http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
30 August 2012
A warning has been issued to the MDC
formations by ZANU PF, who insisted on
Wednesday that any call of a deadlock
over the draft Constitution is a call
for immediate general elections, under
the current Constitution.
The warning came from ZANU PF spokesman Rugare
Gumbo, after facilitators
representing South African President Jacob Zuma
met with negotiators from
all three political parties.
The facilitation
team had arrived Tuesday in an attempt to revive the
stalled Constitutional
reform exercise. But with Robert Mugabe in Iran for
the Non-Aligned Movement
summit, no decisions were being made. Vice
President Joice Mujuru is
currently the acting president.
Addressing journalists in Harare
Wednesday night, Gumbo warned: “Once a
deadlock is declared, then elections
will be inevitable. But if they are
inclined to have a deadlock, so be it,
we resort to the Lancaster House
Constitution.”
With the MDC formations
rejecting ZANU PF demands for an amended draft
charter, and ZANU PF
insisting their amendments are “final and
non-negotiable”, the facilitators
advised the MDC formations to write to
Mugabe about the
deadlock.
Negotiator Elton Mangoma of the MDC-T said: “We told the
facilitation team
that we are not going to discuss not even one page of that
ZANU PF document.
We told them we are declaring a deadlock and the SADC
facilitator should now
be involved,” Mangoma explained.
He added:
“This is a sign that ZANU PF wants to hold elections without
implementing
the reforms that we all agreed to. There are a number of GPA
things that
have not been implemented as well and we are calling on SADC to
make sure
ZANU PF does what it has agreed to.”
Mangoma said the MDC-T have already
written to Robert Mugabe and copied in
the facilitator, President Zuma,
declaring a deadlock.
“If ZANU PF believes the people’s views have been
ignored then they should
campaign for a NO vote in the referendum and let
Zimbabweans decide,”
Mangoma stressed.
Responding to Gumbo’s threats
of an election, Mangoma said the MDC-T would
not participate in any election
before GPA reforms are implemented. “We will
not be party to any election
without reforms first. We will not give up and
we have enough strength to
insist they do what they agreed to,” Mangoma
said.
Madock Chivasa from
the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), blamed the
current crisis on
both the MDC formations and SADC, saying they agreed to
participate in a
process that was flawed to begin with.
“Article 6 of the GPA sets out the
process that is allowing ZANU PF to pull
out of the agreement they made with
their partners. We as NCA said from the
beginning this was flawed because it
did not involve all the relevant
stakeholders,” Chivasa explained.
He
said the deadlock now exists because the constitutional reforms were
being
led by the same politicians who will be governed by the law. This
meant they
were only interested in making sure their views were represented,
ignoring
other stakeholders.
According to the state’s Herald newspaper, the
facilitation team returned to
South Africa on Wednesday night. Lindiwe Zulu,
spokesperson for the
facilitators, confirmed that no agreement had been
reached. She revealed no
other information, saying she needed to brief
President Zuma first.
Some observers have said this deadlock is a test of
SADC’s resolve to
enforce agreements made by Zimbabwe’s political parties.
As the guarantors
of the GPA, SADC should now pressure ZANU PF to abide by
their word.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Thursday, 30 August 2012 14:43
Finance
Minister Tendai Biti
HARARE - Finance minister Tendai Biti says Zanu PF’s
rejection of a draft
constitution authored jointly by coalition partners
has put government
planning into disarray.
In an interview with the
Daily News, Biti said he had set aside cash for a
constitutional referendum
in his Mid-Term Budget Statement but the
about-turn made by Zanu PF
rejecting the draft made it “impossible” to
plan.
President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu PF has effected wholesome changes to the
draft, crafted under
the auspices of a cross-party parliamentary body known
as Copac, resulting
in a deadlock that now requires Sadc intervention.
Biti said the deadlock
leaves him confused.
“As the minister of Finance I would like to say
politicians are now
confusing us. As far as I appreciate Article 6 of the
Global Political
Agreement (GPA), we are supposed to produce a draft and
Copac did that.
These shenanigans that are now in play have left us
confused,” said Biti.
Article 6 of the power-sharing GPA dictates that
coalition partners draft a
constitution that should be put to Zimbabweans in
a referendum. The new
constitution is viewed as a key foundation to future
stability. The
referendum had been tentatively set for October but is off
the rails because
of Zanu PF’s position.
Zanu PF says the draft,
despite having been approved by its negotiators, is
a “sell-out” document
aimed at regime change.
Biti said Mugabe’s party was
hallucinating.
“If the contention is that the draft is not a reflection
of the people’s
will then the people themselves will reject it in a
referendum. No party
should impose the veto power or be the spokesperson of
the people. Who is
Zanu PF to speak for the people?” asked Biti.
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Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is also secretary general of the MDC formation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has insisted that his party would oppose changes made by Zanu PF to the final draft constitution. In this interview with Voice of America’s Violet Gonda, Biti talks about the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediation process, and accuses Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara of being an “imposter to democracy” with “no legitimate claim” to the MDC presidency. Gonda started by asking the MDC-T lead negotiator to talk about the constitution deadlock. Tendai Biti: I am thoroughly going through the Zanu PF draft –you can’t even call it a counter proposal. It’s a standalone document with little relation to the work that we have painstakingly done over the last three years, which we concluded on the 18th of July 2012. We are disappointed that that this document is such an asymmetrical document to the things that we painstakingly agreed to on the basis of give and take. So there is more than bad faith being reflected by Zanu PF. Violet Gonda: So
can you tell us some of the key issues that Zanu PF is
proposing?
Biti: They have basically altered this document fundamentally. I am summarizing on the key issue - they have altered the provision oncitizenship. The agreed draft makes it very clear that any offspring, any descendant born in Zimbabwe of a SADC citizen is a citizen of Zimbabwe by birth. So you are talking of the thousands of immigrant labour that is in Zimbabwe from Malawi, from Mozambique, from Zambia who were born here. You recall that these were made stateless and citizen-less by Zanu PF in 2000 unless you had renounced your citizenship – that is now gone. Secondly, they have drastically altered the provisions to deal with the national objectives of the state. For instance there is now a stand-alone provision that deals with the issue of indigenization and empowerment. Everyone knows that indigenisation is temporal. The constitution which we had drafted allowed for equality but recognized that they took affirmative action. So they are now making something that is temporal to the extent that affirmative action is only used to redress a situation but once the balance has been achieved it dies – but that’s now a permanent situation. This is most unfortunate because all of the parties on the table have got their own party policies – you can’t take your party policy and then put it in the constitution. Another party policy that
has been put in this constitution is their preferred position that all youths
should go for a National
Youth Service in this
country. That was not in the original constitution but it is now in this
constitution. So this is most unfortunate.
They have also totally
abolished the issue of devolution. They are now calling it
decentralisation and you will not find the word devolution in this
provision.
We had also, in the agreed constitution, come up with a President who was subject to clear separation of powers between the judiciary and the legislature and a President who exercises executive power sharing it with Cabinet. This constitution reverts to the situation where the President only has got executive powers and that cabinet only sits at his insistence. The current draft that we had negotiated obliges the President to seek the authority of parliament before he declares war but in this one the President has got a blank cheque and so forth. They have recreated the old imperial President that some of us spent all our lives fighting. You remember we had created an independent office of the National Prosecuting Authority and a standalone Attorney General who would be appointed by the President to advice the President? But ‘no’ says Zanu PF. They have abolished that and that same Attorney General who will sit in cabinet, who will sit in parliament is also the one that will attend to the issues of prosecution. They have also virtually abolished the Constitutional Court. What they have simply said is that the Supreme Court will sit as the Constitutional Court. So that independent standalone Constitutional Court, that we had created, also falls away. Zanu PF has done a lot of things but I have just tried to highlight the major changes that they have done to this final draft constitution. Gonda: So what is
the response from your party?
