Sunday Herald, UK
By Trevor Royle,
Diplomatic Editor
DICTATORS ARE a demanding lot and they take a fair bit
of handling. Kowtow
to them and they generally take advantage of any hint of
appeasement. Punish
them and they can play the sympathy card to put
themselves in a better light
by appearing as the oppressed and not the
oppressor. Interference can even
make matters worse, as the people of Iraq
have found to their cost. (All
right, Saddam Hussein was a tyrant but no-one
ever gave much thought about
what to do with the country when his iron grip
had been removed by force
four years ago.) That's why the appearance of
Robert Mugabe at the
EU/African Union summit in Lisbon yesterday was such an
unsettling business.
Let's not mince words. This man is a monster, a brutal
ruler of a
once-prosperous country who is devoid of any morality, political
or
personal. As such he is an affront to all the other thoroughly decent
African rulers who are doing their best to keep their countries ahead of the
game. Through his massacre of the Ndebele people in the early 1980s Mugabe
has blood on his hands; his mishandling of Zimbabwe's economy has changed
this once beautiful and fertile country into a serial recipient of aid and
all the while he has lined his own pockets as if money-grabbing was the only
perquisite of power.
There are two ways of dealing with someone of his
kidney. One is to
encourage them to see the error of their ways through
blandishments and
other enticements. That's the route the EU has decided to
take. Although
there is normally a ban on allowing Mugabe and his huge
entourage to travel
in Europe, that order has been rescinded so that
Zimbabwe can take its place
at the high table with 27 EU and 53 African
leaders. The EU under Portugal's
presidency has retained the fiction that
Mugabe is an elected leader with
whom world leaders have to do business - he
might be a rotter but at least
he's someone else's rotter and we can't
always chose the kind of people we
have to invite to top-level
summits.
To Gordon Brown's credit he refused to pander to such odious
apologetics:
neither he nor any other UK Cabinet minister graced yesterday's
proceedings
and as a result Britain has had to face a fair degree of
obloquy. True to
form, the old colonial accusation has resurfaced. Mugabe
and his cohorts
immediately made hay with the idea that Britain was simply
using its old
influence in the continent to do down Zimbabwe. Shamefully,
the Portuguese
(no slouches at colonial exploitation) added to the chorus by
criticising
Brown, while others who should know better, such as Germany's
Angela Merkel,
made platitudinous noises about inclusiveness and not rocking
the boat.
All this is pretty much true to form and will come as no
surprise to anyone
who has attended similar gatherings dealing with Africa's
manifold
problems - mealy-mouthed Europeans pandering to sentiments which
have no
place in the reality of daily life across Africa while monoliths
like
Libya's President Gaddafi indulge in predictable finger-wagging about
Europe's need to make restitution for its colonial past. Try telling that to
the people of Zimbabwe where inflation is running at an unbelievable 15,000%
per year and where the average life expectancy has plummeted from 58 in
1980, the year of Zimbabwe's independence, to 37 today. Call me a cynic, but
doesn't that tell us an awful lot about what has happened on Mugabe's
watch?
All the while much that is happening in Africa gives cause for
some
celebration. Countries including Botswana and Mozambique have been
slowly
weaning themselves off aid and are learning to grasp the future.
According
to the World Bank, 25 African countries have seen their annual
growth rate
rise to over 3%; oil has helped Nigeria and Angola to assume the
roles of
regional economic giants; and Africa has become the EU's biggest
trading
partner as well as its biggest recipient of aid. All this is good
news for
the continent, reminding us that Africa is not a lost cause but a
cause
which is gradually being won.
And if that is so, if Africa is
sloughing off its post-colonial hangover,
then its leaders have to accept
new responsibilities. Zimbabwe's presence in
Lisbon yesterday had little or
nothing to do with the EU and still less was
it influenced by Downing
Street. It was all down to the 14 members of the
South African Development
Community who threatened to boycott the summit if
Mugabe was banned. Isn't
it time that they took matters into their hands by
putting pressure on
Mugabe to put his own house in order? Surely that has to
be the way forward,
instead of relying on stereotypes which are slowly
fading into
history.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
yesterday announced the number
of House of Assembly constituencies in the
country’s 10 provinces for next
year’s general elections, and vowed to go
ahead with the delimitation
exercise despite protests from the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led MDC faction.
Commission chairman Justice George
Chiweshe told a press conference
that the determination of constituencies in
the provinces was arrived at
after dividing the number of registered voters
that stood at 5 612 464 by
the 210 House of Assembly seats to get an average
of 26 726,02 voters a
constituency.
He said after rounding off
to the nearest whole number the answers
representing the average number of
constituencies that should be delimited
in each province added up to 211
constituencies instead of the required 210.
To resolve the issue,
Chiweshe said the commission adopted two methods
to get the desired
result.
"The decimals of the figures representing the average
number of
constituencies per province were arranged in the descending order.
Only
provinces with decimal figures of five and above were first considered
for
rounding off to the nearest whole number," Chiweshe said.
"Seven provinces had decimal figures of five and above. However, if
all were
to be rounded off to the nearest whole number, the effect would
have been
the same as illustrated above. Thus only those provinces with
decimal
figures of six and above were rounded off to the nearest 10 in order
to get
rid of the extra constituency."
As a result Matabeleland North
ended up having 13 constituencies,
Mashonaland West 22, Matabeleland South
13, Bulawayo 12, Harare 29, Midlands
28, Manicaland 26, Mashonaland Central
18, Mashonaland East 23 and Masvingo
26.
On MDC claims that ZEC
was using a flawed voters’ roll to draw up
constituencies, Chiweshe said the
opposition had not provided evidence to
that effect.
"The MDC
wrote to us with that complaint and we have replied to them
in confidence.
However, there will be complaints and compliments along the
way, some valid
and some not," Chiweshe said.
"Sometimes people make allegations
without giving facts and evidence.
On the face of it, we don’t see that the
voters’ roll is in a shamble. I am
not saying the voters’ roll is perfect,
but it is credible."
Tsvangirai’s faction wrote to Chiweshe last
Thursday saying the
delimitation exercise should be stopped to allow the
conclusion of the Sadc
initiated talks between the opposition and Zanu PF
aimed at finding a
lasting solution to the country’s political and economic
crisis.
The party claimed that ZEC was being used by Zanu PF to rig
next year’s
harmonised presidential, legislative and council elections. But
Chiweshe
said the process was transparent and democratic.
The
ZEC boss said the delimitation of constituencies and ward
boundaries had
started and the commission had set up provincial and district
committees in
terms of the provisions of the ZEC Act to spearhead the
process.
He said the commission had incorporated two
geographers from the
country’s tertiary institutions to assist as technical
experts.
"A technical committee comprising the chairperson of the
commission
and the two geographers will advise the commission on the
technical aspects
of the exercise," Chiweshe said.
The
commission will be assisted by a secretariat comprising various
experts from
institutions relevant to the delimitation exercise such as the
surveyor
general’s office, ministry of local government and the
Registrar-General’s
Office, among others.
Chiweshe said the commission would come up
with senatorial
constituencies and wards after the delimitation of the House
of Assembly
constituencies.
He said next year’s polls would use
ward-based voters rolls.
"It is also pertinent to mention that that
the 2008 harmonised
elections will be ward based and as such voters are
urged to acquaint
themselves with their local government ward boundaries as
their names will
only appear in their ward’s voters roll and nowhere else,"
Chiweshe said.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
THE Reserve Bank’s much-awaited money changeover failed
to take off
this week after the central bank experienced logistical hitches,
the
Zimbabwe Independent heard this week.
Sources at the bank
said the changeover could not take place because
the RBZ was still putting
together human and material resources required to
execute the
programme.
"Everything has been put on standby," a source said.
"The RBZ this
week purchased 200 vehicles from different car dealers.
Payments have
already been done but a hitch has developed on the
registration process
because the Central Vehicle Registry does not have
number plates. The
vehicles were however delivered to the RBZ on
Wednesday."
The source said the RBZ finished the recruitment of
former police
officers and other support staff to assist in the
transportation of the new
notes as well as securing other smaller implements
this week.
"About 1 000 money counters have also been purchased for
this
exercise, suggesting that the changeover could happen anytime," the
source
said.
The source said RBZ delayed the changeover to
allow schools to close
so that they could use the facilities as the money
changing centres. Last
year when the RBZ governor Gideon Gono knocked off
three-zeros from all
bearer cheques, schools were used as distribution
points. Schools are the
most strategic centres because they are evenly
distributed and accessible by
all communities throughout the country. The
schools closed this week.
The source however said RBZ has already
dispatched advance teams into
the countryside to prepare for the changeover.
.
Speculation is rife that the changeover was likely to take place
next
week as a way of resolving the worsening cash shortage that has hit the
country over the past three weeks.
Zim Independent
Lucia
Makamure
THE coup plot saga has taken a new twist as the army
has started
proceedings to court-martial one of the accused, Albert Matapo,
on charges
of deserting the army.
However a lawyer representing
Matapo, one of the six men accused of
plotting a coup to oust President
Robert Mugabe, yesterday filed an
application with the High Court to stop
the army from proceeding with the
General Court Martial of their
client.
"We are filing papers to stop the army from proceeding with
charging
our clients for desertion as he only trained for three months which
were not
enough for him to be an army officer," said Charles Warara,
Matapo’s lawyer.
The army director of prosecutions, Group Captain
Murove had earlier
this week written to Warara advising him that Matapo will
be tried before a
military court as he was a former member of the
force.
"We will not be withdrawing the charges against Private
Matapo on the
basis of your submission and you may proceed with your action
if after a
more thorough and careful perusal of the said regulations and
laws you are
still convinced of the correctness of your current position,"
said Murove in
the letter.
However, in a letter to the army
dated 29 November Warara argued that
his client was never a member of the
army.
"We have taken instructions from our client who has explained
in
detail the fact that he was never a member of the Zimbabwe National Army.
As
such, you have no have no jurisdiction to try a private action on a
charge
of desertion when he never qualified after recruitment," reads part
of the
letter.
According to the letter, Matapo resigned from
the army after he failed
the main cadet training.
"Our
instructions are that when he joined the army he started training
on June 1
1989 and in September 1989 was moved to cadet selection course.
This was
before he finished training as a recruit. After finishing the cadet
selection course, he failed the main cadet training itself and was then
returned to join his group, but at that stage the team had started training
at Mbalabala had already finished," said Warara in the letter.
"After this he was told to choose whether to wait for a new group of
recruits so that he can finish the required six months training before he
can become a member of the army or he resigns," added Warara.
Matapo, according to his lawyers duly resigned and surrendered his
uniforms
and other items that were in his custody in 1990.
"His resignation
was given to Major Nyanda in September 1990.As you
may be aware, you are
calling our client Private Matapo but he did not
finish the training. If he
had finished the cadet training, he would not
have reverted to be called a
private officer as his rank would have been
that of a commissioned officer,"
said Warara.
Warara said that the army, by charging Matapo of
desertion, will
infringe on his rights as a private citizen.
Zim Independent
By
Admire Mavolwane
"THERE are too many data gaps. We went to too
many shops to observe
and so compilations have not been completed." These
sentiments were
expressed by the acting director of the Central Statistical
Office (CSO)
when he was explaining the delay in the release of the October
Consumer
Price Index (CPI) inflation figures. A fair amount, if not all of
the goods
that constitute the inflation basket are not available in shops.
Whilst the
goods may not be available on supermarket shelves, they can be
found on the
informal market. Unfortunately the methodology of enumerating
the inflation
figure does not allow the CSO enumerators just to take the
prices at which
the goods are available but restricts the survey to the
formal shops. In
other words the CSO does not recognise the informal
market.
So the CSO is in a dilemma. Should it defer the publication
of
inflation figures until such time that goods are available on the formal
markets or should it from now on operate two baskets; one for the formal
market and the other for the informal market prices, in the same manner as
the exchange rate system is working now. The price control blitz was
launched on June 25th this year. By end of July the shelves were virtually
empty. The question then is what products were surveyed to arrive at the
August, let alone the September CPI, inflation figures.
Whilst
Zimbabwe had been an inherently and markedly different place to
what is
expected in the other parts of the world, after June 25, the country
mutated
into yet another, unique animal. This mutation was yet another
unintended
consequence of the price controls. An early acknowledgement of
this by the
planners will be very important.
The other side to it is whether
the inflation rate is still
objectively relevant, particularly in the light
of Statutory Instrument 159
of 2007. According to this law, the indexing of
prices of goods and wages to
the CPI, the exchange rate depreciation or any
other such proxy is
discouraged. This leaves the inflation rate with fewer
uses other than being
an indicative figure and the basis for producing the
famed inflation
adjusted accounts.
On November 6 2003
shareholders of Trust Holdings (THL) voted
overwhelmingly in favour of the
acquisition of a 15% equity shareholding in
First Mutual Limited at a
consideration price of $23,2 billion or US$10,2
million. Shareholders were
also asked to approve the issue of 80 million
shares, equivalent at that
time to 17% of THL, for $245 per share to FML.
This 17% stake was valued at
US$8,6 million. These two were the main
resolutions for that day. Other
secondary resolutions included the merging
of Trust Asset Management and
First Mutual Asset Management (FMAM), at the
same time FML would take 40%
equity in the stock broking unit Trust
Corporate Securities. The other
transactions would see FML taking a 40%
stake in Trust Discount House and
THL would control 40% of FML Reinsurance.
At the end of it all, the
strategic partnership was such that THL
ended up with 15% of FML, whilst FML
controlled 25% of THL whilst joint
partnerships also existed at business
unit levels. The strategic agreement
precluded FML from venturing into
banking outside its interest in THL whilst
THL could not set foot in the
insurance sector except through its alliance
with FML. When all the netting
off had been done, THL paid $6,2 billion
(US$2,7 million) to
FML.
At about the time that the strategic alliance was bedding
down,
disaster struck. Trust Bank, which was THL’s flagship, ran into
difficulties
in January 2004. The central bank eventually pulled the plug
end of
September 2004, after eight months of nursing it. FMAM went under
after it
was exposed to ENG Capital managed, Century Discount House, which
also fell
by the way side. The asset manager was also exposed to Royal Bank.
Trust
Discount House was still born. Trust Corporate Securities succumbed to
the
contagion effect, which was exacerbated by some hands which were looting
the
cookie jar. As fate would have it, by the beginning of 2006, THL had
lost
all the business units in which FML was a strategic partner. On the
other
hand FML had only lost FMAM. In other words THL by and large had
become an
impaired bride, whilst FML was for all intents and purposes still
the groom
that it was in 2003.
The relationship obviously
further deteriorated when the management
faces on either side changed, with
FML seeking to move forward, whilst THL
was obviously indifferent. In fact
THL had much bigger fish to fry. As in
any divorce, assets have to be shared
in order to achieve the
disentanglement. The same process that was embarked
on during the 2003
courtship was engaged in. Assets on either side were
valued and the netting
off was done, with October 17 2007 being set as the
effective date of
parting ways. This time around, FML had to pay THL an
amount which is
rumoured to be approximately US$4,1 million.
At
the end of the day, it would appear that THL came out of the
relationship at
a profit unlike FML, both in absolute dollar terms and on an
opportunity
cost basis.
This divorce settlement took place at a time when
Kingdom and Meikles
are in a serious courtship, with the final consummation
of the relationship
having been delayed by reservations from one
shareholder.
Last week we had the Minister of Finance presenting
the 2008 budget
presentation. The total expenditure figure for 2008,
estimated at Z$7 840
trillion is high sounding but is only US$2,4 billion,
almost half of the
US$5,5 billion the Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China will expend in
acquiring 10% of Standard Bank of South Africa
(Stanbic). It was just like
changing numbers in an old template, and as
usual, the budget is based on
the most optimistic assumptions, whose
probability of materializing in
practice is on the low side. The figures are
now just numbers of which the
information content is minimal, except that we
will have more and more
inflation going forward.
* Please note
that the conversion to US$ was done using the Old Mutual
Implied Rates
applicable on the day mentioned.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
LAST Friday’s
"million man march" in support of President Robert
Mugabe showed that the
Zanu PF government was bereft of ideas to deal with
the country’s runaway
political and economic crisis.
The march, organised by the Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans
Association, was more to do with dealing
with the internal politics of the
ruling party, especially the silencing of
those in Zanu PF opposing Mugabe’s
continued stay in power.
Mugabe was endorsed last month by the politburo and the central
committee as
the ruling party’s 2008 presidential election candidate,
despite the fact a
faction in Zanu PF led by retired army general Solomon
Mujuru wanted him to
retire.
