FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
Gula-Ndebele seeks court order against cops
BATTLE lines have
been drawn between Attorney General (AG) Sobusa
Gula-Ndebele and the police
with the top government law officer seeking a
court order to bar what he
calls “unprofessional fingers” from hounding him
out of
office.
Gula-Ndebele is seeking an order barring the police from
interfering with
his work after they threatened to arrest him again if he
becomes involved in
the case of former NMBZ deputy chief executive James
Mushore.
Mushore and three other former NMBZ directors fled to Britain in
2004 when
the net started closing in on them. He was arrested in October
after
slipping into the country and is currently on bail on allegations of
violating exchange control regulations and the Immigration Act.
The
Financial Gazette has established that law officers in the Civil
Division of
the AG’s office have declined to represent the police in the
matter likely
to be heard in court early next year.
As a result of the snub, the police
have been obliged to engage a lawyer in
private practice, Aston Musunga of
Musunga and Associates.
Gula-Ndebele was arrested at the beginning of last
month on allegations that
he abused his authority by meeting Mushore at a
restaurant and assuring him
he would not be prosecuted.
Now, a police
directive that Gula-Ndebele should keep his hands off the
Mushore case or
face arrest again has drawn a sharp response from the A-G.
In court papers,
the AG complains of harassment at the hands of the police,
and says their
actions represent an attack against the rule of law.
Consequently, he says,
he would not allow “unprofessional fingers to run my
office”.
In his
application, he cites, among others, Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri,
the Officer Commanding Criminal Investigations Department (CID)
Serious
Fraud Squad, Simon Nyathi, and his deputy, Assistant Commissioner
Alison
Nyamupaguma, as well as the officer commanding the squad’s “Team 3“,
Superintendent Edward Marodza.
The Financial Gazette has seen an
affidavit submitted by Gula-Ndebele, which
gives full insight for the first
time into events surrounding his
controversial arrest. He narrates how his
problems began between October 22
and November 1 while he was away on
business in France.
Upon his return on November 2, Gula-Ndebele was briefed
on cases that his
office had handled in his absence, including
Mushore’s.
Although prosecutors had opposed the banker’s application for
bail,
Gula-Ndebele directed them to research on whether the charges Mushore
faced
would result in the imposition of a custodial sentence.
They
established that if Mushore repatriated the funds he was accused of
externalising, he would not be jailed. Gula-Ndebele then instructed his
subordinates to negotiate stringent bail conditions with Mushore’s
lawyers.
“I then left for Bulawayo. While on my way to Bulawayo, late
afternoon on 2
November 2007, I received a telephone call from my office
number from the
fourth respondent, (deputy Assistant Commissioner
Nyamupaguma), who said he
was at my office and wanted to serve me with a
ministerial certificate
directing or preventing my office from consenting to
bail in the James
Mushore matter,” Gula-Ndebele says.
“I advised the 4th
respondent that while I was not aware of any provision in
the law, which
permitted the Minister of Home Affairs (Kembo Mohadi) to bar
the AG from
consenting to bail, he should nonetheless deal with the director
of Public
Prosecutions over the matter and the certificate.”
The AG says on November 6,
he was summoned to CID headquarters in Harare,
where police accused him of
having abused his office by meeting and giving
private assurances to
Mushore, even though he was aware a magistrate had
issued a warrant of
arrest against the banker. A statement was recorded at
the police
station.
Gula-Ndebele acknowledges he met Mushore at a restaurant during
lunch, but
says this was purely “by chance” and the meeting did not last
more than a
minute. He denies giving Mushore any form of
assurance.
Gula-Ndebele says the police allegations are a form of harassment
and
interference with his constitutional duties. He says the police moves
would
result in the justice system being engulfed in chaos and
anarchy.
“I am the Attorney General of Zimbabwe. I have not resigned, nor
have I been
removed from office. I am obliged to discharge my constitutional
duties
independently. I will not accept a situation where unprofessional
fingers
run my office, for this has the effect of undermining the rule of
law in the
country,” he says.
“The duty to prosecute all criminal matters
is vested in the Attorney
General by section 76 (4) and (5) of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe. As long
as I am the Attorney General of Zimbabwe,
the respondents cannot direct me
on the exercise of my
functions.”
Chihuri has since filed papers opposing the AG’s application. The
police
chief alleges that when the AG met Mushore, he was not acting in the
course
of his duties.
He argues Gula-Ndebele “was advancing his own
personal interests” which
would have a negative bearing on the
administration of justice.
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi supports Chihuri’s
claims, arguing that while
he appreciates that the AG enjoys some rights in
terms of the Constitution,
Gula-Ndebele is not above the law and, therefore
criminal investigations
against him must not be viewed as interference with
his work.
“The charges being levelled against the applicant actually arise
from his
failure to report accused’s presence when he met with him at some
private
restaurant where he promised him that he would not be prosecuted. At
all
material times, he was fully aware that Mushore was under a warrant of
apprehension issued by the magistrate’s court and a fugitive from justice
who had left the country through an undesignated point of exit,” Nyathi says
in supporting papers.
However, in his recorded police statement,
Gula-Ndebele says although he was
aware that Mushore and other NMBZ
directors were under police investigation,
he was unaware police were
looking for him or that there was a warrant out
for his arrest.
The AG
says when he saw Mushore, the banker “expressed some sentiment
relating to
his investigation and I remember simply saying to him that
whatever it was
it could not be anything that would warrant him not being at
home.”
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube
Political Editor
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has conceded that many of the
companies his
government frequently accuses of using price increases to whip
up public
anger against his rule are in fact owned by figures in his own
party, as a
report by his central committee showed ZANU PF remains in denial
over the
state of the economy and has little in the way of immediate
solutions.
In a combative speech designed to set a defiant tone for his
party’s
extraordinary congress, President Mugabe said yesterday he was
saddened that
people who have benefited from the system ran most of the
companies he
accuses of sabotage.
“Sadly, most of the businesses are
either owned or fronted by our people –
yes, the same people we assisted,
when yesteryear, they went into business
through various
government-sponsored or initiated schemes designed to
economically empower
them,” he said.
He threatened further action against the business
sector.
“It does not matter what shrill denials there may be, business should
know
that while we accept the need for profitable operations, they must give
due
regard to the well-being of the people,” he said.
A price cut he
ordered in July, which has left stores empty and businesses
on the brink of
collapse, had been necessary to punish businesses he said
were “worshipping
at the altar of stupendous profits to the detriment of the
people.”
He
said ZANU PF was empowering the indigenous population and wants to see
majority black shareholding in mines.
“Our empowered people and
businesses should not now perceive empowerment as
a tool to exploit us. If
you are a professional, you are there to provide
service and not exploit
others.”
President Mugabe said he would send a message to his foreign
detractors with
a massive win.
“Our win should be thunderous, whether it
be local government, parliamentary
or presidential. We should speak one more
time, with our more loud and
unambiguous voice, that Zimbabwe will never be
a colony again,” he said.
While critics say ZANU PF is on its way to an easy
victory at the polls, the
economy presents a massive challenge.
While the
Central Committee report to congress recognises that the economy
is caught
in hyperinflation, ZANU PF once again blames Western sanctions.
“Our greatest
challenge is to reduce inflation, which has been dubbed the
country’s number
one enemy,” the report says. “To win this battle against
inflation,
government is focusing on ensuring optimal agricultural
production given the
fact that food inflation constitutes 30 percent of
Consumer Price
Index.”
Efforts to tame inflation were being supported by “strategies to
eliminate
the thriving parallel market and speculative activities in the
whole
economy”.
According to the report, the country’s hopes of economic
recovery should be
pinned on enhanced agricultural production as “access to
land had
dramatically improved”.
It estimates that more than 140 000 A1
farmers and 15 000 A2 farmers now
hold land. As of November 19 2007, the
report shows, some $17.692 billion
had been disbursed to 20 417
applicants.
On talks with the opposition, the report said a “two-track”
process had been
followed, the first dealing with immediate matters to do
with electoral
laws, and the second to do with a range of other
matters.
“An agenda comprising a broad range of issues was agreed upon. The
procedural modalities agreed upon were that ZANU PF and the MDC negotiating
teams would meet alone and only seek the South African team to report on
progress. The ZANU PF and MDC negotiating teams met nine times with the
South Africa facilitation team and 11 times without. Of the nine times that
the teams met with the South African facilitation team, one was a separate
meeting with the ZANU PF team while the other was a separate one with the
MDC team.”
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
THERE is renewed discussion about the formation of a coalition
of opposition
parties to face ZANU PF in elections next year, officials from
both factions
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said this
week.
But insiders said a deal remained as difficult to achieve as it was
the
first time the two sides tried to join forces.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s
faction has raised the possibility of a boycott of
elections next year,
while the Arthur Mutambara group has nominated all its
incumbent Members of
Parliament as candidates for the polls, leaving the
chasm between the two as
wide as before.
However, Tsvangirai told supporters last weekend at rallies
in Matabeleland,
a region where the Mutambara faction dominates, that “this
is not the time
to be selfish,” and that “all democratic forces have to come
together and
rally behind one presidential candidate”.
Tsvangirai said:
“We have to have a mechanism to manage our petty
differences and field one
candidate for every council, senatorial,
parliamentary or mayoral
seat.”
Some diplomats and African officials are also exerting pressure on the
two
sides to go into the elections as a single party.
“The Tsvangirai
faction obviously feels it has stronger support than the
Mutambara faction,
but there is no question they realise how news of a
coalition against ZANU
PF would take the momentum away from the ruling
party,” a source said. “It
would not be a reunification, but just an
agreement to really push
(President) Mugabe.”
The latest talk about a pact comes five months after
talks between the two
factions collapsed, with each side accusing the other
of sabotaging the
negotiations. The two sides had concluded a pact under
which Tsvangirai
would lead the coalition into the polls, with Mutambara as
his deputy.
But emboldened by recording a better performance than the
Mutambara faction
in by-elections, the Tsvangirai faction reportedly
demanded the deputy
president’s post. There was also embarrassing bickering
over which side
would get what cabinet posts in a new government, should
President Robert
Mugabe be defeated. The two sides also disagreed over the
selection of
candidates.
The squabbling was acrimonious, with Mutambara
calling Tsvangirai an
“intellectual midget”. Mutambara had earlier said he
would never stand
against Tsvangirai.
The MDC shocked ZANU PF when it won
almost half of the seats available when
it first contested elections in
2000, while Tsvangirai won 43 percent of the
vote two years later in a
presidential election judged by many international
observers to have been
seriously flawed.
But old differences within the party re-surfaced after
major setbacks in the
2005 general elections, culminating in the MDC
splitting after a quarrel
over whether to participate in senate
elections.
Tsvangirai was accused of overruling a vote by the MDC’s national
executive
on whether to contest the senate elections, and his opponents
sought to have
him suspended for violating the party’s constitution.
High
Court judge Yunus Omerjee dismissed a court application for Tsvangirai’s
suspension.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
A
DIPLOMATIC row has erupted between Zimbabwe and Germany over a blistering
response by Harare to criticism of President Robert Mugabe by German
Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Merkel told the EU-African Union summit at
the weekend that Zimbabwe
“damages the image of the new Africa”. But
Information Minister Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu shot back, being quoted in the Herald
on Monday as calling the German
leader a “racist” and a “fascist”.
Merkel
had “Nazi inclinations”, the paper quoted Ndlovu as saying, and her
remarks
represented “racism of the first order by the German head of state”.
Said
Ndlovu: “She needs to read German history and be oriented.”
In reaction,
Germany on Tuesday summoned Zimbabwe’s envoy to Berlin.
Martin Jaeger,
spokesman for the German government, said Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter
Steinmeier had called the Zimbabwean charge d’affaires in
connection with
Ndlovu’s remarks.
“It was made extremely clear to him that the remarks from
Zimbabwe made
about the Chancellor were in no way acceptable,” he
said.
Jaeger said the charge d’affaires had been summoned because Zimbabwe’s
ambassador to Germany, Cuthbert Zhakata, was not in Berlin. Zimbabwean
diplomats are at the ZANU PF congress in Harare this week.
Ndlovu was not
immediately available for comment.
President Mugabe earlier said Merkel had
been put up to it by British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, but Germany
insists that Merkel had spoken on behalf
of the entire EU.
The EU-Africa
summit, the first such summit in seven years, failed to reach
any agreements
between the two sides. There were no agreements on proposed
free trade,
while Africa rejected criticism of its approach to human rights
issues such
as the case of Zimbabwe.
South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki said the spat
over Zimbabwe showed
Europe was ill informed.
“They didn’t understand
what was happening ... so they were being made as
though nothing was
happening...that the Zimbabweans had not understood that
their country faces
a problem and had not responded, ‘you must come and
attack and put pressure’
— there’s no need for any of that,” Mbeki told the
SABC on Monday.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube
Political Editor
THE controversial demarcation of new constituencies by
the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC), which increased the number of seats
in ZANU PF's
rural strongholds and diluted opposition support in urban
bases, will have a
significant bearing on a crucial meeting of the Movement
for Democratic
Change (MDC) this weekend to decide on its participation in
elections next
year.
ZEC, which manages all elections, has announced
the creation of 60 more
constituencies in accordance with provisions of
Constitutional Amendment
Number 18.
The changes bring the total number of
House of Assembly representatives to
210 from the previous 150.
Overall,
the effect of the changes is that 143 of the constituencies will be
in the
rural areas. A large proportion of the remaining 67 will be
peri-urban,
watering down opposition support in the urban areas.
Harare province emerged
with the highest number of seats at 29, closely
followed by the Midlands
province with 28.
Manicaland province is third with 27, Masvingo 26,
Mashonaland East province
23, Mashonaland West 22, Mashonaland Central 18
and Matabeleland North and
South with 13 seats each. Bulawayo has the least
number of constituencies
with 12 seats.
The opposition has called this a
scandal.
"The MDC distances itself from ZANU PF shenanigans and attempts to
rig the
election next year," said Nelson Chamisa, the spokesman for the
Morgan
Tsvangirai faction of the MDC.
"The party will only accept
processes that are a result of collectively
agreed positions in the context
of the ongoing dialogue."
He said the announcement by ZEC that it has
proceeded to delimit
constituencies, despite the ongoing Southern African
Development
Community-brokered talks, was a major scandal that has "shocked
all
Zimbabweans who are determined to have a free and fair poll next
year".
The controversy over boundaries arose as the MDC and ZANU PF completed
a
final round in dialogue mediated by South Africa's Thabo Mbeki. There were
reports this week the two sides had reached a set of agreements, but that
there was deadlock over when these agreements would come into effect.
The
main unresolved dispute is over a new constitution, which the MDC wants
in
place before March. The MDC last week said failure by ZANU PF to deliver
on
this would result in the party boycotting the polls, a development that
would seriously dent the credibility of the election.
The professional
background of ZEC chairperson George Chiweshe has also been
called into
question.
Chiweshe is a former military lawyer, having served in the Zimbabwe
National
Army as a court martial judge.
"ZEC's composition is a scandal.
It is staffed by former military personnel,
ZANU PF functionaries and
individuals whose identities are suspect. ZANU PF
doled out 143
constituencies to rural areas, which are susceptible to
intimidation and
manipulation. The remainder are urban and peri-urban
constituencies," he
said.
Gabriel Chaibva, spokesman for the Arthur Mutambara faction of the MDC,
said
his party was waiting for a ZEC preliminary report on the delimitation
exercise.
"We need to peruse the preliminary report to see if the
exercise is within
the confines of Amendment Number 18," said Chaibva.
He
said under Amendment No 18, only a reconstituted ZEC should engage in a
fresh voter registration and delimitation exercise.
More than five
million people have been registered to vote in next year's
elections.
But
even marginal parties have railed against ZEC.
Paul Siwela, the president of
ZAPU Federal Party, said the composition of
ZEC made the whole delimitation
process suspect.
"The whole process perpetuates ZANU PF rule. We are not at
all happy with
the outcome of the delimitation exercise as the
constituencies were carved
out by a body, which is not independent of ZANU
PF," said Siwela.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Political
Editor
Analysts doubt ZANU PF congress will deliver anything new
PERHAPS
the gods were saying something to the ruling party ahead of its
special
congress, which opened in Harare on Tuesday.
A power cut at ZANU PF
headquarters last Friday caused a delay in the
accreditation of delegates to
the congress, leaving many locked out for
hours on end and causing
chaos.
The blackout showed that even ZANU PF supporters were not spared the
daily
indignities and inconveniences of a crisis their party has spawned.
They had
struggled to get transport to travel to Harare, national chairman
John Nkomo
conceded in not so many words this week.
Another ZANU PF
official bemoaned the fact that the cash shortages could
force some
delegates to cancel the trip to the capital.
It seems realistic for one to
draw from this the faintest hope that these
inconveniences will force ZANU
PF to engage in more meaningful discourse on
the economic crisis, with less
inclination to grandstand about sovereignty
and power.
From all over the
country, delegates came to a once prosperous city now
characterised by empty
supermarkets, without basic commodities and other
goods, six months after
government ordered businesses to slash the prices of
goods and services by
half.
According to the ZANU PF congress agenda, the state of the economy is
one of
the four items the delegates will discuss.
While a feast fit for a
king awaits about 10 000 delegates representing the
country’s 10 political
provinces, to endorse President Robert Mugabe as the
party’s presidential
candidate, it is doubtful the congress can conjure up
magical measures to
rescue the economy, or find the will to even discuss the
level – and
especially the cause – of the crisis.
Analysts said the “special” congress
would be more of a dance and fashion
competition as members fall over each
other to please the party’s top brass.
Jacob Mafume, coordinator of Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition, said the best
thing the majority of impoverished rural
delegates can get out of the
congress is a chance to partake in some of the
foods that are now
inaccessible in their areas, especially meat.
A
leadership responsible for the collapse of an economy once admired in the
whole of southern Africa and much of the Third World will be feted and
flattered with slogans.
“This congress is yet another one of ZANU PF’s
paper excursions meant to
flatter the gullible. It is going to discuss
basically nothing of substance
that will add any value to the economy and
the nation at large. I see it as
an event that will only benefit delegates
by filling their stomachs for a
few days before they return to their
provinces to face reality,” said
Mafume.
Eldred Masunungure, a professor
of political science at the University of
Zimbabwe, said although ZANU PF’s
impoverished supporters feel the impact of
the crisis everyday, even they do
not expect to discuss any meaningful
reforms to rescue the economy.
“It’s
really a bira,” said Masunungure. “I don’t think anything substantive
will
come out of it, considering that all the things they are going to
discuss
are already known; such as the candidate for presidential elections
in 2008,
or the 18th amendment. In fact, it will be an extra-ordinary
congress
without anything extraordinary,” he said.
The ruling party has invited a
number of foreign political parties and
organisations to attend its
congress.
These include South Africa’s African National Congress, Namibia’s
SWAPO,
Angola’s MPLA, Mozambique’s FRELIMO, Zambia’s MMD, and Chama Chama
Mpinduzi,
the ruling party in Tanzania.
All these parties have led their
countries to recovery and growth – only
Zimbabwe is recording negative
economic growth in the region.
But not even these liberation struggle
comrades, in their socialist-style
“solidarity messages”, would hazard a few
pointers on how to end the ruin.
For its economic policy, ZANU PF is more
likely to look to spirit mediums
than engage in objective discourse on the
subject.
The usual rabble-rousers, the December 12 Movement of the United
States and
the ZANU PF Johannesburg branch, have been invited to the
bountiful feast at
the City Sports Centre.
Previously, sound economic
advice offered by the party’s economic committee,
chaired by economist
Richard Hove, has been discarded outright.
A report by Hove’s committee at
last year’s annual conference was
refreshingly frank, attributing the
economic chaos to price controls and an
unrealistic exchange rate.
“The
(manufacturing) sector experienced viability problems, especially for
companies whose output faced price controls and loss of export
competitiveness on the basis of an overvalued exchange rate,” the report
said.
Is it not ironic that while ZANU PF warned itself against price
controls, it
stepped them up with the compulsory price slashes in June,
leaving the
economy in even deeper peril than it was at the time Hove tabled
the report?
In fact, despite calls for caution, indications are that the
National
Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) fully intends to launch
another blitz
on businesses described by state media as “wayward retailers
who are ever
increasing prices and exporting controlled and monitored
commodities”.
NIPC chairman Godwills Masimirembwa, swathed in a suit on
Sunday afternoon,
spent time at Borrowdale TM Supermarket watching workers
at the store
stacking body lotion onto shelves.
With ZANU PF’s eyes on
the elections early next year, it will stick to its
populist voodoo
economics.
Since Mashonaland West governor Nelson Samkange’s confession to
The
Financial Gazette that party leaders believe in spirit mediums, one
hopes
ZANU PF will read into the power and water cuts that have hit its
Shake-Shake Building headquarters as a sign from the ancestors that they
should put things right.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly pleaded with
Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and
Zambian
Vice President Rupiah Banda to exert pressure on President Robert
Mugabe’s
government.
Brown was also said to be seeking a postponement
of the March election,
although ZANU PF would not want a postponement, as it
would give the split
opposition time to regroup. Sources said Brown held
discussions with the
three leaders on the sidelines of the Commonwealth
Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM) held in Kampala, Uganda, last
month.
According to sources, Brown approached the three leaders in their
respective
capacities of new chairperson of CHOGM, mediator in the Southern
African
Development Community (SADC)-mandated dialogue and SADC
chair.
“He specifically wanted them to prevail upon President Mugabe to
accede to
MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) demands on electoral reforms
and to
postpone the election until June 2008 in order to buy time for the
rival MDC
factions to reunite,” the sources said. Brown’s overtures coincide
with
current signals from various levels of the opposition Morgan
Tsvangirai-led
MDC faction, which seem designed to prepare the electorate
either for a
pullout from the SADC talks or an announcement of the party’s
boycott of the
2008 elections.
The sources said that President Mbeki
reportedly retorted that: “If we go to
President Mugabe with these demands,
he is going to know it is you who is
speaking through us. He will reject
them and this will create difficulties
for me as the mediator in the
dialogue, at a time when significant progress
has been made.” Zambia’s Banda
is said to have flatly rejected Brown’s
request.
The MDC has struggled to
shake off the perception held in the region that it
is supported by the
West.
ZANU PF argues that Constitutional Amendment 18 has created a level
playing
field for elections, but the MDC is pushing for more reforms.
FinGaz
Staff Reporter
IT always gets weird in the run-up to an election,
and this year is no
exception.
Levison Chikafu, the former area
public prosecutor
for Mutare who grabbed headlines for prosecuting Justice
Minister Patrick
Chinamasa, has formed a new political party. He said his
Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP) would contest next year’s
election.
Chikafu has complained of being harassed
after he
dragged Chinamasa before the courts to answer charges of trying to
obstruct
the course of justice. He also sought to bring Security Minister
Didymus
Mutasa to trial for interfering with witnesses during Chinamasa’s
trial.
He riled Mutasa by saying in court the
Minister’s
wings needed to be “clipped to the greatest
extent”.
Chinamasa was later acquitted of charges
that he
interfered with witnesses during the trial of Mutasa’s supporters,
accused
of violence against James Kaunye. Chikafu was charged with
corruption and
thrown into solitary confinement for a week. He blamed his
woes on both
Mutasa and Chinamasa, while others have linked his arrest to
the fight
between Chinamasa and Attorney General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele.
Chikafu has now
been acquitted.
Chikafu, 37, also
vainly tried to have Central
Intelligence Organisation operative Joseph
Mwale prosecuted for his alleged
role in the gruesome murder of two Movement
for Democratic Change activists,
Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya, in
2000.
Weeks after his exoneration, Chikafu has
announced
the formation of a party. “The country cannot afford to have
(President)
Mugabe in office again,” Chikafu vowed. “We have to stop this
man from
continuing to destroy our country.” He gave no details about the
membership
of the new political party.
FinGaz
Dumisani Ndlela Business
Editor
New commercial farmers are making the ASPEF dollar sweat on the
stock
exchange and speculative markets, while the central bank looks to get
food
for the nation
ZIMBABWE'S preparations for a bumper harvest
this year could turn out into
another disaster, with indications that the
majority of the country's new
commercial farmers were not on the land
despite taking up cheap loans under
the central bank's concessional
financing facility.
Farming sector players said vast tracts of land across
the country remained
unprepared, despite a significant rainfall across the
country and forecasts
of favourable rainfall during the current farming
season.
Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi, recently unveiled a $7
quadrillion
budget whose performance he said hinged on a successful farming
season,
projecting gross domestic product growth of four percent "due to
anticipated
growth in the agricultural sector".
Tobacco, horticulture,
groundnuts, soya beans, sunflower and tea would
contribute to this year's
positive agricultural performance.
"Government interventions for the coming
season should see farmers benefit
from improved access to a wide range of
farm machinery and equipment and
such inputs as fertilisers, seeds and
chemicals, now in place for the
2007/2008 farming season," Mumbengegwi
said.
The central bank has unveiled a number of measures, which include cheap
financing through the Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility
(ASPEF), and payments in foreign currency for maize and other key
commodities, to boost agricultural performance this year.
Banking on
forecasts of a favourable rainy season, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor
Gideon Gono, who has complemented the financial packages with the
distribution of high tech farming machinery and implements, has dubbed the
current farming season the “mother of all agricultural seasons”.
Gono has
financed the procurement of 2 500 tractors, over 70 combine
harvesters, and
hundreds of other farming implements and machinery through a
concessionary
loan facility to commercial farmers.
Over 70 000 ox-drawn farm implements
were also availed to communal farmers.
But the farming season could turn out
into a phenomenal disaster, with
analysts saying most of the new breed of
commercial farmers was interested
in quick cash and not prepared to sweat it
out tilling the land.
Communal farmers were battling to ensure they had
enough harvests to meet
family consumption needs, with those that had
received cheap diesel for
farming purposes said to have sold most of it to
public transport operators.
Trillions of dollars have been splurged by the
central bank through ASPEF,
but bankers fear the bulk of that money has been
diverted to speculative
activities for quick returns.
But most recipients
of the cheap money were pumping the cash into the stock
market, feeding into
a bull run that has overheated stocks and taken the
equities market to
unprecedented record highs.
ASPEF borrowing comes at a concessionary interest
rate of 25 percent per
annum, against punitive interest rates of over 1 000
percent for general and
consumptive borrowing from the banking sector.
To
speed up the application process, Gono had intervened to stop what he
described as "mischievous bureaucracy" in the disbursement of ASPEF funds
through the banking system, directing banks handling the special funding
facility to decentralise decision making to branches.
In his monetary
policy statement delivered in October, Gono said there was
growing
confidence among new farmers on the back of increased support and
mechanisation initiatives by the central bank.
"Building on this positive
trend of confidence, we are dubbing the coming
season the ‘Mother of All
Agricultural Seasons’, as it is high time that
Zimbabwe once again regained
its apex status as the bread basket of the
sub-region," Gono said.
He
hoped, then, that with the cheap ASPEF funding, whose rate had been
reduced
from 50 percent per annum, the new farmers would "take full
advantage of
this review and put every inch of arable land into productive
use".
Amazingly, the old farms could now pass for vast tracts of
forestland,
untilled and waiting for the farmers to dig them up with the new
implements.
The tractors are now public transport in other areas, and the
combine
harvesters are parked at farmhouses as status symbols.
The
farmers are in the cities, busy monitoring the movement of stocks bought
using ASPEF money.
They are looking for their own kind of harvest.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Political
Editor
THE United Nations, in collaboration with 42 international and
local
humanitarian agencies, has launched an appeal for over US$315 million
for
food and other aid for Zimbabwe in the first quarter of the coming
year.
In an executive summary of the latest Consolidated Appeals Process
released
on Monday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of the
Humanitarian Affairs said the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe continued
to deteriorate, leaving the country in desperate need of aid.
The total
appeal is for US$315 461 058.
“Spiralling inflation, deteriorating physical
infrastructure, the inability
of the public sector to deliver basic social
services, and the severe impact
of the HIV/AIDS pandemic have led to a
decline in the overall health and
well-being of the population,” reads part
of the report.
“The erosion of livelihoods, food insecurity, rising
malnutrition and the
possibility of disease outbreaks are putting the
already vulnerable
population under further distress.”
The inability of
agriculture to produce enough food, as well as the
difficulties experienced
with regard to importing foodstuffs, contributed to
the growing food
shortfall, the report said.
National cereal production in 2007 is estimated
to be 44 percent below the
2006 government-reported figure. The humanitarian
agencies estimate that in
the first quarter of 2008, about 4.1 million
people — or a quarter of the
population — would face food insecurity in
urban and rural areas.
The report said policy constraints and increasingly
uncertain weather
patterns made farming difficult and unpredictable.
Poor
rains had also imposed water shortages on a significant proportion of
the
population, particularly in the south of the country where increasing
numbers of people had limited or no access to safe drinking water.
This
includes the estimated 1.5 million residents of Bulawayo.
Despite hopes for
the improvement of the political environment as a result
of the negotiations
between ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, the
climate remained tense, especially ahead of the
elections scheduled for
March next year.
“Vulnerable populations continue to be impacted by
contentious governance
and human rights issues. The polarised operating
environment creates
difficulties in categorising various vulnerable groups,
yet humanitarian
actors must target people based on
vulnerabilities.”
Orphans and vulnerable children, now estimated to total 1.6
million, were at
the greatest risk. At least 18 percent of the adult
population is estimated
to be living with HIV/AIDS, although success in
reducing this figure has
been recorded.
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bureau
Chief
BULAWAYO — A new residents’ association to rival the
long-established
Bulawayo United Residents Association (BURA) has been
formed.
The Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association was formed on
Saturday to
promote and protect the rights of the residents of Bulawayo by
advocating
transparent, affordable and quality municipal services on a
non-partisan
basis.
The new association has an 18-member executive led by
trade unionist Reason
Ngwenya.
Vice-chairperson Anastasia Moyo said
concerned residents had decided to form
the new association because there
were “gaps and challenges” that were not
being addressed by BURA.
“I
cannot speak on behalf of BURA but as far as I know BURA represents
ratepayers. Our association looks at the interests of all residents of the
city right from the child in the womb,” she said.
Though Moyo said her
organisation would not compete with BURA, there has
been a strong feeling
that the new association was formed to challenge BURA
as the older
association is alleged to have close links to the ruling ZANU
PF.
BURA
chairman Winos Dube has, however, dismissed these allegations, saying
the
association was apolitical.
It had joined forces with the Movement for
Democratic Change-dominated
Bulawayo City Council to fight against the
proposed takeover of the city’s
water supplies by the Zimbabwe National
Water Authority.
“These allegations have been thrown around for some time,
but they are
baseless. We are a residents association and represent
residents of Bulawayo
regardless of their political affiliation,” Dube
said.
He pointed out, however, that members of BURA could belong to political
parties of their choice but when it came to BURA business they worked as a
team with one purpose, to represent residents of Bulawayo.
“Let us be
honest. There is absolutely no one in Zimbabwe who is not
affiliated to one
party or another. That is everyone’s fundamental right.
But when you join an
association, you serve the rights of that association
and not those of your
political party.
“It is just the same as people who go to church. They belong
to different
political parties, but when they are in church, they serve the
interests of
that church,” Dube said.
He said if the people behind the
new association were really genuine about
representing the interests of
residents they should have joined BURA and
perhaps contested elections if
they were not happy with the present
leadership.
It was most likely,
however, that these people had a hidden agenda, either
to promote their own
political interests or to get money from donors in the
name of residents,
Dube said.
“BURA was formed in 1964. We hold elections regularly. I was
elected in 1999
and re-elected in 2004. Next year we are having our
elections,” Dube said.
“The problem is that some people do not want to join
organisations at the
grassroots level, they just want to become
leaders.”
Moyo said the new association would be working through wards and
had already
set up structures in 23 of the 29 wards in the city.
She said
the association was different from BURA in the sense that it would
have an
office while BURA did not have one.
“Right now if one wants to contact BURA
one does not know where to go
because they do not have any offices. Our
association has a full-time
secretariat and we are soon going to have an
office so that people can bring
their problems to that office,” she
said.
The new association, it appears, will operate more like an activist
group.
It has secretaries for education, arts and culture, gender, welfare,
water,
youth, transport just to name a few.
It will also hold training
workshops “to build capacities among the leaders
and entrench the spirit of
residents participation and consultation from the
ward”.
FinGaz
Zhean Gwaze Staff
Reporter
‘Pull her down’ syndrome scuttles women’s political
ambitions
IMAGINE the year is 2008 and the President of Zimbabwe is a woman,
the
Speaker of Parliament is a woman, the mayors of all towns are women, the
Finance Minister is a “she” and the Chief Justice is also a
woman.
With the country’s political amphitheatre having been dominated by
male lead
actors since 1980, this vision of women in power seems
unrealistic.
Zimbabwe’s latest race for the presidency has been narrowed to
three males —
ZANU PF’s President Robert Mugabe, and opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara.
Yet, women comprise 52 percent of the country’s population and
constitute
the largest number of voters. But they currently occupy only 30
percent of
decision-making positions in government.
In a newsletter to
the “Women Can Do it” campaign being spearheaded by the
Women’s Trust,
leading academic Rudo Gaidzanwa observes that women’s
political aspirations
are sealed at the political party level.
“At this level, women have to secure
family support to run for office, raise
funding for the primaries and secure
party support or tolerance to run,” she
says.
In Zimbabwe, in 2004,
fissures emerged over the ZANU PF women’s league’s
quest to have a female
candidate for the party’s vice-presidency. Joice
Mujuru was later voted into
the post at congress that year.
But by then, some of her female war
colleagues had fallen by the wayside.
Margaret Dongo had won against ZANU
PF’s Vivian Mwashita in Harare South,
but she was soon swept aside as voters
chose whomever the MDC put on the
ballot.
Women’s Trust executive
director Luta Shaba said the campaign, which seeks
to achieve a 50-50
representation of men and women in the 2008 elections,
was not treating
women as a homogenous group.
This followed inquiries as to what impact the
announcement made by Mujuru,
that she did not harbour any presidential
ambitions, would have on the
campaigns of female aspirants to office,
whether in 2008 or beyond.
Former education minister Fay Chung was one of the
strongest women in
President Mugabe’s early administrations. She says
although there are laws
that favour the participation of women, there is
poor implementation of the
laws and it was too expensive for women to mount
legal challenges so as to
enjoy the full benefits.
Chung cited the case
of Venia Magaya, a case dubbed “Magaya versus Magaya”
where Venia (52), the
eldest child in a polygamous family, lost her father’s
estate, which she had
won through a community court, to her younger
half-brother in a Supreme
Court ruling as an example.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to laws that create an
enabling environment for
uplifting women to higher echelons.
The Southern
African Development Community Declaration on Gender and
Equality, the
African Union Protocol on African Women’s Rights, the
Convention on the
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women,
the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action and the Millennium
Development Goals,
all seek to promote greater female participation in
politics.
The global
commitment target is 30 percent, while the African Union target
is 50
percent. Zimbabwe plans to reach the African Union target by 2010, in
only
two years’ time.
But even top female politicians concede that women are
sometimes their own
greatest enemies; they will not vote for each other
because of the
“pull-her-down” syndrome.
During the launch last week of
the “Women can do it” campaign, Oppah
Muchinguri, the Minister of Women
Affairs, Gender and Community Development,
said: “The PHD or ‘pull-her-down’
syndrome has worked against us as women. I
am worried by the extent to which
we have internalised our own oppression
and turned this into oppressing
other women.”
Many women have excelled in business: Chipo Mtasa, Grace
Muradzikwa, Charity
Jinya, Pindie Nyandoro, Blessing Magenga, Beatrice
Mtetwa, Florence Ziumbe,
Jocelyn Chiwenga, Angeline Kamba, Hope Sadza and
Mara Hativagone immediately
come to mind.
Many say financial independence
would give women a better chance at running
for office without what has
sometimes been patronising male backing.
Chung agrees.
“We are our own
liberators. Women in politics should not be parasites, but
should be able to
stand economically on their own,” she said.
Mati Mukonoweshuro, consultant
from women’s business group Dominion, said
funding was critical to ensure
that women succeed in standing for higher
office.
“Women should expose
themselves to opportunities that economically empower
them because a solid
financial background roots out corruption and all other
evils,”
Mukonoweshuro said.
Other factors that undermine women participants are low
levels of education
and exposure, inappropriate training, lack of capacity
building skills and
self-confidence.
Zimbabwe could borrow a concept from
Cameroon, where the women’s ministry
bankrolled all female candidates from
all political parties who already held
parliamentary seats.
In Africa,
Rwanda, which is still recovering from the genocide of the 1990s,
has 39
female parliamentarians out of a total 80.
South African President Thabo
Mbeki’s government has also achieved one of
the highest levels of female
representation in the world.
But media are still to wake up to the reality of
the powerful female. A
study of general elections held in Kenya in 2002
pointed out that the
Standard and The Daily Mail newspapers ignored female
political aspirants.
The reason, according to the study was: “Men look for
coverage, women want
coverage to come to them.”
FinGaz
OPPOSITION leader Morgan Tsvangirai, after a tour of
Bulawayo, said the city
that was once the bastion of Zimbabwe’s industry is
in decay. Here, he
writes for The Financial Gazette on the crisis, and how
he thinks the
decline in local government can be reversed.
WHILE it
is generally acknowledged that dictators are known for their
willful
callousness and amazing exploits to waste away their kith and kin,
there
comes a time when a people are forced to unite against abuse and
resist.
A major human catastrophe has been allowed to fester in Bulawayo,
with a
water shortage that is slowly, but surely, grating itself towards a
messy
spectacle.
Like the early days of Gukurahundi, information was
deliberately denied to
the entire nation with regards to the extent of state
brutality on ordinary
citizens. Today, Zimbabweans are totally unaware of
the seriousness of the
water shortage in Bulawayo and its impact on life in
that beleaguered city.
(President) Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF think they can
punish a whole
community with impunity, for its supposed political sins
either historical
or contemporary. But the people have set their countdown
timers and have the
solution to the deepening level of neglect they see and
experience every
day.
In its prime, Bulawayo was the place to be: an
industrial hub strategically
located to service southern Africa with a
bustling manufacturing, textile,
agriculture (beef, milk, hides and skins),
leather, cultural and tourism
industry.
The question uppermost in
people’s minds is: what happened to Bulawayo? Why
has ZANU PF and
(President) Mugabe placed the city in a low-intensity
genocidal phase,
especially after independence? Many immediately think of
the politics of
exclusion and retribution, with some justification.
Zimbabweans see Bulawayo
as the centre of excellence, a meeting point for
diversity and tolerance and
an historical school for trade union and
political activism. Most
nationalistic politicians today came through
Bulawayo.
Today Bulawayo,
affectionately known as the City of Kings, is a shell of its
former self —
without water, without electricity, a fast receding industrial
base with no
jobs, no food and no opportunity.
What ZANU PF and (President) Mugabe have
failed to destroy is hope. The
people of Bulawayo have a vision. The people
of Bulawayo can see a New
Zimbabwe. They are determined to shape the
future.
Bulawayo requires 160 000 cubic metres of raw water a day to meet all
essential needs and to regain its lost glitter. The city has the capacity to
supply 180 000 cubic metres a day from five supply dams — all constructed by
the city itself over a 60-year period.
These five supply dams all deliver
water by gravity feed to the municipal
pump station at Lower Ncema dam from
where the raw water is delivered to the
water purification plant at
Criterion in Bulawayo.
Ten years ago the government built a new dam at
Mtshabezi in the Matopo
Hills but failed to complete the project by
installing a pump station and
the necessary pipeline to feed water to the
Ncema pump station. During a
previous crisis, the government established a
network of 77 large wells at
an aquifer in Nyamandlovu.
The capacity of
these new facilities at the time of design was 20 000 cubic
metres a day
from Mtshabezi and 35 000 cubic metres day from the aquifer.
In the last two
years, low run-off (2005/6) and low rainfall (2006/7)
resulted in the
gradual shut down of the supply dams with four now
decommissioned — the last
(Inyankuni) just two weeks ago. This leaves one
dam to supply the city —
Insiza and this is now 37 percent full.
While this was happening vandalism
and theft of equipment and pipelines have
rendered the majority of the wells
on the aquifer unusable. Only a few wells
are running and the system is
delivering a mere 2 000 cubic metres a day.
The total water supply to the
city has declined to such low levels, which
are grossly insufficient to meet
even the most basic of needs. I saw the
dams at the weekend; they have been
reduced to little puddles.
I was with the people at water collection points.
Widows and mothers told me
harrowing tales of blocked sewer systems, of
diarhorrea outbreaks, of
struggling maternity hospitals, boarding schools
and hotels and of desperate
factories. I shall be in Bulawayo again to
mobilise people against this
continuing nonsense. We have to stop the social
and human hemorrhage.
I met the Bulawayo executive mayor Japhet
Ndabeni-Ncube, who firmly believes
the city is a victim of dangerous
political games — all designed to punish
and control the people.
Only
recently he was surprised to be introduced to a coterie of ZANU PF
faithfuls
who are billed to take over parts of the city as village heads,
sobhukus!
There are 160 boreholes to be supervised by the new city sobhukus.
Unbelievable stuff in Bulawayo — all meant to clear up the little that is
left and drive everybody out to the village.
The city draws its supplies
from the Criterion waterworks via gravity
system. Because the high-density
suburbs are further away from Criterion
they are therefore the last to
receive water.
The supply from Nyamandlovu aquifer was meant to remedy this
by feeding
water under pressure into the more remote areas and to supply
those areas
with water from storage tanks. With the aquifer not functioning,
this
emergency supply is not working and up to 700 000 people have been
without a
steady supply of water for several months now.
All housing in
Bulawayo is designed and built on water borne sewerage
systems — with the
water supply position these are no longer flushing
effectively and this is a
threat to basic health.
The mayor informed me that money was set aside for
the Mtshabezi dam project
but after a brief flurry of activity involving
some Chinese nationals, work
has stopped and no progress has been made.
Without explanation, the
government’s proposal to put pumps at Insiza Dam to
boost delivery has been
shelved.
(President) Mugabe and ZANU PF have
routinely frustrated the council’s
efforts to raise money to fix the
problem. The private sector is keen to
help, so are donor agencies. But
government’s insistence on the control and
management of the water supply
has discouraged any would-be Good Samaritan
from the subject.
While there
has been a lot of talk about the Zambezi Water Project, the
crisis in
Bulawayo can be solved immediately without having to wait for
Zambezi to
provide a magic wand.
Insiza output can easily be raised to 70 000 cubic
metres a day. The aquifer
could supply another 35 000 cubic metres a day and
Mtshabezi could yield up
to 25 000 cubic metres a day for two years. These
three projects would
increase raw water availability to 130 000 cubic metres
a day — enough for
the city to crawl back to life.
Residents and
volunteers can be mobilised to trench the 33 kilometre-stretch
from
Mtshabezi at no cost to (President) Mugabe and ZANU PF as soon as the
regime
removes the current roadblocks and allow the city to craft and
implement a
survival plan.
As if to add salt to injury, (President) Mugabe and ZANU PF
want to pump
water from the heavily polluted Khami Dam into the system to
supply the
high-density areas. The city is right in rejecting this dangerous
option.
And to make matters worse, such a distressed city is owed a
staggering $4
trillion by various government departments for water and other
service
charges. The Ministry of Local Government alone owes Bulawayo $200
billion!
Surely, what does this regime expect the people to do?
Without
undue state interference, Bulawayo can solve its water problem. The
city can
source resources and work with residents on a permanent solution.
Bulawayo
thrived before independence without Zambezi water.
Bulawayo housed Zimbabwe’s
leading industrial and commercial lights and
provided jobs and sustenance to
thousands when there was minimum political
interference in municipal
affairs. The regime’s perennial cry about the
Zambezi water, which
ironically get louder in times leading to an election,
has become a hollow
howl to cover up for political ineptitude, hate and
callousness. The people
can see through this forlorn strategy to paper over
a massive humanitarian
crisis when the reality says otherwise.
A new Zimbabwe should address the
water crisis and revive Bulawayo.
Twenty-seven years of retribution, 27
years of war on an innocent people, 27
years of state-induced
infrastructural decay and damage on our lifeline is
unacceptable. The time
has come for Zimbabwe to unmask political charlatans
and show them the
door.
Our plan rests on devolution and genuine empowerment of communities to
tackle local challenges while we embark on national programmes like the
Zambezi Water Project. Long-term solutions are local. The people have the
answers. Too much government breeds political corruption. Political
corruption fertilises exclusion. Exclusion dismembers nations and leads to
dictatorships. Only a new Zimbabwe can dismantle the political edifice that
denies Bulawayo life today.
FinGaz
Mavis Makuni
Own Correspondent
THE utterances of some African leaders at the European
Union-Africa summit
in Lisbon last weekend reminded me of an interview
former Namibian
president, Sam Nujoma, had with a German journalist some
years ago.
Asked by the reporter why he planned to buy a presidential
plane at an
exorbitant cost when there were many unmet needs in his country,
Nujoma shot
back angrily, asking the hapless journalist whether he assumed
that because
the Namibian leader was a black African, he should be expected
to go
everywhere "by donkey". What Nujoma was telling the reporter by
implication
was that what was good for Germany's then chancellor, Gerhard
Schroeder,
should be good enough for an African head of state.
Indeed, if
a country can afford it, there is nothing wrong with providing
its leader
with the best to go with his status. Problems only arise when
leaders focus
on their own comfort and security to the exclusion of national
goals and
aspirations.
African leaders make it clear that they are equal to their
counterparts in
the developed world in every respect and should be accorded
the same rights
in international affairs. However, while they are keen to
claim for
themselves the benefits that accrue from democracy, good
governance, the
rule of law, observance of human rights, transparency and
accountability
that enable leaders in the developed world to enjoy benefits
willingly and
transparently bestowed upon them by the people they govern,
African
presidents seem to want the best from the West for
themselves.
This was apparent at the EU-Africa summit where despite being
amenable to
discourse on trade, commerce and regional integration, energy,
climate
change, science and information technology etc they were openly
hostile when
the issue of human rights was raised.
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel stirred a hornet's nest when she declared
that the situation
in Zimbabwe "damages the image of the new Africa."
Ordinary Africans every
where must be wondering why good governance and
human rights should be
regarded as taboo subjects at international
gatherings when they are being
denied to millions on the continent. The
leaders' stance in Lisbon is
tantamount to telling former colonisers: "We
are entitled to abuse and
misgovern our people as much as you did before
independence, so mind your
own business."
President Robert Mugabe who, some might say, should have put
his time in
Lisbon to good use by building bridges, reacted in his customary
manner,
blasting Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark, which he
described in
terms harking back to the cultural revolution in China as the
"gang of
four".
He accused the four countries of acting as mouthpieces
for Britain, whose
Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, boycotted the meeting.
African leaders backed
the President's stance that Europe was misinformed
about events in Zimbabwe.
The other leaders, led by South African President
Thabo Mbeki, Libyan
strongman, Muammar Gadaffi and recent visitor to
Zimbabwe, Abdoulaye Wade of
Senegal made it clear they refused to be
"lectured on human rights." Wade,
who must have believed he was well posted
on the situation in Zimbabwe when
he suggested a different approach to
mediating in its crisis about two weeks
ago, accused the German Chancellor
of being misinformed.
"I don't think we are here to receive lectures from
you. We are here as
friends seeking to work together," said the Libyan
leader. "Colonialism is
intrinsically negative and Africa still suffers from
it." It is not by
coincidence that those most violently opposed to any talk
about human rights
owe their long incumbencies as heads of state to ruling
by decree rather
than with the consent of the governed. Gadaffi presides
over a one-man-rule
nation that he has dominated since 1969 when he seized
power. Libya is
described in manuals and almanacs as an Islamic Arabic
socialist
"Mass-State" in which political parties and elections are
banned.
Although Gadaffi can be described as a benevolent dictator in that he
uses
Libya's wealth to take care of the basic needs and welfare of his
people, it
is not difficult to understand why democratic dispensations would
be an
inconvenience to him. Having been in power for 38 years Gadaffi cannot
be
expected to be enthusiastic about human rights or democracy which grants
the
people the right to elect leaders of their choice, freedom of speech and
the
right to question the decisions and actions of government
Mbeki, who
is the Southern African Development Community's mediator in
Zimbabwe, joined
the other leaders in accusing Merkel of being misinformed
about events in
the country. He reminded her he was the mediator on Zimbabwe
and was well
informed about the negotiations underway between the opposition
and the
ruling ZANU PF.
Mbeki, who is up to his eyes in political troubles of his own
in South
Africa tailored his rhetoric to imply that the main issue of
concern was the
talks when it is clear that the controversy is about
Zimbabwe's human rights
and governance record.
While Mbeki's claim that
he is well informed about events in Zimbabwe cannot
be disputed, what
Zimbabweans do not understand is why he has not moved an
iota towards
helping to resolve the crisis. After the many years of "quiet
diplomacy"
yielded nothing and he finally threw in the towel, his skills as
a mediator
in the current SADC initiative are being seriously questioned,
hence Wade's
attempt to enhance it by including more leaders.
mmakuni@fingaz.co.zw
FinGaz
Comment
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe and his entourage returned home from Portugal on
Monday to a hero's
welcome from his supporters celebrating what he has
called a diplomatic
victory over British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
President Mugabe had
travelled all the way to Lisbon for the EU/African
Union summit buoyed by
the boost he got from some EU countries and fellow
African leaders who
backed his participation at the talk show after Brown
said he would boycott
the indaba if the Zimbabwean leader attended. How this
fluke diplomatic
victory fits into the objectives of the summit is something
President
Mugabe's backers would not want to interrogate.
What is coming out clearly
though is that Zimbabwe went to the summit to
score cheap political points
against its perceived foes and in the process
robbed the entire continent of
an opportunity to constructively engage the
27-member EU bloc on issues
affecting African people.
The two-day high-level talks had offered Africa an
opportunity to lay a
solid foundation to end poverty by strengthening its
economic ties with
Europe but it was President Mugabe's presence, which
overshadowed everything
as the curtain came down on the summit. In the end,
it degenerated into a
tirade of insults over human rights and governance
issues, with Zimbabwe
being the focal point.
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel courted the ire of President Mugabe and his
information tsar
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu when she slammed the Zimbabwean leader
for "harming the
image of the new Africa" with his human rights record.
Ndlovu hit back,
accusing Merkel of "racism of the first order."
The German government was
obliged to come out in defence of Merkel with
Thomas Steg, its deputy
spokesman, saying: "The chancellor was asked by the
Portuguese (EU)
presidency to raise the issue ... She put forward this
position on behalf of
all the European heads of state and government."
The Southern African
Development Community (SADC), which had not expected
Zimbabwe and the
conflict in the Darfur region to spring up at the summit,
felt betrayed.
SADC secretary-general Tomaz Salomao could not hide his
displeasure.
"Zimbabwe was not part of the agreed agenda of the summit," he
said. "Our
position is that we are dealing with the issue, President Thabo
Mbeki is
dealing with the issue," Salomao was quoted saying.
President Mugabe had no
kind words as well for Germany, The Netherlands,
Denmark and Sweden, which
he described as "the gang of four".
Quite a number of other sideshows dimmed
the outcome of the summit, which
had been held up for seven years by an
impasse over the attendance of
President Mugabe.
But as the heckling
continues, the situation in the Darfur region is not
improving. Zimbabwe is
also sinking deeper into economic and political chaos
despite the
grandstanding at the summit.
The SADC initiative, which Salomao is pinning
his hopes on, hangs by a
thread, with the main faction of the opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change threatening to pull out of the talks being
mediated by President
Mbeki.
But instead of fighting to tilt the economic
scales in her favour, Zimbabwe
is busy basking in the glory of useless
diplomatic victories that do little
to improve the welfare of her
people.
Zimbabwe's economy is in bad shape, and any deal between the EU and
Africa
might not benefit the country unless its economy recovers. But the
powers-that-be do not seem to notice this.
While Africa is pushing for
favourable trade deals, the EU would want
unrestricted trade access to its
markets in exchange for massive tariff
reductions for its goods into Africa.
The EU had hoped that the traditional
preferential treatment it granted to
African, Caribbean and Pacific nations
could be replaced by Economic
Partnership Agreements by the end of this
year, as the former has been
declared illegal by the World Trade
Organisation.
Africa has read the EU
quite well. Agreeing to the EU's proposals would be
suicidal. Africa has
largely no control over its means of production and
hardly dictates prices
on the international markets. Its industries are
still in their infancy and
lowering tariffs without first bringing the
industries at par with
competition from Europe would simply flood Africa's
markets with EU
products.
With almost 500 million citizens, the EU generates an estimated 31
percent
share of the world's nominal gross domestic product and allowing
unfettered
access into African markets is certainly not a good idea.
The
situation is even more ghastly to contemplate for Zimbabwe, whose
agriculture is still in a comatose state after the chaotic land reforms.
Despite the stringent controls currently in place, imports have been on the
rise with statistics unveiled by Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi
projecting a 6.1 percent growth from US$1.95 billion in 2006 to US$2.085
billion this year.
The floodgates would therefore, be opened if Africa
accedes to the EU's
demands.
Hogging limelight at expense of
progress
EDITOR — The European Union-African Union summit
ended in Portugal recently
with discussions centering on human rights,
trade, immigration, environment,
peace and security. The summit was
overshadowed by the media frenzy
surrounding President Robert Mugabe.
It
is very unfortunate that the European Union bowed to demands from the
African continent for President Mugabe to attend the summit. It is
abundantly clear that President Mugabe will be the last person to talk about
human rights, peace, trade and immigration.
His record on human rights is
clear to everyone and more importantly, his
lack of capacity to negotiate
and compromise is legendary. His land reform
programme was implemented with
a total and medieval disregard for the
environment.
Around four million
Zimbabweans have left the country in the last seven
years to escape poverty
and political repression amid speculation that
President Mugabe has in the
last months been deliberately promoting
migration to neighbouring countries
in order to weaken the opposition ahead
of the 2008 presidential and
parliamentary elections.
I have no doubt in my mind that President Mugabe's
presence at the summit
had nothing to do with the objectives of the summit
apart from serving his
ego and his desire to get one over Gordon Brown and
the British government.
The people of Zimbabwe can expect very little to come
their way from the
summit. It seems to me, though, that other African
countries may not be in a
much better position than Zimbabwe. It was
shocking to hear some African
leaders being more vocal about President
Mugabe's participation rather than
representing the interests of their
citizens.
For example, I am sure many Zambians would have wondered whether
President
(Levy) Mwanawasa was talking on their behalf or on behalf of
President
Mugabe, when he threatened to boycott the meeting if President
Mugabe did
not attend.
Besides the distraction of President Mugabe the
objectives of the summit
were quite noble, if all the talking can be matched
by action.
I strongly believe that there is a need for fair international
trade towards
Africa. However, this has to be matched by a fundamental
change in culture
on the African continent if there is going to be major
changes for the
betterment of the lives of Africans.
Corruption needs to
be tackled with more zeal and good governance is a
pre-requisite for
progress. Migration will never be stemmed as long as
Africans do not feel
economically secure in their countries, as long as
uninspiring leadership
continues, as long as there is nothing to give hope
to our young people and
as long as repression continues.
How many times have we heard African leaders
publicly targeting high
economic growth rates of, say, seven percent in
their plans?
Instead, we seem to be bombarded by endless and uninspiring
anti-western
rhetoric.
How many times have we seen a total disregard of
respect for public funds by
governments, people in the opposition and people
in civic society?
There is no hope for Africa if everybody is quick to blame
and nobody takes
responsibility.
Jonathan
Chawora
Birmingham
-----------
The very last
queue
EDITOR — I am an undergraduate at a local university
and I am tired of the
long queues plaguing the nation. The recent
"million-man" queue is one of
them. I urge all the youths, who have a lot to
lose in the current scenario,
to gear for the elections and stop this
madness.
Let us join the one queue that will stop all the other queues and
make our
future brighter.
Nicky
Harare
-------------
Makoni
Zim’s answer to excellent leadership
EDITOR — An article on Simba
Makoni in last week's issue caught my
attention. A few short years ago, I
listened with great interest to Jakaya
Kikwete, President of Tanzania, as he
delivered a keynote address at the
Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in
Bulawayo.
No, it was not the usual mandatory diplomatic platitudes he
aired that
captured my imagination, and indeed that of many guests. That man
just
exudes charisma. The youthful countenance, the erudite, articulate,
debonair, self-assurance of a man conscious of the heavy responsibility on
his shoulder instinctively marked him Ambassador Supreme for his country
even to the untrained eyes of the ordinary man.
I was not surprised later
in the evening at a popular braai area in Bulawayo
when the issue of the
Tanzanian president took centre stage. I was even less
surprised when,
between mouthfuls of meat, Simba Makoni's name was mentioned
and vigorously
endorsed by all as Zimbabwe's response to such fine
leadership. And believe
me, in the new millennium, dinosaur leaders have had
their say ... people
need fresh Y2K compliant reformist leadership, which
while upholding and
guarding the principles of African independence, has the
wherewithal to make
a significant difference and are cognisant the
times-are-changing.
Dr
Hynn
United Kingdom
----------
They need the
cash
EDITOR — I just wanted to explain to Livison Kahondo
that petrol charged at
US$1.30 in the UK is inclusive of taxes, which make
up most of the cost. The
actual non-taxed cost is well under US$0.80 per
litre. (By my estimates it
costs UK suppliers around US$0.45/l)
Taxing
fuel heavily is common practice throughout most of Europe. Keep
sending
money to family — they need it.
Chris
UK
--------
What a
nerve
EDITOR — The resilience that our government wants us to
sustain includes:
lGoing for three weeks without power.
lGoing for a month
or more without water.
lAccepting drugless and extortionately exorbitant
health facilities.
lAccepting empty shops that are passed off as
supermarkets.
lPaying school fees three to four times a term under the guise
of top-up
fees.
lWatching raw sewage flowing by our doors.
And our
President has the nerve to tell us to remain resilient. No sir, this
is not
resilience but capitulation by a subjugated people. I wonder if there
is any
other country in the world with a people that can stomach such
callous
humiliation.
Masawi
Munyanyi
Harare
-------------
ZANU PF vs
Dynamos
EDITOR — If someone
wanted to prove that he is
very popular he should have asked the so-called
million men and women to
find their way to Zimbabwe Grounds instead of
providing free transport at
the expense of quasi-government institutions
that were forced to transport
these
marchers.
An example is Dynamos Football Club,
which
never ferries people to its matches because it is popular and people
find
their way to the stadium.
Anonymous
Harare
-------
MDC media strategy poor
EDITOR — The
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)’s
media strategy is unclear and relies
heavily on releasing generalised
information to the
media.
Unfortunately, the MDC lacks authentic critics
who
will point out the pitfalls of its policies, strategies and other
national
decisions without becoming too engrossed in the internal MDC power
dynamics.
Those within civil society who have come out in the open to
castigate the
leadership of the MDC have themselves not clearly stayed out
of the MDC
internal power struggles. Some of them have made comments behind
closed
doors insinuating that they have concrete plans to oust Morgan
Tsvangirai.
These civic leaders will, unfortunately not provide the
diplomatic community
in Zimbabwe, international media and other influential
stakeholders, with a
substantial analysis of the MDC as a party. They are
too involved, and
apparently on a confrontational agenda with the
opposition.
Taking a closer look at recently
published
statements, one observes that the information the MDC churns out
is
reactionary, poorly researched and lacking authority. There is no
initiative
to probe the fault lines within government policies besides the
general
criticisms of mismanagement, bad governance and
repression.
For example they have been raising the
issue of
political violence against their supporters in various parts of the
country
through the media. Surprisingly the MDC has not coordinated its
responses to
the constant threats of ZANU PF hooligans, always masquerading
as youth
activists. What they need is an information structure that gathers
information beyond the provincial hierarchy. They need to ensure that the
district structures are highly mobilised to pick out the inconsistencies in
the way of life among ordinary Zimbabweans.
Simply getting our sympathies and acting like the
victim all the time will
not help us at all. ZANU PF is a cornered party
that has previously
demonstrated its capacity to fight to the bitter end.
Their extraordinary
congress will provide pointers of the ruling party’s
modus operandi during
the run-up to the 2008 harmonised presidential,
parliamentary, senatorial
and local government elections.
This must present the
MDC, civil society and the
church with an opportunity to devise
counter-strategies in preparation for
the harmonised 2008 general elections.
Reactionary and megaphone politicking
is hopeless. There has to be a
significant mindset change if the MDC is to
avoid creating unnecessary
tension within its key alliances.
Precious
Shumba
Harare
----------
Press freedom now a thing of the
past
EDITOR — The continued
suppression of our freedoms
by the government cannot be ignored. Freedom of
expression is now a thing of
the past in our beloved
country.
The harassment, torture, arrests and
beatings of
journalists are on the increase and Zimbabwe now tops the list
of human
rights violations.
Journalism has, in
fact, become a treacherous
profession, as life is not certain day by day.
(Bright) Chibvuri, editor of
The Worker, who spent two nights in police
custody on allegations of
practicing journalism without accreditation, is
the latest victim of the
restrictive media laws promulgated by the ZANU PF
government.
The late Mark Chavhunduka, Gift Phiri and
Basildon
Peta to mention but a few, are some of the journalists who have
also
incurred the wrath of the ZANU PF
government.
The attack on the media has become a
daily
occurrence. The biggest-selling daily newspaper, The Daily News, was
bombed
and forced to close in an attempt to deny the people access to
information.
The main weapon, which the government
has been using
to curtail press freedom, is the draconian Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act.
The
Media and Information Commission, which the
government set up to be the
watchdog of media houses has been banning,
closing newspapers and denying
registration to independent journalists
willy-nilly for the sole reason of
silencing them. The commission is evil in
nature and must be
abolished.
The electronic media has not been spared.
Munhumutapa African Broadcasting Corporation was closed to force viewers
into watching the poisonous Dead BC. One cannot rely on the lies, which we
get everyday from this station. At one time Dead BC wasted our precious time
screening the million-hungry-men march, which it claimed was attended by
more than a million people when in fact only about 30 000 forced,
purportedly ZANU PF supporters attended.
At one
time a provincial governor was given airtime
on national television to tell
the nation that his team was confiscating
small shortwave radios, which were
being distributed by some
non-governmental organisations in remote parts of
the country. The reason,
he said, was that the radios were subversive
material. He went on to say
that "if you listen to this radio you become
confused". The government then
proceeded to jam the shortwave frequencies in
a desperate bid to shut our
voices.
Press freedom
cannot exist in a country with a
dictatorship. I therefore, urge all
journalists and other pro-democrats to
remain vigilant, courageous, speak
loud and expose the ills being caused by
this ruthless
regime.
Free the media now, we need to be heard, we
need to
be informed not misinformed.
"If the
truth causes an offence, it is better that
an offence be caused than the
truth be denied": St Jerome A.D 420.
Vava
Blessing
Former Students’ Union
president
Bulawayo Polytechnic