"war zones" with alleged Zanu PF
militia convening regular night vigils
where perceived opposition supporters
were routinely assaulted.
Their crime? Supporting MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai who outpolled
President Robert Mugabe in the first
round of the presidential poll on March
29.
Apart from the 2000
referendum, this was Mugabe's first ever defeat in
any poll since
Independence in 1980.
His continued stay in power was in danger and
his party decided to
embark on a "military like" campaign to win the run-off
for him.
Epworth, like many areas throughout the country, became a
battleground
to win the hearts and minds of voters.
State
security agents and war veterans allegedly aided Zanu PF in the
campaign of
violence widely condemned by the opposition and the wider
international
community.
"Epworth was turned into a war zone soon after the March
29 election,"
recalled a resident who requested anonymity. "Zanu PF militia
rounded up
residents for reorientation meetings which started daily at 9am
and ended at
5pm. From 10pm until the following morning residents were
forced to attend
night vigils (pungwes)."
During the night
vigils, the resident recalled, suspected MDC
supporters were savagely
assaulted and tortured and ordered to surrender
party regalia in their
possession."
"Despite Tsvangirai withdrawing from the presidential
race, the
beatings and torture continued until the eve of the run-off," the
resident
added. "After the results of the run-off were announced, bases
established
by the Zanu PF militia were disbanded while some perpetrators of
the
violence were arrested."
As in Epworth, violence has
reportedly gone down throughout the
country with the police claiming that no
fresh reports of political violence
had been reported since the
run-off.
Police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka said: "We do not have
new reports
of political violence since the presidential run-off. There is
peace
throughout the country."
The police could not reveal
political violence statistics since the
March polls or reveal how far
investigations into the alleged murder of MDC
activists, among them,
Tonderai Ndira, have gone.
However, the MDC this week alleged that
low-level violence was taking
place in some parts of the
country.
The Tsvangirai-led MDC claims that 122 of its supporters
were killed,
over 10 000 injured and about 200 000 internally displaced by
state security
agents, Zanu PF militia and war veterans in
politically-motivated violence
since the March 29 polls.
The
party claims that after the signing of the memorandum of
understanding (MoU)
on July 21 between Zanu PF and the two formations of the
MDC, at least two
of its supporters have been killed.
This, the MDC said, was despite
that the MoU, among other things,
stated that violence should come to an
immediate end.
Each party, the MoU read, would issue a statement
condemning the
promotion and use of violence and call for peace in the
country and take all
measures necessary to ensure that the structures and
institutions it
controls are not engaged in the violence.
"The
parties are committed to ensuring that the law is applied fairly
and justly
to all persons irrespective of political affiliation," read the
MoU. "The
parties will take all necessary measures to eliminate all forms of
political
violence, including by non-state actors, and to ensure the
security of
persons and property."
The parties also agreed that, in the
interim, they would work together
to ensure the safety of any displaced
persons and their safe return home and
that humanitarian and social welfare
organisations were enabled to render
such assistance as might be
required.
But observers said the parties were yet to issue
statements condemning
violence and that humanitarian aid was yet to commence
despite the signing
of the MoU.
Reports from throughout the
country indicate that the level of
violence had reduced considerably with
most militia bases allegedly
established by Zanu PF youths and the military
in the countdown to the June
27 presidential election run-off
dismantled.
In a statement this week, MDC deputy secretary-general
Tapiwa
Mashakada said in spite of the Sadc-initiated talks, Zanu PF
supporters had
murdered two of their party members last week.
Mashakada, the acting party spokesperson, said its activist Fungisai
Ziome
was abducted in Glendale, Mashonaland Central, on July 23 by Zanu PF
supporters who allegedly "mutilated, burnt and dumped" her body, which was
discovered three days later.
"A report was made about the
murder to the police, but no arrests have
been made," Mashakada
said.
He also alleged that a police officer, Kingsley Muteta, died
at Harare's
Avenues Clinic on July 27 from injuries he sustained after he
was assaulted
by Zanu PF supporters at his parents' homestead in Mudzi,
Mashonaland East.
Muteta, Mashakada claimed, was based in Harare
and was attacked by the
mob for allegedly visiting his mother who was a
known MDC activist.
"The MDC has asked Zanu PF to show its
sincerity to the dialogue
process by stopping violence, disbanding all
militia bases and prosecuting
all perpetrators of political violence,"
Mashakada said. "The deaths show
that there is no sincerity on the part of
Zanu PF."
However, human rights monitors said the scale of violence
had gone
down.
In Buhera, Manicaland, human rights monitors
said there were 25
paramilitary bases controlled by Zanu PF youths that were
still operational.
In other districts, bases continue to be
dismantled.
The monitors claimed there were a few places in
Mashonaland East,
Manicaland and Mashonaland Central where curfews were
still in place.
Last week, police arrested the Midlands regional
manager of Civic
Trust for allegedly peddling "falsehoods" to the
international media that
political violence was escalating in the country
after the one-man run-off.
Peter Muchengeti was arrested for
allegedly authoring a document
claiming that Zanu PF was still perpetrating
violence in the Midlands.
Police reportedly recovered diskettes,
one recorder with two
microphones and cassettes when they arrested
Muchengeti.
The document, titled "Blood by Tracks in Rural Midlands
as Violence
Continues", was allegedly sent to the Voice of America's Studio
7 and
alleged that bodies of six people from Matshekandumba Village were
recovered
near a railway line 30km from Gweru.
This, the police
said, was unfounded and the purported village was
non-existent.
The police also claimed to have found another document in Muchengeti's
office which alleged that more than 600 people in Gokwe were assaulted by
Zanu PF youths and the Minister of Special Affairs responsible for Land and
Resettlement Florence Buka.
The police said they also found an
exercise book in which Muchengeti
further alleged that 184 people had been
murdered by Zanu PF youths and
security agents since March 29.
By Constantine Chimakure
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Opinion
Thursday, 31
July 2008 18:20
ZIMBABWEAN politics has since December 1987 when PF
Zapu and Zanu PF
signed the Unity Accord been riddled with ethnic balancing
in the corridors
of power.
The accord was aimed at
ensuring peace and stability in the country
after civil disturbances in
Matabeleland and Midlands provinces after
independence from colonial rule in
1980.
It was not peace, stability, and tranquility alone which were
the
major objectives of the pact, but to a larger extent, the issue of
equitable
development, given that PF Zapu represented the greater
Matabeleland and
Midlands regions and Zanu PF the Mashonaland
provinces.
But over the years most parts not effectively
represented in the top
echelons of power have remained relatively less
developed, including
Matabeleland. Road networks and other infrastructural
developments in
Matabeleland have largely remained the same as they were at
the attainment
of independence.
The lifestyle of dwellers in
the two provinces (Matabeleland North and
South) has remained largely
unchanged, with infrastructure such as dams,
schools, clinics, remaining in
their old state.
Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP) remains
another pipe-dream
despite the project having been mooted in
1912.
Prospects of the project taking off the ground continue to
dwindle
further given that funds for the project, like many other project in
the
country, continue to be scarce.
An array of examples can be
cited that point to the imbalance, in
developmental terms, that has been
witnessed since the attainment of
independence.
Analysts have
said lack of development in the province should be
blamed on the fact that
very few politicians from the two Matabeleland
provinces have been appointed
to substantive ministerial posts, with most of
them being forced to take up
deputy ministerial appointments.
Cabinet ministers work hard,
including at times, using their political
muscle to ensure that development
gets to their areas.
Some of the water projects mooted way after
the MZWP have taken off
the ground and have been providing water to the
dwellers in those parts of
the country.
Eldred Masunungure, a
political science lecturer at the University of
Zimbabwe said while the
Unity Accord managed to bring peace in the
Matabeleland provinces which had
been hit by dissident activities, there
were problems with other aspects of
the accord that needed to be attended
to.
"The Unity Accord was
an elite pact between politicians in PF Zapu and
Zanu PF. It brought an end
to political disturbances that had rocked the
Matabeleland and Midlands
provinces.
"PF Zapu officials benefited from the pact but the
effects of that
pact are yet to transcend to the generality of the people in
Matabeleland,"
he said.
He added: "Matabeleland is still
lagging behind and these are the
issues that make the people in these
provinces feel they are not part and
parcel of the unity
accord."
Masunungure said the proposal by some politicians to have
a rotational
presidency was not practical as there was bound to be
resistance from those
that have benefited from the current political
processes.
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, information and publicity minister,
blamed the lack
of development in the Matabeleland provinces on some
officials who sit back
and wait to be given things by central
government.
