FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
Zimbabwe rejects strict conditions
FRANCE has not invited
President Robert Mugabe to the high profile
Franco-Africa summit which
begins in Cannes today after the Zimbabwean
government rejected the strict
conditions attached to his attendance.
The snub represents a hardening of
France's stance on Zimbabwe, which had
seemed softer than the resolute
position adopted by the rest of the EU
members when French President Jacques
Chirac flouted the EU ban to invite
the Zimbabwean leader to the last
Franco-Africa summit in Paris in 2003.
That invitation provoked a torrent of
criticism for Chirac but Zimbabwean
government officials touted it as
evidence that there was no consensus in
Europe over the imposition of
targeted sanctions, repeatedly claiming that
some EU nations were being
bullied by Britain into ostracising Zimbabwe.
However, by giving Zimbabwe the
cold shoulder this time, Chirac has avoided
the controversy that surrounded
President Mugabe's last visit. The French
president's spokesman, Jerome
Bonnafont, confirmed this week that President
Mugabe had been omitted from
the list of leaders invited to attend the
Cannes summit.
"We tried to
find a way so that Zimbabwe, which is an important country in
the region and
on the continent, would be present in accordance with
European Union rules
but the discussions were inconclusive," Bonnafont said.
The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs said yesterday that France had tied
President Mugabe's
invitation to "certain conditions".
A spokesperson for the Ministry said:
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
wishes to state that Zimbabwe was not
invited to the summit. However,
enquiries were made as to whether the
government would accept an invitation
with certain conditions attached to
it. Government indicated that it would
not accept such an
invitation."
The ministry did not say what these conditions were. However, a
senior
government official said these related to longstanding European
demands for
Zimbabwe to commit itself to key democratic reforms, including
internal
dialogue, free elections and the repeal of repressive
legislation.
The EU imposed personal financial and travel sanctions on 120
ZANU PF and
government officials in 2002 after it was barred from observing
a
presidential election held that year, which the opposition claimed was
rigged.
According to media reports, the decision by the French government
not to
invite President Mugabe to the summit has set a precedent that
heralds a
change in France's approach on Zimbabwe. At the time of President
Mugabe's
last visit to France, analysts said Chirac appeared to have
believed that a
solution to the Zimbabwean crisis could be found through
engagement rather
than continued isolation of the country.
Zimbabwean
officials have also previously suggested that France and Portugal
will not
back an extension of the targeted sanctions when the EU meets on
Monday.
However, the French snub suggests there may not be any opposition to
the
extension of the targeted measures.
There was scant African support earlier
in the week for President Mugabe's
attendance. Only Cape Verdean President
Pedro Pires was quoted yesterday as
saying he was against the continued
isolation of Zimbabwe.
"I am convinced that we will find a way to make
Zimbabwe present at the
EU-Africa summit," Pires told
reporters.
Portugal, which is poised to take over the chairmanship of the EU
for six
months from July, was considering inviting President Mugabe, the
Guardian
newspaper reported. But this would involve the entire 27-member EU
bloc as
Lisbon plans to organise a major EU-Africa summit as a key event
during its
presidency, the paper said.
Leaders from more than 40 African
countries will attend the two-day summit,
which will focus on the theme:
"Africa and the world balance."
South African President Thabo Mbeki will not
be among them as he will be
attending a crucial meeting of his party, the
ANC. Media reports say Rwandan
President Paul Kagame, whose relations with
France have soured recently,
will also not attend the summit, as will the
leaders of Libya and the Ivory
Coast.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe
THE
parliamentary portfolio committee on Transport and Communications has
advised the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) to ignore directives from
Information and Publicity Ministry Permanent Secretary George Charamba,
after hearing complaints about the ministry's interference in the operations
of the national broadcaster.
The committee also ordered the reversal
of the latest radio and television
licence fees, saying ZBH had no legal
standing to gazette a statutory
instrument, required for any such
increases.
Members of Parliament told ZBC chief executive Henry Muradzikwa to
ignore
Charamba after the ZBC head told the MPs during a hearing that when
he
assumed the post last year he was instructed by the ministry not to
involve
himself in the contracts of senior employees.
However, the
Principal Press Secretary in the Information Ministry, Ivanhoe
Gurira,
denied interfering in the operations of ZBH.
After the hearing, Gurira told
journalists from the state media not to write
about the nullification of the
new licence fees. However, both The Herald
and ZBC reported on the
matter.
Committee chairperson Leo Mugabe, who is also the MP for Makonde and
Tsholotsho legislator, Jonathan Moyo, a former minister of information and
publicity, told Muradzikwa to disregard any orders from Charamba, saying ZBH
management was only answerable to the board.
Muradzikwa told the
committee that Charamba's meddling had resulted in his
failure to resolve
contractual disputes arising from the dismissal last year
of Chris Chivinge
as Newsnet editor-in-chief and Susan Makore, the former
head of Television
Services. The MPs said they were aware of complaints that
the sacked
executives had been "unfairly" treated.
"We want you to have an active
interest and solve these issues. It is you
who should be assisting. Look for
a solution," said Mugabe.
Charamba barred Muradzikwa late last year from
announcing new appointments
to key posts at the struggling broadcaster.
FinGaz
Nkululeko Sibanda Staff
Reporter
REGIONAL elections monitoring body, the Electoral Institute of
Southern
Africa (EISA), has criticised ZANU PF's plans to postpone
presidential
elections to 2010, saying such a move would be seen as a
further deviation
by Zimbabwe from regional democratic norms.
While
saying it agreed with the principle of harmonising elections, EISA
said it
deplored the motives for the proposal.
Speaking at a signing ceremony of an
EISA/Sweden multi-million US dollar
grant, EISA's Senior Adviser in charge
of research, Kabele Matlosa, said the
proposal would only be accepted
regionally if all political movements
endorsed it.
"Given that holding
elections throughout the African region has become
costly, there has been an
urgent need to come up with ways in which costs of
holding the elections can
be reduced.
"Harmonisation of the elections has emerged as one of the means
that could
be exploited by countries, but the way Zimbabwe has done it is in
stark
contrast to the principles of democracy that Southern Africa has
agreed to
stick to," said Matlosa.
He warned that the move would be
viewed in the region as evidence of the
repression that President Robert
Mugabe's government has been accused of by
its domestic and foreign
critics.
"Furthermore, the other issue is that despite the proposal being a
measure
to cut down costs, its background is checkered. We believe that it
comes as
a move to maintain the continued hold onto power of President
Robert Mugabe.
This kind of move is detrimental to the development of
democracy in the
region," said Matlosa.
EISA executive director, Denis
Kadima, said the group had been barred from
observing Zimbabwe's 2005
general election after it had issued an adverse
report on the country's
electoral reforms.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief
Political Reporter
A CHEGUTU magistrate has refused to drop charges
against eleven Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) members accused of
engaging in illegal
protests in the town last year.
Edward Dzeka and
10 others appeared before Chegutu magistrate Tinashe
Ndokera this week,
facing charges relating to the September 13, 2006 mass
protests during which
ZCTU members and officials are accused of violating a
section of the
Criminal Law (Codification Reform) Act, which makes it an
offence for people
to act in a manner likely to cause public disorder.
Ndokera refused to
accede to an application by the defence lawyers for the
dismissal of charges
against their clients, saying there was a reasonable
probability that the
group committed the offence. The accused were remanded
out of custody to May
8.
"When the state prosecutors indicated they were not in a position to start
the case, I then immediately applied for a refusal of further remand because
of lack of sufficient evidence," said Andrew Makoni, of Muchadehama and
Associates, who represented the ZCTU members. "But when we came back in the
afternoon for judgment on our morning application, the magistrate declined
to accede to it saying there were reasonable suspicions that an offence was
committed. We expect no further remand when we come back to court on 8 May,
2007."
Armed police scuttled the ZCTU's planned mass action last
Semptember,
arresting dozens of trade unionists as they prepared to lead the
workers in
street protests in Harare and other urban centres.
The
arrested ZCTU leaders, including secretary general Wellington Chibebe,
president Lovemore Matombo and first Vice President Lucia Matibenga, later
reported being tortured in police custody.
Chibebe and 14 others have
filed a suit against Home Affairs Minister Kembo
Mohadi, Police Commissioner
Augustine Chihuri and police officers implicated
in their torture for $2.2
billion in damages.
FinGaz
National Agenda with Bornwell
Chakaodza
You espoused reconciliation here and helped bring peace to
Mozambique and
DRC, why can't you do the same now?
WITH inflation
spiralling out of control and soaring to unimaginable levels
in the way it
is doing, it is not again too late for President Robert Mugabe
and his
lieutenants to pause and take stock of the havoc that this monster
is
wreaking on the ordinary people of this country.
This week, the
government through the Central Statistical Office announced
that Zimbabwe's
annual rate of inflation leapt to 1 593.6 percent at the end
of January 2007
- the highest in the world. The costs of such high inflation
are huge for
the Zimbabwean population. People are living the costs of this
chronically
high inflation every day and we are at a loss as to why the
suffering of
Zimbabweans appears not to move the President and his
colleagues.
A
crucial caveat on this reportedly record figure is in order here. There is
always a substantial difference between the inflation percentages released
by the Central Statistical Office and the reality on the ground. Sources
independent of the government put the inflation rate at levels much higher
than the 1 593.6 percent.
In any event, the above figure is now history
given the fact that we are
dealing with a dragon that is spiralling everyday
and that we are now in the
middle of February. On top of that, the point has
to be made that high
inflation today is generated by high inflation
yesterday.
We seem to be coming to the point where Zimbabwe is beyond saving.
That
clearly should not be the case. There is a way out of this. We all
think
that Zimbabwe is a country which is rescueable. The answer lies of
course in
the hands of the political leaders, particularly but not
exclusively,
President Mugabe.
We must not forget that President Mugabe
was once an admired and respected
public figure both at home and abroad. No
one can take that away from him.
Even now, many Zimbabweans salute him for
empowering them though in a manner
that has resulted in the economy
experiencing chaos and an unending list of
hardships and
difficulties.
Zimbabweans can be a kind and forgiving people. That is why I
believe that
it is not too late for President Mugabe to pull Zimbabwe back
from the
brink. In these dying days of his Presidency, I think it is most
important
for him to reflect on his legacy and how he wants to be remembered
by
Zimbabweans when the moment to pass on comes.
For when that moment
comes, it comes. Nobody can stop it. I recall former
President Bill Clinton
of the United States saying in his first inaugural
address in January 1993:
"The urgent question of our time is whether we can
make change our friend
and not our enemy".
How appropriate and correct this statement is at this
very moment in this
part of the world. There was indeed a time when goodwill
was the greatest
force in this country and President Mugabe himself led
Zimbabwe and the
whole of the African continent in espousing this value of
goodwill - which I
might add is something which is deeply embedded in our
African culture.
Why President Mugabe can not do the same now for this
troubled country, the
mind boggles. Here is a man who enunciated the policy
of reconciliation at
independence in 1980. Here is a man who was
instrumental in bringing about
the 1987 Unity Accord between ZANU and ZAPU
signalling an end to that dark
chapter in Zimbabwe's history.
On the
continental front, here is a man who helped bring peace to
Mozambique, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a number of
troublespots in
Africa. My one and most important question to President
Mugabe is this: If
you did all these good things yesteryear, why are you
unable and unwilling
to help the people of your own troubled country with
one more and final
important action i.e. political settlement to end our
problems?
Do you
still have the appetite for the job that you are doing? If so, why
are you
setting yourself up as the fundamental bar to progress in the
resolution of
our crisis? There are people both here at home and in the
international
community (and there are in the majority) who are saying that
in order to
see the solution to the Zimbabwean crisis, President Mugabe has
to be
completely out of the picture. Why can you not shame them?
Surely, as the
number one man in this country, you do not want a Zimbabwe
which is facing
constant hardships and problems. I am sure you are aware
that the whole
world has given up on us. Ask any South African, British or
Chinese
political leaders, they will tell you that they do not know what
next to do
about Zimbabwe. In other words, there is total paralysis all
round.
Even
the African leaders that you hobnob and mingle with at various African
fora
and conferences, I do not think that they like to see you there.
Perhaps
they merely tolerate your presence. We know for sure that Africans
on this
continent are renowned for their politeness - that is all there is
at these
conferences, I think. My heart bleeds to see my once upon a time
great hero
and international statesman reduced to this.
In order to rekindle
expectations of efficient measures to contain the
acceleration in inflation,
there has to be a political solution to our
crisis - pure and simple. A
cabinet reshuffle for the sake of it will not do
the trick. Neither will the
freezing of prices and salaries provide a
panacea in the absence of a
genuine social contract that is unconditionally
backed up and supported by
both the generality of Zimbabweans and the
international
community.
Certainly, state-owned companies need to be privatised in the true
sense of
the word. The economy has to be broadly opened up to foreign trade
across
the board. Government spending has to be reined in. The
across-the-board
process of persistent price increases that is corroding
wages has to be
tackled with all the vigour that the responsible people can
master.
A significant decline in inflation is naturally followed by an
enormous
expansion in productive activity. But in a very high inflation
environment
like we have here in Zimbabwe, speculation and corruption become
the main
activities, resulting in very poor income distribution i.e. the
rich getting
richer and the poor sinking deeper into poverty. This is what
is currently
taking place in this country.
Ensuring a long-lasting
victory over inflation requires political will. We
will not tire of saying
this obvious fact until a new approach is adopted by
the powers-that-be to
break the vicious circle. Only then can we cease
saying it. The bravado and
the confrontational approach that the political
leadership of this country
is displaying is simply counter-productive. It is
having harmful effects on
the economy.
I am the last person to want to throw doom and gloom scenarios
about our
country. I do think that President Mugabe needs to open his doors
to all
Zimbabweans including the opposition political parties and appreciate
once
more that there is no harm in talking. For a nation that needed healing
in
1980 and a few years later to end the Matabeleland troubles, President
Mugabe came when he was needed most.
As the occupier of the highest
office in the land, we need him again like we
did in the past - only that
now it is extremely urgent.
E-mail:borncha@mweb.co.zw
FinGaz
Rangarirai Mberi News Editor
HERE'S some scary maths. If monthly
inflation stays at the 45.4 percent
reported this week, annual inflation
would rise to 8 842 percent by
December.
Just five more percentage
points on the month-on-month figure, and Zimbabwe
officially becomes a
hyperinflationary economy - at least according to the
"bookish" definition
of hyperinflation, which is inflation that rises
50 percent every
month.
Latest Central Statistical Office (CSO) data out this week showed
annual
inflation in January up a record 1593.6 percent.
This was just two
percentage points below the most pessimistic forecast
gathered in The
Financial Gazette's analysts' poll published last week. The
poll had shown a
top end forecast of 1595 percent, given by ZB Financial
Holdings economist
Best Doroh.
January's 312.5 percentage point rise was the biggest ever jump
in
inflation, but a more important number is the monthly figure. Since a
slowdown in monthly prices in September, when there was a surprise drop from
29.2 percent to 14.8 percent, month-on-month inflation has raced sharply
higher.
It rose 27.5 percent in October, 36.3 percent in December and
45.4 percent
in January.
An RBZ survey found prices on selected consumer
products rose 200 percent in
the week to January 31. The steep rise in the
prices of basic goods since
the middle of January up to this week - the
period that CSO will use to
measure February inflation - suggests monthly
inflation will breach its
record 47.0 percent set in July last year.
The
International Accounting Standard (IAS) 29 notes the signs to look for
in
hyperinflation.
First, IAS says hyperinflation is when "the general
population prefers to
keep its wealth in non-monetary assets or in a
relatively stable foreign
currency." Check.
Next sign is when "the
general population regards monetary amounts not in
terms of the local
currency but in terms of a relatively stable foreign
currency. Prices may be
quoted in that currency." Check.
Thirdly, IAS 29 says hyperinflation is when
"sales and purchases on credit
take place
at prices that compensate for
the expected loss of purchasing power during
the credit period, even if the
period is short." Check again.
Ask the big credit stores.
So what's to be
done? RBZ boss Gideon Gono wants to get business, labour and
government
talking on a social contract.
The big item on the agenda would be a wage and
price freeze.
But this is unlikely to work, for a number of
reasons.
Firstly, because of the massive chasm between wages and prices which
is, as
shown by the new data, widening faster with each month. So, labour
would
point out that prices have moved so far ahead of static wages that a
price
freeze at current levels would not help workers, but only deepen their
dispair. Even a puppy should be allowed the satisfaction of having chased a
truck down the road, they would suggest.
And, on their own part,
producers are most unlikely to support a social
contract, also for a variety
of reasons. One is that industry - whisper it -
gets most of its forex on
the black market to fund inputs and other costs.
One economics
characterisation of hyperinflation is that it "feeds on
itself". Zimbabwe
is now a classic case, where people trying to beat
inflation are in fact
feeding it.
These people are the struggling, ordinary street corner vendor
who has
recently awoken to the wonders of "replacement cost pricing"-the
loudmouths
milling around Ximex Mall in their white sneakers and jeans
trading anything
from forex to hip-enhancing tablets and local variations of
viagra.
And, of course, the heavies trying to cream off as much dirty wealth
as they
can "before it all comes down", as it surely must at some
point.
This is where the fiercest battles against inflation will be
fought.
Years of decline have nurtured a generation of wheeler-dealers that
cannot
remember how to hold down a "legitimate" job. They do not pine for a
return
to a stable economy, as most do, in which workers make honest money
out of
8-to-5 jobs.
Instead, they long for a continuation of the crisis
that has so richly
rewarded them.
There is no possibility that a spot is
reserved on the
social contract table for a representative of the "Black
Market Barons",
perhaps now the biggest players in the economy. These are
the chaps that
really determine where the cost of production goes, and hence
where shop
shelf prices end up.
So production costs will continue rising,
as long as arbitrage opportunities
abound for members of the Bambazonke
Mafia.
In fact, some of them are the same chaps that would take up seats on
the
social contract talks, without any shame. They do that in cabinet every
Tuesday already anyway.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
. . . As MPs resist moves to sweep corruption under the carpet Rude
awakening for ministers
THE censure by cabinet ministers of
parliamentary portfolio committee
chairpersons last week is a move designed
to sweep corruption within
government under the carpet and exposes the
executive branch's loathing for
the principle of the separation of powers,
analysts said this week.
The Financial Gazette reported last week that ruling
party portfolio
committee chairpersons, including Enoch Porusingazi, whose
committee has
been instrumental in exposing graft at Zisco, were hauled over
the coals by
ministers who accused them of being overzealous in the way they
carried out
their work.
The ministers are said to have criticised the MPs
"harshly and rudely"
during an acrimonious meeting, warning that they risked
losing any positions
they held in the party.
Eldred Masunungure said the
conduct of the ministers was irregular.
"That is clearly irregular. It runs
foul of the doctrine and practice of the
separation of powers. Parliament
has its standing rules and orders that
govern their operations as a
law-making institution," Masunungure said. A
basic definition of separation
of powers is that a government functions best
when its powers are not
concentrated in a single authority but are instead
divided among different
branches.
French philosopher Baron De Montesquire, who coined the term
separation of
powers, said a nation's liberty depended on the separation of
the powers of
the legislature, executive and judiciary.
In his 1748
political science work, The spirit of the Laws, Montesquire
said: "There can
be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers
are united in the
same person, or body of magistrates."
Proponents of the doctrine of
separation of powers believe that the concept
protects democracy and
forestalls tyranny.
Commenting on Montesquier's views one of the proponents
of this doctrine,
James Madison, said: "The accumulation of all powers,
legislative, executive
and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a
few, or many and whether
hereditary, self appointed or elective, may justly
be pronounced the very
definition of tyranny."
Masunungure said the
importance of this separation of powers was underlined
by the fact that
committee members who have been appointed deputy ministers
in the recent
cabinet reshuffle have ceased to be members of the committees.
These are
Masvingo South MP Walter Mzembi, and non-constituency senators
Aguy Georgias
and Tracy Mutinhiri.
Mzembi, who was the chairman of the parliamentary
portfolio committee on
Lands and Agriculture, is now the deputy minister of
Water Resources and
Infrastructural Development.
Georgias is the deputy
minister of Economic Development and Mutinhiri is the
deputy minister for
Indigenisation and Empowerment.
Masunungure said the main reason for
summoning the committee chairpersons
was that the ministers were bent on
covering up government corruption.
"The committees were doing a good job,
illuminating the problem of
corruption, directing the searchlight to the
dark corners where corruption
is hiding. The executive is saying stop
your
investigations, that will unravel corruption," Masunungure said.
"The
MPs are supposed to be a watchdog of the executive. The actions and
inactions of the executive. That is their legally defined role. The
ministers are saying don't exercise your function. We don't want to be
watched."
When he appeared before Porusingazi's committee on Tuesday this
week,
Foreign Affairs Ministry permanent secretary Joey Bimha initially
thought
Parliament wanted to subject him to unnecessary interrogation, but
had since
realised that he was mistaken.
Bimha said the committee in fact
proved helpful to the foreign affairs
ministry.
"I was afraid of this
committee thinking it is a committee of interrogators.
I have since found
you to be useful. That you want to help us."
Committees which have taken a
leading role in exposing corruption and
incompetence are Porusingazi's
committee, the Mines, Environment and Tourism
Committee that has exposed
illegal dealings in the mining sector by
government officials, the Public
Accounts Committee that is investigating
the looting of government funds,
the Lands and Agriculture committee that
expressed reservations about the
way former agriculture minister Joseph Made
was handling the sector and the
Budget and Finance committee.
Masunungure said even the party caucus must not
be used as a forum to
intimidate participants but for reaching consensus on
how to handle
parliamentary issues and positions to take.
He said one
consequence of the ministers' meddling in the work of portfolio
committees
was to render Parliament "redundant" by barring MPs from
scrutinising the
actions and decisions of government.
According to The Parliament of
Zimbabwe's website, the goal of the
restructuring of committees through the
Parliamentary Reform Programme which
began in 1997 was to make "Parliament
more responsive to the public, more
effective in calling the government to
account and more efficient in the way
it does its business."
"It is in
this context that Parliament resorts to the formation of
committees which
play a vital role in the monitoring of public policy
programmes and
expenditure and by advocating for transparency and
accountability . . . the
new system will allow a closer scrutiny of each
ministry."
As a result of
the restructuring programme, Parliament set up 13 portfolio
committees that
shadow all government ministries, departments and
parastatals.
Previously
there were only four select committees. The committees follow up
on all
assurances, promises and undertakings relating to their portfolios
given by
the government and report to the House at least twice every
session.
The
Parliament of Zimbabwe website adds: "Parliamentary committees,
therefore,
play a vital role in the functioning of Parliament. They are the
eyes and
ears of Parliament through which government ministries and
departments can
be called to account. Without committees it would be
difficult for important
aspects of parliamentary work to be carried out."
Prominent Harare lawyer
Simplisius Chihambakwe who represented Parliament in
two separate lawsuits
instituted by former Chimanimani MDC MP Roy Bennett
and the opposition
party's Gweru MP, Timothy Mukahlera said there must be a
distinction between
ministers giving MPs orders, which is unacceptable and
consulting, which is
in order.
Both Bennett, who was challenging his jailing for contempt of
Parliament,
and Mukahlera who alleged that there was favouritism in the way
Parliament's
Vehicle Loan Scheme was administered lost their court
cases.
"If they called them to order, that would be contrary to the
separation of
powers. If it is to consult, there is no problem because
separation of
powers does not prohibit consultation," said
Chihambakwe.
"Consultation clears misunderstandings and reinforces the
separation of
powers, but ordering committees is wrong. Ministers cannot
order
Parliament."
The lawyer said that even the Chief Justice can
consult the executive if
he/she sees that ministers are violating court
orders.
"The Chief Justice can say 'we make orders but you don't obey them.
What
messages are you trying to send'."
Despite these principles however,
former Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was
rebuked a few years ago when he
sought to be re-assured that the executive
still subscribed to the rule of
law.
A subsequent purge of the judiciary resulted in the MDC alleging that
the
system had been stuffed with ruling party sympathisers.
FinGaz
Charles Rukuni Bulawayo
Bureau Chief
THE contentious issue of who, between the government and the
city council,
should supply Bulawayo with water will test the political
clout of senior
ZANU PF officials from Zimbabwe's second largest
city.
The government demonstrated at a heated meeting on Monday that
it was
determined to take over the supply of water to the city. But the
councillors
vowed this would only happen "over our dead
bodies".
Councillors and residents have resolved to approach influential
former ZAPU
members and political leaders from the province for
support.
These include Vice-President Joseph Msika, Speaker of Parliament
John Nkomo
who is also the ruling party's chairman, politburo member Dumiso
Dabengwa,
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, as well as
senators.
The Bulawayo United Residents Association (BURA) has pushed the
political
leaders into a tight corner, insisting that if they are genuine
representatives of the people of Bulawayo, they will have to confront the
government to reverse its decision.
Water Resources Minister, Munacho
Mutezo, who visited Bulawayo to explain
the imminent takeover, said the
issue had been compounded by misconceptions
on the part of the council, the
media and BURA, which he accused of
conducting a campaign of
misinformation.
But he did not say anything to convince anybody that a
government takeover
would improve Bulawayo's water supply situation in any
way.
Strict water rationing is in force in the city. But this is because the
supply dams, which are the responsibility of the government, are dry. The
distribution system remains intact.
Councillor Albert Mhlanga stressed
that Bulawayo's problem was not failure
to distribute water. There was
simply no water to distribute. "How can you
bring a bucket and expect to
fill it with
milk when there is no cow?" he asked Mutezo.
The government
has never explained why it wants to take over the task of
supplying water
nationwide except to say that local authorities would
benefit from Zinwa's
expertise and that the government has more resources at
its disposal.
But
the councillors wanted to know where the government would get the money
to
improve the situation when it had failed to build a single dam for
Bulawayo
since independence. The construction of dams nationwide became the
responsibility of the national government in 1976 under the Smith
regime
"You cannot afford to pay striking doctors and nurses and now you want
to
take on added responsibilities and you expect us to believe that you can
deliver, is that possible?" asked Clr Phil Lamola. "You could not even be
here on time. We have been waiting for you from 11am. How can you be
expected to deliver?"
Mutezo had a ZANU PF engagement prior to the
council meeting for which he
was late by two hours.
Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo, who was expected to accompany
Mutezo, did not turn
up. The Bulawayo City Council has only four ZANU PF
councillors out of a
total of 29. One councillor, Alderman Charles Mpofu, is
an independent and
the remaining 24 are from the MDC.
Alderman Mpofu said if the government
wanted to take over the council's
water supply because this was in the
people's interests, it should be
prepared to listen to the councillors'
concerns because they represented the
people.
"We were elected by the
people in the same way that those in government
were. So we stand by our
decision: No to Zinwa. I am appealing to you that
for the first time in the
history of this country can we be respected as the
representatives of the
people."
Bulawayo Mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, who tried to cool tempers,
appealed to
the government to reverse its decision because the council would
lose
considerable revenue once its water supply role was taken over.
"I
have always said I work for the government. The council and Zinwa are
like
twins, so why rob one twin to pay the other? We have invested in this
city
and in this year's budget we were expecting a surplus from the water
account
of $30 billion. We need that revenue," Ncube said.
"Government, through its
policy of decentralisation promotes the division of
functions. Let Zinwa
continue to source water and the Bulawayo City Council
to distribute it.
Please, don't misunderstand us. We are not quarrelling
with anybody, but we
are rightly asking for what is ours."
Mutezo said it would be naïve to
promise anyone that he could alter the
cabinet's decision, but pledged to
present the views and concerns of the
city council council to
cabinet.
"To me, it seems the crux of the matter is the issue of revenue.
Everything
else is just a smokescreen. So we can look into revenue sharing.
This is a
win-win situation. So let's work together. A lot of the opposition
to this
move is because people don't understand what is on offer," the
minister
said.
BURA, widely viewed as being a
supporter of ZANU PF, is
spearheading the campaign to force
government to reverse the Zinwa takeover.
ZANU PF provincial spokesman
Effort Nkomo is the vice-chairman of BURA.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Business Reporter
SIMON Pazvakavambwa, the former Agriculture Permanent
Secretary who was
ejected from the ministry last year is embroiled in a
fresh controversy over
a $600 000 bill incurred in an attempt to recruit a
new Grain Marketing
Board (GMB) general manager to replace Samuel Muvuti.
Pazvakavambwa, who was
relieved of his post because of his role in the
importation of sub-standard
fertilizer from South Africa last year, had
contracted Lorimark Executive
Recruitment Consultants to recruit a general
manager to replace Muvuti.
Muvuti, who had been suspended for allegedly
defrauding the grain monopoly
of close to $1 million was subsequently
cleared of any wrongdoing.
After Lorimark advertised the position in the
Sunday Mail, Pazvakavambwa
wrote to the GMB ordering it to pay the $595 700
bill.
But Muvuti, whose suspension was revoked by then Agriculture Minister
Joseph
Made and was back in charge at the GMB, defied Pazvakavambwa's
directive,
insisting the Agriculture Ministry, which had sanctioned the bid
to recruit
a new general manager, should settle the bill.
"We inform you
that there is no board resolution instructing us to carry out
the
recruitment of a general manager. As such, there are no proper
supporting
documents to enable our procurement department to initiate a
purchase order.
In our view, payment of the outstanding invoice remains the
responsibility
of the ministry, which initiated the recruitment through
you," Muvuti said
in a letter seen by The Financial Gazette.
Officials at Lorimark this week
confirmed that the bill was still
outstanding, months after the consultancy
was contracted to recruit a new
GMB boss. The company said the bill has
since ballooned to $4 277 294
because of interest charges.
Speaking from
his new posting, Pazvakavambwa, who still works for the
government, was
adamant yesterday that the GMB should meet the recruitment
costs.
"Why
should the bill be settled by the ministry," he asked. "The GMB should
bear
the costs. We (ministry) were just following a cabinet directive."
Muvuti,
who has acted as head of GMB for five years, refused to comment.
Last year,
Made vetoed Pazvakavambwa's bid to suspend Muvuti, saying the
move was
"unprocedural". Made said only he, upon the recommendation of the
GMB board,
could take such action. However, the GMB has not had a board of
directors
since 2004, when the last outfit, led by Enock Kamushinda, was
dismissed.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
A TOP security aide of Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has
held secret
meetings with top Zimbabwean officials, raising hopes that
President Robert
Mugabe is now ready to revive an initiative led by
Kikwete's predecessor,
Benjamin Mkapa to resolve Zimbabwe's worsening
political and economic
crisis.
Mkapa's proposed mission seemed doomed
last year due to a lack of clarity on
his terms of reference. However, The
Financial Gazette understands that the
Tanzanian government, acting on
behalf of Mkapa, recently sent its head of
intelligence, Rashid Othman to
meet senior Zimbabwean security officials
ahead of a possible visit to
Harare by Mkapa.
Othman, the sources say, arrived in Harare on Monday last
week, and held
discussions the following morning with Zimbabwe's
intelligence chiefs, led
by Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) head
Happyton Bonyongwe.
The Financial Gazette could not immediately ascertain
details of the
meetings, but the sources suggested that one of Othman's aims
was to seek
assurances on Mkapa's personal security and to explore common
ground on the
terms of reference for the talks.
Kikwete, who is thought
to be close to President Mugabe, is under pressure
to coax the head of state
to allow Mkapa to proceed with the initiative the
Zimbabwean leader unveiled
in July last year. President Mugabe and Kikwete
discussed the Mkapa
initiative on the sidelines of the African Union (AU)
Summit held in Addis
Abba, Ethiopia, last month.
Presidential spokesman, George Charamba, was not
immediately available to
comment on the latest developments.
A major
sticking point of the Mkapa initiative is funding.
"The international
community is saying SADC should drive the effort to
rescue Zimbabwe," said a
diplomatic source accredited to Harare. However,
SADC has shown no real
interest in sponsoring the initiative.
Diplomats say Britain is "eager to
fund the deal", but only on condition
that the terms of reference for the
initiative revolve around the
restoration of democracy through free
elections and the repeal of repressive
laws.
A spokesman at the British
embassy yesterday flatly denied claims by the
Zimbabwean government that
Britain had refused to come to the negotiating
table to repair relations
which became strained after President Mugabe's
controversial land
reforms.
Joey Bimha, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, told a Parliamentary
portfolio
committee this week that Britain had refused to enter into
dialogue with
Zimbabwe to heal the rift.
"If the other party is not
willing to come to the negotiating table, what do
you do?" Bimha told
MPs.
But Gillian Dare, spokesperson for the British Embassy in Harare said
Zimbabwe had never invited Britain to any talks to improve relations.
"We
have not been invited by the Zimbabwean government to talk," said Dare
in a
statement to this paper.
Bimha told Parliament that several European
countries, which he did not
name, had begun to appreciate that the fallout
between Harare and London
stemmed from a bilateral dispute over
land.
However, Dare said: "We maintain diplomatic relations and embassies in
each
other's capitals so we can talk to each other whenever needed. There is
no
bilateral UK/Zimbabwe dispute to be addressed. Our concerns about
Zimbabwe
are shared by many in the international community."
The
Zimbabwean government should heed the growing demands of its own people
for
internal reconciliation and adopt policies that would facilitate the
restoration of democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, so as
to end the country's self-inflicted economic decline, Dare said.
"The UK
remains a strong advocate of effective, well-managed and pro-poor
land
reform. The 'fast track' land reform has not been implemented in line
with
these principles and has resulted in the abuse of the rule of law. The
UK's
development assistance, through the Department for International
Development, is targeted at reducing poverty. In the current climate in
Zimbabwe we have focused on humanitarian assistance and worked to tackle HIV
/AIDS," said Dare.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff
Reporter
INDUSTRY and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu faces his
moment of
truth today when he appears before the parliamentary privileges
committee to
answer allegations that he lied under oath.
Mpofu was
granted a temporary reprieve last week when the six-member
privileges
committee chaired by Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi postponed
the
hearing.
Mpofu is accused of telling members of the portfolio committee on
Foreign
Affairs, Industry and International Trade last year that there was a
"shocking" report on high level graft at Zisco and then backtracking while
testifying in a later hearing
Mpofu allegedly initially said he and Paul
Mangwana, who was then State
Enterprises, Anti-Corruption and
Anti-Monopolies Minister, had agreed "to
bury" the report, detailing the
looting of Zisco, on the grounds that its
release would scare away potential
investors.
After Mpofu's u-turn, the committee, headed by ZANU PF Chipinge
South Member
of Parliament Enock Porusingazi, resolved to move a motion for
the minister's
impeachment, which was granted by Speaker of Parliament John
Nkomo.
Sources told The Financial Gazette that, depending on Mpofu's
testimony,
more ministers could be required to appear before the
committee.
Mpofu is being charged under the Privileges, Immunities and Powers
of
Parliament Act. If convicted, he could be fined or jailed for two
years.
Porusingazi has appeared before the Privileges committee to swear on
the
authenticity of tapes and transcripts containing Mpofu's testimony
before
the committee.
Recently, the Privileges committee adopted a
proposal by Sekeramayi to bar
committee members from commenting publicly on
proceedings until the matter
was finalised.
In an attempt to whip
portfolio committees into line, some cabinet ministers
last week summoned
all ruling party parliamentary committee chairpersons to
a meeting during
which the MPs were rebuked for being "overzealous" in the
way they conducted
hearings, which have frequently exposed incompetence
within Cabinet.
In
addition to Sekeramayi, other members of the Privileges committee are
ZANU
PF MPs Jason Machaya (Gokwe-Kana), Webster Shamu (Chegutu) and Mabel
Mawere
(Zaka West) and MDC MPs Welshman Ncube (Bulawayo North east) and
Paurina
Mpariwa (Mufakose).
FinGaz
Chris Muronzi Staff
Reporter
A MAJOR Australian bank has severed all business ties with
Zimbabwean
financial institutions, citing increased credit and country risk
and Western
sanctions.
Westpac Bank of Australia, the fourth largest
bank in Australasia and one of
the South Pacific's biggest banks, has
written to Zimbabwean banks with
which it has business links, announcing it
was closing all their accounts.
A confidential letter written by Susan
Pascoe, a representative of Westpac
in Sydney, says the bank will no longer
"process transactions into or from
Zimbabwe."
"We are writing to advise
that as part of our regular country risk review,
we have reassessed our
position relating to our dealings with Zimbabwe.
These reviews take into
consideration issues like United Nations and United
States sanctions, trade
sanctions, credit and country risk.
"As a consequence of this review, we have
taken a decision not to process
transactions into or from Zimbabwe and we
will have no alternative but to
close your vostro account and swift key
arrangements on the 21st February
2007. Please be aware drafts presented
after the 21st February will not be
paid. In addition, any foreign currency
payments received from your swift
code will not be paid. We apologise for
any inconvenience our actions may
cause," said Pascoe.
A nostro or vostro
account is a deposit account that a bank holds at a
foreign or correspondent
bank for the purpose of international payments.
Australia is one of several
countries that have imposed a travel ban on
senior ZANU PF
figures.
Zimbabwe's relations with the West have deteriorated since the
country
embarked on the land reform exercise that government says is meant
to
benefit previously marginalised blacks.
The country's widening
international isolation has left Zimbabwe's banks
struggling to secure lines
of credit, with local businesses increasingly
being compelled to pay foreign
suppliers upfront for imports.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief
Political Reporter
AS state-owned companies and individuals make a
last-minute stampede to
donate towards President Robert Mugabe's 83rd
birthday bash to be held in
Gweru next Friday, primary school teacher
Beatrice Zwana wonders how the
authorities can lavishly spend more than $300
million on food and drink
while civil servants like her are battling to
convince their employer to
grant them a living wage.
And, to add
insult to injury, ZANU PF activists have been on the rampage in
the Midlands
province, coercing civil servants to contribute financially
towards the
bash.
"This is a clear sign of insensitivity," says a headmistress who claims
she
and other teachers in the province were asked to donate up to $4 000
each
towards the 21st February Movement Fund, a communist-style organisation
established as a welfare organisation in 1986 to spearhead the celebration
of President Mugabe's birthday every year.
For this year's festivities,
headmasters are required to donate $4 000,
while teachers must cough up $2
500 each towards the bash, a must-attend
function for the who's-who in ZANU
PF and business people with links to the
ruling party.
"We are made to
fund a private function when we are clamouring for better
salaries and
working conditions. Why don't they plough the money into
generating
employment?" the headmistress asked.
Impoverished resettled farmers,
beneficiaries of President Mugabe's
controversial land reforms, have been
asked to donate livestock, grain and
cash towards the bash.
The business
community has
not been spared the
appeals for financial support,
which
many claim come with tacit threats.
"We received letters soliciting
donations. We chipped in with whatever we
had because we
want the
celebrations to succeed without our businesses being affected",
said a
Harare-based business executive.
The President's birthday bash provides a
stark reminder of the widening gap
between the ruling elites and the rest of
the people, who are struggling to
survive under world record inflation of 1
593.6 percent.
The celebrations next Saturday come hard on the heels of data
released by
the Central Statistical Office (CSO) this week showing that a
family of five
now needs $566 400 to buy a basket of basic commodities such
as bread, milk,
vegetables and meat.
"This is what the government should
be addressing, awarding us poverty datum
line pegged salaries instead of
partying when the country is burning," said
Zwana.
FinGaz
Clemence Manyukwe Staff Reporter
. .
. Top CIO operative not so lucky
THE Attorney-General's office has quietly
withdrawn an appeal it had filed
in the High Court against the acquittal of
Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa on charges of obstructing the course of
justice, effectively
ruling out any chances of the Minister standing
trial.
The Attorney-General's office served notice to appeal after a
Rusape
magistrate had acquitted Chinamasa on charges that he coerced a key
state
witness to drop charges against supporters of ZANU PF secretary for
administration, Didymus Mutasa, who were accused of perpetrating political
violence. When it lodged the appeal, the Attorney-General's office insisted
Chinamasa would not escape conviction if evidence were led in a higher
court.
"It is humbly submitted that the respondent (Chinamasa) cannot
escape
conviction if a complete and meaningful judgment touching on all the
material evidence led during the trial is passed."
Chinamasa's lawyer
James Mutizwa yesterday confirmed that the A-G's office
had wihdrawn its
appeal.
"The appeal was withdrawn quietly," Mutizwa said, adding that neither
he nor
his client had been served with papers pertaining to the
appeal.
Mutizwa said the case had caused Chinamasa "a lot of
anxiety."
Despite letting Chinamasa off the hook, the A-G's office is forging
ahead
with the prosecution of the head of the Central Intelligence
Organisation
(CIO) in Manicaland, Innocent Chibaya. Chinamasa, Chibaya and
four others
were originally jointly charged with trying to defeat the course
of justice
before an order was issued to try them separately.
They were
said to have pressurised war veteran James Kaunye to withdraw
charges
against ZANU- PF Makoni North chairman Albert Nyakuedzwa and 31
others.
Nyakuedzwa and his 31 co-accused were alleged to have violently
attacked
Kaunye for challenging Mutasa during ZANU PF primary elections in
2004.
Nyakuedzwa and 15 of his co-accused were subsequently convicted and
jailed
for three years.
Chibaya is a member of a commission of inquiry
appointed by President Robert
Mugabe to look into intra-party violence in
Makoni North
The commission's findings were not made public, but after it had
concluded
its probe, Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri was quoted as
saying Mutasa
had a case to answer.
Charles Warara, who represents
Chibaya and his four co- accused, told The
Financial Gazette yesterday that
his clients' trial would begin in the High
Court in May this year.
On
Tuesday, the Attorney-General, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele declined to elaborate
on
why his office had dropped charges against Chinamasa while pressing ahead
with the prosecution of the rest.
The acting Director of Public
Prosecutions, Florence Ziyambi, also declined
comment on the matter.
A
magistrate who presided over the proceedings at the beginning of Chinamasa's
trial was reported to have stepped down under pressure from ZANU PF
politicians.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda
Senior Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT could have shot itself in the foot in
its latest efforts to
arrest the country's economic crisis after it ordered
the arrest last week
of two industry executives over prices, the country's
main business groups
say.
A week after central bank governor Gideon
Gono proposed a new reform
"transitional package", which entails the signing
of a social contract by
March, police arrested Blue Ribbon Industries MD and
chairman of the Millers
Association of Zimbabwe, Mike Manga, and Ian Kind,
head of National Foods,
after millers had sought government approval to
increase the retail price of
bakers' flour to $900 000 per tonne, up from
$610 000/tonne, citing
increasing production costs.
Gono believes the
coming together of the three main economic actors, namely
business, labour
and government, could be the launchpad for a desperately
awaited economic
take-off, which has been elusive for years.
Under the ambitious reform plan,
the social contract would agree on a Prices
and Incomes Stabilisation
Protocol - freezing wages and prices for three
months to June, restricting
state spending, finalising laws on mining
indigenisation and approaching
foreign institutions for new aid.
But business groups and economic observers
were unanimous this week that the
government was putting spanners in the
works of the envisaged social
contract that Gono says could help put the
brakes on the decline.
"It (arrests) is a very clear statement of
intimidating the private sector
so that the whole discussion collapses. We
can see it," said Callisto
Jokonya, president of the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), which
represents the bulk of the country's
largest manufacturers.
Daniel Ndlela, economic consultant at Zimconsult, says
the arrests exposed a
lack of sincerity on the part of the government to the
ambitious social
contract proposal.
"The main party (government) is not
serious about a social contract. It
(social contract) doesn't work,"
observed Ndlela.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Marah
Hativagone says the
arrests do not bode well for a country that needs
healing.
FinGaz
Stanley
Kwenda Staff Reporter
"I URGE all of you to commit yourself to turning
the company around and to
restore the pride lost because the board has no
magic solutions to offer,
for we believe that the solution lies with you,"
said Air Namibia board
chairman, Vekuii Rukoro, when Peter Chikumba was
appointed the airline's
acting chief executive officer in
2001.
Chikumba must have heard similar pleas from Air Zimbabwe bosses
after
assuming a similar position at the embattled national airline last
week. But
with a tainted history of alleged fraud and a string of losses
behind him,
Chikumba's appointment leaves Air Zimbabwe now leaning only on a
prayer.
Chikumba takes over from Oscar Madombwe, acting CEO since November
2005. Air
Zimbabwe acting board chairman Jonathan Kadzura presented Chikumba
as
possessing "unique skills" that could at last give proper business
leadership at the airline. But his record at Air Namibia will haunt Chikumba
and those that appointed him.
Chikumba will be on a three-month contract
and assumes duties amid a chaotic
and long drawn out turnaround programme at
Air Zimbabwe.
Air Zimbabwe is hoping Chikumba will use his experience at the
struggling
Air Namibia to help reverse the local airline's plummeting
fortunes.
The Namibian national carrier for the past six years that Chikumba
was in
charge operated only on fumes, running a string of negative balance
sheets.
Net losses for the past five years were N$860 million, on income of
N$2.3
billion against expenditure of N$3.2 billion.
So, turbulence should
be rather familiar for Chikumba, who already has
experience at Air Zimbabwe
as engineer, aircraft manager and director of
technical operations.
But
things have changed for the worst since he was last here.
Chikumba faces the
Herculean task of trying to salvage the lost pride of Air
Zimbabwe. He joins
a long line of CEOs at Air Zimbabwe, and he will discover
soon that he needs
much more than his prayer sessions to survive at the
company, let alone turn
it around.
In 2002, while he was acting CEO of Air Namibia, he called for a
special
prayer session to save the airline just as the national budget
speech was
delivered in the Namibian parliament.
He also repeated the
same act when he was suspended on charges of fraud and
gross financial
mismanagement, giving a prayer, asking God to help him. It
must have helped,
for he was not charged, but allowed to leave Air Namibia
quietly.
The
Namibian media branded him the "circling circus" because of his
sensational
prayer sessions.
Chikumba has a wealth of experience in the African aviation
industry and had
a stint as IATA regional director for Africa, based in
Nairobi, Kenya.
He has also worked for Ethiopian Airways, one of Africa's
best airlines, and
holds a degree in Business Administration, an MBA in
Business Administration
and a doctorate in Business Administration in
addition to diplomas in
aeronautical engineering and aircraft.
But could
his appointment be signalling the coming to an end of the "flying
circus" at
Air Zimbabwe or the coming of the "circling circus?"
FinGaz
Personal Glimpses with
Mavis Makuni
ZIMBABWE Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) board chairman Justin
Mutasa made an
interesting statement while giving oral evidence to the
Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Communications.
Told point blank by a member of the committee that it was
immoral for the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation to charge the exorbitant
fees it is
proposing to levy for radio and television licences, Mutasa
retorted: "We
are running a business, we cannot go back to government to ask
for money".
His argument, which was supported by the new chief executive
officer of ZBH,
Henry Muradzikwa, was that hapless radio listeners and
television viewers
were the only source from whom the astronomical amounts
of money needed to
rebuild the national broadcasting service could be
extricated.
The CEO said ZBC had been hit with such a constant exodus of
"experienced"
staff that it would no longer retrench any employees. Plans to
reduce the
number of employees at ZBH have been on the cards since the
departure of
Jonathan Moyo as Information and Publicity Minister in 2005.
Moyo will be
remembered as the man responsible for dismantling the once
viable
broadcasting service to replace it with the perennial loss-making
government
propaganda outlet in place today. Moyo's successor, Tichaona
Jokonya, was on
the verge of rationalising and restructuring the system when
he died
suddenly in July last year. Paul Munyaradzi Mangwana, who headed the
information ministry until last week's cabinet reshuffle, in which he was
replaced by Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, initially pledged to implement Jokonya's
blueprint but the story somehow changed along the way.
Now, the nation is
being told that the number of employees, which reached
record levels during
Moyo's endless restructuring exercises during which
seasoned broadcasters
were systematically ejected to make way for greenhorns
who could be easily
manipulated and controlled, is to be left intact. It
will be remembered that
the practice of hiring staff on the basis of pliancy
and political
correctness and connections rather than merit and suitability
was adopted
after the powers-that-be had decreed the national broadcaster
should be
turned into an exclusive government propaganda machine. It has
been downhill
since then in terms of viability and profitability, the bulk
of which should
come from advertising.
Mutasa seems to have conveniently forgotten this
background when he insists
that the only way for ZBH to regain lost ground
is to charge the
extortionate sums it has proposed as licence fees. Why
should listeners and
viewers be expected to cough up $50 000 for household
radios, $200 000 for
car radios and $150 000 for television when all they
get in return is
unrelenting bombardment with ennui-inducing government
propaganda? In all
fairness, the government, which has hijacked the national
broadcaster to
peddle partisan political propaganda, should put its money
where its mouth
is. After, all, he who calls the tune pays the
piper.
Officials in the Ministry of Information and Publicity have quite
overtly
directed and controlled operations at ZBH, down to the hiring of
even the
most junior staff member. This meddling has contributed in no small
measure
to the crumbling of a once viable concern. The government cannot
have it
both ways. It cannot maintain its iron grip on the national
broadcaster and
then expect the public to pay for the consequences. If the
national
broadcasting service must be restored, the government must provide
funding
during the lean period of trying to win back audiences lost over the
years
when aggressive and hate-filled propaganda has become the mainstay of
radio
and television programming.
Before they can be expected to pay the
exorbitant amounts being proposed by
ZBH, listeners and viewers need to feel
that the various radio stations and
ZTV are working in their best interests
to provide varied and interesting
programmes to replace the juvenilia that
it currently churns out. ZBH is now
so unviable because advertisers,
listeners and viewers have deserted it in
droves to escape having their
senses assaulted with the drab and dull
programming that manifests itself in
off-putting monotony and parochial
bias. ZBC is unlikely to regain the
confidence of listeners and viewers
unless it genuinely strives to give an
honest service that fulfills a need
and then goes out and sells it.
If
the national broadcaster develops a distinct, strong and independent
approach and serves the public interest faithfully, it will attract an
audience and regain the confidence of advertisers. The fact that ZBH
inspectors have to go door to door to force the public to pay licence fees
should send a clear message about the quality of service it provides.
The
suggestion that consumers will be allowed to pay for their licences in
instalments is more absurd. It means that the national broadcaster is
forcing listeners and viewers to go into debt simply because they own radios
and television sets. Most people bought these gadgets when ZBC was still a
respectable broadcaster. Most people now use the gadgets to tune in to
foreign radio and television stations.
ZBH is trying to do things in a
lopsided way because it does not have an
audience to deliver to advertisers.
The national broadcaster is trying to
force audiences to take the place of
advertisers by making them pay for a
level and quality of service that does
not exist. Mutasa needs to be
reminded that if the national broadcaster were
indeed operating as a
commercial concern as he was so anxious to impress
upon the portfolio
committee on transport and communications, it should be
generating enough
revenue from advertising to make it unnecessary to ambush
listeners and
viewers with ransom-like charges for radio and licence fees.
The broadcaster
should go back to basics and recruit the right people for
the job. It should
train more people like Vardis Banga who has the right
voice and on-air
presence to hold the attention of an audience.
The
notion that anyone from the "kindergarten brigade" that populates radio
and
television can be a newsreader or presenter is an insult to the
intelligence
of audiences. Viewers and listeners are tired of the antics of
some of these
youthful amateurs such as the exaggerated sighing of Butler
Nhepure and the
halting monotones of a number of others who are touted as
newsreaders and
presenters. ZBH needs to address some of these basics before
it can dream of
establishing a service that takes into account the needs and
interests of
all stakeholders and the total market in which it operates.
FinGaz
Comment
"IT has been
the political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy,
proceed with
arrogance and finish with contempt." Words to that effect were
said of John
Adams by Thomas Paine some years ago.
But he could equally have been
speaking of some Zimbabwean government
ministers who continue to show
contempt for Parliament and disdain for the
people. The Financial Gazette
reported last week that some ministers had
summoned ruling ZANU PF MPs
serving as chairpersons of various committees
whom they perceived to be
vociferous and casting doubt on the Cabinet's
competence.
This is not the
first time government ministers have kicked up a stink over
no-holds-barred
hearings conducted by the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committees. Five months
ago, a terrible political row erupted between
Cabinet and the heads of
Parliamentary Portfolio Committees following an
attempt by some Cabinet
ministers to suppress evidence from hearings that
they considered
embarrassing to government.
The irresponsible and under-performing cabal has
not given up yet. It still
wants the committees to back off as can be seen
through its latest
threatening behaviour meant to frighten the portfolio
committees. It does
not take rocket science to see that the move is well
calculated to remind
the ruling ZANU PF MPs who brought them to the dance
and that they should
therefore know better than seeing, hearing and speaking
evil. This, in our
own estimation, is unacceptable political intimidation,
bribery and
blackmail - a thin end of the wedge that should be nipped in the
bud
particularly for a country that claims to be committed to building a
more
democratic and open society.
But how can government ministers, who
no longer enjoy public confidence and
are justifiably blamed for plunging
the economy into a deep crisis, have the
effrontery to accuse the portfolio
committees of casting them in bad light?
As pointed out by the MPs, who to
their credit seem determined not to debase
themselves in the way demanded by
the ministers, if this is not Cabinet
interference in Parliamentary work,
then we don't know what is. Why are the
ministers who couldn't lie straight
in bed, so jittery? What do they have to
hide?
To the best of our
knowledge, these Portfolio Committees have, during their
deliberations or in
their reports thereafter, said nothing that isn't true.
They have always
made statements of facts. So what is the hullabaloo all
about? Were the
portfolio committees formed to rubber-stamp government
mistakes whereby
their members would just grit their teeth and put up with
it lest they
provoke the ire of incompetent ministers?
Yes, there are too many questions.
But it is not difficult to see why the
ministers, incorrigibly appointed on
the basis of political party
affiliation and allegiance, are desperate to
stop the committees from
piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy
by guiding them as they
search for the truth.
Turkeys are not known to
vote for an early Christmas! Thus the ministers are
stonewalling
investigations into problem areas because it will expose their
failures,
incompetence, shocking and confounding corruption in high places,
the role
played by the government's misguided and irrational policies in
weighing
down the economy and the resultant misery and extreme poverty it
has visited
upon Zimbabweans.
In the ministers' warped sense of reasoning, the slightest
hint of scandal
and failure will be used by critics as yet another stick to
beat government
with. Thus, instead of respecting the truth, public trust
and interest they
are pushing for a chokehold on embarrassing information
through fear and
intimidation.
Indeed, the ministers' arrogance, contempt
for Parliament and disdain for
the people can only lead to one conclusion.
If nothing else, the ministers'
political behaviour, which is beyond the
pale, underlines an ever present
need for a root and branch reform of
Zimbabwe's political system to create a
new dispensation that upholds
certain key values to society as a whole. This
entails the formulation of a
new constitution that limits the abuse of
political power and ensures the
accountability of the executive power to
legislative power.
FinGaz
Zhean Gwaze Staff
Reporter
THE estimated number of vulnerable Zimbabweans in immediate need
of food aid
has risen sharply from the previously projected 1.4 million, a
new food
assessment report shows..
The Famine Early Warning System
Network (Fewsnet) says that the number of
vulnerable people has risen from
the 1.4 million estimated to need food aid
last March, when rural assessment
data was last collected.
The increase in the projected number of people
facing starvation follows the
peak of the hunger season, which falls between
December and January and the
deepening economic crisis.
Inflation, which
soared to 1 593.6 in January, has resulted in most poor
households being
unable to secure basic foodstuffs, Fewsnet says.
"As the peak hunger period
approaches many farming household's maize,
sorghum and millets stocks have
run out, and they have turned to the market
for their supplies of food," the
report reads.
"Many rural and urban households are struggling to earn enough
income to
purchase adequate food given the ever-rising cost of living and
the economic
decline."
In November last year, more than 3 000 metric
tonnes were distributed to at
least 500 000 people through food assistance
programmes of the World Food
Programme (WFP) and its partners.
The number
of people accessing aid will increase if the group's feeding
programme is
authorised by the government, and begins on time, aid agencies
say.
The
Fewsnet report, however, paints a gloomy picture of the food situation
this
year, saying erratic rain this season presented a serious challenge to
farmers.
"The forecast for the remaining second half of the rainfall
season is not
very positive; it points towards increased chances of below
normal rainfall
for almost the whole country. An El Nino was detected in
September 2006 and
is likely to continue until at least early 2007," the
report says.
Outgoing United Nations special envoy James Morris last year
urged President
Robert Mugabe to lift all restrictions on aid agencies and
grant them access
to starving people across Zimbabwe.
Corruption has taken root at the
Poly
EDITOR - When government officials talk about
corruption, they pretend to be
clean. The Ministry of Higher Education
released the November 2006 results
very early this year but the results have
shown that corruption has taken
root at Harare Polytechnic. We sat for
Electrical Engineering examinations
and in this exam there is a subject
which was dreaded by most candidates -
Analog Electronics.
What we
witnessed during the exam was shocking. Almost 10 candidates were
caught
red-handed cheating in the examination room by one alert invigilator.
The
candidates had pieces of paper on which they had written notes and taken
into the examination room.
At the end of the examination the concerned
candidates were asked to write
reports. But when we were outside the
candidates were bragging that the
overzealous invigilator was going to be
surprised to see them pass come
February. We initially dismissed this as
cheap talk from disgraced people.
But when the results were released, true to
their word, the cheating
candidates got their results and they passed. If
this is not corruption we
wonder what is. How individuals who were caught
cheating in full view of all
candidates get positive results and are not
disqualified defies logic and
only serves to confirm that the HEXCO
examination system has gone to the
dogs.
If HEXCO can not disqualify
candidates where there is overwhelming evidence
of cheating, then we can not
even talk of quality education. What pains us
most is the fact that many of
us honest candidates failed that subject.
This can only mean that either the
invigilators were paid to withhold the
evidence or the college decided to
ignore the evidence in order to give the
impression of a high pass
rate.
Our problem is that undeserving people passed the examination while
innocent, hardworking candidates were sacrificed. How can we trust the
examination system anymore?
The responsible ministry must thoroughly
investigate how Harare Polytechnic
handled the 2006 examinations. This is
only the tip of an iceberg.
Sacrificed for being
honest
Harare
------------
We are our own
liberators
EDITOR - The sit-in organised by the Progressive
Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ) is not based on ingratitude towards the
employer. It is intended to
consientise each other of our responsibility
towards liberating ourselves by
participating in the demand for the
restoration of our dignity through
sustainable living
wages.
Unfortunately some quarters of civil society and teaching fraternity
have
misconstrued this to be a sit-in only by PTUZ members and those
teachers in
defiance of the employer. On the contrary, PTUZ made it clear in
its strike
notices that this action is for all teachers inclusive of ZIMTA,
PTUZ, TUZ
and those non-affiliated teachers irrespective of social,
economic,
political, religious or racial inclinations.
We are facing the
same challenges across the divide in this economic turmoil
so there is no
need for anyone to step on anyone's toes since we are
fighting for the same
cause. It is of utmost importance for all of us to be
responsible to
ourselves, colleagues and families by demanding a sustainable
wage.
Presently none of us can afford bread and butter daily till the
next month
end. Credit lines in shops have been cut due to hyperinflation.
It is now a
pipe-dream for us to afford a television set, which is priced at
an average
of $1.2 million and the trader requires 50 percent down-payment
before we
get a credit facility. These and more problems have seen us
struggling to
survive till the next pay day on our meagre salaries.
In a
recent salary proposal for February 2007 by ZIMTA, on top of the basic
salary, housing and transport allowances the union also added a dressing
allowance although it was turned down. Prices of clothes have gone through
the roof, making it a daunting task to afford decent clothes. Some have
resorted to buying home-made clothes. This has seen a lot of teachers
absconding from duty and resorting to supplementary projects to cushion
their income.
These problems have brought about this collective job
action spearheaded by
PTUZ in an effort to bring to the employer's attention
that our incomes are
not sufficient.
A lot of backbiting has been taking
place in schools among teachers in an
effort by some individuals to impress
the administrators. Unfortunately
ladies and gentlemen, no administrator
will encourage workers to go on
strike. No employer will offer a sustainable
income without employees
pressing for it. A case in point is the nurses who
got a small top-up to
their January income, which is better than
nothing.
The unity of purpose displayed by the nurses should be nurtured
among us.
Demanding a living wage does not mean that we don't want to work.
We were
trained for this job by the government for which we are grateful.
But we can
not continue to pretend to be patriotic by merely availing
ourselves at
workplaces while we are not delivering to the best of our
abilities
TJM
Seke, Chitungwiza
----------
Who do we nail to
the cross?
EDITOR - We'll get our new constitution, and it
will be the very same
document proposed and rejected by a referendum before
the nightmare began.
He will get his way, or we will all die. Or we will all
get our way and
others will die. Which way democracy? Do we democratically
elect the
undemocratic? Or Do we use undemocratic measures to bring about
democracy?
Whose undemocratic measure is best? Whose democratic measure is
best?
We have our cross. Who do we nail to it?
Criss
Cross
Harare
-------------
Silence is
betrayal
EDITOR - In the life of every normal individual
there comes a time when one
realises that silence is betrayal and that
something has to be done to
quickly do away with the abnormal situation that
one finds himself/herself
in.
It is for this sole reason that I am
reliably convinced that the time has
indeed come for serious human rights
defenders to speak out against the
suffering (in every sense of the word)
that we have experienced under the
ZANU PF regime. Required in Zimbabwe
today are people who speak up for
people who cannot speak for themselves. Of
worth to note also is that there
is need for human rights activists to
protect the rights of the poor and
needy (Proverbs 31:8ff)
Some may ask,
where does this self-acclaimed human rights defender stand? I
am very clear
on where I stand when it comes to issues that are of national
importance. I
am against poverty, tyranny and war - the three enemies of
humanity. My
submission is that these three enemies of humanity are among us
and a lot
has to be done to do away with them. This means that I have, just
like any
concerned citizen, no other choice but to clearly register my
displeasure
with the regime that no longer has anything to offer to the
suffering
masses.
I am however optimistic that there is, as it were, no night so long
that it
does not end with dawn. I believe everything has a beginning and an
end. In
our vernacular, "chinobhururuka chinomhara". How important can
people be? We
are all equal and therefore we should act towards one another
in a spirit of
brotherhood and not a situation where some comrades are more
equal than
others.
Noteworthy is the fact that we all have to play our
part to make sure that
things start working for us. Remember, a hard-working
farmer has plenty to
eat while those who waste time will always be poor. In
like manner, there's
an incumbent need for all Zimbabweans to start acting
since this is good for
the country.
I have painfully come face to face
with how ZANU PF has decimated our
livelihood and to be frank with you it
pains me to learn that Zimbabweans
have nothing to show for the 27 years
that they have been independent. How
then can one justify being a leader of
a country with a bad human rights
record, with the highest inflation in the
world, where citizens experience
hell on earth due to sheer misrule? The
list could go on and on.
Mutsa Murenje
Harare