Biti: As far as we are concerned there should be no further negotiations on this constitution and let the people of Zimbabwe now decide in a referendum whether or not the political parties, who negotiated this draft, drew from the people’s views as expressed in the outreach program. So in our view let the people of Zimbabwe be the referees in this matter. Gonda: But how will you force a referendum if Zanu PF is refusing to move on to that stage, using the final draft constitution? Biti: We have to resort to the Global Political Agreement. Remember Article 6 of the GPA, which is now Article 6 of the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, is the one that obliges the political parties to come up with a constitution following the process that we have followed – of first stakeholders public consultations, the drafting, the constitution itself and the referendum. So what this means is that the guarantors to that agreement – who are clearly specified in Article 23 of the GPA, which is also Article 23 of the 8th Schedule of our Constitution, must intervene - and that is to say President Jacob Zuma and SADC. One of the resolutions of the Maputo summit, where we have just come from, was that the facilitator will be watching closely whatever happens on the constitution and that he will be called to intervene and I would expect that whether we like it or not the facilitator and indeed SADC will be versed with the situation. But one will hope that the few decent people in Zanu PF, we hope that wisdom and common sense can prevail and we can go back to our original draft and we can move this country forward. The people of Zimbabwe have suffered and if Zanu Pf insists on the current draft as it stands then I foresee months and months again of attrition, of debilitating negative energy, which will again throw this country backwards. I think what the people of Zimbabwe want is to have the constitution, go to a referendum, have important reforms including media reform, security sector reform, put conditions that create an uncontested election – that is what the people of Zimbabwe want. Gonda: But if you bring in SADC or the mediator won’t you be forced again into these endless negotiations that you complain about? Biti: Well I can’t prejudge what the negotiator or SADC will do, but certainly from our point of view as MDC we agreed on this process and we signed onto this process and when we signed onto this process the GPA doesn’t say that the parties must all support in a referendum the constitution that they signed to. So we think that let’s go to a referendum and those who are unhappy with this constitution, those who feel that this constitution is not a true reflection of the people’s views – they must campaign against that. With all the risks that you know might lead to violence but let the people express their views and those who are unhappy should do so in the ballot box of the referendum. Another option, and we are not suggesting this or imposing this on anyone, another option is to say: ‘fine, the parties came up with their own draft on the 18th of July, you Zanu PF you want to exercise veto over the people of Zimbabwe let’s take your draft, let’s have two drafts and let the people of Zimbabwe either reject both drafts or vote for the draft they think is closer to what they aspire for’. And in short, Violet let the people of Zimbabwe decide. Gonda: Just going through some of the comments on your Facebook on this issue, it seems that a lot of people are not surprised that this is happening. One follower says ‘you are sleeping with an enemy who will never change and no matter how flexible you become something else will be brought up again by Zanu PF. So what is your response to this? Biti: Three things. The first one is that miracles do happen and sometimes we do things not because we want to but reality demands that we do so. That is why Zanu PF, unwillingly, were brought to the negotiating table, signed a GPA, signed numerous agreements that brought us to the inclusive government that started work on the 15th of February 2009. And you will agree with me that if you had asked the majority of people in Zimbabwe, the majority of international opinion in SADC, overseas they would not have given this inclusive government more than six months but it has lasted so that is a miracle. It is on the basis of that, knowing full well the kind of characterless or clueless individuals that we have dealt with, that we have persevered. We have persevered in a very painful inclusive government. Some of us, like in my case we have had bombs sent to our houses, bullets sent to our letterboxes, we are daily vilified every day - the Prime Minister and members of our party - but we have stuck on. And the constitution that we came up with that we agreed on the 18th of July we did not negotiate it as the MDC we negotiated with Zanu PF and in fact we actually came up with a draft that can hold its own against any other constitution in the world. When you draft a constitution you are bound by certain self-evident principles - for instance the principle of separation of power; the issue of ensuring that citizens are protected - so you have a strong Bill of Rights; the need to ensure that there is good governance; the issue of free, fair and regular elections. So all these basic things you find them in this constitution and on the basis of this constitution principles the modern constitution you can basically download it from the internet – in other words it can write itself. And I am saying those basic fundamental things you find them there. There are certain things you might be unhappy with – for instance the size of the legislature, the issues around running mates - why should we have two vice presidents in a small country like this one? The issue around land provisions – there are certain things that are unique to Zimbabwe but as a constitutional document respecting well-known fundamental constitutional grund-norms - the constitution that we agreed on the 18th of July passes that test. Gonda: Either way whatever constitution Zimbabwe was going to get was going to be a compromise but comparing this… (interrupted) Biti: … there is no constitution in the world which is not a
compromise … (interrupted)
Gonda: … yes but
… (interrupted)
Biti: … the constitution which is generally granted as the best constitution in the world is the South African one and I can tell you that it was negotiated at Kempton Park in 1992 so there is no constitution in the world that is not negotiated. What is critical is that in the process of negotiations do you have authority from the people? Authority in terms of the authority of the people that are representing and secondly the authority in terms of the views – the public legitimation exercise which Zimbabweans carried out through the public outreach program. Gonda: In
hindsight would it have been better to go with the Kariba Draft or even the 2000
Draft?
Biti: No ways! This constitution is far much better than Kariba and Kariba itself, which is far much better than the rejected constitution. There is no competition between the two documents; absolutely no competition at all. Just to give you an example the issue of devolution - you don’t find it in any of the other documents and it’s so fundamental in principle, in our constitutional dispensation, given 32 years of uneven and unequal distribution of resources in this country. The issue of two terms of office – not just for the Head of State but even for army generals, for heads of parastatals – is such an important thing. For permanent secretaries – it’s such an important issue in the devolution of the State. The issue of citizenship that we have created in this new constitution is such a departure from the old (inaudible) of citizenship. The Bill of Rights that we have created, which can only be changed in a referendum, you don’t find that in previous constitutions. So you can’t compare this draft and Kariba and the 2000 rejected constitution. And let me tell you something about constitutional making; constitutional making is a reflection of the balance sheet of the political forces in the country. In 2000 the democratic forces were weaker than what they were when we made Kariba. They are stronger now than what we were in 2007 when we made Kariba – after all democratic forces are also now State actors to the extent that they are in government. So if you study closely the rejected constitution and the Kariba Draft – and don’t forget the 2004 draft that was negotiated between the MDC and Zanu PF represented by Welshman Ncube and Patrick Chinamasa respectively, it’s another constitution – you will find that all those constitutions are far much weaker than the current constitution because they also reflect the weakness of the opposition of that time. You now have an opposition that is in government. So a constitution is indeed a balance sheet of the strength and weaknesses of the political forces in that country. Gonda: Outside of
these prolonged negotiations with Zanu PF what other ideas do you have as the
MDC of unlocking the Zimbabwe crisis? People must remember the problems of 2008. We had inflation of 500 billion percent, there was absolutely no food in the shops, and agricultural production for maize had sunk to as little as 200 000 metric tonnes - tobacco 32 million kilograms. People were starving. There was cholera in this country – 90 000 people were affected by cholera, 4 000 people died from cholera. We had a total collapse of the state with GDP growth falling to minus 14 percent. So what SADC mediation did was to say ‘let’s put a stop to this’. Indeed whether you like it or not the inclusive government did put an end to that hemorrhage and we were able to restart this economy, rebuild this economy, and restore the fabrics of the social contract that had been destroyed by Zanu PF through 14 years of mismanagement that saw 60 percent of our economy being devalued. But people have short memories – that in fact the GPA itself was actually a miracle that you have Robert Mugabe shaking hands with Morgan Tsvangirai his archenemy – it was actually a miracle. So never underestimate that dialogue. Because of the hardcore attitudes of Zanu PF it is very difficult for Zanu PF to respect the MDC and to accept that the MDC exists. So that is why you need the referee, the impartiality of the facilitator. The people also misunderstand the resolutions from the SADC. I have been reading the websites where some people are saying we came out of the SADC summit with nothing, and that the issue of Zimbabwe was not resolved. I beg to differ. SADC said in Maputo:
Now these are important decisions. SADC is a source of international law so international law is prevailing over Zimbabwe because domestic law has failed. So if you fail to appreciate the importance of dialogue then unless you have 40 million people and you are going to do an Arab Spring or unless you find someone who is going to bomb Zimbabwe for you then there is no option for peaceful dialogue. Some of us don’t believe in arms, don’t believe in guns. We believe in dialogue, therefore we have absolute faith in the facilitation of South Africa and President Zuma. Gonda: Critics say the MDC seems to have succumbed and is now in a comfort zone of being dragged into these endless negotiations. What can you say about this? BITI: It’s very easy to say that when you are in an air-conditioned apartment in London or Cape Town – those things are easy. We have been in this struggle for many years Violet. Some of us we don’t go to nightclubs. We used to watch Black Rhinos but we don’t do that. We have been arrested, we have been tortured, we have been beaten up but we have looked at this beast in the eye and we have not blinked. We have looked at this beast in the eye without resorting to arms or weapons. We were a small, tiny little party formed a mere 13 years ago but now we are the biggest party in Zimbabwe through peaceful non-violent means. So our means have worked and are working and we are very, very close to achieving ultimate democratic change in Zimbabwe. Look at the ANC. They were formed 100 years ago. 100 years ago and they only attained democratic rule a mere 16/20 years ago and we were only formed 13 years ago. So the issue of impatience and so on, those are statements that are made by people who underestimate how ugly this dictatorship is. The Zanu PF dictatorship is probably the most refined dictatorship on the continent so the people who are fighting for change and democracy in Zimbabwe, whether or not they belong to the MDC in the churches, in the unions, they are genuine true heroes because they are fighting a complicated dictatorship that has no shame and that will take risks. So I am very proud of what we are doing collectively to establish democracy against an extremely bloodthirsty opponent. Violet: So how do you respond to those who say you seem to have developed a bond or a relationship with Zanu PF that seems to have eroded your appetite to be able to push for a more radical approach in terms of dealing with Zanu PF? Biti: We are in this government but we have not signed a unity accord with Zanu PF and Zanu PF has not swallowed us. We have a separate party with a separate identity and we will continue pursuing our goals until we achieve peaceful democratic change in Zimbabwe and that is as inevitable as it is foreseeable. Violet: Do you think the MDC is still popular? By this I mean is it possible that Zanu PF could be edging you out in terms of favorability? Biti: That is not possible. What has Zanu PF done? Zanu PF lost the elections in 2008and what have they done in the last three years that would persuade any right thinking Zimbabweans to think that our future lies with Zanu PF? The fact that they can come up with an alternative constitution like this is a reflection of the fact that we are dealing with a party of clowns and dinosaurs and Zimbabweans want real transformative change – unfortunately that cannot come from Zanu PF. Violet: Based on a recent opinion poll released by the US-based Freedom House there is an indication that support for Zanu PF is growing while support for your party is declining. What can you say about this? Biti: Well I have carefully read the opinion of the Freedom House and I respect the right of any person to carry out an opinion but if anyone thinks that the 1,180 people that were polled are a true reflection of an election then let’s go to the referendum right now with Zanu PF pushing their own constitution and let’s see who will win. Let’s go to the actual election and let’s see who will win. Violet: So
basically you are saying it’s not a true reflection of the situation on the
ground?