Said Ndlovu: "If you look at the other parts of the
country, they are
developed because people there are proactive.
"They approach the minister of finance and give him their plans for
their
provinces.
"Some of us sit back and wait for funds to be released
from central
government," said Ndlovu.
"The problem therefore
is that government will not allocate funds for
a project that has not been
advocated and lobbied for. There is need for
people in the provinces to
reach out so that the government realises the
need for development of their
provinces," he added.
He said the issue of rotating the presidency
could only be discussed
in the confines of the Zanu PF congresses and annual
conferences, as it was
a constitutional matter that needed to be discussed
first at party level.
"Anyone who has a strong feeling towards the
rotation of the
presidency from one province to the other so as to realise
the development
as suggested should put the proposals in writing and they
will be discussed
at the level of the party congress. That person should
provide strong
arguments on the issue and not just waste people's time with
baseless
arguments," he said.
By Nkululeko Sibanda
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Opinion
Thursday,
31 July 2008 17:52
WRITING in an online newspaper last week, president
of the MDC, Auther
Mutambara, underscored the need for a national
constitution that we can all
be proud of as
Zimbabweans.
He also rightly observed that such a
constitution must be borne out of
an all-inclusive process of national
dialogue.
While this expression of political will from one of the
potential
leaders of our country is certainly encouraging to civil society
and
ordinary citizens, it is imperative to stress that this perceived
participatory process must also give all citizens an opportunity to open up
and freely articulate their fundamental and deep seated concerns peculiar to
them as a gender, race, ethnicity or even region so as to avoid a vicious
circle of conflicts caused by inequalities deliberately created by
visionless ethnocentric state policies.
Taboo
While some of these issues have been addressed in various ways in the
past,
Zanu PF's 28 years of monolithic and polarising politics has rendered
the
last two taboo topics which one cannot raise without risking a bolt of
lightning of intolerance from some fellow citizens.
This is why
all fair-minded Zimbabweans hope that the current talks
will yield an
honest, deep and introspective national dialogue that will not
only be an
opportunity to test our political maturity as citizens and
fledgling
democracy, but also a chance for the nation to boldly confront and
address
those deeply entrenched historical and political problems
wholeheartedly
exacerbated through word and deed by the colonial and
post-independence
political leadership.
The fact of the matter is that as Zimbabwe
today tries to deal with
the challenge of bridging political polarisation
caused by the ruling elite
in the last ten years, there is another
threatening political undercurrent
of potential ethnic polarisation which
urgently demands the attention of all
responsible and well meaning
citizens.
While this problem has been mischaracterised in various
ways by some
radical writers and activists, it is clearly an ideological
construction
rooted in Zanu PF's politics of sectarianism.
This
brand of politics then found eloquent execution in the state
policies of
ethnic cleansing, economic marginalisation and internal
colonisation with
the overall aim of undermining the economic independence
and cultural
identity of minorities.
Yet the debate for most progressive
citizens is no longer about
whether ethnic minorities were undermined by
Zanu PF's politics, but about
what pro-active measures the nation needs to
take to solve this problem and
help the state to wake up and catch up with
its citizens who have always
stood for the politics of tolerance, equity,
empathy, and inclusion.
Specifically, the following need to be
addressed by the new Government
of National Unity (GNU) as part of its
agenda of reforming the state and
restoring individual and group rights of
all citizens in Zimbabwe, including
those of ethnic minorities.
In his article, Professor Mutambara talked about the need for healing
the
wounds of the last four months.
However, it is public knowledge now
that the wounds of some minorities
or sections of our society go far beyond
the recent political cleansing that
characterised the last presidential
poll.
The nation cannot afford to sweep the Gukurahundi atrocities
under the
carpet because they represent an unprecedented and unforgettable
darkest
hour in our history and politicians must awaken to the fact that
their
continued avoidance of the matter poses serious threats to the peace
and
stability of the nation for future generations.
The
atrocities cannot be treated as "any other business" in the item
list of
issues that face the nation today.
Lost opportunity
If
the issue is avoided again in the prospective national dialogue,
this will
have been a lost opportunity for all Zimbabweans.
Any meaningful
national dialogue has to be thematically deep, wide and
diverse in order to
eliminate all areas of potential conflict in future.
For
minorities, national dialogue must yield a constitution that
clearly
recognises their right to political participation so as to be able
to form
associations and political parties that articulate their unique
problems
without being demonised as ethnic enclaves by the state or other
competing
groups.
It must be a constitution that also protects their rights
to language
and cultural identity so that the media and other cultural
industries will
be mandated to develop organisational policies that address
their needs in
terms of employment, content production and public
participation. Last but
not least, it must be a constitution that empowers
the state to adopt
appropriate legislative and institutional measures not
only in the promotion
of minority identities, but also their participation
and proportionate
representation in parliament, public bodies, the army and
police force.
These demands are not far fetched or
misplaced.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to international laws that
obligate states to
protect their minorities such as International Covenant
on Civil and
Political Rights (Article 27), International Covenant on
Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (Article 1) and the UN Declaration on
the Rights of
Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities (1992).
Minorities in Zimbabwe therefore have a right to lobby for the respect
of
their rights in the national constitution so that their participation in
national institutions is prioritised by all future governments.
Autonomy
For minority Zimbabweans, a good constitution must create
a rock solid
foundation for parliament to enact laws that prevent their
discrimination in
land and property ownership, government loans, education
opportunities,
employment in key government sectors, housing, and key public
media jobs.
The government must be able to pass laws that create
independent
ethnic and race equality bodies modelled along the Equality
Commission for
Northern Ireland or the Australian Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity
Commission.
Such a body must obviously have very
effective investigative,
regulatory, and enforcement powers so that in can
arbitrate on cases of
ethnic discrimination by anyone including the
government itself.
With appropriate laws and institutional
mechanisms, Zimbabwe will be
the first African country to have a bloodless
revolution that will confront
state engineered tribalism and mitigate the
impact of this social evil on
meritocracy and national
development.
It will also be one of the first countries to
implement constitutional
and legal reforms that amount to long term conflict
prevention mechanisms.
This will also help the country to avoid
situations like Darfur,
Rwanda, Somalia and Tibet where state
marginalisation of ethnic minorities
culminated in ethnic clashes and
national despair and underdevelopment.
In Durfur, years of
discrimination have failed to prevent the Fur,
Zaghawa, and Masalit
minorities' to launch armed resistance that has
undermined peace and
stability in Sudan whereas in Somalia tribal war lords
operating clan based
militias have undermined the state and the rule of law.
Recently,
we saw Tibetans run amock and destroy businesses owned by
the Han Chinese
ethnic groups who where targetted as beneficiaries of the
Chinese government
policy of ethnic discrimination.
All these problems had been left
by the respective governments to
ferment and create political fissures that
are now threatening to tear those
nations apart.
In some of
these cases, minorities are beginning to call for
secession, a problem
that could have been avoided had the governments
implemented
non-discriminatory and inclusive policies for all their people.
Countries that do not fear democracy have even granted autonomy to
their
minority groups in their constitutions.
Instructive cases include
Australia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and
Fiji.
Autonomy is
increasingly per-ceived not in terms of full independence
or secession, but
internal democratic arrangements within the nation-state
so that ethnic
minorities enjoy some level of freedom from the centre.
This
minimal independence is meant to butress bottom-up initiatives in
governance
and development as opposed to the top-down trickling of leftovers
from
central government.
Countries that have experimented on this, have
proved that autonomy is
not a threat to national unity, but instead a
foundation to peaceful
co-existence and unity in diversity of the
citizens.
*Dr Last Moyo writes from Wales, UK. He can be contacted
at
lastmoyo@yahoo.com
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Opinion
Thursday, 31 July 2008 17:46
FROM the liberation struggle to
post-independent Zimbabwe, the country
has witnessed rampant human rights
violations that include killings,
abductions, rape, arson, kidnappings,
forced disappearances, and extra-legal
and extra-judicial
killings.
These issues have not been resolved and unless
there is justice for
those who suffered and continue to do so, the talks in
South Africa will be
a charade.
In this article, I want to
examine two critical issues that in my view
are not addressed by the
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Zanu PF
and the two formations
of the Movement for Democratic Change.
The first one is the failure
to acknowledge the murderous nature of
one of the parties to the
negotiations and the abuses that Zimbabweans have
suffered under President
Robert Mugabe since he assumed office in 1980 and
his disdain for citizens'
civil and political liberties. Secondly I would
also want to examine the
disdain of the role of civic society and other
small political parties that
has been shown by the parties to the
negotiations.
A society
that is built on the injustices of the Midlands and
Matabeleland massacres,
the 2000 and 2002 parliamentary and presidential
election abuses
respectively, and the post-29 March violence against
ordinary citizens for
expressing opinions different from those of the ruling
elite will not stand
the test of time.
What is saddening is that the MoU signed by both
formations of the MDC
and Zanu PF which sets the framework for negotiations
between these two
political foes does not acknowledge that this country has
suffered a lot of
injustices under the leadership of President Mugabe. I am
not saying that
the MoU should not address the substantive issues to the
talks but critical
issues such as transitional justice matters should in my
view be part of the
negotiating framework.
The situation has
been worsened by the fact that the international
community, particularly
Sadc and the African Union (AU) and most importantly
the MDC and Zanu PF as
well at the facilitator President Thabo Mbeki of
South Africa, have sought
to dichotomise Zimbabweans as either belonging to
the opposition or the
ruling party.
In my view, any understanding or purported resolution
of the crisis in
the country that does not acknowledge and seek to deliver
justice to those
who lost their dear ones during the Midlands and
Matabeleland disturbances
will not be a legitimate outcome. This country
cannot continue with business
as usual while others including the victims of
the post-Gukurahundi
disturbances such as the post-Constitutional Referendum
victims to date
continue to wait for a justice that is eluding them by the
day.
It is my contention that Zimbabwe cannot one day find itself
as a
democracy by covering up its past history, or by denying justice to
victims
of state-organised acts of injustices. In the same regard people who
faced
injustices under the present leadership of Zanu PF cannot be proud
Zimbabweans when those who murdered their relatives continue to roam the
streets, continue to run the affairs of the state and more so continue to
abuse human rights.
In short, all Zimbabweans should feel safe
and be treated equally
before the law. This cannot happen when some people
among the ruling elite
think that they can maim and kill people without any
recourse to justice.
The cornerstone of any democratic and civilised nation
is the respect for
law and order and the prevalence of justice. There cannot
be justice in
Zimbabwe when the institutional framework is weak and when the
political
culture in the country lacks morality.
It is my
argument that the crisis in Zimbabwe cannot be resolved by
celebrating and
rewarding impunity. The recent electoral sham has shown some
of us that the
people cited or accused of masterminding the Midlands and
Matabeleland
killings were at it again during the post-March 29 violence.
The
political leadership in Zimbabwe, particularly President Mugabe
and his
group should simply appreciate that the country cannot continue to
be ruled
through fear and violence and that those who lost their loved ones
deserve
justice. One way of doing so is to accept responsibility by the top
political leadership and engage the victims as the first step towards
national healing. Denying and continuing to abuse human rights will not
assist to resolve the crisis in the country.
Zimbabweans should
appreciate that the struggle for power is not
necessarily a struggle for
democracy. Not all people who seek power are
democratic. People seek power
for different reasons including getting power
to abuse it as Zanu PF has
shown for the past three decades. This brings me
to the tragedy that the
current talks that involve only political parties
face.
Why the
search for the resolution of the national crisis is being
limited to two
political parties without the broadening of the negotiators
to include other
political parties and civic society organisations boggles
the mind. It seems
that in the limited view of the negotiators, Zimbabweans
are either Zanu PF
or MDC. Civil society organisations are not appendages to
either Zanu PF or
the MDC. Other political parties, no matter how small,
while disagreeing
with how Zanu PF is running the affairs of the state are
not necessarily in
agreement with the two formations of the MDC.
Those who are
facilitating the talks are failing to understand that
the resolution of the
crisis in Zimbabwe requires national efforts by all
stakeholders and that
the outcome of the process should be acceptable to the
majority of
Zimbabweans not political parties and politicians alone.
Zimbabwe
is not a country of politicians but of every citizen
political or not. The
settlement that should therefore come out of the
negotiations should not
satisfy Mugabe, Tsvangirai, Mutambara and their
political parties but the
generality of Zimbabweans. If it doesn't as I am
sure it will not, then that
pact will not stand the test of time and there
is no need for Zimbabweans to
accept a power sharing pact at the expense of
building national consensus
that will lead to the creation of the Zimbabwe
that most citizens will be
proud to be part of.
With all due respect, I find this demeaning,
shallow, parochial and
downright insulting to Zimbabweans.
While I understand Zanu PF's revulsion against civic society's work on
insisting on non-compliance as one way of creating a democratic society, I
find it appalling that the two formations of the MDC for the second time
around fail to insist that they cannot enter into negotiations that are
discriminatory of other stakeholders that have played fundamental roles in
the democratisation agenda for the past decade.
The two
formations of the MDC, the AU and Sadc, as well as Zanu PF if
it bothers to
listen, should understand three critical roles that advocacy
networks such
as the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, the National
Constitutional Assembly,
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights,
Bulawayo Agenda and others play in the
democratisation process in our
country.
For the past decade, civil society organisations in the
country have
put the norm-violating regime of President Mugabe on the
international
agenda in terms of moral consciousness and awareness. This has
led the
international community and of late members of the AU and Sadc to
condemn
and refuse to do business with the Harare regime on the basis of
human
rights violations and the holding of bogus elections.
The
world came to this position because of the advocacy work of civil
society
organisations. To then deny these groups a chance to be part of
resolving
the national crisis boggles the mind. It also exposes the two
formations of
the MDC as power-seekers who are not interested in the
institutional,
structural and governance changes in the country.
It strengthens
worries that the two formations want to author the
country's constitution
without involving the majority of the citizenry
through a people-driven
process.
The challenge now lies with civil society organisations.
They must
stand firm and refuse to endorse a pact by the elite to share
power without
dealing with the fundamental issues of institutional and
governance renewal
pinned on a democratic constitution crafted through a
people-oriented
process. Nothing more, nothing less.
Human
rights scholars further argue that civic groups empower and
legitimise the
claims of domestic opposition groups such as the MDC against
norm-violating
governments like Mugabe's administration. Moreover civic
groups also protect
the physical integrity of opposition groups and
activists from governmental
repression.
This work has been done with integrity by organisations
such as
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights among others. It is therefore
important
for the MDC formations to realise that civic society organisations
have
played crucial roles in mobilising domestic opposition, social
movements and
NGOs in targeted countries to speak against repression in
Zimbabwe.
By Ruhanya who is a Human Rights Researcher at the
University of
Minnesota, USA.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Opinion
Thursday,
31 July 2008 17:26
ON Friday, July 25 2008, while the representatives
of Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party and the
opposition were in
the midst of negotiations facilitated by South African
President Mbeki,
United States President George Bush signed
an executive order to
expand sanctions against individuals and organisations
in Zimbabwe
associated with what he calls the "illegitimate" regime of
Mugabe.
After 28 years of Independence, a precedent that many never
thought
possible in post-colonial Zimbabwe has been set whereby the outcome
of an
electoral process does not count for much other than to reduce the
will of
the people to a negotiating room with six individuals tasked with
making
decisions for about 13 million citizens.
The role of the
international community in promoting or undermining
democracy in Zimbabwe
will continue to occupy the minds of many people not
only in Zimbabwe but
throughout the world.
After 28 years of Independence, Zimbabwe's
standing in the world has
significantly diminished under the watch of
Mugabe.
By global standards, Zimbabwe is too insignificant to
attract the
attention of the world and yet its crisis continues to occupy
the minds of
not only the G-8 countries but the entire United
Nations.
This unprecedented spotlight on Zimbabwe has assisted
Mugabe in making
the case that the political and economic crisis is a direct
result of the
land dispossession of white Zimbabweans and the threat of the
so-called 100%
black economic empowerment thrust.
What is the
causal link between the targeted sanctions and the
economic meltdown in
Zimbabwe? Is it correct to conclude that were it not
for the imposition of
economic sanctions, the prospects of the economy would
be brighter? Would an
agreement on the political questions between the
negotiating parties be
sufficient to incentivise the West to lift sanctions?
In announcing
the new raft of sanctions, Bush said that the action was
meant to send a
strong message that the US will not permit individuals
closely linked to
Mugabe to operate in its financial markets.
A view shared by many
and confirmed by Mugabe during the elections is
that the will of the people
of Zimbabwe does not matter and the calls by the
international community for
the restoration of the rule of law and respect
for property rights can be
ignored with no consequences.
The March 29 elections were held in
an atmosphere that cannot be
regarded as free and fair and yet the message
from the people was that they
wanted a change of direction and
leadership.
While it can be legitimately argued that the results of
the March
election largely reflected the will of the people, it cannot be
denied that
the outcome could have been substantially different in favour of
the
opposition had the state been under the control of a neutral
person.
The March presidential election did not produce a
conclusive outcome,
leading to the controversial run-off election whose
timing and legality will
continue to occupy legal and political minds for
years to come.
However, the vote that has been condemned by the
West and boycotted by
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai produced an
outcome that now gives
Mugabe a locus standi in the Sadc-facilitated
negotiations that have now
been elevated to party talks rather than focusing
solely on the presidential
question.
By putting the screws on
Tsvangirai and using the state machinery to
deny him any media, financial
and logistical support, the outcome of the
run-off was as predictable as the
agenda for the Sadc-mediated talks.
What does the EU and US
governments know about the current talks that
are not in the public domain?
Why would they impose sanctions when the talks
seem to be on track? What is
it about Mugabe that makes the West suspicious
of the outcome?
If the sanctions are targeted at stopping politically motivated
violence,
why would they take the form of an assets freeze? What is so
special about
the 17 enterprises that have now been included in the targeted
list?
One of the principal reasons that motivated Tsvangirai to
withdraw
from the run-off elections was the violence that polluted the
electoral
atmosphere and environment.
The mere fact that the
new sanctions are linked to the violence issue
suggests that the West's
agenda is no more than trying to assist helpless
Zimbabweans against
state-sponsored violence.
However, it is not at all clear how
targeted financial sanctions will
incentivise the state to stop using
violence and intimidation as a weapon to
whip people into line.
In response to the humiliation of March, Mugabe whose intelligence
must have
told him about the causal link between the activities of the NGOs
and the
electoral success of the MDC, stopped suspected NGOs from being
involved in
providing humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable people of
Zimbabwe.
What the EU and US governments are not saying is that
they have come
to the inescapable conclusion that Mugabe represents values,
principles and
morality that is inimical to the West's shared
values.
Unless the talks can produce an outcome that will remove
Mugabe, it is
clear that no change will take place in the approach of the
West to the
Zimbabwean crisis.
By giving an ambiguous position,
as quoted below, on what is at stake
in the current Zimbabwean crisis, Bush
is setting himself up to an
embarrassing and untenable position in the event
that Tsvangirai agrees to
serve in Mugabe's cabinet:
"Should
ongoing talks in South Africa between Mugabe's regime and the
Movement of
Democratic Change result in a new government that reflects the
will of the
Zimbabwean people, the United States stands ready to provide a
substantial
assistance package, development aid, and normalisation with
international
financial institutions."
What precisely is meant by the will of the
Zimbabwean people? Should
the Zimbabwean people through the three
negotiating parties agree to form a
government of national unity (GNU) just
like South Africa's former apartheid
government agreed with the African
National Congress (ANC) and others to an
interim constitution providing for
a GNU, what would be the position of the
EU and the US? Should sanctions not
automatically be lifted?
How do targeted sanctions assist the cause
of freedom for the
suffering Zimbabwean masses? It is evident that the West
has been pushed
into a corner from which it is difficult to argue that were
it not for the
onslaught on white property rights by the Mugabe regime, the
West would not
have a case to stand on.
Surely, Africa has many
examples of violent elections that have not
produced the same outrage from
the West leading many to question the motives
behind the sanctions
thrust.
Will the sanctions produce the desired outcomes? What
really are the
outcomes sought?
It should be sufficient for the
West to make the case that the views
held by Mugabe about the role of the
state in nation-building are offensive
to their own values and principles
without seeking to hide behind the
violence issue that has been taken up by
Tsvangirai in the face of brutal
attacks by a partisan state.
To what extent are the views held by Mugabe different from those held
by the
labour movement from whose womb Tsvangirai emerged?
At the core of
the land reform programme is a belief, strongly held by
Mugabe and his
colleagues, that it is an appropriate role of the state to
become an active
participant in resource allocation and productive
activities.
The contestation for political power is really between the labour
movement
and intellectuals with the business community taking the role of
spectators.
The business community is obviously silent because
the risks inherent
in challenging the political elites in government and the
opposition are too
significant.
Having been one of the most
significant black victims of undemocratic
processes using state
institutions, I find myself with no choice but to
support the view that
unless the rule of law is restored and property rights
are respected, the
West is justified in maintaining pressure on the
negotiators to focus on
what the country requires to move forward.
Last Friday, the US
Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC)
designated 17 entities, including Zimre Holdings Ltd,
an investment and
reinsurance entity that was mine until the promulgation of
decrees and laws
that allowed Mugabe's government to expropriate my
shareholding in the
company with no compensation.
I challenged the actions of the
government of Zimbabwe in the
Zimbabwean courts and regrettably Justice Rita
Makarau ruled that a
specified person has no constitutional right to
challenge the state from
enjoying the benefits of its own
actions.
As at September 6, 2004 when a state-appointed
administrator took
control of all my Zimbabwean companies as a consequence
of the operation of
the State Indebted Insolvent Companies Act, I was the
controlling
shareholder of Zimre with a combined stake of
46,6%.
In January 2005, Zimre proceeded to hold a rights issue
whose effect
was to allow the government to follow the rights of my
companies resulting
in the government becoming the largest
shareholder.
I do hope that by targeting Zimre, a window exists to
expose the true
nature of the operations of the government of Zimbabwe in
undermining the
rule of law.
*By Mutumwa Mawere :
Zimbabwean-born businessman based in SA.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Comment
Thursday, 31 July 2008 17:38
ALMOST all Zimbabweans await the outcome
of the inter-party talks with
very mixed emotions and
sentiments.
Some are driven by political considerations, by
bitterness and
resentment, and like factors. However, foremost in the minds
of most are
economic issues, in anticipation that a resolution at the talks
is a
prerequisite for Zimbabwe to embark upon a much needed, grossly
overdue,
economic upturn. The magnitude of the hardships and sufferings
which are
borne by the vast majority of the Zimbabwean population is so
great that
none can focus upon anything other than the struggle for
survival. In
consequence, their only political thoughts are deep-seated and
intensifying
resentment of those who rule Zimbabwe.
Most
perceive them to be the catalysts of the appalling economic ills.
A minority
do not go to the extent of blaming the ruling politicians for
creating
Zimbabwe's disastrous economic circumstance, but do blame them for
their
total failure to address and heal the ills. As a result, all await
anxiously
the outcome of the talks, in recognition that only a substantive,
workable
agreement between the negotiating parties can create the anxiously
awaited
fulcrum for economic recovery.
That recovery has to address
inflation which now substantially exceeds
ten million percent per annum, and
is sustaining geometric growth. It has to
address employment creation, for
more than four-fifths of the employable
population are without formal sector
employment. It has to address a
pronounced scarcity of foreign exchange
critically required to fund
absolutely essential needs of agriculture,
industry, commerce, and the
population as a whole. It has to address the
grievous scarcities of food, of
medications, and of diverse other
essentials. It has to address a horrendous
near-total infrastructural
collapse. And it must address much else if
Zimbabwe and its population is
not to continue to wither and die.
To an overriding extent,
achieving such a Zimbabwean metamorphosis is
dependent upon those engaged in
the negotiations applying unreserved realism
of the needs and measures
necessary to attain the desperately awaited
metamorphosis, and being willing
to abandon long-held, self-centred policies
and objectives. They have to be
willing to sacrifice heretofore rigidly held
stances, and place the needs of
Zimbabwe ahead of all else.
It is therefore of extreme concern that
many media reports intimate
that although Zanu PF has agreed to engage in
the negotiations, and to
target at a new political framework for Zimbabwe,
it has specified some
allegedly entrenched preconditions for any agreement.
In particular, the
reports allege that Zanu PF has emphatically stated that
wholly
non-negotiable are the issues of Zimbabwean sovereignty and of the
land
reform programme. If these reports are well-founded and based upon
fact,
then the talks are assured of failure, and the Zimbabwean decline will
not
only continue, but will accelerate.
None can credibly
contest Zimbabwe's right to be an independent,
sovereign state. However,
that sovereignty must be preserved and implemented
without breach of
international norms of good governance, respect for human
and property
rights, absolute compliance with policies of international
bodies such as
the United Nations, and adherence to law founded wholly upon
the fundamental
principles of justice. Regrettably, Zanu PF appears to
suffer from an
intense belief that former colonial powers, and their allies,
are determined
upon a re-colonisation of Africa in general and of Zimbabwe
in particular.
