The ZIMBABWE Situation
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Police
force their way into Peace Project offices in Hillside
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
11 February 2013
Police in Harare stormed the offices of the
Zimbabwe Peace project (ZPP) on
Monday, looking for ‘items’ allegedly
brought into the country illegally.
But the lunchtime raid, targeting a
group involved in documenting human
rights abuses by the former ruling ZANU
PF regime, has raised eyebrows
within civil society groups in the
country.
Macdonald Lewanika, a director with the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition sent
out a tweet as the seven plain clothes officers forced their
way into the
ZPP.
‘Seven plain clothed police officers are raiding
ZPP offices in Hillside,
Harare. They have a warrant for illegal entry of
goods or persons or
communications equipment,’ said Lewanika on his twitter
page.
He disclosed that police took away violence incidence reports,
about 60
phones used by ZPP’s peace corps in communities and about 60
wind-up radios.
ZPP is led by Jestina Mukoko, a former ZBC newscaster and
a human rights
activist who, in December 2008, was abducted and held in
communicado for a
number of weeks. She was tortured by security forces for
allegedly
recruiting youths for military training with the MDC-T. Mukoko was
reportedly not in the office during this latest raid.
The crackdown
is sure to inflame accusations against the partisan state
security agents
that they want to silence organizations involved with civic
voter education
and others that will be observing the forthcoming
parliamentary and
presidential elections.
Jameson Timba, the Minister of State in Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
office, denounced the raid, promising to raise
the issue at the appropriate
level.
‘If it is correct that some law
enforcement agents are surrounding the
offices of the Zimbabwe Peace Project
led by Jestina, this harassment must
be condemned and challenged at the
appropriate level and I will do so,’
Timba said.
Our Harare
correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us many activists in the
capital have also
denounced the raid, describing the organizations being
targeted as the
guardians of freedom in Zimbabwe.
Police on Monday also carried out raids
on the offices of the Community
Tolerance Reconciliation and Development
(COTRAD) and Nango in Masvingo.
There are reports two people were arrested
in the raids.
Minister
slams NGO crackdown
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer
Monday, 11 February
2013 11:53
HARARE - Labour minister Paurina Mpariwa has expressed
concern over the
clampdown on civil society organisations at a time when
millions of
Zimbabweans are faced with hunger.
Amid widening hunger
estimated to affect 1,6 million Zimbabweans,
intimidation and a crackdown of
civic society organisations some of which
are involved in humanitarian work
has been intensifying.
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF accuses NGOs of
financing regime change,
whether through civil education programmes or
through food handouts.
However, Mpariwa, whose ministry can hardly meet
the demand of hungry
Zimbabweans, said government should ensure free
activity by NGOs which play
a critical role in assisting people.
“As
Zimbabwe heads for a constitutional referendum and general election this
year, political tensions are rising again. What’s disturbing are incidents
of harassment, arrest, unlawful detention and office raids of civic society
members, countrywide,” said Mpariwa.
ZimRights is among the growing
list of civil society organisations that have
been targeted by the State in
the past few weeks and Mpariwa says the
crackdown is disturbing especially
considering that the NGOs have necessary
documents that are required by the
law.
“I acknowledge the role of NGOs in providing humanitarian and
developmental
assistance as complementary to government efforts in meeting
the needs of
its citizens during this harsh period where Zimbabwe is under
serious food
deficit.
“Millions of Zimbabweans depend on NGOs for
assistance and denying them
assistance will jeopardise the livelihoods of
millions of Zimbabweans,” she
said.
While millions are starving,
police, according to Mpariwa, are still
demonstrating that they are brazenly
partisan and continue to side with Zanu
PF, whether councillors, chiefs or
MPs.
The MP for Mufakose also blasted the judiciary which on a number of
occasions has denied civil society leaders bail.
“The MDC as a party
subscribes to the fundamental principles of freedom of
movement and
association and will condemn in the strongest terms the
partisan behaviour
of the police and some sections of the judiciary,” she
said.
The UN
World Food Programme (WFP) needs approximately $119 million to
complete its
operations in Zimbabwe until the end of March 2013, and says
erratic rains,
poor agricultural practices and ongoing economic challenges
have pushed
Zimbabwe into an increasingly critical food security situation.
Mnangagwa’s
top ally suspended in factional infighting
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
11
February 2013
The decision by ZANU PF to suspend its Manicaland
provincial chairman, Mike
Madiro, is being viewed by some as a plot
engineered to weaken Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa’s presidential
ambitions.
Madiro is a lifelong ally of Mnangagwa who worked under the
ZANU PF
strongman for 15 years as Director of Finance, at the party
headquarters in
Harare.
Mnangagwa served for many years as the
Secretary for Finance. Until now
Mnangagwa has been a powerful figure
leading the race to succeed President
Robert Mugabe.
The provincial
chairman was suspended last week, together with four other
senior members
from the party, following allegations of fraud, corruption,
theft,
embezzlement and dishonesty.
The five are alleged to have misappropriated
$700,000 collected from diamond
mining companies at Chiadzwa, on the pretext
it was meant for party
activities.
A source told us this could yet be
another plan to block Mnangagwa from
succeeding Mugabe by plotting to get
rid of provincial chairs who are behind
the defence minister. There have
been several attempts over the years to
stop Mnangagwa in his tracks but with
little success.
Last year the party plunged into political turmoil when
the politburo
disbanded the District Coordinating Committees, after
Mnangagwa’s camp had
captured the majority of the countrywide
structures.
The politburo charged that he had used his wealth to buy
votes, but
Mnangagwa’s faction saw this as a plot to block him from using
the
structures to have a run at the Presidency.
In 2009, just as it
seemed Mnangagwa had garnered enough support to win the
Vice-Presidency of
the party, a ZANU PF congress resolution stated that one
of the party’s two
deputy presidents had to be a woman. This cleared the way
for Mujuru to be
elected to that post.
Madiro
speaks out
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
by Everson Mushava 10 hours 46 minutes
ago
SUSPENDED Zanu PF Manicaland provincial chairman Mike
Madiro has broken his
silence over his alleged involvement in the theft of
party donations and
threatened to expose senior party officials behind the
alleged smear
campaign.
“Those in glass houses should not throw stones,”
Madiro warned, adding he
suspected he could be a victim of an internal power
struggle.
“I am subject to the party processes. If it is a criminal matter, I
am
subject to the laws of this country. I know those who accuse me have not
thought that I will have time to say my story.
“Those that are
persecuting me are aware that all this is not true. These
are political
games. No money was ever released by the diamond mining
companies. They know
that it is not true. I have been framed several times.
“This is not new; the
same people have tried to block my political career
each time there are
elections. But the unfortunate thing for them is I have
never fought for any
position of leadership. I have been chairman of
Manicalanand province
several times by public demand,” he said. Madiro and
four other senior Zanu
PF officials were suspended last Friday over fraud
and corruption
allegations involving over $700 000 reportedly extorted from
diamond mining
firms in Chiadzwa.
The five were served with the suspension letter by the
party’s secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa.
Madiro’s co-accused
are provincial youth chairperson Tawanda Mukodza,
provincial youth secretary
for security Admire Mahachi, provincial youth
secretary for information
Masimba Kangai and former district co-ordinating
committee member Clever
Muparutsa.
Although party sources said the suspensions could be related to
his alleged
links to a Zanu PF faction reportedly led by Defence minister
Emmerson
Mnangagwa, Madiro shot down the theory, saying he was only close to
Mnangagwa because they worked together in the party’s finance department for
15 years.
“I do not belong to any faction. I am an unequivocally loyal
cadre of
President (Robert) Mugabe. Those that accuse me are clear
factionalists.
They are on record admitting they belong to a faction. That I
worked with
Mnangagwa does not mean I belong to his faction. My duty has
been to unite
the people of Manicaland,” he said.
The five are also being
probed for allegesdly stealing Presidential farming
inputs and cattle
donated for the party leader’s 2012 birthday party.
“They are free to probe
and I am sure they will be embarrassed by the
results. Those 10 cattle were
known by everyone and it is in the party’s
minutes. How then can they say I
wanted to steal?
“I never stole the inputs from the President. The wards were
still securing
transport to collect their allocation after I was advised
late that 18
tonnes of seed for the province had been kept for me at the
Grain Marketing
Board.
“They are making these allegations when the party
is being accused by the
MDC-T of building a war chest using diamond money.
Every minister appointed
by President Mugabe had been fighting to have the
Kimberley Certification
Process approve the sale of Zimbabwean
diamonds.
“If we say this now, whose interests are we serving when the
country’s
diamond industry is still choked by some bottlenecks from the West
and when
the country is still under sanctions?”
But sources from the
province said Mutasa and his alleged right-hand men —
who include Munacho
Mutezo, Enock Porusingazi, Freddy Kanzamba, David
Momberume, Manicaland
provincial youth leader Kudzai Chipanga and another
youth official Lesley
Hombe, said to be in the Central Intelligence
Organisation — had hatched the
plot to oust Madiro to weaken the Mnangagwa
faction while propping another
faction reportedly led by Vice-President
Joice Mujuru.
Both Mnangagwa and
Mujuru have, however, publicly denied leading the alleged
factions.
“It
is public knowledge that Mutasa wants to be Mujuru’s deputy. Mutasa has
publicly admitted that. He wants Madiro to be ousted so that he can be
replaced with Basil Nyabadza, who he has already paraded as the provincial
chair,” said a Zanu PF insider. Mutasa yesterday denied the issue was
related to Zanu PF factionalism.
“This has nothing to do with who belongs
to which faction; we are cleaning
all the dirt from the party.
“If people
steal, we will clean them regardless of their side. President
Mugabe is
against corruption and they stole. The law will take its course.
We are
still waiting for police to finish their investigations and if they
are
exonerated, we will work together.”
Mutasa denied reports that he was behind
the alleged plot to kick out
Madiro.
