Zim Online
Friday 08 December
2006
MARANGE - Soldiers sent to guard a newly found
diamond field in
eastern Zimbabwe from illegal miners are making a fortune,
illicitly mining
the precious stones by night for sale on a thriving black
market for
minerals, ZimOnline has discovered.
The government -
which diamond industry experts say could have lost
nearly US$300 million to
illegal miners, dealers and smugglers who had
invaded the Marange diamond
field - last month deployed soldiers to flush
out illegal miners and secure
the area in preparation for organised mining
of the diamonds.
But the soldiers will for sure never be able to thank their lucky
stars
enough, for many would by the end of their tour of duty here have
become
super rich from stealing the same diamonds they are here to safeguard
as our
two-man crew that spent a week undercover in Marange witnessed.
Our
contact, Thomas Nedziwe, who is a local villager, for the
umpteenth time
tries to reassure us that if we lay low, if we kept our cool,
at some point
it would be our turn to be hired on the teams of local
villagers helping the
soldiers extract the mainly industrial diamonds from
the bowls of the
earth.
"You have to be patient, remember these are soldiers we are
dealing
with, you cannot be too upfront with them," Nedziwe (not his real
name)
said, probably getting irritated by our incessant nagging about
whether we
would ever get a chance to be hired as helpers.
There are about 100 soldiers and some police officers at Chiadzwa in
Marange
district, about 100 km south-west of the eastern border city of
Mutare where
the illegal diamond mining is taking place.
The security men have
organised themselves into groups that in turn
recruit their own teams of
local villagers to help in the extraction of the
diamonds. The villagers are
paid 10 percent of proceeds realized from the
mining while the rest is
shared among the soldiers and police.
The villagers are carefully
vetted before being hired, with their
national identity cards inspected to
make sure they come form Marange and
are not undercover investigators sent
by army or police superiors from
Harare.
Having spent two days
last week roaming around at Chiadzwa without
being hired we were getting
anxious we might never be taken on the mining
teams.
But soon
our turn came on the Friday, after managing to slip through
the vetting
process we were taken on one of the team of helpers to fill in
for some of
the villagers who had gone off for the weekend.
"Varume hatingafe
nenyota iwo makumbo ari mumvura," said an army
captain in the vernacular
Shona language as he welcomed us into the group.
Loosely translated: guys we
can't die of thirst whilst standing in water -
meaning the soldiers could
not suffer Zimbabwe's worsening poverty whilst
they could escape poverty
through selling diamonds.
For the next four or five hours, it was
gruelling work, with the
captain - whose colleagues later identified only as
Mashiri - leading the
search for the precious stones.
Using
powerful army supplied searchlights and torches, we dug deep
into the earth
and shoveled out mounds of rock and soil - once we found the
diamond stone,
it was taken to another section for sorting by more
experienced
hands.
It was an uneasy situation to be seen to be asking or
answering
questions. But on prodding an elderly villager we were working
with in one
of the long trenches, he explained: "Once there are enough
diamonds,
representatives of the soldiers are sent out to Mutare where there
are ready
buyers . . . they never sell to locals or the many dealers who
come here
trying to buy diamonds."
And true to the villager's
word, the next morning the soldiers and
police were in a mean mood,
protecting the nation's riches and chasing away
a host of precious stone
dealers who regularly drop by, some driving cars
with foreign registration
numbers.
Meanwhile, in Mutare city the prices of diamonds have shot
up on the
black-market because of rising demand and also because of the fact
that most
diamonds sold on the market are now almost exclusively from the
mining
activities of the security agents after illegal panners were chased
away
from Marange.
Inferior quality stones that used to sell
for Z$10 000 now sell at
around Z$30 000, while the high quality gems that
sold for between $100 000
and $150 000 now sell for not less than $350
000.
When we confronted Mines Minister Amos Midzi with the
information we
obtained from our investigations in Marange, he professed
ignorance of the
illegal activities of the army but promised to take up the
matter with the
Ministries of Defence and Home Affairs in charge of the army
and police
respectively.
Midzi said: "We put security agents
there to protect the area because
we want to do the proper thing. And my
information is that the place is now
calm. I will however take up the matter
you have raised with the security
ministries for
investigation."
But our friend Nedziwe probably summed it up well.
"By the time the
government people in Harare decide what to do with diamonds
at Marange there
won't be much left and these guys from the army and police
would probably
have resigned their jobs to enjoy their loot in peace," he
said. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 08 December
2006
HARARE - ZANU PF's succession battle - once
confined behind closed
doors - is fast turning into a public brawl being
fought in the courts,
reflecting the former liberation movement's failure to
handle the
contentious issue and giving President Robert Mugabe enough
reason to hang
on to power, analysts said.
Emmerson Mnangagwa,
long touted as Mugabe's natural successor, but who
saw his political star
wane in 2004, is to sue ZANU PF national chairman
John Nkomo for defamation
arising from the latter's claims that he funded a
failed "smart coup"
against Mugabe and his top lieutenants.
The defamation suit could
be a gruelling and dirty affair between two
men with presidential
ambitions.
Nkomo last week announced he wanted Mugabe's job,
pitting him against
Mnangagwa and Vice President Joice Mujuru as the leading
contenders.
"It is something that is rather unusual but a
demonstration that the
political combatants are prepared to take the
struggle to a higher level,"
Eldred Masunungure a leading political
commentator said.
"This complicates the capacity to manage the
succession issue. These
people are now prepared to fight publicly not
withstanding what the
President desires," added Masunungure.
Nkomo told a Bulawayo High Court that Mnangagwa and another party
official
Sithembiso Nyoni funded a plot hatched at Tsholotsho in southern
rural
Zimbabwe to catapult the former speaker to the vice-presidency in
rebellion
against Mugabe who had openly backed Mujuru for the key post.
Nkomo's remarks marked the first time a senior ruling party official
had
publicly named Mnangagwa as the brains behind moves by a group within
ZANU
PF to block Mujuru's ascendancy to the second most powerful state and
party
post, considered a key stepping stone to the top job.
The vicious
power struggle within ZANU PF and fought between two camps
backing Mnangagwa
and Mujuru, has largely been raging internally and was for
a long time only
speculated about by the media, but has now spilled into the
public
arena.
Analysts said as the camps fought, calls by some people to
extend
Mugabe's reign would grow bolder and louder, arguing that only the
82-year-old leader could keep the former guerrilla movement from
disintegrating.
"I would imagine they are both undermining
their positions as front
runners in the presidential race and dark horses
may emerge," John Makumbe,
a political science lecture at the University of
Zimbabwe and a Mugabe
critic said.
"But more importantly Mugabe
may be inclined to cling on to power as a
way of safeguarding ZANU PF from
disintegrating because it certainly looks
sure to disintegrate," added
Makumbe.
Former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who was fired
by Mugabe
after uncovering the Tsholotsho plan, is suing Nkomo and ZANU PF
politburo
member Dumiso Dabengwa for $200 million for allegedly defaming him
by
falsely claiming he had used the gathering at Tsholotsho to plan a coup
against Mugabe and other senior party officials.
Nkomo denies
the defamation charges but has said if the Tsholotsho
plot had succeeded it
would have seen a near re-configuration of the top
leadership in ZANU PF and
the government.
"I think we have reached the position where people
are prepared to
ignore the President, a development which is unprecedented
and it will be
only interesting to see how Mugabe handles this one,"
Masunungure said.
He added: "The other way of looking at it is that
people are
positioning themselves for a more odious struggle for State House
with each
wanting to cleanse his character.
"Mnangagwa feels
the (Nkomo's) utterances are meant to soil his
reputation by being labelled
a coup plotter so his chance of a strong
presidential bid is
compromised."
Makumbe concurred, adding that Mugabe could as well
mobilise the party
grassroots to shun the two, arguing that they were
putting the name of the
party into disrepute. ZANU PF traditionally resolves
disputes internally.
"What they are doing undermines their ability
and possibility and
probability of being considered to be serious
contenders," he said. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 08 December
2006
HARARE - At least 15 000
cases of organised torture and violence have
been documented in Zimbabwe
since 2001, according to a report released on
Thursday by a
Johannesburg-based group that helps victims of torture.
The 15-page
compiled by the Zimbabwe Torture Victims/Survivors Project
(ZTVP), mostly
blamed the torture on President Robert Mugabe's state
security agents and
ruling ZANU PF party supporters.
The report, which was later handed
over to the South African
government, was released as part of activities
commemorating 16 Days of
Activism against the abuse of women.
A
senior official with the ZTVP, Francis Spencer, said the majority of
women
who were raped, tortured and forced into exile had an average age of
29 with
40 percent of all people who fled torture in Zimbabwe being women.
"The report features several harrowing first-person accounts of rape
experienced by the women. The ZTVP also has a video about the problem of
rape in Zimbabwe," said Spencer.
In an indictment of South
Africa's foreign policy towards Harare,
Spencer said it was a disgrace that
very few Zimbabwean women torture
victims had been granted refugee status by
the Pretoria authorities.
"Only 36 percent of the Zimbabwean women
torture survivors have
received Section 22 status, which is the first step
of applying for a
refugee status. And (of these) only two percent had
succeeded in getting
refugee status," she said.
At least 200
people later demonstrated in Johannesburg demanding that
President Thabo
Mbeki's government grant refugee status to hundreds of women
fleeing torture
and political violence in Zimbabwe.
The demonstration was organised
by the ZTVP, Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition and the Centre for the Study of
Violence and Reconciliation. -
ZimOnline
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 7,
2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006
Stanley
Kwenda
Harare
THE Registrar-General (RG) has abruptly shut down the
passport office,
turning away thousands of people that had hoped to be
issued with a passport
ahead of the holidays.
Registrar-General
Tobaiwa Mudede yesterday sent a circular to all passport
offices throughout
the country instructing them to immediately suspend
operations.
"We
were just told to stop whatever we were doing and order members of the
public out of the building as we were not supposed to accept any more
applications for passports until further notice," said workers at the
Makombe Building, which houses the main passport office in
Harare.
Other officials added that they had been instructed that only
applications
coming from the RG's office and carrying his signature would
now be
processed.
"It is now only the prerogative of the RG to
process passports. Only special
cases whose merits will be determined by the
RG will be considered," said
the sources.
A high-ranking official in
the RG's office confirmed that they had stopped
processing passports with
immediate effect, but would not give any further
details.
"It's true,
we have closed the office to the public. We are no longer
processing any
passports until further notice. Something is being done by
the government at
this office but I can not tell you, you will have to phone
Mr Mudede," said
the official who refused to be named.
Mudede was not reachable for
comment.
Further enquiries by this newspaper at the RG's Market Square
office
revealed that an order had been sent out reading in part: "With
immediate
effect, no more passport forms will be issued as per the
Registrar-General's
instruction." Officials at Market Square said the
closure could have been
necessitated by the need to clear a backlog of more
than two years.
The office says it will only issue emergency travel
documents (ETDs), but
also at Mudede's discretion.
The RG's office
faces serious problems in the production of passports, the
main one being a
chronic shortage of the special materials used for
passports due to
shortages of foreign currency to pay suppliers. The RG's
office has also
struggled to maintain sufficient supplies of the new plastic
identification
cards due to a shortage of materials, which are also
imported.
The
demand for passports has been increasing sharply as Zimbabweans seek to
escape the deepening economic crisis.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
December 7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7,
2006
Gondo Gushungo
Harare
SOME of the 400 tractors released by
the government about one-and-a-half
years ago to support Zimbabwe's agrarian
reforms cannot be accounted for.
Others have been cannibalised. This is
as mysterious to me and indeed many
other Zimbabweans, as a blocked toilet
would be to a plumber! I could see
this coming.