This belief is ludicrous in the extreme. Not only have those
colonial powers
spent most of a half-century vigorously striving to divest
themselves of
their colonies, and of the attendant responsibilities for
those colonies,
but it defies all rationality to believe that they have any
wish to
recolonise and thereby become responsible for very immense
destruction.
Those who have hallucinatorily deluded themselves
into themselves into
believing the re-colonisation theory base their beliefs
upon contentions
that the developed countries wish for unlimited access and
control of
primary product wealth of Africa in general, and especially of
Zimbabwe's
vast potential resources of platinum nickel, diamonds, chrome,
coal and
much, much else. But the developed countries can access those
resources
readily by investment and collaboration, without being burdened
with a
responsibility for millions of under-nourished, homeless and
near-destitute
people.
Of as great a fixation is that the
international community, and those
with whom Zanu PF are negotiating, are
set upon a reversal of Zimbabwe's
land reform programme. This fixation is
also ill-conceived. None of Zimbabwe's
negotiating parties have called for
the programme to be halted and reversed,
and all are agreed that the
Zimbabwean people must be accorded the
opportunity of having land. What is
demanded is that, on the one hand, the
programme be constructively
restructured so as to assure its success, in
contradistinction to its
current almost total failure. They seek a programme
which respects property
rights, honours bilateral investment protection
agreements, is administered
with unequivocal justice, and which is
productive.
Zimbabwe has
proven, over many decades, the gargantuan viability and
potential of its
lands. For a very extended period of time, Zimbabwe was
effectively the
breadbasket of the region, but now it is unable to feed its
own people.
Agriculture was the foundation of the economy, representing more
than a
third of gross domestic product, generated most of Zimbabwe foreign
exchange
needs, and provided employment for over 300 000, over and above
being a
major fuellant of the downstream economy, and a substantial direct
and
indirect revenue source for the fiscus. Today agriculture is an
emaciated
skeleton of its former substance, and this is almost entirely due
to the
obdurate, counterproductive manner of implementing land reform
programme.
Thus, all public indications are that whilst none of
the negotiating
parties, and none of the international community, contend
that there should
not be land reform, and none are seeking total rescission
of the programme
which has been so disastrously pursued, nevertheless they
do seek reversal
of injustices and ills, and programme restructuring to meet
international
norms, and those
of justice and equity, and to assure
restoration of a viable and
successful agricultural sector.
If
Zanu PF is incapable of moving inflexible positions of absolute
rigidity on
the issues of sovereignty and of land reform, and is unable or
unwilling to
address those issues with realism, then not only can the talks
not succeed,
but in addition the total collapse of Zimbabwe and the
suffering of its
people is indisputable. If it does not apply such realism,
it may extend its
period of national rulership, but it will be ruling the
dead. Realism is a
must!
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Comment
Thursday, 31 July
2008 17:32
THE official press appears to be grooming Grace Mugabe for
high
office.
A fawning piece appeared in the Herald on Monday
comparing "Amai
Grace" to the biblical Deborah who led the Israelites when
confusion reigned
among the children of God.
She toured the
country assisting the "victims of barbarism", we are
told. "And while taking
the opportunity to help the victims, Amai Mugabe
became one of the first
national political leaders to condemn violence."
Really? We thought
she spent her time condemning Morgan Tsvangirai.
"Amai Mugabe took
the message of peace to the people of Zimbabwe,
stressing the need for unity
against the common enemy."
MDC members may be forgiven if they have
difficulty recalling the
First Lady's generosity towards them. Donations in
Mayo appeared to be aimed
at the victims of alleged opposition
violence!
"Amai Mugabe, like a true mother figure, gently chided
the nation and
reminded Zimbabweans that this was their
country."
"Gently chided"? We remember a shrill partisan voice. As
for
Zimbabweans writing to the Herald urging her to take charge of President
Mugabe's campaign, this looks suspiciously like a well-orchestrated campaign
of its own. Shades of Eva Peron here.
The wife of Argentina's
1950s Fascist dictator, Juan Peron, Eva
(Evita) was a populist demagogue who
liked nothing better than appearing
before her adoring fans on the balcony
of the presidential palace. She
helped to introduce labour reforms while her
husband ruthlessly suppressed
speech and press freedoms. Evita, encouraged
by a servile media, harboured
ambitions of becoming vice-president when her
husband stood for reelection
but the army put its foot down, or rather its
boot.
movie starring Madonna in the role of Evita featured the
song "Don't
cry for me Argentina" as she made her farewell address to
distraught
supporters.
Describing Grace as "articulate, smart,
and an asset to both her
husband and women voters" by one Herald reader,
columnist Sydney Kawadza
agreed saying Zimbabwe needs "proactive and
principled leaders to complement
President Mugabe's formidable
campaign".
One "principle" that stands out was the refusal to allow
Tsvangirai to
occupy State House if he won the run-off.
"The
First Lady has evolved not only as the mother to her children,
but as a
mother to the nation," Kawadza drools.
The Herald, as usual,
doesn't tell us who this particular propagandist
is. But we know one thing:
He easily gets our Sick Bag of the month award.
And by the way, it's
official now. Grace is the lady of the house at Iron
Mask Farm, seized under
the land reform programme several years ago but
allowed to go to seed since
then. But we want to know more about the Amitofo
Care Centre for street kids
whose relocation was the pretext for this
particular farm grab which
dispossessed the elderly owners.
The Herald carried a story on
Saturday about John Makumbe failing to
substantiate his claims of violence
in the post-June 27 period. He made the
claims on the ZTV programme Zimbabwe
Today, saying people had sought refuge
in mountainous areas.
Following the claims, police summoned him to furnish them with more
information, we are told.
"He only referred the officers who
quizzed him to a hostile newspaper,
The Zimbabwean," police spokesperson
Oliver Mandipaka told the Herald, "and
said he had got some of his
information from the pirate radio station run by
the "Voice of
America."
Makumbe had "misled the nation", Mandipaka
claimed.
"It is very unfortunate that a professor could go on
national
television and make such allegations without any shred of
evidence,"
Mandipaka said. "Such utterances are in our view calculated to
cause
despondency and are alarming to the country," he said.
We
must remind ourselves that causing alarm and despondency is an
offence in
Zimbabwe only if the culprit is linked to the opposition. The
real authors
of alarm and despondency go unmolested!
But should police spokesmen
refer to certain newspapers as "hostile"
and radio stations as "pirate"? How
appropriate is it to label media in that
way?
Makumbe's offence
was to suggest that violence persists following the
presidential election
run-off. This would appear to be a politically
sensitive
matter.
Makumbe had "misled the nation into believing that violence
was still
prevalent, yet there were no cases of violence since the elections
ended",
Mandikapa claimed.
Is that true? Have there been no
cases of post-electoral violence
whatsoever?
What about the
refugees from Ruwa who were set upon when they
attempted to return home
after their sojourn outside the US embassy? And why
are we having to make a
distinction between violence before and after June
27?
Is it
any more acceptable that it took place during the run-off? What
progress for
instance has been made in investigations into the murder of
Joshua
Bakacheza, whose mutilated and burnt body was found in Beatrice just
a few
weeks ago, or Tonderayi Ndira?
Why have those cases not been
solved? And what about Ben Freeth and
his in-laws who were viciously
assaulted during the occupation of their
Chegutu farm in the post-June 27
era?
The Herald's dubious informants have been pretending the
victims faked
their injuries. This occasioned a statement by the family's
lawyers.
Can you imagine being attacked by thugs masquerading as
war veterans
who broke the bones of an elderly woman and almost blinded her
son-in-law
and then being told that you were faking your
injuries?
The assailants in that case were apprehended and their
case is
currently before the courts. But it would be useful to know what
direction
they had.
The Herald story last Saturday containing
Mandipaka's statement on
Makumbe was a repeat of one that appeared on ZTV
last Thursday night.
We are not sure what accounted for the 48-hour
delay that made it a
very old story on Saturday. But Happison Muchechetere,
who chairs the
dreadful Zimbabwe Today programme should understand his
professional
responsibility to safeguard his guests rather than collaborate
in their
harassment.
If there is any conclusion to emerge from
this episode it is that
Zimbabwean academics are interrogated for views
expressed in a television
programme about the political situation just as
talks get under way in South
Africa on a political settlement. What does
this tell us about freedom of
speech in post-June 27 Zimbabwe?