“Why are they saying that now after
these allegations? They should stop
stealing and no one will bother
them.”
But sources said Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa and Zanu PF
women’s
league boss Oppah Muchinguri were next in the line of fire because
of their
perceived allegiance to the Mnangagwa faction.
Muchinguri and
Mnangagwa are said to have blocked earlier attempts to get
Madiro sacked,
preferring the matter to be investigated by a team led by
Madiro’s deputy,
Dorothy Mabika. Madiro is no stranger to controversy. He
was reinstated in
the party in 2008 after being suspended in 2004 over his
alleged involvement
in the Tsholothso debacle, arising out of a meeting that
was organised to
plot the elevation of Mnangagwa to the post of
Vice-President ahead of
Mujuru, Mugabe’s preferred candidate. - NewsDay
Biti
promises millions to save UN conference
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
11 February
2013
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has reportedly promised that an
estimated US$12
million will be made available to the Tourism Ministry, in
an effort to save
the in-doubt UN conference in Victoria Falls in
August.
According to the Standard newspaper, Biti told Tourism Minister
Walter
Mzembi that “everything is under control,” and the money will be made
available. Mzembi told the newspaper that he got this commitment from Biti
last week, two days before a closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
“We need a total of US$12 million to say that we are safe
and I got
commitment from Biti that everything is under control,” Mzembi was
quoted as
saying.
The Tourism Minister is also set to embark on an
African tour soon, trying
to convince governments across the continent to
support Zimbabwe’s efforts
and ensure there is a good turnout for the
event.
The UN World Tourism Organisation general assembly is set to be
co-hosted by
Zimbabwe and Zambia in August, but Zimbabwe is still
unprepared. Key
upgrades to infrastructure at Victoria Falls have not
happened, and the
money Biti has set aside is meant to ensure the changes
are made.
But there are serious doubts that the event can get underway,
with even the
UN Tourism authorities raising concerns about recent
developments. Mzembi
was left outraged after he was questioned by the UN
Tourism Secretariat at a
recent meeting in Spain, about reports that he led
the takeover of the Renco
Mine.
He is understood to have also been
left furious after Biti publicly
announced that the government was broke,
intensifying the doubt that
Zimbabwe can meet the UN standards for the
meeting.
Political analyst Clifford Mashiri told SW Radio Africa that
Zimbabwe should
never have tried to host the meeting in the first place “and
the failure to
hold it now will damage the credibility of the country even
further.”
Mashiri said the conference is linked to international efforts
to
“normalise” what is happening in Zimbabwe, with Western countries trying
to
re-engage as much as possible with the government. Australia and the EU
have
both indicated they will drop restrictive sanctions against ZANU PF,
despite
a lack of change in the country.
“This is a big problem for
Zim and it is all linked to the economic interest
of the Western world who
are worried about the interests of China in
Zimbabwe,” Mashiri said.
Zim
to host bush UNWTO conference
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Fungai Kwaramba, Staff Writer
Monday, 11
February 2013 12:05
HARARE - Zimbabwe is set to host a “unique”
United Nations World Tourism
Organisation (UNTWO) conference in the bush as
government is struggling to
avail funds to bankroll the programme’s
preparations.
Walter Mzembi, Tourism minister told reporters last week
after meeting Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that the country is set to
host the “unique”
conference “under stars” because dignitaries want just
that — because it is
Africa.
Having failed to build a legacy
conferencing facility which government
ministers including Mzembi envisaged,
Zimbabwe has now opted for the easy
route of going to the
bush.
Notwithstanding the bush route, which will certainly be cheaper,
the country
still needs a massive $11 million to speed up preparations for
the UNTWO
conference that is slated for August.
Meanwhile a
referendum and then an election are the priority for a
government whose
Finance minister Tendai Biti has rattled the international
community after
declaring that the country has less than $300 in its bank
account.
Mzembi, who had to defend Biti’s statements in Spain, said
government
ministers should not make such reckless statements that may
jettison the
country’s chances of hosting the craved-for event.
“Our
aspirations were to plant a legacy conference facility in the same
manner
that we built the Sheraton for the Commonwealth meeting, but that
does not
stop the UNTWO. They (dignitaries) are looking for the Africanness
and the
dinner will be held under the stars overlooking the bridge,” said
Mzembi.
While Zimbabwe is struggling with financing the programme —
co-hosts Zambia
are at an advanced stage.
Mzembi says his Zambian
counterpart has already received $20 million to
prepare for the
programme.
Mzembi, who expressed concern with Biti’s statements which for
a moment
threatened the country’s chances of hosting the event as the UNTWO
queried
whether such a bankrupt government would have the capacity to host
the
world, said he “envisages a bush party”.
“I envisage a bush party
for the delegates. When you are in Africa you must
go to the bush and that
is what we are looking at,” said Mzembi.
Zimbabwe hosts the world for the
first time since the Commonwealth
conference that was held in 1992 and
Mzembi says the country has no better
opportunity to push the country’s
brand at the conference that will be held
in August.
Sympathetic
countries like Senegal have promised to help struggling
Zimbabwe, not with
money but with their top musicians.
Malian superstar Salif Keita,
Senegalese crooner Ismael Lo and South African
legendary musician Hugh
Masekela will, according to Mzembi, headline the
cast of international acts
who will spice up the bush event.
Zimbabwe
central bank gets tough on cash rules
http://www.timeslive.co.za
Sapa-AP | 11 February, 2013
14:47
Zimbabwe's central bank says it is enforcing tougher rules to rein
in "the
delinquent behaviour" of businesses holding cash
abroad.
The Reserve Bank says that US360 million in export proceeds
were being kept
offshore, worsening acute cash shortages in the nation's
"prevailing
liquidity crunch".
It said companies not repatriating
their foreign cash within 90 days of
earning it would be red flagged in
"investigations to bring the culprits to
book".
In the past, breaches
of exchange control rules generally carried a penalty
of heavy
fines.
The central bank acknowledged that the collapse of many long
established
industries led in 2012 to an over reliance on imported goods.
Zimbabwe spent
US7.4 billion on imports last year but earned only US3.8
billion from all of
its exports, the bank said.
Ministers
demand hefty exit packages
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
11 February
2013
The government has said it has no money to hold the constitutional
referendum or the elections and is appealing to the international community
for help. Most hospital, prisons and government schools around the country
are not functioning properly, while roads and social services are in great
need of repair.
But Cabinet ministers are demanding hefty exit
packages, including
top-of-the range vehicles, houses and residential stands
before the end of
the coalition government in elections. The ministers say
they have worked
hard with a low salary for four and a half
years.
But Masimba Kuchera, an economic analyst and a board member with
the
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, said it is surprising that
the
ministers who run the government and have said the state is cash
strapped
are now “make these astronomical demands on the fiscus.”
“I
don’t think it’s morally acceptable. I don’t think it’s something that is
economically sustainable and unfortunately, for most of them, is deserved
anyway,” Kuchera told SW Radio Africa
MP’s are also demanding their
sitting allowances of around $30,000 per
person, which they say is owed to
them by government. Paddy Zhanda, chairman
of the Lawmakers’ Welfare
Committee, said: “We are not demanding anything
but only requesting what is
being owed to us.”
He said it will be difficult for some of the
legislators to demand their
monies if they are not re-elected.
There
are about 40 ministers including the President, Prime Minister and
their
deputies in government, while the House of Assembly, which normally
sits 210
lawmakers, currently has about 190 MPs, as some were suspended or
have
died.
Kuchera said some of the legislators abused the Constituency
Development
Fund and, ‘for them to say now they want their $30,000 when they
abused the
taxpayers’ $50,000 is disrespectful to the taxpayers.”
He
said they should be properly rewarded for the work that they are doing
but
that some of them are not performing well, adding: “Apart from the 5
year
cycle of elections we should also have ways of rating our MPs to see if
they
are working well.”
Meanwhile, the Standard newspaper reports that
traditional chiefs are also
set to receive new cars ‘under the chiefs’
vehicle revolving fund, which has
been largely dormant for the past few
years’. Chiefs’ council leader,
Fortune Charumbira, insisted it was nothing
to do with ZANU PF buying their
loyalty but that it was similar to the
parliamentary vehicle loan scheme and
each chief will pay back the full cost
of the vehicle. He told the newspaper
that 180 of the 227 chiefs countrywide
were yet to receive cars.
Fuel prices
go up by 5 percent
http://nehandaradio.com
on February 11, 2013 at 10:49 am
By
Blessing Bonga
FUEL prices have gone up by at least 5 percent over the
past week due to
what fuel dealers attributed to limited supplies from
Beira. Zimbabwe
imports the bulk of its fuel through the Feruka pipeline,
linking Beira and
Harare.
Fuel dealers said the bad weather in Beira
has negatively impacted on
efficient discharge of fuel, which has slowed
down inflows.
A survey by Herald Business around Harare showed that
petrol was being sold
at between US1,51c and US1,55c up from an average of
US1,46c a week ago,
while diesel was selling at between US1,34c to US1,36c
from an average of
US$1,30c.
Some filling stations did not have fuel
at all while a number of unusual
queues could be seem at a few service
stations , especially in the
high-density suburbs.
“During the past
two to three weeks, bad weather in Beira has caused delays
in the
transportation of fuel into the country and we don’t have enough
reserves
now,” said an executive with one fuel company.
“With such a scenario,
where you have inadequate stock in circulation and
prices go up, it becomes
inevitable to unfortunately pass on the expense to
the customer, failing
which you would end up being unable to restock.”
He also blamed the
recent increase to international trends where oil prices
have gone up. The
recent price increases have the potential to cause ripple
effects on all
sectors of the economy as fuel is the major factor of
production in both
industry and manufacturing, economists say.
Economic analyst Mr Witness
Chinyama said he was worried over the effects
fuel price increases usually
have on the general prices of commodities since
transportation is key in
doing any kind of business.
“Transport is crucial in every business, as
it is a key component,” he said.
“Prices are therefore likely to increase
marginally to cushion producers and
service providers from making a
loss.”
Fuel prices in South Africa also rose last week by R0,41 for
petrol and
R0,73 for diesel. The increase has been attributed to a number of
factors,
including rising tensions in the Middle East that saw US WTI crude
oil and
Brent crude oil rising last week.
South African exports are
performing poorly, leading to the ultimate
weakening of the rand exchange
rate against major currencies. This has been
cited as another cause for the
price increase in South Africa. The Herald
Air
Zimbabwe debt soars to US$188m
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Staff Reporter 52 minutes
ago
HARARE - Air Zimbabwe’s debt has ballooned to US$188
million, further
dampening hopes of securing a strategic partner to help the
airline resume
full operations.
The national airline’s debt has
accumulated to US$188 million from US$140
million despite the resumption of
local and regional flights that had been
suspended.
The airline is
relying on a Boeing 767, a Boeing 737 and MA60 airplanes to
service its
regional and domestic routes while 5 other airplanes need
servicing before
hitting the skies.
Presenting oral evidence before the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on
Transport, Communication and Infrastructure, interim
Air Zimbabwe Board
Chairman, Mr Munesu Munodawafa, who is also the Permanent
Secretary in the
Ministry of Transport, Communication and Infrastructural
Development, said
government has been working closely with management to try
and improve the
airline’s domestic and regional connectivity but the biggest
challenge is
the huge debt overhang.
The national flag carrier
managed to retire part of its debt mostly to South
African creditors after a
US$8,5 million cash injection from government last
year.
However, as
things stand right now, at least US$158 million is required for
Air Zimbabwe
to pay international creditors and resume international
flights.
Other problems bedevilling the national flag carrier include
mismatch
between the small fleet and its bloated staff and the old age of
the planes.
Meanwhile, a new board of directors for the airline is set to
be announced
on the 22nd of February after the parastatal went for more than
a year
without a substantive board.
Air
Zim to replace Chinese planes
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
10/02/2013 00:00:00
by Business
Reporter
AIR Zimbabwe is reportedly in the hunt for two
short-haul aircraft to
replace the grounded MA-60 turboprops which were
acquired from China.
Industry publication, African Aviation Tribune,
reported that the struggling
airline was considering acquiring two ERJ-135
aircraft as it looks to resume
regional flights.
Acquisition of the
new aircraft would enable the airline to withdraw from
service the three
MA-60 aircraft acquired from China.
Air Zimbabwe currently operates two
Boeing aircraft, a B737-200 ER and a
B737-200 Adv., on domestic market as
well as on the Harare-Johannesburg
route.
The airline pulled out of
the lucrative Harare-London route in December 2011
after two of its aircraft
were seized in London and Johannesburg over unpaid
debts.
The company
is understood to be battling debts of up to US$140 million.
Management
recently confirmed that the government had acquired two airbus
aircraft to
boost the airline’s fleet.
Students
evicted from UZ residences
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
11 February
2013
Hundreds of students have been evicted and blacklisted from their
residence
halls at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), after protesting alleged
corruption and other issues last December.
More than 500 students had
protested in December over a number of problems,
including arbitrary
evictions of some students from the residences by the
university
warden.
According to the UZ Students Representative Council, many of the
students
that have since been kicked out of their halls were not part of the
protest
groups.
The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) has
condemned the development
for “threatening the rights of students.” ZINASU
Vice President Believe
Tevera told SW Radio Africa on Monday that they will
be lobbying the
authorities to solve the problems.
Tevera went on to
explain that corruption is believed to be behind the mass
evictions, saying
the students targeted included those who had raised
complaints about the
activities of the university warden.
“ZINASU members have suggested there
is corruption behind what is happening.
The warden was being paid by some
students and was giving them
accommodation. But he chased away some and when
other students went to
complain they found themselves blacklisted,” Tevera
said.
He said that many of the students who have been targeted are
disabled, and
“we are concerned about how they are going to get to school,
and how they
are going to continue.”
Tevera also said that the
problem stems from bad management by the UZ
Vice-Chancellor Levi Nyagura,
who he accused of “leaving the institution in
tatters.” Nyagura is finishing
his final term at the head of the university
this year.
“We are going
to lobby the authorities and try and get this sorted out
before the terms
begin later this month,” Tevera said.
Storm
over UK motion condemning ZIPRA
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
10/02/2013
00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
ZIMBABWE and Britain are set for a new
diplomatic spat over a controversial
House of Commons motion by a Labour MP
condemning the 1979 shooting down of
a passenger plane by ZIPRA
fighters.
The Air Rhodesia Viscount Flight RH827 had just taken off from
Kariba when
it came down on February 12, 1979, after being struck by a
Strela 2 missile.
Fifty-five passengers flying to Salisbury, now Harare,
and four crew members
perished in the incident which came at the height of
an armed resistance
against white minority rule.
Now at least six
British MPs have signed an Early Day Motion proposed by
Vauxhall MP Kate
Hoey condemning the downing of Flight RH827 – the second
such attack after
another incident a year earlier in which Air Rhodesia
Flight RH825with 56
people on board was shot down by ZIPRA freedom fighters.
In the first
attack – also in Kariba – on September 3, 1978, 48 people were
killed, 10 of
them it is claimed were executed on the ground. There were
eight
survivors.
Hoey’s motion – which is unlikely to be debated in the Commons
but aims to
draw attention to the two incidents – coincides with Tuesday’s
34th
anniversary of the shooting down of Flight RH827.
The motion,
tabled on February 5 and titled ‘Viscount Massacres’, proposes:
“That this
House notes that 12 February 2013 will mark the 34th anniversary
of the
shooting down of Air Rhodesia Viscount Flight RH827 (the Umniati) by
members
of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) in the former
Rhodesia
resulting in the death of all on board; further notes that this was
the
second such shooting down of civilian airliners by ZIPRA and followed
the
shooting down of Air Rhodesia Flight RH825 (the Hunyani) by the same
means
on 3 September 1978; further notes that the 107 victims comprised
civilian
men, women and children, some of whom survived the crash of the
Hunyani and
were subsequently murdered on the ground by bayoneting and
shooting; further
notes that the victims included citizens from Switzerland,
Scotland,
Belgium, New Zealand, the UK and South Africa; recalls that the
failure to
officially condemn these atrocities, as articulated in the sermon
by the
late Very Reverend John da Costa known as The Deafening Silence, was
an act
of moral cowardice and deplores such failure; and commends the work
done by
Keith Nell and his Viscount Down Team to ensure that these
atrocities are
not forgotten and their ongoing efforts to alleviate
suffering amongst the
pensioner community of Zimbabwe. This motion has been
signed by a total of 6
MPs.”
Early Day Motions are formal proposals submitted for debate in the
House of
Commons, but very few are actually debated.
The motions are used
to publicise the views of individual MPs, drawing
attention to specific
events or campaigns, and demonstrating the extent of
parliamentary support
for a particular cause or point of view.
The subject is very emotive and
the fact that six British MPs have
associated themselves with the motion
will be met with anger in Harare.
Dumiso Dabengwa, ZIPRA’s former
commander, stormed on Sunday: “When it
happened, it was war time.
“We
are very curious... they should come in the open and say exactly what
they
want.”
Dabengwa said worse atrocities were committed by Rhodesian forces, and
that
the new government in independent Zimbabwe had declared amnesty for all
war
crimes.
“They [former colonisers] suggested the issue of amnesty
and it was taken on
board. The amnesty was to make no-one responsible for
crimes committed
during war time.
“For them it was a way of
protecting Ian Smith and company from the
atrocities they committed. Since
they have moved a motion, shall we go back
and mention numerous occasions
that they massacred our people?
“They want to start a condemnation war
and we will take them on because we
have the evidence where British racists
and special forces did horrible
things to us. Let them start the issue and
we will not keep quiet.”
Tendai Kwari, the UK spokesman for the
Mavambo-Kusile party led by Simba
Makoni, also condemned the motion in a
letter to Hoey on Sunday.
He said he was “saddened, annoyed and
surprised” by the move, adding: “I
would like to remind the Honourable MP
that her motion is opening healing
wounds, especially amongst black
Zimbabweans.
“Thousands of poor Zimbabwean refugees were massacred by the
Rhodesians at
Tembue and Chimoio [Mozambique]. These two camps had schools
and clinics and
thousands of people were butchered. We also would demand for
answers...”
House of
Commons Rhodie motion raises stink
http://www.herald.co.zw
Monday, 11 February 2013
00:00
Herald Reporter
ZIMBABWEANS have expressed outrage at
the move by the British Parliament to
move a motion condemning the shooting
of Air Rhodesia Viscount RH827 by
Zipra forces during the liberation
struggle which the House of Commons
classified as an atrocity that should be
commemorated.
The motion was moved by Labour MP Kate Hoey who argued that
civilians in the
flight were killed and there was need to give February 12,
the day the plane
was shot down, official recognition.
The motion
reads: ‘‘That this House notes that 12 February 2013 will mark
the 34th
anniversary of the shooting down of Air Rhodesia Viscount Flight
RH827 (the
Umniati) by members of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
(Zipra) in
the former Rhodesia resulting in the death of all on board;
further notes
that this was the second such shooting down of civilian
airliners by Zipra
and followed the shooting down of Air Rhodesia Flight
RH825 (the Hunyani) by
the same means on 3 September 1978; further notes
that the 107 victims
comprised civilian men, women and children, some of
whom survived the crash
of the Hunyani and were subsequently murdered on the
ground by bayoneting
and shooting; further notes that the victims included
citizens from
Switzerland, Scotland, Belgium, New Zealand, the UK and South
Africa;
recalls that the failure to officially condemn these atrocities, as
articulated in the sermon by the late Very Reverend John da Costa known as
The Deafening Silence, was an act of moral cowardice and deplores such
failure; and commends the work done by Keith Nell and his Viscount Down Team
to ensure that these atrocities are not forgotten and their ongoing efforts
to alleviate suffering amongst the pensioner community of
Zimbabwe.’’
Air Rhodesia Flight 827, flown that day by Umniati, was a
scheduled flight
between Kariba and Salisbury (Harare) that was shot down on
February 12,
1979 by Zipra forces soon after take-off in
Kariba.
Zipra forces believed Rhodesian Army commander General Peter
Walls was in
the Viscount plane, but he had changed planes.
None of the
59 passengers or crew survived.
Analysts yesterday described the move as
a “racial commemoration” as
thousands of Zimbabweans lost their lives during
the liberation struggle.
Former Zipra commander Dr Dumiso Dabengwa
described the motion as a
provocation that would “open old
wounds”.
“It shows what the new leadership of the Labour Party is like,”
he said.
“When it happened it was war time and they did not move a motion.
What is it
that makes them move the motion this time?
“We are very
curious and I think they should come in the open and say
exactly what they
want.”
Dr Dabengwa said the motion means that the amnesty suggested by the
British
during the Lancaster House constitutional negotiations was
“useless”.
“They suggested the issue of amnesty and it was taken on
board. The amnesty
was to make no one responsible for offences committed
during war time,” he
said.
“For them it was a way of protecting Ian
Smith and company from the
atrocities they committed. Since they have moved
a motion, shall we go back
and mention numerous occasions that they
massacred our people?”
Dr Dabengwa said they were ready to take the
British head on with regards to
the issue.
“They want to start a
condemnation war and we will take them on because we
have the evidence where
British racists and special forces did horrible
things to us,” he
said.
“Let them start the issue and we will not keep quiet.”
Political
analyst and Midlands State University media lecturer Dr Nhamo
Mhiripiri
dismissed the proposed commemoration as racial.
“They are remembering
their kith and kin, but what about our children who
were massacred in
Tembwe, Chimoio, Nyadzonia and other areas?
“This is a racial
commemoration because they are giving one side of the
story yet the
liberation struggle had a lot of things.
“We value human life, but we
remind them that as they do their
commemorations, they should also note that
theirs was a small number as
compared to ours.”
Diplomat and
political analyst Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa said liberation
struggle wounds
should not be re-opened.
“They committed atrocities which were worse and
condemned by the United
Nations, but now they are talking of one or two
incidents which happened
during a war time,” he said.
“This is a
provocation and it means they only regard the death of white
people alone
during the struggle.
“There is no mention of what happened to our sons
and daughters in and
outside the country. The British are not the only
victims of war.”
Cde Mutsvangwa said the International Court of Justice
should be looking for
former Rhodesian killers.
“We should have
tracked them and make them accountable just as the Nazis
were tracked down
by the Jews,” he said.
“Zimbabwe and other countries in the region should
condemn this move because
we all lost thousands of people.”
Another
political analyst who preferred anonymity said the British and
Americans
were still killing innocent civilians in some countries.
“Look at what is
happening in countries like Syria, the Osama bin Laden
issue among others
where they killed thousands of innocent souls in search
of one man,” he
said.
Dr Joseph Kurebwa of the University of Zimbabwe’s political science
and
administration department said the flight that was attacked was a
legitimate
military target.
“The Zipra forces argued, which the
Rhodesian forces countered, that they
were looking for General Walls,” he
said.
“No one supports the killing of civilians, but we should look at
the time
this happened and Zipra were fighting a settler regime which by and
large
constituted the Rhodesians.”
Thousands of Zimbabweans, mainly
defenceless refugees, were massacred at
camps in Mozambique, Zambia and
Angola by Rhodesian elite forces during the
liberation struggle.
The
British have not condemned such massacres that attracted the attention
of
the United Nations.
Health
time-bomb ticking at Renco Mine
http://www.herald.co.zw
Monday, 11 February 2013
00:00
George Maponga in Masvingo
Over 5 000 people at
Renco Mine in Nyajena communal lands are sitting on a
health time bomb as
the gold mining settlement has been without running
water for the past two
weeks, forcing residents
to use the bush to relieve themselves and to
drink from unprotected sources.
Suburbs in the mining settlement have not
been receiving running water for
the past two weeks after water treatment
chemicals ran out, while the pumps
that used to supply water are in need of
repair.
Water that supplies the gold mining settlement is pumped from the
nearby
Mutirikwi River and is conveyed into storage tanks where it is
treated
before transmission to households.
But for the past two
weeks, the mine has not had water supplies, forcing
residents to use the
bush to relieve themselves and also drink water from
unprotected
sources.
Mrs Anna Kwenda from the Renco Mine compound said last week that
the
situation at the mining settlement was bad.
The residents now
fear an outbreak of diseases.
“We are sitting on a health time bomb because
over the past two weeks we
have not been getting running water in our homes
and the situation is now
bad that we are now being forced to relieve
ourselves in the bush as we
cannot use our toilets due to lack of water,”
said Mrs Kwenda.
“We are in a real crisis because our taps are
dry.’’
Another Renco Mine resident, Mrs Elizabeth Kufonya, said: ‘’We now
fear that
there might be an outbreak of diseases because of water woes that
have been
affecting us for the past two weeks.
“We are now drinking
contaminated water because of lack of choice, things
are really
bad.’’
Some of the Renco Mine residents were walking for several
kilometres to
Mutirikwi River where they do their laundry and
bathing.
Renco Mine manager Mr Cyprian Kachisa attributed the water
shortage to lack
of water treatment chemicals becasue the mine had no funds
to buy some.
“We have a water shortage also because there is need for
funds to repair the
pumps that supply water,” he said.
“Most of the
water conveyance pipes are in a state of disrepair and they
need to be
replaced, but there is no money to do that and we don’t have
money to
procure the water treatment chemicals.”
Renco mine, the largest gold
producer in Masvingo, plunged into a crisis
early last month after wives of
workers at the mine staged a demonstration
against the mine owners over poor
working conditions and low salaries.
Since then, the women have been
vowing to continue blocking Rio-Zim
officials, who own the mine, from
accessing Renco Mine until their
grievances were addressed.
Mine
officials accuse Masvingo South legislator Cde Walter Mzembi and his
Chivi
South counterpart Cde Ivene Dzingirai of interfering with the
operations of
the mine by allegedly inciting the workers’ wives and
villagers to
demonstrae.
The officials has since approached the High Court to bar the
two law markers
from allegedly interfering with the mine operations.
The
High Court reserved judgement on the application last week.
Chiefs
in Constitution U-turn
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Chengetayi Zvauya, Parliamentary Editor
Monday,
11 February 2013 12:05
HARARE - Traditional chiefs have made a dramatic
U-turn, throwing their
weight behind a draft constitution seen as eroding
their powers.
Debating a motion on the draft constitution in Senate on
Thursday, Chief
Fortune Charumbira and Chief Ngungubane said they had a
change of heart, and
were going to support the draft constitution to be
voted for in the
referendum.
Ngungubane said although the chiefs had
initially protested against the
draft as it curtailed their traditional
powers, they were now fully behind
the draft as they had realised that it
captured the views of the people.
“We support the draft as the
politicians have put Zimbabweans first and this
is a job well done and hence
we have decided to support it,” chief
Ngungubane said.
“Some of the
chiefs who participated in the thematic committees had their
names omitted
in the report and that anomaly must be corrected.”
Parliament adopted the
draft on Wednesday. But traditional leaders had been
arguing that they had
been excluded from the administration of most land
except communal land, a
move they argued had left them powerless.
Clause 15.3 (2) of the Copac
draft states that: “Except as provided for in
Act of Parliament, traditional
leaders shall have no authority, control or
jurisdiction over land except
communal land or over persons outside communal
land unless the cause of the
action arose within the area of the traditional
leader’s
jurisdiction.”
Chief Charumbira said the chiefs will be campaigning for a
“yes” vote
despite their objection to some clauses and hoped these issues
can be
corrected when the draft comes to Parliament as a Bill.
Copac
co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora told Parliament that the draft
constitution
had a chapter on traditional chiefs which recognises their role
and
importance.
“We did not want to equate the status of chiefs to that of
President because
the institutions are different,” Mwonzora said.
The
chiefs had demanded to seek audience with President Robert Mugabe over
clauses in the Copac draft constitution which they feel undermined their
authority.
The clauses are on land, property rights and the Judicial
Services
Commission.
Chapter 15:1 on traditional leadership states
that: “Traditional leaders
must act in accordance with this Constitution and
the laws of Zimbabwe,
observe the rules pertaining to traditional leadership
and exercise their
functions for the purposes for which the institution of
traditional
leadership is recognised by this Constitution and treat all
persons within
their areas equally and fairly.
“Traditional leaders
must not be members of any political party or in any
way participate in
partisan politics, act in a partisan manner, further the
interests of any
political party or cause or violate the fundamental rights
and freedoms of
any person.”
The draft is set to mark the end of partisanship by the
traditional leaders
who have openly proclaimed their allegiance to Zanu PF
and in most instances
fanning violence by discriminating against those
perceived to be in
opposition to the former sole ruling party.
Zimbabwe’s
tobacco sales rise
http://www.iol.co.za
February 11 2013 at 06:05pm
Johannesburg -
Tobacco merchants in Zimbabwe expect sales to increase by 21
percent this
year as cotton farmers switch crops to capitalise on higher
prices for the
leaves, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board said.
Sales at the
auctions, which begin on February 13, are expected to total 170
million
kilograms (375 million pounds), compared with 140 million kilograms
last
year, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Matibiri said in a February 7
phone
interview from the capital, Harare. Last year’s output missed a target
of
150 million kilograms, he said.
“There has been a gradual increase in
growers and expected output because a
number of cotton farmers in areas such
as Gokwe, some in Mashonaland West in
Karoi, Kadoma and Chegutu have
switched from cotton growing to tobacco as a
result of good pricing,” he
said.
Zimbabwe is the world’s fourth-biggest exporter of flue- cured
tobacco,
after Brazil, India and the US, according to Universal
Corp.-Virginia, the
largest leaf merchant.
The crop is the country’s
main agricultural export.
The flue-cured variety, the top quality
tobacco, is used to provide flavor
to brands like Marlboro and Benson and
Hedges, and vies with the US for
quality.
The crop is expected to
fetch average prices of $3.50 to $5 per kilogram,
little changed from last
year, Matibiri said.
Brazilian production of flue-cured tobacco fell 17
percent to 590 million
kilograms in 2012, while Indian output dropped 1.8
percent to 273 million
kilograms and the US harvest grew 21 percent in 2012,
according to
Universal.
All three countries are expected to boost
production this year, it said.
More Growers
The number of growers
in Zimbabwe has increased to 72,000, compared with
60,000 a year earlier,
Matibiri said.
Tobacco production in the southern African nation, which
once ranked as the
second-largest exporter, has slumped since
2000.
That year President Robert Mugabe began seizing mainly white-owned
farms for
distribution to blacks deprived of land during colonial
rule.
The country earned a record $517 million from tobacco sales last
year,
according to the Finance Ministry. - Bloomberg
The MDC
Today
http://www.mdc.co.zw
Wednesday, 11 February 2013
Issue - 512
The MDC notes
with regret the barbaric crusade of intimidating people by a
one Jabulani
Sibanda, a Zanu PF stooge, whose actions since last year
continue to disturb
peace and security before the watershed election slated
for this
year.
The party demands that Sibanda’s harmful actions should be stopped
immediately and that he should be arrested.
It is unfortunate that
the infamous self-styled war veteran chooses to be at
variance with his
leadership’s position, particularly that of their leader
Robert Mugabe, who
has been calling for peace.
This week Sibanda was in Mhondoro where he
used hate language while
addressing villagers who had been forced to attend
the meeting. The action
by Jabulani is a clear disrespect and total
disregard of his leadership’s
position and casts a serious shadow on the
sincerity of President Mugabe’s
calls for peace.
To this end we
challenge the Zanu PF leadership to openly distance its self
from the
untoward, primitive and archaic behaviour of Jabulani Sibanda. The
continued
barbaric actions by Jabulani, is not only treasonous but a serious
threat to
peace and security therefore he should be arrested.
There are strong
fears that Sibanda could cause unnecessary bloodshed in the
country if he is
not reigned immediately for his continued hate language,
harassment and
intimidation of innocent villagers.
The MDC calls upon the people of
Zimbabwe to remain steadfast in their
resolve to complete real change and
not be destructed by Jabulani Sibanda’s
misguided calls. Sibanda should be
dismissed as a loose cannon out to
confuse people ahead of the crucial
election. He is a danger not only to
himself but the nation at
large.
The Last Mile: Towards Real Transformation!!!
US funded medical initiative builds Zim's public health capacity
Harare, February 11,
2013: The United
States, through the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) implemented
by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC- Zimbabwe) is set to
produce its first graduates in applied epidemiology in Zimbabwe. Twenty students
from the University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Community Medicine presented
results of their fieldwork on disease surveillance and outbreak-responses on
Friday.
The program, designed to train and
retain health care workers and improve Zimbabwe’s capacity to deliver primary
health care, received funding support from the CDC-Zimbabwe in
2011.
“Training medical
students in core public health skills are critical to ensuring a healthy nation
over the long run. CDC is very pleased to partner with UZ in strengthening these
students’ capacity to conduct disease surveillance, data analysis, and outbreak
control,” said Peter Kilmarx, Director of the CDC-Zimbabwe who witnessed the
presentations.
The students
completed the pilot elective in applied epidemiology and presented their
surveillance system descriptions and data analyses. “Pre-service elective for
4th year medical students and district medical officers (DMOs)
trainings provide the missing pieces in the public health capacity building
puzzle,” said Professor Mufuta Tshimanga, head of the Zimbabwe Field
Epidemiology Training Programme (ZIMFETP). He added: “With this we now
anticipate, more than ever, an increased demand for further public health
training by medical graduates.”
Candidates to the training are
identified and selected by the Ministry of Health. The epidemiology curricula
and field exercises are integrated into the standard coursework is developed by
MEPI-supported UZ and the ZIMFETP.
In addition to medical students,
CDC-Zimbabwe has in the past partnered the UZ and government health departments
to provide district medical officers with hands-on public health experience in
gathering data for decision making, managing outbreaks, and conducting
surveillance and response. The training is designed to enhance critical public
health competency and to improve public health management including surveillance
and response capacity at the district level by targeting individuals who will
charged with managing the country’s public health programs.
The U.S.
government, through PEPFAR and various agencies including CDC-Zimbabwe and the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), provides broad support for
Zimbabwe to address HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, and other health challenges. Among
other goals, part of the intervention strategy this strategy has provided
capacity building support to the Zimbabwean health sector to improve leadership
and effectiveness in addressing HIV. The goal is to encourage Zimbabweans at
all levels of society to take ownership of both the epidemic and the response,
using approaches that include developing innovative, evidence-based program
models and tools to ensure that the latest research and lessons learned are
developed in Zimbabwe.- ZimPAS © February 11, 2013
# # #
ZimPAS is a product of the US
Embassy Public Affairs Section. Inquiries should be directed to Sharon
Hudson-Dean, Counselor for Public Affairs; E-mail: hararepas@state.gov, Tel. +263 4 758800-1,
Fax: 758802, cell +263 912 559 784 http://harare.usembassy.gov Become a
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Paul Chizuze : Disappeared 8 February
2012
Solidarity
Peace Trust
11 February 2013
This week marks exactly one year since the disappearance, under suspicious
circumstances of fellow human rights activist and stalwart campaigner for peace
and justice in Zimbabwe, Mr Paul Chizuze.
We remember with gratitude the values you stood for, the decades you
committed to the pursuit of democracy, peace and justice in your country.
We are still looking for you, alive or dead. We continue to search for the
truth about the events that led to your disappearance.
SOLIDARITY PEACE TRUST
CRISIS COALITION
KWAZULU-NATAL CHRISTIAN COUNCIL
HABAKUK TRUST
MASAKHANENI TRUST
MATABELELAND CIVIC FORUM
IBHETSHULIKAZULU
PEACE ACTION (South Africa)
People Against Suffering Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP)
ZIMBABWE EXILES FORUM
For further information, please contact Selvan Chetty - Deputy
Director, Solidarity Peace Trust
Email: selvan@solidaritypeacetrust.org
Tel: +27 (39) 682 5869
Fax: +27 (39) 682
5869
Address:
Suite 4
3rd Floor
MB Centre
49 Aiken Street
Port Shepstone
4240
Kwazulu-Natal South Coast
|
Freeth:
An open letter to the Zim legislators
http://www.swradioafrica.com
Dear Zimbabwe legislators
After
your endorsement of the draft constitution, I am concerned that you
have not
measured the draft constitution in terms of how far it goes in
protecting
the fundamental issues for which a government is really there
for:
protection of individual life, individual liberty and individual
property.
If a government is based on a constitution that can protect and
strengthen
the people in these areas, we will move forward rapidly. If it
isn’t based
on that, our people will remain in poverty.
We must never lose sight of
the end of the maze as we stumble around within
it – and it seems to me that
many have.
Ayn Rand, a Russian Jew, lived through the Russian revolution
in 1917 which
saw the abolition of private property – not dissimilar to
Zimbabwe through
the land seizures and “indigenization” which are being
entrenched in this
new constitution. As a teenaged girl she saw her father’s
chemist shop
seized. She managed to get to America as a young adult where
she lived out
the rest of her life. There she was able to see how property
rights worked
to feed and build America – and export food to the people of
Russia from
whence she had come.
She wrote profoundly: “the right to
life is the source of all rights – and
the right to own property is their
only implementation. Without right to
property no other rights are possible.
Since man has to sustain his life by
his own effort, the man who has no
right to the product of his effort has no
means to sustain his life. The man
who produces while others dispose of his
product is a slave.”
It is
sad to see this slavery being entrenched in our new constitution
without a
murmur of dissent in our parliament or senate. I feel that a sense
of
outrage regarding the erosion of fundamental Godly principles needs to be
rekindled amongst the elected representatives because otherwise how are
fundamental Godly principles ever going to be entrenched? By the silence,
are the legislators all saying that the Ahab and Jezebel seizure of Naboth’s
vineyard was actually just fine?
It is clear that the discriminatory
clauses regarding property rights in the
new draft constitution go against
all human rights charters, the SADC
Treaty, the SADC Tribunal Judgment, all
other constitutions around the world
and ultimately against God’s law – so
how is it possibly that the draft can
sail through the legislators hands
without this being pointed out? It is
almost as though this was just another
part of the rehearsed so called
“consultation” process in the rural areas:
The finger was pointed and the
PM, Cabinet, MP’s and Senators all sat
silent….and then said rather
hopefully, a bit like Mao in 1958 just before
the greatest famine in history
where 38 million people died that it was: “a
great step forward.”
This issue of discrimination and property rights is
an issue that is central
to the future. Every political game that has
resulted in the erosion of
individual property rights has always led to the
people becoming hungrier
and more poverty stricken. I know you must all know
this; but does the
silence of all our legislators on this issue mean that
you do not really
care?
Yours sincerely,
Ben Freeth
The Feasibility of Using
Biometrics Technology for Zimbabwe Elections
Dr Samuel Chindaro
Dr Samuel Chindaro
11th
February 2013
1. Introduction
In a previous article published for SW Radio
Africa, the topic of Biometrics in elections was
discussed, with emphasis on how this technology works. In this follow–up article
this issue is re-visited and further explored taking into account the current
status of the voters’ roll and current economic and social environment in
Zimbabwe. The feasibility of introducing Biometrics in elections is looked into,
taking into account the costs involved and precedence from other countries. The
issue of voter identification at polling stations and problems arising from the
current process will be explored. Given the history of electoral problems and
disputes which have tragically led to loss of lives inZimbabwe, it is argued
that biometrics can and should be implemented to ensure credible
elections.
2. Background
The call for the employment
of technology inZimbabwefor both voter registration and facilitation of the
electoral process is not entirely new. Masvingo MP, Mr Tongai Matutu called for
the introduction of biometrics, lodging a motion in Parliament to this effect in
2010. The issue was raised again in March 2012 by Mr Pishai Muchauraya, who
stated that though it had been addressed with Justice and Legal Affairs
Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, nothing concrete had materialised. In April 2012,
the Minister of ICT, Nelson Chamisa also called for the adoption of a digital
biometric voters roll. The author of this article also brought this issue to the
limelight in a publication in July 2012 in which the basics behind Biometrics
Technology were explored. Most recently calls led by Misihairabwi-Mushonga, to
implement an ‘on-line voters’ registration’ have been rejected by the Registrar
General who contends that this does not provide adequate checks as required in
Section 24 of the Electoral Act. In this article the case for using biometrics
for elections inZimbabweis put forward, with particular emphasis on producing a
clean and credible voters’ roll for the upcoming elections and the referendum.
The feasibility of doing so in the current environment will be
tabled.
3. Importance of Voters
Roll
The voters’ roll is of
paramount importance for the running of any democratic election, and as such
needs to be kept accurate and up to date. To hold credible elections it is
imperative to have credible voter registration. A bloated or inaccurate voters’
register always has a negative effect on the electoral process. The voter
registration framework and processes must be designed to allow only eligible
persons to register as voters. Therefore the voters’ roll has a direct influence
on the results of any poll, as only those on the roll are allowed to vote. The
quality of the voters’ roll is a crucial factor in determining the validity and
legitimacy of election results and can be a deciding factor on the outcome of
elections
A deficient voters’ roll will
disenfranchise those entitled to vote and an inflated roll with duplicate
entries, ‘ghost voters’ and names of people who have migrated, and exposes
itself to electoral fraud, for example through ballot stuffing and manipulation
of numbers without raising an obvious alarm. It can also affect the delimitation
of constituencies by giving wrong indications of the population within each
constituency – directly impacting on and influencing the election of MPs. It is
therefore vital that measures be put in place to ensure an accurate voters’ roll
before conducting any elections inZimbabwe. It can make or break the democratic
process and therefore the embracing of any technology which can improve this
process is important.
4. The State ofZimbabwe’s Voters
Roll
The state of the voters’ roll
has historically been controversial in the past elections, which have been held
inZimbabwe. It has emerged as a bone of contention each time the country has
prepared for elections, and the anticipated 2013 elections are not an exception.
Participants in elections have raised the issue of ghost voters; with names of
deceased persons, young people below the eligible voting age appearing in the
voter’s roll. Furthermore, names and addresses of completely non-existent voters
have been known to feature on the roll. Duplication of names in different
constituents has also been raised as a contentious issue, with the high-profile
case of MP Mr Pishai Muchauraya whose name appeared in two constituencies:
Makoni South and Makoni Central, in the 2008 voters roll being a prominent
example. [ZimbabweElection Support Network (ZESN) Report,
2010].
The state of
theZimbabwevoters’ roll as of October 2010 was described as a complete
shambles. Reports produced by the ZESN based on the roll supplied by the
Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) at that time revealed that there had been an
increase of 366,550 in the number of voters from the roll used in the 2008
harmonised elections. Debatable figures of 49,239 new voters over the age of 50
with 16,033 of these over the age of 70 and with 1,488 over the age of 100 were
presented in the report. According to the report, in Mount Darwin East there
were 118 registered voters aged above 100 years old, with a significant number
of birth entries showing the same date of birth of 01.01.1901. With Wikipedia
documenting only 3 men and 3 women aged 108 and above inZimbabweas of 2012, the
reader is invited to make a verdict on the authenticity of the above
figures.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_World%27s_Oldest_People/Oldest_%28known%29_living_people_per_countr].
A number of registered voters
were either under age or very young children (228). The report also revealed
that 182 564 people were duplicated in the same or more than one constituency.
The ZESN report showed that 27% of voters registered in the voters’ roll were
deceased, with the case of David Stevens, who was widely reported in Zimbabwean
newspapers as the first victim of the land redistribution programme being
highlighted. It is not clear as to how many people who are in the Diaspora (and
not allowed to vote) are still on the voters roll, but an educated guess should
put this figure into millions!
According to the Registrar
General there were 5 612 464 registered voters by December 2007, but the number
rose to 5 934 768 by February the following year. This number is quoted to have
gone down to 5,589 355 by November 2012 (Herald: 20/12/2012). These figures are
also debatable according to a report produced by the South African Institute of
Race Relations, which analysed the roll as it stood in 2010 and concluded that
taking into account Zimbabwe’s population, age-range and levels of voters’
registration elsewhere, the voters roll should consist of a maximum of
approximately 3.2 Million people (www.sairr.org.za).
Even though these figures may
not be entirely accurate and up-to-date, the above reports and statistics give
indications that the current state of the voters’ roll does not provide a firm
foundation for conducting credible elections. The roll provides a recipe for
possible chaos post-elections with results likely to be disputed by any losing
candidates, as happened in the past.
5. Biometrics Elections inAfricaand other
Developing Countries
The proposal for adopting
technology has not just been plucked out of the air without considering any
precedence. Biometric technology has been used successfully in a number of
countries across the world, and in particularAfrica.
In 2005, “La Commission
Electorale Indépendante” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) used
biometric technology to register more than 25 million voters ahead of the
country’s first democratic elections in four decades. InNigeria, some 65 million
people had their pictures taken and fingerprints scanned and the system was used
in presidential and legislative elections in 2011.Ghanaregistered more than 12
million voters using biometrics in 2012. InKenya, after protracted disputes over
procurement, 15,000 biometric registration kits have arrived ahead of the
elections scheduled for March 2013.Sierra Leone’s national biometric voter
registration was carried out over a 3-month period in 2012, registering over 2.5
million people to vote across the country.
Other African countries such
as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),Burkina
Faso,Tanzania,Zambia,Mozambique,Malawi,Rwanda,Senegal,Cameroon, Somaliland
andUgandahave also turned to technology to improve the accuracy of their voter
registers.Zimbabwe’s neighbour,Zambiahas adopted a biometric voters’ roll and is
receiving aid from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide
the technology.
Almost half a million
electronic voting machines were in action inBrazil’s municipal elections in
2012. In a pilot program, around 7.5 million of 140 million Brazilian voters
were using fingerprint-based biometric machines.Brazil’sFederal Election
Court(“Tribunal Superior Eleitoral – TSE”) wants every voter in the country to
use biometric machines by 2018. Currently, the world’s largest biometric
identity exercise, is taking place inIndia, and is reported to be well on its
way to reaching its target of half the country’s population.
6. Biometrics for Voter
Registration
Biometrics has been used in
civil and voter registration around the world for more than a decade with the
aim to limit fraud and enhance voter registration. In biometrics terms the
equivalent of registering eligible voters is enrolment, and the resultant
voters’ register/roll is equivalent to a database.
The use of biometrics in
voter registration can ensure that no persons are excluded. The voter
registration process should include all adult eligible citizens, including the
poor or homeless people, or residents of remote areas. With the versatility and
mobility of modern biometric equipment, inclusion of all eligible citizens can
be assured. It can go a long way in ensuring that appropriate registration
facilities are available to those for whom access to traditional registration
methods may be more difficult. Certain groups of people can easily be excluded
from the voting process by restrictions such long distances to registrations centres. For example, this can have adverse
effects on women and the disabled, who could easily be enfranchised by adopting
mobile biometrics systems for registration.
Biometric systems allow for
the creation of a permanent electronic register which can be updated as new
voters become eligible or existing ones die. They capture data unique to an
individual, in addition to biographical information, and can identify whether
someone has registered more than once by centrally matching fingerprints. The
system allows for people to move to a different electoral constituency without
the need to re-register. A common occurrence is that the registration process
has not been designed to easily allow for a change of address, wherefore people
when moving re-register without having their old record deleted. People may
also change their names, when they get married for example. A biometrics based
search can locate and eliminate such duplicate entries as it is based on
physical characteristics as compared to a name search.
The use of biometrics can
help in both maintaining and purging the electoral roll. There are many ways to
keep the voters’ register up to date. An example is the automatic inclusion in
the voters’ roll of newly eligible voters when they register for the National
ID. InZimbabwe, biometrics information in the form of a facial image and
fingerprints has always been captured when applying for an ID. InSouth
Africacitizens are automatically included in the voters’ roll after they have
reached the official voting age of 18 via the National ID process. The use of
biometrics enables the cross-linking of the civil and electoral register, which
can cut the cost of voter registration.
7. Biometrics for Voter
Identification
Another problem faced in the
voting process is the positive identification of voters at the polls. Protecting
the integrity of the electoral process should include making sure that only
eligible voters vote. A foolproof method is required in assisting poll workers
to be certain that people appearing at the polls are who they claim to be. Of
all the methods that have been used for strengthening the process of identifying
voters at the polls, biometric identification would be the method hardest to
defraud.
A positive identification
system requires you to identify yourself when submitting a biometric measure.
Your submitted measure is then checked against the measures given when you
enrolled in the system to affirm that they match. If the submitted and stored
biometric measures match then it is ascertained that you enrolled under the
identity you are claiming. If the presented and enrolled characteristics do not
match to a certain pre-determined level, the user can be given another
chance.
8. Feasibility
Fingerprinting systems have
been in use for almost three decades. InZimbabwefingerprints and facial images
have been captured for National ID purposes and passports at least since
independence. Therefore this is not an entirely new phenomenon. With existing
technology, digitalization and maintenance of historic information is not a
difficult task at all. Combined civil and voter registration can utilise synergy
effects of data exchange and can serve state administration effectively. InSouth
Africa, this system has been used successfully and can certainly function as a
best practice model forZimbabwe. For the past two yearsIndiahas been building
the world’s most sophisticated database of personal identities. By the end of
this year 600m Indians will have a Unique Identity Number (UID), aimed at
improving access to welfare programmes, financial services and more. It is a
project that could serve as a model elsewhere in the world. The same system used
for ID and passport registration can be adapted for voter registration or data
can be shared across departments. Paper based biometrics can also be easily
digitised to contribute to a more comprehensive and harmonised
database.
The most beneficial aspect of
using biometrics inZimbabwe, given the current state of transport links, is that
it is viable to introduce and fruitfully utilise mobile biometric stations.
These are portable biometric devices which can be used for biometric
registration and identification. There are portable devices available on the
market designed to create electoral rolls; equipment that is reusable,
extensible and resistant to adverse conditions. These devices are
sell-contained, autonomous units which are supported by long-life batteries
which can be used in remote areas for registration, even within homesteads. They
can also be used for biometric identification and verification at polling
stations. Fixed biometric stations can be deployed at fixed centres, within
urban cores.
Data storage is no longer an
issue as several hundred to a thousand bytes will be required per user; a figure
which is very small given current technology. Fingerprint scanners which link to
a computer are now available for as low as USD10 and computer keyboards with
built-in scanners are also available. It is therefore not an expensive
technology to implement.
InGhana, a ‘Cluster System’
whereby polling stations were placed in a cluster of 4 polling stations and
given one of the 7,000 registration kits was adopted. The kit remained at each
polling station for 10 days and the registration team rested a day and moved on
to the next polling station within the cluster for another 10 days. This allowed
the system to check double registration on a daily basis and identify cheats
early. The adoption of this strategy was informed by the Nigerian experience
where it took a long time to undertake the matching of fingerprints to eliminate
double registration, thus enhancing confidence in the voter roll. Zimbabwe can
learn from this experience and utilise the same or improved version of this
strategy.
The Zimbabwe Election
Commission (ZEC) said it would need about US$20 million to spruce up the
widely-condemned roll after which constituency boundaries would be drawn up for
general elections(Herald 21/12/12). It is on record that a proposal for
biometrics registration was made, detailing that the exercise could be carried
out within 3 months, costing USD20 Million; the same figure the ZEC has said it
needs to clean up the voters’ roll! It is therefore feasible to implement this
technology, which once established and maintained, will in the long-term result
in the reaping of diminishing costs of running future
elections.
9. Conclusion and
Discussion
Whenever the process of
elections is tabled for discussion, several governments have a tendency to stay
old fashioned and continue using the traditional systems as opposed to the newly
introduced and burgeoning digital ones. As one of the few African nations which
were at the forefront of embracing modern IT technology in the banking and
telecommunications sector before economic problems surfaced,Zimbabweshould not
be in this category. Other countries have turned into the biometric era and
started using these systems in order to create a better and more reliable
electoral process as discussed above, for example in the case of Nigeria and
Brazil. Biometrics is a portable identity for citizens that can be reused in
many other programs in both the public and private sectors. Delivering services
such as entitlements, banking and voting brings points-of- service access to
rural populations in a cost-effective, reliable and secure way. Many countries
are now fingerprinting their entire population in anticipation of using
biometric databases for a wide range of civil and commercial programs. The
challenge forZimbabwewill be to protect the integrity of the process without
burdening the right to vote in ways that may decrease registration by eligible
voters.
A registration process that
uses sensitive high-tech equipment not only adds significant ‘integrity’ costs
to the core costs but also increases organisational and logistical challenges.
These include the increased need for technical training as well as continuous
supervision and support for registration staff in the field to ensure that the
data is captured, collected and processed to the highest possible standard. If
the Electoral Commission lacks organisational and logistical resources while
attempting to organise such a complex task, the resulting voters’ roll can be
replete with errors. HoweverZimbabweis blessed with a large intellectual base
and technically gifted people, and this challenge is therefore surmountable. The
alternative is a continuation of the current status which, as has been observed
over the years, is costly to the nation, and has claimed lives. This makes this
technology worth pursuing.
A complex voter registration
system does not guarantee successful, fair or credible elections. The author
does not propose the use of biometrics as a “silver bullet” capable overcoming
all obstacles Zimbabwe faces in ensuring a level playing field in which all
eligible voices have their say in the political future of the country. Its use
can only work in tandem with the political-will and sincerity of authorities in
charge, who are tasked with guaranteeing fairness and with ensuring inclusion of
all citizens. Biometric technology cannot solve problems rooted in issues such
as mistrust among stakeholders or lack of political freedoms. Elections, at the
end of the day, are a political process. In spite of all the challenges, the
introduction of biometrics in the compilation of voter registers should improve
the accuracy of the voter registers and provide the foundation for clean and
violence free elections. It is therefore urged thatZimbabweseriously consider
and embrace biometrics technology to ensure integrity, inclusiveness, accuracy,
transparency and accessibility in the coming elections. This will also ensure
that Zimbabwe also learns from and keeps pace with other African countries which
have already adopted Biometric technology as the author foresees lots of
advantages embracing it sooner rather than later. The Ministry of ICT should
take a lead on this.
Dr Samuel Chindaro is an
electronics engineer, biometrics expert and researcher, trained at NUST in
Zimbabwe, the University of Birmingham and the University of Kent in the UK. At
Kent, he was part of a specialist research group on biometrics technology. He
can be contacted at S.Chindaro@googlemail.com
Zimsec pass rates 2000 –
2012
Where is Zimbabwe’s
Diamond Revenue?
by
John Campbell
February 11, 2013
Zimbabwe's civil servants sing and dance during their march to the
Finance Minister's office and the Parliament for their salary raise in Harare,
July 24, 2012. (Philimon Bulawayo/Courtesy Reuters)Zimbabwe’s public account
is down to its last $217. The finance minister says the country’s finances “are
in paralysis.” How can that be? Zimbabwe’s diamond fields at Marange could hold
between two and seven billion carats of raw diamonds, and constitutes a quarter
of global diamond output, according toBernard
Chiketo in “Think Africa
Press.”
As I blogged in June
2012, many think that the revenue from diamonds is
bypassing the Treasury and going directly to Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu/PF
party and its operatives. The four largest companies exploiting the Marange
diamond mines are all closely tied to the ruling party. In November, former
South African president Thabo Mbeki charged that Zimbabwe’s diamonds were
controlled by a “predatory elite.”
Opposition politicians
claim that Zanu/PF handed over the Marange fields to allied private companies.
This was to ensure the party continued to enjoy a stream of revenue even after
it lost control of the Treasury and the National Social Security Authority to
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) when Mugabe acceded to a
unity government under pressure from South Africa and the Southern African
Development Community (SADC). And indeed, the current minister of finance, one
of the founders of the MDC, has been a vocal critic of the close association
between Zanu/PF and the mining companies that hold concessions to the Marange
fields, and an advocate of more transparency in diamond
revenues.
The political temperature
is rising in Zimbabwe. A referendum on a new constitution expected soon, to be
followed by presidential elections. In this context, Zanu/PF and MDC operatives
are accusing each other of lying about Marange diamonds and the state of the
country’s public finances. The opposition MDC is calling for the nationalization
of the diamond mines, with joint supervision by the mining and finance
ministries. The real issue, however, is the utter lack of transparency with
respect to what has become Zimbabwe’s cash
cow.
Bill Watch - Parliamentary Committees Series 3/2013 - 9th February [Committee Meetings 11 to 14 February]
BILL
WATCH
PARLIAMENTARY
COMMITTEES SERIES 3/2013
[9th February 2013]
Committee Meetings
Opening to the Public This Week
The meetings listed below will be open
to members of the public, but as observers only, not as participants, i.e.
members of the public can listen but not speak.
They will be at Parliament in Harare.
If attending, please use the entrance on Kwame Nkrumah Ave between 2nd
and 3rd Streets and note that IDs must be produced.
This
bulletin is based on the latest information from Parliament. But, as there are
sometimes last-minute changes to the schedule, persons wishing to attend should
avoid disappointment by checking with the committee clerk that the meeting is
still on and open to the public. Parliament’s telephone numbers are Harare
700181 and 252941.
Monday
11th February at 10 am
Portfolio
Committee: Transport and Infrastructure Development
Oral
evidence from Air Zimbabwe board of directors on Air Zimbabwe’s strategic
plan
Committee
Room No 1
Chairperson: Hon
Chebundo Clerk: Ms
Macheza
Public
Accounts Committee
Oral
evidence from Ministry of Regional Integration and International Trade on 2009
and 2010 Annual Audit Reports
Committee
Room No 4
Chairperson:
Hon Chinyadza Clerk: Mrs
Nyawo
Portfolio
Committee: Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism
Oral
evidence from Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry on progress made by
the Ministry towards the preparation of co-hosting UNWTO General
Assembly
Committee
Room No
311
Chairperson:
Hon M. Dube Clerk: Mr
Munjenge
Portfolio
Committee: Mines and Energy
Oral
evidence from Ministry of Mines and Mining Development on diamond
mining
Senate
Chamber
Chairperson:
Hon Chindori-Chininga Clerk: Mr
Manhivi
Monday
11th February at 2 pm
Thematic
Committee: Gender and Development
Oral
briefing from Padare on the progress made to date
towards achievement of gender equality in Zimbabwe
Committee
Room No 3
Chairperson:
Hon A. Sibanda Clerk: Ms
Masara
Thematic
Committee: HIV/AIDS
Oral
evidence from Minister of Health and Child Welfare on programmes pertaining to
HIV/AIDS
Government
Caucus Room
Chairperson:
Hon D. Khumalo Clerk: Mrs
Khumalo
Portfolio
Committee: Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare
Oral
evidence from Ministry of Public Service and Ministry of Labour and Social
Welfare on its 2013 planned programmes and activities
Committee
Room No 1
Chairperson:
Hon Zinyemba Clerk: Ms
Mushunje
Tuesday
12th February at 10 am
Thematic
Committee: MDGs
Oral
evidence from Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare on domedstic, regional and international instruments relating
physically challenged persons
Government
Caucus Room
Chairperson:
Hon Chief Mtshane Clerk: Mrs
Nyawo
Portfolio
Committee: Health and Child Welfare
Stakeholder
consultative meeting
Committee
Room No
1
Chairperson:
Hon Parirenyatwa Clerk: Mrs
Khumalo
Portfolio
Committee: State Enterprise and Parastatals
Oral
evidence from Ministry of State Enterprises and Parastatals on its 2013 planned
programmes and activities
Committee
Room No 2
Chairperson:
Hon Mavima Clerk: Ms
Chikuvire
Portfolio
Committee: Industry
and Commerce
Oral
evidence from ZISCO Board of Directors and Managing Director on progress made
towards resuscitation of operations at ZISCO
Committee
Room No 311
Chairperson: Hon
Mutomba Clerk: Ms
Masara
Wednesday
13th February at 9 am
Thematic
Committee: Peace and Security
Oral
evidence from Civil Protection Department on the effects of the recent floods
and how the department reacted
Committee
Room No 4
Chairperson:
Hon Mumvuri Clerk:
Miss Zenda
Thursday
14th February at 10 am
Portfolio
Committee: Small and Medium Enterprises
Oral
evidence from Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development on its 2013
planned programmes and activities
Committee
Room No 1
Chairperson:
Hon R. Moyo Clerk: Ms
Mushunje
Portfolio
Committee: Women, Youth, Gender and Community Development
Oral
evidence from Ministry of Youth Development, Empowerment and Indigenisation on
the indigenisation and empowerment programme
Committee
Room No 3
Chairperson:
Hon Matienga Clerk: Mr
Kunzwa
Portfolio
Committee: Education, Sport and Culture
Oral
evidence from Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture on its 2013 planned
programmes and activities
Committee
Room No 4
Chairperson:
Hon Mangami Clerk: Ms
Chikuvire
Thursday
14th February at 11 am
Thematic
Committee: Indigenisation and Empowerment
Oral
evidence from Ministry of Mines and Mining Development on programmes designed to
promote participation of indigenous people in the mining
sector
Committee
Room No 311
Chairperson:
Hon Mtingwende Clerk: Mr
Ratsakatika
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied
BILL WATCH 6/2013 of 11th February [Income Tax Bill to be Introduced: Amendments to Mining Law Held Up]
BILL
WATCH 6/2013
[11th
February 2013]
Both
Houses of Parliament Will Sit on Tuesday 12th February
Correction to Bill Watch 5/2013
In Bill Watch 5/2013 of 4th February, under the heading SADC: SA Facilitation Team Visit, there
was a statement that South African facilitators had visited Harare on “29th February”. That should have been “29th January”. Veritas apologises for any confusion caused
by this unfortunate proof-reading oversight.
Zimbabwe Youth Council (General) Regulations, 2013 [SI
4/2013]
In Bill Watch 5/2013 of 4th February we commented critically on these
sweeping regulations made by the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation
and Economic Empowerment, and suggested that they are ultra vires
[i.e., go beyond the powers given to the Minister by the enabling Act] and are
therefore invalid. The regulations apply
to “all youth associations” engaging
directly or indirectly in undefined “youth activities”. We now have soft copies of the regulations
and the enabling Zimbabwe Youth Council Act [available
from veritas@mango.zw].
Parliament Accepts Draft Constitution
On Wednesday 6th February both the House of Assembly and the Senate
devoted the whole afternoon to debate on identical motions calling for the
adoption of the COPAC Report on the constitution-making
process and the noting of the draft constitution.
The House unanimously approved the motion that day after four
hours of debate. Speakers from all
parties applauded the successful conclusion of the constitution-making
process.
The Senate debate concluded the next day on Thursday 7th, when
Senators, too, unanimously approved the motion.
Like MPs in the House of Assembly, speakers from all parties and Senator
Chiefs supported the motion.
Next Step : the Referendum
After the adoption of the two motions in Parliament, the next formal
step in the constitution-making
process, as stipulated in the GPA, is putting the draft constitution to
voters in a Referendum. Indications are
that the Referendum will be in late March or early April, which gives time for
COPAC to conduct is planned massive publicity campaign to ensure that all voters
have the change to acquaint themselves with the content of the draft – and for
parties and other organisations to campaign for or against a YES vote
.
It is only if there is a YES vote in the Referendum that the
Constitution will be brought back to Parliament in the form of a Bill to be
passed into law. Its passage through
Parliament must be completed before the 29th June, which is when the present
Parliament comes to the end of its five-year life-span.
Other Parliamentary Proceedings Last Week
House of Assembly
Motions
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment
Bill
Without debate or opposition the House agreed to restore to the Order
Paper Mr Gonese’s lapsed motion seeking the leave of
the House to introduce his Private Member’s Bill to repeal section 121(3) of the
Criminal Procedure and Evidence
Act. Only if the motion is
approved by the House will Mr Gonese be able to table
his Bill and have it read for the first time. It remains to be seen if opponents will try to stall progress on this
Bill by asking the Speaker to extend to it his sub judice ruling on the Mr Matimba’s Private Member’s Urban Councils Amendment Bill to
this Bill also. Although the case
currently awaiting decision by the Supreme Court refers only to Mr Matimba’s Bill, the argument put to the court was that all
Private Member’s Bills are prohibited by the terms of the GPA [see Bill Watch 2/2013 of 18th January].
Retention of revenue by Government departments Debate commenced on this
motion, which calls for an end to the practice
whereby some departments – e.g. the Police and the Registrar-General’s Office –
are permitted to retain revenue collected instead of remitting it to the
Ministry of Finance for the benefit of the fiscus.
Sports and Recreation Commission During debate on this
motion, which calls for the dissolution of the Commission, some MPs suggested
that there should be a separate Ministry for sport, rather than lumping sport
together with education, arts and culture, as has been the President’s practice
for many years.
Question Time On Wednesday the House
postponed members’ questions to allow for full debate on the motion on the COPAC
report and draft constitution.
Senate
Motions
Condolence motion – late Vice-President Nkomo Senator S.K. Moyo introduced this motion. Vice-President Nkomo died on 17th January.
Death penalty Debate continued on the
motion for eventual abolition of the death penalty.
Comment: If this motion is
carried, and if a similar motion is adopted by the House of Assembly, it will be
interesting to see what impact, if any, this may have on section 48 of the draft
Constitution, which permits the death penalty to be provided for by Act of Parliament, but on a more restricted basis than at present and
even then for men only. Might section 48
still be changed to prohibit the death penalty?
Even if it remains unchanged, section 48 in its present form, because it
is only permissive [i.e. allows for the death penalty, which is not the same as making
it mandatory], would not be an obstacle to a future Act of Parliament abolishing
the death penalty.
Coming Up in Parliament This Week
House of Assembly
Bills
Income Tax Bill This Ministry of Finance
Bill is listed for its First Reading on 12th February. After that it will be referred to the
Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC] for its report on the constitutionality of the Bill. The Bill cannot progress further until that
report has been received.
Microfinance Bill The PLC’s report on this
Ministry of Finance Bill is awaited.
Motions Debate will continue on the
motions on [1] the vote of thanks to the President for his speech opening the
[2] retention of public revenues by departments; and [3] the Sports and
Recreation Commission.
Monument status for certain prisons Hon Kanzama is due to introduce his motion calling for monument
status to be accorded to Hwahwa, Sikhombula and Gonakudzingwa
prisons as places in which leaders were detained during the struggle for
independence.
Question Time
Nine written questions are listed for responses from various
Ministers. The last session saw poor
Ministerial attendance at Question Time, resulting in questions going unanswered
for many months.
Senate
Bills There are no Bills
listed.
Motions Debate will continue on the
motions listed: [1] the vote of thanks to the President for his speech opening
the current Session; [2] the Nkomo condolence motion;
and [3] the motion on the death penalty.
Amendments to Mining Law Held Up
When the President opened the current Parliamentary Session the Mines
and Minerals Amendment Bill was one of the Bills he mentioned as being on the
Government’s legislative agenda. But the
Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has officially informed the Chamber of
Mines that the Cabinet Committee on Legislation has since directed the Ministry
to abandon its proposed Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill and instead come up
with a Bill for a complete new Mines and Minerals Act. This will obviously take a long time, bearing
in mind that the current Act is a complex piece of legislation with more than
four hundred sections. There is no way a
Bill of this complexity can possibly be ready for presentation to the current
Parliament, so changes to the mining law will now, it seems, have to wait for
the next Parliament.
Government Gazette 8th
February
Bill
Attorney General’s Office Amendment Bill This
Bill aims to address certain concerns which have delayed the bringing into force
of the Attorney-General’s Office Act ever since it was gazetted in early 2011
[both
the Bill and the Act are available from veritas@mango.zw].
Statutory Instruments [SIs] [NOT
available from Veritas]
Motor vehicles for chiefs SI 14/2013, made by the
Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, amends the
Traditional Leaders (Benefits and Conditions of Service) Regulations to provide
for substantive chiefs to be provided with vehicles. This is essentially a loan scheme. The chiefs will have to pay for the vehicles
– the exercise will be funded from the Chiefs’ Vehicle Revolving Fund, with the
cost of a vehicle and interest being recovered from the chief
concerned.
Customs duty rebate for clothing manufacturers SI 15/2013 provides for a
strictly-controlled rebate of duty on fabrics and other items for manufacturing
clothing, valid for the year 2013 only.
The beneficiaries are 12 named manufacturers.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied
