http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 20:23
ZANU PF has
refused to dismantle the Joint Operations Command (JOC), a state
security
organisation that was reportedly behind the bloody presidential
run-off poll
last year that retained President Robert Mugabe in power.
This comes
as the MDC formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai is demanding that
two keys
ministries — Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs — be re-allocated to
his party
in the ongoing talks to resolve outstanding issues of the global
political
agreement (GPA), further widening cracks in the inclusive
government.
While the negotiating teams from Zanu PF and the MDC
formations have made
concessions on a number of issues to do with the media,
external radio
stations, a land audit, tenure systems, electoral vacancies
and external
interference, disagreements on critical issues that caused the
deadlock
still remain.
The negotiating teams led by Zanu PF’s
Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche,
MDC-T’s Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma,
MDC-M’s Welshman Ncube and Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, have failed to
agree on the key appointments of
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana.
They have also disagreed over the
swearing-in of deputy Agriculture
minister-designate Roy Bennett,
appointments of provincial governors and on
Tsvangirai chairing cabinet in
the absence of Mugabe.
In addition there are also new areas of
potential contestation in the new
year, such as the re-allocation of the two
key-ministries.
According to a report from the negotiators to the
Sadc Dialogue Facilitation
team and the principals of the GPA, which is in
the possession of the
Zimbabwe Independent, the MDC-T wanted JOC to be
dismantled now that there
was a National Security Council in
place.
The facilitation team was appointed by the new negotiations
facilitator,
South African President Jacob Zuma, and is made up of his
political adviser
Charles Nqakula, special envoy Mac Maharaj, and the
president’s
international relations adviser Lindiwe Zulu. The report was
handed to Zuma.
JOC is made up of army commanders, Central
Intelligence Organisation
directors, police and prisons
commissioners.
“Zanu PF expressed the contrary view that JOC only
dealt with operational
issues whilst the National Security Council dealt
with policy issues,” the
report said. “The MDC-T also raised, on the subject
of security reform, the
existence of a formalised and legalised intelligence
agency covered under an
Act of Parliament.”
It was agreed that
members of the negotiating team, who were members of the
National Security
Council, should raise the issues at their meetings.
JOC has been
accused of master-minding the wave of brutal violence that
engulfed Zimbabwe
after Mugabe lost the March 29 2008 presidential election
to Tsvangirai. The
strategy was to ensure that Mugabe is re-elected on June
27’s presidential
run-off at any cost.
The MDC-T claimed that at least 200 of its
supporters died during that
period, while thousands of others were tortured,
injured and displaced. The
defence forces have always maintained that they
were not responsible for the
violence and deaths.
Zimbabwe
Defence Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga, Police
Commissioner-General
Augustine Chihuri and Commissioner of Prisons Paradzai
Zimondi are on record
as saying they would never salute a president other
than Mugabe, least of
all one who did not participate in the war of
liberation.
On the
review of ministerial allocations, which was supposed to have been
done in
August, the report said MDC-T wanted the ministries of Foreign
Affairs and
Home Affairs to be re-allocated to the party.
Currently, the Ministry
of Home Affairs is co-ministered by Kembo Mohadi of
Zanu PF and Gile
Mutsekwa of MDC-T.
“In respect to Home Affairs, it is their (MDC-T)
view that the
co-ministering is not working as exemplified by the breakdown
of relations
between the two-co-ministers,” says the report. “They propose
that Foreign
Affairs be re-allocated to them and that in return Zanu PF
should be
re-allocated the Ministry of Public Service.”
MDC-T
also wants the current co-minister of Home Affairs from Zanu PF to be
appointed a Minister of State.
As an alternative, it suggested
that Home Affairs could be split into two
ministries, one being ministry for
the police and the other encompassing all
the non-security aspects in the
ministry such as immigration.
Contrary, Zanu PF felt that the
co-ministering was working well and the
current discord was a deliberate
ploy to create the false impression that
all was not well.
The
matter was not resolved with Zanu PF negotiators arguing that it had no
mandate to discuss a general ministerial review.
Turning to the
role and funding of non-governmental organisations, Zanu PF
argued that they
were aligned to one political party, thereby affecting the
political playing
field.
They want transparency in respect to funds being channelled to
NGOs, in
terms of both the amounts and the recipients.
MDC-T
denied that NGOs in Zimbabwe were acting for and on its behalf.
The
negotiators then resolved that all funding and assistance to Zimbabwe
from
NGOs be channelled through the government, which should have the right
of
determining where resources were to be channelled.
The negotiators
failed to agree on the mode of communication among
principals, with MDC-T
saying Tsvangirai should have direct access to Mugabe
by telephone rather
than the current situation in which the premier could
only access the
president through his assistant.
It was then agreed that Zanu PF
would consult on the matter.
On Tsvangirai’s transport arrangements,
which MDC-T said was inadequate;
Zanu PF negotiators indicated that they
would have to consult their party
first as the matter raised protocol
issues, which include the question of
what arrangements existed for the two
vice presidents.
On the appointment of governors, it was agreed that
MDC-M gets a post, while
either Zanu PF or MDC-T gets five and four plus a
minister of state. The
question of who between Zanu PF and MDC-T get four
and the minister of state
post had to be referred to the principals for
discussion in February next
year.
On sanctions, it was agreed
that the re-engagement committee set up by
cabinet be convened as a matter
of urgency to deal with issues like the
work-plan, with time lines in
respect of engaging the European Union, the
United States, the Commonwealth
and multi-lateral financial institutions.
The principals are expected
to meet next week and issue a statement at a
press conference restating
commitment to the GPA and calling for the removal
of
sanctions.
On the media, all parties agreed that the Broadcasting
Services Authority be
set up to immediately process and finalise all
applications for broadcasting
licences that are pending and to immediately
produce and flight adverts in
the national media inviting interested parties
to make applications for
broadcasting licences.
On the Zimbabwe
Media Commission it was agreed that it be sworn in and be
directed to
immediately process all applications for media licences that are
pending and
call upon interested parties to make applications for newspaper
licences.
On external radio stations, they agreed to formally
request Sadc to prevail
on governments of Botswana and Madagascar to
terminate its facilitation of
the external broadcast to
Zimbabwe.
The negotiators also agreed to convert ZBC into a public
broadcaster with an
independent board appointed by the president from a list
given to him by the
Standing Rules and Orders Committee of
Parliament.
While they agreed on the land audit, the negotiators
disagreed on how to
implement the policy of compensation on improvements
made on farms acquired.
On by-elections, the three parties agreed to
extend the agreement not to
contest each other in any by-election to cover
the entire lifetime or
duration of the inclusive government.
On
Tsvangirai chairing cabinet, Zanu PF argued that in the absence of the
president, one of the vice presidents who would be acting should chair
cabinet, not the premier.
They also did not agree on the cabinet
and council of ministers rules,
ministerial mandates, parallel government
and on who should determine
national heroes.
The matter referring
to the role and position of permanent secretary of
Media, Information and
Publicity George Charamba was deferred, with the
MDC-T saying it was not
proper or acceptable that a presidential
spokesperson be a permanent
secretary in the ministry. Zanu PF saw no
problem with the permanent
secretary speaking for the president in his
governmental capacity and also
in his capacity as leader of a political
party.
The negotiators
also agreed that the Constitutional Amendment No.19 be
gazetted as passed by
parliament in December, which had 18 more pages than
the one gazetted on
February 13.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
20:17
NUANETSI Ranch which is being developed under the stewardship of
controversial businessman Billy Rautenbach has become the site of a serious
turf war between various interests in Zanu PF.
The various
groups are locked in a fight for a strategic position in the
huge capital
venture in Masvingo province's Mwenezi District.
Party stalwarts have
seen opportunities for self-enrichment in the over 350
000-ha ranch which is
owned by the Development Trust of Zimbabwe (DTZ).
The DTZ has got
into bed with a consortium of mainly white farmers,
Cutstart, to form
Zimbabwe Bio-Energy (ZBE). The company has started to
implement massive
agro-investments on the land.
DTZ which was formed by Vice-President
Joshua Nkomo in 1989has over the
years failed to derive benefits from the
project largely due to lack of
capital investment. The coming of the new
investors led by Rautenbach has
given the ranch a new lease of life but it
has now created ructions in the
party.
DTZ was formed as a
not-for-profit organisation but its newfound marriage to
Cutstart changes
this status. It is now big business.
Rautenbach is said to have
become an eminent sponsor of Zanu PF activities
and competing forces in the
fractious Zanu PF are locked in a fight for
those resources. His
spokesperson however denies this assertion.
Rautenbach has interests
in mining, farming and the transport sector. His
close ties with the Zanu PF
presidium have made everything political he
touches turn into gold. Since
the takeover of the control of the estate by
ZBE last year, the project has
been linked to President Mugabe and Defence
minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. ZBE
managing director Paul Smith in an
interview this week rebutted
this.
"That is not true at all," said Smith. "The shareholding
register at the
company registration offices is open for anyone to inspect.
Zimbabwe Bio
Energy is owned in partnership by DTZ who have contributed
land, and
Cutstart is the capital investor."
He added: "We want
to keep our neutrality so that we are not attacked by
anyone group.My job as
managing director is to ensure that we move forward
as quickly as we can
without any favour or bias towards any group."
Smith said Rautenbach
had since resigned from the ZBE board. He said
Rautenbach resigned from the
ZBE board last year when he was put on the US
and European sanctions lists
as he felt that his presence in ZBE would
jeopardise the project. Smith
however acknowledged the influence that
Rautenbach played in pushing for
the approval of the tie-up by senior
politicians including President
Mugabe, Msika and VP Joice Mujuru.
"We were looking for a piece of
land which did not have issues, land that
was not in dispute," said Smith.
"At the same time Mr Rautenbach had been
able to see VP Msika to unlock the
land."
The departure of Rautenbach has remained academic though. He
has generally
remained the face of the project and the centre of
contestation.
On the issue of who would benefit from the profits
Smith said this was up to
DTZ.
"When we declare a dividend, the
money goes to DTZ and it's up to them to
decide what to do," said Smith.
"But we have already started to develop
communities on the ground. We
believe the trust will take care of that."
President Mugabe is the
patron of DTZ while new Vice-President John Nkomo
has succeeded the late VP
Joseph Msika in the chair. The most senior Zanu PF
member from the former PF
Zanu holds the DTZ chair.
There is another feature of the fight over
the ranch; archaic regional
politics pitting the Ndebele and the Karangas.
DTZ resident director Charles
Madonko in an interview last week aptly
surmised the problem at Nuanetsi
when he - quoting the late Msika's view on
the purchase of the farm - said
"good project but wrong
province".
The dispute over the project is fomenting on two
platforms. There is the
Masvingo /Matabeleland struggle and then there is
the intra-province duel in
Masvingo pitting the so-called Hungwe and
Mavhaire factions.
There is fierce contestation between Masvingo
province and DTZ over the land
in Nuanetsi. The political leadership in
Masvingo contends the estate should
be used to benefit the people of the
province.
For a long time ranchers from the province were grazing their
cattle on the
estate free of charge. Smith said the new developers had to
seek the
assistance of Msika to drive out the "grazers" who have taken court
action
against DTZ. Ironically, now Finance minister Tendai Biti represented
the
grazers in the contest.
Zanu PF leaders in Masvingo
registered their intent to take away the estate
from DTZ two years ago when
then provincial governor Willard Chiwewe wrote
to Land Reform minister at
the time Didymus Mutasa demanding that the
government acquire Nuanetsi ranch
to resettle thousands of villagers in the
area on the pretext that the land
was lying idle.
"It would be unfair to leave such land idle when
thousands of Zimbabweans
need land," he reportedly said.
The
attempt to settle people on the estate was blocked by Msika. But parts
of
Nuanetsi have been occupied by villagers at the behest of
politicians.
Attempts to move them have failed as the settlers were
brought in by their
respective factions.
There are now accusations
that DTZ is driving out black farmers to bring
dispossessed white farmers
onto the land. Madonko acknowledges the ructions
over control of the land
but contends that that those claiming ownership on
the basis of geographical
location were missing the bigger picture.
"What we now have is
exactly what the old man (Joshua Nkomo) wanted to see
when this project was
conceived," said Madonko. "We now have an investor who
can develop the land
into a national asset so that it can benefit the
generality of our people as
a national project."
He said there was a problem with politicians
saying the project was "Joshua
Nkomo's farm". "The property is owned by a
trust and we are here to create
an environment that would transform this
area."
Vincent Kahiya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
20:14
TENSIONS have escalated between the Speaker of the House Assembly
and the
Clerk of Parliament over the production of the speaker's portraits
to be
hung in all offices at Parliament Building and parliamentary
constituency
information centres around the country. The clash has worsened
the
already-poor working relationship between Speaker Lovemore Moyo and
Clerk of
Parliament Austin Zvoma. The two have of late been battling over
the control
of the constitutional reform process.
Moyo is
chairman of the MDC wing led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
while
Zvoma is seen as a Zanu PF supporter. The wrangling between Moyo and
Zvoma
is reflected in letters which have been exchanged between their
offices
since last month over the portraits dispute.
Moyo's office through
the public relations department wrote a letter to
Zvoma on November 17
seeking permission to engage a photographer to shoot
and develop 10
portraits for the speaker at a cost of US$75 each.
"Authority is
sought to engage Mathambo Ngoma to shoot and develop 10
portrait photos for
the Speaker of the House of Assembly at a cost of $75
each, totalling $750.
These portraits will be hung in his office and at
entrances and other
strategic places within the building," the letter says.
"The speaker
(initially) had his portrait photos taken in August 2009. I was
informed by
Fiona, the communications officer in the speaker's office, that
he does not
like the (current) portrait anymore and would rather have
another one taken.
Fiona also advised that the speaker would like his
portrait hung in each and
every office at parliament and in each
parliamentary constituency
information centre."
Zvoma's office replied on December 9, rejecting
Moyo's request.
"We cannot justify a repeat of expenditure already
incurred after selection
of the portrait photograph taken and produced in
August 2009," the reply
reads. "The cost of producing and hanging of the
Speaker's portraits in each
and every office at parliament and in each
parliamentary constituency
information centre is not budgeted for in
2009."
Zvoma's office also warned Moyo against using a communications
officer who
is not officially employed by parliament. It also said Moyo's
portraits
request would have to be considered in the context of a bicameral
parliament. The reply was copied to Moyo and President of the Senate Edna
Madzongwe. Sources said the rejection of Moyo's request left him angry and
bitter at Zvoma's actions.
The latest fight between Moyo and
Zvoma came as Zanu PF and the MDC-T
prepared for a second round of fighting
over the contentious Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe Amendment Bill recently passed
through the House of Assembly but
which faces renewed resistance in the
Senate.
Informed sources said Zanu PF was secretly again mobilising
to block Finance
minister Tendai Biti's Bill seen as targeted at Reserve
Bank governor Gideon
Gono whom MDC-T is battling to force
out.
Sources said Zanu PF has renewed its opposition to the Bill
after Biti
frustrated the party over the access and disbursement of the more
than
US$500 million special drawing rights from the International Monetary
Fund
(IMF).
After its congress last weekend, Zanu PF attacked
Biti over the IMF money.
The party said it condemned "in the
strongest of terms, the reckless actions
of the Minister of Finance, T Biti,
in particular his abuse of
constitutional authority to prevent the release
of the US$510 million IMF
Global Financial Crisis mitigation facility, his
systematic denial of
seasonal support to the agricultural sector and his
peanut budget for the
year 2010 in pursuance of petty personal ambitions and
the parochial
reactionary agenda of his MDC formation".
Sources
said Zanu PF has now decided to hit back at Biti using the Bill.
Biti says
he wants the Bill passed into law to ensure the central bank
focuses on its
core business and operates transparently, while Zanu PF
argues his proposed
law is draconian and is only designed to rein in Gono.
Debate on the amended
Bill in the senate has been postponed to February 9
2010. - Staff
Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 20:09
THE
smell is overpowering. It knocks you back almost half a km before
reaching
its source, a clearing in the bush seething with prehistoric life.
It is a
combination of decay, faecal matter and ammonia.
Scores of workers here
perform a myriad of tasks not pausing to contemplate
the overpowering
stench. They have no choice because the source of the acrid
smell is the
reason for them being at Nuanetsi.
Piet Rautenbach or Baba James - a
Karoi rancher - is the boss here. His
well-appointed office does not escape
the stench. He lives it.
It is his lifeblood. He soon takes us to a large
warehouse, the largest
sauna I have ever seen. For the 10 minutes we stood
in the hot humid room,
four baby crocodiles, almost a foot long are helped
out of eggs by bare
hands which have over time been schooled to tell which
egg to hatch and
which one to discard. The process is a full-time vocation
played out
throughout the day.
The hatched crocs are placed in a
plastic dish before being transported to
another section to be examined,
weighed and given a thorough medical. There
are personnel waiting to
hand-feed them before they are placed in pens where
for three years they are
put on a special diet of meat, carrion, fish and
grain before they are
harvested for their skins.
Rautenbach explains that there are about 60
000 crocodiles in the project
and there should be about 100 000 by year-end.
This is an orderly operation
which at full capacity should yield 200 000
skins a year for export.
"Everything is recorded here, the costs of
the feed and the amount we feed
to each croc is weighed so that at the end
we see if we are making money,"
he said. It will cost roughly US$180 to
raise a single croc whose skin will
fetch between US$200 and US$300 in
markets in Southeast Asia. Multiply that
by 100 000 and potential revenue of
US$30 000 000 is forecast.
Piet is the younger brother of
controversial mining magnate Billy whose name
is often mentioned in the same
breath with Zimbabwe's top political
leadership. He arrived towards the end
of last year in Nuanetsi with a group
of investors under the banner Cutstart
to initiate what should be the
largest agro-industrial investment project in
the country in a tie-up with
the Development Trust of Zimbabwe
(DTZ).
They have formed Zimbabwe Bio-Energy (ZBE) to execute a grand
project whose
size and capital injection is matched by the controversy it
has courted.
Billy Rautenbach and his colleagues are now in control of land
that is more
than 350 000 ha in extent; that is almost 1% of Zimbabwe's
total land area,
most of which is virgin bush.
Of that hectarage
there are plans to put 60 000 ha under sugar cane to
produce 500 million
litres of ethanol per annum in 10 years. The company
says the spin-off from
local usage and exports should translate to US$500
million per year - the
benefits for the fiscus will be derived from these
volumes of trade. The
company has 5 000 head of cattle and hopes to double
this figure to 10 000
by end of next year. The ultimate vision is a herd of
40 000
cattle.
ZBE MD Paul Smith said the idea of the sugar project was to
start a green
energy revolution in which the company should produce 100
million litres of
ethanol annually and generate 100MW of
electricity.
The large sugar cane project however depends on the company
securing water
for irrigation. At the moment there isn't any. Mwenezi River
which passes
through the estate is dammed further up to form Manyuchi Dam
which is owned
by Triangle Ltd, a rival in the sugar
business.
Triangle has said it has absolute rights to the water and will
therefore not
allow Zimbabwe Bio-Energy to access the water. Triangle is
currently using
water from Manyuchi Dam on the Mwenezana cane project which
is 150 km from
the mill in Triangle. ZBE are proposing a swap deal, where
Triangle releases
Mwenezana in exchange for a piece of land on the Mtilikwe
area which is
closer to the mills. As a result, Triangle will no longer
require water from
Mwenezana.
"When we commenced operations in
Nuanetsi we approached the water authority
Zinwa and they sold us water
permits for Manyuchi with the blessing of
Triangle," said ZBE in a statement
to the Zimbabwe Independent. "There is
lack of clarity over water rights on
Manyuchi but we are in talks with Zinwa
for an amicable way forward to
benefit both sides."
It added: "Initially players in the sugar
industry were concerned that we
would have a competitive effect on the
market but now the stakeholders
understand that our niche is energy -
consisting of power generation and
ethanol - not table sugar. Our
relationship with Triangle has tremendously
improved and we have bought our
seed cane from them to start our project."
ZBE have now set their
sights on completing the long-stalled Tokwe-Murkosi
Dam and Greenfield
project in the form of the Runde-Tende Dam. The company
has said it is
seeking investors for the project.
With the investment on the ground,
the project is now irreversible but its
acceptability to the community in
Masvingo will now depend on who picks up
the dividend tab. Expectations are
high and the queue of would-be
beneficiaries looks long at the
moment.
Vincent Kahiya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
19:18
PROFESSOR Jonathan Moyo is likely to land the powerful post of
national
political commissar or secretary for information in Zanu PF's
politburo, to
be announced by President Robert Mugabe at the party's central
committee
meeting pencilled in for mid-January. However, top Zanu PF sources
said it
was unlikely there would be a cabinet mini-reshuffle to accommodate
Moyo.
"Moyo is heavily tipped to bounce back into the politburo as
head of
information or commissariat. He will be more effective heading the
commissariat where he will have a free rein," a senior Zanu PF official
said.
Moyo's election to the central committee at the party congress at
the
weekend was greeted by huge applause from the over 10 000 delegates, the
state media reported.
Zanu PF, the sources said, wanted the
former Information minister to come up
with strategies to revive the party
and woo the electorate in preparation
for future elections.
The
sources said although Moyo had proved to be effective on the
communication
and information front, he was likely to land the commissariat
post and would
be charged with the responsibility to reorganise the party
and rationalise
its structures as resolved by the congress.
The congress resolved
that the party should be re-organised and should
re-introduce "focused
ideological education at all levels of its leadership
and membership, shun
factionalism and stop its current obsession with
leadership positions to
refocus on advancing the interests of the people and
meeting their
needs".
Moyo, the sources said, would also be tasked to come up with
mobilisation
strategies and develop a "clear-cut leadership renewal and
continuity policy
at all levels in order to continually reinvigorate, renew
and ensure the
effective transfer of the party's ideological underpinnings,
values,
practices and the ethos of the liberation struggle between
successive
generations of leaders".
Also tipped to be elevated
into the party's politburo, is Zanu PF's only
legislator in Harare, Hubert
Nyanhongo, who has the backing of war veterans
and some security organs of
the government.
Sources in Zanu PF told the Zimbabwe Independent this
week that war veterans
and senior central intelligence officers, who were
irked by what they
described as "daylight robbery" of the elections in
Harare, were pushing for
Nyanhongo's appointment, which would make him one
of Amos Midzi's bosses
although Midzi is the provincial
chairman.
The move to appoint Nyanhongo, the sources said, was meant
to appease his
supporters in Harare, who had vowed to continue with their
parallel
structures until the election of the Midzi executive was
nullified.
Mugabe, upon advice from security agents and some party
heavyweights, had to
include Nyanhongo in the central committee to calm
emotions at the congress
where tensions were high, almost threatening to
disrupt the congress.
"The appointment of Nyanhongo to the central
committee was Mugabe's
indication that he was not happy with Midzi's
leadership and wanted him
(Nyanhongo) in a senior position," said a party
insider. "If Nyanhongo is
going to be appointed to the politburo, he will
become Midzi's senior in the
party."
The sources said plans were
also afoot for the newly elected chairperson,
Simon Khaya Moyo, to work
fulltime for the party to superintend its revival.
Moyo is the
country's ambassador to South Africa and was widely tipped to be
appointed
to cabinet as one of the three co-Ministers of National Healing.
He will
replace John Nkomo who was sworn in on Monday as the country's
second
vice-president.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
19:16
CHIEF law officer Michael Mugabe, who has been handling
high-profile cases
including that of MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett, has been
transferred to
Mutare amid reports of rising tensions between law officers
and the director
of public prosecutions. Mugabe, who represented the state
in the Bennett
case before the case was taken over by the Attorney-General
Johannes Tomana,
and the director of public prosecutions, Florence Ziyambi,
is the second
senior law officer to be transferred out of Harare in the last
three weeks.
Jonathan Murombedzi was transferred at the end of
November to Marondera
under unclear circumstances.
Mugabe remains chief
law officer while in Mutare, where he was moved to on
Monday last
week.
Sources in the AG’s office believe that Mugabe’s transfer was
because of the
clashes he allegedly had with Ziyambi.
“These were
personal and not professional conflicts,” said a source. “Things
have not
been going on well here and morale has gone down.”
Chris Mutangadura
was appointed acting chief law officer, replacing Mugabe.
However,
this has raised eyebrows in the AG’s office because he is regarded
as being
relatively junior, after having recently graduated from the
University of
Zimbabwe’s law school.
Mutangadura’s appointment reflects the
underlying skills flight in the AG’s
office. Experienced law officers have
left the AG’s office, citing poor
working conditions while young graduates
from the University of Zimbabwe who
might have been recruited are also
opting for private practice.
“The situation has been deteriorating in
the past few months and the AG’s
office is now manned by inexperienced staff
as well as police prosecutors,”
said the source, adding that the police
officers had to deal with cases in
the High Court as well as the Supreme
Court.
Usually, the AG’s office takes in graduates from the
University of Zimbabwe
and other approved law schools, as well as those from
the Judicial College.
When asked for comment on Wednesday, Tomana
referred the Independent to the
administration department at the AG’s
office, who in turn referred the
matter back to the Attorney-General saying
he was the only authorised person
to comment.
Sources said the
absence of a Deputy Attorney-General (Criminal) was also
hampering work at
the office and Ziyambi has had to carry out those duties.
Staff
Writer
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
19:14
THE Zimbabwe Council for Tourism has accused Willowvale Mazda Motor
Industries (WMMI) of failing to supply in time vehicles ordered by its
affiliate for hiring during the Fifa World Cup in South Africa next year.
Addressing a year-end state of tourism press conference yesterday, ZCT
president Emmanuel Fundira said the Zimbabwe Vehicle and Rental Association,
a member of the tourism operators organisation, stands to lose business from
the South Africa-hosted soccer safari after the WMMI failed to meet a
deadline to supply a fleet of four-wheel drive vehicles they
ordered.
"Some members of the vehicle and rentals association made
deposits to
Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries to bring car kits required in
the
assembling process," Fundira said. "They were told that these kits would
arrive between April and May 2010 and quite clearly this would not be good
for business."
He said the council was pursuing a number of "good
enquiries" to host
various soccer teams to train in
Zimbabwe.
Vehicle Rental Association president, Beverley Sande,
yesterday confirmed
that orders made by the association several months ago
had not been
fulfilled.
The Zimbabwe Independent understands that
the car assembler should have been
able to import the kits within a
month.
WMMI assembles Japanese Mazda vehicles that include BT50s,
Mazda 3 and the
Mazda Eagle.
"Willowvale have advised us they do
not have kits for BT50. They will
receive the kits in April
2010.
Our experience with them is that when the kits arrive they
will take a month
to assemble them and it means that we will get the cars
well into the 2010
(World Cup)," Sande said. "There are other people who
have paid six or seven
months ago, but they haven't received the cars. This
(failure to supply the
cars) is doing our business harm."
The
troubled company, she added, was not in a position to refund the
operators.
Efforts to get comment from WMMI spokesperson Rutendo
Chabururuka were in
vain at the time of going to print, but a source in the
company confirmed it
had failed to supply the vehicles and could only do so
next year.
Reviewing 2009, the ZCT president said the industry was on
a recovery path
buoyed by a rise to 60% occupancy compared to 30% registered
last year.
"The challenge is to depoliticise tourism and we encourage
the political
leadership to speak with one voice to help lure visitors,"
Fundira said.
Fundira also criticised vote allocations granted to
tourism during the 2010
National Budget saying the ZCT would lobby for a
"special budgetary
allocation" for the soccer
tournament.
Bernard Mpofu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
19:11
PRESSURE is reportedly mounting on Nestlé Zimbabwe to accept milk
from
Gushungo Holdings, a company owned by First Lady Grace Mugabe, with the
latest tactic being delaying the granting of a work permit to the company's
newly appointed managing director. The milk processing company bowed to
international pressure in September and stopped buying milk from Gushungo
Holdings. This led to a fallout with various political and economic players
sympathetic to Mugabe as they said the dairy company was applying sanctions
on the First Family.
In September Nestlé had its accounts frozen
by the Reserve Bank citing
irregularities. Interested parties have continued
to pile pressure on the
dairy firm to reverse its decision and there have
been threats of its
complete takeover.
The latest attempts to
armtwist Nestlé into accepting milk from Gushungo
Holdings has prompted high
ranking officials, including the head of the
Eastern and Southern African
region, to come to the country and try to find
a solution to the
problems.
Nestlé Zimbabwe appointed a new managing director last
October who was
expected to have started work immediately. However, this has
not happened as
there were delays in processing a work permit, a development
which has been
linked to the attempts to armtwist Nestlé into reversing its
decision to
stop buying milk from Gushungo Holdings.
Sources at
the milk processing company confirmed that they were still
waiting for
regulatory approvals before the new boss could take office.
Nestlé
remains one of the leaders in the dairy industry with relatively more
disposable cash than other players in an industry that is facing stiff
competition from South African products.
As such, Nestlé is able
to pay for milk deliveries on time while other
players in the milk industry
have been struggling to raise cash making it
the preferred buyer of the
product.
This has prompted sympathisers of Gushungo Holdings to
continuously look for
an opening and have the decision to stop buying its
milk reversed.
Nestlé Zimbabwe did not have a long-term contract with
Gushungo Holdings and
seven other milk producers and it only started
accepting milk from them in
February this year after the other players
failed to pay for deliveries.
This decision was made to save the
industry.Nestlé has been in Zimbabwe for
50 years.-Staff
Reporter
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
18:59
CIVIL society groups have embarked on road shows nationwide to
stimulate
debate on the constitution-making process, which will go full
swing on
January 12 when an outreach programme to capture people's views
begins. The
Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe (CCZ), the Restoration of Human
Rights Zimbabwe
(ROHR), and the Students Solidarity Trust (SST) have been at
the forefront
of constitutional reforms and have since last month been
holding meetings in
the country encouraging people to participate in the
writing of a new
supreme law.
Under the global political
agreement (GPA) signed by the country's political
protagonists - President
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
his deputy Arthur
Mutambara - a new constitution should be in place by
October next
year.
A select parliamentary committee was set up in April to
spearhead the
programme but little progress has been made due to lack of
funds and
disagreements between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations on the
right course
to take.
Zanu PF wanted the committee to use the
Kariba Draft constitution crafted by
the parties during talks that led to
the signing of the GPA, while the MDC
formations insisted on a people-driven
process.
It is against this background that civil society groups have
decided to
embark on road shows to educate people on the drafting of a new
constitution
and the meaning of constitutionalism.
Explaining the
objectives of the road shows, SST programme officer Sostina
Takure said:
"The purpose is to educate communities on the role they can
play in the
writing of their constitution. The aim is to get their voices
heard so that
we can take it up to the policy makers. The end product is
having a
grass-roots constitution in which the people can identify with and
say 'we
made this constitution'."
She said her organisation would have shows
in Manicaland, Harare and the
three Matabeleland provinces.
At one of
the road shows organised by SST at Hauna Township, Manicaland,
last Saturday
villagers and pupils spoke about the need to guarantee
education for all in
the new constitution. They argued that schools in their
communities had
acute shortages of resources and dilapidated infrastructure.
"We want
to have every child in school," said councillor Monica
Bvunzawabaya. "Every
child has the right to a better education and
affordable fees. We also want
the government to improve resources at our
rural schools."
In a
recent survey, Unicef and the Central Statistical Office said 71% of
school-going children did not attend classes due to financial constraints.
An assessment of primary and secondary education carried out by the National
Education Advisory Board showed that most schools did not have
textbooks.
CCZ in conjunction with ROHR recently held its own show in
Mhondoro-Ngezi,
Mashonaland West, where villagers and their councillors were
clear on what
should and should not be captured in the new
constitution.
They said the imposition of the Kariba Draft would be
undemocratic and an
affront to the people's mandate to write their own
constitution.
The people said the new constitution must outline
demarcations on the
responsibilities of the three arms of state; the
judiciary should strive for
independence from government interference and
control and should not be a
tool of oppression by those in power; and there
must be equitable
distribution of state resources without discrimination on
grounds of
political affiliation.
Looting and abuse of state
resources, the villagers said, should be stopped
while uniformed forces
should carry out their duties professionally without
discriminating on
partisan grounds guided by a code of conduct that respects
human
dignity.
The people said torture by the police force should never be
tolerated and
such acts of impunity should be punished
severely.
Ward 1 councillor Frank Denhere said Zimbabweans should
seize the
constitution-making process to express their aspirations and
objectives.
"This is an opportune moment to replace the Lancaster
House Constitution
which did not reflect the aspirations and wishes of the
people of Zimbabwe,"
Denhere said.
He said a genuine
people-driven constitution should protect the people's
rights and freedoms
and not oppress them as reflected by the current
constitution which has been
doctored 19 times to bolster the stranglehold on
power by individuals
against the people's expectations.
Farai Machaya from CCZ challenged
the youth and women to seize the
opportunity to address their plight by
making empowering inputs into the
constitution to address issues of gender
parity and unemployment.
ROHR Zimbabwe programmes manager Clifford
Hlatswayo advocated the
domestication of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights in the new
constitution, the
inalienable universality of human rights and the formation
of independent
commissions that are free of political interference to guard
the people's
fundamental human rights.
Hlatswayo also encouraged
people to demand transparency and accountability
from elected public
officials.
The road shows were likely to complement the parliamentary
select committee's
outreach programme to gather the views of the people
which begins on January
12.
This followed the injection of funds by
the UNDP and treasury, which
culminated in Wednesday's announcement of 17
thematic committee members to
spearhead the outreach
programme.
The outreach and consultation teams comprised 560 people,
MPs and civil
society activists, and would be deployed throughout the
country to gather
views within 65 days.
Douglas Mwonzora,
co-chair-person of the parliamentary committee, welcomed
the road
shows.
"There is nothing wrong with civil society going around
educating people on
the constitution," Mwonzora said. "We welcome groups
that will be conducting
such activities. However, we appeal to them that
they should not spread hate
language and propaganda."
Some civil
society groups like Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe,
ZimRights
and Artistes for Democracy in Zimbabwe Trust claimed that they
were barred
from holding their road shows in Mashonaland Central by Zanu PF
supporters.
Mwonzora said the Kariba Draft would not be foisted
on the people by his
committee.
His co-chairperson Paul Mangwana
(Zanu PF) said the outreach programme would
go smoothly.
"There
has been considerable delay because we wanted to be assured that the
resources were available to conduct the outreach activities. The resources
are now available and we are ready to go for outreach," Mangwana said. "We
agreed that the deputy chairperson of the (outreach) team should come from
the civil society and have a representative of 30% parliamentarians and 70%
from civil society (in every thematic committee). We also made sure that
there is gender balance to ensure that the committees are
inclusive."
Finance minister Tendai Biti allocated US$43 million for
the
constitution-making process in 2010 National Budget.
The
committee claimed that some affiliates of civil society groups against
the
current process had turned against their mother bodies and were now part
of
the thematic committees.
Mwonzora claimed: "ZCTU as un umbrella body
has not changed its stance that
it will not take part. But we have a number
of organisations that fall under
it that are in the (thematic committee)
list like Gapwuz, Commercial Workers
of Zimbabwe and Associated Mine Workers
Union of Zimbabwe. As for NCA we
have individuals like Nobuhle Mathe and
Mable Sikhosana who have indicated
their interest in taking
part."
However, NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku said those the
committee claimed were
its members were not, adding that even if they
announced the outreach dates,
whatever they produced was going to be a
defective constitution.
Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
18:10
WHEN President Robert Mugabe told his supporters at the close of
the Zanu PF
congress on Saturday that elections would be held soon, people
did not know
whether to laugh, cry or just dismiss it as his usual posturing
in front of
crowds. But why were people, including senior Zanu PF officials,
so quick to
dismiss his statement as mere politicking?
One Zanu
PF politburo member told the Zimbabwe Independent that people
should not
read too much into what Mugabe said at the congress.
"It was just
politics. Don't tell me that people took his call for an early
election
seriously. We don't want these elections, neither do the two MDCs,"
he
said.
A number of factors show that elections will not be held any
time soon in
Zimbabwe.
Most Zimbabweans agree generally that
things are getting better under the
Global Political Agreement compared to
the chaos and violence of 2008 and
the years preceding it. Most hope the
marriage continues until the economic
situation stabilises and there is some
guarantee that there is no repeat of
the June 27 conditions when close to
200 MDC supporters were killed and
thousands were injured and
tortured.
But people are also aware that at some point the inclusive
government will
have to give way to a popularly elected government.
According to the Global
Political Agreement the government of national unity
is supposed to last no
more than 24 months but indications are that it is
likely to last a full
five-year lifespan.
"Let's begin to work
for the party and to organise it strongly. Elections
are not very far off,"
said Mugabe, adding that "the inclusive government
was given a short life -
18 months, 24 months - and then it goes. The
remaining part is very short.
Perhaps it has outlived its life."
Analysts say despite such
statements, none of the three political leaders
are ready for an election
within the prescribed 24 months.
An early election, analysts say,
would be suicidal for Zanu PF because
Mugabe's party may never regain
absolute power after having lost its
parliamentary majority, more so now
when it is at its most divided on ethnic
lines since Independence in
1980.
Former newspaper publisher and political analyst Ibbo Mandaza
said it is
difficult to take Mugabe seriously because he knows that he
cannot afford an
election now when Zanu PF is increasingly being weakened by
in-fighting over
who will succeed him when he decides to eventually step
down.
At the moment there seems to be no candidate strong enough to
unite the
party and challenge MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Mandaza did not see Mugabe getting his party's
endorsement if he decided to
stand in the next elections, likely to be held
in 2013, by which time he
would be 89 years old.
"Don't get
misled," Mandaza says. "Zanu PF cannot afford elections. Mugabe
is deceiving
people. He is finished. Everyone in Zanu PF is of the consensus
that he must
go. Basically, no one is on his side - they just want him to go
peacefully.
He is history."
Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku says Mugabe's
statement should be
viewed as nothing but utterances that cannot be taken
seriously.
"He is not serious. He is cheating the people. He is just
playing a
political game wanting to give an impression that his party is the
only one
with no contention over an early election. They were just
utterances because
Zanu PF is not ready for an election when it is so weak,"
he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara and
co-chairperson of the
constitution-making process Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana
are on record saying it
was unfair to cut short parliamentarians' five-year
terms. They have both
said elections would only be held in
2013.
Madhuku said: "Both Zanu PF and MDC stand to benefit from a
prolonged GNU
term. MDC still wants time to consolidate resources and its
support base."
It is not only the politicians that are not ready for
early elections, but
also Zimbabweans who need time to heal; and the
economy, which is just
starting to improve.
Analysts said
Zimbabwe is not going to be ready for elections in the next
two years as
these are likely to violently disturb the calm and stability
that the
inclusive government is seeking to achieve.
Mandaza pointed out: "The
country does not need an election now and they are
most likely to be held in
2013. Neither MDC nor Zanu PF wants an election.
Both parties can't afford
an election now. It is just the euphoria - he is
excited by crowds and
shouting and applause - otherwise why else would he
call for an early
election?"
Even the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) has suggested that the situation could
deteriorate if an early
election is called.
OCHA said elections
in 24 months could plunge Zimbabwe back into political
turmoil and violence
as the country's political parties compete for power.
"Politically
general elections expected in 24 months may result in internal
competition
and renewed violence and human rights abuses as the parties to
the inclusive
government try gaining popularity by discrediting their
rivals," said OCHA
when it announced a US$718 million consolidated appeal
for humanitarian
support for Zimbabwe a few months ago.
In addition, elections can
only be held after comprehensive constitutional
reforms. This process was
initially supposed to take about 18 months from
the inception of the GNU.
However, there has been very slow progress due to
lack of funds for the
constitution-making process, which is already facing a
delay of
six-months.
If government has been struggling to raise US$11,3
million required for the
constitution-making process, what makes Mugabe so
confident that he can
raise more than US$35 million required for the
referendum and millions of
other dollars for voter education, registration
and compilation of a new
voters roll in addition to the delimitation process
within the next 24
months.
The next harmonised elections are
likely to cost more than the US$43 million
allocated for the
constitution-making process - which Mugabe never
considered when he spoke at
the Zanu PF congress.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is broke.
It
does not even have money to hold by-elections in at least nine
constituencies that fell vacant since last year, violating the constitution
which stipulates that an election should be held within 72 days after a seat
falls vacant. Some constituencies have not had a representative for more
than a year.
The inclusive government has no money to finance
most of its activities, let
alone an expensive election
process.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
17:56
THE year has come to a close with the stuff that would make another
good
Western clip in the league of legendary director Sergio Leon's The
Good, the
Bad and the Ugly. Marriages of convenience, specifications, MDC-T
compromises and later disengagement from the government of national unity
were some of the highlights of the year.
Business magnates John Moxon and
Nigel Chanakira spend the better part of
the year at each other's
throats.
The good
In January, then acting Finance minister Patrick
Chinamasa officially
announces the use of multi-currencies in a bid to
contain inflation and
restore stability to the economy. The move
works.
In February, political rivals - President Robert Mugabe and MDC-T
leader
Morgan Tsvangirai - finally form a government of national unity,
almost five
months after inking the global political agreement.
In March,
Mugabe launches the Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme
(Sterp), a
supposed know-it-all economic blueprint.
On the business front, mobile phone
operator, Econet, invests US$94 million
in its Zimbabwean operation to boost
capacity.
In April, Tsvangirai visits the EU and US to bridge severed
diplomatic ties
with the international community but the trip is downplayed
by state media.
In September, the International Monetary Fund releases US$510
million to
Zimbabwe in Special Drawing Rights.
In the same month, the
Supreme Court of Zimbabwe stays permanently the
prosecution of former
television news anchor and human rights activists
Jestina Mukoko and others
after ruling that they were unlawfully arrested
and tortured by state spies
for allegedly trying to topple Mugabe's
government.
In November, Zimbabwe
and South Africa finally sign a long-mooted Bilateral
Investment Promotion
and Protection Agreement with the Zimbabwe government
promising to respect
property rights in a bid to shake off doubts over the
country's high risk
perception.
The battle between Moxon and Chanakira to control Kingdom Meikles
Ltd (KML)
is settled after the two protagonists agree on the finer details
of the
company's demerger.
In December, TN Financial Services announces
plans to reverse-list Tedco
Ltd, the fist such announcement of a major deal
on the ZSE.
The deal will see the emergence of TN Financial Holdings, a new
entrant on
the financial services scene strongly aided by Tedco' branch
network.
Finance minister Tendai Biti projects the economy will grow by 7%
next year.
John Nkomo elevated to party and national
vice-president.
The bad
From March and for the better part of the
year, farm invasions continued.
In June, Deputy Youth minister Thamsanga
Mhlangu is arrested for stealing
former farm invasions commander and war
veterans leader Joseph Chinotimba's
cellphone - a Nokia 1110. Mhlangu denies
stealing Chinotimba's cellphone.
He is later acquitted.
In October,
Chanakira is airlifted to South Africa after being overwhelmed
by
stress.
A few weeks later, Econet Capital - an Econet Wireless investment
vehicle -
sells its 10% stake in KML to a consortium led by Rainbow Tourism
Group
(RTG) CEO Chipo Mtasa, Temba Mliswa and Philip Chiyangwa.
A few
days later, Chanakira emerges with a 49% stake in KFHL after cornering
Moxon
politically.
The move to exit KML leaves Chanakira without any backing in his
fight with
Moxon.
In November, Aico CEO Happymore Mapara is sent on forced
leave but he gets a
US$1 million golden handshake amid rumours that the
executive would have
dragged the temple along with him had the board decided
to send him away
empty handed.
The ugly
IN February, MDC Deputy
Agriculture minister-designate, Roy Bennett, is
arrested on the day he was
supposed to be sworn in.
And Mugabe refuses to swear him in, arguing that
Bennett faced "very
serious" charges.
Vice-President Joseph Msika dies
in August sparking a power struggle.
In October, Bennett is re-arrested on
charges of attempting to topple Mugabe's
government. In the same month the
MDC, citing lack of sincerity on Zanu PF's
part in resolving outstanding
issues of the GPA, announces a disengagement
from government.
After a
fortnight of boycotting cabinet and government duties, MDC re-joins
the
unity government at the behest of the Sadc troika on politics, defence
and
security, which ordered a fresh round of talks.
In October, weapons of war,
20 AK-47s and a shotgun, are stolen from Pomona
military base. The usual
suspect, MDC-T, is fingered in the latest plot to
destabilise government and
an army major commanding the base reportedly
commits suicide while in
military detention. MDC transport manager Pasco
Gwezere is arrested over
the arms and is languishing in remand prison
despite the High Court granting
him bail. The state invoked provisions of
the law to keep him in gaol.
A
new list of outstanding GPA issues balloons to over 20 further widening
the
differences. The new issues included the demand for security reforms,
the
setting up of the national economic council, the failure to kick start
national healing, working relationships between Mugabe and Tsvangirai and
land audit, etc.
In the same month, the parties fail to meet the troika's
deadline to resolve
the sticking points.
In October, a Bulawayo man
alleges being sexually harassed by John Nkomo - a
move seen as part of the
dogfight for the vice-presidency in Zanu PF.
Chris
Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 17:52
THE year 2009 is
coming to an end. A lot has been said throughout the year
but the quotes
below have stood out. Zimbabwe had its second inclusive
government after the
one formed in 1980 and was forced to ditch its own
currency. Meanwhile
America had its first black president. "This business of
blowing vuvuzelas
of insanity should stop. But no matter how loud the noise
becomes, a
vuvuzela will never play the Mozart or Beethoven sound, and we
will never
dance to those decibels." -- Finance minister Tendai Biti
responding to
accusations by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono that he was
blocking
urgently needed loans from international financial institutions.
"To
those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing
of
dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will
extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." -- United States
President Barack Obama during his inauguration speech in January
"It
is better to own 10% of an elephant than 100% of a rat." -- Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara explaining the importance of government divesting
from parastatals to allow private partnerships in order to save them from
collapse.
"I went to Oxford -- I taught at MIT, I'm a Rhodes Scholar.
I think it's
fair to say that I know better than Obama what is good for
Zimbabwe, that I
know better than Hillary (Clinton) what is good for
Zimbabwe. So it is very
arrogant and patronising for Hillary or Obama to
prescribe what is best for
Zimbabwe without talking to me first." --
Mutambara attacking the United
States for alleged intrusion in the country's
political affairs.
"Taka kiya- kiya (we have used hook and crook)." -- Biti's
response when
quizzed at a press conference on how he obtained cash to pay
civil servants
during the first month (February) of using multiple
currencies.
"There are more ministers in this country than there are for
bigger
countries like Britain, France and Germany." -- Economist John
Robertson
expressing his view on the bloated cabinet set up after the
formation of the
inclusive government in February.
"No, why do you
want, why do I want to talk things in the UK where the UK
people doesn't
want to see me there? I don't have a visa. If I was having a
visa to come to
the UK, the UK people banned me to come to the UK and you
want me to talk
things which is needed to be broadcast in the UK where the
UK people
doesn't want to see me, why?" -- War veterans leader Joseph
Chinotimba in
an interview with SW Radio's Violet Gonda.
Gonda: What are you
farming?
Chinotimba: I'm farming people. -- Chinotimba again in the same
interview
"We are working on them. This is still premature to discuss
them. He's not
the only person who's head of state who is that old. The
Queen of England is
much older than our President and nobody had ever
referred to her as an old
lady. You all respect her very much. You people
are racists aren't you?" --
Minister of State for Presidential Affairs,
Didymus Mutasa responding to a
question on President Mugabe's plans to step
down in an interview with the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"There
was discipline in parliament. Last year, MPs were still raw, they are
polished now, they are dignified and they can be called honourable. Last
year they were dishonourable." -- President Mugabe commending MDC-T
parliamentarians for not heckling him during his speech in the House of
Assembly like they did last year.
"I am not going to quit because I
knew that I was going to swim in
sewage." -- Finance minister Tendai Biti on
his participation in the
inclusive government.
"It is political
suicide. When people are determined to commit suicide, no
matter how much
you try to help them they will always try to find a way of
killing
themselves." -- MDC-T spokesman and ICT minister Nelson Chamisa on
Zanu
PF's 2009 congress resolution to rule out negotiations with the MDC on
the
appointment of Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and central bank
governor
Gideon Gono.
"It has not been easy for me. I was asking for oranges to
make orange juice
but some people were giving me lemons. Ah ah. you cannot
make orange juice
from lemons but that is what I got." -- A jubilant soccer
championship
winning Gunners coach, Moses Chunga, on why it took him almost
a decade to
win the league championship.
"Why forcefully, we are not
violent people, we have big thoughts --
tinepfungwa kukunda ma (we have
brains better than the) British and
Americans. We are leaders, so things
should be done properly." -- Chinotimba
commenting on the unrest in the war
veterans organisation after a splinter
group announced plans to hold a
congress to elect new leaders.
"What do we do when we have uninvited
guests at our meeting. I love to have
my grandfather and aunt with me but I
do not need to have them follow me to
my bedroom." -- An irritated delegate
at the National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations Directors'
Summer School expressing his
displeasure at having Central Intelligence
Officers monitoring the
conference.
"If Zanu PF are facing west we
are facing east." -- Chamisa describing the
disagreements with Zanu PF over
the fulfilment of the Global Political
Agreement.
"Now, make no
mistake: History is on the side of these brave Africans, not
with those who
use coups or change constitutions to stay in power. Africa
doesn't need
strongmen, it needs strong institutions." -- Obama addressing
the Ghanaian
parliament during his first presidential visit to Africa .
"My
understanding is that it is a move which is the ringing of a bell, to
say:
'Look Mr President, President Mugabe please, please, please wake up --
things are not moving, things are cracking, please wake up. Let's engage
meaningfully.' That is how I understand the disengagement. As I say it is
not something which we would encourage, but we do understand the frustration
on the part of the MDC." -- Botswana Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani
commenting on the disengagement from government by the
MDC.
Kudzai Kuwaza
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 17:38
THE Zimbabwe
Independent looks at how ministers fared during the year while
operating on
shoestring budgets, among other negative factors. Below is our
assessment of
the performances of some of the ministers.
Tendai Biti - Minister of
Finance
Will be remembered for his wars of attrition with Reserve Bank
governor
Gideon Gono. Arguably the hardest working minister, he produced
results this
year. Government revenue has increased from as low as US$4
million in
February to over US$110 million and has introduced financial
discipline in
government. He however failed to fully finance Sterp. His
stance to hold on
to the US$510 SDR funds advanced by the International
Monetary Fund was
unacceptable; he should have used the money to prop up the
economy for rapid
recovery
Recommendation: He is in the right direction;
less talk and more action next
year would make him even more
popular.
Score: 7/10
Nicholas Goche - Minister of
Transport and Infrastructure Development
Little attention paid to the
country's roads. Introduced tollgates, which
have raised more than US$5,3
million but the money is being collected by
Zimra, yet there is no mechanism
for the Zimbabwe National Roads Authority
to monitor and control the fees
inflows. Goche has done little to resolve
this issue while the country's
roads are continuing to turn into death
traps. His decision to discontinue
pre-testing for learner drivers was
commendable.
Recommendation: Needs to
solve the dispute between Zimra and Zinara and
ensure the money raised is
ploughed back into road maintenance.
Score: 2/10
Welshman
Ncube - Minister of Industry and Commerce
Industry's capacity utilisation has
increased under him and is still
increasing. His immediate tasks were to
ensure adequate supply of fertiliser
for winter cropping by end of May,
identify recipients' lines of credit for
key strategic sectors, develop a
pricing model with regional countries and
to work towards establishment of a
commodity exchange to ensure the farmers
get competitive prices. He didn't
deliver on many of these.
Recommendation: Should work harder to achieve the
targeted industry
utilisation next year.
Score
4/10
Emmerson Mnangagwa - Minister of Defence
Indiscipline is said
to be on the rise in the army due to alleged hunger,
low salaries and
nepotism. Despite Mnangagwa's feared personality and
character, on his watch
guns were stolen at Pomona and there are several
reports of absenteeism.
What else is happening at the barracks, one may ask?
Recommendation: Put your
house in order before things get out of hand.
Score
2/10
Elton Mangoma - Minister of Economic Planning and Investment
Planning
Some notable achievements, eg the investors' conference in July.
Some
foreign investment deals have been negotiated but Mangoma has been
accused
of failing to ensure parastatals operate efficiently. A lot is still
expected of him to kick-start a lot of sectors that have not been performing
over the past five years. Mangoma seems to know what is expected of him and
his success depends on Zimbabwe improving its diplomatic relations with
other countries.
Recommendation: More action and less workshops and
so-called strategic
meetings.
Score 5/10
Samuel Sipepa
Nkomo - Minister of Water Resources Development and Management
Lots of
stumbling blocks (political, resources and financial) in Nkomo's
way. Has
done little to improve water supply. Another cholera outbreak looms
but he
has done nothing to avert it. Situation still as bad as it was in
August
last year when the epidemic broke. He should also stop picking
unnecessary
fights with local authorities.
Recommendation: Should be transferred to
another ministry or return to the
backbenches.
Score
1/10
Walter Mzembi - Minister of Tourism and Hospitality
Industry
Overrated because of a sprinkling of charisma and colourful attire.
No
feasible plans on how Zimbabwe stands to benefit from the Fifa World Cup
in
South Africa next year.
Recommendation: Lots expected of him in the
face of the World Cup; he should
extensively market the country and avoid
fawning over certain individuals,
especially the President. Tourists and
investors are not interested in that.
Score 3/10
Webster
Shamu - Minister of Media Information and Publicity
Shamu seems reluctant to
ensure fundamental legislative reforms are put in
place to allow for a
pluralistic media. The struggle for the opening up of
airwaves and the
transformation of the state-controlled ZBC continues with
no immediate
solution in sight. This is despite the fact that the GPA and
Constitutional
Amendment 19 contain provisions that recognise the importance
of freedom of
expression and the role of the media in a multi-party
democracy and calls
for the issuance of licences to broadcasters other than
ZBC. Lack of
political will to allow for more broadcasters was displayed by
the
minister's appointment of the Tafataona Mahoso-led Broadcasting
Authority of
Zimbabwe. However threats to journalists seem to have
lessened - there are
fewer arrests and physical abuse. But he has
recommendations from the
stakeholders indaba in May which he has up to now
not made
public.
Recommendation
Sincerity required: people want more newspapers and
broadcasters and
undemocratic media laws repealed.
Score
2/10
Henry Madzorera - Minister of Health and Child Welfare
A
slight improvement in the health delivery system but it still falls far
short of the pre-2000 levels. Recruitment in the majority of departments has
improved to 50%, with that of nurses and junior doctors going up to as high
as 70% but some specialist services are still at 0%. Lack of funding has
hampered Madzorera's goals of ensuring that 60% of infrastructure at all
central hospitals is functional. Local production of drugs is next to zero
and government has to rely on imports. Drug supply at government health
institutions is below 60% and people have to rely on the private sector to
buy vital drugs.
Recommendation: Keep on trying.
Score
5/10
David Coltart - Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and
Culture
To Coltart's credit, most of the schools opened and most of the
teachers
resumed work. Examinations were marked. Unlike in 2008 when there
was very
little education because of prolonged strikes by teachers, 2009
went by with
very few work stoppages. However, the education sector is still
very fragile
with shocking pupil-textbook ratios and infrastructure in a
poor state. His
gains were however almost wiped out by the chaos that
surrounded
registration of Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations when
close to 70%
of students failed to meet the deadline to pay examination fees
because they
were beyond the reach of many parents. On the sports side he
seemed to be
still in a shell.
Recommendation: No to privatisation of
education; and please address the
quality of education in the rural areas.
Overhaul the way football is run;
facilitate Test cricket return;
restructure sporting associations'
constitutions.
Score:
5/10
Herbert Murerwa - Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement
In
perpetual reverse gear, spineless and powerless, Murerwa has failed to
secure the farming environment. Conflicts and disputes on the land have been
on the increase over the past few months; has failed to ensure security for
farmers, their workers and assets while continuing to pander to the whims of
securocrats who seem to be running the ministry for him. Recommendation: A
comprehensive, transparent and non-partisan land audit needed soonest, and
you need to deal effectively with the new invaders or
resign.
Score 0/10
Joseph Made - Minister of Agriculture,
Mechanisation and Irrigation
Development
Lack of preparedness has always
been Made's weakness and it seems he never
learns from past mistakes. Once
again Zimbabwe is facing a disastrous
agriculture season. For some strange
reason Mugabe seems to adore him.
Recommendation: He should leave and let
others run this ministry.
Score 2/10
Francis Nhema -
Minister of Environment and Natural Resources
Invisible the whole year.
Cities and the countryside are an environmental
disaster. No policy in place
to clean up. Very likeable, he has been allowed
to get away with
murder.
Recommendation: Face reality and make yourself useful. Move around
and sees
the level of litter around CBDs, industrial and residential
areas.
Score 3/10
Minister of Foreign Affairs Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi
He was rather aloof the whole year only visible when President
Mugabe was
globetrotting. He is however credited with re-engaging Zimbabwe
with the
European Union and is trying to do so with the rest of the
world.
Recommendation: Much of the country's turnaround depends on Zimbabwe's
diplomatic relations with other countries. Professional diplomatic relations
more aligned to a "win-win situation" not based on politics needed. Probably
the right person for this ministry but should wake up.
Score
3/10
Minister of State Enterprise and Parastatals Gabuza Joel
Gabbuza
A lot was expected of him. What has happened to the state enterprises
and
parastatals he identified for restructuring? Has he set up a performance
monitoring system for these? When will he carry out mandate and legislative
review of state enterprises and parastatals?
Recommendation: Yet to
behave like a minister; has not read the riot act yet
when dealing with
state enterprises and parastatals.
Score 3/10
Minister of
Labour and Social Services Paurina Mpariwa
Has met most of the goals she set
out for 2009: signed a social contract
under the Tripartite Negotiating
Forum, is in the process of drafting a
social protection strategic framework
to improve existing social protection
schemes which include paying tuition
for orphans and vulnerable children and
cash transfers which provide free
cash assistance to the elderly,
chronically ill and disabled persons. But
has not dealt sufficiently with a
demoralized, undocumented and deregulated
workforce.
Recommendation: Strengthen resource mobilisation from donors and
give us
more results.
Score: 5/10
Minister of Youth
Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Saviour
Kasukuwere
Kasukuwere
was actively involved in party politics more than his ministry.
Seems to
have brilliant ideas about his ministry, if only he could put them
into
practice. The national youth service will always be a blot on his
personality. His name pops up wherever something underhand has
occurred.
Recommendation: Should clean himself up.
Score:
4/10
Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Patrick Chinamasa
Has
been in the same ministry for far too long - 10 years. Has continued to
sing
for his supper. Needs to move away from party stunts especially
regarding
the GNU. One wonders when he will meet the needs of prisoners,
operationalise the judicial services commission and meet the minimum
standards, best practice and needs for a sound justice delivery
institutions.
Recommendation: Is it possible for a hawk to turn into a
dove? Too much
darkness and hate dog him.
Score
4/10
Minister of Public Service Eliphas Mukonoweshuro
Still
waiting for the audit on the civil service, a review of salaries and
conditions of services and to the harmonisation of the Public Service Act
with the Labour Act. Yet to implement the personnel performance system for
public servants.
Recommendation: Run your ministry like a listed company.
Civil servants want
to be updated regularly.
Score
5/10
Minister of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development
Ignatious Chombo
In Zimbabwe there are ministers, then controversial
ministers, then there is
Ignatious Chombo. He always has a sly way of doing
things. If he was an
actor he would not need a script. He enjoys too much
free rein.
Recommendation: If only there could be someone who could take a
good look at
this guy! Being one of the richest guys in the land shouldn't
he be excused
so he could run his Babylonisque empire?
Score
3/10
Minister of Energy and Power Development Elias Mudzuri
When
Mudzuri took over in February, he ordered Zesa to stop disconnections
until
March when new tariff charges were expected. He was commended by many
but to
everyone's shock, Zimbabweans were hit by unjustified bills, in some
instances exceeding US$1 600. This was despite the fact that the country was
facing worsening power outages, with some suburbs going for weeks or even
months without electricity. Recommendation: Prioritise refurbishment and
rehabilitation of infrastructure.
Score 4/10
Higher
and Tertiary Education Stan Mudenge
Mudenge has privatised public tertiary
institutions through fees beyond the
reach of the majority of students. He
has failed to improve the living,
working and learning conditions at the
University of Zimbabwe, which was one
of the best in Africa. The university
has been forced to close the halls of
residence because of the state of
dilapidation, forcing students from
outside Harare to be squatters. Some
students have been forced into
prostitution and criminal activities to raise
money for accommodation and
fees. Recommendation: Needs to be more visible
and show he still has the
energy to clog on?
Score
0/10
Minister of Mines and Mining Development Obert Mpofu
Mpofu
was one of the most visible ministers because of the controversy
surrounding
the Chiadzwa diamonds. The mining sector is showing signs of
recovery.
Despite the positive achievements, Mpofu lost the plot when he did
not float
a tender to select prospective investors to partner government in
diamond
extraction in Marange, overlooking better equipped and experienced
diamond
partners.
Recommendation: Should be transparent especially in the awarding of
contracts.
Score 5/10
Paul Nyakazeya/Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 17:31
IT is hard to
predict anything in Zimbabwe, but a special report by the
Centre of
Intelligence’s Spiritual Intelligence desk, a crack unit whose
brief is to
gather traditional healers, prophets, soothsayers and psychics
to predict
major political and economic developments, has come in very
handy. The
spooks, after analysing the data sourced from sangomas and
prophets, are
convinced that the following headlines will come to pass in
2010.
Tsvangirai fights like a tiger
On the political
front, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will fight like a
tiger next year to
push through political, security, judicial and media
reforms emerging with
more political power.
Security chiefs finally salute
Tsvangirai
Zimbabwe’s security service chiefs have announced that
they are going to be
apolitical this year and are ready to salute
Tsvangirai. Speaking at the MDC
headquarters in Harare, the commanders of
various security organs said they
would recognise Tsvangirai as the
country’s legitimate leader. He said: “We
have realised that our conduct in
the past has been very unprofessional. As
such we are throwing all our
support behind the Prime Minister. We want to
eliminate any shadow of doubt
that we are apolitical.”
President Mugabe steps down
While
the nation is trying to come to terms with the recent announcement by
security chiefs that they are ready for new leadership, President Robert
Mugabe, who turns 86 next month, has announced he will retire with immediate
effect. He will, however, stay on to allow for a smooth transition of power
and government. The veteran leader says he needs rest and will be
channelling all his energy to his memoirs, Chronicles of a Misunderstood
Leader. But Mugabe says he is ready for a comeback if the people beg him. He
says he will honour the people’s wishes as he has done in the last three
decades. At the time of going to print, Zimbabweans interviewed by the
Independent said Mugabe must concentrate on his book.
Evil West
lifts sanctions
The evil West and its allies have bowed to ratcheted
pressure to lift
illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe. This comes after threats by
Mugabe to
disengage from a year-old coalition government saying sanctions
were hurting
his family and friends, who can only visit the Middle East and
China on
holidays. He said: “These sanctions have caused me and my family
untold
suffering. As a result I was willing to disengage from government. I
was
very committed to disengaging and I am glad the West knows I was not
bluffing.”
More newspapers launched
Five more
independent newspapers have been established after Zimbabwe
successfully
instituted media reforms. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
says he is
happy that more independent newspapers have been launched in line
with the
Global Political Agreement. He said this showed that the “GNU was
working
perfectly. We are very democratic and my only intention is to shame
the
West, who caricatured me as a dictator.” But the presidential
spokesperson
has quit citing irreconcilable differences with the 86-year-old
leader over
the manner he handled media reforms. When reached for comment
the
spokesperson said he had been offered the same position by the North
Korean
government where he hopes his experience will come in handy.
Gono,
Tomana fired
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank chief
Gideon Gono have
been fired. Gono and Tomana had to be dragged kicking and
screaming from
their offices after defying President Robert Mugabe’s order
to step down in
line with the GPA. While being dragged Gono screamed: “I
can’t go yet. The
President knows I am going to make the economy better by
printing more
money. The MDC is lying to him. Put me down! I will walk on my
own.” Tomana
said he was quitting because of political pressure from the
prime minister.
Biti brings back Zimdollar
Finance
minister Tendai Biti says Zimbabwe is ready to bring the Zimbabwe
dollar
back into circulation. He told the Herald that annual GDP growth of
15%
supported the return of the dollar. He said he had been inundated with
calls
from business people to return the local currency. Biti added that
increased
capacity utilisation and booming investments running into billions
from
South African businesses would keep the economy on this growth
trajectory.
“I am no longer willing to commit suicide over this matter. Our
economy is
booming buoyed by Chiadzwa diamonds that are fetching record
prices. Our
decision is also premised on Economic Planning minister Elton
Mangoma’s
growth predictions for next year. He sees the economy adding a
further five
percentage points in 2011.”
Tsvangirai blasts West
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has lambasted the US and European Union for
meddling in Zimbabwe’s internal politics. He was speaking in Pyongyang,
North Korea, after meeting Kim Jong-il. The visit was organised by the
United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
Villagers acquire 51%
Old Mutual stake
Government has okayed a billion dollar empowerment
deal that will see Uzumba
villagers own 51% in Old Mutual Zimbabwe.
Empowerment minister Saviour
Kasukuwere says critics of his policy have been
proven wrong. “We do not
want politicians and a connected few to benefit
again like the land reform
exercise,” Kasukuwere said.
Mutambara
quits GNU
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has disengaged from
GNU alleging he
is being politically sidelined by Tsvangirai and Mugabe. He
said after
taking a beating at the hands of the police with Tsvangirai, he
deserves
recognition. He announced: “The MDC is disengaging from government.
I don’t
have to be a rocket scientist to know I am being sidelined and
sabotaged in
government. I taught space engineers at MIT in the states. We
are only
disengaging from the MDC-T.”
World Cup final in
Zim
South Africa has decided to let Zimbabwe host the World Cup final
saying its
northern neighbour had shown so much excitement in the tourney
one would be
forgiven for thinking the football showcase was happening in
Rudhaka Stadium
in Marondera. President Jacob Zuma said: “Our Zanu PF
comrades have spent
more money on advertising for the World Cup than we
South Africans have
spent on infrastructure development to make this a
reality in their own
country that we feel its only fair to the tourism
authorities to let them
have the final at Rudhaka
Stadium.”
Constitutional poll in January
Constitutional
Affairs minister Eric Matinenga has said Zimbabweans will
next January vote
for a “people driven” bill of rights after Zanu PF
politicians blasted the
once controversial Kariba draft as “undemocratic”.
“Next month marks a
historic moment in our country,” said Matinenga.
“President Mugabe is a
democratic leader.”
Chris Muronzi/Bernard Mpofu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 17:08
DECEMBER 2
saw the announcement of the much-anticipated maiden National
Budget
Statement from the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti. It has been
hailed as
one which attempted to be as frank as possible. It gave credence
to the
realisation that despite the financial needs of the country as
expressed by
the requests of the various line ministries, revenue generation
is still a
far cry of the requirements.
The minister managed to significantly trim
budget expenditure from the US$12
billion requested to US$2,25 billion.
However, this is still much more than
the revenue target of US$1, 4
billion.
What is pleasing about this is the realisation, or rather
acceptance, that
resources are scarce and that Zimbabwe has to start living
within its means
and increase them as rapidly as possible if it wants
standards of living to
improve. This despite cries that certain allocations
were well below
expectations. Nonetheless, this acceptance was not
consistent across all
sectors, specifically so for the financial
sector.
From an investment point of view the minister did make a
number of key
changes which hopefully will act as a major incentive for
investment into
the Zimbabwean economy.
Corporate and personal taxes
were reduced which should see aggregate
consumption rising and so further
stimulate demand in the economy. Increased
growth will only come about with
increasing use of resources much of which
depends on much increased
investment.
The idea there is to get a smaller piece of a larger pie but
still managing
to increase revenues. Attempts were also made to curb
revenue leakages by
improving monitoring and tax collection
systems.
These are all welcome developments and should they act in the
manner
anticipated, growth in the economy should be
stimulated.
However, when it comes to the banking sector an
adjustment in policy would
be suggested. It is true that generally
transaction charges in the banking
sector are a bit on the high side and
attempts to bring these down are
commendable.
Additionally, it is
generally accepted that total bank deposits in Zimbabwe
are sitting at just
over US$1 billion dollars.
By the Budget Statement's own admission only
US$15, 8 million of these are
classified as long-term deposits. Still, with
that, about half of the total
deposits have been lent out to businesses in
various forms.
On this, the minister alluded to the fact that banks
should take a less
conservative approach and instead increase the allocation
of loans to about
80% of the deposit base. This is where I beg to
differ.
Firstly, let us take it as fact that the banking system is
run by
unscrupulous, errant and greedy bankers.
Would they then not
be motivated to dish out as much money as is possible to
as many clients as
they can?
On that basis alone would it not suggest that if that were
possible, banks
would want to loan out most of the deposits they hold to
maximise profit?
Then again, is the world not in a financial crisis as a
result of over
extending credit to maximise profits?
One could
even argue that the 50% loans-to-deposit ratio is high given the
current
environment. With the greater part of deposits classified as
short-term and
borrowers willing to go as long as possible, the potential
mismatch could be
devastating should depositors require their money and
borrowers not be able
to pay on time.
That, in part, has been the reason a bank cannot have too
many of its
deposits out in loans if most of its deposits can be called in
at short
notice. In addition, the issue of lender of last resort has not
been
addressed by the authorities implying that should a mismatch occur a
bank
would have no recourse to accommodation from the central
bank.
Pushing banks to loan out 80% of their deposits can only be
achieved if the
government can guarantee to pay back depositors' funds in
the event of a
bank failure. At this stage, scope for this is limited by the
scarce
government resources.
If anything, Zimbabwe should be
taking a leaf out of the global financial
crisis.
The investment
banking model where some institutions could operate without
the government
insuring depositors' funds has shown it is subject to some
pitfalls. The
policy pronouncements seem to be pushing for this without due
consideration
for the potential downside.
The solution there lies not so much in
raising public sentiment that banks
should provide more loans to the
would-be borrowers but instead deliberately
looking for external support,
foreign partnerships and so forth to
complement the efforts of the local
financial industry.
Solving one problem by increasing the potential for
another is not a
permanent solution.
By Tich Pasi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
16:54
"FRAGILE - handle with care!" This is what would possibly be
written on a
container if Zimbabwe's potential for investment were to be
packaged and
exported to foreign suitors. This is so because despite the
expectations
shown by the country following the political settlement in
February, many
deals just petered out without coming to fruition, leaving
the market
wondering what should have been done.
Zimbabwe's
political stage, despite the establishment of the inclusive
government,
continues to be fragile and this has been worsened by unclear or
contradictory policies, especially on indigenisation as well as the threat
to investments as was the case with Nestlé in September.
A
solution to the country's political problems was found at a time when
globally, governments had started to act on the effects of the financial
crisis and the country was expected to join the train at that crucial
time.
A tourism conference was held in March with enquiries being
made and this
was followed by an investor's conference in July as well as a
mining
conference in September, which were expected to attract
investment.
This, the market thought, would be a harbinger of more
businesspeople coming
to invest in the country that had so much potential,
but in retrospect, one
would reckon that this was a false
start.
Throughout the year, everything worked to the advantage of
foreign investors
as the adoption of multiple currencies meant that
companies had to source
funds for capital investment which were non-existent
in the country because
of a liquidity crunch.
There were no lines
of credit ready for local businesses and the few local
institutions which
were lending were doing so on a short-term basis and at
prohibitive
rates.
Foreign investors were then expected to come in with millions
of dollars and
this would boost capacity utilisation which was then at a
paltry 10% on
average, with government through its policy document, the
Short-Term
Emergency Recovery Programme, targeting
60%.
Negotiations were said to have started with many companies
working on
capital-raising initiatives. Listed entity OK Zimbabwe led the
pack, opening
talks with South Africa's Shoprite.
This is a deal
which was expected to change the country's retail sector and
at the same
time boost OK Zimbabwe's dominance on the local market with the
injection of
R167 million.
Midway through these negotiations, Shoprite announced
that it was pulling
out and while the retail giant was mum on the reasons,
it was clear that the
threat that had been posed to Nestlé Zimbabwe at that
time made it illogical
to make a move.
Nestlé Zimbabwe had bowed
to pressure and refused to accept milk from
Gushungo Holdings, a firm that
is owned by First Lady Grace Mugabe.
This led to fallout with
authorities and the milk-processing firm had its
accounts frozen by the
Reserve Bank and there were people who threatened to
take over
Nestlé.
It is still not clear how far this deal has gone because
despite the
announcement of Shoprite's pullout, OK has continued to issue
cautionary
statements saying it was still in
negotiations.
Another deal involved CFX Financial Services and a
Zambian investor before
it was blocked by fugitive businessman Gilbert
Muponda who argued that he
still had an interest through Century Bank which
was incorporated into the
former.
CFX could not meet the central
bank statutory reserves requirements and it
was only rescued by Interfin
which has since taken over the financial
institution.
This means
that the two potential deals involving local companies and
foreign investors
had fallen through, raising questions if the country had
the lustre which
many talked about at the beginning of the year.
Economist Emmanuel
Chinyaukira said the glitter was still there if things
were put in
order.
"Globally, there are indications that economies are
recovering, thus this
will trickle down to Zimbabwe," said Chinyaukira. "The
companies which are
expanding may want to invest in Zimbabwe and what they
look for is a stable
environment and currency. The potential is still there
in Zimbabwe but we
should also remember that investors may want to know what
the actual
position on indigenisation is."
International
investors have shown preference for mining companies with
Mwana Africa
managing to get US$10 million for the second-phase
refurbishment at Freda
Rebecca Mine.
Another mining company, African Consolidated Resources,
raised US$16 million
for the expansion of its mining business in the
country.
Another analyst said there was a mismatch between what
foreign investors
wanted and what the locals asked for.
"There is
a perception that Zimbabwean stocks are cheap and the
businesspeople are
very desperate," said the analyst who requested
anonymity. "On the other
hand, the local businesspeople are arguing that
what they are being offered
on the table is too low and given that they have
been holding on at the most
critical time, then they would not let go their
stock for a
song."
This explains why deals involving local businesses have been
successful.
An example is CFX which, despite failing to enter
marriage with a Zambian
investor, found a ready suitor in Interfin. Another
successful deal involved
Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda)
and Billy Rautenbach for
its estates in Middle Sabi and
Chisumbanje.
Other companies such as NicozDiamond, Fidelity and
African Sun have managed
to raise capital through private placements and
rights offers.
State-owned enterprises and parastatals which include
Ziscosteel, NRZ,
Hwange Colliery and Zesa have been wooing investors over
the last 10 months
but not much has been achieved.
Leonard
Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 16:47
WHEN
politicians sneeze, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) catches a cold.
The
year 2009 will be remembered as a season that market forces, driving the
local bourse, were delicately responsive to the politics of the
day.
For the first time in many years, the ZSE reacted directly to
political
undertones and manoeuvres.
The global political
agreement that gave birth to the inclusive government
between President
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy
Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara suddenly became the compass for the stock
market.
The formation of the coalition administration and
subsequent resumption of
trade at the stock exchange on February 19 brought
high hopes to Zimbabwe's
once moribund command-type
economy.
Despite the clear appetite to pocket the greenback since the
Zimbabwe dollar
became redundant, market punters exercised extreme caution
after Finance
minister Tendai Biti rang the bell to signal the first trade
of the year.
Only 3 026 Apex shares worth a dime went through. Optimists
on one hand felt
that the lifting of the Reserve Bank-ordered three-month
suspension was a
resurrection of a once revered giant, the second most
active stock market in
the region after the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Prices opened depressed,
with noticeable absence of buyers as most counters
had sellers only on a
ticker.
So high were the expectations that
market watchers such as Rennaisance
Capital at one time made Utopian
projections of a 500% growth of the bourse
by year-end. Reality dawned last
week when the liquidity-strapped ZSE
registered only 200% growth from the
$1,6 billion market capitalisation at
the start of the year.
The
passing year also came with a new phenomenon developing on the ZSE. As
appetite for the African markets grew in the aftermath of the global
financial recession, Eastern European investors took a keen interest on the
relatively cheap ZSE stocks.
Buoyancy on the market continued to
the extent that some analysts expected
the trend to be a happily-ever-after
tale. Between February and June, the
stock exchange grew from 53, 8 points
to 154 points before it began to run
out of steam, receding to 146,59 points
in July.
Coincidentally this occurred a month before the slated and
postponed review
of the inclusive government pact. After painting a gloomy
picture of the
government, Tsvangirai began to open up on the tensions
within the coalition
government.
This recession continued in the
following month as there was nothing new on
offer.
In September,
the market surged to 158,07% as investors anticipated good
news from
companies which were due to release results for the period ending
September.
Apart from the politics, the continued dreary results
which were released by
the companies continued to pull the market down and
investors started
looking for alternative destinations for their
funds.
On the downside, the October "partial disengagement" by the
Tsvangirai-led
MDC sent shivers down the bourse. The shattering effect of
the disengagement
saw the ZSE benchmark industrial index tumbling a massive
15% in a week,
enough to scare away investors. The mining index also fell
22,2% during the
same period and the overall market cap fall 11% to US$4
billion.
The introduction of Grain Marketing Board Bills in October
following sharp
criticism on Biti's policies also slowed down activily on
the ZSE.
Political undertones by President Mugabe to reintroduce the
worthless local
unit "in protection of our national sovereignty" were first
dismissed as a
mere bagatelle or at least a subject for debate among
economists, but when
central bank governor Gideon Gono told a parliamentary
portfolio committee
that government had serious plans to bring back the
Zimbabwe dollar, the
market panicked and retreated.
Biti threatened
to throw in the towel, clearly demonstrating the discord in
government. The
finance leader reportedly threatened to resign if the policy
change was made
within 12 months. The debate was temporarily put on hold
during the 2010
budget when the Finance minister downplayed the issue but
hinted that the
discourse would resume in the coming year.
Most analysts argue that
the use of the US dollar had stabilised the economy
and reduced the
country's risk in the eyes of international investors .
Has the bourse
transformed from what one academic termed a phony market to a
real
market-responsive bourse? An analyst with a stock broking firm said the
ZSE
was supposed to respond to monetary and fiscal policies as well as
political
actions because it had become a real stock exchange.
"This is the
norm and we are not surprised," said the analyst who asked for
anonymity.
"In fact we anticipate this to happen because we are now a real
economy not
what we were doing in the past. This is also happening for the
simple reason
that the stock exchange is dominated by foreign buyers,
accounting for close
to 90% of the trade, thus they are very cautious."
For many, 2010
would be a year company chiefs will have to demonstrate their
business
acumen. Failure to declare dividends by the bulk of listed
concerns, save
for only three, will put company executives on the spotlight.
Or will the
yet-to-be-implemented issues to the GPA leave investors more and
more
cautious?
Bernard Mpofu/Leonard Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
18:22
IT must be said, there is always some good-value entertainment
emerging from
the Zanu PF Congress. Muckraker’s choice this year was
President Mugabe
singing Rule Britannia. This was something that will live
in posterity. He
was recalling an earlier era when, it was said, the sun
never set on the
British Empire.
The account by Tendai Manzvanzvike in
Saturday’s Herald suggests Mugabe sang
it as “Rule Britannia, Britannia rule
the world”, when it should of course
be “Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the
waves”.
It is an evocation rather than a statement of fact. Mugabe is
unlikely to
have got it wrong, learning to sing it as a schoolboy alongside
God Save the
King.
But whatever the case, the spectacle of the perfect
English gentleman, as he
is known to biographers, belting out Britannia’s
clarion call to its sons
with the stirring injunction, “At Heaven’s
command”, must have bewildered
the gathered comrades who put aside their
fractious pursuits for five
minutes to listen to their tuneful first
secretary.
Another thing that caught our attention was the report of
Didymus Mutasa’s
administration department to the Central Committee. It
stated that it was an
“undeniable and very important fact that we tell our
people that the
positive economic changes that we are beginning to
experience as a direct
result of the multi-currency system have been made
possible by policies
formulated and implemented by the Zanu PF
government”.
Should we laugh or cry? Here is a party that has done everything
possible to
sabotage the economy and is still deterring investment by its
seizure of
farms and property.
This is the same party that hung on to the
Zimdollar despite the
inflationary damage it was doing and only agreed to
let go as recently as
Patrick Chinamasa’s budget at the beginning of the
year. It was left to
Tendai Biti to stabilise the economy, while the Zanu FP
comrades thought up
new ways to block reform.
Mugabe was only recently
contemplating the Zimdollar’s reintroduction before
the end of the year.
Even Gideon Gono, the Zimdollar’s errant godfather, had
to intervene at that
point to say it couldn’t be done.
Now Zanu PF wants to take credit for the
turnaround we are experiencing.
We recall all the past turnarounds that
didn’t work. Now we have one that
does work, Zanu PF wants to grab
it!
Fortunately nobody will believe the claim that Zanu PF authored the
recovery. How many people outside the conference hall associate Zanu PF with
recovery?
Mugabe cannot disguise his irritation that the country
doesn’t share his
disdain for Roy Bennett. His fossilised views on race
clearly find no
purchase with today’s generation.
“Open your eyes,” he
told the MDC-T. “This is your country and not for
whites. Not the Bennetts.
They are settlers. Even if they were born here
they are offspring of
settlers.”
Here is a head of state stigmatising one section of the population
as not
entitled to the same rights as others on the grounds of race. Let
that be a
matter of record.
Fortunately Mugabe’s blandishments cut no ice
with voters and it is highly
significant that Bennett remains one of the
most popular figures in the
country despite Mugabe’s repeated denunciations.
His palpable frustration
says it all!
The irrelevance of Mugabe’s
message to Congress was best reflected in the
suggestion that “there was a
need to reverse the uncanny and insidious
encroachments by treacherous
Western-sponsored political formations and a
host of fake NGOs that have
hidden their regime-change intentions under the
convenient but false cover
of claims about the rule of law, human rights and
property rights”.
So
the president doesn’t believe there have been human rights violations or
any
interference with the rule of law? What did the courts rule in the
Mukoko
case? What happened to Morgan Tsvangirai, Sekai Holland and Lovemore
Madhuku
at Highfield police station in 2007 that led to Sadc’s involvement?
How
“false” were those episodes when Mugabe boasted afterwards that
Tsvangirai
got “bashed”?
So, in the same speech Mugabe claims in reference to Bennett
that white
Zimbabweans don’t have the same rights as their black compatriots
and then
says NGOs are working under the “false cover” of human
rights.
We would have thought his remarks provided evidence of just why
Zimbabweans
need human rights NGOs to keep a record of such things and to
alert the
world to Zanu PF’s malignancy.
The South African comrades
are meanwhile having ructions of their own.
ANC Youth League president Julius
Malema, whose head has been swelling by
the day, encountered a roadblock
last weekend when he was booed, along with
Tony Yengeni and Billy Masetlha,
at a special conference of the South
African Communist Party in Polokwane,
according to the Sunday Times.
The three had been introduced to the audience
as delegates of the ANC.
Malema slammed SACP chair (and ANC
secretary-general) Gwede Mantashe for
failing to protect him from the SACP
comrades.
It was a great spectacle, we gather.
Malema, who fancies his
chances as a future president, is none too popular
in the SACP after
accusing their deputy secretary-general Jeremy Cronin of
behaving like “a
white messiah” when he publicly condemned Malema’s call for
the
nationalisation of mines. Cronin said the call was inspired by
struggling
black economic empowerment capitalists who wanted government
bailouts.
Young Communist League general secretary Buti Manamela
described Malema as
“a drama queen” who did not deserve any red-carpet
treatment at the SACP
conference.
“Today we have ministers, deputy
ministers, MPs, MECs and various titles
co-determined together with the ANC
and Cosatu.
“This is not a reflection of the generosity of the ANC,” Manamela
declared,
“but a reflection of the strength of the SACP.”
Mantashe had
reprimanded the comrades for booing the ANC delegation, but
Malema felt this
was inadequate.
Rural Electrification Agency chief executive Vurayayi
Guvakuva’s effort to
defend the unsustainable rural electrification
programme in the Sunday Mail
last weekend did not address the concerns
raised in the Zimbabwe Independent
last week. The programme is a populist
exercise meant to help Zanu PF hold
on to its rural supporters who have been
its backbone for the past 30 years.
Guvakuva should admit to that. But in the
PR piece in which he was
purportedly interviewed by Business editor
Augustine Moyo, he did not tell
us whether any tariffs are being collected
from the electrified rural areas.
It was also interesting to know that 6% of
all tariffs collected from areas
where it is possible to do so, namely the
cities, the mines, industry and
commerce, is thrown into this project for no
return at all.
Zesa should now tell us what percentage of the tariffs
collected is used to
refurbish our power stations so they continue to
generate power. Our
contention last week was: Which should receive top
priority, generating more
power or expanding the grid when the country is
facing a huge power deficit?
By the way Mr Guvakuva, how many hours a day do
these rural outposts have
electricity so that the glamorous projects you wax
lyrical about become
remotely close reality?
Finally, Muckraker was
sad to see the near-disappearance of Santa Claus from
our Christmas scene.
Despite Zimbabwe’s location in the sub-tropics, Santa
was a regular visitor
to department stores and malls around the country
meeting the needs of
generations of demanding youngsters.
So we are delighted to report that Santa
was spotted alive and well in
Greatermans this week. The photo below shows
Standard senior staffer Ndamu
Sandu’s daughter Makanaka (3) looking
delighted with her visit to Mr Claus.
We didn’t see his sleigh or reindeer
because they were reportedly circling
the block looking for parking.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 18:18
SINCE
the "inclusive government" came into being, Zimbabwe has made some
significant strides in reversing the abysmal economic decline which has
prevailed for over 11 years. The world's greatest-ever hyperinflation has
been slain, replaced with deflation. Basic commodity scarcities have
disappeared, replaced by ready availability throughout the
country.
Although far from sufficient, industrial productivity has almost
quadrupled.
Foreign and domestic investor confidence is beginning to be
expressed,
albeit as yet with only limited investment materialising. These
are but a
few of the many indicators of a developing economic
upturn.
However, the ravages of gross governmental economic
mismanagement for more
than a decade have been of such magnitude that the
advances achieved in 2009
are very small, as against those necessary. Much
more has yet to be
achieved.
Comprehensive economic recovery
requires restoration of wellbeing,
productivity and growth, in all sectors,
including agriculture, mining,
manufacturing and tourism.
Such
restoration is possible (even though, inevitably, not as rapidly as
desirable), provided government has a real will to achieve it, to an extent
of subjugating political considerations to the vigorous and constructive
pursuit of sound economic policies, and determined implementation of those
policies.
However, although the drive and facilitation of the
economic recovery must
be dynamically pursued in respect of all economic
sectors, that which can
most rapidly attain substantial growth is mining,
and therefore a key focus
must be upon its development (whilst in no manner
disregarding the needs for
recovery of all other sectors).
A rapid
return of mining to former production levels, and then a speedy
enhancement
of that production to greater heights will yield much needed
employment and
consequential sustenance for many. It will generate
considerable downstream
economic activity, and will be the source of major
inflows from abroad, by
way of investment and from the export of production.
And it will be a
source of considerable revenues for the fiscus, in part by
way of taxation
on mining profits, and to a major degree from indirect
taxes. These include
customs duties and other import imposts, taxation of
employee earnings, and
the taxation on the employee expenditures of their
earnings.
Regrettably, however, this appears not to be fully and
properly understood
by government. In his recent 2010 Budget statement,
Minister of Finance
Tendai Biti said (amongst the innumerable other
statements made by him in
his two-hour-and-ten-minute long presentation to
parliament) that although
the mining industry enjoyed considerable revenues,
it paid minimal taxes.
He was very critical of this, berating the
industry for its limited
contributions to the fiscus, scathingly suggesting
that mining is depriving
Zimbabwe of its vast mineral natural resource,
without adequate
compensation. He contended that this was because of
excessively generous
taxation allowances to mining ventures, concurrently
with very low taxation
rates applied to the sector's
income.
Although it is indisputable that some mining ventures have
been
beneficiaries of considerable incomes for the minerals mined, the
minister
was oblivious of the extensive expenditures which most mines must
inevitably
incur to produce those incomes, and unfortunately have had to do
so in
recent years.
The mining industry, as has been the case for all
other industries, has been
faced with endless demands for wage
increases.
These increases are a very material factor in operational
viability, as
unavoidably mining is very labour intensive. It has been faced
with vast
escalations in utility tariffs, and in addition has had to expand
very
substantially on alternative sources of utility supplies, in view of
the
unreliability and irregularity of service delivery by Zimbabwe's
parastatals.
Much has had to be expended on mining infrastructure
maintenance,
refurbishment and rehabilitation, and upgrading. And many
revenues have not
been received by the industry, the foreign currency
inflows having been very
extensively "expropriated" and retained by the
Reserve Bank.
However, Biti's desperation for fiscal inflows have
blinded him to the
realities of most in the mining sector, whilst at the
same time he has been
erroneously convinced that the industry is "milking"
Zimbabwe, wholly to the
industry's benefit and advantage.
In so
misguiding himself, he has been aided and abetted by the Minister of
Mines,
Obert Mpofu, and the Minister of Economic Planning and Investment
Promotion,
Elton Mangoma.
As a result, Biti not only flagellated the mining sector
for alleged minimal
contribution to the economy and the fiscus, but also
whipped and beat it
with additional taxes, and threats of even
more.
In introducing his proposed tax measures on mining, Biti said:
"The current
mining tax regime is highly preferential in recognition of the
capital
outlay related to the sector. As a result, the contribution of the
mining
sector to the fiscus is minimal, compared to other countries in the
region."
Amongst his 2010 taxation intents for the mining sector,
Biti is:
* Removing the option to spread taxable income derived from
the sale of
a mining claim over four years, such income becoming taxable,
from 2010, in
the year of claim disposable (irrespective of when sale
proceeds are
receivable);
* Reducing Exclusive Prospecting Orders
from 65 000 to 20 000 hectares,
with key application and renewal fees being
raised to US$100 000;
* Introducing a fee of US$100 per hectare per
annum on unworked claims
and;
* Increasing royalties on precious
metals (gold and platinum) from 3% to
10,0%, with effect form 1 January
2010.
Although it is understandable that Biti has rapacious hunger for
fiscal
revenues, as such revenues are presently minimal as compared to the
gargantuan demands upon the fiscus by all arms of government, by
intensifying taxation upon the mining industry he is "killing the goose that
lays the golden egg".
He should be facilitating the growth of the
industry, thereby not only
aiding the initially necessary, overdue
acceleration of economic recovery,
but also massively enhancing the fiscal
inflows he so desperately needs.
He would achieve that enhancement
not only by direct taxation on the mines,
but also on the downstream
beneficiated economic enterprises.
He would also achieve it through
considerably greater Paye revenues from
greater numbers employed, and
through much increased indirect taxes on the
expenditures of the mines and
their workers.
Instead, he is constraining the industry's viability
and growth, and
minimising his future revenue receipts. He should fatten the
goose that lays
the golden egg, not slaughter it.
By Eric
Bloch
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 18:04
ZIMBABWE is
currently in the process of writing a new constitution. One of
the major
challenges lies in recognising the rights of the Zimbabwean
community living
abroad.
Currently Zimbabweans abroad are not allowed to vote in any
election in
Zimbabwe despite the fact that a great number are still on the
voters' roll.
Only members of the armed forces are
exempted.
The unfortunate outcome is that of the 210 MPs and 93
Senators in Zimbabwe,
none represents the interests of Zimbabweans
abroad.
Those in the diaspora eager to make it in politics have had to
relocate back
to Zimbabwe and stand in constituency elections to be elected.
A case in
point is that of the late John Nyamande of MDC-T who was settled
in the UK
together with his family but had to stand in the constituency of
Rusape
Central.
Zimbabwe has witnessed massive emigration in the
past decade due to the
economic and political instability characterising
this period and still
prevailing.
Most of those who have emigrated
belong to the active working age group. As
a result, massive brain drain has
seen our highly skilled manpower seeking
refuge in greener pastures in far
lands. No doubt therefore that Zimbabwe
has lost many of its brightest
citizens.
The majority of the people in the diaspora have maintained
their intimate
links with Zimbabwe. Most confess that they will jump at the
earliest
opportunity to go back when the situation substantially improves
politically
and economically. A good number have established business in
various sectors
of the economy, and the majority still send money to beloved
ones every
week.
There is compelling need for this constituency
to be tapped in more ways and
utilise their expertise in various fields.
Most people advocate for their
right to vote in elections in
Zimbabwe.
This is noble and the new constitution must recognise this.
However, just
being allowed to vote is not good enough.
What is
required is a more advanced mechanism that allows the diaspora to
have an
established voice at the highest level in Zimbabwe and in their host
countries. Voting for an MP in Rusape will never advance interests of the
people living abroad. In addition to being allowed to vote, the notion of
expatriate MPs can be developed to give permanence in terms of
representation.
Most Zimbabweans who have emigrated are settled
in South Africa, Botswana,
the UK, the US and Australia. The exact numbers
are not known.
However it is estimated that about three million
Zimbabweans are living
outside the country. These countries could be
designated as constituencies
for the purpose of elections. Political parties
and individuals would be
allowed to participate in elections and be voted as
MPs.
Of course these demographic regions are not uniform, which makes the
first-past-the-post and constituency-based voting difficult. The best
solution would be to elect using proportional representation.
For example
the UK could be allocated five parliamentary seats.
Zimbabweans in the UK
would vote for the party of choice and seats would be
allocated to the
parties according to the number of overall votes gained.
Then the
respective party would hold internal elections based on their own
criteria
to elect individuals who would then seat in parliament. The current
system
used by the European Union (EU) for election of members of the
European
parliament could be a good starting point.
The expatriate MP would be
just like a resident MP. Same rights, duties and
responsibilities.
The only difference is that they would be serving
an overseas Zimbabwean
constituency. It is highly improbable that they will
be able to sit all
sessions of parliament but concessions could be made on
the number of
sessions they would be required to sit in each parliamentary
session.
The idea of having expatriate MPs is not without foundation,
though it is
still evolving. France through the efforts of President Nicolas
Sarkozy has
amended the constitution to provide for 11 expatriate MPs for
the 2011
elections. It will be the first time that expatriate French would
have the
opportunity to choose their own MPs to represent them in the French
Lower
House.
Portugal allows expatriates to vote by post for MPs
in two "emigration
constituencies" ("Europe" and "outside Europe"), electing
a total of four of
the 230 MPS.
A government proposal in 1980 sought
to increase the number of emigration
constituencies to three
(Portuguese-speaking countries, Europe, rest of the
world), each with three
MPs, but was not debated in parliament. It was
revived recently and has
substantial backing within the Council of
Portuguese
Communities.
However, there are several challenges if this idea is to
become reality.
Firstly, there is a very large number of the Zimbabwean
expatriate community
that is undocumented or have false documents. In the UK
there are lots of
Zimbabweans who have all types of passports, ranging from
Malawian to
Portuguese.
Some have none at all, neither do they have
national ID cards. These
categories might not feel secure to be involved
because of the fear of being
found out mainly by the immigration
authorities.
In addition there are thousands who have sought asylum but
their cases have
not been finalised. Their documents will be in the hands of
the immigration
authorities.
This poses the first great hurdle of
confirming and verifying the exact
number of Zimbabweans abroad in certain
countries and determining their
eligibility to vote or participate in the
electoral process.
Secondly the issue of who would be tasked with the
mandate to verify and
register these citizens has to be
addressed.
This process is necessary to come up with a voters' roll,
which will also
determine the number of seats to be allocated to individual
geographic
locations.
If the reform process in Zimbabwe had moved
with speed and we had an
impartial embassy staff, they would have been the
ideal persons to deal with
this problem. However the present institutions
are still heavily skewed
towards Zanu PF that most citizens would not trust
them to come up with a
credible document.
Then there is the issue
of those who have acquired foreign citizenship.
Currently Zimbabwean law
forbids dual citizenship. This law was promulgated
mainly to segment a
certain electoral constituency which Zanu PF felt would
have voted for the
MDC.
At its height there were more than 750 000 farm workers in
Zimbabwe and more
than 4 000 white farmers. Trends in the 2000 referendum
show they were more
likely to vote for MDC than Zanu PF.
A good
number of these, and those who have attained new status in their
current
host countries, have not gone through the process of renouncing one
of the
citizenships they hold which the law requires. It is hoped however
that dual
citizenship will be returned in the new constitution thereby
allowing them
to participate in future elections.
In addition, Zimbabwean
communities abroad are not well known for being very
organised themselves.
Whereas there is a plethora of organisations that
represent certain
Zimbabwean interests, we lack unifying bodies that would
make policy
lobbying coherent and consistent.
Sanderson Makombe can be contacted at
smakombe@btinternet.com This e-mail
address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to
view it .
By Sanderson Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
18:00
FOR an event which had become pretty routine ever since the first
such in
1984 in post-independent Zimbabwe, the Zanu PF People’s Congress
this year
was bound to be of particular historical and political
significance, for
both the party itself and the nation generally. Here, we
highlight only
three observations in support of this
assertion.
Firstly, this year’s congress underlines the inevitability
of the
transition, from the Mugabe era to the next dispensation which, with
the
benefit of brief historical hindsight, has been unfolding since
1999.
The Zanu PF Congress that year laid the foundation for what has now
emerged
as the new power bloc within the party, ready to succeed Mugabe and
likely
to forge a working relationship with the Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC). Remember, too, that it was in 1999 that the MDC launched
itself and
has since become an integral part of Zimbabwe’s political
life.
Of course, many will argue that this has been an endless
transition, and
might even caution against misplaced optimism.
For,
the 2004 Congress also raised similar expectations until Mugabe, almost
single-handedly, scuttled the succession hopes of Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru,
on the back of that television interview on the occasion of his birthday in
2007, and the subsequent Zanu PF politburo meeting of March 31 in the same
year.
However, as the African saying goes, hapana chisingapere
(everything and
everyone has its/his life-span!). In this regard, Zanu PF as
a whole will
have been acutely aware of this historical reality; more so,
the architects
of the leadership slate that took form weeks in advance of
the congress.
So, there would appear to be little or nothing Mugabe could
have done to
stop the process this time around.
Indeed, it would
be in the best interest of both his party and himself, in
particular, to
assist in the smooth transition from himself to the younger
Mujuru.
As has already been intimated, this is a process that might
not be enough to
save Zanu PF from the political demise caused by Mugabe
having overstayed
his welcome, but it might certainly compel the new party
leadership to come
to terms with the political realities on the ground,
carve out an
arrangement with Tsvangirai and the MDC, and thereby ensure
their own
reproduction as a class of people with so much material wealth to
savour and
safeguard. I will return to this theme
shortly.
Second, the recent Zanu PF Congress places in high political
profile the
enduring legacy of Zanla (and related elements of Zipra), as
the real
anchor of power in Zimbabwe’s post-independence
history.
There is nothing unusual about this given the history of
post-liberation
politics and their former guerrilla armies: from Angola to
Mozambique, and
now Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, there has been this
persistent claim
that those who fought for liberation are also those who
should inherit
power, sine die.
So what has been caricatured as
the “Mujuru faction” in Zimbabwean politics
is, in reality, the subtle but
formidable alliance of the former guerrilla
generals across Zanu PF and
Zipra, as expressed, in real power terms, in the
form of the leadership of
those key sectors of the state apparatus, namely
the army, police, prisons
and the Central Intelligence Organisation.
And whichever way one looks at
the power prism of Zimbabwe, Solomon Mujuru
is there to be seen; and the
mistake is to exaggerate the perceived
political differences between Solomon
Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa because,
when push comes to shove, these
gentlemen belong to the same power bloc that
is anchored in the former
guerrilla armies of Zanu PF and PF Zapu.
Recall how Mnangagwa denied
having been the architect of the “Tsholotsho
Rebellion” in 2004; it was, he
implied, the act of those “Young Turks”
(including Jonathan Moyo, of
course) whom Mugabe had elevated to politburo
status in 2000, the same
clique that tried in vain to overlook and overtake
the very securocrats of
whom Mujuru and Mnangagwa are part. In this regard,
Dumiso Dabengwa is
firmly within that bloc, as time will soon reveal.
But were it a
sheer expression of military power, such a power bloc might
have been as
crude as its Angolan counterpart, the MPLA, which has virtually
hegemonised
the entire society.
Yet, it is fair to conclude that it has been this
securocracy without which
the Zimbabwean state might have foundered over the
last decade. No doubt,
without the violence that some sections of this
securocracy meted out — and
continue to threaten — on a population ever
since the post-election period
to the present, there could already have been
another political dispensation
in Zimbabwe. So, how much more proof is
needed that securocracy is the very
centre and anchor of power in
Zimbabwe?
The state has been their theatre of material dreams,
initially on the back
of dubious activities in relation to military supplies
and contracts; but,
gradually, appearing to gain a degree of capitalist
legitimacy, as they
accessed the formal economy, the commercial banks, not
to mention their avid
participation in the primitive accumulation associated
with both land reform
and Gideon Gono’s gravy train.
Whatever the
case, it is inconceivable that our gentlemen (and ladies) of
the securocracy
could have emerged so conspicuously wealthy on the strength
of mere civil
service “salaries and wages”.
As a class with so much to savour and
safeguard, the securocrats have
developed threads of relationships with
members of the emergent middle and
comprador classes a good number of whom
have thereby thrived in relation to,
and under the protection of, these key
elements in Zimbabwean society.
However, it is in the political realm
that our securocrats appear to have
triumphed most, as the recent Zanu PF
congress will confirm; and, already,
they are the caretakers of the
unfolding dispensation that began with the
Global Political
Agreement.
By now, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his team in the
inclusive
government will have realised just how indispensable the
securocrats are in
Zimbabwean political life, and likewise to his own
security as an integral
part of the state. I return to this theme
shortly.
Clearly, this is an argument that runs in the face of those
for whom
political life in Zimbabwe can be understood only in terms of
“tribes” and
ethnic alliances.
Remember, that seminal piece by the
late Masipula Sithole, Struggles
Within-the-Struggle (1977). Well, one Basil
Nyabadza was singing a similar
tune last week, albeit bereft of neither
substance nor historical coherence.
The point is that neither Nyabadza
nor Didymus Mutasa, in whose cause
Nyabadza resigned as chairman of “Zanu PF
Manicaland”, qualifies as
representatives of the “Manyika people”. To begin
with, Zanu PF has been
largely rejected by the same people, as the last
election demonstrated; and
evidence within Zanu PF itself blames Mutasa’s
sins of omission and
commission as having been responsible for the party’s
defeat in the
Makoni/Rusape districts.
Therefore, it is not true
that people vote tribally, even if the latter
appears to coincide with other
equally important factors and political
judgments.
Well, I witnessed
the Manyika reject their own would-be son in last year’s
presidential
election: in the heart of Sakubva itself, at Sakubva Stadium,
Simba Makoni
attracted no more than 3 000 people to his campaign rally in
March 2008 and
on the next day, Morgan Tsvangirai, a supposedly non-Manyika
and would-be
Karanga, drew more than 20 000 at the same venue.
The message was clear:
the “Manyika people” would have nothing to do with
anything even remotely
associated with Mugabe’s Zanu PF: and had hoped that
the vote for Tsvangirai
and the MDC would bury the former party of
liberation, once and for
all.
The Manyika question in Zimbabwean politics is more complex than
Mutasa and
Nyabadza would have us believe. For a province which, because of
geographical proximity to the guerrilla bases in Mozambique, was the virtual
cradle of the struggle for independence in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF in particular
should be asking itself why Manicaland has turned its back on the former
party of liberation. Not until the ghosts of the Chitepos and Mataures have
been appeased will an answer emerge.
For, is it by coincidence or
design that Mugabe had surrounded himself with
Manyika individuals who have
no liberation credentials whilst conversely
marginalising those, like Mike
Nyambuya, who have? And what about the
tokenism associated with Morton
Malianga’s return to the Zanu PF central
committee when almost all the
founding fathers of modern Zimbabwe have been
relegated to the dustbin of
history by Mugabe?
Lastly, the recent Zanu PF congress might
therefore mark the foundation of
this unfolding dispensation.
This is
because the just-ended congress represents the survival (so far) and
triumph
(for the time being) of the securocrats under the symbolic
leadership of
Solomon Mujuru in particular. Some would argue that even the
Mugabe era —
and especially Mugabe himself — has been buttressed by the
securocrats, with
the latter increasingly occupying the centre of power
while the head of
state became correspondingly nominal.
As I have argued in my introduction
to Edgar Tekere’s A Lifetime Of
Struggle, the civilian leadership of Zanu PF
has always been an appendage of
the military wing, from those days of Josiah
Tongogara, to these of Solomon
Mujuru.
Mandaza is an academic and
politician.
By Ibbo Mandaza
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
18:56
THERE are times when Zimbabwe's media landscape resembles a scene
from Alice
Through the Looking Glass. It is surreal. This week it was
announced that
the Chinese news agency Xinhua would strengthen media
relations with
Zimbabwe. An agreement was signed to improve cooperation in
technology, new
media and personnel training between Xinhua and New
Ziana.
Media, Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu
thanked China for
building capacity in the local media through personnel
training and the
provision of equipment, adding that Zimbabwe had a lot to
learn from the
Chinese in media reform and new media.
It would be
interesting to know what he had in mind. China has a record of
jamming
transmissions that it finds unpalatable and passing on this
technology to
its friends.
It also twists the arms of news networks to drop any
news service they may
be carrying in return for more general broadcasting
access. Rupert Murdoch
surrendered on that score when he dropped the BBC
after threats from Beijing
to his Star Network.
Xinhua's coverage
of world events is less than scintillating. It picks up
stories from state
news agencies and retails them as "news". The claim that
it had "stuck to
the principle of objective, truthful, and fair reporting of
events in
Zimbabwe" is simply laughable. It reports whatever the government
of
Zimbabwe wants it to cover, garnering news from the useless New
Ziana.
Personnel training is something we can support. If China
supplies the
personnel we will do the training. Then they can be a little
less obsequious
in their coverage of their own regime!
Admittedly
China Radio International has picked up in recent years and is
even
occasionally interesting. But it has a long way to go in providing
anything
nearly critical of Beijing.
Meanwhile, we should ask what minister
Shamu was doing improving relations
with China's news agency when he should
be sorting out problems on his own
doorstep.
ZBC is in desperate
need of professional help. It is partisan and
unprofessional - and worse
still uninteresting and uninformative.
Government newspapers, while
rising to the challenge of a wider media scene
by producing new titles and
boosting existing ones, have yet to open their
columns to two thirds of the
Government of National Unity. Civil society is
also shut out so the state
press has become the exclusive instrument of the
losing party in last year's
election.
This is an extraordinary distortion of the media's role in
society.
At the same time, the state has sat on applications for
licences - print and
electronic - thereby denying investment to the country
and preventing voters
from making an informed choice at the
polls.
Some of Zimbabwe's most talented journalists languish in exile
because the
minister is not prepared to give them assurances as to their
safety if they
return.
The GPA called for the safe and unimpeded
return of external broadcasters
working for what Zanu PF fatuously calls
"pirate" radio stations.
Foreign correspondents evicted after 2000 in
the state's paranoid crackdown
on the media are unable to report on events
here because they are banned
from the country, some on spurious security
grounds.
Meanwhile we await the announcement of members of the
Zimbabwe Media
Commission now agreement has been reached on its
chairmanship. President
Mugabe reportedly blocked the proposed chair, a
candidate of outstanding
ability who all parties could support, and secured
his replacement by
somebody seen as more malleable.
Shamu was
photographed meeting the vice-president of the visiting Xinhua
delegation
wearing his party regalia, hardly an auspicious indication of
media
reform!
A meeting described as encompassing editors from the public
and private
sectors had been due to take place last week but was postponed
at the last
minute due to the Zanu PF Congress.
No invitations
had in fact been issued to this newspaper or other
independent titles ahead
of the meeting.
Once the ZMC is constituted, there needs to be a
thorough clearing out of
the Augean stables at the state
press.
It is essential that the public has access to reliable and
informative media
so the issues confronting the country can be interrogated
and resolved by
way of agreement.
The current level of "debate"
in the opinion columns of the government press
is nothing short of
disgraceful. It is a rogue's gallery of reactionaries
attempting to block
reform.
That goes for interference by politicians and officials whose
footprints are
everywhere visible in newspapers that should be guided solely
by their own
editors.
Let's hope these matters are attended to
before we enter the New Year.
Zimbabwe has gone for too long as a country
with a democratic deficit.
Media reform is needed urgently.
It's
time there was more than one voice heard across the
land.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009
18:54
ZANU PF's ineffectual congress ended on Saturday with party
president and
first secretary Robert Mugabe rallying members to brace for
early national
elections. In a dissembling act, the octogenarian leader made
a lot of
claims, among them that the life of the inclusive government should
end in
24 months from its inception in February and that the current
economic
turnaround was spearheaded solely by Zanu PF.
Mugabe and
his party also had the cheek to exhibit to the whole world their
intransigence on the resolution of outstanding issues, with Mugabe vowing
there would never be reforms of the security services.
The global
political agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the inclusive
government did
not prescribe the lifespan of the government, but outlined
the path towards
free and fair elections.
The roadmap is the constitution-making
process which has now been thrown off
the rails by several months because of
intra-party fighting on the proper
course to take and lack of funding from
the treasury.
In terms of the GPA the constitution-making process
should be completed
within 18 months from the formation of the unity
government. This does not
necessarily mean elections would have to follow
soon.
Zanu PF's five-day talk shop resolved: "Congress has noted that
the
inclusive government brings the party into partnership with
ideologically
incompatible MDC formations from which it must extricate
itself in order to
retain its mantle as the only dominant and ascendant
political party that is
truly representative and determined to safeguard the
aspirations of the
people of Zimbabwe."
And this can be achieved
through early polls, Mugabe opined at the congress.
The three
principals to the GPA -- Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
and his
deputy Arthur Mutambara -- would have to sit around the negotiating
table
and agree on the way forward.
Given the political and economic
situation in the country, there is no way
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara
would consent to early polls because it is
not to any of the trio's
advantage. There is no doubt that Mugabe was
politicking at the
congress!
There is no way, in my view, that Mugabe and Mutambara
would want early
polls because they will obviously be thrashed by Tsvangirai
and his MDC-T.
Zanu PF needs to buy time to revive its party
structures and woo supporters;
at the same time hoping MDC-T blunders in
government by failing to run the
social ministries it was
allocated.
Mutambara and his party will not support early elections.
They will be
comfortable to enjoy the trappings of office and power until
2013 when
elections are legally due.
In fact Mutambara has since
made it public that he wants the unity
government to remain in force for an
unspecified period.
In Tsvangirai's case, the former firebrand trade
unionist is, in my view,
guaranteed electoral victory even if the polls were
to be held tomorrow,
2013 or 2015, but he is not sure if power would be
handed over to him if
security reforms are not undertaken before the
elections.
It has not been disputed that securocrats last year
blocked Mugabe from
quitting government after losing the first round of the
presidential
election to Tsvangirai and plotted the bloody campaign to
retain the
presidency.
Those in the know in the MDC say Tsvangirai is
afraid of a repeat and that
is why he is pushing for security reforms which
would, among other things,
result in the easing out of army generals, police
commanders and top spies
who have publicly announced their political
preferences.
Why is Mugabe in a rush to dissociate himself and his
party from Tsvangirai
who gave him legitimacy by agreeing to enter the
inclusive government?
It is also not prudent to hold the elections 30
months after emerging from a
bloody presidential run-off poll where
perpetrators of heinous crimes are
still roaming the streets and villages of
the country.
The electorate is wary of early polls and would need
time to heal from what
they went through and witnessed last year when
alleged security agents, Zanu
PF militia and war veterans unleashed an orgy
of violence throughout the
country.
The MDC claims that at least 200
of its supporters were murdered and
thousands injured and displaced during
the jambanja to secure the presidency
for Mugabe.
On the economic
front, the country cannot afford to finance the
constitution-making
referendum and elections within 24 months of the
formation of the inclusive
government given that it is just emerging from a
vegetative
state.
The constitution-making process will determine whether we will
retain a
bicameral parliament or not, the number of constituencies in the
country,
and the authority to register and run elections.
The draft
constitution would be subject to a plebiscite and if adopted voter
registration will take place followed by a delimitation of constituencies.
All these processes would need huge sums of money the country does not
have.
International donors can only chip in if indeed a people-driven
constitution
has been crafted, but given squabbles on the process for the
greater part of
the year, it is highly unlikely that the country will end up
with a
democratic supreme law.
Mugabe's pronouncement that the
current economic stability was a result of
his party's "pre-inclusive budget
which ushered in multiple currency" cannot
go unchallenged.
While
it is not in dispute that then acting Finance minister Patrick
Chinamasa
officially announced multi-currencies, what is questionable was
the efficacy
of the policy.
It is common cause that Mugabe's regime, through the
"supreme" leader's
hanger-on Gideon Gono, introduced Foreign Exchange
Licensed Warehouses and
Shops that transacted in multi-currencies but the
supply of services and
goods remained depressed.
Even after
Chinamasa's announcement in January, shops remained empty and the
bankrupt
government wanted to pay civil servants in foreign-denominated
coupons.
It was only after the inclusive government was formed
that confidence in the
economy started building, hard currency to pay civil
servants became
available and prices of goods and services became
affordable.
The 85-year-old Mugabe should know that he cannot just
wish away Tsvangirai,
his MDC-T and the inclusive government. If he has the
guts, he should call
for polls tomorrow -- and start writing his political
epitaph!
Constantine Chimakure
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 17 December 2009 18:25
ZIMBABWE
has never seen a violence-free election since universal suffrage
was
introduced in 1980. In that year there were three armies and several
party
militias which had been fighting each other for the better part of a
decade,
so tempers were always bound to be taut.
But it was also that election
that nurtured the culture of violence which we
see entrenched in Zimbabwe
today.
The main reason this phenomenon has entrenched itself in our
body politic is
the impunity that came with it; perpetrators were rarely
punished for their
crimes.
Between March and June last year
violence was at its ugliest: 200 people
were reported to have been killed by
people who have developed a knack for
suppressing dissent.
The wanton
murders horrified not only ordinary Zimbabweans but the world at
large. But
what did not get the attention they deserved were the other forms
of
political violence which went unreported.
One of the most gruesome was
the use of systematic rape as a political
weapon for intimidation and
recruitment.
What is apparent is that among the supporters of some
parties are people who
are easily manipulated to perform these atrocities
with assurances of
impunity; they are assured that they would get away with
their crimes.
Aids Free World, a non-governmental organisation led by
a former UN special
envoy Stephen Lewis, said in a report published in
Johannesburg this month
entitled Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe's
Zimbabwe, supporters of
Zanu-PF engaged in the systematic violent rape of
women who supported the
opposition in the widely discredited second-round
presidential poll in 2008.
Commenting on the report Human-rights
activist Elinor Sisulu said it was
essential that concrete steps be taken to
prevent similar abuses before
another election is held in
Zimbabwe.
"This should be prevented, there should not be another
election in Zimbabwe
unless these issues are addressed, and unless there is
some level of
addressing the impunity and some level of accountability on
the part of the
perpetrators," she said.
It seems perpetrators of
political violence in Zimbabwe are not aware of
international justice. They
think that because the parties on whose behalf
they commit violence are in
power then they are forever protected from the
law.
Not so!
International justice has become a reality and whatever crimes are
committed
will be dealt with sooner or later. There will be no impunity.
Most
likely these political thugs have not heard of the International
Criminal
Court (ICC) which should not be confused with the International
Court of
Justice, although both are based in The Hague, The Netherlands.
The
ICC was established by the Rome Statute and it is uncompromising when it
comes to crimes against humanity including rape. One analyst said: "The Rome
Statute is groundbreaking in its provisions on and definition of sexual
crimes. History is full of examples of women being targeted as victims of
sexual assault in times of armed conflict. But these acts of sexual violence
have often been accepted as a natural consequence of war. The Rome Statute
is the first international treaty to recognise a range of sexual and gender
violence as among the most serious crimes under international law. The
criminalisation of violent sexual and gender-directed acts in the Statute as
crimes against humanity and as war crimes represents a significant step
forward in the international community's recognition of these
crimes."
The ICC is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for
genocide,
crimes against humanity, war crimes and later it may prosecute the
crime of
aggression.
Zimbabwe signed the treaty in 1998 but did
not ratify the Rome Statute which
established the court on July 1 2002.
Because Zimbabwe did not ratify the
Rome Statute there is a false sense of
security among parties that thrive on
violence which believe that they are
out of the reach of the ICC.
The ICC can generally exercise
jurisdiction only in cases where the accused
is a national of a state that
has ratified the statute but the United
Nations Security Council can also
refer cases to the ICC, even if the
country in which the crimes have been
committed are not signatories to the
Rome Statute. This is an important
point which may be missed by those who
instigate crimes against
humanity.
Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan gave this warning
when congratulating
the states that were the first to ratify the statute in
2002: "The time has
at last come when humanity no longer has to bear
impotent witness to the
worst atrocities, because those tempted to commit
such crimes will know that
justice awaits them."
Perpetrators of
crimes against humanity will be prosecuted individually, so
hiding behind a
group or party will not protect them from the law. The
statute expressly
states that any person who commits a crime shall be
individually responsible
and liable for punishment.
Further, any individual shall be criminally
responsible and liable for
punishment for a crime if the individual commits
such a crime, whether as an
individual, jointly with another or through
another person, regardless of
whether that other person is criminally
responsible.
If a person orders, solicits or induces the commission of
such a crime which
in fact occurs or is attempted, he is also liable for
prosecution.
Perpetrators of violence should be aware of the fact
that they are being
watched wherever they are and to use the old cliche the
long arm of the law
will catch up with them.
Nevanji
Madanhire