If the talks are to succeed there must be absolute freedom of
expression and
a professionally run public media so the public back home can
judge whether
their interests are being properly served.
Another disturbing
feature of all this was the role of the Centre for
Peace Initiatives in
Africa joining the fray against Makumbe, telling civil
society to refrain
from "provocative statements". This apparently includes
warning of the
persistence of violence!
We heard Tafataona Mahoso on Sunday
saying the media had let people
down by not placing the correct spin upon
the MoU. We had failed to provide
a "historical context" so "genuine
leaders" could protect national
interests.
He then lost 90% of
his readers by wandering off to something that
happened in 1974. But what
caught our interest was his claim that the BBC
Hardtalk programme had
interviewed the "British Foreign Affairs Secretary"
in its edition of July
23.
He then referred again to the "British Foreign
Secretary".
Why didn't he name him? David Miliband is the Foreign
Secretary. But
Mahoso doesn't seem to know that.
We suspect he
saw the Hardtalk interview with Mark Malloch Brown who
is a minister in the
Foreign Office, of which there are several.
Did Mahoso write his
column without knowing who the person being
interviewed was? Surely
not!
A few weeks ago we saw Malloch Brown in the Herald being
referred to
as a friend of Ian Smith. This will come as news to Malloch
Brown.
One reason why Malloch Brown is a favourite bete noir of the
Zanu PF
media is his refusal to give the nod to their chaotic land programme
when he
was head of the UNDP.
All the regime had to do, he
said, was produce a plan that could be
effectively implemented, maintain
productivity and address issues of social
justice.
They failed
to do so. Instead productivity collapsed and the poor got
poorer.
All very inconvenient.
Delegates to
the all-party talks near Pretoria have reached agreement
on one thing, the
Sunday Times reports. They had to move to another lodge
because the one they
were booked into wasn't posh enough.
This is a breakthrough. Zanu
PF and the MDC were in complete
agreement. First of all they were unhappy
that some rooms were larger and
smarter than others. And secondly, horror of
horrors, there were no
mini-bars.
The delegation left the
Ingwenya Country Estate in Muldersdrift just
24 hours after checking in, we
are told. The MDC delegates were flown in
separately by the South African
airforce after they refused to fly with the
rival Zanu PF
delegation.
The South African government had spent R750 000 on the
venue which had
cancelled other bookings to make room for the
Zimbabweans.
"They arrived here and demanded five-star service and
accommodation,"
a source at the venue told the Sunday Times. "They brought
in their security
to sweep the area and searched us and our
offices."
The fact that not all rooms were the same size led to
friction among
delegates who felt they were not being treated equally. The
atmosphere at
the lodge was said to be very tense with delegates refusing to
socialise
after the meetings or around the breakfast table.
But
the tension did not stop the delegates from enjoying some of the
provisions
available at the venue, the paper reported. "They only drank
expensive
whisky like Johnnie Walker," an employee said.
They are reported to
have left the venue last Wednesday night escorted
by police heading for a
five-star guesthouse in Pretoria where they found
circumstances more to
their liking!
Still with the talks, we were dismayed to read a
report suggesting
Morgan Tsvangirai had been offered the post of third
vice-president. Quite
understandably he refused it.
It would be
downright insulting for the winner of the March poll to be
relegated to an
already over-crowded portfolio. Isn't this a perfect
opportunity to retire
Joseph Msika?
The ruling party claims it is upholding the Unity
Accord by keeping
him on. According to this redundant logic the seat is
being kept warm for
John Nkomo.
This of course takes no notice
of the cost or usefulness of the post.
What exactly does Msika do? And why
is Zanu PF maintaining the fiction of
the Unity Accord when the region voted
solidly for the MDC in every election
since 2000?
We were
interested in Munyaradzi Huni's response to the EU decision to
place him on
their list of banned persons.
He said he was not surprised by the
decision. "The EU is fighting
Zimbabweans," he said, "and I am one of
them."
Shouldn't that have read "The EU is feeding
Zimbabweans"?
Whatever the case, Huni remains defiant.
"If the idea was to instill fear in me, they should know that instead
I am
inspired to defend my country from imperialism through the pen."
The pen? Won't Zimpapers buy him a computer?
And we were intrigued
by Caesar Zvayi's reference in a Herald article
last Friday to Nathaniel
Manheru as "my colleague".
Does this mean Manheru is now teaching
geography in Botswana?
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Comment
Thursday, 31 July 2008 17:23
THE inclusion of two
companies quoted on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange
on the United States
sanctions list is an unprecedented development which
has far-reaching
ramifications on Zimbabwe's political landscape.
It's now
always going to be difficult for the West to label the
measures against
Zimbabwe as targeted.
Diversified financial services counters Zimre
Holdings and ZB
Financial Holdings have been added to the list of companies
barred from
doing business with the US. They feature in a line-up which
includes
parastatals Ziscosteel, Zimbabwe Minerals Development Corporation,
Minerals
Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, Agribank and several other
companies with
links to government or Zanu PF. The justification for the
inclusion of the
organisations is that they have been propping up the
government of President
Mugabe or abetted the violence that ensued after the
first round of polling
in March.
"In light of the continued
intransigence of the brutal Mugabe regime,
the US is imposing further
sanctions against this regime and its
supporters," said US Director of
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control, Adam J Szubin. "These actions
send a clear warning to those who
would protect Mugabe and his assets at the
expense of the Zimbabwean
people."
There has been an attempt to
situate the sanctions as an instrument to
ring-fence the talks between Zanu
PF and the MDC. This is to assume that the
sanctions have the desired effect
of bringing positive change to Zimbabwe
without hurting would-be
beneficiaries. Sponsors of the regimen of sanctions
since 2002 have argued
that the measures form part of the country's
democratisation process. The
inclusion of public-listed companies,
parastatals and individual journalists
however dilutes all mantras that
sanctions are designed to immediately bring
democracy and human rights.
There is the argument that including
journalists is an attack on
tolerance and diversity of opinion while
including parastatals is clear
evidence that these sanctions seek to cause
suffering to people other than
those perceived to be opponents. The
collateral damage here is even greater
considering the thousands of
Zimbabwean shareholders in ZHL and ZB whose
wealth is now at risk. It would
be very hard for the US and EU to convince
these shareholders, the thousands
of people employed by the affected
companies and communities they serve,
that sanctions are being implemented
to achieve a common good. Can we say
those shareholders constitute a group
"of those who would protect Mugabe and
his assets at the expense of the
Zimbabwean people"?
This is
not to ignore the fact that government acquired its stake in
ZHL through
means which former key shareholder Mutumwa Mawere regards as an
affront to
the rule of law and an assault on property rights. Nicholas
Vingirai can
also surmise Finhold's (the forerunner to ZB) acquisition of
Intermarket in
the same light.
Government controls 63% of ZHL and 68% of ZB. Part
of the government
stock is held through NSSA which is a key investor on the
stock exchange.
But individuals and institutions who have bought stock in
the companies did
not do so in the hope of getting morsels of the ill-gotten
wealth. Most, if
not all of them, are honest investors whose motivation is
not instructed by
politics but by a need to create wealth for
themselves.
Unless there are other issues at stake in determining
the
blameworthiness of the two firms to warrant being put under sanctions,
there
is a danger of making the devil look like a saint. Even in instances
where
the companies affected have little business interaction in the United
States, this raft of sanctions can provide Mugabe's government with the fuel
to power his anti-US propaganda.
He can now go to the
communities around Redcliff for example and drive
home the point that the US
government wants to see the iron and steel plant
closed, which would result
in unemployment and destitution in the town. Or
the government will one day
ascribe the failure of agriculture to the
failure by Agribank to give loans
to farmers. How would the US defend this
claim?
Also how would
the US console punters with stock in ZB and ZHL when
the share prices of the
counters start heading south? The real danger here
is that the sanctions can
have the inadvertent effect of providing our
government with ready-made
excuses for failure. Our rulers have as always
been searching for someone to
blame for every obtuse move taken.
It is obvious that the choice of
the organisations to place under
sanctions is being influenced by
information provided by local sources.
These informants run the risk of
becoming treacherous beings whose actions
are influenced by selfish ends and
not the quest to achieve positive change
in this country. The MDC this week
said they had nothing to do with the
current sanctions because they concern
sovereign states.
Sanctions, the US and EU say, are intended to
send a message that
electoral violence is unacceptable. That may be true.
But they also give a
hostage to fortune.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Comment
Thursday, 31 July 2008
17:10
THE presidential issue has been settled by the June 27 run-off,
Zanu
PF secretary for Information Nathan Shamuyarira declared in the ruling
party's
publication, The Voice.
"The question of power
has been settled by the elections," he said.
"It should be stressed that
executive power will remain with the elected
president."
Disregarding the outcome of the run-off would be "tantamount to
disowning
the people's will", the publication reported him as suggesting.
This is at the heart of the matter before the negotiators in Pretoria.
While
we have no doubt that President Mugabe continues to exercise executive
power, whether he should be allowed to do so is a moot point. Certainly the
MDC, regional countries such as Botswana, and the wider international
community regard Mugabe's tenure as procured by systematic
state-orchestrated violence and therefore illegitimate. The people's will
was openly flouted.
Botswana's Foreign minister Phandu
Skelemani said just a few days ago
that his country would not recognise
Mugabe as head of state.
The complexion of any government of
national unity or transitional
arrangement will thus depend upon the
resolution of this point - the
structure of power.
Shamuyarira
must not imagine for one moment that he can issue a
pronunciamento based on
the discredited June outcome and expect the nation
to swallow it. Since its
negotiators arrived in Pretoria the ruling party
has been attempting to lay
down a number of conditions including the lifting
of sanctions. All this is
wishful thinking. Any system that enables Zanu PF
to continue abusing power
will be rejected not just by the overwhelming
majority of Zimbabweans but by
the international community.
We had a good demonstration of the
problem on Wednesday. Appearing at
Gideon Gono's monetary policy review,
Mugabe warned business people that
they faced emergency measures if they
continued to engage in behaviour he
described as profiteering.
It is now common cause that hyperinflation is the product of reckless
government expenditure and the printing of money, as well as a shortage of
goods. Gono would argue that he has no alternative to letting the printing
press run so long as we are deprived of balance-of-payments support. But
that decision by the Bretton Woods institutions is based firmly on the
absence of a workable economic reform package that addresses macro-economic
distortions.
Threatening the business community when they
attempt to recover the
costs of production will simply compound the crisis.
Empty supermarket
shelves are testimony to government's economic
illiteracy.
Mugabe is widely seen as the author of the country's
ills. No investor
will want to come into a country with such a toxic
business climate and
where populist demagoguery substitutes for sound
economic policy. The
"people's shops" are another example of how the local
business community is
prejudiced by wayward politicians.
The
talks currently underway will have to grasp this nettle of power.
If Mugabe
and his followers cannot see the need for change and reform, and
they
obviously can't, we are in for a complete collapse of the economy.
We are already getting there. As we illustrate on Page 3 of our
businessdigest section today, prices are punishing. A loaf of bread that was
$3 million in January is above $250 billion now ($25 revalued). A commuter
bus ride to town that was $1,5 million in January and $10 billion in July,
is now $140 billion ($14).
While there is undoubtedly an
element of opportunism in some private-
sector hikes, who gives the green
light for price hikes at Air Zimbabwe,
Zesa, Zinwa and TelOne? These
problems will only be solved when there is a
change in
government.
The people voted for change in March and their will was
thwarted.
Shamuyarira's remarks echo a derelict regime shocked at the extent
of their
loss and with no clue how to solve a crisis of their own
making.
Shamuyarira's delusions are understandable. He lives in
another world.
But we should not delude ourselves. The country cannot afford
to have
executive power remain with those who are intent upon abusing it and
who are
simply accelerating the pace of our national decline. That is the
nub of the
talks in Pretoria which resume on Sunday.
There can
be no more tinkering with vice-presidents as is reportedly
proposed. The
last thing Zimbabwe needs is more useless and expensive
vice-presidents. We
want wholesale national reconstitution.
Now.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Comment
Thursday, 31 July 2008 17:06
SOUTH Africa's elderly statesman Nelson
Mandela recently commented
obliquely that Zimbabwe's persistent crisis
reflected a "tragic failure of
leadership".
It is a
comment very fertile for abuse when in fact it should provoke
serious
introspection among those in leadership positions, especially
politicians
whose actions have a definitive influence on what happens to our
country as
we have seen in the past 28 years.
Mandela's comments were
opportune given that Zimbabwe is a country at
a crossroads between economic
recovery and further decline depending on the
decisions the political
leadership takes at the ongoing talks between Zanu
PF and the two MDC
formations after the signing of the MoU on July 21.
Failure of leadership
can mean only a long nightmare for the country.
We have already had
our fair share of tragedy in the past decade, and
its effect has been to
turn ordinary Zimbabweans from sceptics to cynics
about
politicians.
Many people have commented on the memorandum of
understanding signed
last week, especially its ability to get the country
out of the current
morass. The drama started well before the MoU
signed.
Was Morgan Tsvangirai going to attend? Once it was
confirmed that he
was at the Rainbow Towers for the ceremony, the next
question was whether he
would sign. That phase passed, and anxieties grew
about whether he and
President Robert Mugabe would shake hands. That is when
they did what was
unthinkable just a week earlier; a handshake between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
The prophets of Baal who had foretold another
grim-faced embarrassment for
key mediator, Thabo Mbeki, were
inconsolable.
Tsvangirai was saving Mbeki and Mugabe, both of whom
should be
crucified. Mugabe was being insincere. Why the sudden climb-down
to talk
directly to a puppet of the British and the Americans? No, all
Mugabe wanted
was to gain political legitimacy and for the MDC to help him
get
international financial assistance.
They said Mugabe must
be left to stew in own soup for "stealing" the
June 27 elections; he should
never be rewarded with a peace deal. This would
set a bad precedent for
other dictators. (Nobody paused to tell us whether
Charles Taylor's
extradition to The Hague or Saddam Hussein's execution had
had a salutary
effect on other merchants of violence.) Since the signing the
emphasis in
discourse has changed to cynicism about the success of the
talks. The MDC
and Zanu PF are seen as poles apart ideologically.
I agree with
those in civic society calling for broader
representation. It would be a
travesty of justice for just six people and
their three leaders to come up
with what they purport to be a democratic
constitution for a whole nation,
which is what the two-week deadline for the
talks appears to
presuppose.
Zimbabwean writer Petina Gappah put it succinctly in
the Mail &
Guardian when she observed that the mediation should have
included civil
society "because the people who truly need watching over are
not mediators
(Mbeki) but the politicians". She warned that politicians were
prone to
compromise. Regrettably, compromise is a necessary evil in any
genuine and
balanced negotiation process.
This is where
leadership is critical for judgement. What do you
compromise on without
sacrificing principle? How do you strike a balance
between the populist
demands of supporters for humiliating conquest and
practical realities which
move the process forward and limits further damage
to the object of dispute
- economic recovery? How do you deal with the
personal prejudices and
insecurities of advisors masquerading as the
national interest or the
pursuit of social justice and moral obligation?
Supercilious
inflexibility by the leaders to impress or spite alien
observers can be
counterproductive too. I believe leadership is about being
able to manage
one's ego at the very zenith of one's moment of apparent
superiority.
Tsvangirai was well able to manifest extraordinary
humility when he
noted at the signing of the MoU that Zimbabweans need to
work together to
succeed. Many expected a lot of bluster from him after the
"international
community" acclaimed him the ultimate victor on the basis of
the March 29
elections.
Unfortunately it is the same
international community which appears
keen to wreck the prospects for an
immediate political settlement in
Zimbabwe.
"We want a better
Zimbabwe," said Tsvangirai of the talks. "If we put
our heads together, I am
sure we can find a solution." That is what every
Zimbabwean is praying; a
settlement and peace.
Said a senior MDC policy advisor, Eddie
Cross, a few days later:
"There is absolutely no point in negotiating a deal
that is not acceptable
to the people with money."
For money,
one can safely substitute might. Cross's declaration was
endorsed with
nodding approval from the authors of the story, whose echo was
blunter than
the original voice:
"The MDC knows that any agreement must be
acceptable to Britain, the
US and other Western countries, which want Mugabe
to go," they said.
Everything about it is utterly foreign and
unsolicited. Which begs the
obvious question: Are we free or are we not as a
country? What exactly does
it mean when aliens declare that whatever our
representative political
leaders decide is null and void simply because we
have neither money nor
might? Under what UN statute do foreigners, whatever
their money or might,
become putative custodians of an independent nation's
sovereign will?
If theirs are indeed acts of altruism impelled by a
perceived collapse
of central authority, shouldn't the DRC, where people
actually live in the
mountains and sleep in the bush due to rebel raids, and
Somalia, where aid
UN workers are fleeing violence and starvation, provide
these world powers
with a fitting experiment in external intervention, so
that, in the words of
American federalist lawyer Alexander Hamilton: "We may
profit by their
experience without paying the price which it cost
them?"
If we are a sovereign state, shouldn't it be our people who
decide who
should be prosecuted for their crimes according to the laws of
Zimbabwe?
Undue foreign intrusion smacks of purely retributive, punitive and
primitive
instincts which conceived the Treaty of Versailles. Zimbabwe
cannot hope for
enduring peace when we leave it to foreigners, no matter
however rich, to
decide for us how we should move forward in disregard of
what people's
representatives, no matter how few, propose.
We
need aid indeed, but not aid which enslaves us to the base
interests of
foreign powers. The longer we remain divided, the more room we
give to
forces whose motives are inimical to our long-term interests as a
nation.
By Joram Nyathi
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
'Men of the cloth' Did Speak Out
Letters
Thursday, 31 July
2008 17:20
I REFER to a letter in the last issue of the Zimbabwe
Independent
(July 25-31) by Collen Ngundu who wrote:
"I truly believe if these men of God had boldly voiced the economic
and
social hardships...their voices would have been heard by the concerned
parties."
As a matter of fact, individual churches as well as
all the churches
together have voiced their grave concern about the
suffering of the people
many times.
I may only mention the
Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter of Easter
2007 God Hears the Cry of the
Oppressed and the working paper The Zimbabwe
We Want published by the
Zimbabwe Council of Churches, the Evangelical
Fellowship, and the Zimbabwe
Catholic Bishops' Conference together.
There were many more such
statements, even in recent months. Only in
their most recent joint statement
the church leaders expressed their
conviction that the outcome of the most
recent poll was not an authentic
expression of the will of the
people.
It is also a fact that such statements, against Ngundu's
naive
assumption, are not "heard by the concerned parties".
When the Catholic Bishops published their analysis of the present
situation
in God Hears the Cry of the Opressed it was called "political
nonsense" and
they were threatened because of their boldness.
Here is the
decisive passage in that pastoral letter: "Because soon
after Independence,
the power and wealth of the tiny white Rhodesian elite
was appropriated by
an equally exclusive black elite, some of whom have
governed the country for
the past 27 years through political patronage,
black Zimbabweans today fight
for the same basic rights they fought for
during the liberation
struggle.
"It is the same conflict between those who possess power
and wealth in
abundance, and those who do not; between those who are
determined to
maintain their privileges of power and wealth at any cost,
even at the cost
of bloodshed, and those who demand their democratic rights
and a share in
the fruits of Independence; between those who continue to
benefit from the
present system of inequality and injustice, because it
favours them and
enables them to maintain an exceptionally high standard of
living, and those
who go to bed hungry at night and wake up in the morning
to another day
without work and without income; between those who only know
the language of
violence and intimidation, and those who feel they have
nothing more to lose
because their constitutional rights have been abrogated
and their votes
rigged."
Fr Oskar Wermter SJ,
Harare.
--------------
MDC Must Be Wary Of Unity With Zanu
PF
Letters
Thursday, 31 July 2008 17:18
THE ongoing
talks between Zanu PF and MDC in South Africa have raised
high expectations
particularly among the economically battered and suffering
Zimbabwean
masses.
The talks also stand on an unprecedented threshold
of bringing
democracy not only to Zimbabwe but across all Africa. It is
hence important
that the MDC treads very cautiously for history has shown
that Mugabe is an
expert at Machiavellian manoeuvring in as far as
maintaining power is
concerned.
Throughout its history, Zanu PF
and Mugabe have always been
preoccupied with outwitting and outflanking
their opponents for power.
Mugabe probably believes deep in his heart that
he and Zanu PF alone are the
legitimate heirs to power in Zimbabwe. That's
why he is prepared to keep
power at all costs.
On the eve of
Zimbabwe's Independence in 1980, Zanu and Zapu had
agreed that they would
run for office as a united patriotic front under one
leader. Even in most
interviews at Lancaster House, Mugabe pretended that he
was ready to play
second fiddle to Joshua Nkomo for the sake of unity in a
new
Zimbabwe.
However, behind the scenes Mugabe was just awaiting the
opportune
moment to announce that Zanu was going it alone.
Mugabe was later quoted as saying: "We are not against unity with
Zapu, but
the problem is about the leadership and the method of choosing the
leadership." After the elections in 1980, Mugabe formed a government of
national unity incorporating elements from both Zapu and the Rhodesian
Front. Although some Zapu cadres got full government minister's posts, these
were more for window-dressing than for real power because their deputies
from Zanu were in fact the de facto ministers.
In his book, The
Story Of My Life, Nkomo vividly describes how Mugabe
has total disdain for
the cabinet. He makes it clear that in the first
independent government,
cabinet meetings were mere rituals whose decisions
were not worth the paper
they were written on for Mugabe's Zanu central
committee is the one that had
power.
This is the dilemma that confronts the MDC in the current
negotiations. The question to ask is whether the MDC will have any power
even if they are offered posts in the envisaged transitional or unity
government. In the light of the fact that the country is now being run by
the Joint Operations Command (JOC), what role will the envisaged new cabinet
have? Whose decisions will be implemented, JOC or the new
government?
The MDC is in a tight corner. Obviousily Mbeki will
flash a new
constitution presumably more democratic than the current one
with such
sweeteners as presidential power limits and so on. Although a new
democratic
constitution remains at the heart of Zimbabwe democratic
transition, it is
not enough in itself.
The core is the
challenge of changing an institutionalised culture.
For example, there is
nowhere in the current constitution where the army is
said to be the
extension of Zanu PF, but despite the clarity in the
constitution that
soldiers should be apolitical, they have openly involved
themselves in
politics.
Can the people of Zimbabwe and the world believe that
Zanu PF and all
its institutions can be transformed overnight into a new
culture of
tolerance, democratic inclinations and good governance because of
negotiations in South Africa and perhaps a new constitution?
The answer is an absolute no. However, the MDC must realise that they
have
the upper hand. They can enter into these agreements but will need
tactical
and strategic genius to outwit Zanu PF for the benefit of democracy
and the
people of Zimbabwe.
Garikai Agenda Chimuka,
Netherlands.
---------------
We Tried GNU Already And It
Failed
Letters
Thursday, 31 July 2008 17:16
ZIMBABWE
is clamouring for a GNU yet we were and are still in a failed
one! People,
let's not be wrong again.
When Joshua Nkomo was threatened
with anhilation he gave in to Mugabe.
"What is in a name?" he asked. Yes,
that sealed the fate of his followers to
today. GNU is an elitist institute.
Sudan, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria
are good examples of GNUs riddled
with friction points that flare-up like
volcanoes.
We have
already experimented with it as a nation. It is simply
useless. It is time
to abandon GNUs and aim higher.
We are at a stage where we need the
will of a people to be expressed
not by the barrel as happened elsewhere but
by simple democratic exercises.
We need a transitional authority to
facilitate open, free and fair
elections.
We have experimented
with de facto one party state, GNUs, and now it
is time for simple
democracy.
Are we afraid of democracy after such a long history of
political
trial and error?
Owen,
mandisodzaot@yahoo.com
---------------
Can NRZ Excuse Students?
Letters
Thursday, 31 July 2008
17:14
NATIONAL Railways of Zimbabwe should not penalise students for
boarding the train without tickets.
Boarders close
school and have to travel home on the same day. By the
time they get into
town the ticket office would have closed. They have no
choice but to board
the train and buy the tickets on the train.
For example a journey
from Mutare to Harare which costs $335 billion
in the economy class will
cost double the amount which comes to $670
billion. Can't students in
uniforms be excused from this punitive measure?
Would the NRZ also
consider extra coaches specifically for students on
closing
days?
Parent,
Harare.
-----------
It's Not The Zeros Stupid!
Letters
Thursday, 31 July 2008 17:11
IT is said that the
definition of insanity is doing exactly the same
thing over and over again
and expecting a different result.
In August 2006, RBZ
governor, Gideon Gono removed three zeros and
issued a new currency in
order to fight inflation. He pompously called this
programme "Sunrise". It
didn't work at all. Now in August 2008, Gono is
removing 10 zeros and
issuing a new currency. The effect on inflation will
be absolutely nothing.
The zeros are the result of inflation not the cause.
Dr Gono, the
cause of inflation is bizarre policies. Removing all the
zeros will not
work. Just keep watching how worthless the re-called coins
will be by this
month-end.
Owen,
Harare.