Biti: I can’t comment on the professionalism of those who carried out the opinion poll but if an opinion poll is conducted in Zimbabwe and someone tells me that the medium of choice is the ZBC and the Herald then that is insane. The most popular media in Zimbabwe is Studio 7 and we all know that. The most popular media in Zimbabwe is DSTV that is why you see little satellite dishes on nearly every roof in Zimbabwe. So if someone were to tell me in an opinion poll that the media of choice is the Herald then there is something wrong. So I respect Freedom House and what they have done but we will do our work as we have been doing. Violet: What is
your take regarding who should be sitting on the table from the other MDC
formation?
Biti: Welshman Ncube! Welshman Ncube was elected by a congress that Arthur Mutambara did not even participate in. Mutambara did not even challenge Welshman Ncube and I saw a video where Mutambara was congratulating Welshman Ncube. I am very concerned about that issue as an individual; because this generation can’t do things that Zanu PF were doing. Even Robert Mugabe strives to have legitimacy. Now you can’t say when you have not even participated in an election you call yourself as the President of the party that doesn’t happen. Violet: So what do you make of the accusations that have been made by Professors Arthur Mutambara and Jonathan Moyo saying that President Zuma is abusing his position in SADC to help his in-law – Professor Welshman Ncube. Biti: That is rubbish. Zuma was not in the congress of MDC-M in January of last year. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t the one who chose Welshman Ncube. So that is absolute rubbish. I think the energy in which Zanu PF is defending Mutambara proves beyond reasonable doubt that Mutambara has been compromised by Zanu PF. They don’t do that to any members of the opposition. Once you are now being defended by the likes of Jonathan Moyo you must know that you are finished. Violet: But isn’t Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai also defending Mutambara if he still goes to the Principals meetings with him? Biti: He is not! There were court applications and in the absence of court applications nobody could challenge the position so don’t abuse him, he is not. But now there are court judgments and the situation is very clear and also the SADC summit has made a decision which our president accepts. Violet: The reason I was saying this is I understand that early this week the Principals held a meeting and professor Ncube was not invited but professor Mutambara was invited. Biti: Remember the person who swears-in people is Robert Mugabe not Morgan Tsvangirai so don’t visit the omissions and commissions of Robert Mugabe on Morgan Tsvangirai; please don’t do that. Mutambara is an imposter to democracy! He is an imposter to democracy. Mutambara is trying through the backdoor to rewrite the constitution. The constitution says there are three political parties with three leaders now we suddenly find that we have four leaders, and that was the point that was put to him in Maputo which nobody had an answer. Did we revise the GPA? And to our recollection we have never revised the GPA. For feedback e-mail Violet: violet@voanews.com or follow her on Twitter:@violetgonda |
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
30 August 2012
The intensifying fight for control of the Save
Valley Conservancy has
exposed even more rifts within ZANU PF, with top
party officials clashing
over the Conservancy’s future.
The
Conservancy has become the latest target of the ZANU PF led land grab
campaign, despite warnings about the destructive consequences such a
campaign will have on the wildlife and tourism sectors. Earlier this year a
parliamentary committee said in a damning report that the forced seizure of
Save by top political and military figures with “no interest (or) experience
in wildlife conservation” had resulted in massive destruction
there.
“Save Valley conservancy has ceased to exist in its original form:
there is
extensive habitat destruction, large scale fence destruction and
rampant
poaching of animals, especially the rhino, whose numbers were said
to be
fast dwindling,” the report said.
A group of ZANU PF officials,
called the ‘Masvingo Initiative’, were
identified as the key players behind
this destruction. This includes Higher
Education Minister Stan Mudenge,
Masvingo Governor Titus Maluleke and war
vet Shuvai Mahofa who have all been
given 25 year land leases in the
Conservancy. They have also recently become
the recipients of hunting
licences, handed over by National Parks chief
Vitalis Chadenga in the name
of ‘indigenisation’.
The Masvingo gang
has also instilled some of its officials as the new
Conservancy leaders,
after invading the area and taking over a management
meeting last
week.
The legitimate Conservancy chiefs have called the handover of the
new
hunting licenses a ‘criminal act’ that has nothing to do with genuine
indigenisation efforts. Conservationists have also warned that the situation
will have a devastating effect on the wildlife and hunting sector, with no
commitments to the necessary controls for sustainable and ethical hunting
practices.
The takeover of Save is apart of what ZANU PF is insisting
is a government
approved ‘wildlife based land reform’ policy. But the fight
has now seen
ZANU PF officials face off, with Environment and Natural
Resources Minister
Francis Nhema on one side and Tourism and Hospitality
Industry Minister
Walter Mzembi on the other.
Nhema has said the
landowners in Save need to ‘cooperate’ with the new
beneficiaries, insisting
the ‘reform’ of conservancies will go ahead. Mzembi
meanwhile has expressed
concern and opposed the scheme, arguing it threatens
the successful hosting
of next year’s United Nations World Tourism
Organisation General Assembly in
Victoria Falls. Mzembi has also said the
targeting of the conservancy for
‘reform’ was against Zimbabwean laws.
This has led to the Tourism
Minister being labelled a ‘sell-out’ by ZANU PF
members, who have accused
Mzembi of deciding “to side with the whites to
reverse the land reform
programme.”
Political analyst Professor John Makumbe told SW Radio Africa
that ZANU PF’s
bickering over Zimbabwe’s assets is a sign of the “fragile
state ZANU PF is
in.” He said that the rush to grab as much as possible,
regardless of the
damage being done, is linked to this.
“ZANU PF is
preparing for the worst by grabbing what they can and attempting
to
legitimise these acquisitions before an election. This is part and parcel
of
the widespread asset stripping going on in Zimbabwe as elections are
looming,” Makumbe said.
Minister Mzembi has now been urged to engage
with his government partners
and revoke the new hunting licenses. This is
the recommendation of the
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, whose board has said
that “government should
remove illegal settlers encroaching onto the
conservancies.”
“The communities should be empowered through the
Community Share Ownership
Scheme and other empowerment benefits,” a
memorandum from the Tourism
Authority board said.
SW Radio Africa has
tried to get comment from Minister Mzembi but his phone
went unanswered on
Thursday.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Thursday, 30 August 2012 16:14
HARARE
- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has launched an inquiry into
recent
invasions of wildlife conservancies by senior Zanu PF officials as he
seeks
to clean the country’s image ahead of the world’s biggest tourism
event next
year.
Latest reports indicate that wild animals face annihilation while
thousands
of livelihoods are under threat after 25 Zanu PF senior members
were granted
hunting permits and land leases in the 260 000 square metre
Save Valley
Conservancy.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe High-Level Economic
Forum in Victoria Falls
yesterday, Tsvangirai said he had met Tourism
minister Walter Mzembi and his
environment counterpart Francis Nhema and
told them to put their house in
order before the country co-hosts the United
Nations World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly with Zambia in
August net year.
“This sends the wrong signal at a time we want to
unleash our economic
growth potential,” he said.
The PM’s statement
followed similar remarks by Finance minister Tendai Biti
who told the forum
the unlawful grabbing of conservancies was ill-timed and
could tarnish the
country’s image at a mega event.
The event, which Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority chief executive Karikoga Kaseke
says is expected to register 2 000
delegates, is held once in every two
years and brings together key tourism
players including heads of ministries
from various governments across the
world.
It is Zimbabwe’s opportunity to rebrand itself following a decade
of bad
publicity after the often violent fast-track land reform programme
and
successive disputed elections.
At the end of last month, Mzembi
sought Mugabe and his deputy Joice Mujuru’s
help in a vicious fight to stop
Zanu PF officials from invading wildlife
conservancies.
Mzembi fears
anarchy prevailing in the conservancies will dent the country’s
image ahead
of the Unwto general assembly.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
Thursday, 30 August
2012
The ongoing fight over land ownership at the productive and world
renowned
Save Valley Conservancy has exposed the sunset party’s
indigenisation and
empowerment programme, as only senior Zanu PF politicians
are set to benefit
at the expense of thousands of ordinary
Zimbabweans.
Senior Zanu PF politicians are at each other’s throats at the
conservancy as
they fight for control, while the local communities who are
supposed to be
the beneficiaries are being left out.
Just last month,
some senior Zanu PF politicians including Titus Maluleke,
Shuvai Mahofa,
Basil Nyabadza, Chiredzi South MP, Ailess Baloyi, Chiredzi
North MP, Ronald
Ndama and Zanu PF Masvingo provincial chairperson Lovemore
Matuke, parcelled
out 25 year leases to themselves at Save Valley
Conservancy.
These same
politicians have in the past abused the land reform programme,
getting more
than one farm each and underutilising these farms, which is
contributing to
food shortages in the country while millions of Zimbabweans
remain landless,
impoverished and unemployed.
The MDC is concerned by the disturbances at the
lucrative conservancy, which
have seen potential tourists shunning the area
and a serious decline in the
much needed government cash inflows.
Because
of these fights, thousands of jobs are going to be lost at a time
when the
people of Zimbabwe need more jobs. It is with such a background of
maliciousness, selfishness, irresponsible parcelling out of national
resources by Zanu PF leaders that the MDC has rubbished the intentions of
Zanu PF in the indigenisation and empowerment programme which is based on
patronage and clientelism.
The ill advised Zanu PF empowerment programme
is not demand driven and is a
narrow model of transferring wealth to a few
black elite and not genuine
wealth creation and distribution to the poor
people of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans demand jobs, investment and upliftment in
order for them to have
a better life through sustainable and environmentally
friendly business
enterprises.
The Save Conservancy is home to thousands
of animal species, most of which
already face extinction due to poaching and
hunting. There is need to
protect our animals and the indigenous people who
have lived in close
proximity with these animals, protecting them to make a
living.
The MDC believes that a genuine broad based upliftment programme,
which
balances the need to attract investment, grow the economy and create
jobs
for all, must be developed to protect the country from further Zanu PF
plunder.
MDC @ 13 – The Last Mile towards Real Transformation!!!
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
30 August
2012
The Chinese run Anjin diamond mine has emerged as the chief suspect
in
mounting speculation over the next key funders of ZANU PF’s election
campaign.
The next presidential poll, in which Robert Mugabe will
once again contest
as ZANU PF’s leader, is expected some time in 2013. The
party is already
understood to be in full pre-election mode, with the
resuscitation of youth
militia-run terror bases and worsening intimidation
across the country.
The scenario is reminiscent of the 2008 election
period which saw ZANU PF
launch a brutal campaign of violence that resulted
in hundreds of deaths,
thousands of incidents of torture and rape, and
hundreds of thousands of
displacements.
Analysts have explained that
such a campaign required a significant amount
of money, because of the
mobilisation of the army and militia groups, among
other strategies. A Mail
& Guardian investigation has now revealed the
details of a US$100
million loan given to Mugabe’s government in 2008, a
loan that coincided
with ZANU PF’s brutal election campaign. That loan has
been traced to an
American based institutional investor, who fronted the
money as part of a
network of complex business dealings.
The business deals ultimately
resulted in ZANU PF securing the US$100
million to launch its campaign that
saw the then opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai pull out of the run-off
election because of the violence. That
poll proceeded with Mugabe as the
only contender and led to the formation of
a unity government, which is
ticking off its days until another poll.
With the MDC-T now holding the
purse strings to the national coffers and
clamping down on the activities of
the Reserve Bank, there are questions
being asked about how ZANU PF’s
current campaign will be funded.
Professor Patrick Bond, the director of
the Centre for Civil Society at the
University of KwaZulu Natal, has said
that the likely suspects are the
companies involved in mining operations at
Marange. He said that the
evidence so far points to Anjin, who are the main
beneficiaries of the
alluvial diamond fields.
Bond was speaking on SW
Radio Africa’s Diaspora Diaries series and he said
ZANU PF “will look east,”
to the Chinese-run Anjin, as Zimbabwe heads
towards another
election.
Anjin is already well placed to service ZANU PF’s needs,
because it is a
joint venture between China’s military and their Zimbabwean
counterparts.
The company has already been linked to an illicit arms deal
between the two
military groups. The estimates meanwhile of the diamond
profits from Anjin
are in the hundreds of millions, money the finance
ministry has revealed has
never been availed to the Treasury.
“ZANU
PF’s crony capitalism and nationalisation rhetoric is already well
versed.
This is what I call the ‘talk left, walk right’ gimmick that the
party has
perfected, where they are allowing the looting at Marange to
continue while
talking about the benefit of indigenisation,” Professor Bond
explained.
He said the ‘indiginisation’ campaign is a firm part of
ZANU PF’s election
strategy and, together with control of the country’s
diamond resources, the
party will be well financed ahead of the next poll.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Staff Reporter 7 hours 38 minutes
ago
HARARE - Russian mining giant Rushchrome Mining has been
granted chrome and
platinum mining concessions in Zimbabwe, marking the
entrance of Russian
investors into the country’s chrome and platinum mining
sectors, sources
told Metal Bulletin.
“Their presence seems to be Russian
investors’ first tentative move into our
chrome and platinum mining
sectors,” a mining industry executive told Metal
Bulletin.
While
Rushchrome’s shareholding and management structure has not yet been
made
public, Metal Bulletin understands that Rushchrome has been given
concessions in the Darwendale area. “There is not much on the ground to
suggest...
Russia offered Zimbabwe to conclude an intergovernmental
agreement about the
mutual protection of investments. Russian companies may
thus obtain an
opportunity to develop one of the world's largest deposits of
platinum. In
return, Zimbabwe, which remains under the influence of
sanctions from the
USA and EU, will receive military hardware from Russia.
Moreover, Russia
intends to ship a large batch of arms to another
US-unfriendly country.
In Harare last week Russia said it respects Zimbabwe’s
sovereignty and will
support the country on the diplomatic and political
fronts.
The visiting Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Mikhail
Bogdanov
who sealed the deals assured Zimbabwe of the same support that it
got from
Russia in 2008 when the east European nation used its veto powers
to block
the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe.
He noted that since
political and diplomatic ties are strong focus should
now be on enhancing
economic cooperation.
“We have very strong support for Zimbabwe and we
respect its sovereignty.
That is why we continue to pledge to support it on
the international front.
We are here to exchange views on the developments
in the geo-political
landscape and we assure you that you have our support,”
he said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said Zimbabwe
appreciates
the unconditional support it is getting from Russia and promised
that the
country is open to investment from Russian companies.
He said,
“We do appreciate that you have supported us through thick and
thin, but we
are saying there is need to enhance our cooperation and ensure
that we
cooperate on the economic front.
“Relations have been very good even before
independence and as such we are
saying they can be further strengthened
through economic ties.”
The relationship between Russia and Zimbabwe is
strong as evidenced by the
east European’s support for Zimbabwe
internationally, especially when the
country was under siege by Western
nations which wanted to move a motion at
the United Nations that Zimbabwe
was a threat to world peace.
Russia is currently in talks with Zimbabwe
about the above-mentioned
agreement, the Kommersant Daily wrote with
reference to a source in the
presidential administration. The document, the
newspaper wrote, is being
developed in accordance with Putin's decree from
May 16th in connection with
Russia's intention to enter the market of the
African country.
It goes about Darwendale platinum project. Russian
Technologies State
Corporation has already won the support from Zimbabwean
officials during the
visit to the country in April, an official with the
Kremlin administration
said. The Zimbabwean authorities, he added, are
interested in the deliveries
of Russian arms, particularly helicopters. "It
goes about the delivery of
rights to Russian Technologies for the
development of the deposit in return
for helicopters," another official
said.
The deposit in Darwendale Valley is the second largest deposit of
platinum
in the world. It is situated in the south-eastern part of Africa.
It also
contains palladium, gold, rhodium, nickel and copper. The proven
reserves of
platinum make up 19 tons with total resources of 755 tons. The
potential of
the deposit is 43-45 million ounces of platinum, or 1,3-1,4
thousand tons.
The license for the development of Darwendale belongs to
Ruschrome Mining -
a joint company of the government of Zimbabwe and the
Russian center for
business cooperation with foreign countries. Martin
Rushwaia, a constant
secretary of Zimbabwe's Defense Ministry serves as the
chairman of Board of
Directors of Ruschrome. Andrei Shutov, formerly a
businessman in Renova
group of companies, presides over the Russian
consortium of investors.
Ruschrome received the license for the exploration
and development of the
deposit for 25 years. All preparations were completed
in January of this
year, and the company received an opportunity to start
the development of
the deposit. The total volume of investments in the
project makes up $300
million. The estimated production volume - 2 million
tons of ore a year,
Business-TASS reports.
It is worthy of note that
"arms in exchange for goods" schemes used to be
practiced by the USSR. Peru,
for example, paid fishing quotas to the Soviet
Union, Algeria -
hydrocarbons, Nigeria - cocoa. However, experts say that
the above-mentioned
variant - helicopters in exchange for the right to
develop the platinum
deposit - may not work for Russia due to the
instability of the political
regime in Zimbabwe.
Robert Mugabe has been ruling Zimbabwe since 1980. The
West considers him a
dictator. There is a strong opposition in the country
that enjoys the
support from the West. The opposition may come to power in
the country in
the foreseeable future. Rumor has it that Mugabe suffers from
cancer.
Meanwhile, Russia may send military hardware to another US-unfriendly
country - Venezuela. The governmental delegation of Venezuela is negotiating
the terms of the delivery of a large batch of T-72 tanks to Caracas within
the scope of the Russian loan, the Kommersant said.
This may mark a
second large delivery of Russian tanks to Venezuela during
the recent two
years. The previous delivery of 92 T-72B1B tanks was
successfully completed
in March of this year.