In the countdown to Mugabe’s endorsement, the octogenarian
leader
roped in another faction entangled in the party’s succession debate
led by
Rural and Social Amenities minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and war
veterans to
fight in his corner.
Mugabe, at the helm of
government since Independence in April 1980, in
his address to the marchers
at the Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, Harare,
did not give one iota of
policies his party intended to pursue to extricate
the country from its
current problems.
It was the usual rhetoric of sanctions and
Western interference. It
was about Mugabe the victim rather than the
architect of the nation’s
demise.
Less than 150 000 people,
most of them bused in from rural areas,
participated in the solidarity march
that was intended to replicate the
January 1980 gathering at the same venue
to welcome the return home from the
liberation struggle of Mugabe and the
late Vice-President Joshua-Nkomo.
In his address, Mugabe was in his
usual bombastic mode – throwing
tantrums at his perceived enemies by
accusing them of being the authors of
the country’s current political and
economic malaise.
As has become the norm with Mugabe, the veteran
nationalist attacked
former colonial master Britain — accusing it of trying
to squeeze
Zimbabweans through illegal sanctions and economic sabotage as
part of the
alleged regime change in the country.
Mugabe’s
speech, analysts observed, was intended for Britain despite
the fact that
the march’s sole agenda was to support Mugabe’s Zanu PF
presidential
candidacy in next year’s harmonised presidential, legislative
and council
elections.
The analysts argued that the ageing leader failed to
market himself to
people who do not support his party through articulating
any rescue package
for the country.
Without taking blame for
pursuing bad economic policies since the
1990s, the analysts observed,
Mugabe claimed that there were over 400
companies in the country owned by
Britons, most of them in the manufacturing
sector, working to destabilise
the economy and spark a popular uprising
against the
government.
Political analysts this week said Mugabe’s address was
more of history
than what his government intended to do to get the nation
out of the current
economic woods.
The analysts said Mugabe was
like a ship’s captain without a compass
and was letting the country slide
into an economic implosion.
Zimbabwe’s economic crisis is
characterised by a critical shortage of
basic commodities, inflation above
14 000%, un-employment of over 80% and
foreign debt of over US$4,1
billion.
"There were two significant events last week, the 2008
budget and the
Zanu PF march," political analyst Michael Mhike
said.
"They were significant in that they were able to show
Zimbabweans how
their government has run out of ideas to solve the country’s
crisis."
Mhike said the $7,840 quadrillion budget was not rooted in
any
economic policy, while Mugabe’s speech did not offer any solution to the
country’s woes.
"The budget is more of a statement of figures.
What economic policy
framework was the budget drafted from?" Mhike
added
"We don’t have a fiscal policy at the moment. The budget is
just a
damp squib. Mugabe’s speech was a history lecture. What is Mugabe
going to
do so that inflation, unemployment, shortages of basic commodities
and other
necessities are resolved? What is his manifesto?"
Another political commentator, who requested anonymity, said the march
was
merely to silence the Mujuru camp ahead of Zanu PF’s extra-ordinary
congress.
"My reading is that Mugabe — using the war veterans,
the women and
youth leagues — wanted to show those opposed to him in the
party that he
still enjoys massive support," the commentator
said.
"Mugabe’s line was very clear from his address — Zimbabwe’s
problems
have nothing to do with his style of leadership, but that of
Britain and its
allies in the West," he said.
"The president’s
interpretation of our crisis is shocking to say the
least. We have authored
our downfall through poor and ill-advised policies,"
the commentator
added.
Even in his state of the nation address to parliament on
Tuesday,
Mugabe did not offer any solutions to the country’s flagging
economy.
In his address, the 83-year old Mugabe reminded the
marchers about his
favourite subject — sovereignty — to mask the ills of his
government.
Over the past seven years, Mugabe’s regime paralysed
the agricultural
sector by implementing a chaotic land reform in 2000, more
than 700 000
people were left homeless during Operation Murambatsvina of
2005 and shops
were emptied during a price blitzkrieg in July this
year.
The manufacturing sector has shrunk by over 66% in less than
10 years
while agricultural output has fared much worse amidst admissions of
multiple
farm ownership and zero productivity by top government officials
and ruling
party politicians.
"Zimbabwe is an African country,
Zimbabwe has the sovereignty,
sovereignty reposed in the people of
Zimbabwe," the tired-looking Mugabe
told the marchers.
"When
the British pulled down their flag on the eve of Independence at
midnight,
between the 17th and 18th of April 1980, we, as our flag was being
hoisted,
became the owners of the territory now known as Zimbabwe. And we
ceased that
moment, in absolute terms, to be a colony of Britain.
We became a
sovereign state whose sovereignty spread over the entire
territory and it
applies to our resources in economic terms; to all that we
do in economic
terms in the socio-economic sphere; it applies also to our
decisions as
determined in the political sphere."
Mugabe wondered loudly why
Britain’s parliament continued to
deliberate on Zimbabwe as if the country
was part of the UK.
Last week, the Zimbabwe Independent was told by
war veterans
vice-president Joseph Chinotimba and Zanu PF youths chairperson
Absolom
Sikhosana that the march was meant to garner support for Mugabe to
be
declared a life party and state president at the Zanu PF
congress.
"President Mugabe is our leader for life…We are saying
Comrade Mugabe
is not like (Autralia’s John) Howard who lost elections. Our
president has
no terms, he should rule for ever," Chinotimba
said.
Sikhosana weighed in: "We are praying for the Almighty God
that he
gives President Mugabe good health and more days on earth so that he
continues to lead our party and our great nation till death."
So the million man solidarity march was all about Mugabe securing a
life
presidency and not about rescuing the country from his damaging
policies!
Zim Independent
By Phillip Pasirayi
A FEW days ago we saw
hordes of poor peasants brought to Harare
ostensibly to show solidarity with
the aging President Robert Mugabe and to
send a clear message to the
so-called agents of regime change and their
principals that the 83-year old
leader is solidly in power and still
supported by his people.
Although most people who took part in the "million man march" were
manipulated and bussed from the rural areas, it suffices to argue that the
majority of those who participated felt good to be sponsored to come to
Harare for the march.
The majority of the people who thronged
the Zimbabwe Grounds in
Highfield last week to show solidarity with Mugabe
whose candidacy is
seriously contested are perhaps the hardest hit in this
sinking economy.
It is surprising that these people, who cannot
afford health care,
tuition fees for their children and an average standard
of living still
toyi-toyi in defence of Mugabe’s life presidency
agenda.
These people hero-worship political leadership, sometimes
likening
even the most cruel and incorrigible of leaders like Mugabe to God,
Messiah
or Son of God even when policies pursued by such leaders are as
calamitous
as ever.
These people lack sophistication and are
prone to manipulation by the
political elite who often give them marijuana
and large volumes of opaque
beer to behave in a crazy manner. These people —
normally referred to as the
"masses" — are averse to change, preferring the
status quo than a future
that they do not know. They are literally frenzied
by charismatic leaders
whose policies do not go beyond rallies and political
sloganeering.
Even though these people live a life of poverty they
still do not care
much about their misery. Such people do not think of
education, food, health
and decent housing as entitlements.
It
was not only the lumpen elements and peasants who attended the
march. There
was also a sizeable number of the middle class and the elite
who attended,
but suffice it to say that these are the people who have
benefitted
immensely from Mugabe’s patronage through subsidised fuel, farms
and the
agricultural inputs scheme started by the governor of the central
bank.
Some of them run businesses which are being sustained by
taxpayers’
money through loans from the governor. They are the greatest
beneficiaries
from corruption through the tenders they are awarded by
various government
departments.
By going back to the Zimbabwe
Grounds, 27 years after Independence,
Mugabe wanted to invoke the nostalgia
of 1980 when he was still popular
after having led the war against colonial
rule. There is overwhelming
evidence that after 27 years of independence
Zimbabwe Grounds has become
symbolic of state repression and
dictatorship.
As much as we remember Zimbabwe Grounds as the venue
where Mugabe
delivered a great speech in 1980, we also remember that it was
at the same
venue on March 11 this year when the opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai was
savagely attacked by Mugabe’s henchman and barred from
addressing his
supporters.
Some of us, who were involved with
the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, vividly
remember how Zimbabwe Grounds and
Highfield became a war zone on March 11,
as agents of Mugabe’s regime
brutally brought down a peaceful gathering of
Zimbabweans who were trying to
find a solution to the problems we face as a
country.
We also
sadly remember Gift Tandare, one of the youths who wanted to
go to Zimbabwe
Grounds, just like the "million man march" but was gunned
down by members of
the Zimbabwe Republic Police. His only crime was being a
district
chairperson for the National Constitutional Assembly and a member
of the
MDC.
Close to three decades at the helm of Zimbabwe, President
Mugabe has
turned a country that was once the bread basket of Africa into a
pariah
state. The speech that Mugabe delivered at the Zimbabwe Grounds does
not
show a policy shift in Zanu PF and its readiness to work with other
players
for the common good of the country.
Despite the
deepening national crisis, Mugabe still talks about the
MDC as a creation of
the British and makes claims to sovereignty as if the
word "sovereignty"
means nothing except Zanu PF. When Mugabe’s hold on power
is under threat,
he quickly reminds us of the need to claim our sovereignty
as if sovereignty
means always having Mugabe at the helm of the country. I
am afraid to say
that sovereignty does not only mean political independence
but that it means
total freedom and the ability of Zimbabweans to have total
control of their
lives. The people of Zimbabwe do not have this freedom,
their lives are held
to ransom by Mugabe. The people do not have rights, it
is Mugabe who defines
what rights (if any) people should enjoy. In other
words Mugabe is the
rights giver and the rights taker or at least he sees
himself as
such.
The Sunday Mail’s Munyaradzi Huni reported that: "The
President later
talked about the MDC as a British creation, designed to
thwart the land
reform programme. He spoke about how the three British
political parties had
agreed to contribute funds to the Westminister
Foundation to sponsor the
MDC".
Since we attained Independence
in 1980, Zanu PF has been funded by
foreigners but because of a poor human
rights record, particularly the
violence perpetrated against MDC activists
since 2000, most of the Western
philanthropists that used to fund Zanu PF
severed their ties with a brutal
and arrogant regime that they did not want
to associate with. Mugabe’s
utterances at the Zimbabwe Grounds are meant to
mislead the people so that
they give him a fresh mandate to
govern.
The MDC is a Zimbabwean political party, founded by
Zimbabweans and
pursuing a purely Zimbabwean agenda of liberating the minds
of people who
still think Mugabe should be life president.
We
have, for a long time now, been told lies that the reason why the
economy is
sinking is because of the MDC and its Western allies.
Claims to
sovereignty and non-interference in a country’s domestic
politics do not
stand the test of time especially with a well accepted and
growing global
human rights movement.
Mugabe’s project of life presidency is the
biggest stumbling block to
our country’s search for a future that is based
on respect for human rights
and the rule of law. The usual tirade against
the British does not get us
out of the stinking poverty in which the country
has been plunged.
Our expectation was that if Zanu PF was sincere
about the on-going
dialogue mediated by South Africa’s President Thabo
Mbeki, Mugabe should
have risen above party politics and told the delegates
why his party and the
MDC are currently involved in dialogue.
Mugabe should have preached tolerance, as well as hinting at a
paradigm
shift within the ruling party and the thinking and way of doing
politics. We
expected the president to take the opportunity to extend an
olive branch to
the opposition and other Zimbabweans who want to see things
improve in our
country.
It was pointless for the president to be abrasive and fire
unnecessary
shots even at the British premier Gordon Brown.
Mugabe missed a golden opportunity during the "million man march" at
the
Zimbabwe Grounds to explain to the poor peasants why it is necessary for
both parties to engage in political dialogue and for these talks to be as
inclusive as possible.
From Mugabe’s tone, the lesson we draw
is that the ongoing dialogue is
meaningless and will not take Zimbabwe into
the future.
* Phillip Pasirayi is a human rights activist.
Zim Independent
By Kofi
Bentil
AFRICAN Union leaders meeting their European Union
counterparts in
December are supposed to represent our future but when it
comes to Robert
Mugabe they are stuck in an ideological time-warp: Mugabe is
a
freedom-fighter and Zimbabwe is a victim of Western depredations,
including
threats to boycott the meeting.
Even
democratically-elected Ghanaian President John Kufuor, chairman
of the
African Union, recently observed equivocally: "When the leader of the
opposition gets beaten up, for good or ill, naturally all concerned should
be worried."
At least Mugabe is honest: "Some are crying that
they were beaten. Yes
you will be thoroughly beaten. When the police say
move, you move. If you
don’t move, you invite the police to use force," he
said about trade-union
activists arrested in September last
year.
Paralysed by hero-worship, the Southern African Development
Community
(Sadc) summit in August supported Mugabe’s claims of a UK plot.
Our heads of
state gave Mugabe a podium and a standing ovation in Kenya in
May, most of
them backed Zimbabwe’s cruelly ironic election to the UN
Commission on
Sustainable Development this year and the whole AU boycotted a
2003 summit
with the EU because Mugabe was excluded.
Their
pretext is the sacred mantra of non-interference and respecting
sovereignty
— meaning the sovereignty of ruling cliques, not of
long-suffering
citizens.
Our leaders have to recognise that Mugabe is not an
ideological
dictator in the mould of their heroes Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana,
Julius Nyerere
in Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia or Milton Obote in
Uganda, nor even
like ideologues such as Hitler, Stalin or his own hero Kim
Il Sung: he is a
straightforward kleptocrat determined to hold on to power
at any cost.
Even the democratic African leaders, including Kufuor
and South Africa’s
Thabo Mbeki, like to hear Mugabe blaming the West for
Zimbabwe’s and all our
ills, as he did in Nairobi at May’s Common Market for
Eastern and Southern
Africa (Comesa) summit.
He was applauded
for complaining about commodity prices being fixed by
the West, although
free markets do not fix prices in the way that African
governments fix
prices and monopolise commodity sales.
Sadc leaders in Lusaka even
backed Mugabe’s claim that Zimbabwe is a
victim of economic sanctions
although the only measures, by the EU and the
USA, are travel and financial
restrictions on about 130 members of the
ruling clique (in fact, the UK is
the second biggest provider of
humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe). Sadc
executive secretary Tomaz Salomao
said in November: "for us they are
sanctions and our approach has been to
have them lifted."
Many
also shared Mugabe’s economically ignorant call for
self-sufficiency. But no
developed country is self-sufficient in commodities
(nor even most
manufactured products) and we Africans cannot live on a diet
of cocoa beans
and tea: selling it is much more profitable.
Manufacturing and
adding value are great economic aims but they do not
happen successfully by
government decree — right now, Africans suffer heavy
import tariffs for
essential inputs (such as fertiliser) and medicines,
state control of
exports, lack of property rights, obstacles to private
enterprise and a
ubiquitous corrupt bureaucracy.
Yet our leaders do not accept that
the key to our future is allowing
our people to create wealth: we cannot
free ourselves from poverty without
economic freedoms such as property
rights, the rule of law and free markets.
But the Mugabe version
remains attractive because we all like to
believe that our failures are
someone else’s fault.
And Mugabe remains in power after 27 years,
at the age of 83. It seems
true that evil men live long but that is because
every day an evil man lives
is like eternity to the oppressed.
Neither South Africa’s "quiet diplomacy" nor Western restrictions on
money-laundering can influence a man who is cocooned in delusions and
treated with deference by his neighbours.
Our new crop of
elected African leaders , blithely talking of an
African Renaissance, should
be emboldened by their own democratic authority
to face up to people like
Mugabe (and the leaders of Ethiopia, Sudan and
Somalia). They should make
Mugabe unwelcome at civilized meetings like the
EU-AU summit in Lisbon and
put legal pressure on him by consensus, as West
African leaders did to force
out Charles Taylor in Liberia.
Our leaders managed to evade any
action at the recent Commonwealth
Summit because Zimbabwe is no longer a
member but the AU-EU summit puts
Mugabe centre-stage: he has confirmed he
will go and Britain’s Prime
Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed his
boycott.
They should heed the call of Ghanaian former UN
secretary-general Kofi
Annan who said recently: "Africans must guard against
a pernicious,
self-destructive form of racism that unites citizens to rise
up and expel
tyrannical rulers who are white, but to excuse tyrannical
rulers who are
black."
Before embarrassing themselves again,
our leaders must come to their
senses and join the huge majority of Africans
who reject the barbaric
Mugabe: by embracing economic freedoms to save their
own countries, they
would offer hope to Zimbabweans for the day after
Mugabe.
* Kofi Bentil is a lecturer at Asheshi University and a
consultant in
business strategy in Accra, Ghana.
Zim Independent
AGAINST a backdrop of deepening economic and humanitarian
crises
caused by its irresponsible policies, the Zimbabwe government has
intensified its crackdown on democracy and human rights.
On
March 11, police attacked a peaceful prayer gathering of political
opponents
and civil society leaders, killing one opposition member and
arresting 50
others, a number of whom were severely beaten while in custody.
Leaders from Africa, Europe, and North America condemned the brutal
actions
of the Zimbabwean government. Eight months later, the campaign of
repression
continues, even as regional leaders work to establish dialogue
between the
regime and the opposition.
Government forces continue to employ
arbitrary arrest, abduction,
torture and other abuse, including beatings
with whips and cables,
suspension, and electric shock to repress civil and
political freedoms on a
massive scale. 2007 has been the worst year yet for
Zimbabwe’s human rights
defenders. The suffering of all Zimbabweans grows
more acute by the day.
Feb 6 — 78 students arrested for peacefully
demonstrating against
tuition increases, 13 injured.
Feb 13 —
174 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise! (WOZA), a peaceful
women’s
non-governmental organisation (NGO), arrested, some carrying
infants, and
some brutally beaten by police.
March 8 — 37 members of the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), an
NGO calling for peaceful
democratic reform, arrested for demonstrating.
March 11 — More than
1 000 security forces in Harare violently disrupt
a prayer rally organised
by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of
church and civil society
organisations and political opposition groups. More
than 50 attendees
arrested. During ongoing clashes with unarmed opposition
supporters
throughout the day, police shot and killed opposition member Gift
Tandare.
Police severely beat many of the detainees for prolonged periods
while in
custody, including opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and denied
them
access to legal counsel and medical attention for several days. All
were
released on March 13. At a rally of supporters, Mugabe said of
Tsvangirai’s
beating: "Of course he was bashed. He deserved it…I told police
to beat him
a lot. He and his MDC must stop their terrorist activities. We
are saying to
him, ‘Stop it now or you will regret it."
March 12 — Two opposition
supporters wounded when police fired into a
crowd of mourners who were
attending the funeral service of opposition
activist Gift
Tandare.
March 18 — Opposition leader and MP Nelson Chamisa beaten
with iron
bars by unidentified assailants, believed by eye-witnesses to be
state
agents, at the airport as he attempted to travel abroad. Chamisa
sustained
serious head injuries, and was prevented from
traveling.
March 27 — Suspected state security agents abducted
opposition leader
Last Maengahama from a shopping centre and beat him with
iron bars as they
questioned him about the opposition’s plans, abandoning
him more than 80
kilometres away with a broken leg, lacerations, and severe
bruising.
March 28 — A journalist and more than 30 opposition
supporters,
including opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, arrested at
opposition party
offices; many were severely assaulted while in police
custody.
April 19 — Police arrested 82 members of the NGO WOZA for
peacefully
protesting frequent power outages and poor service from the state
electric
authority. Police arrested two other members when they attempted to
bring
food to those in custody.
May 8 — Police beat more than
50 lawyers gathered outside the High
Court to protest the unlawful arrest of
two prominent human rights
attorneys.
May 26 — 200 opposition
youths beaten and arrested during a meeting at
their
headquarters.
June 6 — Police used batons to disperse a peaceful
demonstration held
by the NGO WOZA. Seven members arrested; two were badly
beaten during
arrest. At least 20 sought medical attention for
injuries.
June 11 — More than 100 members of the NGO WOZA arrested
during a
peaceful protest march against the economic crisis.
June 15 — 50 activists reported missing after being taken from
demonstration
sites, homes and shopping centres. Half had been abducted and
abandoned
hundreds of kilometres away and 25 were detained for several days.
Many were
assaulted.
July 7-9 — Police used tear gas and dogs to break up a
meeting of
University of Zimbabwe students protesting over fees. Six
students arrested
and over 20 injured. University authorities then expelled
all students from
their halls of residence. Several students were injured
and lost their
possessions; others had to sleep outside. The university
defied a court
order mandating that all 4 500 students be permitted back
into their
dormitories.
July 25 — Police detained more than 240
members of the NGO NCA after a
demonstration calling for a new constitution.
More than 100 officers and
others, suspected by eye-witnesses to be youth
militia, took turns beating
the group, including elderly women and women
with young children, for hours.
More than 170 required medical attention for
injuries, including broken
bones and head wounds. Bronislawa Kwinjo, a
64-year-old grandmother, died
from her injuries on September 7.
August 21-22 — Betty Makoni of the NGO Girl Child Network and two
American
documentary film-makers arrested and held for nine hours. Makoni
was accused
of smuggling in foreign journalists without state accreditation
and
interrogated for 13 hours before being released. The Americans were
released
the following day.
Sept 10 — Intelligence agents arrested Revd
Sonykis Chimbuya, the
chairman of the Pastors’ Forum, accusing him of having
held an
anti-government meeting. At least 20 pastors from Pentecostal
churches
attended the meeting to discuss problems affecting disadvantaged
communities
in Zimbabwe.
Sept 27 — Members of the government
youth militia disrupted a public
meeting organised by the local NGO Zimbabwe
Youth Forum, despite police
clearance for the meeting to take place. Eleven
arrested, including
students.
October 1 — 158 members of the
NGO WOZA, including two mothers
carrying babies, arrested while taking part
in a solidarity march.
October 30 — More than 500 students
protested the declining state of
education in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe
National Students’ Union reported that
riot police forcibly dispersed the
marchers before they could deliver a
petition to the higher and tertiary
education minister.
November 6 — More than 250 members of the NGO
WOZA held a peaceful
demonstration outside parliament to protest the
continued harassment of
human rights activists by police. A riot squad
dispersed the crowd, beating
a number of women with batons. 98 WOZA members
were arrested and held for
seven hours before being released.
November 22 — During South African President Thabo Mbeki’s visit to
Zimbabwe, following a peaceful NCA demonstration, 22 NCA members were beaten
by thugs linked to the Mugabe regime, according to eyewitnesses.
Zim Independent
Comment
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe in his State-of-the-Nation
address this week
once again plumbed the depths of delusion by suggesting
that a "new era" was
dawning in Zimbabwe. Mugabe, generally seen as the
bulwark against change,
opined that talks between his Zanu PF party and the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change heralded the "dawn of a new era"
in Zimbabwe’s polity.
Mugabe said the dialogue represents
constructive engagement across the
political divide and a narrowing of
differences between his Zanu PF
government and the opposition. Negotiations
under the mediation of President
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa have continued
for six months.
In his address he also saw the dawning of a new
political epoch in his
relations with the West for the simple reason that he
had been given an
invitation to attend the EU-Africa Summit in Portugal this
weekend despite
loud protests from Britain and this week Spain. Mugabe
thanked the
Portuguese government for the invitation despite remarks by that
country’s
foreign minister last week that he would rather Mugabe didn’t
come!
Also in the same realm of delusion was his claim that
Zimbabwe was
putting in place policies to move the country towards
"sustained economic
recovery notwithstanding the suffering endured by many
of our people".
Put together, the three issues raised by Mugabe in
his speech on
Tuesday represent what he feels would culminate in the dawning
of an era of
constructive engagement, the end of Zimbabwe’s pariah-state
status and
economic recovery.
This is exactly what is required
at the moment to lift this country
out of the current low. It is not going
to happen however as long as it
continues to be business as usual for Mugabe
and his government. Today the
Zanu PF government stands in the way of all
three ideals because of its
failure to do basic things right. There is a
world of difference between
Mugabe’s political rhetoric of social
integration and narrowing of political
differences, and activities of his
foot soldiers on the ground.
Just listening to Mugabe’s speech four
days earlier at Zimbabwe
Grounds during the so-called "million man" march,
one is left in no doubt
that he still harbours a pathological hatred of the
MDC. He sees the party
as a violent Western construct designed to deliver
the country to the former
colonists. He believes in political subjugation of
opponents — that is
having a weak MDC that cannot challenge his political
space. It is not a
coincidence that Mugabe at this juncture wants to sound
conciliatory and
accommodating. This is simply because the MDC is at its
weakest since its
formation because of internal fissures.
To
illustrate that he is being sincere on this subject of
accommodation,
Mugabe’s government should have no problem in allowing the
MDC to carry out
its own march through Harare and allowing other civic
groups to hold
demonstrations and assembling for political purposes.
This would be
a good start. Tsvangirai’s faction of the MDC has
already started to attack
Zanu PF’s insincerity in the talks. So where is
the narrowing of differences
Mr President?
Also in the same realm of delusion is government’s
reading too much
into Mugabe’s invitation to the EU-Africa Summit. Of great
significance is
the fact that the presence of Mugabe in Europe will not
change the EU’s
position on Zimbabwe with regards to issues of human rights
and governance.
In Lisbon Mugabe will be regarded as a violator of human
rights who
applauded the beating of opposition leaders by police in
March.
So Mugabe will return from Portugal next week boasting of
his ability
to visit Europe despite the targeted sanctions on him and his
lieutenants.
He will return to preside over an economy saddled by the
highest inflation
rate in the world and record unemployment.
Despite all the evidence of collapse around him and overwhelming
evidence of
failure to right the situation Mugabe said his government was
working with
stakeholders to come up with policies to ensure sustained
economic
growth.
We would like to ask which policies? Price controls?
Printing of
money? Price discrepancies of fuel and finance? Endless farm
invasions? The
same poisonous policies are still being implemented in a bid
to revive this
economy with very predictable results of
dislocation.
Mugabe’s vision of the dawning of a new era will
remain a mirage on
the distant horizon as long as he fails to situate
himself as part of the
problem. A president for life basking in the comfort
of power alone is not
of much use to a country in crisis as long as
political rhetoric is not
reinforced with practical action. We wait for the
package from Lisbon.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
By Dumisani Muleya
IT has been instructive to
follow the raging succession battles within
the ruling Zanu PF and South
Africa’s governing ANC. The power struggles
rocking the edifices of the two
parties have brought out strikingly distinct
political cultures in currency
in the organisations: one of subject politics
and the other participant
politics.
While Zanu PF has been organising its "million man" march
through the
streets to ensure its leader Robert Mugabe becomes
president-for-life, the
ANC was showing its leader Thabo Mbeki, who wants a
third term at the helm
of the party, the exit door.
The irony
in all this is that Mugabe has been a disastrous failure
during his reign,
while Mbeki has done fairly well as president of South
Africa.
In the Zanu PF succession struggle tyranny will win the day, while in
the
ANC democracy will triumph.
Mugabe is almost certainly going to be
endorsed as the leader of the
party and presidential election candidate next
year at the party congress
from December 12-14, but Mbeki is mostly likely
to be booted out at the ANC
conference on December 16-20.
Zanu
PF members have been running around all over the place singing
praises for
Mugabe, urging him to cling on to power and remain in the blind
alley
despite his catastrophic misrule and economic meltdown.
By contrast
their ANC counterparts are pulling out all the stops to
push out Mbeki in
the next week or so, not because he has failed, but on
account of that he
has overstayed his welcome.
Mbeki has been at the ANC helm for 10
years, since 1997, while Mugabe
has been Zanu PF leader for 30 years, from
1977.
This brings me to the compelling question of political
culture which
not only affects Zanu PF but the Zimbabwean body politic
broadly. There is a
strong need for Zimbabweans to change the existing
political culture and
adopt a new value-system which permits practice of
democratic politics.
Zimbabwe is currently where it is now partly
because of the prevailing
obsequious political culture which is a legacy of
commandist liberation
struggle politics and attendant myths and propaganda,
the de facto one-party
state of the 1980s, fake socialist policies, and the
enduring "Dear Leader"
mentality.
Our collective orientation
towards national politics and the
perceptions of political legitimacy and
traditions of political practice are
undeveloped. In this day and age, how
do you still find people saying a
leader, a failed leader for that matter,
must be president-for-life? Where
else in the world do you still have this?
This shows there is something
wrong with the political culture in Zanu PF
and in Zimbabwe generally.
In this country people believe in
following leaders without
questioning where they are coming from or going.
This is evident in both
Zanu PF and MDC where parochial subject politics
hold sway.
Any form of criticism — no matter how well-intentioned
and
constructive — is often seen as almost a hanging offence! Of all places,
go
to Quill Club, a drinking hole for journalists (they are not responsible
for
crushing debate) at the Ambassador Hotel in Harare, and witness the
Stalinist suppression of alternative views by opposition party sycophants
allergic to criticism.
What is happening in Zanu PF is rather
different from what we are
seeing in the ANC. A leader can be criticised
from within and held to
account by ordinary members for his
actions.
However, in Zimbabwe party leaders can mislead, misrule
and mismanage
without any serious consequences.
In fact, at
times leaders are strangely enough rewarded for failure.
Zanu PF last week
gave Mugabe a beautiful Xmas gift — a "million man"
march – for the disaster
he has visited upon the nation!
How do people march in multitudes
to celebrate calamitous failure?
Compared to the ANC, it is clear
Zanu PF has a different political
culture partly due to different historical
circumstances and national
dynamics.
Zanu PF’s political
philosophy is antiquated. It still believes in
misguided and failed ideas.
Zanu PF still believes in command economics. It
still wants to be directly
involved in the running of the economy through an
amorphous policy framework
and discredited policies.
Zanu PF still clings on to price controls
despite their obvious
failure. In July governemnt deployed police to shops
to reduce prices by
force in a bid to curb rampant inflation, a move that
displayed authorities’
dramatic economic ignorance.
Add to
this, the smash-and-grab strategies applied on land and now to
be visited
upon foreign-owned companies, especially mines, and the whole
policy picture
looks amazingly crass, if not Stone Age.
Whatever Zanu PF’s
ideology, this is not the issue. The issue is
political
culture.
A political culture differs from ideology in that it is
often unique
to a country. People can disagree on an ideology, but still
share a common
political culture.
What is happening in Zanu PF
and the ANC should offer valuable lessons
in the relationship between
political culture and democracy. There is need
for a fundamental overhaul of
our failed state-building project, political
superstructure and the economy
for Zimbabwe to progress.
We need parties which promote a
progressive political culture, ones
which allows political leaders to be
replaced if they have failed or
overstayed.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Vincent Kahiya
THE Zimbabwe Election
Support Network (Zesn) has come up with an
important critique of the
recently gazetted Electoral Laws Amendment Bill
which seeks to align the
country’s laws governing elections with
Constitutional Amendments numbers 17
and 18.
Zesn’s 10 000-word document was authored last month and
fears
contained therein were confirmed this week when President Mugabe gave
his
state-of-the-nation address on Tuesday. The president said Zimbabwe will
only invite friendly nations to observe next year’s combined
elections.
Under the new provisions contained in the Bill, all
observers will
have to be accredited by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC)’s
Observation Accreditation Committee. It is proposed in the Bill that
half
the members of the six-member committee are commissioners and the rest
are
ministerial and presidential nominees. Zesn observes that the three
ministerial nominees will still exert a partisan influence when it comes to
inviting observers. More egregious is the ministerial power of veto
contained in the provisions. This will be used to exclude observers who
might be prepared to find fault in the electoral process.
"The
ministerial power of veto over the accreditation of
representatives from
other regional electoral bodies is particularly
startling," Zesn says. "It
is a gross insult to the integrity and
independence of the electoral
commission."
Zesn also notes: "The provisions of the Amendment Bill
relating to
observers fail to effect the changes that would ensure that a
wide
cross-section of observers are accredited and that the ruling party
will not
be able to cherry-pick who will be accredited."
But
Mugabe has said his government will do so which questions the
independence
of the electoral commission. The whole idea of amending the
Electoral Act
and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act is to make
institutions entrusted
with running polls as independent as possible. The
government has pitched
the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill as part of this
endeavour but the ZEC
remains in the clutches of Zanu PF which has already
started publicly
dictating to it the dos and don’ts of next year’s
elections.
Observers must not be selected on the basis of their bias in favour of
one
party or another. In the 2002 presidential election a number of foreign
observer missions were denied entry to Zimbabwe, whilst many domestic
observers were denied accreditation due to discriminatory procedures, Zesn
said. In the 2005 parliamentary election only organisations and persons
considered to be sympathetic to the ruling party were invited to conduct
electoral observation. All other institutions and persons were
excluded.
The Zesn document says the African Union Guidelines for
African Union
Electoral Observation and Monitoring Missions states:
"International,
regional and national observers have come to play an
important role in
enhancing the transparency and credibility of elections
and democratic
governance in Africa."
That is to say elections
are given legitimacy if they are endorsed by
local, regional and
international observers.
The government of President Mugabe will
brandish the Bill as evidence
of progressive electoral reform in the country
but that is not good enough.
As observed by Zesn the effectiveness of any
electoral reforms depends on
how the electoral laws are applied and enforced
in practice. Legislation
alone cannot prevent malpractices.
The
electoral commission is also up to scrutiny on how it is going to
ensure
there is equitable media coverage of all contesting parties in the
poll.
There is no way this equity is going to be possible as long as there
is no
diversity in the electronic media in which Zanu PF holds all levers of
control. I do not see the commission speaking out against the abuse of state
resources by the President and Zanu PF to campaign in the poll. Only last
week state resources were harnessed to transport Zanu PF supporters to the
"million man march". There will be more activities of this nature in the new
year.
Zimbabwe has suffered immensely from the question of
President Mugabe’s
legitimacy following the disputed 2002 presidential
poll.
The president’s statement this week on election observers
grossly
undermines the integrity of next year’s poll. Why does Mugabe want
the
legitimacy of his rule to be adjudicated by a jury of his friends
only?
Given the fact that there has been widespread doubt about the
fairness
and integrity of the election process in Zimbabwe in the past, it
is vitally
important that there should be extensive observation of the next
election by
a wide cross-section of observers.
The presence of
local, regional and international observers is
essential to help confer
legitimacy on the outcome and to provide an
objective analysis of claims of
fraud or other electoral malpractices.
Zim Independent
When British Airways announced their departure
from the Harare route
we were told it was all part of the British conspiracy
against Zimbabwe.
Abandoned now by Zambian Airways, what are we to make of
this latest blow to
tourism?
You know you are sinking in the
mire when the Zambians pull out. Where’s
Rupiah Banda when you need him? All
that solidarity talk must count for
something. Or was it just for ZTV and
the Herald?
Finance minister Samuel Mumble-ben-gegwi has proved
he is not only a
poor public speaker but also a none-too-clever fiscal
manager. His claims
that the economy will grow by 4% next year and that
inflation will come down
to 1 978% are patently absurd. Where did he get
these figures from?
Inflation is shooting up while government
continues to fuel it. Like
printing money and borrowing to spend. What signs
are there of an easing in
the rate?
Meanwhile the economy
continues to contract with no suggestions of a
turnaround.
Why
doesn’t Mumble-ben-gegwi tell it like it is instead of spinning
yarns? What
should be asked is which of government’s policies is actually
succeeding?
Agriculture continues to suffer from Didymus Mutasa’s land
grabs. There is
no evidence of improved output there. And unemployment is
burgeoning as
companies go to the wall because they cannot recover the costs
of
production.
It is a tragic scenario. But so long as we have the
blind leading the
blind in the management of our economy the collapse will
intensify. Couldn’t
Gideon Gono at least spell out what measures need to be
taken to bring
inflation down? Why doesn’t he try rallying the country
around five
essential steps to beating inflation? But he doesn’t seem to
have the heart
for it. Either that or he is hostage to his political
ambitions.
And can you believe those poor naďve people, who
Jabulani Sibanda told
us amounted to over a million when they were
self-evidently less than the
200 000 that welcomed Mugabe back in 1980,
calling on the president to lead
them into another five years of poverty and
desolation? What is it about the
wilderness that appeals to them? Or was the
prospect of being forcibly bused
into Harare too appealing to resist?
Certainly very few of those present
actually came from Harare. And state
publicists think we were impressed with
this charade!
Godwills
Masimirembwa believes those who were there "will never forget
the experience
of rallying behind a principled and selfless leader, a man
who singularly
deserves the highest accolades for upholding the spirit and
values of the
revolution".
As Zimbabweans prepare for another election,
Masimirembwa proclaimed,
"it is only natural that they collectively
demonstrate their total and
unwavering support to a man who has selflessly
sacrificed his entire life
for their cause".
Now we can
understand a simpleton like Sibanda being unable to count
the numbers in
front of him, but for Masimirembwa to pretend that Mugabe has
any support in
Highfield when two elections have seen him heavily spurned
there by voters,
is simply dishonest.
Instead of penning lickspittle articles in the
Herald Masimirembwa
should explain to readers why somebody so hugely popular
in 1980 can only
find a seat for his party in the capital 25 years later by
extending the
boundaries of Harare South into adjoining resettled
farms.
Muckraker recently drew attention to an exchange between
Venezuelan
leader Hugo Chavez and King Juan Carlos of Spain during which the
Spanish
monarch told Chavez to "shut up". He was widely applauded for his
intervention at an Ibero-American summit.
It is always good to
see a demagogue told where to get off at a
meeting of this sort. But now the
people of Venezuela have also told their
bombastic leader to "shut
up".
His plans to extend his presidential term and enhance his
authority in
other ways were shot down in a referendum. Even his wife voted
against him!
"Chávez had tried to make the referendum vote a
black-and-white
plebiscite on his rule and sought to rally his supporters
with warnings that
he was under attack from Washington and other foreign
enemies," Reuters
reported.
Any of this sound familiar? Except
of course we are unlikely to see
Grace giving Bob the thumbs
down!
Muckraker was intrigued by a picture on the front page of
the Sunday
Mail. It showed President Mugabe receiving a wild loquat tree
which he later
planted to mark National Tree Planting Day. Everybody in the
picture was
named except the person at the centre of it holding an umbrella
to shelter
the president from the sun. He was wearing dark
glasses.
On page 9 of the same paper he, or somebody very much like
him,
appeared again in a picture of Mugabe and First Lady Grace entering the
Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield. He was wearing the same trademark dark
glasses. If he is to keep appearing like this in the press he should be
named. Or at least we should be told the brand of his "shades". Are they "by
appointment" to the President’s Office?
Sadc executive
secretary Tomaz Salomao thinks he can dictate to the EU
what can and cannot
be discussed at the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon this
weekend. Zimbabwe would
not be on the agenda, he pronounced. But the EU
insists it will be
discussed. That is the price that Africa will have to pay
for putting up
with Mugabe’s theatrics. There are a number of opportunities
for discussion
of Zimbabwe to arise, we are told. But what the Portuguese
hosts are also
doing is making sure that opportunities for Zimbabwe’s leader
to engage in
his customary demagoguery are limited. "He is being firmly
ring-fenced," one
diplomat said.
Meanwhile, perhaps Salomao could tell us how far he
has got with his
rescue package for Zimbabwe. Like exactly nowhere? He
didn’t even know what
an IMF Article IV mission was when he first came here.
As for sanctions,
what has he done to ensure Zimbabwe’s broadcasting media
is opened up or an
independent Media and Information Commission appointed in
line with the
Mauritius protocol? Why is he so uninterested in a free
press?
The US this week broadened their list of individuals to
be refused
admission to the US. They linked these new sanctions to the
beating of 22
NCA members who demonstrated when President Thabo Mbeki passed
through
Harare en route to Uganda last month.
The US made it
clear the children of chefs would be included on their
list because they
should not enjoy a privileged education while Zimbabwe’s
education system
collapsed.
So, at last the truth. Ian Smith didn’t live
"freely" in Zimbabwe as
President Mugabe told the UN General Assembly. When
he died a free man in
South Africa last month he had been living there for
five years, a refugee
from chaos and corruption, still living a modest life
in marked contrast to
the opulence of his successor.
A number
of eulogies appeared in the local and international press.
But none
mentioned the golden opportunity that he threw away. When he
returned from
the talks on board HMS Tiger in 1966 he faced a cabinet which
refused to
entertain any compromise with Britain. Instead of using his huge
popularity
with white voters to carry the country against the likes of Jack
Howman,
Clifford Dupont, Lord Graham and Desmond Lardner-Burke, he succumbed
to
their intransigence.
No doubt he was aware of his own experience
where he had been brought
to power by a RF palace coup against a premier,
Winston Field, who had
proved insufficiently robust on the Independence
issue. Whatever the case,
he had to wait another five years to get another
chance at a settlement and
by then it was African nationalist opinion that
doomed him.
History will record that it was Zimbabwe’s misfortune
to be ruled by
obdurate leaders who never knew when to
compromise.
The Herald was busy trashing the Commonwealth last
week with one
article by Mabasa Sasa looking curiously similar in places to
previous
outpourings by Nathaniel Manheru. It contained the laughable claim
that
Zimbabwe had gone the furthest in pursuing governance in accordance
with the
1991 Harare Declaration by way of its land reform
programme!
In reality its failure to observe the Harare terms was
the reason for
its continued suspension in 2003. And while Herald
propagandists are paid to
rubbish the organisation, it must be asked why the
Zimbabwean government
went to such extraordinary diplomatic lengths to
remain a member of "the
Queen’s tea club". Did they tell Thabo Mbeki they
couldn’t give a damn when
he went out on a limb for them at
Abuja?
Tucked into a front-page Herald report on Tuesday was
this poisonous
paragraph about the "opposition-aligned" Zimbabwe Youth
Movement attending
the EU-Africa Youth Summit in Lisbon which preceded the
EU-Africa Summit.
"Linked to the MDC’s thwarted attempt at staging
an armed insurrection
against the democratically-elected government of
Zimbabwe in March/April
this year, the Zimbabwe Youth Movement is also
understood to have sought the
assistance of some Sadc leaders to start an
armed revolt against
government," the Herald stated quoting a government
spokesman.
We can understand that state spokesmen are bitter that
their stooge
organisations like the Zimbabwe Youth Council are not taken
seriously by the
international community, but repeating lies about an armed
insurrection will
not help their cause.
The story about the
armed insurrection collapsed when MDC officials
accused of participating
were released from detention. The state was unable
to support its
allegations about petrol bombings and militia training in
South Africa after
having peddled them to Sadc leaders and bought space for
them in suborned
publications such as Baffour Ankomah’s New African.
But now
government spokesmen, without a shred of evidence, are feeding
the same lies
to gullible Herald reporters who ask no questions. It is a
serious ethical
breach for a newspaper to publish as fact accusations that
have been
dismissed in court as false. But what will the supine MDC do to
counter
state lies? Absolutely nothing we suspect.
A good example of
what bogus youth organisations sponsored by the
state do for a living was
provided in the same edition of the Herald. The
Zimbabwe National Youth
Association put out a statement saying it would
support President Mugabe’s
candidacy in next year’s elections citing his
"rare leadership qualities".
The outfit’s "well-defined criteria" included
"positive youth
empowerment".
Unemployment currently stands at over 80% — and
climbing.
South African political commentator Xolela Mangcu
made a telling
observation in a debate hosted by the Sunday Times last week.
"We are at the
most dangerous point in our history — the intolerance, the
nativism, the
venomous public culture," he observed ahead of the ANC’s
conference.
And that’s without having read one of Tafataona
Mahoso’s columns!
The South African press last month carried a
picture of President
Mbeki sitting on the floor of somebody’s modest home
watching TV with them.
His seat had been mistakenly taken by an old
man who had wandered in.
Can you imagine anybody making that
mistake in Zimbabwe?
Zim Independent
By Eric
Bloch
FINANCE Minister, Dr Samuel Mumbengegwi, in presenting his 2008
Budget last
week demonstrated, yet again, government’s ability to declare
good and
positive intents, coupled with its pronounced skills at pursuing
those
intents negatively, counter-productively and destructively.
As
government has done all too often, the minister highlighted his, and his
government’s, total detachment from reality. With a few very sound
exceptions, the budget contains nothing to bring about Zimbabwe’s
desperately needed, anxiously awaited, and very long overdue economic
recovery. Instead, it contains much to exacerbate the already horrendously
tumultuous downward slide of the economy to near oblivion.
The few
positives included the substantial increase in the tax-free
threshold for
individuals from $4 million to $30 million per month
(representing about
two-thirds of the probable current Poverty Datum Line
(PDL) level), and the
widening of the tax bands to an upper level of $500
million per month.
Concurrently, the level of tax-free bonus was raised to
$75 million, and the
non-taxable threshold of retrenchment packages to $10
billion (from $1
billion).
These adjustments were fairly realistic, and long overdue, but
unless
reviews are effected very regularly, they will soon lose that
realism, for
the ongoing magnitude of inflation will fast erode that
realism. By the time
the new levels become effective (January, 2008, with
the exception of the
bonus level, which is immediately of force and effect)
rampant inflation
will have more than halved the real values, and monthly
thereafter they will
again reduce to at least the same
extent.
Similarly commendable is the exemption from withholding tax of
payments to
exporters by the Reserve Bank upon surrender of foreign currency
by
exporters, and increases in various tax credits and in deductibility
levels
of donations to schools, hospitals, clinics, and research and
development
institutions. But there, the positives virtually end, and almost
all else in
the budget statement is deserving of nothing but scathing
criticism.
The minister correctly recognised that economic recovery is
contingent upon
increased productivity, but failed to make any proposals, or
to initiate any
meaningful actions, to bring that productivity enhancement
into being. Yet
again he failed to move exchange rates, which movement is a
prerequisite for
viability of exporters. Manufacturing industries, mining,
agriculture and
tourism, cannot survive in a regime of static, meaningless
exchange rates,
whilst costs soar upwards by between 100 and 200% a month.
The gargantuan
levels of poverty in Zimbabwe preclude any substantive
increases in consumer
spending, compounded by foolhardy, cataclysmic price
controls and other
adverse, excessive economic regulation. Therefore, the
only real prospects
of obtaining greater productivity is through export
operations, and yet the
minister endlessly frustrates that by maintaining
exchange rates which have
no correlation to reality and to viability
needs.
This myopic approach to productivity was echoed by the minister in
relation
to agriculture, which should be Zimbabwe’s economic foundation.
Reiterating
the tragically laughable governmental contention that 2007/8
will be "The
Mother of Agricultural Seasons", the minister eulogised the
role that, he
contends, agriculture will fulfill in bringing about economic
recovery in
2008. It is pitiful that he, and his government, cannot
recognise that this
"mother" will be barren or, in the alternative, the
birth will be
still-born. It is common knowledge that the availability of
required
fertilisers as required during the last two months was, at best,
one-third
of actual needs. It is equally common knowledge that the actual
availability
of maize seed represents less than two-thirds of that required
to achieve
government’s production forecasts, and that much of the available
seed is
defective.
But although common knowledge, the minister, and
the state’s propaganda
machine, are clearly unaware thereof. Someone needs
to explain to the
minister that seeds not planted cannot grow, that
defective seed will not
sprout, and that unfertilised soils can only enable
seed to whither and die.
The minister is also pinning his expectations
upon a turnaround in livestock
production, but even with foreign currency
funding (from whence?) for
importation of breeding stock, rebuilding the
national herd must take
several years, at the very least.
Very
correctly, the minister accorded recognition to Zimbabwe’s disastrous,
continuing, hyperinflation. However, he suffers delusion in the extreme when
he projects a decline in annual inflation, by the end of 2008, to an
annualised rate of less than 2000%, from present levels which, in reality,
must be significantly in excess of 20 000%. That cannot occur when, on the
one hand, government does nothing which can effectively reduce inflation,
and when, on the other hand, it concurrently resorts to new inflationary
actions. Failure to bring about increased productivity precludes any decline
in inflation and, despite grandiose words to the contrary, the minister has
said and done nothing to assure such an increase, and much to result in
further lowering of production.
Amongst the greatest causes of
inflation is excessive governmental spending,
and the minister foreshadowed
expenditure in 2008 of $7 840 trillion, as
against projected revenues of $6
080 trillion. The total inability, or
unwillingness, or both, of government
to curb its spending has been a major
fuellant of inflation, and will
continue to be so in 2008. As if this does
not suffice, the minister is also
imposing substantially greater excise
duties and levies on petroleum
products, and this must markedly impact upon
inflation, for fuel is an
essential operational input for the entirety of
the economy. In addition, by
doing nothing to ensure enhanced foreign
exchange earnings, the minister is
assuring the alternative foreign exchange
markets of ongoing virility, with
continuously upward exchange rate
movements therein, further exacerbating
inflation.
Again with great correctness, the minister noted the critical
need for
Zimbabwe to maximise the retention of skills, with its skills
resource
having been catastrophically contracting in recent years, as ever
more have
departed to seek livelihoods in non-moribund economies.
But
although he recognised the need to hold the skilled, he has retained a
tax
rate regime which results in Zimbabwe taxing the skilled more highly
than
they would be taxed anywhere else in the Region. Not only are the tax
bands
unreasonably narrow, but the top rate tax at 47,5% is grossly greater
than
elsewhere. In most of the region the maximum rate is in the range of 30
to
35%, with the exception of South Africa, having a maximum rate of 40%. Mr
Minister, over-taxing the skilled is yet another major incentive to the
skilled to depart Zimbabwe and earn their livelihoods
elsewhere!
Unless, like Dick Whittington’s cat, the minister will turn
and proceed in a
diametrically opposite direction, the continuing decline of
the economy is
assured.