MDC
PRESS
16
February 2005
POLICE
RAID MDC CANDIDATES’ MEETING
The police today disrupted a training session of the
MDC’s 120 candidates which was being held at the
Sheraton Hotel in
Harare. They arrested
MDC Director of Elections Ian Makone who is
currently being held at Harare Central Police Station.
At the time of writing the police have yet to inform
Mr Makone of the charges he is facing.
The meeting, which started at 10.30 am, was attended by all 120 of the
party’s candidates for the 2005 elections. It was a strategic planning and
training session ahead of the nomination court on Friday 18 February and the
launch of the MDC campaign in Masvingo on Sunday, 20
February.
Three plain clothes police details arrived and demanded
to sit through the meeting. They then told the gathering that the meeting was
illegal under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and that all those
present should leave immediately or face arrest.
The MDC notes with concern the continued disruption of
its campaign programme and the continued harassment of
its candidates and leaders. The disruption of MDC meetings is a clear violation
of the SADC guidelines on the conduct of free and fair elections.
In addition to the disruption of the party’s public
meetings, our advertisements and editorials continue to be rejected by the
public media in clear violation of the same SADC
principles.
We reiterate our position that we are participating in
this election with a heavy heart and under protest. We have only agreed to
participate because our supporters on the ground wish to exercise their
inalienable right to vote and continue the struggle for democracy at all levels.
The people of
Zimbabwe
want a new beginning. We have a manifesto which provides policy solutions to the
key issues of the day: food and jobs. We know that this Manifesto will resonate
with the people of
Zimbabwe and
this is why we are confident of victory on 31 March, even though the elections
will not be free and fair.
Today’s events make a
mockery of statements claiming that
Zimbabwe is on
course to hold free and fair elections. Such statements only serve to encourage
the Mugabe regime to further breach the SADC
principles on democratic elections.
Paul
Themba Nyathi
MDC
Secretary for Information and Publicity
Comment from Mr E. Cross:
Just read this press release from the MDC this
afternoon. This whole election process is developing into an absolute farce! We
are expected to contest an election in 45 days. We do not have the voters roll
(the one sold to us last week is out of date), we cannot advertise in the State
controlled media, we are subjected to propaganda 24 hours a day on radio and TV.
Our meetings are being banned or disrupted, campaigners cannot distribute flyers
on the street, we have to have permission to put up posters! Our vehicles are
being confiscated and held at Police Stations. We have over 400 court cases
pending against MDC candidates and activists and there are more arrests every
day. Returning officers have still not been appointed and we have no idea of
where polling stations will be. Zanu is handing out food at its rallies and
forcing people to attend rallies. No observer missions have been invited and
there are arrests of remaining international journalists working as "stringers".
Yesterday the South African Minister of Foreign
Affairs said that "good progress was being made towards a free and fair election
in Zimbabwe". That is simply nonsense. The Government here has clamped down even
more on the electoral process. The decision on the Daily News - which we know is
in its favour, was supposed to be out on the 7th - the Judge still has to
release his judgement.
Dear Colleagues
Attached please find a briefing paper on Media and
the 2005 Parliamentary
Election prepared by the Media Monitoring Project
Zimbabwe.
The briefing paper reviews minimum standards for election
coverage and the
provision of direct access for political parties contesting
the March 2005
Election. The paper also analyses Government's commitment to
implementing
provisions of the Electoral Act, Broadcasting Services Act and
the spirit of
the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic
Elections in
relation to provision of equal access to the state media before
elections.
If you have any comments or queries please contact Primrose
Matambanadzo or
Dumisani Gandhi in the Advocacy
Department.
Regards
Primrose Matambanadzo
Media Monitoring
Project Zimbabwe
15 Duthie Ave
Alexandra Park
Harare
Tel/Fax:
263-4-703702
Email: monitors@mmpz.org.zw
Media and
the 2005 Parliamentary Election -
Briefing Paper 1
16 February 2005
"A
free and fair electoral process is virtually impossible to attain without
the
active participation of an economically healthy, free and effective
mass
media."
Media Coverage of the 2005 Parliamentary Election
Zimbabwe's 2005
Parliamentary elections cannot be deemed to be free and fair
if the media
are not able to report freely. In addition, voters must be able
to access
accurate information that allows them to make an informed
democratic choice
about the representatives they vote for. Similarly,
candidates have a right
to convey their views to the electorate.
The electorate has a right to be
informed at all times, especially during
elections, and this should not be
portrayed as a privilege. Information
disseminated by the media should
enable individuals to develop their own
opinions and make informed
decisions. To do this, voters require fair and
accurate information about a
party's policies and programmes, as well as
information about aspiring
candidates.
Media institutions should be especially aware of their basic
professional
responsibility to provide fair, accurate and balanced coverage
of elections,
particularly relating to the parties contesting the election.
This applies
to:
Voter education - material, telling the electorate why
and how they should
vote, produced by electoral authorities or the media
themselves
Editorial coverage - news and current affairs coverage under
editorial
control of the media. (this coverage of the election is not
controlled by
the authorities or the candidates.)
Direct Access coverage
- This is material produced by the political parties
or the candidates
themselves in order to use the media to tell the
electorate about their
policies.
Political opponents of government have a right to be heard in the
publicly
funded media, which is usually controlled by governments
(particularly in
Zimbabwe), especially at election time. Precisely because
these media use
public funds they have a responsibility to cover all
contesting parties and
candidates fairly and without discrimination.
In
addition, all media institutions should not be unduly restricted in
carrying
out their activities. As noted by former UN Special Rapporteur on
Freedom of
Opinion and Expression, Abid Hussein "in pre-election periods.the
State must
ensure that the media is given the widest possible latitude" in
order to
achieve "the most fully informed electorate possible."
"The media -
television, radio, newspapers, magazines, posters and pamphlets
and other
forms of verbal and written communication - are central to the
electoral
process. Without these, candidates and voters would be
hard-pressed to
gather and share information and views."
The main focus of scrutiny with
regard to election coverage should be the
public media, which depends on
public funds. This includes Zimbabwe
Broadcast Holdings (ZBH), the national
public broadcaster. As all its four
radio stations and the country's only
television station are owned by the
State - and not the government - it
therefore has a national public duty to
report without bias and provide
equitable access to the airwaves to all
political parties and their
candidates.
Minimum Standards:
There must be clear guidelines and minimum
standards against which to
measure media coverage of elections in terms of
fairness and balance. There
are no standards in Zimbabwe that have been set
by a body that governs
elections. Below we outline basic minimum standards
that MMPZ has previously
identified as being central to the media's duty to
inform the electorate
about election issues. At the very least:
All
publicly funded media, particularly ZBH, should carry impartial voter
education, telling the electorate what the vote is for, as well as who is
entitled to vote, and how and where to do so.
Direct access programmes
must be broadcast free of charge on an equitable
basis according to rules
set by the electoral authorities (the Electoral
Supervisory Commission (ESC)
or the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission).
Political parties may receive
additional paid access, but this should be
subject to set
limits.
Allocation of airtime for direct access programmes by the public
broadcaster
must be on a fair and non-discriminatory basis. This includes
providing
equal prominence for the contesting parties and their
candidates.
A code of ethics governing the content of direct access
programmes should be
drawn up prior to the commencement of any election
campaign. Ideally, these
should be established and adhered to at all times,
irrespective of
elections.
No direct access programming should be
broadcast in the 24 hours before
voting starts or on the day (or days) of
the election itself.
All media should report election news fairly and
professionally, clearly
distinguishing fact from comment.
Media should
not be legally liable for defamatory statements made by
candidates and party
officials during broadcasts, and an equal right of
reply should be provided
to offended parties.
An independent authority, such as an election commission
acting in
consultation with senior representatives from media organisations
and the
contesting political parties should ideally set these standards well
before
any election campaign. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), a
creation
of recent legislation, was appointed on 20 January 2005. However,
it is
unclear how it will relate to the constitutionally established ESC, or
whether it will improve the transparency of the election management process.
At the time this report was being compiled no electoral authority had
invited any debate about establishing election-reporting
guidelines.
Direct Access to Public Media by Political Parties Competing in
the Election
Direct access refers to the allocation of broadcast time for
political
parties during which they may broadcast material or programmes
that they
have produced themselves. The broadcaster should not edit direct
access
material, as it is the only vehicle for political parties to express
themselves to the electorate directly outside of campaign rallies.
MMPZ
recommends that the allocation of direct access be the responsibility
of a
truly independent electoral commission, preferably in consultation with
representatives of the political parties and media institutions. It is
preferable for direct access in Zimbabwe to be provided free of charge by
the public media, at least for broadcasting, mainly because opposition
political parties are unlikely to be able to afford the same extent of paid
political advertising as the governing party. Print media should offer
advertising at the lowest rate of advertising and similar space should be
available to all parties.
While there is an obligation on the public
media to provide equitable direct
access to political parties, there is no
similar obligation on the private
media. This is because the private media
do not depend on public money;
their survival depends on their commercial
success; their popularity in the
market place. However, private media that
do provide direct access must
offer the service to all contesting parties on
the same terms.
Below we outline the fundamental nature of direct access and
how it should
be applied.
Similar space and time should be made available
to all candidates and
parties.
Different systems of direct access may be
applied to print and electronic
media and to privately and publicly owned
media.
Limitations may be placed on the amount of private advertising allowed
per
candidate or party, as is the case with the amount of free access
allocated,
which must also be predetermined.
Criteria, such as ethics and
restrictions on the content of material, must
be set out clearly by an
independent authority presiding over the election.
The media may choose to
accept or refuse liability for material broadcast
during direct access.
However, it is preferable that the media not be held
accountable for direct
access programmes prepared by political parties.
The broadcaster must decide
on the time when broadcasts take place with the
emphasis on achieving
optimum exposure for candidates without adversely
affecting programming
schedules.
Allocation of direct access should be done on the basis of equity
or
equality. This is examined in further detail in Table 1 below.
Table
1:
Equality vs. Equity
Equality Equity
The same amount of time for all
parties contesting the election regardless
of the amount of support that
they command.Fair amount of time for parties
contesting in the election
according to the amount of support that they
command.
Time will be split
equally amongst all contenders even frivolous ones with
no supporters or
those merely seeking free publicity.Main contenders in the
election are
allocated the most access.
Works best where there are fewer candidates and
parties. Or where the
support that each party commands has not been
determined by any previous
election. Where there are too many contestants
time will have to be divided
into impractically small portions.Works best in
a well established democracy
where clear measures of past electoral support
exist. May however obstruct
emergence of new political
initiatives.
MMPZ also recommends the following system for direct access
that has been
implemented in South Africa:
All parties and candidates
should receive a basic allocation regardless of
past support or how many
candidates they are fielding.
Parties and candidates should receive an
additional allocation based upon
past electoral support.
Parties and
candidates may receive an additional allocation based upon the
number of
candidates that they are fielding.
Past Experience with Direct Access in
Zimbabwe
Table 2:
Election & yearSummary of direct media
access
1990 - Presidential & ParliamentaryZBC broadcasting monopoly
abused by ZANU
PF.
Election adverts comparing the opposition to AIDS and
car crashes dominate.
ZANU PF accorded 30 minutes per day and opposition
parties 4 minutes per
day.
1995 - ParliamentaryElection Coverage
Committee (ECC) established comprising
the directors of ZBC. ECC controlled
broadcast coverage of the elections.
All political parties contesting
allocated 1 hour of coverage between 27
March and 7 April.
Those parties
fielding candidates in at least 15 constituencies received an
extra 30
minutes of free airtime on ZBC TV1 and Radios 1, 2 and 4. Parties
with fewer
than 15 candidates received only 5 minutes extra.
2000 - ParliamentaryZBC
solicits advertisements from political parties for
the parliamentary
election campaign. But in practice political
advertisements are not run
throughout most of the campaign.
Direct access coverage consisted of a
15-minute television slot for each
party divided into five-minute English,
Shona and Ndebele segments.
There was no direct access slot on radio.
A
television programme Election 2000 provided each party with a 25-minute
slot
towards the end of the campaign to present their views.
No similar slot was
available on radio.
There was equality in direct access, however this was
countered by heavily
skewed news coverage in favour of ZANU PF.
13 June
2000 - MDC secured Supreme Court ruling ordering ZBC to fulfill its
obligations to carry broadcasting services impartially, without
discrimination on the basis of political opinion and without hindering
persons in their right to impart and receive ideas and
information.
Ruling was largely ignored and on eve of the election two ZANU
PF adverts
were run - the only ones of the election.
2002 -
PresidentialZBC established "10 golden rules" on direct access and
political
advertising for the period following the sitting of Nomination
Courts on 31
January 2002 until the polling days on 9 and 10 March 2002.
ZBC decided on
time allocated to party candidates and their representatives.
"Each
candidate or representative will be allocated time specified by ZBC".
This
made no reference to equality or equity in access.
Direct access was
restricted to political advertising that would be
"accepted in the normal
way".
Use of inflammatory and defamatory language inciting members of the
public
to be violent was banned. However ZANU PF candidate, Robert Mugabe,
was
allowed to use such language, which was not edited out of news
coverage.
ZBC reserved the right to drop or edit what it considered to be
"offensive"
material in political party programmes.
The lack of
an independent electoral body to set guidelines for direct
access and to
monitor its implementation resulted in ZBC (now ZBH)
establishing its own,
often obscure and subjective, rules to govern direct
access and subsequently
monitoring their own performance. It also resulted,
as evidenced above, in
ZBC engaging in news coverage, current affairs
programmes and interviews
that are overtly biased in favour of the ruling
party, ZANU PF.
The SADC
Principles and Guidelines and Media Coverage of the 2005 Elections
Much
emphasis has been placed on Zimbabwe implementing of the SADC
Principles and
Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections before the March
2005
Parliamentary Elections are conducted. Government has, on several
occasions,
asserted that it is taking all steps possible to ensure that it
complies
with the principles and guidelines. Indeed, according to President
Mugabe,
during his State of the Nation address on 9 December 2004, Zimbabwe
is now
"more than compliant with the standards and guidelines, we developed,
agreed
to and adopted at SADC and as SADC (sic)."
The SADC Principles and Guidelines
Governing Democratic Elections only
briefly dwell upon media in relation to
elections within the SADC region,
however it is worth conducting a
preliminary analysis of how Government has
complied with this essential
element of democratic election processes. Below
are the sections of the SADC
Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic
Elections that refer to the
media:
2. Principles for Conducting Democratic Elections
SADC Member
States shall adhere to the following principles in the conduct
of democratic
elections:
2.2.5 Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the
state media.
6. Rights and Responsibilities of SADC Election
Observers
6.1.3 Unhindered access to and communicate freely with the
media;
7. Responsibilities of the Member State Holding Elections
Safeguard
the human and civil liberties of all citizens including the
freedom of
movement, assembly, association, expression, and campaigning as
well as
access to the media on the part of all stakeholders, during
electoral
processes as provided for under 2.2.5 above;
The SADC guidelines recognize
access to the media and media freedom as a
critical element of democratic
elections. The call for equal access to the
media in section 2.2.5 at the
very least requires that all parties have an
equal opportunity to express
themselves to the public through the media for
an equal length of time
before an election. To satisfy the requirements of
the SADC principles and
guidelines, media coverage of elections must be fair
and evenly balanced. By
implication there must also be media freedom as a
media sector that is
heavily censored or risks censure for coverage of
certain issues will be
unable to offer equal access to all parties. Section
7.4 goes on to make it
clear that the State is responsible for ensuring that
an instrument is in
place to facilitate equal access and that monitoring and
enforcement
mechanisms are in place to guarantee that the state media
carries out this
duty.
In addition to according equal access to the state media to all
political
parties, the Zimbabwe government must facilitate "unhindered
access" to the
media for SADC Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM). Any
interference or
attempt to limit communication between the media and the
SEOM will
constitute a violation of the principles and
guidelines.
Government Sentiment
There has generally been confusion and
contradictions regarding the extent
to which Government intends to comply
with the media-related requirements of
the SADC Principles and Guidelines
Governing Democratic Elections. In the
Zimbabwe Independent of 17 September
2004, the Minister of Justice, Legal
and Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick
Chinamasa, was quoted saying that the
Government of Zimbabwe was "working on
creating a conducive electoral
framework in line with the SADC principles.
This will include equal access
to the public media by all political parties
and programmes will be
introduced on television and radio soon." Chinamasa
also reportedly told the
Independent that ZBH had received a directive from
Government to implement
this.
Minister of Information and Publicity in
the President's Office, Jonathan
Moyo, later adopted a contradictory
position that political parties with "no
loyalty.should not expect to be
treated fairly." It was not made clear who
would judge the loyalty of
various political parties against what criteria.
For the avoidance of doubt,
Minister Moyo went on to make it clear that
"until and unless we have a
loyal opposition it will not be possible for
them to have access to the
public media. For them to get access to the
public media, they should show
their loyalty to the country."
This absurdly impractical and subjective
requirement for access to the
public media, defined at the Government's
discretion, inherently denies
opposition political parties the SADC
guidelines' requirement for "equal
opportunity for all political parties to
access the state media".
Furthermore insisting that political parties must
have the same ideology and
practices as the ruling party before they can
access the state media clearly
goes against section 2.2.3 of the SADC
principles and guidelines which
identifies "political tolerance" as a
principle of democratic elections.
Government appears to remain ignorant of
the fact that equal access to the
media is not a privilege to be reserved
for those they regard favourably,
but a right of all political
parties.
The Electoral Act (Cap 2:13) Section 3 (c) (iv) declares the right
of
political parties "to have reasonable access to the media" as a general
principle of democratic elections. However it has been pointed out that this
section does not confer a "specific and actionable right that can be
claimed .without reference to the laws governing the media in Zimbabwe."
Government appears to have exonerated the print media in particular from
providing political parties with access advising that "a newspaper can, in
fact, decide not to cover any political party or candidate during an
election and that decision would not be in contravention of any law." This
perpetuates the situation in which Zimpapers may refuse to accept paid
political advertisements from opposition political parties while flighting
several full page advertisements per issue for the ruling party, as was the
case during the March 2002 Presidential elections. Regulations must be put
in place that compel the government-controlled print media to give paid
access to political parties on an equitable basis if it decides to accept
such advertisements.
Broadcasting of election material during election
time is regulated under
the Fifth Schedule of the Broadcasting Services Act
(BSA) (Cap 2:06). Part 2
of this schedule lays out the conditions for
broadcasting political matter
and in section 2 (1) specifies that "if during
an election period, a
broadcaster broadcasts election matter, the
broadcaster shall give
reasonable and equal opportunities for the
broadcasting of election matter
to all parties contesting the election." The
broadcaster is therefore under
no obligation under the Act to provide free
broadcasting or indeed to
provide any broadcasting of election matter at
all. However should the
broadcaster choose to do so they are required to
provide "reasonable and
equal opportunities.to all parties contesting the
election."
Government has set no time frame for equal access to the media but
has made
it painstakingly clear that the time at which equal access shall be
accorded
has yet to begin. While ZANU PF has unlimited access to the
electronic media
for electioneering purposes, Minister Chinamasa has, since
his comment in
September, stated that media coverage will only be awarded to
"parties
contesting the election during election time." "Election time" is
prescribed
by the Broadcasting Services Act as "thirty-three days before the
polling
day for the elections and ends at the close of polling day or the
last
polling day."
Therefore it is most unlikely that opposition parties
contesting the
election will receive equitable media coverage before
February 26 or 27,
depending on the interpretation of this ambiguous
statement. Chinamasa
himself stressed this when he was reported as saying
"you can't have a
country that is perpetually on elections from January to
December. Outside
election periods, broadcasters are free to determine what
news to
broadcast."
According to the Broadcasting Services Act,
"reasonable and equal
opportunities" must be accorded to all contesting
political parties to
access the public media in the 33 days leading to the
election. This remains
to be seen.
Meanwhile, ZANU PF continues to be
given unbridled media access for the
purpose of campaigning for the March
2005 election well before the
nomination courts were due to sit, including
extensive coverage of its
primary elections. Such biased and exclusive
coverage so close to an
election is a clear violation of the spirit of the
SADC Guidelines, which
call for "equal opportunity for all political parties
to access the state
media."
The Situation on the Ground
In December
last year ZBH reportedly refused to accept MDC advertisements
for broadcast
citing the MDC's indecision as to whether or not it would
participate in the
election as the reason behind the refusal. Rino
Zhuwarara, ZBH board
chairperson, claimed that the adverts had been turned
down because the MDC
had yet to confirm whether they would participate in
the election and until
their position was clear they would not be accorded
access to the media.
However MDC spokesperson, Paul Themba Nyathi, was
reportedly informed that
the adverts were considered 'confrontational'.
Since then, the MDC has
announced its intention to contest the election, but
there was no valid
reason even prior to this why ZTV should have denied the
MDC an opportunity
to flight an advertisement whether or not it was
contesting the
election.
In the print media, the government controlled Zimbabwe Newspapers
Group
(Zimpapers) has also refused to publish advertorial material from the
MDC.
However, the Daily Mirror and The Weekly Times have flighted
advertisements
placed by the MDC relating to its policies and encouraging
the electorate to
register to vote and to inspect the voters' roll. The
Daily Mirror has also
carried the MDC's advertisements regarding their
decision to participate in
the election. ZANU Ndonga, which has confirmed
participation in the
election, has written to ZBH requesting access to the
media, but has yet to
receive a response on ZBH's position regarding the
matter.
Interviews during ZTV News on 3 January with Welshman Ncube, MDC
secretary-general, and on Radio Zimbabwe on 4 January 2005 with ZANU
president Wilson Kumbula, were interpreted by the Daily Mirror as the
beginning of equal access to public media for all political parties
contesting the election. The Financial Gazette of 13 January 2005 echoed
this sentiment: "the ZANU PF government under immense pressure to level the
electoral playing field as Zimbabwe's crucial parliamentary polls draw
closer, is partially opening the airwaves to opposition parties."
Use of
officials other than from ZANU PF as sources for political stories
were
interpreted as allowing the opposition equal access to the public
media.
"Remius Makuwaza (MDC) was widely quoted in the state controlled
Herald of 6
January 2005, while another ZANU Ndonga official was quoted
confirming his
party's participation."
However both parties and the Government itself, were
quick to dismiss this
suggestion. No framework for equal access has been
drawn up and made public.
George Charamba, Permanent Secretary in the
Department of Information and
Publicity in the Office of the President and
Cabinet, pointed out that
Kumbula and Ncube had only been on the news
because they had "made news"
that day and "nothing more". Furthermore, he
clarified that the Government
had only undertaken to avail equal access to
the media during the
arbitrarily defined 'election time' as described in the
Broadcasting
Services Act. Charamba went on to note that as at the date of
the interview
(4 January 2005) "We are still far away from that
period."
Clearly, even by mid-February, conditions for fair and equitable
access to
the state media by all political parties still do not exist, and
furthermore, these media organisations continue to favour the ruling party
while suppressing the activities of the main political opposition. Neither
the ESC nor the ZEC have set minimum standards for election coverage and for
direct access and mechanisms for monitoring and enforcing these standards.
Such instruments should be in place by now (six weeks before the election)
and fair, equitable and balanced coverage of political parties should be a
permanent standard for the public media sector. But at the time that the
contesting parties launched their election campaigns, this was still not the
case, and again represents a violation of the spirit of the SADC guidelines.
On 10 February 2005, Minister Moyo announced that the Government would
gazette regulations to govern access to the electronic media by political
parties for campaign purposes on or after the sitting of the Nomination
Courts on 18 February 2005. It remains to be seen whether these regulations,
set without consulting media organisations or the political contestants,
will provide a fair and effective framework for implementing equal access to
the electronic media by the contesting parties, and whether ZBH will comply
with the requirements of the Broadcasting Services Act.
Ends.
Farmers Face Water Cuts
The Herald (Harare)
February 16,
2005
Posted to the web February 16, 2005
Elita Chikwati And Tabitha
Mutenga
Harare
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) is
contemplating cutting water
supplies to farmers who owe the authority $30
billion.
However, there are concerns that the move could hamper the 2005
winter
cropping programme.
Commercial and small-scale farmers across
the country owe Zinwa a total of
$30 billion in unpaid bills, with some
arrears dating back to last May while
other bills are still
accumulating.
But farmer organisations yesterday said the water authority
should consult
the unions first before taking any action.
Zinwa
public relations officer Mrs Marjory Munyonga said the authority's
decision
to cut water supplies would obviously affect irrigation in most
areas.
Farmers were given 30 days from the billing date to pay up
their bills or
have their supplies cut.
The water supplies would only
be reconnected on receipt of payment.
Irrigation is the answer to the
country's erratic rainfall patterns and
mid-season dry spells which make it
difficult for farmers to depend on
dryland cropping.
"Nevertheless,
if the situation continues, we will be left with no option
but to cut water
supplies to commercial and A1 farmers," said Mrs Munyonga.
"Sometimes the
situation becomes a national crisis. For instance, when a
sugar plantation
fails to pay for the irrigation and we cut its water
supplies. This will
cripple the whole nation as there would be a shortage of
sugar."
Besides farmers, urban and rural authorities owe Zinwa more
than $6,3
billion in unpaid bills and failure by the authorities to pay is
adversely
affecting operations of the water utility.
Zinwa is now
seeking Government intervention to recover the funds.
Mrs Munyonga,
however, added that the authority was having problems with
some resettled
small-scale farmers who were drawing water from rivers to
irrigate their
crops. There was no way of cutting supplies to such people,
she pointed
out.
"We can no longer maintain dams and most of them are under threat.
In the
long run, the authority will not be able to provide water to
farmers," she
said.
The authority is failing to maintain and repair
pumps and pipes and this
will result in farmers getting less water, as more
water is wasted through
leakages.
The shortage and inefficient supply
of water would not only affect farmers
but the economy as a
whole.
Zinwa was now planning to hold campaigns at grassroots levels
aimed at
educating the farming community on the importance of water
management,
starting with the Manyame and Mazowe catchment
areas.
This follows realisation that most newly resettled farmers were
not familiar
with the procedures involved in accessing water.
In a
related matter, Zesa Holdings has threatened to disconnect electricity
supplies to defaulters countrywide who owe the parastatal over $158
billion.
Zesa immediately came under fire from farmers' organisations,
who accused
the power utility of endangering the curing of irrigated
tobacco.
What was disturbing was that some farmers whose electricity
supplies were
cut off were told to also clear the arrears they inherited
from the former
white commercial farmers.
Efforts by the affected
farmers to have the situation corrected were
fruitless as they were told to
pay up or risk having their transformers
removed and installed on other
properties.
Some farmers complained that Zinwa and Zesa were taking their
corrective
measures at the wrong time as this would stall their cropping
programmes.
Water charges are currently pegged at $55 000 per megalitre
for commercial
irrigators, industry, urban centres and mines, while in
communal irrigation
schemes, where water is pumped, it now costs $30
000/ML.
Communal irrigation schemes where the irrigation water flows due
to
gravitational force pay $25 000/ML.
The charges were reduced late
last year to relieve farmers of the previous
charge of $82 500/ML, which had
been gazetted last year.
Farmer organisations have urged Zinwa to
re-examine their costing structures
before cutting water supplies to
farmers.
The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union president, Mr Davidson
Mugabe, said
farmers should pay their water bills but Zinwa should first
discuss their
water costs with farmers and farmers' representatives before
threatening to
cut water supplies.
"New farmers need nurturing since
expensive water bills make their farming
business prohibitive if authorities
like Zinwa do not assist them in the
development of their irrigation
facilities," he said.
The threat by the water authority will affect
cropping activities at a time
when the Government was looking forward to
expanding the irrigable land in
the country from 100 000ha to 300 000ha
countrywide.
A Zimbabwe Farmers' Union executive director, Mr Dzarira
Kwenda, said Zinwa
lacked proper communication systems with their
customers.
"Their calculations are not clear and I think they sometimes
bill farmers
without the knowledge of the farmers.
"Zinwa should at
least devise a way of collecting revenue at point of sale
to ensure that all
farmers are able to pay," said Mr Kwenda, adding that
some farmers were not
aware they owed Zinwa money.
He suggested that the parastatal should
localise the revenue system and ask
farmers pay their bills at local
district offices.
"As much as Zinwa should be given their money, they
should also look at
other ways of collecting rather than cutting off
supplies," he said.
Xinhua
Zimbabwe opens airwaves for political campaign
www.chinaview.cn 2005-02-17
03:08:18
HARARE, Feb. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The Zimbabwean
government on
Wednesday gazetted regulations for all political parties
wishing to have
access to electronic media to campaign for next month's
parliamentary
election.
Information and Publicity Minister
Jonathan Moyo said in an
gazette that the country's sole public broadcaster,
the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), would ensure that contesting
political parties
or candidates are given equal access to radio and
television to air their
campaigns messages.
When
broadcasting election programs, Moyo said, the ZBH shall
ensure that the
broadcast is clearly identified as an election broadcast and
identified or
announced in a similar manner both at its introduction and its
conclusion.
"The licensee (ZBH) shall not broadcast any
election program that
incites or perpetuates hatred against or vilifies any
group or person on the
basis of their political affiliation," said
Moyo.
The public broadcaster shall also ensure that during the
election
period, news and current affairs programs relating to the election
are
presented in a balanced, fair, complete and accurate manner, according
to
the gazette.
Two main political parties, the ruling
Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) will contest the election scheduled for
March 31.
The regulations come against the backdrop of a
successful launch
by ZZNU-PF last week of its manifesto while the MDC is due
to launch its
manifesto in a few days time. Enditem
Put Me On Trial Now, Kuruneri Appeals to Court
The Herald
(Harare)
February 16, 2005
Posted to the web February 16,
2005
Harare
THE Supreme Court yesterday postponed indefinitely a
constitutional
application by incarcerated Finance and Economic Development
Minister Chris
Kuruneri seeking the court to make a determination on whether
the delay in
bringing him to trial is not a violation of his right to a fair
trial within
a reasonable time.
Kuruneri is seeking an order to
declare that the time he has spent in remand
prison without being tried
violated his constitutional right to be tried
within a reasonable
time.
The minister, who has made several unsuccessful bail applications,
contends
that the time which he has spent in remand prison exceeds the
reasonable
threshold as stipulated by the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the
supreme law of
the land.
He has been in remand prison since April
last year, the longest period spent
by any of the high-profile businessmen
and people who were arrested last
year as the Government clamped down on
alleged perpetrators of economic
crimes.
Telecel Zimbabwe chairman
James Makamba, who was arrested in February last
year, was released in
August when the High Court acquitted him on five
counts of externalisation
of foreign currency.
He had spent six months in remand prison during
which he unsuccessfully
tried, on several occasions, to be freed on
bail.
Businessman and farmer Cecil Muderede was finally granted bail in
October
last year after numerous abortive applications since his arrest in
March.
Kuruneri, represented by Mr George Chikumbirike of Chikumbirike
and
Associates, has made several unsuccessful bail applications.
He
engaged Mr Chikumbirike after the lawyer successfully applied for bail
for
Makamba and Muderede.
Kuruneri's hearing was postponed to allow the State
to be furnished with all
the documents by the defence in relation to the
case before it can respond
to the case.
Kuruneri has been charged
with externalising large sums of foreign currency.
He is accused of
externalising US$500 000, 37 000 British pounds and 30 000
euros between
2002 and April last year.
The Supreme Court last month granted Kuruneri
leave to appeal against the
High Court decision to deny him bail.
Poll Campaign Expenses Soar
The Herald (Harare)
February
16, 2005
Posted to the web February 16, 2005
Sifelani Tsiko And
Tandayi Motsi
Harare
AS the electorate has become increasingly
discerning and sophisticated, the
political campaign has now become a
contest to win the voters mind.
Gone are the days of political harangues
when all that the voter remembered
at the end of a rally is how the
candidates lips moved.
This development has seen campaign costs becoming
prohibitive with
advertising emerging as the greatest contributor to the
ever-escalating
costs, in the build-up to the watershed poll on March
31.
The enormous campaign expenses have become major headaches for
prospective
legislators who now have to dedicate most of their time towards
fund-raising
campaigns, if they are to cover expenses for campaign staff,
their food,
lodgings, stipends, fuel and vehicle maintenance costs as well
as campaign
materials, such as posters and T-shirts.
The cost of
advertising, which skyrocketed in the last five years, has
pushed the cost
of political campaigns beyond the reach of many.
A survey conducted by
The Herald recently indicates that it now costs
between $29 000 and $140 000
for one printed T-shirt depending on the
quality and type of
material.
Posters now cost between $6 000 and $10 000 depending on the
size and
quality as well.
On average, politicians say they need
between 200 to 2 000 T-shirts and
between 200 to 1 000 posters per
constituency.
Using the market rate of $35 000 for a T-shirt, an aspiring
candidate would
need $17,5 million for a batch of 500 T-shirts and up to $3
million for 500
posters, each costing $6 000.
Television and radio
costs are by far the most prohibitive.
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings
(ZBH) charges $5,4 million per minute and
up to $2,7 million for a 30-second
television advert.
A radio advert costs $2 million per minute and up to
$1 million for a
30-second commercial.
The print media is also
expensive, as a candidate has to fork out between
$10 million and $20
million for a full-page colour advertisement.
A black and white full-page
advertisement costs between $5 million and just
more than $10 million while
a half-page colour advertisement requires $5
million to $10
million.
If a political party were to advertise on television for a week,
10 times a
day for a 30-second advertisement, it would need a budget of up
to $189
million.
To air a 10 minute radio advertisement a day and for
a week, a political
party or candidate may have to cough up $140
million.
It is thus timely that, in line with the Political Parties
Finance Act of
2001, the Government disbursed a total of $6,5 billion to the
countrys two
major political parties this week.
From this amount, the
ruling Zanu-PF party received $3,380 billion and the
opposition MDC $3,120
billion.The disbursement was done according to the
number of votes each
party garnered in the last general election.
This windfall will enable
the two parties to oil their campaign machinery
for the March 31
plebiscite.
Zanu Ndonga, with only one seat in Parliament, does not
qualify for State
funding.
Officials from both Zanu-PF and MDC have
welcomed the disbursement of the
funds, as they said that although the money
is not enough it would, however,
assist them to implement various party
programmes.
Zanu-PF Secretary for Finance Cde David Karimanzira said that
the funds are
a welcome development.
"We need to develop our politics
and democracy so that the if political
parties need assistance they get it,
and most countries are doing that," he
said.
Cde Karimanzira said the
funds would not be used specifically for the partys
campaign for the
forthcoming election but that the ruling party would decide
on how to
utilise the funds for other programmes as well. He said Zanu-PF
had
initially set a target of $20 billion for last years youth, womens and
Fourth National congresses, as well for the current campaign period. The
figure has, however, been revised upwards to about $40 billion after
factoring in inflation.
"I am not in a position to say how much has
been raised as of now but I can
only say a substantial amount of money has
been raised and we are still fund
raising," Cde Karimanzira said.
MDC
treasurer Mr Fletcher Dulini-Ncube said the multi-billion-dollar funds
would
assist his party in its campaign programmes. He said the MDC is still
working out how much money it will need for this years campaign
programme.
"We are still working on the budget and a substantial amount
is needed
considering the rising inflation. We might as a party want to
assist those
candidates who dont have the financial resources by allocating
them about $2
million each," Mr Dulini-Ncube said.
In the 2000
parliamentary election, Zanu-PF won 52 percent of the vote while
MDC won 48
percent, which made the two parties eligible for State funding.
In an
interview with The Herald, University of Zimbabwe lecturer and
political
analyst Professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei said the disbursement of the
funds is a
noble idea since the countrys laws prohibit political parties
from receiving
foreign donations.
"This is one aspect under which political parties can
be funded as a way of
minimising support from outside," he
said.
Professor Dzinotyiwei said although it was a good idea for the two
main
political parties to be funded by the State, the parties should raise
their
own funds and not rely solely on the treasury.
"The two parties
should try hard to raise the funds on their own. Funds from
the treasury
should be channelled towards (economic) production and these
are some of the
issues which Parliament should review," said.
However, another UZ
political analyst, Mr Eldred Masunungure, said there was
nothing wrong with
credible political parties such as Zanu-PF and MDC
receiving funds to
support their programmes from the Government.
"Development should not be
viewed in a restrictive manner as you cannot talk
about economic development
without speaking about political development," he
said.
"In Western
Europe credible political parties are funded by the state and to
me this is
something to be celebrated and not condemned as this assists in
our
political development."
In March 2003, Zanu-PF and the MDC shared $250
million for the period June
2002 to June 2003.
Zanu-PF which received
52 percent of the votes cast in the June 2000
election, got $127,5 million
while MDC got $122,5 million after receiving 48
percent of the vote
cast.
Under the Political Parties Finance Act, a political party whose
candidate
gets at least five percent of the vote cast is entitled to the
same
proportion of the total money appropriated as the total number of votes
cast
for its candidates.
Prior to the 2000 general elections, Zanu-PF
got the whole $35 million as it
was the only party which met the criteria
for funding.
MDC is the first opposition party to benefit from State
funding.
In 2000, the two parties shared $65 million and $100 million in
2001.
"It takes money to pay your campaign staff, to meet their
day-to-day needs
and lodgings," says one aspiring candidate. "It takes money
to advertise, be
it T-shirts, caps, headscarves, party flags and stickers
and posters.
"It even takes more money to raise more money," one
candidate said as he
lamented the escalating costs of political campaigns.
Parties and candidates
are now being forced to weigh options as part of
cost-cutting measures.
Others believe the use of e-campaigns (a term
coined to describe web-based
communication programmes) can help politicians
to reach the section of the
electorate, which has access to computers
particularly in urban areas.
Some candidates are even considering using
cellphones to send text messages.
"Its still premature to talk of this,
but its a possibility," says an IT
expert with a leading Internet
provider.
Some aspiring candidates say that there is need for ZBH to
provide free air
time for political debate before elections to enable
candidates and parties
get their messages across to voters at reasonable
cost and to enable the
public to hear about the electoral issues so as to
decide on the best
candidate.
The escalating campaign costs are,
however, not peculiar to Zimbabwe alone,
for example the 1996 US election
cost about US$2,7 billion and this surged
to over US$4 billion in the 2004
presidential race which pitted John Kerry
against George Bush. Analysts say
this translates to about US$17 per US
citizen when broken down.
In
some Western countries, the law restricts labour unions, financial
institutions, corporations and other affluent individuals from funding
candidates and political parties.
Thus expensive campaigns should
never be used as grounds for deviating from
the law, since candidates in the
Western hemisphere which have more
expensive campaigns always respect the
laws of their countries.
Business Day
Mugabe deals new blow to attempts to ensure fair
poll
Dumisani Muleya and Rob Rose
IN a new setback to SA's
efforts to ensure fair elections in Zimbabwe,
President Robert Mugabe looks
set to shut out a top-level Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
pre-election assessment mission.
Sources in Harare said yesterday Mugabe
had already told the SADC team that
it would be welcome only as part of the
regional bloc's poll observer team.
The original idea was for the team to
visit Zimbabwe ahead of the elections
to assess whether electoral guidelines
adopted by SADC recently have been
implemented.
SA's government was
looking to the existence of the SADC mission to silence
criticism that it is
doing nothing to encourage Mugabe to allow a free and
fair election, and
that Mugabe's ruling Zanu (PF) is being allowed to run
riot over civil
freedoms ahead of the poll.
Ironically news of Mugabe's move came as
Foreign Minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma told a media briefing in Parliament
yesterday she was concerned
at delays by Mugabe's government in issuing
invitations to the team.
The invitation had been expected last week,
Dlamini-Zuma said, "but we are
still hoping it will materialise".
She
claimed, however, that Zimbabwe was taking steps to ensure free and fair
elections, and there were signs that campaigning had been less violent than
in previous years.
Dlamini-Zuma also gave a thinly veiled warning to
the ruling African
National Congress's (ANC's) alliance partner, the
Congress of South African
Trade Unions, over its threatened blockade of
Zimbabwe's borders.
She said that government would deal with a blockade
"according to the laws
of this country".
"I don't know if there is a
country which says that anyone can go and
blockade borders," she
said.
Her spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa was more blunt, saying that any
protest "that
disrupted economic activity would be a matter for the relevant
authorities".
Yesterday Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said the
federation was still
"thrashing out these issues" at its three-day central
executive committee
meeting, which ends today and it would outline its plans
on Zimbabwe
tomorrow.
The proposed blockade arose when a Cosatu
delegation led by its general
secretary Zwelinzima Vavi was deported from
Zimbabwe last month, reigniting
tensions in the alliance over Zimbabwe's
stance on free and fair elections.
Police director Sally de
Beer said Cosatu's planned blockade had been
discussed at the "higher
levels" of the force, and "we will ensure peace and
stability at the
borders".
"We are not going to get dragged into a political debate . but
we are
prepared for any eventuality," she said, while refusing to disclose
details
of these preparations.
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi said
that any blockade of Zimbabwe's
borders "would put the South African
government in an invidious position".
"Putting pressure on Mugabe's
government through a blockade is likely to
breach some provisions of the
law, so it depends how government and the
security forces handle a delicate
situation," he said. With Sapa-AP
Comment from ZWNEWS, 16 February
False sovereignty
There are only six weeks left before the crisis in Zimbabwe
lurches to new depths, and once again the regional and the wider world finds
themselves locked in dispute over whether Zanu PF has won a legitimate election.
Few doubt that Zanu PF will win this election. Zanu PF says it will win because
it has won the support of the people. Most other groups believe that Zanu PF
will win because the party and the government have done everything to ensure
that it will win. SADC and the rest of Africa are saying very little, presumably
because it is rude to comment on a process before it is over. The catch phrase
for the forthcoming election is rapidly becoming "damned if you do, and damned
if you don’t", and this is not merely applicable to the MDC. SADC - and any
other group that wishes to observe this election - are in much the same dilemma
as the MDC. Witness the difficulty that SADC is having in securing an invitation
to visit Zimbabwe. So far neither the members of the Defence and Security Organ,
nor a SADC legal team, have managed to get an invitation. And the Zimbabwe
government expels all unwanted guests, as Cosatu have found to their cost. Their
dilemma is simply this: if they criticize in advance they will not get invited,
having declared, by so criticizing, their affiliation with the running dogs of
Blairite imperialism. If they wait for an invitation, they will end up having to
judge the election on what they are allowed to see. Despite the findings of the
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the vast outpourings of
Zimbabwean and other bodies on rights violations, they will find it hard to
conclude that that part of the electoral process which is revealed to them is
not free and fair. They will have to report on what they actually observe, and,
since SADC and the AU have had little to say about the background to these
elections, they will not be able to use any background knowledge in reaching a
judgement.
Thus, SADC and the AU find themselves in a dilemma wholly of
their own making. They have denied bad governance, gross human rights
violations, and electoral irregularities in the past, and hence will be unable
to find these in the present. Once again Mugabe has manoeuvred Africa into a
battleground of his own choosing, but one in which SADC and the AU has been
complicit in allowing to develop. This dilemma hinges on Africa’s acceptance of
a trivial definition of sovereignty, and is built into the Constitutive Act of
the AU. War, coups, and genocide are now recognized as the basis for
disregarding sovereignty, and allowing intervention in the affairs of another
state. Not, however, the usurping of power through irregular elections. So SADC
and the AU can have nothing to say about Zimbabwe heading for another stolen
election, apart from pious exhortations to follow the new standards and
guidelines of the various African regional and continental bodies. As various
spokespersons for the Zimbabwe government have pointed out, these do not have
any legal force, and, hence, Zimbabwean sovereignty rules supreme. In Zimbabwe,
as in many African countries, the question of sovereignty centres on the
validity of elections: where the power of sovereignty lies in demonstrating that
the government has the support of the people through acceptance of the voting
process. This consensus is established in two ways. Firstly, it is shown by the
clear demonstration that the game was played in a fair manner, with no undue
preference for any participant. Secondly, it is shown by the engagement of the
citizenry, and by the demonstration that the party that wins has popular
endorsement. Here, the greater the involvement of citizens and the larger the
turnout, the more confidence we can have in the moral mandate of the winning
party to govern. The ANC governs with such a moral mandate through an accepted
electoral process and a huge majority of the vote.
Here is the dilemma for Zimbabwean political parties, Zanu PF
excepted. It is stated quite clearly in the MDC’s statement in which they
indicated their intention to participate. They note that the rules of the game
are still not fair:
More than ever the electoral playing field remains uneven and
unequal. Rule of law concerns have not been addressed. The media remains
muzzled. Free assembly is proscribed by the Public Order Security Act. The
recently appointed Electoral Commission is yet to prove its independence. The
shambolic voters’ roll continues to be the principal vehicle for electoral
fraud. The Constituency boundaries have been subjectively gerrymandered whilst
militias and militia bases continue to multiply. International observers
continue to be unwelcome.
They also note that the involvement of the citizenry is also
less than desirable:
The Council expressed concern over the violation of the
one-man, one-vote principle, through the continued disenfranchisement of
Zimbabweans because of their ancestry, place of residence and a deeply flawed
voter registration and management regime.
Hence, the MDC concludes that "a free and fair election is
not possible in Zimbabwe under the present conditions", but they will
nonetheless have to contest: damned if they do, and damned if they
don’t!
However, unlike the AU and SADC, the MDC have made it plain
that a position on a flawed outcome can be determined in advance of polling. As
they stated: We participate under protest. We participate without
prejudice.
This could not be better put. The end of participating is not
to validate an unfair outcome, but to show that the outcome is unfair. Such a
conclusion is not possible without participating. Only participation can show
the extent to which the rules of the game are fair. The MDC went further,
however, and stated clearly that it will not be bound by an unfair result: they
will participate without prejudice. Against the background of recent
elections, such a blanket statement is only sensible. In 2000 and 2002, the MDC
accepted the prejudice and went to the courts - all to no avail. Not one single
election petition was resolved in a manner that redeemed the prejudice suffered
by the MDC in those elections. So the MDC must clearly hold out other options if
prejudice is once again the outcome, but what could this be?
Actually, there can only be one sensible option this time
around, and that is to refuse to validate the election by taking up places in
the parliament. If you reject the process and the outcome, then you cannot then
participate in the charade that follows. The flawed elections in 2000 and 2002
were given partial validation by the continued participation of the MDC in the
phoney governance that followed. Although they attempted to mitigate against
validation through the numerous election petitions, the MDC presence in
parliament gave strength to the veneer of false sovereignty used by Zanu PF to
block all attempts to resolve the crisis. Quiet diplomacy never had a chance
while Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF could claim legitimacy through the active
participation of an opposition party in parliament. It is really very simple:
insist on seeing the conditions on the ground now, indicate clearly whether
these are satisfactory or not, and indicate that there will be costs for an
invalid result. The way is then open for a proper resolution to the Zimbabwe
crisis. If all accept the election, then well and good. If none accept the
election, then it is off to the negotiating table, to a transitional authority,
a new constitution, and finally valid elections. This is what Zimbabweans
actually want and what common sense dictates. The March election represents
either an opportunity or a cost. After all, this election is not about how
wonderful are the SADC Principles and Guidelines, or a test of the AU’s
new-found maturity. They are a test of whether Zimbabwe has consensus about its
governance and its moral right to join the community of nations
News24
Zim cops 'harass' journos
16/02/2005 11:38 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwean security police on Tuesday raided the
offices of four
Harare-based foreign journalists for the second day in a
row, and carried
out an lengthy search for evidence of what they said were
"illegal
activities".
The eight policemen and two government
officials examined documents
belonging to Jan Raath, who writes for the
Times of London and Deutsche
Presse-Agentur, Angus Shaw of Associated Press,
Brian Latham of Bloomberg
economic news and freelance photographer
Tsvangirai Mukwazhi, said Beatrice
Mtetwa, their lawyer.
They
produced no legal warrant authorising the search, and said they did not
need
one where an offence was suspected, she said. More than two hours they
left
and posted a guard on the door of the office in central Harare to stop
anyone from "interfering with the office, they said.
On Monday,
security officials questioned Raath, Shaw, Latham and Mukwazhi on
allegations of spying, working illegally as journalists and of using
unauthorised communications equipment.
Under draconian new media
laws, journalists are liable to sentence of up to
two years in jail for
working without a licence from the state-appointed
Media Commission. On
Monday night police came to raid Latham's Harare home,
but he was not
there.
Observers said the raid was an indication of a government
crackdown on the
small remnant of foreign correspondents all Zimbabwean
citizens left in
Harare ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for March
31.
Last week police were searching for freelance television journalist
Cornelius Nduna who they claimed was in possession of "sensitive videotapes
and resuscitated three-year-old charges of "publishing falsehoods against
veteran local columnist Pius Wakatama. - dpa
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
New farmer accused of stealing 145
beasts
Court Reporter
issue date :2005-Feb-16
A NEW farmer on
Dunburry Park Farm in Marlborough, Harare, who allegedly
stole 145 beasts
worth $145 million during the bloody 2000 farm occupations
was Monday hauled
before a Harare magistrate on stock theft charges.
According to court papers,
the owner of the farm who was thrown off the
property was Thomas Bayley
(sic)
Dzingai Nevhunjere (46) was granted $5 million bail by provincial
magistrate
Cremmah Chipere and ordered to reside at the farm until the
matter is
finalised.
Granting bail, Chipere ruled: "The offence committed
is of a serious nature
and extremely prevalent. As submitted by the State,
it is true that the
seriousness and the likely sentence upon conviction may
heighten the desire
to flee, but the presumption of innocence has rested in
your favour. You are
ordered to remain in the confines of Dunburry Park Farm
until
the finalisation of the case, serve for the purpose of remand at the
Harare
Magistrates' Courts," Chipere said.
Although the trial date has
been set for May 4, Nevhunjere is expected to
reappear in court on March 1
for routine remand hearing.
Allegations are that on April 13 2000, Bayley
drove his friend's domestic
worker to town and upon return Nhevunjere and a
gang of youths denied him
entry onto the farm.
Poles and drums were
allegedly used to barricade his way.
Bayley then left 970 cattle and 210
calves at the property.
Nhevunjere allegedly took charge of the cattle and
barred Bayley from ever
setting foot on the farm again.
On April 5 and 7
2002, the accused allegedly moved 20 of the beasts to his
Omeath Farm in
Mvurwi.
Thirteen beasts and three calves were recovered from Omeath in
November 2003
after Bayley positively identified them.
On several
occasions, some of the loot was allegedly slaughtered for
consumption and
the number of cattle stolen was said to be 145.
In July 2002, Bayley
was
finally allowed onto his farm and he collected 835 cattle and 210
calves.
Last Friday, police from the Anti-Stock Theft Unit visited the farm
and
recovered four beasts and two calves belonging to Bayley from Nhevunjere
following a tip off.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Zanu PF to use bicycles in campaign
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Feb-16
THE ruling Zanu PF will
use bicycles in its door-to-door parliamentary
election campaign; The Daily
Mirror has been told.
Speaking after receiving 2 500 bicycles valued at $1,5
billion from Jayesh
Shah, the managing director of Gift Investments, David
Karimanzira, the
ruling party's secretary for finance said Zanu PF's
door-to-door campaign
strategy is with a difference.
"Voting is going to
take place in one day and polling stations have been
increased to within
walking distance from people's households. Because we
have adopted the
door-to-door campaign the bicycles are going to be useful
to reaching out to
people in various areas," Karimanzira, the governor for
Mashonaland east,
said.
He added that they were emphasising on the use of bicycles because they
were
cheaper and could be shared.
Zanu PF started the door-to-door
political campaigns in 1990, amid
allegations that the exercise was
intimidatory.
In the run up to the watershed 2000 parliamentary election, the
National
Alliance for Good Governance (NAGG) which does not register a
tremor of the
political Richter scale, adopted the same strategy, but was
widely ridiculed
in various quarters.
This year, the opposition MDC
took a cue from the ruling party and also
embarked on a door-to-door
campaign in urban areas.
Karimanzira declined to reveal Zanu PF's
parliamentary election budget,
saying fundraising was a continuous
process.
"We have been raising funds since the youth, women's and the
people's
congress and up to now we are still receiving donations. It would
not be
proper to set targets because we want to receive donations from as
many
people as possible," said Karimanzira.
The ruling party last year
posted a $15,5 billion loss because of
difficulties and constraints it faced
in mobilising funds and resources in
the past years.
There were also
allegations that some individuals siphoned funds from
companies in which the
party has shares.
In his financial report to Zanu
PF's fourth national
people's congress last December, Karimanzira attributed
the deficit to the
increase in the party's needs
saying the situation was worsened by failure by
party related companies
including Mike Appel (12,5 percent), Tregers
Holdings (31,22 percent),
Catercraft (50 percent), Zidlee (27,50 percent)
and First Banking
Corporation
Holdings (28 percent), to contribute to
the party's coffers.
Zanu PF has interests in the companies through its
wholly owned investment
vehicle, M&S Syndicate.
Three directors of
M&S Syndicate fled the country soon after the
commencement of
a
probe launched by the party on allegations of corruption, while 13 others
at
Tregers
Holdings were arrested on charges of externalising foreign currency
and
illegally dealing in foreign currency.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Maya to stand for MDC in Mhondoro
The Daily
Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Feb-16
FORMER National Alliance For
Good Governance (NAGG) president Shakespeare
Maya, who crossed the floor to
the MDC mid-last year, has won the ticket to
stand for the opposition in
Mhondoro in the March 31 general elections.
Maya, one-time Zanu PF
apologist
who quit the ruling party over policy differences to form NAGG
before a
surprise switch to the MDC, is expected to meet his biggest
challenge from
Cottco boss, Sylvester Nguni.
Nguni is standing in for
Zanu PF.
But until the last weekend's development, the nomadic politician's
position
in the MDC had been shrouded in mystery.
Maya, triumphed in
Mhondoro after convincingly walloping rivals in
intra-party polls there on
Sunday.
In an interview with The Daily Mirror on Tuesday, Maya said the MDC
leadership gave him the green light to participate in the Mhondoro primary
election even though the MDC constitution hindered him.
The opposition
reportedly wavered its statutes to enable Maya to stand.
"The party
leadership approved that I stand in Mhondoro, an election I won
the support
of all the 12 wards as the
other six contestants garnered nothing," he
said.
On the selection of candidates for national and local government
elections,
the MDC constitution among other prerequisites, clearly spells
that: "a
member shall be of good standing if he or she - is a fully paid up
member of
the MDC and with the exception of the first election, has been a
member for
at least two years."
Maya explained yesterday that he had
applied for the right to participate in
the intra-party polls, and the "MDC
opened up the political space which I
welcomed, in Mhondoro."
Going down
memory lane, Maya
said while he left Zanu PF in 2000 after he was denied the
right to stand
against deputy Speaker of Parliament, Edna
Madzongwe for
the same seat, he ditched NAGG after realising it was
impossible to dislodge
President Robert Mugabe's 24 year old government with
any other
political
force other than through the MDC.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Moyo keeps Zanu PF guessing . .
Brian
Mangwende Assistant Editor
issue date :2005-Feb-17
Moyo keeps Zanu PF
guessing . . .
Will he go solo?
SPECULATION was rife
in the capital this week that beleaguered Information
Minister Jonathan Moyo
would tomorrow drop a bombshell and forward his name
for nomination as an
independent candidate for Tsholotsho in next month's
parliamentary
polls.
President Robert Mugabe has proclaimed March 31 2005 as the date for
the
general elections and February 18 2005 as the nomination day when all
contesting candidates should file their nomination papers for the showdown,
which mainly pits Zanu PF with its archrival, the MDC.
Observers have
perceived some of his vitriolic utterances targeted at the
leadership to
mean that if denied the chance to stand on a Zanu PF ticket,
he would try to
pull the rug from underneath the ruling party's feet and
stand as an
independent.
However, they warned that he should be prepared to face the
music if he
decides to go it alone.
The junior minister was ostracised by
some of his colleagues in Zanu PF
after he allegedly convened a meeting in
Tsholotsho meant to scuttle the
ascendancy of Joyce Mujuru to the presidium
in favour of strange bedfellow,
Parliamentary Speaker Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
The alleged plot was also reportedly meant to see shuffling of the
ruling
party's presidium as follows; Mnangagwa (co-vice president), Tenjiwe
Lesabe
(co-vice president), Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa (national
chairman)
and Moyo as the incoming secretary for administration.
The move
angered the party's top leadership, especially President Robert
Mugabe,
resulting in the expulsion of six provincial chairpersons, before
the
Tsholotsho seat was reserved for women - a move Moyo did not take
lightly.
He subsequently appealed, but drew a blank.
Following his
sacking from the ruling party's politburo and failure to get
into the
central committee, Moyo has made frequent utterances in the media
to the
effect that he will fight tooth and nail to represent the people of
Tsholotsho.
Moyo, who reportedly poured millions of dollars worth of
developmental
projects in Tsholotsho, claims that he has a right to reap the
fruits of his
sweat and has clearly hinted that no one, including Zanu PF,
can stop him
from representing the constituency in Parliament.
In a
statement seen as an attempt to whip up the emotions of the people in
the
Matabeleland region and published in a local weekly, Moyo said: "It
would be
a betrayal of the people of Tsholotsho and the people of the region
and our
nation if I discontinue the work. If anything, now is the time to do
more
and better of the same. What is going on is not discouraging me. It is
inspiring me. It tells me that there is a lot of hard work to do under very
difficult circumstances. I will definitely not be stunned and just stand
with my hands folded and watch. I take it as a challenge."
In an outburst
against the party hierarchy, particularly national chairman
John Nkomo and
Dumiso Dabengwa, Moyo was quoted in The Herald's publication
of January 14
2005 saying: "I wish to respectfully remind them that Zanu PF
is larger than
any one or two individuals and any attempts to personalise
the party are
ultimately bound to fail. In any event, Cdes Nkomo and
Dabengwa should know
that there is no one ticket to heaven; there are many
such tickets and
that's why there are many religions and all with tickets to
heaven."
Contacted for comment on the possibility of the President's
spin-doctor, who
has made more enemies than friends during his flirtation
with the ruling
party, standing as an independent candidate, Zanu PF's
secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa said Moyo would have
automatically expelled
himself.
"According to our primary election rules,
if you stand as an independent
then you have automatically expelled yourself
from the party. My hope is
that he will not do that. These are not the last
elections in the country.
My personal plea is that he should not do that. He
should listen to his
elders if he respects them. He should not jump from one
position to another
as if he does not have any principles. If he does that
he must do it under
serious consideration."
National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) chairperson Lovemore Madhuku - whose
organisation has been
vigorously fighting for a new constitution ahead of
the March polls - said
Moyo could only stand as an independent with the
blessing of President
Mugabe.
"If he were to stand as an independent it would be because he will
have
President Mugabe's backing," Madhuku said.
He questioned why
President Mugabe had up to now not fired the architect of
the
constitutionally challenged Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy
Act (AIPPA) following the Tsholotsho debacle.
"If it so happens that Moyo
stands as an independent, you can be assured
that in future he will be
welcomed back into Zanu PF under the pretext of
forgiveness. Moyo is not a
fool. He knows there is no life in being an
independent candidate," Madhuku
added.
Efforts to get a comment from Moyo proved fruitless last night as his
mobile phone went unanswered.
According to a local weekly, about three
weeks ago, Moyo snubbed
celebrations in Matabeleland North to mark the
appointment of Joyce Mujuru
as the country's first female vice president,
and instead met four
traditional leaders in Tsholotsho whom he send to
apologise on his behalf to
Vice President Joseph Msika on damning letters he
wrote to national chairman
John Nkomo and politburo member Dumiso
Dabengwa.
The chiefs reportedly begged Msika to allow Moyo to stand in
Tsholotsho.
However, sources said, Moyo has not withdrawn litigation against
Dabengwa
and Nkomo over the Tsholotsho issue.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Minister accused of victimising rival
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Feb-17
THE MINISTER of State
for State Enterprises and Parastatals, Rugare Gumbo is
allegedly exerting
pressure on the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to fire its
Midlands regional
manager Goodwill Shiri for daring to stand against him in
the recent
Mberengwa East Zanu PF primary elections, The Daily Mirror has
been
told.
Sources at GMB said Gumbo had instructed the parastatal to fire Shiri
on
allegations of politicising food distribution in the constituency during
the
run-up to the primary polls.
The sources said Shiri was summoned to
Harare by GMB acting chief executive
officer Samuel Muvuti on February 7,
2005 and instructed to campaign for
Gumbo for the March 31 parliamentary
election, a directive he reportedly
disobeyed.
Last Monday, Shiri
reportedly received a call from GMB operations manager
identified only as
Dzawo and was asked to resign or risk being fired.
On Tuesday, Shiri
confirmed that he was asked to resign.
"I received a phone call on Monday
from head office to the effect that GMB
was under pressure from Minister
Gumbo to fire me. I was asked to resign,
but I told them that I will not do
that," Shiri said. "I will rather be
fired than resign."
He said his only
offence was to challenge Gumbo in the primary polls.
GMB's Gweru depot
manager, Patrick Kotera who hails from Mberengwa East and
reportedly backed
Shiri would be transferred to Mashonaland West at the
instigation of the
Minister, the sources said.
In an interview, Kotera confirmed the
development, but declined to give
details.
"I am not authorised to
comment, the CEO is the only person who is allowed,
so talk to him. I am
such a small boy that I cannot comment," he said.
GMB's acting chief
executive officer, Samuel Muvuti, on Tuesday denied Shiri's
claims, which he
said "showed disrespect for one's seniors."
He added that Shiri has not yet
appeared before a disciplinary committee,
but declined to say when he
would.
Muvuti added that they had not received any directive from Gumbo and
refused
to discuss the matter further arguing that not everything was for
the press.
Gumbo also dismissed Shiri's claims, but added that the fact that
he stood
against Shiri does not make the latter immune to charges of
politicising
grain distribution.
The Minister said " drastic action" must
be taken against Shiri and any
other person who abused government
property.
"In Mberengwa it is there in black and white that he (Shiri)
committed a
crime, so should I ignore it because I fought him in the
primaries? Not only
Shiri, but anyone else who abuses government property
must be punished,
because we cannot accept that kind of corruption," said
Gumbo.
The Minister added that Shiri continued abusing the grain "up to last
Sunday."
In the primary election, Shiri gave Gumbo a run for his money
and at one
time was declared the winner.
But his dream crumbled after the
Minister appealed against his opponent's
victory. The Minister later won the
primaries.
After the primary election, the GMB sent an investigation team to
Mberengwa,
which concluded that he had a case to answer from allegations
that he had
abused the institution's grain and vehicles to win votes, and
had to face
disciplinary action.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
MDC enters rural areas with ease: Ncube
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Feb-17
THE opposition MDC has
courted traditional chiefs in its bid to break the
ruling Zanu PF's
stranglehold in rural areas.
A highly placed source within
MDC's national
executive told The Daily Mirror that the opposition party had
since
approached some chiefs in Guruve, Masvingo, Chinhoyi, Mhondoro and in
other
parts of Mashonaland East Province soliciting their support ahead of
the
March 31 parliamentary polls.
They reportedly received a warm welcome.
"We
received a warm welcome in all areas we went to seek assistance and they
promised to assist us because all that the people need now is change. We
have not yet encountered any problems in doing our job unlike in 2000 when
most areas were declared no go areas for the opposition," the source said
without revealing the identities of the chiefs they had met so far.
The
source added: "The war veterans have opened up for us to do our
exercise."
MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube said the exercise was not
targeting
chiefs only, but everyone in rural communities including teachers
and
ex-freedom fighters.
"The exercise is targeting everyone in the rural
areas including chiefs,
teachers and war veterans. It is not specifically
for chiefs as being done
by the ruling party, but for everyone. We have not
yet come across any
problems in our campaigning in the rural areas," Ncube
said.
Zanu PF has been accused of manipulating traditional leaders to win
votes in
the rural areas and the government has introduced a number of perks
including vehicles that the chiefs buy at subsidised prices.
The Minister
of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ignatius
Chombo said
he was unaware that the opposition was approaching chiefs for
assistance.
He said he would find out if the reports were true.
"I
don't know that but what I know is chiefs were given powers by the
government and soon the Traditional Chiefs Act would be amended to establish
chiefs' provincial and national courts of appeal to hear appeals by
litigants," Chombo said.
The President of the Chiefs'
Council of
Zimbabwe, Jonathan Mangwende, declared that chiefs will not
campaign for any
political party and urged parties to campaign on their own.
"We won't
tolerate any chief campaigning
for the opposition party (or any other party).
If there are some of the
chiefs who are doing so I am not aware of that,"
Mangwende said.
Sometime last year Mangwende showed
his allegiance to the
ruling party urging President Mugabe to stay on until
the Head of State
decides to leave office and not be perturbed by any
external forces bent on
effecting regime change in the country.
"We did a splendid job of campaigning
for you during the Presidential
election and my colleagues are disturbed by
rumours that you want to retire.
We want you to stay," Mangwende said
then.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Mawere takes govt to court
Masimba
Rushwaya
issue date :2005-Feb-17
GOVERNMENT targeted businessman,
Mutumwa Mawere has dragged the State
appointed administrator of SMM Holdings
Afaras Gwaradzimba and three others
to court over the administrator's public
declaration last week that all
companies that were technically linked to
Mawere would be placed under his
control.
In case number 777/2005 filed
in the in the High Court of Zimbabwe on
February 14 2005, Mawere as director
of SMM Holdings (SMMH) and THZ Holdings
cites Gwaradzimba, AMG Global
Nominees, the Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs and the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as respondents.
In his affidavit, Mawere claims that
although the Minister of Justice placed
SMM under reconstruction on
September 6, 2004 in terms of a reconstruction
order that appeared in a
Government gazette sanctioned by the regulations
published on September 3
2004, being the Presidential Powers (Temporary
Measures) Reconstruction of
State-Indebted Insolvent Companies) Regulations
2004, SI 187 of 2004, "no
opportunity was given to SMM or its shareholders
to make representations as
contemplated by section 41 of the regulations.
He further adds that in terms
of section 20 of the regulations, Gwaradzimba
was required to produce a
scheme of reconstruction within two months.
"The board of SMM was dismissed
by the first respondent (Gwaradzimba) on
September 6 2004. There was no
meeting with the board neither has any
proposed scheme of reconstruction
been produced. In addition, SMM was not a
debtor of the government of
Zimbabwe as stated.
The RBZ has lent through banks more than $1.5 trillion
to the productive
sector as part of the monetary measures to support
exporters like SMM and
yet the reconstruction has only been targeted at
companies alleged to be
linked to me.
The government is not in the
business of lending money to companies but
following the implementation of
the monetary measures, there has been a
concerted effort to cripple the
company by the government with a view to
taking it over," Mawere
claimed.
He adds that an Advocate, Matane Mphahlele was appointed by the
chairman of
Southern Asbestos Sales (SAS), a Mr P Mariemuthu to resolve the
case where
the buying agreement between SAS and SMM was cancelled by the
Minerals
Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ).
Mphahlele came to
Zimbabwe twice in August 2004 and met with MMCZ, SMM and
the government
ministers Herbert Murerwa, July Moyo, Amos Midzi and Patrick
Chinamasa."However he (Mphahlele) informed me that he was advised by Onesimo
Moyo, the general manager of MMCZ that the decision to specify and
subsequently take over SMM was political and there was no merit in his
continued involvement."
"The third respondent (Chinamasa) has made it
clear in public statements,
reported in the media of Zimbabwe, that he and
the government of Zimbabwe
are determined to obtain control of SMM, and in
that regard I attach two
newspaper articles setting out the publicly stated
views of the third
respondent.
I contend that the third respondent was
motivated by a desire to expropriate
my beneficial ownership in all assets
deemed to be controlled by me, without
having to acquire those assets
lawfully, and without paying compensation in
respect of them," Mawere
said.
The businessman goes on to add that he was of the opinion that
Gwaradzimba
was not truly representing himself as a government appointed
administrator
in terms of the reconstruction order but was using AMG Global
Nominees
(where he is the beneficial owner) "to purchase the shareholding in
the
applicants (SMM and THZ), or whether he is on a frolic of his own
outside
his mandate as administrator.
I contend that the first and
second applicants are entitled to know the
true identity of the principal or
principals for whom the second respondent
acts as a nominee. I verily
believe that such principal is the government of
Zimbabwe, but I cannot
confirm that from the evidence made available to me."
To buttress his point,
reference is made to a witness statement dated
January 18, 2005 submitted in
the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division
in England. The statement
relates to an application made by AMG to force the
applicants to recognise
them as the holder of all the shares in the place of
Africa Resources
Limited.
"It will be seen from the witness statement that Gwaradzimba makes
no
mention whatsoever of the fact that he is the government appointed
administrator of SMM. This critical fact has been withheld from the
courts in England because clearly the first respondent does not wish to
disclose the connection between himself and the government of Zimbabwe and
the attempts by the government to use all resources available to it to in
effect nationalise the two asbestos mines, without paying
compensation."Mawere
further questions why, if according to documents
prepared by Gwaradzimba,
some of which are filed in case number HC
12064/2004, he through AMG, would
want to invest in SMM if it was
"hopelessly insolvent."
He charged that the administrator was using funds of
SMM, as evident in the
purchase of 37 percent of shares in CFI Holdings from
ZimRe Holdings by SMM,
to purchase assets rather than the creditors of
SMM."It is apparent that
from the witness statement, annexure A15 that the
second respondent (AMG)
has paid a sum of US$2 million for the purchase of
shares which are worth in
excess of US$300 million. I have been unable to
find any facts to show that
second respondent is able to source foreign
currency outside Zimbabwe
without breaching Exchange Control
Regulations."
He added that it was clear that AMG could only purchase shares
from SMM and
THZ with the approval of an Exchange Control authority in terms
of section
15 of the Exchange Control regulations 1996.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Showdown looms in Mutare
From Our
Correspondent in Mutare
issue date :2005-Feb-17
A SHOWDOWN is looming
between the Manicaland Provincial Administrator (PA)
Fungai Mbetsa and the
Mutare City Council after the PA directed the
municipality not to effect
proposed tariffs for January until the parent
ministry approves the levies.
Mbetsa confirmed ordering the local authority
not to increase tariffs until
proper channels have been observed. "We had
given them the directive. It was
more of advice and warning for them to
observe the proper channels," the PA
said. "The proposed tariff hike was
illegal in that Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo has not yet
approved their budget for this year.
Furthermore, the local authority was
defying the same minister's freezing of
all tariff hikes in the city till
April this year." The cash-strapped
MDC-led council had hiked rates by 105
percent for high-density suburbs and
112 percent for low density suburbs
effective January citing operational and
viability problems. Mbetsa said
even if Chombo had not frozen tariff hikes,
increasing rates for low density
suburbs by 105 percent was still in
defiance of statutory instrument 68/2004
directing local authorities not to
increase rates for high density areas by
more than 75 percent. Mutare
executive mayor Misheck Kagurabadza could
neither confirm nor deny his
council was indeed deadlocked with the PA's
office. He asked this newspaper
to forward questions in writing first and
promised to phone back. But by the
time of going to print last night, he had
not responded. However, impeccable
sources in council confirmed receipt of
the PA's written directive discussed
in a meeting last Monday and resolved
to defy it "on grounds that they had
no other means of raising funds apart
from hiking rates." "There is no way
we can adopt the PA's directive. We
need money to function and it would be
illogical for the PA to give such a
directive and at the same time expect
sound service deliverance from us,"
complained a councillor who requested
anonymity. Mutare Residents and Rate
Payers Association chairman Jeoff White
has accused the PA of trying to
create an unworkable situation for the
Mutare City Council. Recently, Mbetsa
recommended to the secretary for Local
Government Public Works and National
Housing, David Munyoro, to appoint an
independent team to carry out an
administrative systems audit at the local
authority.
Mbetsa confirmed ordering the local authority not to increase
tariffs until
proper channels have been observed.
"We had given them the
directive. It was more of advice and warning for them
to observe the proper
channels," the PA said.
"The proposed tariff hike was illegal in that Local
Government Minister
Ignatius Chombo has not yet approved their budget for
this year.
Furthermore, the local authority was defying the same minister's
freezing of
all tariff hikes in the city till April this year."
The
cash-strapped MDC-led council had hiked rates by 105 percent for
high-density suburbs and 112 percent for low density suburbs effective
January citing operational and viability problems.
Mbetsa said even if
Chombo had not frozen tariff hikes, increasing rates for
low density suburbs
by 105 percent was still in defiance of statutory
instrument 68/2004
directing local authorities not to increase rates for
high density areas by
more than 75 percent.
Mutare executive mayor Misheck Kagurabadza could
neither confirm nor deny
his council was indeed deadlocked with the PA's
office. He asked this
newspaper to forward questions in writing first and
promised to phone back.
But by the time of going to print last night, he had
not responded.
However, impeccable sources in council confirmed receipt of
the PA's written
directive discussed in a meeting last Monday and resolved
to defy it "on
grounds that they had no other means of raising funds apart
from hiking
rates."
"There is no way we can adopt the PA's directive. We
need money to function
and it would be illogical for the PA to give such a
directive and at the
same time expect sound service deliverance from us,"
complained a councillor
who requested anonymity.
Mutare Residents and
Rate Payers Association chairman Jeoff White has
accused the PA of trying to
create an unworkable situation for the Mutare
City Council.
Recently,
Mbetsa recommended to the secretary for Local Government Public
Works and
National Housing, David Munyoro, to appoint an independent team to
carry out
an administrative systems audit at the local authority.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Ministry faces critical shortage of
engineers
From Our Correspondent in Bulawayo
issue date
:2005-Feb-17
THE Ministry of Mines and Mining Development is facing a
critical shortage
of engineers, which has led to environmental degradation
in areas where gold
panning is rampant.
Tinaye Chigudu, the ministry's
permanent secretary, said the shortage of
qualified mining personnel was
making it impossible to monitor and
disseminate anti-environmental
degradation campaign to gold panners.
Scores of gold panners widely known as
amakorokoza have besieged towns such
as Kwekwe, Shurugwi, Bindura and
Zvishavane in search of the precious stone.
The panners have, however, left a
trail of environment degradation.
"We know that panners are not practising
environmental precautions because
currently the ministry does not have
enough manpower to train these people
on environment friendly panning.
Government is, however, trying to address
the situation," said Chigudu.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Stand-off over suspended councillors cripples
Chegutu
The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Feb-17
THE
issue of the 11 suspended Chegutu Town councillors remains unresolved
eight
months down the line, a situation that has impacted negatively on the
development of the small farming town.
The standoff has resulted in the
municipality failing to hold a full council
meeting since June last
year.
The 11 councillors, all from Zanu PF, were suspended last June to pave
way
for police investigations after a government-appointed audit team
branded
Chegutu town "a hunting ground for thieves."
The audit team
unearthed rampant corruption in council involving the alleged
siphoning of
$150 million from council's drying coffers.
In an interview with The Daily
Mirror yesterday, Chegutu MDC executive mayor
Francis Dhlakama, said it
would be in the interest of residents if the
municipality had
councillors.
"At the moment there is only the Town Clerk and me. I am looking
forward
that in his wisdom the minister (Local government, public works and
national
housing Ignatius Chombo) would do the right thing so that people
may make
their input through the councillors," he said.
Yesterday,
Chegutu legislator, Webster Shamu who is also the Minister of
State for
Policy implementation in the President's Office, said the
councillors' saga
was "a process," and expressed hope for a quick solution
to the
stalemate.
"We support the minister, and we do not condone corruption. We
hope the
matter will be taken to its logical conclusion and we want to see
justice
done," said Shamu.
Yesterday, Chombo could not be reached for
comment and the ministry's
permanent secretary David Munyoro asked for "a
face-to-face interview" which
this newspaper granted
immediately.
However, when this reporter went to interview Munyoro the same
day,
surprisingly he was barred from seeing the civil servant who is
answerable
to the public.
ZANU-PF out wooing women
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the
views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 16 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - A decision
by Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party
to field 30 female candidates in the
March 2005 parliamentary elections has
had mixed reactions.
ZANU-PF's
female members have been asking for the quota since 1999, but
complying with
the request six weeks before the elections on 31 March would
suggest that
the party is using it to attract votes - now that the rhetoric
on land
reform has all but worn out.
Despite the participation of 16 MDC female
candidates, the party is unlikely
to match ZANU-PF's 30 percent of female
representatives. Women will oppose
each other in at least five
constituencies, and both parties are fielding
women in traditionally 'no-win
areas': ZANU-PF in 10 urban constituencies,
and the urban-based MDC in nine
rural constituencies.
In the 2000 elections, 55 women stood - over 40
from the ZANU-PF and 12 from
the MDC - but only a total of 16 made it into
parliament, three of them
nominated by President Robert Mugabe.
The
largest number of women representatives has been 22 in the 1995-2000
parliament, but since women constitute 51 percent of the population, "it is
good strategy to woo them with the quota," Professor Eliphus Mukonoweshuro,
a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, told
IRIN.
The 30 percent quota promised to women has not been fully
implemented - the
ruling party would need to field 40 female candidates for
the 120 contested
seats.
Thirty-six seats were designated for women
in the ZANU-PF primaries: some
were elected unopposed, while others replaced
male candidates sidelined for
allegedly attempting to derail Joyce Mujuru's
elevation to the
vice-presidency; other seats, initially designated for
women, were instead
declared open, and many women lost to male candidates.
Demonstrations
against the alleged impositions followed, and thirty women's
seats emerged
from the exercise.
Deputy Speaker of parliament and
ZANU-PF member Edna Madzongwe said the 30
seats would not be permanently
reserved for women, but that each "primary
election would have its own
designated ones [seats] - what is permanent is
the 30 percent
requirement".
Dr Lovemore Madhuku, law lecturer at the University of
Zimbabwe and chairman
of the National Constitutional Assembly, a coalition
of civic organisations,
claimed that ZANU-PF "had no gender policy", save
the belief that women were
"gullible and easily
manipulated".
According to Mukonoweshuro, if ZANU-PF genuinely wanted
more women in
parliament it would ensure a bottom-up approach in
implementing their gender
policy. "If you start from the level of parliament
and there are no organic
roots extending downwards, it will collapse," he
told IRIN.
Nomutandazo Jones, acting director of the Zimbabwean Women
Resource Centre
and Network (ZWRCN), commented, "We need to start from the
grassroots and
include chiefs, who are the custodians at that level - we
can't talk of
parliament when the grassroots are afraid to stand
up."
The ZANU-PF candidate for the Gutu North constituency in Masvingo
province
and an MP since 1985, Shuvai Mahofa, said she would lobby for "a
law for 50
percent female representation, starting with urban and rural
councils, and
finally parliament", instead of each party doing as it felt.
She also
intended seeking a 30 percent chairmanship of portfolio committees,
with
similar reforms in government.
Neither party has made any
significant attempts to increase the
effectiveness of their female
representation. Tsitsi Matekaire of the Women
in Parliament Support Unit
(WIPSU) said, "Last year we went through some
Hansards [records of
parliamentary proceedings], to find out what women were
saying, how often
they were speaking and when, so we could help where there
was a need - we
found some were not participating."
WIPSU is trying to capacitate women
in terms of research material and
confidence building to help them push the
female agenda more effectively.
But the women's success also depends on
their respective parties' agendas.
"ZANU-PF women had been pushing for a
quota system since 1999 - suddenly,
they have it, but the Domestic Violence
Bill is still pending four years
later," Matekaire told IRIN.
ZWRCN
holds regular economic literacy programmes with female MPs on the
budget and
its impact on women, but little of this effort has been reflected
in
parliamentary debates or in the portfolio committees, where the women
oversee the functions and finances of ministries and help implement
recommendations from civil society.
In four years of engagement with
the women, Jones said, there had been only
one real success: calling for an
audit of the AIDS levy.
Mukonoweshuro said women pushed into parliament
by party machinery were
unlikely to perform in their individual
capacities.
"If you can't read and understand a draft legislative bill,
you don't belong
in parliament. You should remain at the grassroots, and
ensure that a
suitable candidate can take up your struggle," he told IRIN.
"To be able to
call in the head of mines, in the context of a portfolio
committee, you need
to understand how the industry functions. If you are a
maker of clay pots,
how do you grasp the highly empirical knowledge required
in parliament?"
He said political parties should seek professional women
as candidates, and
be willing not to view such women as a threat. Looking
for suitable
candidates should also be ongoing. "We need to build capacity
from one
election to another, so that there are always well-groomed women to
take up
the challenges."
ZANU-PF MP Mahofa, who is also deputy
minister in the gender ministry, said
since independence in 1980, women had
helped to pass worthwhile laws, such
as the Age of Majority Act and the
legislation allowing customary law wives
to inherit property.
The
women's caucus, a product of the last parliament, consisting of ZANU-PF
and
MDC female parliamentarians, had lobbied for the Sexual Offences Act
with
its stiff penalties for rape. For the first time, in any parliament, a
woman
had headed a portfolio committee - the powerful public accounts group,
which
oversees matters of government finance and helps to identify problems
in
parastatals.
MP Pushes for Answers On Costly State-Run Papers
The Namibian
(Windhoek)
February 16, 2005
Posted to the web February 16,
2005
Lindsay Dentlinger
Windhoek
THE operations of the
Government daily newspaper, New Era, and its
partnership with Zimbabwean
newspaper group Zimpapers, have become a topic
of discussion in the National
Assembly.
Shortly after the special session resumed yesterday, DTA MP
Johan de Waal
fired a barrage of questions at Information and Broadcasting
Minister
Nangolo Mbumba, questioning the treatment of New Era journalists,
the
daily's expenditure and its investment in the partnership of the weekly
newspaper, Southern Times.
De Waal claimed that New Era journalists
had not been paid overtime since
the newspaper went daily in August, saying
that New Era journalists have
been contributing to The Southern Times
without additional remuneration.
De Waal further wanted to know how New
Era could afford to sponsor a soccer
tournament to the tune of N$300 000,
while there was allegedly no money to
pay overtime to its
staff.
Mbumba was also asked whether the company Adforce Advertising,
contracted by
New Era and the Southern Times to conduct strategic workshops,
had obtained
the contract through proper tender procedures.
Without
revealing the shareholding of the company, De Waal asked the
Minister
whether he knew its composition and whether he did not deem this to
be a
serious conflict of interest.
He also sought an assurance from the
Minister that New Era staff were not
using their credit cards for travelling
expenses, while at the same time
pocketing per diems.
De Waal then
turned his focus to the New Era-Zimpapers partnership.
He asked how much
Government had invested to date in the production of the
Southern Times,
which was first published and distributed in the region in
September.
Conversely, he also questioned how much Zimpapers had
pumped into the
venture.
Mbumba is also expected to provide feedback
on how many copies of the
Southern Times are sold per edition, as well as
the current monthly
advertising income of the publication.
Mbumba was
asked to reply to the questions by next Thursday.
Reuters
Zimbabwe forex auctions struggle to meet
demand
Wed February 16, 2005 5:18 PM GMT+02:00
By
MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Import demand at Zimbabwe's
foreign currency
auctions is exceeding supply, raising fears of the return
of a parallel
market, analysts said on Wednesday.
The Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe last year introduced weekly auctions as
part of reforms by
President Robert Mugabe's government aimed at reviving an
economy hit by
acute shortages of hard currency which strangled fuel and
electricity
imports.
The central bank says the auctions have largely
extinguished a
thriving black market for foreign currency, but analysts say
strains are
already showing, with demand surging more than 200 times since
introduction
in January 2004 while inflows have only doubled.
On Monday importers put bids for $101 million but only $11 million was
alloted. When the thrice-weekly auctions begain, bids were around $478,000
while the amount on offer amounted to $5 million.
"The danger
we face now is that the skewed situation at the auctions
will entice some
people to the parallel market, which will create havoc for
our economic
recovery," Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president
Luxon Zembe told
Reuters.
The Reserve Bank says foreign currency inflows into the
formal market
surged to $1.7 billion last year from $301 million in
2003.
But industry officials said this is inadequate to meet
demand, with
some companies drifting back to the black market, at whose
height in
December 2003, the local unit traded at 7,000 against the U.S.
unit against
the then official rate of 824.
The exchange rate
was at 6,048 at the last auction on Monday.
Analysts said the
closure of many firms, including key exporters, in
the past five years had
made Zimbabwe a net importer and its growing import
bill could only be eased
by more foreign direct investment and restoring
ties with
donors.
Agencies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
World Bank
stopped lending to Zimbabwe in 1999 over policy differences with
Harare.
"We can not reduce imports ... so the idea would be to
increase
foreign currency inflows. We need FDI and international lenders
although
this will be very difficult," said Anthony Hawkins, a professor at
the
University of Zimbabwe.
IMF executives will meet later on
Wednesday to decide whether to expel
Zimbabwe from the Fund although
analysts say the decision could be delayed.
Critics says Mugabe's
government has mismanaged the economy, leading
to a 30 percent contraction
since 1999.
But Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in
1980, accuses
some businesses of working with his foreign and domestic foes
to sabotage
the country's wealth over his seizure of white-owned farms for
blacks.