The confounding greed
of ruling ZANU PF politicians is well-documented. And
at the risk of being
accused of issuing a verdict before I have heard any of
the evidence, let me
hasten to say that the vanishing without trace of the
tractors, just like
that of a magician in a puff of smoke, is in character
with the country's
inefficient and corrupt political system that has
permitted influential and
powerful politicians to continue plundering
national resources for
self-enrichment with impunity -- a political system
that is rotten to the
core.
Indeed, there are no prizes for guessing what became of the
tractors. Just
like the widespread looting of farm equipment, this smacks of
the handiwork
of ruling ZANU PF politicians for whom there is absolutely no
limit to
cupidity.
The Herald of Monday this week reported that
President Robert Mugabe, whose
government has come in for some flak for
nurturing corruption by sitting on
the fence, was told of the disappearance
of the tractors during a briefing
with Mashonaland Central political and
traditional leaders on Sunday. He
immediately demanded an inventory of the
tractors. And perhaps rightly so.
But I have burning questions for the
President. What is the purpose of the
inventory? What do we seek to achieve?
In other words, what will happen
after the audit? Will government move
beyond rhetoric and do something about
corruption this time around?
I
am not for once suggesting that the powers-that-be should, in the face of
such stinking scandals, throw up their hands and wonder why. I ask these
questions because I am at pains to see what purpose the audit would serve.
There are many of these cases which involve waste, fraud, abuse and
criminality where government has demanded an audit but continues to stall.
Some of the corruption cases have been brought to its attention by the
media. Still there has been a disturbing paucity of action. And the
corruption-accused literally got away with murder. I cite a few of these
cases below.
lOnly in July this year, it was reported that
politicians with links to ZANU
PF have been minting it without a sweat by
exploiting the country's porous
grain distribution system. They bought maize
from the Grain Marketing Board
for $600 000 per tonne and resold it to the
parastatal for an unbelievable
$31,3 million (old currency) Other than
Samuel Muvuti, the GMB chief
acknowledging the corruption and pledging to
nip it in the bud, we have not
been told who these culprits are nor whether
they have been brought to book.
lPrior to that, farmers linked to the
ruling party, the beneficiaries of the
land reform initiative, had been
abusing the National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) fuel facility. They
exploited their unfettered access to
millions of litres of ridiculously
subsidised fuel. Of course there were one
or two window-dressing arrests.
But the cases have been quickly and quietly
swept under the
carpet.
lIn September 2004, 60 independent fuel dealers, most of whose
licences must
have been granted under political considerations, were
allocated scarce
foreign currency by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe through
the auction system.
All in all they were allocated US$268 million for the
importation of fuel
for on-selling to the market. The money was never used
for its intended
purpose and the country ran dry. Again government, beyond
acknowledging the
scandal, refused to name the culprits, in a clear case of
political
protection.
lIn 2004 government admitted that an assortment
of 300 people, obviously
linked to the ruling ZANU PF, had more than one
farm in flagrant violation
of government policy of one-man-one-farm. But
that is as far as it went.
Zimbabwe has never been told who these people who
have turned the land
reform exercise into a senseless land grab orgy are.
The last time the issue
was mentioned again was mid this year when the
nation was told that the
shameless land grabbers had returned the loot. You
could have knocked me
down with a feather!
It is the same with the
social welfare cheats that looted the War Victims
Compensation Fund and
those that abused the VIP Housing Scheme. Just like
the contents of a closed
book, the culprits in most of these cases remain
unknown to the generality
of the populace. Yet resorting to secrecy as a
substitute for the timely
disclosure of information to the public is a
violation of the social and
political pacts between a people and their
government.
Worse still,
the culprits were not brought to book. Government has always
stalled when
there is clearly evidence of corruption. And it is not
difficult to see why.
Forget its bluster about its commitment to lower the
boom on corruption.
There are clearly red lines the government wouldn't dare
cross because in
any probe on corruption and illegal activities, the
probability of the
trails leading to prominent political figures is certain.
And knowing the
sickening rapacity of local politicians, the audit of the
400 tractors will,
as surely as the sun rises from the east and sets in the
west, point an
accusing finger at ruling ZANU PF stalwarts.
Which brings me to my next
point. If this turns out to be the case, as it
certinly will, my question,
with all due respect to President Mugabe, is:
With so many sacred cows, what
then, after the inventory of the tractors?
The question becomes even more
sharper given the lack of action in the
aftermath of yet to be rectified
irregularities in the land reform process
which were unearthed by numerous
audits carried out over recent years.
By
Tichaona Sibanda
7 December 2006
The influential
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance
and Economic
Development has strongly recommended that government abandon
its 'Look East'
policy. Coincidentally the Swedish ambassador to Zimbabwe
has also called
upon Robert Mugabe to mend relations with the International
Monetary
Fund.
The parliamentary committee chaired by David Butau, the Zanu
(PF) MP
for Guruve North, on Tuesday released a report urging the regime to
normalise trade relations with Western countries. In a review of the 2007
budget presented to parliament last week, the committee warned the
government it would pay a huge cost by cutting ties with the
West.
The New Zimbabwe website reported that the committee
recommended that
Far East destinations be viewed as a market in its infancy
and that the
traditional market of the West should not be neglected as the
nation moves
towards regularising relations with the international
committee.
On Wednesday Sten Rylander, the Swedish ambassador to
Zimbabwe, told
the media in Harare that the government must seize the chance
and seek
advice on how to haul the once vibrant economy back onto the
rails.
The media quotes him saying; 'The Zimbabwe government needs
to take
advantage of the visiting IMF mission and listen to the IMF and get
advice
on how to come out of the current nightmarish
situation.'
An IMF team is in the country for a two week working
visit to assess
progress ahead of a crucial meeting early next year that
will decide the
country's fate. But Bekithemba Mhlanga, a London based
political analyst,
said there is no chance the regime would push to
normalise relations and
abandon the look east policy.
'Zanu
(PF) seems to be pre-occupied with ensuring its survival and not
the
survival of Zimbabwe. The look east policy is nonsense. Nothing of
material
benefit has come out of that policy to help Zimbabweans. I agree
totally
when people say there has to be dialogue with the West, but the
country
needs to normalise relations with itself and its neighbours first
before it
starts thinking of normalising relations with the West,' Mhlanga
said.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7,
2006
Kumbirai Mafunda
Harare
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) has strongly deplored the
jailing of two top executives of
the country's largest bakery for offences
relating to price controls, amid
fears the case could set a dangerous
precedent.
Lobels managing
director Burombo Mudumo and his operations manager, John
Chikomo, spent the
weekend in jail after being convicted of flouting price
control regulations.
They were released on bail on Monday, pending appeal
against conviction and
sentence.
A Harare magistrate, describing as "unforgivable" the conduct
of the two
bakers, sentenced them to an effective four months in prison each
for
increasing the price of bread. Lobels had raised the price of a loaf to
$295
in contravention of regulations that stipulate that state approval
should be
sought before increasing the price of basic
commodities.
CZI president Callisto Jokonya told The Financial Gazette on
Tuesday that
the organisation was worried that the magistrates' ruling
ignored the fact
that the bakers had in fact obtained approval from the
Ministry of Industry
and International Trade to review the retail price of
bread.
"The judgment ignored that the company in question and its
managers had
written communication from the Minister (Obert Mpofu), and it
worries us. We
don't know where we will get protection," said
Jokonya.
Although the CZI boss said all members were law abiding
citizens, as
evidenced by their seeking approval from the relevant Ministry
before
effecting any price increases. he stressed that it would be suicidal
and
imprudent for any of them to charge sub-economic prices in the current
inflationary environment.
"We want to be law abiding citizens," said
Jokonya. "But we must not produce
anything at a loss."
It also
emerged this week that the CZI leadership met Mpofu on Friday, a day
after
the Lobels bosses had been jailed. Sources who attended the meeting
said the
industrialists took Mpofu to task on why he had not gazetted the
agreed
price of bread of $295. He was reportedly unable to give a clear
answer.
But as Jokonya expounded on the CZI's commitment to the rule
of law, critics
saw the jailing of the Lobels' executives as only the latest
threat to the
credibility of government's stated willingness to forge
partnerships with
business in a bid to heal a rift with the private sector
and enhance the
chances for economic recovery.
Businesspeople are
worried that the Lobels case could see more company heads
being arrested and
tried in their personal capacities, as opposed to an
earlier scenario where
only companies were prosecuted.
The conviction of the Lobels executives
was the lastest incident following a
spate of arrests of businessmen this
year, which reached a peak in September
with the arrest of Dairibord
Zimbabwe Holdings (DZL) managing director
Benson Samudzimu and Saltrama
Plastics boss Edward Madza over unsanctioned
price increases.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7,
2006
Clemence Manyukwe
Harare
A MEMBER of the Presidential
Guard, sacked for allegedly switching price
tags on items in a department
store in Singapore during First Lady Grace
Mugabe's visit to the Asian
country in April, is suing the head of state for
wrongful dismissal and
seeking reinstatement.
Chief Inspector Nomias Munemo, who was fired from
the Police Protection
Unit's Escort Division, cites President Robert Mugabe
as the dismissing
authority in terms of the Police Act. In papers filed in
the High Court,
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and Police Commissioner
Augustine Chihuri
are named as the other respondents.
Munemo was
arrested on April 11 at Mustafa department store in the
Singaporean capital
after security personnel at the store accused him of
changing the price tags
on a jacket, a pair of jeans and a shirt. An
official at the store told The
Financial Gazette in May that instead of
paying 172.30 Sing dollars
(equivalent to US$110 at the time), Munemo had
allegedly paid only 84.70
Sing dollars (about US$54) for the merchandise.
The incident is said to
have angered the First Family, especially given that
security details
assigned to accompany the President's family on the trip
were given an
allowance of US$5 000 each for the duration of the trip, which
lasted from
April 7 to April 12.
In his lawsuit, Munemo argues that the action taken
by the President and the
other respondents in dismissing him from his job
was "very irregular and the
decision should be set aside" as he was not put
on trial, as is required by
law.
In his court papers, Munemo reveals
that after the incident in Singapore --
an episode that he describes only
as "alleged cheating on some clothing
item" -- he was taken to the
Singaporean Attorney General's chambers.
However, state lawyers refused to
prosecute him, instead advising the police
to only caution the Zimbabwean
and release him.
According to part of a warning issued by Singapore's
central police officer,
Chan Peng Khuan, had Munemo been convicted, he could
have been jailed for up
to seven years.
"You are hereby warned to
refrain from such conduct or other criminal
conduct. If you commit any
offence in future, the same leniency may not be
shown towards you," the
warning reads.
In his court papers, Munemo says that after the ordeal, he
volunteered to
return home at his expense but was arrested immediately upon
arrival at
Harare International Airport on April 12.
He claims to
have been abused during his detention, including being hauled
before a
commission of inquiry and being denied access to medication he has
to take
for diabetes.
"The board was very biased and prejudiced against me. It
was determined to
dismiss me at all costs even at the cost of my very own
life," Munemo said.
The investigating officer in the matter, Assistant
Commissioner Musarashana
Mabunda, has filed opposing papers in the matter.
He denies having known
that Munemo was diabetic and needed to take drugs at
specific times.
The matter will be heard before Justice Tedious Karwi on
a date yet to be
set.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
December 7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7,
2006
Zvambu
Harare
ONE day I witnessed a spectacle outside
Eastgate in Third Street, when a
group of radio licence inspectors alighted
from a truck and started quizzing
and ticketing motorists who did not have
radio licence discs displayed on
their motor vehicle windshields, as is
prescribed by law.
They met their match when they accosted this rather
stoic gentleman who was
sitting in his car in a parking lot, listening to
music.