The new deliveries will be conducted within the
framework of the Russian
loan of $4 billion. The previous batch was
delivered to Venezuela on the
base of the 2.2-billion-dollar loan. Russia
gave the loan to Venezuela after
the latter recognized the independence of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Arms deliveries to Caracas are a part of the
strategy of Russia's economic
expansion in Venezuela. However, despite the
enormous investments, Russia
comes second after Belarus on the Venezuelan
market. The commodity
circulation between the two countries has increased
more than 200 times
during the recent five years and made up $1.3 billion
last year. Belarusian
President Alexander Lukashenko has recently called
Venezuela a "platform for
the Belarusian expansion." - Plus Metal Bulletin
http://diamondworld.net
Aug 30 2012
8:00PM
By:
Diamond World News Service
Key diamond industry leaders will be
participating at an international
diamond conference being organised by the
Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development of Zimbabwe in Victoria Falls
between 12-13 November 2012. The
conference will be hosted by HE the
Minister Obert Moses Mpofu who will
address the audience on behalf of the
Zimbabwe government.
A broad forum of speakers have been confirmed
including Mr. Eli Izhakoff,
Chairman of the World Diamond Council, Ahmed Bin
Sulayem, Executive Chairman
of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority,
Vasant Mehta, Former
Chairman of Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council,
Ernie Blom,
President Elect of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses,
Abbey Chikane,
KP Monitor and Peter Meeus, Chairman of the Dubai Diamond
Exchange.
The Honorable Minister Obert Mpofu said: “The conference aims
to highlight
the accomplishments of Zimbabwe in the diamond industry. After
having been
accepted again as a full member of the KPCS in Kinshasa 2011,
Zimbabwe
stands ready to give the world full transparency on its
achievements as a
major diamond producer.”
The second day of the
conference wills see representatives from Zimbabwe’s
mining companies –
Mbada, Murowa, DMC, Anjin, River Ranch and Marange
Resources addressing
international guests.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai Karimakwenda
30
August 2012
The MDC-T has revealed the names of 12 councillors who the
party recently
expelled for corruption, following an audit done in ten local
authority
districts around the country.
The MDC-T National Executive
made the decision last Friday, after
scrutinizing a report from the deputy
secretary general, Tapiwa Mashakada,
who chaired the commission that looked
into the operations of the ten
MDC-led councils. The commission began their
investigations in March.
MDC-T Policy Director Eddie Cross said they were
shocked that out of the ten
districts, only Bulawayo, Gokwe and Chinhoyi got
a “clean bill of health”,
with no officials expelled for
corruption.
“Those expelled were basically found guilty of abusing their
office in one
way or another and being corrupt. Others were found to have
accumulated
assets that couldn’t be explained by their income,” Cross told
SW radio
Africa.
He added that 20 more local authorities are still
being audited and anyone
found to be corrupt will face the same
consequences. There were three levels
of punitive action taken by the MDC-T,
with some guilty officials being
suspended for one year and others simply
being cautioned.
In a statement the MDC-T said: “The action taken by the
MDC leadership will
be intensified across the country to reclaim Zimbabwe’s
self-respect; a
climate of accountability and a push for zero tolerance on
corruption and
all evils.”
One of the more surprising officials
expelled for corruption was the Deputy
Mayor of Harare and ward 42
councillor Emmanuel Chiroto, whose wife was
abducted by ZANU PF thugs at the
height of the 2008 election violence, and
murdered in front of her
son.
In statement the MDC-T said: “Despite these few rotten apples that
have been
dismissed, the National Executive has expressed satisfaction over
the
performance of the MDC-run councils, especially in areas of water
provision
and refuse collection.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Thursday, 30 August 2012 14:36
HARARE - Southern
Africa’s regional body Sadc looks set to convene an
extraordinary summit on
Zimbabwe after disagreements over a new constitution
threatened to disrupt a
roadmap to a fresh election.
A facilitation team dispatched to Zimbabwe
by South Africa President Jacob
Zuma — Sadc’s point-man in the Zimbabwe
dialogue — yesterday concluded a
meeting with negotiators from the three
ruling parties in the coalition
where they finally declared a deadlock in
the constitution-making process.
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF, which
denied there was a deadlock, saying
the Principals were yet to meet and
decide on the draft, requested that the
two MDCs led by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube declare
the deadlock in writing and
copy the letter to Zuma as the facilitator and
to the Sadc Troika
chairperson Jakaya Kikwete.
Sadc, currently chaired by Mozambique, has
been at the forefront of
brokering the power-sharing agreement between
Mugabe and long-time
adversaries Tsvangirai and Ncube.
Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, secretary general of Ncube’s MDC, told the
Daily News
that they declared the deadlock after realising that Zanu PF will
not let go
their demand to make sweeping changes to the draft constitution.
“On the
constitution issue, we submitted to the facilitation team that we
have
declared a deadlock involving a Maputo clause that says if you are in
disagreement call the chairman of the Troika,” Misihairabwi-Mushonga
said.
“We are deadlocked on issues of process. A cursory look at the
content, it
is clear we were unable to reach consensus.”
The Daily
News heard that Zanu PF representatives told the facilitators that
as far
they were concerned, the Principals were still seized with the Copac
draft
incorporating Zanu PF amendments.
And they have not met to pronounce
themselves and everyone should wait for
that process,” a Zanu PF
representative said. Mugabe is currently in Iran
attending the Non-Aligned
Movement summit.
But the two MDCs rejected Zanu PF’s position and said
there was no reason
for waiting for the Principals.
Tsvangirai told
reporters at Munhumutapa Building on Tuesday that he will
not countenance
any further amendments to the Copac draft and will not
negotiate with Mugabe
on the issue.
The Daily News heard that while members of Zanu PF in the
Copac management
committee signed the draft on July 18, more Zanu PF
lawmakers approved the
new draft constitution on August 19, 2012 under the
ambit of the 25-member
tripartite select committee even as the politburo
mounted spirited
remonstrations against the draft, reflecting divisions in
the party.
Select committee Zanu PF MPs Olivia Muchena, Munyaradzi
Mangwana, Walter
Chidakwa, Monica Mutsvangwa and chief whip Joram Gumbo
approved the draft at
the Rainbow Towers on August 19 and handed the draft
to the Speaker of the
House of Assembly Lovemore Moyo as their party
publicly rejected the draft.
The MDCs say at this stage, the draft can no
longer be amended except by the
people through the stakeholders’ conference
and the referendum.
Zanu PF is demanding the reinstatement of enormous
powers in the presidency
that had been curtailed in the Copac draft, and 25
other fundamental changes
to the draft, including deleting extensive reforms
aimed at improving
governance and entrenching basic rights.
If Zuma
and Kikwete fail to break the deadlock, an extraordinary summit
would be
necessary to review the deadlock over a new constitution — one of
the
reforms called for under a power-sharing deal stitched after the country’s
post-election unrest four years ago.
Outside the Sadc mediation, Zanu
PF is threatening to ditch the Copac draft
and go for fresh polls under the
old constitutional order.
Zanu PF politburo member and serial political
flip-flopper, Jonathan Moyo
told State TV that Sadc had no business
interfering in such a fundamental
internal process.
Likening the
Copac draft to an “MDC manifesto”, Moyo said: “We should be
optimistic that
if reason and responsibility prevail, the (Zanu PF)
amendments will stand,
if reason and principle fail to prevail, and there is
a deadlock. It is not
the end of the world. Life will go on as it must and
we should hold our
elections and let the people decide.”
“We should take comfort from the
fact that our country has a functioning
(19-times amended) Constitution,”
Moyo said.
Meanwhile, yesterday’s meetings also discussed Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur
Mutambara’s fate, with Zanu PF insisting to the facilitation
team that the
DPM will remain a Principal in the coalition despite Zuma’s
stance that
Ncube will be recognised as Principal.
Both MDCs
protested this position saying it was not how they understood the
Maputo
Sadc summit position.
The Daily News heard that Tsvangirai’s team
recognised Ncube as the
Principal not Mutambara.
The meeting also
resolved that Sadc officials seconded to join the Joint
Monitoring and
Implementation Committee must be formally introduced to the
parties and have
their terms of reference outlined.
Zanu PF insists the Sadc team —
including Ambassador David Katye (Tanzania)
and Colly Muunyu (Zambia) —
which was supposed to play a watchdog role for
the regional bloc, be
relegated to being a mere facilitation team.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
29/08/2012 00:00:00
by Brian
Paradza
MDC legal affairs secretary David Coltart has
accused Zanu PF of
deliberately throwing the constitutional reform process
into confusion in a
bid to ensure the country reverts to the independence
constitution which
gives sweeping powers to the President.
Speaking
to reporters in Harare Wednesday, Coltart, who is also Education
Minister,
said disagreements over the recently completed draft new charter
effectively
render a complete waste millions of dollars spent on the process
as well as
three years of painstaking work by the coalition parties.
“After this
painstaking and expensive process which took us three years … it
is most
unfortunate that Zanu PF now wants to reopen the process, especially
in
light of the fact that, at every point in the negotiation process, Zanu
PF
negotiators along with ours referred the points to the principals,”
Coltart
said.
Zanu PF has proposed a number of changes to the draft and, among
other
things, thrown out a provision for presidential running mates in
elections.
The party also wants the death penalty upheld and opposes
introduction of
dual citizenship and homosexual rights.
The MDCs
rejected the proposals and declared a deadlock. They accused Zanu
PF of
trying to unilaterally re-write the draft and going back on positions
agreed
during negotiations between the parties.
The MDC-T party claimed Zanu PF
had made “a total of 266 changes to the
Copac draft”
“This is a total
rejection of the negotiated draft. It is a whole re-written
document with
all proposals we agreed on thrown out of the window. So it is
a futile
exercise to re-open negotiations,” party leader Morgan Tsvangirai
said.
Coltart said Zanu PF wants to revert to the Lancaster House
constitution
which gives sweeping powers to the presidency. The draft
charter had
significantly cut back the President’s powers, ensuring he would
exercise
executive authority together with the cabinet.
But Zanu PF
spokesman Rugare Gumbo insisted that Zanu PF was committed to a
new
constitution and dismissed allegations the party had re-written the
draft.
“We want the hard work that was expressed in the
Constitution-making process
to be fulfilled (and claims that we re-wrote the
draft are) far from the
truth,” he said.
“The truth is that all the
three parties to the GPA were given the draft to
scrutinise and give their
comments.”
Zanu PF wants coalition principals to discuss and reach a
consensus over its
proposals but Coltart said re-opening negotiations would
only complicate the
process further.
“To go back and start the
process opens a Pandora’s Box because there are
many aspects of the draft
constitution agreed by COPAC which we (MDC) do not
like as well and if we
take them up we all go back to square one,” he said.
http://www.voanews.com
Sebastian Mhofu
August
30, 2012
HARARE — A court in Zimbabwe has a granted President Robert
Mugabe's request
to extend a deadline to call for elections to fill nearly
200 parliamentary
and municipal seats. Earlier this week, Mugabe asked the
court for more
time to generate the money needed to run the
vote.
Mugabe was given until the first of October to organize the
by-election by
High Court Judge Justice George Chiweshe.
Advocate Ray
Goba, who represented the president, leader of the ZANU-PF
party, explained
why his client cannot call for elections immediately as
ordered by the
court.
“Why is the president seeking an extension? Well, the applicant
is desirous
to comply with the order," Goba said. "Conducting 28
parliamentary and 164
local authority by-elections is tantamount is to
holding a mini-general
election. To conduct such by-election, [the]
government would require to
mobilize huge financial resources and to consult
wildly over the matter.”
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai of the Movement for
Democratic Change party, who formed a fragile
power sharing government with
Mugabe in 2009, told journalists that the
president would not call for an
election since there were some
“administrative” issues to be dealt with.
Now that he has more time,
Mugabe is expected to call for the “mini-general
election” as ordered by the
court.
The seats that have to be filled became vacant for reasons ranging
from
deaths to expulsions of the incumbents.
Zimbabwe is due to have
general elections sometime next year, once ZANU-PF
and the MDC sort out
differences over a new constitution. Mr. Tsvangirai
and the MDC have said
the elections can not take place until the new
constitution has been
adopted, in order to ensure free and fair elections.
Zimbabwe's last
elections in 2008 were deeply marred by violence, most of it
by ZANU-PF
supporters against perceived supporters of the MDC.
http://www.radiovop.com
By Professor Matodzi Harare, August 30,
2012 - Zimbabwe's national blood
bank, the National Blood Service Zimbabwe
(NBSZ),is bankrupt following
government's failure to pay for blood supplies,
a situation that has caused
payment of salaries to its staff
members.
“This memo serves to inform you to expect salary delays this month.
The
service is experiencing cash flow challenges due to delayed payments by
government hospitals," read part of the memorandum written to employees
which Radio VOP is in possession of.
The NBSZ has also failed to hold
its Annual General Meeting, which is
usually held at the end of
June.
In a memorandum to its blood donor members, NBSZ chairperson George
Smith
said the crucial meeting to review the organisation’s operations had
been
postponed because some key documents needed for use at the AGM had not
been
finalised on time.
Last year, NBSZ was left with egg on its face
after a former senior NBSZ
worker alleged that the national blood bank could
have jeopardized people’s
lives by administering tainted blood, a charge
which NBSZ disputed while it
launched investigations into Emmanuel
Masvikeni, the former employee’s
claims.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
30 August
2012
Zimbabwe’s medal hopes in the 2012 Olympic season have now turned to
the
country’s paralympic team, who were welcomed in London this
week.
The official opening of the Paralympic Games on Wednesday night saw
Team
Zimbabwe join other nations bearing their country’s flag around the
impressive Olympic Stadium in South London.
Zimbabwe’s 12 member
paralympic delegation includes the two athletes
representing their country,
Elliot Mujaji and Nyasha Mharakurwa. The two
sportsmen will participate in
the 100m sprint and wheelchair tennis events
respectively.
This is
the first time Zimbabwe is taking place in the Paralympic wheelchair
tennis.
Mharakurwa will be playing in the singles division of the Men’s
tennis from
this Saturday 01 September.
For Mujaji this will be the last time he
represents Zimbabwe as a sprinter,
with plans to retire from sports at the
end of the London games, which come
to an end on 09 September. He will be
running the 100m next Thursday.
Zimbabwe’s delegation includes the
country’s Chef de Mission Lewis Garaba,
the athlete’s coach Amon Cuthbert
Nyaundi, their team physician Dr. G
Dvairo, and Obedia Moyo from the Sports
and recreation Commission.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Thursday, 30 August 2012 16:05
HARARE - The
Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) yesterday blasted
President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s “inclusive”
government for
worsening the plight of students.
Scores of students from poor families
relying on state support have been
forced out of universities because the
government continues defaulting on
payments under the cadetship
scheme.
Zinasu president Pride Mkono denounced the government as “one of
the most
irresponsible administrations in the world” whose priorities were
misplaced.
The fiery student president said it was shocking that
government failed to
pay fees for tertiary education students at a time it
was acquiring top of
the range vehicles for ministers, jet-setting with
monolithic delegations
and paying hefty backdated allowances to
parliamentarians.
“This move by the government can be likened to a father
who buys expensive
cars for himself and makes many costly foreign trips but
fails to pay school
fees for his children,” Mkono said.
Tertiary
institutions across the country have been turning away students on
the
cadetship scheme, a government grant that pays for three quarters of
college
and university fees.
Finance minister Tendai Biti this week warned
universities against chucking
out students from classes.
Students on
the cadetship scheme at the University of Zimbabwe, for
instance, have been
turned away with authorities saying they will only be
allowed back if
government pays up.
The ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education claims
this whole fiasco is
taking place because Biti is not releasing money on
time, an allegation the
Finance minister strenuously rejected.
Mkono
said the squabbling between ministries over the cadetship funds was an
example of how the fragile coalition government had become
dysfunctional.
“Zinasu demands that money be availed to sustain the
cadetship scheme for
the remainder of this year with immediate effect and
that the ministries of
Finance and Higher and Tertiary Education issue out
official ministerial
directives commanding tertiary institutions not to turn
away students until
the government is able to pay up. As for next year,
students expect the
government to provide grants and
loans.”
Government will need over $100million for implementation of the
grant and
loan scheme.
In the 2011 and 2012 budgets, the finance
minister allocated money for
grants and loans but they never released the
actual cash.
“Zinasu is warning the government in general and the
ministries of finance
and higher and tertiary education in particular that
this time around
students will not be taken for a ride,” Mkono
said.
“If the government fails to provide grants and loans in 2013,
students will
be left with no choice but to take to the streets.”
http://www.mdc.co.zw
Thursday, 30
August 2012
A thatched hut belonging to Tongai Gava, the MDC district
committee member
was early this month razed to the ground by Zanu PF
supporters in Ward 15,
Chezhara Village in Masvingo Central.
The Zanu
PF arsonists were led by Jemitias Gava. No arrests have been made
although
Gava has made a report to the police and the Joint Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (Jomic).
Narrating the ordeal, Tongai Gava
said on 13 August this year, a group of
villagers in the area were
discussing the political developments taking
place in the country. Tongai
Gava pointed out to the group that the people’s
living standards had
improved significantly since the MDC formed the
inclusive
government.
He pointed out the availability of food in the shops, that
clinics,
hospitals and schools had reopened and that when the MDC forms the
government next year after winning the elections, there would be great
improvement in the country. The statements angered the Zanu PF supporters
gathered and they walked away.
However, on the same night, Gava heard
some noise outside his bedroom and
when he went out to investigate and he
saw his thatched kitchen was on fire.
Gava managed to positively identify
Jemitias among the fleeing Zanu PF
arsonists.
Gava lost most of the
kitchen utensils, clothes and uniforms of his
children. No one was
injured.
MDC @ 13 – The Last Mile towards Real Transformation!!!
http://www.mdc.co.zw
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
Thursday, 30 August 2012 15:16
HARARE - MPs in
impoverished Zimbabwe are set for another windfall, just
under a year before
completing a five-year term full of demands for lavish
living.
The
Constitution Select Committee (Copac) has recommended that
parliamentarians
get $10 000 each for the damage to their cars during
public hearings to
gather views on the drafting of a new constitution.
Copac is a special
parliamentary body formed to drive the
constitution-making
process.
The draft constitution was stalled because the MPs’ political
parties cannot
agree on its contents.
But at least they agree on
something — the need to milk as much money from
the process, if the latest
action is anything to go by.
In a report prepared by Copac’s legal
committe chairperson, Hwange Central
constituency MP Brian Tshuma,
legislators should be paid without fail.
Tshuma is from Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party.
Even more scandalous is the committee’s
recommendation that even MPs who did
not use their own cars be paid as if
they used personal vehicles.
“Specifically, vehicles belonging to some
parliamentarians were involved in
some accidents while others had used
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe vehicles.
“In respect of Members of Parliament
whose vehicles were involved in
accidents, the committee recommended that
they should be paid the maximum
value of $10 000 in full and final
settlement of the claim.
“In respect of Members of Parliament who used
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
vehicles, the committee recommended that they be
paid as if they were using
their own vehicles,” the report
noted.
According to documents in our possession, Copac met on July 18 and
recommended that the MPs be paid.
The meeting was chaired by Paul
Mangwana (Zanu PF) and the MDC Copac
co-chairpersons Douglas Mwonzora and
Edward Mkhosi and attended by more than
a dozen other legislators and
members of the Copac secretariat.
Mangwana confirmed the
development.
He said the MPs had not been paid money for vehicles used
for Copac
business.
“We had no money to pay them and Copac has to
find the money to pay them,”
said Mangwana.
“Copac had hired cars for
the outreach programme and most of the vehicles
from the MPs were damaged
and we must compensate them for wear and tear.
This is going to apply to all
the vehicles hired by Copac, including from
private individuals and
organisations,” said Mangwana.
“It is an administrative issue as the
outreach programme happened two years
ago. I do not remember us paying the
MPs the money for using their vehicles
because we had no money and we have
find it to compensate them,” said
Mangwana.
From June to October 2010
Copac embarked on an outreach consultative
programme to collect peoples’
views.
It used to provide fuel to the hired vehicles used during the
programme.
http://www.voazimbabwe.com
Tatenda
Gumbo
29.08.2012
Government officials shaved off nearly $3 million in
foreign travel costs in
June after heeding calls by Finance Minister Tendai
Biti to stop the
expensive and unproductive trips.
According to the
latest state expenditure reports issued by the Comptroller
and Auditor
General, government travel in the second quarter amounted to $10
million.
The government had set aside $12 .6 million for foreign
trips during this
period.
President Mugabe, who is currently in Iran
attending the Non-Aligned
Movement summit, normally travels with an
entourage exceeding 80 people per
trip.
In his midterm budget review
two months ago, Biti said he was concerned
about foreign trips by President
Robert Mugabe and senior government
officials which were draining the
national fiscus.
Biti noted that from January to September last year,
$45.5 million was spent
on foreign travel while the nation was failing to
cater for the needs of
struggling Zimbabweans.
The country is
currently failing to embark on various programs due to the
tight fiscal
space and drying revenues from Marange field, Manicaland
Province.
Diamond revenues were expected this year to boost
Zimbabwe's coffers by
almost $600 million but so far the government has
received less than $50
million in taxes and royalties from companies mining
the gems in Marange.
South African-based independent economist Walter
Mbongolwane told VOA
government expenditure remains high despite the token
cuts in foreign travel
expenses.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) formation has released the
names of 12 councillors who were sacked by
the party this week for allegedly
engaging in corrupt activities.
They include Harare deputy mayor Emmanuel
Chiroto and his colleagues - Peter
Marange of ward 42, Phumulani Musagwiza
(22) and Xavier Vengesai (28).
Others are Gweru councillors Tedius
Chimombe (9), Clemence Kwaru (17) and
Holly Dzuda (2), Ivory Matanhire (4)
of Bindura and his associates Vengai
Mudadi (8) and Rickson Kaseke
(11).
The MDC also dismissed Alois Zhou of Zvishavane and Kwekwe ward 11
councillor Johannes Ngodzo.
The MDC's national executive last Friday
received a report from its deputy
secretary general Tapuwa Mashakada who
chaired a commission of inquiry, set
up in March this year, on the
operations of party's 10 councils.
The party leadership unanimously
resolved to dismiss the councillors after
they were implicated in shady
deals including the illegal selling of urban
stands.
"What has
happened in Harare, Gwweru, Bindura, Kwekwe and Zvishavane is part
of the
MDC's broad anti-corruption campaign within and outside the party,"
read
part of the statement released Wednesday evening.
http://www.iol.co.za
August 30 2012 at 06:42pm
By
SAPA
Harare, Zimbabwe - An independent research group says
Zimbabwe's capital is
the world's fourth-worst city to live in, based on
daily hardships and
political risk. Cities in war zones are excluded from
the “livability”
index.
The British-based Economist Intelligence Unit
put Harare 137th out of 140
cities surveyed and gave it a 39.4 rating on a
scale to 100 for ideal urban
conditions. In its report available Thursday,
Harare ranked marginally
better than Lagos in Nigeria, Port Moresby in Papua
New Guinea and Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
In cities with a score of 50 or
less “most aspects of living are severely
restricted,” it said. The study
aims to help businesses calculate hardship
allowances for executives and
employees.
The group said Harare rates poorly in health care, general
infrastructure
and prospects for political instability. - Sapa-AP
http://www.zimdaily.com
By TAWANA MAGUJI
Published: 30 August
2012
ZIMBABWE – HARARE – Tollgate fees are likely to increase after
the
construction of new state-of-the-art toll plazas on the country’s
highways
that has started with a pilot project along the BulawayoHarare
highway.
Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) spokesperson Mr
Augustine
Moyo yesterday said the new fees would be in line with the
improved
conditions at the toll plazas.
“The US$1 charged on small
vehicles will be subeconomic and we are likely to
increase the current
fees,” he said.
The new tollgates, which feature modern security systems,
will first be
erected along the PlumtreeMutare Road at a minimum cost of
US$1 million
each.
The first tollgate is expected to be completed by end
of the year, while the
expansion projects should be done within three
years.
The first tollgate is at the 17 kilometre peg along the BulawayoHarare
highway. “The first tollgate in the Infralink project between Zinara and
Group Five is moving in a positive direction,” said Mr Moyo.
“We are at
20 percent of the progress on the whole singular project. We
expect the
project to be completed and fully functional by December 31. From
there, we
will kick start other projects until we reach Mutare.”
Group Five is the main
contractor, which subcontracted to JR Goddard.
JR Goddard then subcontracted
local Bulawayo companies that will do the
brickwork and electrification of
the new toll plazas.
Mr Moyo said the toll plazas would have four ways, with
passenger vehicles
and heavy trucks using separate routes.
“The
toll plazas will be found on the Infralink project which will stretch
from
Plumtree to Mutare and there will be nine toll plazas in total on the
route,” said Mr Moyo.
“The new toll plazas will comprise high security
features which will curb
leakages of revenue we have been losing at the
current tollgates.” Mr Moyo
said next to the toll plazas would be control
booths which would supply
backup facilities at all times.
“Impact
attenuators and concrete barriers at the toll plazas will ensure
more safety
to cashiers from motorists. Detours for abnormal trucks will
have tarmac
surfaces as compared to the current set up,” he said.
“Traffic lights will be
fitted on the new toll plazas and they will control
traffic at any given
time of the day. Given there is congestion in a
specific direction, one
passage will be opened to enable motorists to
proceed without delays.”
Mr
Moyo said Zinara would retain 13 percent of the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority
workers at the tollgates.
“Government vehicles will not pay, but we have been
encountering problems
where most government vehicles now have yellow number
plates,” he said.
“When such a situation arises, proper identification
particulars will be
produced which will do away with the abuse of exemptions
that were being
done by some members of society.”
Mr Moyo said Zinara
would roll out exemption tickets to certain sectors and
offer credits to
senior government offices.
The new tollgates will replace those in existence
that have been condemned
by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and
Infrastructure as
substandard.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
The University of Zimbabwe has postponed its first
semester to September 10
because of severe water
shortages.
29.08.12
01:03pm
UZ Director of Information and
Public Relations, Dennis Rwafa, said efforts
were being made to ensure
adequate water supplies would be available by next
month. The perennial
water shortages also affected the graduation ceremony
which was supposed to
be held last Friday.
Harare City Council spokesperson, Leslie Gwindi,
told The Zimbabwean that
the council had pumped 2,5 million litres of water
to UZ.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Hopes that the agricultural industry is on
the rebound were dashed at the
recent Harare Agricultural Show, where
exhibitors reported very little
demand for machinery and implements. Save
for a few companies like the
Zimbabwe National Road Authority, who were
happy for they had seized the
opportunity to defend their licensing regime,
most exhibitors said they had
incurred losses during the
show.
29.08.12
12:23pm
“We brought many boom sprayers,
tractors, combine harvesters, caterpillars
and graders from our workshop
expecting brisk business. But only one tractor
and one boom sprayer were
bought in the whole week. We lost a lot on fuel,”
said a disgruntled
marketer from a local farm machinery supply companies.
“The government
was our biggest customer during (Reserve Bank governor) Gono’s
farm
mechanisation drive. Our parent company is in Asia and we set up base
here
in anticipation of brisk business in the agricultural revolutionary era
that
Gono and his paymasters talked about. We have realised we made a wrong
move,” added the exhibitor, who declined to be named.
Even small
agricultural implements like knap-sack sprayers had no takers
this year. “We
see no use in buying knap-sack sprayers for resale in Gokwe
as we used to do
in the past because cotton fetched prices very low prices
and we cannot
recover our initial investment,” said Revayi Masuka from
Gokwe.
Despite the rampant power outages companies selling solar
panels and
generators also said they had very low business this
year.
“While others blamed the poor timing of the show as the cause for
the low
business activity, we believe there was much publicity prior to the
show for
people to plan in advance. Yes, most people might not have accessed
their
salaries by that time but business was very good in the past,” said a
dealer
in generators based in Msasa.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Staff Reporter 19 hours 34
minutes ago
Victoria Falls - Zimbabwean coalition government
Finance Minister Tendai
Biti says the economy requires extensive structural
reforms to remove
bottlenecks that recently forced him to cut the 2012
growth forecasts.
Addressing delegates at a high-level economic forum here
yesterday, Minister
Biti said the forum sought new ideas to bring back
growth to levels achieved
three years ago.
“Apparent structural
challenges are arresting economic growth and only a mad
person can continue
doing the same things over and over again,” he said.
“We need to take a step
back and refocus . . . and) I hope by the end of the
forum we will be able
to come up with a list of things we will be able to do
about the economy and
at least four scenarios (to build the economy).”
He said the findings from
the ongoing economic discussions would be
presented to principals in the
inclusive Government, the Cabinet and
Parliament.
The findings would also
guide the formulation of the 2013 National Budget
Statement.
Minister
Biti was forced to revise this year’s growth forecast from 9,4
percent to
5,6 percent due to underperformance in key sectors such as
agriculture as
well as poor revenue inflows.
The budget was also reduced from US$4 billion
to US$3,4 billion.
Structural challenges cited as stalling economic growth
include the US$10,4
billion national debt overhang, cyclical politics, a
dual enclave economy
(urban and rural extremes) and low gross capital
formation.
There is also poor infrastructure, outdated accumulation models
based on
resource extraction, lack of competitiveness, lack of a common
vision, lack
of regional integration and the breakdown in the social
contract, critical
for peace and stability.
Minister Biti said there was
need to address these structural challenges to
spur economic growth and
development, as the majority of Zimbabweans
remained trapped in
poverty.
Zimbabwe has a per capita income of about US$320 against the US$600
considered globally to be above the poverty levels.
At 5 percent to 5,4
percent growth rates the country needs 15 years to break
the poverty chain,
but could breach the streak by 2019, if it registered
consistent annual
growth of 15 percent.
Citing the levels of poverty brought about by
structural constraints, such
as high levels of poverty, the minister pointed
out that 37 percent of the
population had no clean water supply, 45 percent
have no access to ablution
facilities while less than 50 percent had access
to electricity supply.
But he said the country could rebuild on its educated
and skilled human
resources, good climate for agriculture, productive land,
strategic
geographical location in Sadc, a fairly young population and huge
appetite
for ICTs.
Officially opening the forum, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said the
country’s growth potential was on a leash due to policy
inconsistencies,
unpredictability, mixed messages and political
discord.
This, he said, was despite the business confidence that ensured
formation of
the inclusive Government in 2008.
“Our potential is on a
leash,” he said. “But over the past three and half
years I have attended
several conferences in and outside Zimbabwe and was
heartened by renewed
business confidence in the country.
“A lot of foreign investors are keen to
explore (business and economic)
opportunities in our country.”
Professor
David Hulme of Manchester University told the forum that Zimbabwe
had
recorded one of the biggest declines in human and economic development
across the globe.
This was based on an evaluation of all countries,
except those in war
situations.
He said the country needed to adopt
strategies and policies that ensured
sustainable and cross segment economic
growth.
Factors that determined growth or failure included the geographical
location
of a country, the culture of its people, ignorance of critical
needs and
nature of key institutions.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
MDC-T Mashonaland Central Provincial Chairperson,
Godfrey Chimombe, has
claimed that police offered him money for information
on the death former
army general, Solomon
Mujuru.
29.08.12
01:09pm
Mujuru died in a mysterious fire at
his Beatrice farm in August last year.
An inquest failed to come up with a
conclusive explanation regarding the
fire.
President Robert Mugabe
has also cast doubt over assertions Mujuru died in a
fire, while the late
general’s family has called for a private investigation
into the
case.
Chimombe was arrested two weeks ago for allegedly claiming that
Vice
President Joice Mujuru was responsible for her husband’s death. He is
denying the charge. In an interview with The Zimbabwean, Chimombe claimed
that after his arrest at Bindura Police Station, he was interrogated for six
hours.
“I was locked up in a room where seven police detectives
interrogated me on
my life history. They asked me why I joined the MDC and
belittled the person
and office of the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
When they realised I was
not playing ball, they offered me $15 000 for
information on who killed
General Mujuru.
“The police accused me and
the whole of the MDC leadership, including the
PM, of having little respect
for Mujuru,” Chimombe said.
No comment could be obtained as the police
provincial spokesperson, Memory
Pamire, said she was on leave.
The
Shamva North legislator is now out on $200 bail and has been ordered to
report to Madziwa Police Station every Friday. “It is a cooked up story,”
said Chimombe, adding that his arrest was part of continued harassment by
state security agents bent on frustrating the MDC.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Clemence Manyukwe, 6
hours ago
BUSINESSMAN Billy Rautenbach’s intricate
political connections with
high-ranking government officials, including
ministers have been exposed
following his fall-out with a former associate,
Temba Mliswa over million
dollar platinum and ethanol deals.
This week,
The Financial Gazette lifts the lid on how political doors were
opened for
Rautenbach after he hired fellow businessman and politician,
Mliswa, as a
consultant and, as the latter claims, when the millionaire was
a persona non
grata following his troubles in South Africa and the
Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC).
Rautenbach ran into troubles in the DRC where he had mining
deals. He also
faced allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption among
others in South
Africa, leading to the raiding of his home and office in the
neighbouring
country.
He entered a plea bargain with South African
authorities, but during the
time of those upheavals Rautenbach turned his
eyes back home for possible
investments.
Mliswa has now spoken for the
first time on how he was engaged to link
Rautenbach with high-ranking
government ministers to facilitate his
investments, but the latter is now
said to be backtracking from his promises
to hand some shares to the
politician as previously agreed.
In an exclusive interview, Mliswa said for
rendering the services, he was
paid US$10 000 per month, on top of other
benefits such as an allocation for
fuel.
Rautenbach, who shares a place
on the European Union and United States
sanctions list with ZANU-PF members,
was accused by Western countries of
bankrolling President Robert Mugabe’s
government before the formation of the
inclusive government in 2009, an
allegation that is yet to be
confirmed.
He has also been accused of
providing the finances in exchange for lucrative
but questionable mining and
agricultural deals.
Rautenbach, now stands accused of double dealing and not
honouring some of
the deals reached with politicians.
Mliswa painted a
picture of Rautenbach as a businessman who was now failing
to honour a
“gentleman’s agreement” that he would get 10 percent
shareholding in the
ethanol project at Chisumbanje and another 10 percent
interest in a platinum
deal.
Mliswa, who was ZANU-PF’s Hurungwe District Coordinating Committee
chairperson before the organ was disbanded recently, said he worked as a
consultant for Rautenbach and took him from “minister to minister” and doors
were opened for him in the process.
He added that when it came to the
Chisumbanje project, there was opposition
to the deal, but it only went
through because he was roped in as part of an
indigenisation drive, but the
millionaire was now backtracking on his word
made even before some
ministers.
Mliswa’s lawyers recently wrote to Rautenbach enquiring about
their client’s
promised shareholding and threatening to go to court, but the
latter opted
for an out of court settlement that has remained
elusive.
The former fitness trainer said he went with Rautenbach for the
first time
to Chisumbanje together with Agricultural Rural Development
Authority (ARDA)
chairperson, Basil Nyabadza in the businessman’s aircraft
in which he was
the pilot after having just acquired a flying
license.
“Billy approached me to help him with several things, amongst them
to get
his farm back because it had been allocated to Gerald Mlotshwa (a
Harare
lawyer). He also wanted to start the mining of coke in Hwange. He
wanted to
be given a concession for a thermal power station which he was
going to
build in partnership with ZESA. He also wanted platinum
concessions,” said
Mliswa.
For the Hwange deal, Mliswa received a
percentage of the coking coal mined.
There was also an understanding of the
10 percent shareholding apiece in the
platinum and ethanol projects that
were not honoured.
Regarding the ethanol project, Mliswa said he convinced
former agriculture
minister Rugare Gumbo to accept their proposals as the
ZANU-PF senior member
was initially reluctant to have them on board. Mliswa
said he had worked for
everything that Rautenbach was now withholding from
him, including reversing
the compulsory acquisition of the businessman’s
farm by the government.
“This (ethanol) thing won’t take off before my spirit
rests. My tears are
dropping. I was warned before of the sort of person
Billy is. One Indian
once told me; ‘never open the door for Billy, show him
the door, only open
when he has paid you,” said Mliswa.
“Billy has a way
to get to politicians. I watch with disgust how other
people are taking this
project as a project they pioneered at the expense of
people like myself.
They are so compromised that they cannot give to Caesar
what belongs to
Caesar.” He added:
“I am not suffering. I am not desperate, but I am saying
this because I must
warn other people so that they do not fall in the same
trap.”
Contacted for comment, Nyabadza said he was not aware of the
relationship
between Mliswa and Rautenbach or any share agreements, but
recalls that they
undertook the visit to the estates together.
“Yes I
travelled with Mliswa and Rautenbach. They jointly made a request for
me to
visit. I had not met Mr. Rautenbach before and I did not know the
extent of
their relationship,” said Nyabadza.
Gumbo said he could not recollect all the
details from the time when he was
the minister of agriculture
“I don’t
remember now,” he said.
Rautenbach did not immediately respond to questions
sent to him. - The
Financial Gazette