"Sir, where is your listener's licence?" one of them asked.
"Sorry, I do not
have a listener's licence, neither am I your (ZBC),
listener", came the
answer. "But you are listening to the radio right now,
sir", continued the
inspector, to which the gentleman replied, "Correction.
I am listening to my
CDs. I use my system to listen to tapes, compact discs
and foreign stations,
only. I never listen to ZBC", continued the
man.
"Why is that so, if I may inquire?" asked the
inspector.
"What is there to listen to on ZBC?" retorted the man. "I last
tuned into
ZBC a long time ago and I stopped because it was becoming
progressively
unhealthy. ZBC has gone to the dogs, if you don't mind me
saying so. It has
become the citadel of cheap, derisive political harangues,
unintelligent
blatant propaganda which lacks even basic psychology, hate
speech, debased
programming and amateurish junk music which should not be
anywhere near a
national broadcasting concern," replied the man.
"You
have turned a public asset into a mouthpiece for a political party and
there
is no longer any space for some of us, who are simply not interested
in
politics. Your presenters are falling over each other to throw in a word
or
two that may put them in good light with the powers-that-be. Even the
noises
from falling pots and pans now go on air as music, orchestral
symphony. What
a mess. It is a cesspool," he continued. "You no longer have
any quality
control.
"How do you expect our would-be musicians to have anything to
aspire to when
every donkey's bray ends up on air as music? What standards
are you setting?
Look at what you call soapies . . . look at the production
standards and
values. Except for Mai Chisamba, when I last watched,
everything else was
junk. The laissez faire attitude is partly as a result
of a protective
monopoly. How can you improve when you have no local
competition?" enquired
the man. "The powers-that-be have made certain that
no one else enters the
broadcasting field by placing prohibitive
qualification requirements."
"Well, the law still requires that you
purchase a licence for owning a radio
or television set, whether or not you
tune into ZBC," explained the
inspector, to which the man retorted, "You are
probably right, on the face
of it, but there must have been an assumption of
a quid pro quo in the minds
of the framers of that law -- an assumption that
ZBC would churn out value
in exchange for licensing fees. Contrary to
popular belief, legislation is
objective. Common sense is subsumed in
arriving at these instruments you
know, otherwise legislation falls foul of
its representative efficacy,"
added the man.
ZBC has a duty to
entertain, inform and educate and, in turn, receive a
licence fee from the
consumer. Once ZBC abdicates and defaults on that
obligation, it
automatically forfeits the right and legitimate expectation
to receive
licence revenue. The consumer is correspondingly relieved of the
obligation
to purchase a licence. That is the way such laws work, my friend.
It is a
function of interpretation. How else do we keep ZBC in check and
force them
to give value if we are compelled to pay for non-performance? ZBC
has to
earn the fees. It is not manna from heaven.
"Let me give you an example.
If I pay my subscription to have a newspaper
delivered to my house everyday,
I will get the paper everyday. If I do not
renew my subscriptions, the
publisher simply stops supplying me with the
paper, is that not so?
Therefore, in essence, ZBC should simply find ways
and means of ensuring
that non-subscribers do not continue to receive their
signal. Both are
media. The only difference is that one is print and the
other is electronic.
A benefit cannot be forced onto an unwilling party,"
explained the
man.
"For example, if I do not renew my subscription for DStv they simply
switch
me off, end of story! They can afford to do that because they are
giving
value, and if I want to eat an omelette, I had better break eggs, as
they
say. Where else in the world have you seen police mounting roadblocks
just
to force people to purchase a listener's licence? Why should the police
be
involved in enforcement of what, in essence, should be a civil matter?"
asked the man.
"Criminalising of such affairs is simply a realisation
and admission of the
fact that ZBC's case for licences can not see the light
of day in a civil
court challenge, hence the ploy to avoid embarrassment,"
opined the man.
"The day ZBC starts giving value, you will lose your job
because people will
fall over each other to obtain listeners' licences. At
one time, non-payment
of licences was the exception, now it is the norm, and
you know who caused
it."
The inspector appeared troubled for a while
then he said, "Well, you could
purchase a licence right now and I will let
you off the hook." The gentleman
thanked the inspector and replied, "I am a
conscientious objector to the
system and quite frankly, I would much, rather
prefer that you ticket me
than sell me a licence. I have, systematically,
de-sensitised and detoxified
myself and my family from the brain damage that
was resulting from listening
to, or watching ZBC, by making certain we stay
away from it, and now you
want me to pay for the insult? Over my dead body,"
the man declared.
The inspector was puzzled but, still determined to try
and knock some
'sense' into the man, said: "As a matter of fact sir, it is
cheaper to
purchase a licence than to have me ticket you", to which the man
replied, "I
still prefer to be ticketed rather than buy a licence because my
conscience
would trouble me if I acquiesced to the extent of paying for
something I
loathe. It is not about dollars and cents, I am afraid. It is
about choices.
I chose not to partake of ZBC. Please, inspector, thank you
for your trouble
but just ticket me and we can all live happily ever after.
You will walk
away having fulfilled your mission and I will have upheld my
dignity and
conscientious objection to trash", the man
concluded.
Shaking his head in disbelief, as a crowd was swelling to
witness the
debate, the inspector closed his book and was about to walk away
without
writing a ticket when the man said, "Excuse me, inspector, when next
you
attend your meetings at ZBC, could you please suggest that ZBC invests
in
signal-cut-off equipment whereby anyone who does not subscribe by way of
purchasing a licence can lose their signal, as does DStv? That should give
you an indication as to whether or not ZBC is the broadcaster of choice.
What is more, I do not think Zimbabweans would object to contributing
towards the acquisition of such equipment!"
The inspector walked
away.
The foregoing is a true-story and obvious food for
thought.
We all know what has happened to ZBC. One needs not be a rocket
scientist,
to quote the culprit, to guess as to who killed Cork
Robin.
ZBC has been the regular playground and victim of the whims and
caprices of
overzealous greenhorns like ministers, permanent secretaries and
clueless
political appointees who cannot tell a microphone from a drumstick.
It has
been used for management and broadcasting "target-practice." And when
it has
eventually succumbed to the sustained bludgeoning, they want members
of the
public to pay for the resurrection -- only to kill it, again, over
and over
and over . . .
Not so far back, some starry-eyed minister,
more familiar with books than
people, took charge at ZBC and introduced
"bull-in-china-shop" changes and
even banned sponsored programmes, and with
them advertising, leaving the
management team bewildered. He spun their
heads round so fast with his
comical theatrics and shenanigans that by the
time their heads stopped
spinning, many had faces facing the back. He
"revolutionised" the airwaves
and with it, sounded the death knell of any
hope of profitability.
Asked how ZBC was going to attract advertising
revenue, the mainstay of any
broadcaster, without sponsored programmes, he
retorted, "Who told you that
ZBC has to operate on a profit basis?" Such was
life at ZBC.
Little wonder why they would want the people to pay licence
fees for
possession of a radio or television than for listening or watching
their
programmes.
Would any national broadcasting concern under the
sun survive such bungling
and arrogance? Why vultures should have the right
to descend on a parastatal
whose operations and management are clearly laid
down by an Act of
Parliament, we shall never know. Perhaps this is why we
have, of late, seen
how some ministers have even acquired motor vehicles,
fuel, airfares, hotel
bookings and entertainment allowances from parastatals
and local
authorities, clearly defeating and circumventing their ministerial
budgetary
restrictions.
There could be good tidings in the
appointment of Henry Muradzikwa at ZBC
though. Muradzikwa is a professional
and an educated man to boot. His
level-headedness will help him make the
right diagnosis, prescription and
prognosis on the maladies at ZBC. If only
he could be left to run things his
way without the usual inteference from
the people who have caused the decay
at ZBC. With professionals like Susan
Makore and others by his side,
Muradzikwa will, in all probability, pull the
"Lazarus syndrome" and bring
ZBC back to life.
I can remember the
days of stars like Jabulani Mangena, Godwin Mbofana,
Webster Shamu, Martin
Locke, Patrick Bajila, Forbes Kahari, Godfrey Mutizwa,
Chipo Mashingaidze,
Mandy Mundawarara, Ephraim Chamba, Brenda Moyo, Patu
Manala, Colin Harvey
and young Simon Parkinson, to name but a few. I also
remember John Matinde,
Mike Mhundwa Tich Mataz, Peter Jones, Mbuya Mlambo --
men and women of
talent and depth.
There were no police roadblocks to check on licences
then. People just went
out there and bought radio licences. It was the most
sensible thing to do.
Radio and television were such a treat.
There
was very deliberate and clear programming, scientifically designed
with our
social stratification in mind. There were stations for the young
and old,
family listening, urban and rural appreciation, with appropriate
presenters
of varying age profiles. Today there is a deluge of young
presenters who
could do with speech therapy. Their language and assumed
accent would make
the "Laurel & Hardy" comedy second rate. I am not talking
of those who
have acquired the English accent but some, like the clowns,
masquerading as
bureau chiefs who bite their tongues with their "Shonglish".
Their
pronunciation, clichés and demeanour are atrocious. God knows why they
think
to speak English you have to mimic the English accent and why they are
on
air at all. There is nothing worse than an "attempted nosing", from an
"SRB"
(strong-rural-background) candidate! Either, one has mustered the
correct
English accent or has not.
Broadcasting is not a bambazonke profession
with comedians, clowns and all
manner of court-jesters suddenly becoming
presenters.
Muradzikwa has to do some serious training or some
bug time culling if he
has to succeed. He has to re-brand the organisation.
He may even have to
call in "tsikamutanda" to exorcise his operatives from
the trauma and
mindset of the "business-as-usual" approach inculcated by the
ministerial
dynasty and evolve a new culture and work-ethic which recognises
that ZBC is
a commercial entity and must simply perform. Above all, he must
resist being
run by ministers and permanent secretaries who often times are
impotent in
so far as running the affairs of their own ministries is
concerned.
A national broadcaster has to take a national outlook
and move away from
parochialism and narrow-mindedness. Once that is done,
and ZBC is brought
back to its former glory, revenue will follow. There will
not be any need to
mount roadblocks to force people to buy
licences.
Those lucky enough to tune into South African, Tswana, Malawian
and Zambian
stations will attest to what I am saying. You cannot bamboozle
people with
the current rubbish and expect them to want to pay for it. What
a breath of
fresh air it is to watch the SABC, ETV, M-Net or Botswana TV.
Currently, ZBC
is an indictment on our claim to a high literacy rate. It's a
damp squib.
Zvambu is a special correspondent for The Financial
Gazette
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December
7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006
Clemence
Manyukwe
Harare
TWO ZANU PF councillors are suing the government and
the Chegutu
Municipality for compensation for the destruction of their
properties during
Operation Murambatsvina, in a clear expression of
disapproval of their own
party's unjust actions.
Phenias Mariyapera
and another ZANU PF Chegutu councillor, Mubaiwa Chikazhe,
say in their court
papers that Operation Murambatsvina resulted in them
losing "a source of
income and valuable property."
Under the operation, which it claimed was
designed to rid urban areas of
squalor and crime, government destroyed
thousands of homes and informal
market stalls, leaving over 700 000 homeless
and about two million with no
source of income.
The hearing of
Chikazhe's appliction. in which he is seeking $23 million
began last week
before Justice Tendai Uchena. A date is yet to be set for
the hearing of
Mariyapera's claim.
Chikazhe, who is represented by Harare lawyer Cassian
Chikazhe, is seeking
damages equivalent to the cost of replacing the
property and compensation
for loss of business.
Chikazhe names Home
Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi, one Abraham Pewa and two
police inspectors
identified only as Mwadzingeni and Magumise as
respondents.
"Applicant was taken by surprise when on 9 June the 3rd
defendant (Pewa)
drove a JCB motor vehicle which demolished the building and
everything
within the building. The building was not an illegal structure
and the
operation of the grinding mill was authorised," says Chikazhe in
court
papers.
He says 10 bags of cement that were in the building
that was razed to the
ground were also destroyed.
"Even if the
building had been an illegal structure, the defendants ought to
have given
him notice to pull down his building and remove his grinding mill
intact,"
say Chikhazhe's lawyers.
A report by top United Nations Habitat executive
director Anna Tibaijuka
last year said in addition to the 700 000 people
left destitute and
homeless, Murambatsvina had affected 2.4 million more
Zimbabweans,
"precipitating a humanitarian crisis" with "enormous"
consequences.
Tibaijuka also said the exercise "breached both national
and international
human rights law", in a report that incensed the
government.
In a report presented in Parliament last month, the
Parliamentary portfolio
committee on local government chaired by ZANU PF
Mazowe West MP Margaret
Zinyemba said the government had failed to honour
its obligation to provide
permanent shelter for the affected.
The
committee said funds provided for the re-building project dubbed
Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle were "too little for any meaningful
development."
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December
7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006
Zhean
Gwaze
Harare
ZIMBABWE should step up efforts to import 700 000 tonnes
of grain ahead of
the next crop harvest in April next year if starvation is
to be averted, a
new report has warned.
The United States-based
Famine Early Warning System Network (Fewsnet) issued
this warning and notes,
in the same report, that the cash-strapped
Zimbabwean government may not be
able to meet the import requirements
because of a deepening economic
crisis.
Zimbabwe, which has been grappling with a severe foreign currency
shortage
over the past seven years after the International Monetary Fund
pulled the
plug on critical balance of payments support to the country,
needs to import
565 000 tonnes of maize and 230 000 tonnes of wheat to avert
hunger before
April 2007, the report said.
"However, raising the
required funds for the planned imports is likely to be
an enormous challenge
for Zimbabwe, given a worsening economic crisis."
"Furthermore," says
Fewsnet, "the forecast wheat production is still being
harvested, and a
significant proportion of the potential harvest is
threatened by the onset
of the 2006/07 rainfall season."
The report casts further doubt on
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made's
previous assurances that Zimbabwe would
achieve a bumper maize harvest of
1.8 million tonnes this year.
An
assessment by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) on
food security in May estimated that 17 percent of Zimbabwe's population,
approximately 1.4 million people, faced the threat of
starvation.
Zimbabwe requires 1.8 million tonnes to feed its population
annually but
food aid agencies and crop assessment experts have projected
this year's
grain harvests to be between 900 000 and 1.1 million
tonnes.
The country's sole buyer of grain, the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB), has
received less than 500 000 tonnes from farmers
countrywide.
Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of Africa, has had to depend
on imports and
relief aid since 2000 when government embarked on the
controversial
fast-track land reform programme, which saw large tracts of
commercial
farmland being seized to resettle landless black
peasants.
The new Fewsnet report states that the southern half of the
country, prone
to poor rainfall, has the highest concentration of food
insecure rural
people.
"Since maize grain prices and maize meal
prices have increased significantly
since May, and since incomes may not
have adjusted accordingly, the size of
the food insecure population could be
higher than assessed in May. Joint
WFP/Fewsnet monitoring will provide some
information that could be used to
update the food security situation in
October and November," the report
said.
The report also warns that
Zimbabwe may need to import around eight metric
tonnes of seed maize to meet
increased demand for seed and enhance chances
of a successful harvest in the
2007/08 season.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 7,
2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006
Rangarirai
Mberi
Harare
ZANU PF heavyweight, Emmerson Mnangagwa is to sue the
party's national
chairman, John Nkomo for defamation arising from the
latter's claims in the
Bulawayo High Court last week that Mnangagwa had
bankrolled a foiled "smart
coup" against President Robert Mugabe and his top
lieutenants.
The action represents one of the potentially most tangled
and explosive
legal battles in recent history as it pits two prospective
rivals in the
race to succeed President Mugabe. Nkomo announced last week
that he was
ready to make a bid for the Presidency, throwing his hat into
the ring along
with Joice Mujuru and Mnangagwa, who have long been regarded
as harbouring
ambitions to succeed President Mugabe when he eventually steps
down.
Testifying last Wednesday in a case in which former Information
Minister
Jonathan Moyo is suing him and ZANU PF politburo member Dumiso
Dabengwa, for
defamation, Nkomo, who is the Speaker of Parliament, told the
court that a
man identified in court only as Mafu, who is believed to be a
district
ruling party official in Tsholotsho, had travelled to Harare prior
to the
controversial Tsholotsho Indaba in 2004 to receive "a large amount of
money"
from Mnangagwa.
According to Nkomo's testimony, Small to
Medium Enterprises Minister
Sithembiso Nyoni separately gave Mafu $2 million
for the same meeting, which
the ZANU PF national chairman claimed had been
convened to plot what he
termed a "smart coup" against President Mugabe's
leadership.
But Jonathan Samkange, lawyer for Mnangagwa, says he has been
instructed by
Mnangagwa to prepare a defamation suit against Nkomo. Samkange
told The
Financial Gazette yesterday that he had delayed sending the letter
of demand
to Nkomo pending clarification on what the Speaker had actually
said. He
confirmed he was ready to serve legal papers on Nkomo yesterday.
Nkomo was,
however, in Kinshasa yesterday for Joseph Kabila's
inauguration.
Legal experts expect Mnangagwa's suit to be filed as soon
the Moyo
defamation hearing is finalised. The trial, which adjourned last
Thursday,
resumes today at the Bulawayo High Court.
Nkomo's remarks
in court marked the first time a senior ZANU PF official had
publicly named
Mnangagwa as the force behind moves by a group within ZANU PF
to block
Mujuru's ascendancy to the post of party and state Vice President
in
2004.
Mnangagwa's decision to institute legal action against Nkomo
underscores the
intense tussle among senior ZANU PF officials over President
Mugabe's job.
The timing of Mnangagwa's decision to sue is also intriguing,
as it comes
just a week after Nkomo told reporters in Bulawayo that he was
eyeing the
presidency.
"Why would I vie for the vice-president's
position when there is the
presidency? Why should I not be president?" Nkomo
was quoted as saying,
becoming only the first ZANU PF official to openly
declare his presidential
ambitions in public.
Divisions within the
top echelons of ZANU PF have widened since 2004, when
two rival factions
battled bitterly to propel their candidates into the Vice
Presidency's
position, left vacant by the death of Simon Muzenda in
September
2003.
Although Mnangagwa had secured the support of the six party
provinces he
needed to win the Vice Presidency as required by the ZANU PF
constitution, a
faction including the party's top leadership rallied to
Mujuru's side,
convincing Mugabe to sack the chairmen of the six provinces
that had backed
Mnangagwa on charges of holding an illegal meeting. This
cleared the way for
Mujuru's ascendancy. Nkomo claimed in court last week
that Mnangagwa's group
would have replaced him with Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa as ZANU PF
national chairman. If their plans had succeeded,
co-Vice President Joseph
Msika would also have been deposed and replaced by
the group's preferred
female candidate, Thenjiwe Lesabe. Nkomo, declared in
court that this would
have been the end the Unity Accord signed by ZANU PF
and PF ZAPU in 1987.
The Bulawayo High Court also heard from Moyo's
lawyer, Job Sibanda last week
that the ZANU PF Politburo had violated its
own party's constitution when it
amended it to "impose" Mujuru as party Vice
President at an emergency
politburo meeting on November 18, 2004 just three
days before nomination
day.
Quoting from the party constitution, an
extract of which was produced in
court, Sibanda pointed out that according
to Rule 253, the power to amend
the constitution was vested solely with the
Central Committee, and that such
amendments were subject to ratification by
congress, and not by the
Politburo, which was only a secretariat for the
Central Committee.
However, Nkomo argued that that the Politburo had
acted within its rights
because it was implementing a resolution passed at
the ZANU PF 1999 congress
where it was agreed that for every three posts in
the party, one must be
reserved for a woman.
Moyo has filed a $200
million lawsuit against Nkomo and Dabengwa claiming
that the two men had
told a January 2005 ZANU PF meeting that he "had
instigated, funded and led
the hatching of a coup plot against President
Robert Mugabe and others in
the top leadership of ZANU PF with the view of
removing the national
leadership of the government".
August 16, 2004. Elliot Manyika presides
over a ZANU PF meeting of
provincial chairmen and governors in Harare, to
review the party's
constitution, particularly on procedures regarding the
nomination of
leadership.
August 23, 2004. ZANU PF provinces of
Midlands, Masvingo, Manicaland,
Bulawayo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland
South, and Mashonaland West
support nominations for all four posts of the
Presidency. Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland Central and Harare only want a
vote for the vacant Vice
President's post.
August 30, 2004. The
chairmen and governors meet again, this time in Zvimba.
Mnangagwa, as
secretary for administration, briefs chairmen on the congress
agenda, key
being the election of party leadership and procedures. Factions
emerge.
Sources report a meeting in Beatrice, where Mujuru allies agree on
the need
for a vice-president who poses no immediate challenge to Mugabe.
Joice
Mujuru is suggested.
November 11, 2004. Mnangagwa writes to provincial
chairmen confirming
November 21, 2004, as the nomination
date.
November 18, 2004. An emergency Politburo meeting hears allegations
of the
flouting of nomination procedures. An amendment of the ZANU PF
constitution
is made, providing that "one of the vice-presidents and second
secretaries
(be) a woman".
Mnangagwa revokes all earlier
correspondence on procedure previously sent to
chairmen, issuing a fresh
letter taking into account the new provision.
Mnangagwa allies meet at
Dinyane School in Tsholotsho, and later at the
Bulawayo Rainbow. They
nominate Mnangagwa and Lesabe as their candidates for
the two
vice-president's posts, Chinamasa for chairman, and Mugabe as
President.
December 2004. On the eve of the ZANU PF congress, the six
chairmen who had
backed Mnangagwa are sacked. At congress, Mnangagwa
announces the election
of Mujuru as the new co-vice president. Mugabe, Nkomo
and Msika are
re-elected.
January 2005. Nkomo and Dabengwa allegedly
accuse Moyo of having been part
of a plot to oust Mugabe. Moyo
sues.
February, 2005. Moyo decides to run as an independent in the March
general
elections, and is sacked as Information Minister, Mugabe describing
him as
"clever but not wise".
March, 2005. Moyo beats the MDC
and ZANU PF candidates in Tsholotsho, but
Mnangagwa once again loses to
Blessing Chebundo in Kwekwe. He is appointed
Rural Housing Minister in
April.
November 29, 2006. Nkomo says in court that Moyo had grown "big
headed",
when he was in government, that Tsholotsho would have destroyed the
unity
accord, and that Mnangagwa had funded the "coup" plot.
December
6, 2006. Mnangagwa's lawyer Jonathan Samkange writes to Nkomo about
his
client's intention to sue over these remarks.
Financial
Gazette (Harare)
OPINION
December 7, 2006
Posted to the web
December 7, 2006
Bornwell Chakaodza
Harare
HE threatened to
spill the beans if he was fired. In the end, no beans were
seen anywhere.
What a terrible indictment of our state institutions and the
personalities
that run it.
Neither government nor Simon Pazvakavambwa can claim to have
come out clean
on this botched-up fertiliser deal. By redeploying this man
(reportedly) to
the President's Office from the Ministry of Agriculture
where he messed up
big time, government is in fact sending a very strong
message that it has
something to hide on the fertiliser issue.
I have
always known politicians to lie all the time. In fact, the ability to
lie is
the hallmark of politicians the world over. They have been lying
throughout
the ages.
But it is not everyday you expect a civil servant to lie.
Pazvakavambwa did.
No civil servant would sleep easily at night knowing full
well that he has
told fibs of the nature regarding fertiliser -- a product
which is one of
the crucial ingredients in the ongoing efforts to turn
around this country's
fortunes.
If he is cocksure that by threatening
to tell all, he was not lying, then
for heaven's sake, just tell it like it
is Simon. Otherwise, the feeling and
belief will persist among those who
have been following this fertiliser saga
that far from being the "fall guy",
Pazvakavambwa is in fact culprit number
one.
For some of us who had
taken to heart and mind Pazvakavambwa's antics, we
genuinely thought that
this man had all the necessary weapons in his armor.
We sincerely thought
that he had the weight of facts on his side. Alas, how
wrong we were. What a
miscalculation on our part! Little did we know that
this fellow who goes by
the name of Pazvakavambwa was just grandstanding to
no purpose!
I
think it was extremely stupid on the part of Pazvakavambwa to turn around
and say when he was relieved of his post at the Agricultural Ministry: "I
will not live my life in the press". Stupid because this man, after having
the press on his side in his bid to present a "Mr Nice Guy" image about
himself in this whole fertiliser saga, now turns around and disowns the
press. Now you know Simon that the press does not work like that. You got it
because you asked for it! Stop putting a brave face on things, Mr
Pazvakavambwa.
It was a mighty cock-up Simon. The only way to break
through that particular
bind is to carry out the threat you made of spilling
the beans to the case's
logical conclusion. In the absence of this, the
general public will continue
to say that your allegations are but just
fanciful.
After all, you went to South Africa and inspected, together
with the
experts, samples of the fertiliser at the Intshona company
premises. The
general public is not aware of any influence that was brought
to bear on the
importation of the substandard fertiliser by the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe
other than the detailed correspondence that was produced by
Governor Gideon
Gono at the press conference called four weeks ago to
clarify the role of
the central bank on this matter. In the minds of the
people therefore, it is
the Ministry of Agriculture which shall remain
answerable for the fertiliser
cock-up unless the contrary is
proved.
It is important to emphasise the fact that the value of our civil
service
depends on the civil servants and the ministers doing their work
with
diligence, competence, integrity, credibility and the acceptance by the
general public that they are doing their best to live up to these
attributes. The feeling has been growing for the past seven years that this
is no longer the case in Zimbabwe.
The same individuals who have
failed to perform either remain in their
positions for years or are
reassigned to other ministries. Ministers who are
non-performers and corrupt
become untouchables. The President dare not touch
them despite his
condemnation of such despicable behaviour.
The question is: when will the
powers-that-be wake up to the fact that
action has to be taken? When will
these corrupt and non-performing ministers
and civil servants be held to
account?
Agriculture, the mainstay of our economy, has been in terminal
decline for
the past seven years. How does one explain the continued stay in
office of
Joseph Made? So is education, the envy of the world once upon a
time. How
does one therefore explain the continued existence of Aeneas
Chigwedere at
the helm of the Education Ministry? I could go on and on about
more corrupt
and non-performing ministers but space limitations prevent me
from doing
this.
Suffice to say that words cost little. Actions talk
best. And that is where
there is a problem. The mindset of those in power
needs to change from mere
talking to taking real action. Redeployment can
never be an answer for
someone who has totally failed in his duties. Where
there is no will to act,
nothing happens. It is as simple as that. The
country cannot afford to
continue being a prisoner of greedy, corrupt and
non-performing ministers
and civil servants.
As I have said clearly
in and out of season, I believe that a culture of
transparency and
accountability is what is desperately needed in government
at the moment. It
is dangerous to talk too much and then fail to follow up
the talk with
concrete action.
Needless to say, talking all the time without action
does have a cumulative
effect which invariably opens the government to
ridicule and scorn. Surely,
no government in this world would want to be
seen in that light by the
generality of its citizens.
The other thing
is that such a system will have the effect of making people
withdraw from
the electoral process. They will see that they are powerless
and impotent to
vote criminals and corrupt people out of their positions of
power because
the same people will be recycled time and time again. They
will see that the
ministers and members of the ruling party will continue to
protect each
other and defend to the death their ill-gotten gains.
It goes without
saying therefore that there is a heavier responsibility on
people in
positions of power to desist from creating a climate of
expectation of
action and then fail to respond to it. There is an equally
heavier
responsibility on people in positions of responsibility not to allow
the
truth to become a casualty of political expediency.
In the last analysis,
a culture of openness and accountability will have the
effect of boosting
the confidence of the public in government in particular
and the political
system in general.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7,
2006
Chris Muronzi
Harare
WHEN Hwange Colliery Company CEO
Godfrey Dzinomwa announced his resignation
last month, the market was caught
by surprise.
Dzinomwa had led Hwange out of years of losses, and was
leading a new
re-equipping exercise seen finally lifting Hwange out of a
lengthy period of
depressed output.
In August, he had humoured the
CZI congress with a PowerPoint picture of
himself sitting on a gold
encrusted throne, saying this was Hwange's future.
So, it had seemed,
Dzinomwa would obviously be staying at the colliery to
reap the benefits of
his sweat.
But the mining sector knows only too well what has happened,
and has long
learnt to accept that retaining skilled staff in their industry
is now an
uphill task in Zimbabwe.
So bad is the skills loss that the
Chamber of Mines has sent a paper to the
central bank and government,
showing how staffing levels have reached a
critical stage that now threatens
the viability of the industry.
Chamber of Mines president, Jack Murehwa,
confirmed sending the report,
saying that the sector was losing skilled
staff, mostly to neighbouring
countries and abroad. The most favoured
destinations in the region are South
Africa, whose economy is driven by
resources, and Namibia, which is seeing
increased foreign investment in its
diamond and base metal resources.
In Namibia, companies such as De Beers,
through its joint venture with the
Namibian government, NamDeb, have
increased investments, while Kumba
Resources and Anglo are investing heavily
into tin and iron ore. Fresh
foreign investment into Zambia's Copperbelt has
also attracted Zimbabweans.
Most of these companies are headhunting
skilled Zimbabweans.
Further offshore, Australia has emerged as one of
the most desired
destinations for young skilled Zimbabwean mining
workers.
With new large investments into Zimbabwe having become rare, the
decision
whether to leave or stay has become an easy one.
The
chairman of a listed mining company confided in The Financial Gazette
last
week, saying he was now clueless as to how to keep skilled staff at his
mines, given the rate at which they come and go. Even text book human
resources management, which is known to work elsewhere in the world, is
seemingly out of place in Zimbabwe.
The mine chairman says most
companies in the sector do not keep staff for
more than four months and last
year he had to access foreign currency from
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) to acquire top of the range vehicles for
the staff. The vehicles would
be offered only under one condition -- that
the recipients would stay for at
least two years and, in the event that they
left within two years, they
would leave the vehicles behind.
According to him, that seemed to have
worked for a little while. But that
was until there was a sharp decline in
the fall of the local currency,
making the allure of the US dollar and South
African rand even stronger. The
mining boss said: "They figured 'I can buy
this same car I have now in three
months with my salary in SA or
Australia'."
Against this background, companies with a strong foreign
currency generating
position now intend to reward their key people in
foreign currency. But
regulators are unlikely to allow this, given the
explosive foreign currency
atmosphere.
Another CEO said: "There are
no engineers in the sector right now. If you do
get one, they don't stay for
four months. We have had to bring other guys
from elsewhere to work here
because Zimbabweans are leaving for perceived
greener
pastures."
Listed companies in the sector such as Bindura Nickel
Corporation, Rio Zim,
Hwange and Falgold, are bleeding due to loss of
skilled staff. With
inflation above 1 000 percent and skilled workers unable
to access the
simple conveniences that they see their peers enjoying outside
the country,
mining companies are being forced to employ inexperienced
workers straight
out of college.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December
7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006
Harare
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe has criticised what he describes as the "bookish"
economics of
the Finance Ministry, delivering a withering rebuke of the
Ministry's widely
applauded moves to end the quasi-fiscal activities of the
central
bank.
"They have this word they like using; 'quasi, quasi, quasi'. But I
tell them
that this is expenditure that we need. We are under sanctions and
there is
no room for the type of bookish economics we have at the Ministry
of
Finance," President Mugabe was quoted as saying at a meeting with
political
leaders in Matabeleland North.
He was reacting to concerns
expressed by officials in Lupane over a lack of
progress in the construction
of Lupane University. According to President
Mugabe, this delay was because
the Ministry of Finance was hesitant to
embark on such spending, "held back
by a need to stick to the book."
The President's remarks go against broad
support -- including from officials
within his own ZANU PF party -- for
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa's
announcement last week that he and the
Reserve Bank had agreed on the need
to end the "bank's quasi-fiscal
activities".
In his 2007 budget statement last Thursday, Murerwa
acknowledged that
central bank funding had been necessary to compensate for
budget shortfalls.
But he said: "Such quasi-fiscal expenditures have risen
to levels that are
now undermining our turnaround efforts by systematically
increasing the
growth of money supply and therefore fuelling inflation, in
addition to
other negative effects on the economy."
"In this regard,
combating inflation will require the phasing out of all
quasi-fiscal
operations and adequately providing resources for prioritised
expenditures
within the budget. This is also consistent with accountability
and
transparency over the allocation of public resources. Fulfillment of
this
requirement also assists the nation to appreciate the totality of
public
sector expenditures and borrowing."
According to figures made available
by Murerwa, total quasi-fiscal
expenditure at the beginning of November 2006
amounted to $372.9 billion. Of
this amount, $60.4 billion is for
quasi-fiscal expenditure for 2005, while
$8.4 billion is for the 2004 fiscal
year. Quasi-fiscal expenditure for the
current fiscal year stands at $304.1
billion.
Murerwa's statement on this issue was also seen as an attempt to
convince a
visiting IMF team that Zimbabwe was implementing some of the
reforms
recommended by the Fund. The IMF sees money supply growth, traced
back
mostly to central bank's drive to save agriculture and industry from
collapse, as the key driver of Zimbabwe's record breaking inflation.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 7,
2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006
Clemence
Manyukwe
Harare
GOVERNMENT owes soldiers who served in the Democratic
Republic of Congo
(DRC) war substantial amounts of money, army chiefs said
yesterday.
Appearing before the parliamentary portfolio committee on
Defence and Home
Affairs as part of a military delegation that also included
Zimbabwe
National Army (ZNA) General Phillip Sibanda, Zimbabwe Defence
Forces
commander Constantine Chiwenga, described the amount owed as
"substantial",
but gave no exact figures.
Chiwenga said that the
money was for leave days which the soldiers had not
taken because of the
war.
Zimbabwe deployed the army in August 1998 to support late DRC leader
Laurent
Kabila during an incursion by Ugandan and Rwandan-backed rebels. At
the peak
of its involvement, Zimbabwe had over 20 000 personnel in the vast
central
African country.
Yesterday, Parliament also heard that the
Finance Ministry, in the 2007
Budget presented last Thursday, had allocated
Defence only 29 percent of its
bid.
"The soldiers are owed
substantial amounts. It is for leave for members that
was supposed to expire
but was extended. For the past two years, we have
been going there (Finance)
to find out, but they were saying they did not
have money," said
Chiwenga.
Chiwenga said yesterday that he would seek clarification from
the Ministry
of Finance on whether the 2007 allocation included the
outstanding payments
for soldiers who served in the DRC war. It was not
possible to establish by
the end of business yesterday what response the
army had received from the
ministry.
ZNA head Sibanda, who also
appeared before the committee, said: "We have the
figures of what is owed to
troops who were in the Congo and we will provide
you with the
figures".
According to Chiwenga, the 2007 budget did not allocate funding
to key
sections of the military.
"There are areas that were not
allocated money at all . . . At this juncture
let's say it was just a typing
error," Chiwenga added.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
EDITORIAL
December 7,
2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006
Harare
ZIMBABWE, which
conservative official statistics indicate has 1.8 million
people living with
HIV and AIDS, is saddled with a real problem as regards
the vicious circle
of malnutrition and HIV and AIDS.
Thus millions of lives are at risk.
David Parirenyatwa, the Minister of
Health and Child Welfare, has admitted
as much.
All this means is that although HIV and AIDS is not a problem of
the rich,
poor, black, white or those living a life of prostitution and
ignominy, it
is those living in horrifying poverty that are mostly
vulnerable. It is an
open secret that those living in grinding poverty and
nightmarish living
conditions are in the majority -- thanks to a battered
economy that refuses
to move from low gear. And it is this group that can
neither afford
nutritious food essential for proper medication nor access
the
life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
As result, only 50
000 people living with HIV and AIDS are on ARVs under
both the government
and private sector schemes against between 300 000 and
600 000 that are in
urgent need of the wonder drugs. It is therefore not
surprising that people
from this sector of Zimbabwean society are dropping
like flies due to the
HIV and AIDS pandemic, bucking the trend in other
countries where HIV and
AIDS-related deaths have slowed down significantly
on the back of the
palliative treatment offered through ARVs.
The situation is aggravated by
a number of factors that could see Zimbabwe's
population being wiped out by
HIV and AIDS for which there is no cure but is
no longer considered the
killer disease it was when it was first discovered
in the early 1980s. The
major one is endemic corruption in public
institutions. The insidiously
corrupting influence of those running
quasi-government institutions such as
the National AIDS Council has made
eligibility for access to the
life-serving ARVs discretionary. This has
sparked public outrage. Initially
whispered complaints about the way the
distribution of ARVs is being
administered have since grown into a deep well
of disenchantment. It has
been alleged that the ARVs are mostly being
accessed by the exceedingly
wealthy, influential and powerful politicians,
their kin and cronies. Yet
these people, living off the fat of the land, do
not need government
assistance in the first place. It is the vulnerable
impoverished groups that
need the government-supplied ARVs because they
cannot afford the
horrendously expensive drugs, which makes it a matter of
life and death for
them.
That the NAC also has a problem of ever-shrinking accountability
and
transparency despite the global trend towards openness is not helping
either. Just like many areas of public life in Zimbabwe, the NAC remains
opaque and unfriendly to public scrutiny. Giving us unhelpful statements
such as "about 70 percent of funds from the AIDS levy go towards the
procurement of anti-retroviral drugs" as did NAC director Tapiwa Magure this
week is, for want of a better phrase, totally meaningless. Why not, in the
interests of transparency and accountability, provide exact figures as to
how much the NAC gets quarterly from the pay-as-you-go AIDS levy? This will
not only help chip away the barriers of secrecy over the use of public funds
but also assuage the general perception that public funds meant to be
channelled towards the fight against AIDS and HIV are skewed in favour of
certain interests that have nothing to do with the scourge of the
disease.
Apart from the government's cavalier attitude to the problems of
the
non-availability of the ARVs and entrenched political and business
elites
who are prickly about public scrutiny, there is also the issue of
ignorance
and superstition among the vulnerable groups. The ignorance and
superstition
have seen some people attributing HIV and AIDS-related deaths
to witchcraft.
The need to intensify the HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns
cannot therefore
be over-emphasised. True, government has been commended for
its broader HIV
and AIDS programmes. But it should realise that the success
of its HIV and
AIDS awareness campaigns will be measured in terms of its
ability to get the
education message across to a wider cross-section of the
community, among
others. Thus, much more still needs to be done. These are
the issues the
government should have reflected on on World AIDS Day last
week.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 7,
2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006
Njabulo
Ncube
Harare
SOUTH Africa has denied about 40 Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
officials visas to travel to that country, reportedly because
the government
has been angered by reports that youths loyal to the party
burnt the South
African flag in Harare a fortnight ago.
Although the
South African Embassy in Harare yesterday did not respond to
queries from
The Financial Gazette on the matter, MDC insiders privy to the
details of
the South African government's stance shed some light on the
matter. They
said the MDC officials had been denied visas to travel to
Johannesburg
because of recent reports that opposition supporters burnt a
replica of the
South African flag in Glen View two weeks in protest against
President Thabo
Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy" on Zimbabwe. Party
insiders said the
officials had been scheduled to leave for South Africa at
the weekend, but
their plans had been scuttled by their failure to get
visas.
The
sources said the affected officials were from Morgan Tsvangirai's camp
of
the divided opposition party.
"A list of about 40 people had been drawn
up and submitted to the visa
section of the South African embassy in Harare
but we were surprised when,
the request, was turned down despite the fact
that it came from the office
of the secretary general (Tendai Biti)," said
one of the affected officials.
"It is not the top leadership that is
affected, but junior officials in the
camp," added the insider, who spoke on
condition of anonymity. "We were
supposed to attend several
meetings."
Biti was not immediately available for comment.
The
spokesman, for Tsvangirai's faction of the MDC, Nelson Chamisa, said he
was
not aware of the planned trip to South Africa. "I am not aware of the
incident. But it has to be noted that we are not in the business of burning
flags," said Chamisa.
Internet news sites last week carried pictures
of youths identified as MDC
supporters toyi-toying as the South African flag
went up in flames.
South Africa, where about three million Zimbabweans
currently live, has
refused to join vocal international condemnation of
President Robert
Mugabe's government, choosing instead a policy of discreet
engagement.
Sources said apart from anger over the burning of the South
African flag,
the embassy - which has tightened entry requirements for
Zimbabweans - could
have suspected that some of the youthful applicants for
visas would not
return to Zimbabwe at the end of the group's official
visit.
MDC INFORMATION & PUBLICITY
Harvest House
Harare
Tel 091 940 489
email :mdcnewsbrief@gmail.com
6 December 2006
Robert Mugabe's latest ploy to extend his term
of office to 2010 must be
rejected by all patriotic Zimbabweans who want a
new Zimbabwe charecterised
by freedom, prosperity and democracy.
The
Zanu PF mouthpieces have now confirmed the people's suspicions that
Mugabe's
term, which expires in 2008, will be extended to allow him to
continue
ruining the country until 2010. This is unadulterated
constitutional fraud.
Presidential terms are six-year terms; even under the
current defective
Constitution and Zimbabweans demand to know on whose
mandate Zanu PF seeks to
extend an illegitimacy that will mete out further
punishment to the
people.
The MDC reiterates its position that only a new people-driven
Constitution,
and not piecemeal amendments by Zanu PF, is the panacea to the
crisis of
legitimacy and governance facing this regime. Mugabe should not be
allowed
to abuse a controversial and technical majority in Parliament to buy
himself
a safe exit. Mugabe is an illegitimate President whose incumbency is
being
challenged in court. He now wants to use his Parliamentary
technical
majority, which is being challenged through several electoral
petitions that
are yet to be heard, to buy himself a further two years in
office. Zimbabwe
cannot have an illegitimate President, using an illegitimate
technical
majority to seek further tenancy at State House. The regime simply
wants to
buy more time to handle its contentious and divisive succession
drama that
has turned out to be a real-life soap opera.
The MDC
believes that seeking a further extension of his term through
Parliament is
tantamount to Zanu PF turning an internal succession squabble
into a national
crisis. Zanu PF is unelectable,leaderless, divided and
candidateless. In
short, Zanu PF is a party in crisis.
The MDC leadership, supporters and
the people of Zimbabwe shall not allow a
unilateral declaration of a Zanu
PF-imposed coup on the wishes of the
majority. The country is bigger than
Zanu PF. Zimbabwe belongs to all its
people who are the ultimate authority in
the governance of the country. Zanu
PF must be stopped now if Zimbabwe is to
be saved from the jaws of this
tyranny. All democratic forces must demand a
new, people-driven Constitution
to form the basis of the legitimacy of those
occupying the highest office in
the land.
Zanu PF's latest antics only
serve to confirm that Zimbabwe has become an
absolute monarch ruled by
power-hungry geriatrics bent on clinging to power
at any cost. Zanu PF must
not be allowed to sacrifice Zimbabwe on the altar
of political expediency.
Mugabe has confirmed that he is afraid of a free
and fair electoral process
and will take the slightest excuse to seek asylum
in a controversial
technical majority to run away from an imminent and
inevitable people's
verdict. In their 70's and 80s, Zanu PF's leaders are
overdue candidates for
the fireside chair, telling folk stories to bemused
children wondering how
these people have lived for so long when they are
presiding over a serious
national crisis which has seen life expectancy
tumbling down to a mere 34
years.
The MDC believes that all political parties, the churches, labour
unions,
students, civic groups and the generality of Zimbabweans must
urgently
demand that Zimbabwe adopts a people-driven Constitution that should
lead to
free and fair elections under international supervision. We believe
that
Mugabe's time is nigh. We believe that all patriotic Zimbabweans must
heed
the clarion call to save our country. Zimbabweans are now tired of
the
outrageous antics of this regime. We believe that is why the millions
of
Zimbabweans across the country and those in the Diaspora have resolved
to
engage in a mass-driven political process of democratic resistance
of
resistance to express the nation's aspirations for a New
Zimbabwe.
Change demands action. Our country deserves better. A New
Zimbabwe is
inevitable.
Nelson Chamisa, MP
Secretary for
Information and Publicity
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of
the United Nations]
HARARE, 7 Dec 2006 (IRIN) - Passports are longer
available in Zimbabwe. The
office of the Registrar-General has stopped
producing them because the cost
of importing the special paper required has
become unaffordable.
The country's economic meltdown in recent years has
seen more than 3 million
of its about 12 million people seeking employment
opportunities in South
Africa, Botswana, Australia, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom, the United
States of America and Canada.
The demand for
passports - the latest item to become unavailable - already
has a four-year
backlog, driven by inflation rates hovering at around 1,200
percent a year -
the highest in the world - unemployment rates above 70
percent and everyday
shortages of food, fuel, clean water and electricity.
Although millions
of Zimbabweans are believed to have left the country
illegally, mostly to
neighbouring southern African states, the
unavailability of passports will
mainly affect students who have secured
places at foreign universities,
people seeking formal employment outside
Zimbabwe and cross-border
traders.
Earlier this week, Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede sent a
circular to all
passport offices, ordering them to suspend operations. "We
were told to
immediately stop giving out passport forms, and to chase away
all people who
were hoping to apply or collect passports," said one
officer.
Officials at the Registrar-General's Office in the capital,
Harare, told
IRIN that they were instructed to issue only Emergency Travel
Documents
(ETDs), which are valid for six months. "Any foreign-based
Zimbabweans using
ETDs can always renew them at the nearest Zimbabwean
Embassy if the
documents expire," the official told IRIN.
Independent
analysts estimate that Zimbabwe's industrial sector has
contracted by a
third since 2000, while the farming sector, previously one
of the country's
main foreign currency earners, has shrunk by 65 percent
during the same
period, forcing tens of thousands of unemployed women to
start cross-border
trading businesses. The traders buy goods in neighbouring
countries and
resell them in Zimbabwe, where they have either become too
expensive or are
unavailable.
Mary Moyo, a cross-border trader, arrived at the Harare
passport office on
Wednesday to renew her passport. "I lost my job more than
10 years ago and I
support my children and my grandchildren through
cross-border trading - this
will make me spend more time applying for ETDs,"
she told IRIN.
Another official at the registrar's office said passports
could be issued in
special circumstances. "We are only processing passport
forms of special
cases of people who have come through from the
Registrar-General himself."
On Tuesday, the Registrar-General told the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee
on Defence and Home Affairs that his
office did not have adequate funding.
"In the 2006 budget, we were given 64
percent of what we had requested. At
the moment we don't even have a cent in
our account. In the 2007 budget, we
were given 28 percent of what we had
requested. The net effect is that we
will not be able to pull through up to
May 2007. We might be forced to
ground all our operations."
Marriage
certificates could become the next scarce commodity. According to
local
media reports, the Bulawayo magistrate's courts have run out of
marriage
certificates and are desperately seeking more.
Matabeleland regional
magistrate John Masimba told the local media, "We are
making all efforts to
ensure that everything is in place, so that couples
intending to tie the
knot are not inconvenienced. We have been phoning
around the provinces to
see if they can come to our rescue with the
documents."
Mail and Guardian
Harare,
Zimbabwe
07 December 2006 04:15
Zimbabwe's controversial State Security Minister, Didymus
Mutasa, was just
joking when he criticised South Africa for passing laws
allowing same-sex
marriage, a Cabinet minister was quoted as saying on
Thursday.
Mutasa is reported to have ruffled diplomatic
feathers when he
slammed South Africa's recent passing of the Civil Union
Act during a speech
to welcome a 60-strong delegation of top-level officials
from South Africa
last month.
A local weekly said
Mutasa's comments had angered the delegates,
who included South Africa'
defence minister, so much that Pretoria may even
file a formal complaint,
further complicating relations between the
neighbours.
But Zimbabwe's acting leader of the House of Parliament,
Emmerson Mnangagwa,
has claimed Mutasa was not serious when he made the
comments, the
state-controlled Herald reported on Thursday.
"Minister
Mutasa was just joking with his colleague," Mnangagwa
said in remarks
interpreted in Harare as an attempt at damage control.
"We
have no duty in this Parliament to criticise laws passed by
another
Parliament," the minister added in comments carried by the
Herald.
Mutasa's exact comments have not been widely reported
but he is
believed to have said he was surprised that South Africa had
passed the
Civil Union Act, adding that same-sex marriages would never be
condoned in
Zimbabwe.
During his speech to the Joint
Permanent Commission on Defence
and Security meeting in Victoria Falls, the
minister -- considered a
hardliner in President Robert Mugabe's Cabinet --
is also alleged to have
criticised South African ambassador Mlungisi
Makhalima for his attempts to
defend white South African sugar-cane farmers,
whose farms in southern
Zimbabwe are under threat of
invasion.
Officially, South Africa maintains a policy of
quiet diplomacy
towards Zimbabwe. The two countries are tied by a common
history of struggle
against white minority regimes.
But
there are indications South Africa is finding it
increasingly difficult to
put up with the fallout from Zimbabwe's current
political and economic
crisis, with hundreds of desperate Zimbabweans
sneaking across the Limpopo
River every week looking for a better life.
Meanwhile, it was
reported on Thursday that a Zimbabwean
Parliament session during which
neighbouring South Africa's same-sex
marriage law was discussed erupted when
an opposition lawmaker accused some
top government leaders of being
homosexuals.
Movement for Democratic Change lawmaker Moses
Mzila-Ndlovu did
not name any government leaders and later "apologised in
the interests of
progress" during Wednesday's debate, officials said on
Thursday.
Homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, but the
government stays
out of South Africa's affairs, the official media reported
on Thursday. --
Sapa-dpa, AP
IOL
December 07
2006 at 12:33PM
By Nelson Banya
Harare - Growth in
Zimbabwe's mining sector is hampered by a skewed
exchange rate policy and
President Robert Mugabe's government's failure to
finish proposed changes to
mine ownership laws, an industry official said on
Thursday.
The
mining sector has overtaken agriculture as the top foreign
currency earner
in the crisis-hit southern African country, now deep in its
sixth year of
recession.
While mining is one of Zimbabwe's largest employers,
analysts say the
government's bid to seize control of foreign-owned mines -
which follows the
seizure of white owned commercial farms for blacks - will
keep critical
external funding at bay.
"Growth
in the mining industry is literally ready to take off as soon
as a few
fundamentals are in place," Chamber of Mines president Jack Murehwa
in a
written response to questions from Reuters.
"At the current
official exchange rate of $1 to Z$250, the distortion
is by a factor of more
than 10. This makes inputs sourced locally and labour
extremely
expensive."
Analysts say tight foreign exchange controls, which
have seen the
Zimbabwe dollar pegged against the United States greenback,
have hit exports
and fuelled a thriving black currency market.
Mining will grow by 4,9 percent in 2007 after a 14,4 percent decline,
according to official forecasts. But industry officials say this is
unlikely, pointing to rising costs, power cuts and skills shortages as
workers seek better paying jobs abroad.
Output of gold, which
accounts for 51 percent of total mineral
production, declined 24 percent to
7 991kg between January and September
this year from 2005.
Zimbabwe's mining sector has been hit by mine closures in the last
five
years, including dozens of small mines, as operating costs spiralled in
a
recession marked by four-digit inflation and shortages of fuel and foreign
currency.
"The major fundamental revolves around the investor
wishing to know
the rules of the game, should he decide to invest in
Zimbabwe. The
completion of the Mines and Minerals Act is therefore crucial
in this
regard," said Murehwa.
Mines Minister Amos Midzi in
March said that Mugabe's cabinet had
approved changes to the mining law "to
indigenise 51 percent in some
instances of all foreign owned
companies".
Although the proposals were later withdrawn for further
consultations,
Mugabe has insisted that locals should take control of the
country's rich
natural resources.
But the veteran leader has
also said the government's empowerment
plans would consider contributions
made by mines in the areas they are
operating.
Major
international firms with interests in the country, include the
world's
number one platinum miner Anglo Platinum , Rio Tinto and Implats .
Business Report
December 7,
2006
By Jacqueline Mackenzie
Johannesburg - South African sugar
producer Tongaat Hulett will acquire
Anglo American Corporation Zimbabwe's
(AmZim) 50.35 percent stake in Hippo
Valley Estate for $36 million (R255.2
million), the group announced on
Thursday.
Tongaat will use its
Triangle Sugar Corporation unit to make the
acquisition, which will result
in AmZim's disposal of its sugar interests in
Zimbabwe.
Hippo Valley
owns and operates the second largest sugar producing and
refining business
in Zimbabwe and is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
Hippo Valley
and Triangle have complementary operations in Zimbabwe,
adjacent to each
other. The transaction provides Tongaat-Hulett with an
opportunity to
benefit from the synergies between Hippo Valley and Triangle,
the company
said on Thursday.
Triangle will issue shares representing a 25.3
percent interest in the
enlarged Triangle to AmZim. Tongaat-Hulett will,
through a wholly-owned
foreign subsidiary Bassieres Holding, after the
allotment and issue of the
consideration shares to Amzim, acquire these
shares for a purchase price of
$36 million. This will be funded from
Tongaat-Hulett's existing offshore
cash resources.
The deal is
conditional on approval by the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank. - I-Net
Bridge
IOL
Basildon
Peta
December 07 2006 at 04:49PM
Five southern African
countries have agreed to establish a second
transfrontier wildlife park, a
development that will boost regional tourism
and conservation efforts and
facilitate cross-border travel.
Tourism and environmental ministers
from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia,
Botswana and Zambia converge on the resort
town of Victoria Falls on
Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) for the establishment
of the second transfrontier park mainly along
the Zambezi River, which
straddles all five countries.
Wildlife
populated conservation areas like the Okavango Delta in
Botswana, the
Caprivi in Namibia and the adjoining area in Angola, the Kafue
Wetlands in
Zambia and the Victoria Falls in both Zimbabwe and Zambia would
form part of
the new transfrontier park.
Zimbabwe's Tourism and
Environment Minister Francis Nhema said the
project would cover an estimated
30 000 square kilometres of such diverse
ecosystems as the savanna,
woodlands, rivers and wetlands in the countries
concerned.
About 36 national parks and game reserves in the five countries could
become
part of the new transfrontier park.
Under the agreement visa
requirements will be scrapped by September
2008 for international and
domestic tourists wishing to visit the
transfrontier park in all the five
countries.
The agreement also envisages a secretariat that would be
managed on a
rotational basis by the five governments.
The
project becomes the second transfrontier project after the
establishment in
2004 of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park by Zimbabwe,
South Africa and
Mozambique, incorporating the Kruger National park,
Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou
Park and the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
At 35 000 square
kilometres, the Limpopo Transfrontier Park remains
the largest and is
already partly operational between South Africa and
Mozambique. The fence on
the Zimbabwean side is yet to be fully removed.
Zimbabwe has faced
accusations of destroying its wildlife heritage due
to rampant poaching by
established game hunters with connections to the
ruling party and by ruling
party militants who invaded some national parks
at the height of white land
seizures in 2000/2003. However, Zimbabwe still
remains home to sizeable
numbers of wildlife with abundant elephant and
other species.
Nhema said the new transfrontier project would make it much easier to
manage
regional ecology and to achieve regional integration in such areas as
law
enforcement and wildlife crime prevention and fire management.
Collaborative management planning towards harmonised land use,
including a
joint inventory of resources, monitoring and research will also
be
considerably strengthened, Nhema said.
Since his appointment to
cabinet in 2002, Nhema has tried to stop the
decimation of Zimbabwe's
wildlife. But the jury is still out with
conservation bodies such as the
Wildlife Society of Zimbabwe, which alleges
that animals continue to be
slaughtered by government supporters.
Nhema believes that the
choice of Zimbabwe as the venue of signing the
latest important agreement is
a vote of confidence in its wildlife
management and conservation policies. -
Independent Foreign Service
This article was originally
published on page 5 of Daily News on
December 07, 2006
VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington, DC
07 December 2006
The Economist Intelligence Unit has added
its voice to the chorus of critics
of Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa's
2007 budget assumptions including a
recovery in the long-recessionary
Zimbabwean economy and an end to the
current hyperinflation.
Murerwa
said the economy, mired in recession for six years, would return to
growth
in 2007 with an increase in real gross domestic product of between
0.5% and
1%, while inflation would in his scenario fall to 400% from an
annual 1,070%
in October.
But senior economist David Cowan of the EIU said that while
some economic
growth is likely, it will be minimal since the economy
contracted by 2.5% in
2006. Cowan said Murerwa is unrealistically optimistic
about agricultureal
and mining performance.
Cowan told reporter
Ndimyake Mwakalyelye of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
he has trouble in
particular with Murerwa's inflation forecast.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
07
December 2006
Local Authority and Housing Minister Ignatius
Chombo has said that he will
maintain the commission that runs Harare,
raising the ire of residents of
the capital who have chafed at central
government rule and are angry over
the deterioration of
services.
Chombo told state television Wednesday that incumbent members
of the
commission "may be" reappointed depending on their performance to
date. He
did not say whether the commission's chairwoman, Sekesayi
Makwavarara, who
has drawn fire from civic groups over her performance in
the job, would be
reappointed.
The government named Makwavarara to
the post in 2004 after firing then-mayor
Elias Mudzuri. Her term has been
renewed three times over the objections of
residents, the extension of the
commission's mandate being in June of this
year.
The Combined Harare
Residents Association has harshly criticized Makwavara.
But CHRA membership
committee chairman Joseph Rose told reporter Patience
Rusere that the main
concern is not whether Makavarara is held over in the
post, but that
elections be held so that citizens of Harare can choose their
own local
officials.
Email: jag@mango.zw : justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799 410. If you are in trouble
or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to
help!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLOOD
SERVICE ENDOWMENT FUND - APPEAL
The National Blood Service Zimbabwe is
recognised by World Health
Organisation as a centre of excellence. With the
assistance of the Swiss
Red Cross we expect to attain ISO status early next
year. We have had to
face and deal with many problems which fortunately we
have overcome.
Because of the hyper-inflationary environment, the
National Committee has
decided to establish an Endowment Fund which will, we
hope, help to
safeguard the Service and enable it to continue to maintain the
very high
standards which we have attained.
We have approached the
corporate business sector for donations to set up an
Endowment Fund which
will be capable of sustaining the Service. In order to
administer the
Endowment Fund in a transparent manner, a Trust Fund will be
established
which will be responsible for the fund. The Chairperson and the
Chief
Executive Officer of the Service will be Trustees, ex officio; and the
donors
will elect additional Trustees.
The Service would like to appeal to all
its well-wishers to make a donation
to the Endowment Fund. If we have a
sound financial foundation, we will
continue to provide safe blood to meet
the needs of the people of Zimbabwe.
To do that we need your help and
generosity. Please help us to sustain a
very valuable service. Cheques
should be made payable to Zimbabwe Blood
Service Trust.
JUSTICE L
G SMITH (Retd.)
Chairman National Blood Service Zimbabwe
Please send any job opportunities for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG
Job Opportunities; jag@mango.zw or justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 17/11/06)
Farm Job Vacancy in Nigeria Kwara State Government,
Nigeria, is looking for
a General Manager for an Agricultural Training Farm,
situated 30kms.NW of
Ilorin. The position entails the managing of the 1000ha
farm, growing
200ha. Maize, 100ha. Cow Peas and 100ha Cassava, with livestock
being
Catfish, Broilers and Layers. In addition, with the assistance of
5
technical staff, train 100 Agricultural Students the practical aspects
of
Commercial Agriculture.
The contract is for two years, commencing
on the 5th January 2007. The
contract is renewable and notice is six months,
to take effect at the end of
the cropping season.
Terms of
Employment
Salary - US$50,000.00 per annum
Accommodation: - Fully
furnished, three bed-roomed house on farm, with air
conditioning
throughout.
Staff: - One cook, one gardener, one official driver and 2
security guards.
Other: - Two economy air tickets per annum to country of
choice. One
official Govt. vehicle. One 4-wheel motorcycle. Free
electricity, water
and fuel within Kwara State. Internet facilities. Four
weeks leave per
year.
Interested parties, please contact Colin Spain -
e-mail address
spain_colin@yahoo.co.uk
Please
attach recent
C.V.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 17/11/06)
Maid required for family home in Umwinsidale area. To
start immediately.
Must speak good English; be energetic, over 30 years of
age having finished
having their own family. Washing, ironing, housework and
basic cooking
would be useful. Accommodation is offered and husband and 2
children still
at school are welcome. Attractive salary to the right
person.
Contact 499101 or 011207930 with contactable
references.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 17/11/06)
EMPLOYMENT OFFERED
We are looking for a
reliable, hard working honest middle aged gentleman to
fill the position of
Water/Land Manager in the Bumi Area.
Please could all CV's be emailed
to:
dod@iitrade.net or dodonovan@acrplc.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 24/11/06)
A Harare based property company requires a hands-on,
energetic and
disciplined individual, with a general basic knowledge of
plumbing,
electrics etc, to help with the supervision and maintenance of
existing
buildings. Package to be negotiated. If interested please send a one
page
synopsis of your career and attendant skills to Box 10149,
Harare
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 24/11/06)
A Country Club close to Harare is looking for the
following staff:
1) A general handyman preferably with some knowledge in
maintenance of golf
course fairways and greens, associated equipment, staff
management and
familiar with irrigation systems.
2) Someone with
experience in bar and restaurant management or
organisational
skills.
The above positions would ideally suit a couple. Accommodation,
medical aid
and negotiable salary are on offer. These positions are
available
immediately.
Please forward CV to kelara@mweb.co.zw.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 30/11/06)
Mornings only, term time only, lady wanted for Nursery
School in Avondale.
Preferably qualified or ex teacher but someone who enjoys
children and has
lots of patience can apply. The position is for our
3-year-old class and
would only suit someone who has an excellent command of
English. Lovely
working environment, excellent salary. To start 1st term
2007.Tel 884294 011
602 903 or e-mail me at gandami@mweb.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 30/11/06)
We are still in search of a manager to run our camp
and bar. We need someone
who...
a.. Is preferably single
b.. Is
very flexible...no set hours here.
c.. Can supervise competent (but
sometimes dozy) staff.
d.. Is a bit of a handyman...there's always
something that needs fixing.
e.. Can do maths and a bit of
paperwork...computer literate is good but
pencil and paper is also
acceptable
f.. Has good social skills...there's some funny folk around so
polite
democracy is a valuable asset.
g.. Can make a plan at short
(no) notice and still smile.
h.. Has a driving licence.
i.. Likes the
bush...elephants and hippos abound.
j.. Does not drink much...this is a
holiday environment and if you can't
be disciplined it will ruin
you.
k.. Can cope with boys being boys and girls being girls.
l.. If
you like doing a bit of cooking that would be good.
We offer a reasonable
salary (enhanced by commission), accommodation, lights
and water on site
(nothing fancy, but it is comfortable), a varied job and a
social
atmosphere.
Please send CV's to relax@warthogs.co.zw
Warthogs Bush
Camp
112 Powerlines Rd, Kariba
P.O. Box 263, Kariba
Zimbabwe
Cell: +
263 11 201 733 (Louisa)
Cell: + 263 91 201 048 (Ian)
Camp: + 263 61
2515
www.warthogs.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 30/11/06)
A farm manager is needed to operate a 250 ha
irrigation seed maize farm in
Kenya. The operations involve Land preparation,
planting, de-tasselling,
harvesting, drying, processing, packaging and
storage. At least 8 years of
experience in efficiently operating a similar
operation of this size is
required with particular skills in plant
maintenance, repair and management.
Responsibility will include 24/7
management of labour, staff, budgets and
project accounts.
A basic
salary commensurate to experience and skill, housing, vehicle,
fuel,
amenities will be provided and an annual profit based bonus. An initial
2 yr
contract renewable for further 2 years will be made although the
project
life is at least 10 years. Applicants to respond with CV and
Photograph by
email to saleeme@gmail.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 30/11/06)
VACANCY EXISTS FOR AN ENERGETIC COUPLE TO MANAGE CAMP
ON A PROPERTY IN THE
SAVE VALLEY CONSERVANCY WHOSE MAINSTREAM BUSINESS IS
HUNTING.
REQUIRED SKILLS:
GENERAL RANCH CHORES
MANAGING
LABOUR FORCE OF 40 WORKERS
WATER
RETICULATION
ANTI-POACHING
MECHANICS
LIASING WITH HUNTING
STAFF
TAKING CARE OF HUNTING TROPHIES FOR DISPATCH
ORDERING
SUPPLIES FOR HUNTS & STAFF
CATERING FOR CLIENTS
MAINTENANCE OF
LODGES & STAFF
FOR FURTHER DETAILS, PLEASE CONTACT
JAG
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 07/12/06)
Mature management couple wanted for upmarket
photographic safari camp within
Hwange National Park . Preferably to have had
previous work experience in
the safari industry or a farming
background.
Please send CV to Ron@wilderness.co.zw or Courtney@wilderness.co.za
COURTENEY
JOHNSON courtney@wilderness.co.za
Wilderness
Safaris Zimbabwe
P O Box 288, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
366 Gibson Road,
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
T + 263 13 43371/2/3
F + 263 13
45942
C + 263 11 213 467
www.wilderness-safaris.com
www.north-island.com
www.childreninthewilderness.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 07/12/06)
Female Domestic / cook wanted with traceable
references. ASAP.
Contact: rsjsgardini@zol.co.zw or 011 604
084
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 07/12/06)
PA required:
Minimum qualification O levels +
secretarial/computer skills, plus
experience preferably. Government scale
salary. Suit school-leaver
resident of Mt Pleasant or nearby.
Start
immediately. mail trudys@zol.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 07/12/06)
Vacancy exists for a Butchery supervisor; the main
duties being stocktaking
and ordering. This job, being very relaxed, would
suit semi-retired
ex-farmer living in the eastern suburbs of Harare.
Starting 20th January,
2007. Tel. 091
308509.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 07/12/06)
Bookkeeper/Administrator Wanted
A vacancy
exists in our Accounts Department. We are looking for a mature,
responsible
and trustworthy person, with a proven track record in accounts.
The candidate
shall be able to:
a.. Work up to trial balance,
b.. Have a good
sense of attention to detail, and being able to work on a
number of different
issues at any one time.
c.. Preferably have worked in exports and imports
before
d.. Competent with Excel, Word, Pastel
e.. Knowledge of Belina
Payroll
f.. At least 5 years experience
An excellent remuneration
package is on offer.
Applications with current CV and letters of
reference can be -
emailed to: beck@africanencounter.org or fax to
702814
Delivered in sealed envelope, addressed to -
Beck
Edwards
Vacancy - Accounts
11 Philips Ave, Corner 2nd St,
Belgravia.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMPLOYMENT
SOUGHT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 09 November 2006)
House worker required.
Must be mature,
clean, honest and hardworking. Cooking would be an
advantage but not a
prerequisite. A good salary is offered along with
excellent accommodation to
the right person.
Please phone 04-301467, cell 011 614 233 or email
to:
dieselandplant@zol.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 09 November 2006)
Bookkeeping done at home
Anyone looking
for someone to do their books on a monthly bases, on Pastel.
Monthly Balance
Sheets, Profit and Loss produced?
Please contact tiger1@mweb.co.zw or phone cell 011 400
754
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 17 November 2006)
I am a Bsc Hons In Agric (Crop science)
graduate and currently working on a
tobacco farm in Nyazura area as a Farm
Manager, doing mainly tobacco and
potatoes. I am looking for a similar
placement elsewhere in Zimbabwe or
Zambia. Available from 1December 2006. I
have six years experience in
agronomy and farm management with special skills
in: -
Planning cropping programmes, farm staff and general labour
management
drawing & implementing farm budgets general farm cost control
sourcing and
procurement of inputs marketing produce planning and directing
farm
operations providing expert advice in production of the following
crops;
tobacco, maize, potatoes, peas, baby corn, sweet corn, cabbages,
beans,
butternut.
For my detailed C.V e-mail imusiiwa@yahoo.com.
Or telephone
011433837
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ad
inserted 24 November 2006)
Situation sought for a semi-retired
male.
A semi-retired male, single, seeks rewarding employment. It does
not
necessarily have to be in the scientific fields that he was trained, and
he
is desirous in being kept busy and not completely chair bound. He has
a
clean driver's license class 3, 4, and 5, and is relatively free to
travel.
His training was in the fields of telecommunications including
radio,
electromechanical equipment (instrumentation, including medical)
and
electronics. He is employed at present but needs a change to be in
a
situation where his skills / experience and knowledge can be utilized to
the
full for job satisfaction. Employment does not even have to be in
the
formal sector and a flexi-time position would be attractive. He is
prepared
to talk to any one with ideas.
He is trustworthy having been
employed in a position of trust, handling
chequebook, cash, and stock since
his retirement.
Interested persons please reply to boaz@zol.co.zw and a CV will be forwarded
to
you.
Alternatively telephone him direct on 04 487631 evenings and
weekends or 04
703119 any time where a friend will take your call and pass on
your
contact
details.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 07/12/06)
A mature lady in position of a Diploma in Education
and has numerous years
experience in teaching and looking after kids, seeks a
suitable position.
The lady has had experience in looking after orphans
and is currently
working in a farm environment.
Please email : katanha@abington.co.zw
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For
the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw