RESPONSE TO DEFAMATORY ARTICLE IN THE HERALD

From: Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office - Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, Office of the President and Cabinet - Senator Sekai M Holland

I refer to the highly defamatory leading article in The Herald of 16 February 2012 with headline “Ministers face arrest over missing funds”.  It claimed that “Two Cabinet ministers . . . face arrest after failing to account for money given to them under the Constituency Development Fund” and went on to name me as “among the legislators who failed to account for US$50,000 they received”. It went on to say that “Some of the legislators are alleged to have diverted their allocations to personal use.”

The facts are these:

• Today I asked the Metropolitan Bank of Zimbabwe for a current bank statement for the CDF account for Mabvuku/Tafara. This confirms that there is a total of $49,870 in the account, representing the original $50,000 less bank charges.  THERE ARE NO MISSING FUNDS. There is no issue whatsoever that could lead to my “facing arrest”. The Herald article is therefore a blatantly defamatory distortion of the truth.

• Two officers visited me from the Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs late last year. We had a wide ranging discussion covering the details of the background, history and status of the projects for which the CDF funds would be used. I told them that ever since my torture at Machipisa Police Station on 11 March 2007, I have to go to Australia every year for annual medical reviews and treatment. I said that I would be leaving the country at the end of December 2011 and that the project implementation would begin on my return in mid-February this year.  They did not indicate any deadlines for reporting on the use of the funds in that conversation or at any time subsequently.

It should be noted in the first instance that Senators are not entitled to any allocation from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) programme. The Fund is specifically set up for MPs (Members of the House of Assembly - the lower house) to carry out development projects in their constituencies.

Senators do however participate as ex-officio members of the CDF committees set up by the Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs for each House of Assembly constituency. These committees are chaired by the relevant MP and include all councillors from their constituency.

My Senatorial constituency (Chizhanje) covers two separate House of Assembly constituencies – Mabvuku/Tafara and Epworth. Sadly the MP for Mabvuku/Tafara, Shepherd Madamombe, died in June 2010, which meant that there was a problem when it came to allocating CDF funds to his constituency.  It was not even clear if there was to be a by-election to replace him or not.

Eventually I, as their Senator, was asked to work with the local councillors to set up and chair the CDF committee for Mabvuku/Tafara as otherwise it would have missed out on the opportunity to access the development funds. However because of the background, this committee started work much later than most others.

The process of determining priorities for expenditure of the CDF money was a complicated one involving extensive consultation by the local councillors with the people in their wards. Unlike other constituencies they decided not to spend the money on standalone projects but to partner with the Municipality of Harare to make a much larger impact.

By consensus a proposal was put to the Mayor of Harare in writing in September 2011 to ask if it would be possible for the private sector and Municipality of Harare to support three key projects, namely improvements to the clinic, the library and the market.  This was eventually agreed in principle.

Through last year there were continuing consultations with the communities on the precise details of their requirements for the projects.  This was complicated by the fact that MP Madamombe was dead but he had already been involved in setting up development projects that were incomplete.

I need ongoing medical treatment annually as a result of my being severely tortured with others at Machipisa Police Station on 11th March 2007. At the end of December last year I left for my annual leave and medical review and treatment programme in Australia on the understanding that the local councillors and Municipality would start work on the projects on my return in mid-February. They have in fact already begun work, and the CDF funds will be spent in conjunction with that work.

Details of the projects that will be undertaken are:

• Guard house, rolling gate, security wall, security wire and lights, and 10,000 litre water tank and stand for the Ward 20 clinic
• Guard house, rolling gate, security wall, security wire and lights, 10,000 litre water tank and stand, and reading areas with seating and shelter outside the Ward 20 library
• Guard house, rolling gate, security wall, security wire and lights, and shelter with ablution block, Mother's changing rooms, 10 000 litre water tank and stand for the Ward 19 Matiko Farmers Market

I hope the above clarifies that there has been no impropriety whatsoever in the way that the CDF funds for Mabvuku/Tafara have been handled by me or the other three signatories to the account.

Senator Sekai M Holland

Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office

Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration

Office of the President and Cabinet

16 February 2012

Struggling NetOne seeks strategic partner

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:32

LAST week Transport and Communications minister Nicholas Goche (NG) told the
Zimbabwe Independent the national flag carrier Air Zimbabwe would be
unbundled into two entities — Air Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd and the National
Handling Services (Pvt) Ltd. This week Goche speaks to our Senior Political
Editor Faith Zaba (FZ) about cellular networks and the state of the country’s
roads, among other issues.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

FZ: We gather NetOne recently approached government seeking US$40 million
for its expansion programme. This is despite having got US$45 million from
China. What is happening at the company and why is it continuously seeking
finance from government?

NG: NetOne did not approach government for loans. However, NetOne sought
approval from government to borrow from the financial market. The reason for
the borrowing was basically for the expansion and upgrading exercise
currently being carried out by NetOne. Recent technological advances have
helped to transform the industry in many countries. The communications
sector is in continuous expansion worldwide, thus the need to continuously
expand the operations of NetOne.

FZ: What is being done to revamp NetOne operations which are very poor?

NG: The term of office for the board is coming to an end; thus the new board
will have a mandate to look into NetOne’s capacity in terms of
infrastructure, equipment and human resource. NetOne is currently on an
expansion drive which will see it advancing in terms of technology and
service provision. As a government institution, NetOne has lower rates than
its competitors. The competitors are basically profit geared hence they
charge higher rates.

FZ: What happened to the proposed MTN strategic partnership deal with
NetOne?

NG: In order to realise the full potential of the network through further
expansion, NetOne is currently scouting for a strategic partner to increase
its capitalisation. This will enable NetOne to expand its network to all
areas of Zimbabwe and beyond and also introduce new services. The MTN
possible strategic partnership deal is still under discussion. Government is
also in discussions with other possible strategic partners so as to have a
comparative schedule of the offers before settling for one.

FZ: Still with cellular phone companies, why did the ministry block Econet’s
installation of fibre optic cable to Mozambique?

NG: Government policy is that service providers must not compete for the
provision of infrastructure but on the provision of services. It is also
government policy that the public sector must provide infrastructure such as
national backbone and mobile cellular companies ride on the infrastructure.
That service is already being provided by TelOne which is connected to the
undersea cable in Mozambique. Therefore it would not have made business
sense to have another company providing the same service.

FZ: What are your views on cellular companies competing in putting
infrastructure such as base stations to ensure expansion before they could
guarantee good service delivery?

NG: Telecoms companies in our country are in a position to share the current
infrastructure and the regulations provide for them to voluntarily agree on
rentals. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The companies are competing on
infrastructural development at the expense of service provision.  As alluded
to earlier, government policy is that companies should share the
infrastructure so that they can enhance the provision of services. We are
already persuading these service providers to share infrastructure through
the universal services fund. Cellular companies should compete on service
provision rather than on infrastructure.

FZ: Your ministry is also in charge of the country’s roads. People are
complaining about the bad roads countrywide. What are you doing about the
problem?

NG: It pains me that our roads are in a bad state as I am also a frequent
road-user. The reason for this so many years we have failed to maintain them
as we should due to lack of funds. As you know we have been greatly affected
as a nation through sanctions for the past 12 years. A road’s design
lifespan is normally 20 years but our roads have exceeded that but we still
drive day and night on the same strained roads and this means more damage to
them. Roads need huge capital injection if you are to maintain them in a
trafficable state. Now our roads are in such bad condition and have become
more expensive to maintain.

Money collected on the country’s toll gates is used on the maintenance of
trunk roads which are the state highways. We have about 18 400km of road
that needs rehabilitation. The same money is used for routine maintenance on
the same state highways. Furthermore, current tolling stations need
maintenance and it is the same money used for that. So the money is just not
enough, which is why we have decided to go to the Public/Private Partnership
Programme as a route of sourcing funds.

I would say, through Zinara and the critical role it continues to play in
the sector, we will continue to be steadfast with this route until all our
roads reach the international levels we always talk about. For instance, in
2011 Zinara disbursed funds to road authorities for routine and periodic
maintenance as follows;
Department of  Roads US$13 million; District Development Fund US$2 651 645;
Urban Councils US$5 970 739; Rural District Councils US$20 611 359; Harare
$2 650 000. The total was US$45 833 743.

FZ: The roads in Harare are really in a bad state and have potholes all
over. What support is Zinara giving to city councils on road maintenance?

NG: Harare City Council as a road authority receives funds from Zinara for
the maintenance of its road network. Of all urban councils, Harare receives
the highest allocation. For the year 2011, Zinara disbursed US$3,6 million
to Harare City Council and this year Zinara has allocated US$5 million for
Harare City Council. Therefore, government, through Zinara, is giving a lot
of support to urban councils in general, and Harare in particular.

FZ: Your ministry has also embarked on several road projects which seem to
have stalled. Please brief us on what is happening to the dualisation
projects, for example Harare-Bulawayo, Harare-Masvingo, Bulawayo-Beitbridge
and also the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road. Why have these projects stalled?

NG: The Harare-Masvingo and Harare-Bulawayo dualisation pro-jects started a
long time ago during the Zim-dollar era. Due to financial challenges no
meaningful progress was made. In 2009 my ministry decided that since
government accepted the policy of PPP’s, the projects should be completed up
to Skyline and Norton respectively. If partners were found they would then
complete the projects.

Through funds being provided by the Ministry of Finance through PSIP some
projects should be complete in three months. This includes Mukuvisi Bridge
on the Harare-Masvingo road and Manyame Bridge on the Harare-Bulawayo road.
We also have other projects like Wedza-Sadza road construction; and bridge
construction projects on Little Sebakwe, Nyahodi, and Munyati. There are
also bridges under tendering for Birchenough, Runde and Tuli. Diminishing ….
have forced us to shelve some projects for now.

Divisions derail Zanu PF restructuring

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:31

Brian Chitemba

ZANU PF restructuring in Bulawayo is in limbo after it stalled for over
three weeks due to growing disunity in the province.
The election of district committees and verification of membership began in
earnest in January but the programme has hit a snag due to the boycott of
meetings by scores of party officials. The Zanu PF members are no longer
actively involved in party programmes because the former liberation movement
has been losing elections since 2000, according to party officials.

The region has become an MDC-T stronghold but Zanu PF since last month has
been mobilising structures to boost its membership from 13 000, which was
announced during the December 2011 annual conference.

Provincial chairman Isaac Dakamela confirmed in an interview on Wednesday
that the restructuring programme was stalled due to “a number of in-house
issues”. He, however, said the former ruling party was optimistic that the
exercise will be complete in time for the primary elections in preparation
for the national polls expected at end of year or early next year.

Zanu PF sources said the majority of provincial executive members assigned
to lead the verification of structures, election as well as co-option of
officials into structures were reluctant to spearhead the revival of the
party. Hundreds of Zanu PF officials and supporters have crossed the floor
to the revived Zapu, MDC and MDC-T.

Bulawayo has become a political hotbed where factions trade their blows and
this has helped destroy the party led by President Robert Mugabe.
Last year, Dakamela’s executive threatened to fire officials who were
boycotting critical meetings saying they were sabotaging the growth and
strength of the liberation movement.

It has also emerged that some veteran politicians were keen on revving their
political careers by contesting the forthcoming parliamentary elections but
there was fear of being embarrassed by younger members of the party.

Dakamela said none of the veteran politicians have publicly declared their
interests in contesting in the elections.

“Primary elections will determine who will contest in the constituencies. It’s
still too early to speculate who will be contesting in which seat. But we
are united and we will be stronger after our restructuring exercise,” he
said.

Last year Zanu PF commissar Webster Shamu told a politburo meeting that the
party was not ready for elections because of shambolic structures. The
recovery exercise is meant to strengthen structures ahead of the polls.

SA paper resists Zim registration

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:30

Herbert Moyo

SOUTH Africa’s Sunday Times is resisting the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC)’s
efforts to force it to register in the country where it has no offices as a
precondition for it to circulate on the local market.
The newspaper’s lawyer Eric Van Den Berg of Bell Dewar said the ZMC arrived
at their decision on the basis of a faulty interpretation of Zimbabwean laws
and unfounded allegations that the Sunday Times, which used to be
distributed by the state-run Zimpapers, conducted business operations in the
country through Munn Marketing.

Zimbabwean newspapers, including Zimpapers titles, circulate in South Africa
and other countries in the region without restrictions.

Van Den Berg said ZMC was deliberately ignoring their correspondence on the
matter, resorting to threats published in the Zimbabwean media against their
distributing agents.

He said the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) was
only intended to regulate mass media publishing and operating in the country
as it clearly states that mass media owners can only register in Zimbabwe if
a controlling interest in the company is held by Zimbabweans.

As such, no foreign publishers can register in Zimbabwe and for that reason
Aippa cannot be used to sanction foreign newspapers like the Sunday Times,
he argued.

“Indeed that appears to be apparent from part VII of Aippa. Clearly the Act
does not have extra-territorial effect, and consequently cannot and does not
regulate publishers of magazines or newspapers published in the rest of the
world. “Consequently, as our client carries on business in South Africa it
cannot and is not required to register in Zimbabwe as a mass media owner”,
read the lawyer’s letter addressed to ZMC chairman Godfrey Majonga.

Van Den Berg dismissed allegations by the ZMC that the newspaper was
involved in recruitment and payment of reporters in Zimbabwe through Munn
Marketing and said the company merely distributes the Sunday Times in the
country.

ZMC had used these allegations as the basis of their decision to compel the
Sunday Times to open an office in the country and register in terms of
Aippa.
The newspaper also accused the ZMC of deviating from its mandate of
fostering freedoms of information and expression.

Van Den Berg said seeking to impose registration requirements on foreign
publications “at a considerable cost in addition to taxes on the importation
and sale of newspapers, without appropriate legislation, is unlikely to
amount to a fulfilment of that mandate”.

The Sunday Times claimed the ZMC was motivated by political reasons,
alleging the directive was only communicated to it and the UK-based The
Zimbabwean. There are many other foreign newspapers and magazines being sold
in Zimbabwe which have not been subjected to the same pressure. Content of
the publications is determined by editors, not ZMC.

“This seems to reinforce the inference that your commission is targeting
certain newspapers, as opposed to all publications, for political reasons,”
Van Den Berg argued.

Zimbabwean lawyer Alec Muchadehama told the Zimbabwe Independent there was
no section in Aippa which requires foreign newspapers to register and the
ZMC was not empowered by any law to ban foreign newspapers and other
publications.

“Newspapers like the Sunday Times are not produced in the country and do not
need to be registered here. The paper is like any other product that is
imported into the country like rice and subject to customs duty and that is
all they need to pay”, he said.

Deputy Minister of Justice Jessie Majome concurred with the Sunday Times’
view that Aippa did not compel them to apply to open a representative office
in Zimbabwe if they did not want to.

The paper’s lawyers threatened legal action and also warned they would
approach the South African Ministry of International Relations and
Co-operation if the ZMC interfered with its operations.

‘GPA non-implementation no poll obstacle’

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:27

Faith Zaba

ZANU PF chief negotiator Nicholas Goche yesterday said the implementation of
the agreed principles in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) should be done
concurrently and simultaneously with the removal of sanctions.

In an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent to mark the third anniversary
of the Government of National Unity, Goche said non-implementation of the 24
issues agreed upon by the negotiators would not prevent elections from being
held when the constitution-making process is complete.

“The post-Maputo dialogue was based on the understanding that was reached in
Maputo (at the Sadc Troika summit in November 2009) that there must be
concurrent movement on the issues that were still outstanding,” he said.

“In other words, if there was movement on issues such as the removal of
sanctions, the cessation of hostile broadcasts into Zimbabwe by pirate radio
stations and other issues which are central to Zanu PF, there would also be
movement on the issues which our colleagues in the MDC consider dear. It
takes two to tango.”

Some of the issues in the GPA which the two MDC formations want implemented
before the country can hold credible, free and fair elections include media,
security sector and electoral reforms.

However, Goche was quick to point out the three principals, President Robert
Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara,
were “totally” committed to the full implementation of the GPA.

“They will continue to discuss until they find acceptable solutions to these
outstanding issues,” he said.

On the GPA lifespan, Goche said although there was no sunset clause in the
GPA they agreed at the review of the relations between the parties and
operations of the GPA after the lapse of the two years to continue with
their marriage of convenience until after the finalisation of the
constitution-making process, which would lead to a referendum and new
elections.

“There is no sunset clause in the GPA. However, given the fact that the
MDC-T originally felt that the constitution-making process would take not
more then 18 months and therefore the elections would be held thereafter,”
he said.

“This kind of thinking gave all of us the idea that this GNU would not last
more than two years. However, as everybody knows the constitution-making
process has taken much longer, that is why we are where we are today.”

“Speaking for my party, we believe that the GPA expired in February 2011.”

On comments that elections could be held with or without a new constitution,
Goche said elections would be held under a new constitution.

“I have said that the principals are committed to the full implementation of
the GPA and that elections should be held at the end of this process,” he
said.

“However, we observe a deliberate delaying tactic in the constitution-making
process which we consider unfair. If this kind of delaying tactics continue,
my party will lose patience. We have always urged Copac
(ParliamentaryConsitutional Select Committee) people to expedite the
constitution-making process so that the people of Zimbabwe are then given an
opportunity to elect a government of their choice.”

He warned the three drafters in the constitution-making process, Justice
Moses Chinhengo, Brian Crozier and former High Court Judge Priscilla
Madzonga not to misrepresent instructions given to them by Copac in the
drafting of a new constitution.

“The drafters should not put into the constitution that which has not come
from the people,” he said.

On fears the military would not accept the election results if Mugabe lost,
Goche said: “That is not possible. We have had elections for many years and
the military has never intervened. During the liberation struggle, the
principle followed was that it is politics that commands the gun and not
vice versa and that principle is still held dear by the military.”

Zanu PF fights over gold mine

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:26

Brian Chitemba

ZANU PF bigwigs in Bulawayo are at loggerheads with members of the
provincial youth league over a gold mine in Matopo resulting in recent
bloody clashes.
Provincial chairman Isaac Dakamela and the provincial indigenisation
secretary Charles Chiponda on Friday dispatched 20 youths to drive out those
occupying the gold mine.
The mine is controlled by youth league official Keen Gatsi who confirmed
senior party officials in the region were keen to take it over.

The hired youths who were driven to the mine by Sindisiwe Mpofu in a party
vehicle, fought running battles with those occupying the lucrative mine.

The youths benefited from the money from the indigenisation programme but
Dakamela and Chiponda, according to party insiders are working tirelessly to
evict the youth league members from the mine.

“Dakamela has publicly declared that he is interested in taking over the
mine,” said a source. “But as youths we will resist the illegal takeover
because the mine was registered under the Mines Ministry last year. They can’t
use their political muscle to grab the mine.”

The source, a Zanu PF insider, told the Zimbabwe Independent that Dakamela,
who was once suspended from the party in 2010 over alleged corruption, hired
youths from a district coordinating committee to unleash a reign of terror
on those at the Matopo mine.

“The fight over the mine has sowed fresh divisions between the provincial
executive and the youth league,” said the source.

Strenuous efforts to speak to Chiponda proved fruitless.

Zanu PF Bulawayo youth chairman Butholezwe Gatsi confirmed the clashes over
the gold mine, but declined to discuss the matter further.

Youths in Bulawayo have on several attempts tried to oust Dakamela for his
alleged link to white businessmen and scuttling the indigenisation
programme. Dakamela argued that the indigenisation exercise should be
implemented in line with the statutes while on the other hand youths were on
the rampage grabbing buildings in the city centre.

On Wednesday, Dakamela declined he was wrestling a mine from a group of
youth league officials, insisting his colleagues were just out to soil his
name. He also said Chiponda was not interested in the gold property.

“I have never hired youths to fight on my behalf. And I am not interested in
the mine. It’s a lie,” he insisted.

But the youths maintained Dakamela and Chiponda were determined to eject
them from the lucrative business.

The indigenisation policy has generated chaotic scenes in Bulawayo over the
past year with Zanu PF members grabbing properties belonging to Indian and
white businesspeople.

Polls in 2012 a recipe for disaster –– Biti

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:23

THE Government of National Unity (GNU) turned three on Monday. Zimbabwe
Independent Senior Political Editor Faith Zaba (FZ) spoke to MDC-T
Secretary-General, Tendai Biti (TB), also a negotiator, on elections,
constitution-making, successes and of the current coalition.  Find below
excerpts from the interview.
FZ:  There have been contradictory statements on the expiry of the GNU among
parties to the agreement. What is the lifespan of the GNU?

TB: Anyone who says the GPA had a lifespan of two years clearly did not read
the agreement itself or constitutional Amendment No 19. The only sunset
clause is the constitution which demands that whether we like it or not,
elections must be held in 2013.

FZ: Tell us what have been the challenges to the GNU in the last three
years?

TB: The GPA has been a forced marriage. Coalition agreements are a challenge
but having said that I have absolutely no doubt that the deficit areas far
outstrip the advantages of coming together. However, the decision to
participate in the GNU was the marginally correct one: It gave our people
some breathing space following the events of 2008.

FZ: The GPA is a roadmap towards elections. Is Zimbabwe ready for elections
this year?

TB:  Zimbabwe is not ready for elections. People don’t want an early and
unsustainable election. I am talking about an election that is not going to
deliver change and an election marred by violence –– an election that you
will end up with us negotiating again. People don’t want that.

FZ: Why has there not been any movement on the 24 issues you have agreed on?

TB: I think one of the things frustrating negotiators is that we worked so
hard but there is no implementation. Even the original GPA itself has not
been implemented in key situations. We are tired and frustrated that we meet
and things don’t get implemented. If we could implement all the things that
we agreed on, we would be three quarters of the way to sustainable
elections.

FZ: Why have those 24 agreed issues not been implemented? Is it lack of
commitment on the principals’ part?

TB:  I think the principals are committed but I get the feeling that there
is a gap between the principals and the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy must
implement agreements and directives of their principals. One of the greatest
weaknesses of the GPA is that while we created an oversight role in Jomic,
it operates at macro-level.

So in retrospect, maybe there should have been a sub-committee of cabinet
consisting of vice-presidents and deputy prime ministers to deal with
implementation.

FZ: But will you be able implement them in time for elections
constitutionally due next year?

TB: Let me be honest that Zimbabwe will not be ready for an election in
2012. But if you want a blood bath, if you want a reproduction of
instability and if you want a continuation of the long winter of despair,
have an election in 2012. We are not ready from a financial point of view,
we are not ready from a reform point of view and also not ready from a
psychological point of view.

FZ: Where are we on the constitution-making process? There are reports that
the drafters might be fired. What is the correct position?

TB: That is crazy talk. To say people were not consulted is an insult to the
1,3 million people who participated. I believe that we will get a
constitution that is better than the current one. That is fundamental.

FZ: We have had parties saying with or without a new constitution there are
going for elections this year. What is your comment on that?

TB: If anyone thinks he or she can call a unilateral election in this
country under these circumstances they must either be drunk or insane or
both. It will not happen.

FZ: Let’s say someone is insane enough to use your term and acts
unilaterally, what happens?

TB: It will be unsustainable at so many levels. How will they be able to
govern this country?

FZ: What do you think will happen if free, fair and credible elections are
held? Who will win?

TB: If we go for elections tomorrow, there is no doubt that Morgan
Tsvangirai will win. But that is not your problem. To create a sustainable
Zimbabwe, you need to answer two things –– what happens the morning after
when we have the handiende (refusal to relinquish power) syndrome. How do
you manage that? That is the key issue President Zuma must deal with. With
this election you need three things: Integrity of the vote, security of the
person and security of the vote. Without that we will have a throwback to
2008.

FZ: How do you deal with a situation in which the military could intervene
to thwart people’s will after elections?

TB: It’s an African problem. It is not just an issue for domestic law; it is
also a test of international law. International law has reached a state
where Article 2:7 of the UN charter –– non-intervention –– is nonsense.
Democracy is the minimum bundle of rights –– the freedom of choice and the
democratic right to change leaders. Politicians must come and go. That must
be a universal language.

‘Mutambara factor in GNU disruptive’

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:21

AS the inclusive government clocked up three years this week, one of the
negotiators in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) says the confusion over
the status of deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara in the Government of
National Unity (GNU) has become disruptive.
MDC Secretary-General and negotiator Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (PM)
spoke to Zimbabwe Independent senior political reporter Wongai Zhangazha
(WZ) on the successes, challenges and failures of the GNU. Below are the
excerpts:

WZ: How do you rate the GNU performance over the past three years?

PM: I think the biggest success is that when we started the negotiations
there was a belief that this thing couldn’t last because there were three
political parties that were coming from completely different ideological and
historical backgrounds.

The very fact that we have been able to work together this far is a success
in itself.

I think the GNU deserves a pass. I wouldn’t say it has failed. It has
however met many challenges. One of the challenges why most of the things
have not been implemented is this nonsensical issue which I call the Arthur
Mutambara factor which has basically made the principals’ forum
dysfunctional. It has derailed the whole process.

The other challenge is that we came with different expectations in
government. So to be able to deal with my own expectations about what I
thought needed to happen and what is actually happening is a different thing
altogether. We were not prepared for it.

WZ: Could it be because of these challenges you mention that you have so far
failed to deal with the 24 outstanding issues?

PM: I think we need to separate the issues. What I am talking about are
issues that government would do on a day to day basis.

Then you obviously have the challenges that were brought in by the fact that
we got into government but continued to negotiate. We didn’t have a
situation where you got into government after you have negotiated
everything. Ours was to some extent a peace agreement; it wasn’t purely just
a coalition agreement. We came together as part of a peace agreement to
implement peace processes and therefore the negotiation didn’t stop.

WZ: And have you succeeded in your peace initiative as you put it?

PM: We haven’t succeeded largely because, like I said, if it is a process,
it will not end soon. It will end on the day that we go for an election and
you have a new government.

WZ: Is there any hope all these issues will be implemented before elections?

PM: Yes they will. I do have hope. Remember where we came from with
President Robert Mugabe saying he will not negotiate with puppets but now we
are working together. I believe we will be able to resolve remaining issues
before the next elections.

WZ: Some have said your party has failed in this GNU?

PM: We need to reflect. So when somebody says people have completely failed
to negotiate and deliver, that’s not totally true. It’s unfair.

WZ: Looking at the controversy over Police Commissioner-General Augustine
Chihuri, is Zanu PF negotiating in good faith?

PM: This is why I said it continues to be an ongoing negotiation. The
question is do you have the stamina to fight and the strategies to continue
to push and make your arguments until there is such a point where there is
an agreement. It’s not only the Chihuri issue but also ambassadors, judges,
governors etc.
WZ: Does the MDC have the stamina to continue fighting on these issues?

PM: The MDC can fight in different ways, including mobilising Sadc to
understand that there is a certain party violating the agreement so that
they can ensure compliance.

WZ: Are you happy with the way President Jacob Zuma has handled the Zimbabwe
situation?

PM: I think if Zuma had done anything more than he is already doing now
there would have been a situation that somebody is trying to play
headmaster. For our own dignity as a people we also need to be left to do
the things on our own. We are not a province of South Africa. We are a
government and we are a people of Zimbabwe and we need to stop always
running to him each time there is a problem. Let the Sadc team deal with
bigger and broader issues.

WZ: Has Jomic been strengthened as agreed at the Sadc troika meeting last
year?

PM: You don’t strengthen Jomic by bringing people from outside. I know that
there are people who were appointed sometime last year but it’s also the
issue of bureaucracy even at Sadc. We don’t have the names of those
appointed as yet but we know they have been appointed from various countries
in the Sadc troika. I’m sure they will be appointed soon at the next Sadc
meeting.

WZ: What is your opinion on progress made so far by Copac?

PM: Copac clearly remains a challenge because the time we have taken to come
up with a draft constitution is not what we had anticipated. We also didn’t
anticipate that the constitutional process would be a negotiated process in
itself.

NSSA acquires majority Afre stake

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 16:22

Chris Muronzi

NATIONAL Social Security Authority (NSSA) has acquired a controlling stake
in Afre Corporation Ltd, businessdigest has established.
Well-placed sources said NSSA, which recently completed the acquisition of
ReNaissance Merchant Bank (RMB), also emerged with a 52% stake of Afre’s
total issued share capital.
This comes after NSSA acquired Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s 19,7% stake in
Afre this week at a premium of 514% of the last trading day’s share price.
The sale went through the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange on Monday. The pension
fund already held over 32% through RMB.

Afre and Econet chairman Tawanda Nyambirai confirmed NSSA had taken acquired
over 50% stake of Afre and would appoint its owns board members to the board
of the insurance conglomerate.

“We entered into an agreement to sell 19% of Afre. That agreement was
between RFHL, NSSA, RMB and Econet, where we agreed to sell 19% stake to
NSSA. We agreed that on implementation of the agreement, we (Econet) would
cease to be a shareholder and that we would step down from the board and
they would appoint their own representatives,” said Nyambirai.

Chris Chirairo, Tracy Mpofu, John Gould, George Nyashanu and Nyambirai
stepped down from the board in terms of the agreement.
NSSA GM James Matiza on Wednesday confirmed buying a controlling stake in
Afre.

He said: “That (Econet representatives have to step down) was contained in
the agreements. But the decision to step down or not will be made at a board
meeting this week. Representatives of NSSA, chairman Innocent Chagonda and
the chairman of the board investment committee Chris Hokonya — and myself
will attend the board meeting.”

Should the board positions be vacant, the three would fill in the positions,
Matiza said.

He added: “We don’t know who among the three would take over as chairman.”

NSSA, RFHL, RMB and Econet signed an agreement late December that saw the
pension fund emerging with an 84% stake in the merchant bank.

RMB is a merchant bank formerly owned by Patterson Timba, Dunmore Kundishora
and Clementine Sibve.

The deal involved a combination of cash and debt conversion.

Threat to microfinance institutions

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 16:10

Reginald Sherekete

THE current myriad of challenges facing microfinance institutions, which
include inadequate capitalisation and a high default rate, is posing a
threat to their viability and has prompted the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to
craft a performance evaluation framework to critically deal with the
problems.
The executive director of the Zimbabwe Association of Microfinance
Institutions (Zamfi), Godfrey Chitambo, revealed that since dollarisation
MFIs have been facing real challenges, which include inadequate
capitalisation.

“The current liquidity crisis is a real threat at a macroeconomic level and
if the main banking sector catches a cold, then MFIs freeze, since they are
less prepared to combat the crisis,” said Chitambo.

Economic analysts have indicated that MFIs are feeling the impact of the
current liquidity crisis and are operating on low capital bases, impacting
on their lending activities to individuals and small-to-medium enterprises.

“Most MFIs are operating on thin capital bases, and unfortunately, lend to
individuals and SMEs that banks would term high risk and unbankable,” said
Brains Muchemwa, an economic analyst.

RBZ governor Gideon Gono said in his Monetary Policy Statement early this
month, a performance evaluation framework would enable the central bank to
assess the impact of microfinance activities and facilitate appropriate
policy intervention.

“The Reserve Bank is currently working on an appropriate Performance
Evaluation Framework to enable evaluation of the impact of microfinance
activities and facilitate appropriate policy intervention,” said Gono.

He said the microfinance sector in Zimbabwe was currently facing a number of
challenges, including insufficient funding, inadequate IT infrastructure and
absence of a credit reference bureau.

Nonetheless, Zamfi had established a microfinance wholesale fund as part of
initiatives to improve liquidity in the sector, but the fund was being
overwhelmed by the huge demand.

“Zamfi and other like-minded donors have come up with a wholesale fund which
is now functional as of December 2011, but the money on offer is just a drop
in the ocean and cannot meet demand,” said Chitambo.

Market players said there was need for institutions like the National Social
Security Authority (NSSA) to also avail funding to MFIs, given that the
sector advances to SMEs and individuals in the informal sector.

Muchemwa said: “Such institutions as NSSA should also extend loans to MFIs
in as much as they do for the banks in order to ameliorate funding
challenges for MFIs.”

Chitambo also argued that international donors and poverty reduction
partners should be engaged to intervene on the viability problems facing
MFIs since the sector caters for the poor and marginalised.

But the huge demand for credit in the economy presents challenges for banks
and MFIs to accurately measure and ascertain credit risk profiles given the
absence of a credit reference bureau (CRB) in Zimbabwe.

Because of adverse selection in their lending processes, the MFIs sector is
generally characterised by huge default rates, which impacts on the
viability of the sector. Most individuals are highly borrowed and the bubble
is expected to burst owing to the increasing subprime lending.

“Most clients are heavily borrowed, and the absence of a CRB makes lending
decisions a cocktail of wild guesses.  In fact, household gearing levels are
rising at an alarming rate and banks and MFIs face an avalanche of bad
consumer loans in the not so distant future,” said Muchemwa.

Zamfi cemented that many people were over-borrowed and because of the lack
of a CRB, the demand for credit has escalated to a phenomenal level,
resulting in a high default rate. The association is currently finalising a
partnership with a South African company to help set up a credit reference
bureau.
“We are finalising a partnership deal with a South African company and this
will help reduce defaults and slightly increase on profitability and also
the image of the sector,” said Chitambo.

Commercial banks have also jumped into the booming market, with some holding
MFIs as subsidiaries. Since the MFIs sector is not heavily regulated, banks
can enjoy huge profits emanating from high interest margins on the back of
low operational costs.

Muchemwa said: “The net interest margins in mainstream banking have been
narrowing steeply, especially from around May 2011, and unfortunately, the
operating costs per employee have risen sharply over the same period.
Well-funded MFIs, with lean operating structures, are therefore providing
rare opportunities for some banks to improve their bottom lines.”

The RBZ indicated that it continued to receive complaints from microfinance
clients regarding unethical and undesirable business practices such as
inadequate disclosure of business conditions.

The sector is highly infiltrated by unlicensed MFIs who are evading the
supervision of the central bank. The RBZ governor said a total 157 MFIs were
registered and licensed and operated under the supervision of the central
bank.

MFIs have also been accused of abusive debt collection practices, including
disposal of pledged collateral without following due legal procedures.

“A number of bogus individuals with a few cents to spare have found it
convenient to masquerade as registered MFIs and in the process defrauded
desperate borrowers. The RBZ is always available to assist would-be
borrowers to verify the authenticity of would-be lenders,” said Muchemwa.

MFIs have also been accused of taking deposits from members of the public
disguised as bilateral loans. The RBZ also said that such action could pose
a threat to financial stability since such institutions did not meet
regulatory requirements to function as banks.

Chitambo said “We call upon all members and non members of Zamfi to desist
from fouling the market from bad practices which are tarnishing the image of
MFIs.”

2012 elections or another GNU?

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 16:38

By Ibbo Mandaza

THERE are at least three myths that are increasingly pervading the political
discourse in Zimbabwe. They reflect the anxiety around the current
transition in which neither Zanu PF nor MDC appear to have succeeded in
emerging victorious over the other, three years into the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) and its Government of National Unity (GNU).
The first of these myths relates to the claim — louder and louder through
Zanu PF propagandists — that elections are both necessary and urgent because
the GNU has become fatally dysfunctional.  These are the same elections
which failed to take place in 2011 but must be held without fail in 2012, we
are informed from the same quarters.

Herein lies the myth: the perpetrators of it appear over-confident that the
election outcome will see Zanu PF, with 88 year-old President Robert Mugabe
at its helm, restore itself as the ruling party and, at least by
implication, ensure that government will be as ‘‘functional’’ as it was
prior to the 2008 elections (which produced the ‘‘dysfunctional’’ GNU).

Needless to add, this is a myth which feeds on convenient amnesia about the
political and economic conditions that led Zimbabwe into the GPA/GNU a
little more than three years ago in September 2008.

The truth, however, is still fresh in the minds of the majority of
Zimbabweans who bore the full brunt of that unprecedented economic and
political melt-down.  For  Zanu PF’s government had become not only totally
dysfunctional by 2008 under  Mugabe and a ruling party that had by 2000
become a mere shadow of the party of liberation but also chaotic. The
Zimbabwean economy had collapsed almost entirely, a virtual ‘’casino economy’’,
in the words of one of government’s key functionaries in a largely state-led
campaign of economic and financial self-destruction.

And by 2008, the state itself survived on a combination of violence (or the
threat of it) and patronage which, in turn, welded together securocracy and
elements of the bureaucracy into a defensive and reckless solidarity against
a pulverised and fearful population.  The national institutions which had
been so carefully established and nurtured in the 1980s had by 2008 become
mere shells: destroyed by the ravages of a patronage system, inept
leadership and political manipulation.

Therefore, it was a state bereft of any legitimacy beyond its formal
trappings, nakedly brutal but also essentially brittle, as the weeks and
months of the post-2008 elections demonstrated — until the GPA/GNU rescued
it from the precipice!

Yet, even today, the full implications of this political and economic
nightmare are yet to be fully understood, as the recovery so far instituted
on the back of the GPA/GNU remains so modest and, ultimately, elusive, if
the merchants of premature elections win the day.  But, then, how to pull it
off, let alone through an election, in a population in which to many the
horrors and tribulations of 2008 remain vivid in their memories: the empty
supermarket shelves, worthless currency (now liquidated), water and
sanitation problems, disease (over 4 000 people died of cholera in 2008) and
the failed education and health systems that had been so well designed and
endowed in the 1980s?  Indeed, many citizens across the country remain in
those abject conditions of poverty and deprivation.

This is a nightmare that should otherwise jolt any well-meaning and mature
political leadership — especially those under whose watch all this afflicted
the nation — into a reality check. It should force them to acknowledge that
they have absolutely nothing to offer Zimbabwe, regardless how many times
they try to reinvent themselves through an electoral process best known for
being a farce than anything resembling a democratic exercise.

The second myth is a little more subtle in that it is peddled by that clique
of five or seven persons, those I referred to as the ‘’fifth column’’ (The
Zimbabwe Independent:   The Sadc Troika On Zimbabwe: Against The Arrogant
Disdain, Impunity And Reckless Rhetoric In Harare,  April 8, 2011).
Nevertheless, it is a myth standing in the shadow of the first.

This is the expectation that, through elections to be held in 2012, Zanu PF
will be exorcised, via well-organised primaries in the first instance, of
the current crop of leaders (and most ministers who are described as dead
wood!), to be replaced by a core of former freedom fighters, including a
good number of those currently serving in the security forces, but to be
selected carefully and then resign their posts in pursuit of political
office.

Through this new leadership, it is argued by the fifth columnists, Zanu PF
of the liberation era will be restored, and the MDC rendered dead and
buried!  In its most virulent expression, it amounts to an attempted
political coup, if there is such a term: it seeks to overturn the current
constitutional hierarchy in both Zanu PF and the state, by calling, if
necessary, for an extra-ordinary congress through which to set aside those
who would otherwise succeed Mugabe.

But herein lies the myth: there is no necessary correlation between being a
former freedom fighter or securocrat on the one hand,  and being a competent
political leader on the other.  On the contrary, their is no reason
whatsoever to believe that this could be a viable alternative to the current
mess of which the securocracy have been such an integral if not an essential
part.  Beside, many inside and outside Zanu PF are fully alive to the quiet
but dangerous machinations of the fifth column, enough to ensure that the
myth remains only a myth.

Also, the current GPA-related debacle over the re-appointment of Zimbabwe
Defence Forces Commander  General Constantine  Chiwenga and Police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri does help to highlight the extent to
which national institutions — including the Reserve Bank and
Attorney-General’s office — have been stripped of the status they enjoyed in
the 1980s with the office holders therein reduced to persons who owe their
authority less to the constitutional provisions that should underpin such
would-be national institutions, than to a Head of State who, by any
accounts, is in the departure lounge and cannot be expected to cushion
forever Gideon Gono, Johannes  Tomana, Chihuri or Chiwenga from the obvious
risks now attendant to the politicisation of both their offices and
themselves individually.

The third myth relates to the MDC, particularly that component of it led by
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.  It is their inane expectation that they
can alone rise above the dysfunctionality of the current GPA/GNU and produce
an alternative and effective administration.  Therefore, while the MDC
remains ambivalent and even confused at the prospect of an early election as
demanded by Zanu PF, the temptation is to prepare for the polls even in the
face of the unfinished business of the GPA/GNU, not to mention the real
risks against free and fair elections.

There inheres in the MDC an incorrigible belief in elections, even while
they want to acknowledge that they may have won the last four elections but
still lost them!  For this is an essentially election-based formation; it is
only an election that can jolt it out of its slumber and the threat of
disintegration as long as it fails to accede to full state power.

The reality is that Tsvangirai and the MDC have lost much of the political
gloss associated with an opposition movement whose profile was defined as
much by a ruling party that had become soulless and distanced from the
majority of the citizenry, as by being an unknown quantity in terms of
presenting a possible alternative to a Zanu PF government.

Now  over the three  years that have been the GPA/GNU,  Tsvangirai and his
party are not only part of the state, riddled as it is with all the problems
associated with such an animal, but have also been exposed as
organisationally vacuous, far too short on managerial capacity and unable to
sustain the ‘‘Reform Agenda’’ that had been more implicit than explicit
within the opposition movement.

It is the latter failing in particular that leaves us suspicious and
anxious: What guarantees are there now that Tsvangirai and his MDC will
constitute a viable alternative when they are quite prepared to inherit
power without the requisite political reforms, the restoration of national
institutions or a discernible and viable economic recovery programme?

So, once we have dispelled such myths and raised real concerns about
Zimbabwe, can the real debate about the future of the GPA/GNU begin.
First, we need to put paid to the reckless election talk: the reasons for an
election in 2012 remain as spurious as they have always been; more important
such an early election will in the current political and economic
circumstances only exacerbate insecurity and raise the spectre of violence,
while undermining the modest economic gains since 2009.

Also, it is simply not true that there is a growing national consensus
towards an election in 2012.  There are more people across the political
spectrum that are opposed to an early election, quite apart from the now
well-known preconditions for free and fair elections.  Certainly, most MPs
are vehemently (even though quietly) opposed to elections in 2012.  So, even
while the Zanu  PF election propagandists are busy at it, many of the party
faithful simply hope and pray that polls remain a most distant reality.

Accordingly, in the absence of an election in 2012 and in order to render
the GPA/GNU more functional and technocratic in character, while the new
constitution is being crafted and the conditions for a free and fair poll
created, these processes must evolve simultaneously.  This requires, in the
first instance, a management audit of the GNU and the obvious discovery that
it is a creature designed to be largely dysfunctional: two executives in the
form of a President and Prime Minister, both personifying mutually
antagonistic forces, a large cabinet reflecting more the need to reconcile
opposing sides around a feeding trough than the requirements of an efficient
and effective government and the absence of a commendable core of
technocrats that should be at the centre of any government in the
twenty-first century.

In this regard, the Kenyan or, better still, the recent Italian model might
be something Zimbabwe could adopt to launch the debate and process towards a
GPA/GNU2.

Mandaza is a Zimbabwean academic, author and publisher; and is currently
Convener of the Policy Dialogue Forum at the Sapes Trust, a regional
think-tank and publishing concern.

MuckRaker: ZBC has taken over the RBC’s mantle

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 16:33

WHAT goes around comes around they say.
Looking at the picture on the front page of last Friday’s Herald you would
think Botswana and Zimbabwe had been the best of friends for years. Botswana
Defence Forces commander Lieutenant-General Tebogo Carter Masire was
grinning from ear to ear as was his counterpart, ZDF commander General
Constantine Chiwenga, as they met President Mugabe at State House.  We weren’t
told what the joke was.

As we heard of brotherly relations between the two countries one couldn’t
help but reflect on Zimbabweans arrested and incarcerated in Botswana jails
in recent years.They weren’t laughing. Then there were the accusations about
“pirate” radio stations transmitting from Francistown. Needless to say, the
MDC was heavily implicated in all this, newspaper reports at the time
claimed. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was virtually living in Botswana
at one stage.

Now, we are led to believe, all is well and always has been. Relations
couldn’t be better.
An amusing dimension to the Herald’s story was an article on the same page
by deputy Editor Caesar Zvayi on the “outrage” supposedly felt by the nation
over the Copac draft constitution.

We recall Zvayi experiencing “outrage” at his treatment by the Botswana
authorities not so long ago when he was taken to the border and after a
night in the cells deported to Zimbabwe after the British had enquired about
his status in Botswana. Will Zvayi now return to his media teaching job in
Gaborone? Or will he just remain “outraged” in Harare?

The Herald switchboard was “jammed with callers from all walks of life”, we
were told on Monday, protesting against Copac’s draft constitution. It
should be sent back to the drafters, the “callers” said, with instructions
that they should incorporate the people’s views.

“Analysts” chimed in to say that people at the helm of the
constitution-making process had failed to steer a people-driven process by
“producing a neo-liberal first draft that undermines national security and
sovereignty”.

This is all very interesting. During the outreach programme Zanu PF’s
followers were coached to make silly demands like President Mugabe should
rule forever and journalists who criticised him should be hanged. When it
became obvious that these demands had no place in a modern constitution, the
party sulked and called the drafters all sorts of names.

One of the things the Herald’s “callers” and “experts” took particular
exception to was the stipulation of term limits for the president. This led
them to make the daft claim that the draft was “an open attack on the person
of the president”.

It also placed Zimbabwe’s state secrets in jeopardy, it was fatuously
claimed.

In reality Zimbabweans have moved on. You just don’t hear of people saying
“we must protect our sovereignty” or “President Mugabe must rule forever”.
What they say is “We want a better life”, and they know Zanu PF is not going
to give it to them.

Prof Jonathan Moyo said the country should go for elections using the
present constitution. That’s curious. We recall him saying in 2000 during
the constitutional referendum campaign that a vote for the current
constitution would be a vote for colonialism. Has he changed his mind ––
again?

Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Radio Day, ZBC
reports, a date set aside to raise awareness of information through radio
broadcasters.

To mark the occasion Media, Information and Publicity minister, Webster
Shamu urged radio stations to enhance their status and effectiveness.
“Whenever broadcasting, one should always convey messages that earn him
credibility from listeners,” he said.

“This is why during the liberation struggle the Voice of Zimbabwe gained
more popularity than stations that peddled falsehoods about the war.
“The whites had a tendency of giving hyperbolic statements with a lot of
exaggeration simply to intensify their propaganda but we stuck to the ethics
and won the hearts of many people.”

Ironically it seems to have escaped Shamu’s notice that ZBC has taken over
the mantle of the RBC. ZBC’s credibility as a news or entertainment source
is in tatters.

Long-suffering ZBC listeners have to endure the abuse of “scorchers”
emanating from the Born Free Crew as well as the rump-shaking Mbare
Chimurenga Choir.

As a result they have had to tune in to Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa to
glean a sober account of current affairs.

In the realm of hyperbole, ZBC has taken it a notch higher. Last August the
broadcaster claimed that the Zimbabwe cricket team had sent “shockwaves”
through the test cricket arena after cruising to a 130-run victory over
Bangladesh in Harare.

Shockwaves, really?

What of the House of Gushungo clothing label which ZBC claimed had “hit the
capital by storm” and was going to “redefine the country’s fashion industry”.
Shamu should address the rot at ZBC instead of pontificating about
credibility which has long departed from the state broadcaster.

He should also implement the cabinet directive to regularise the appointment
of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (Baz) board, which controversially
awarded two commercial radio licences to Zanu PF-aligned companies.

MDC-T-led councils in major cities have come under fire from residents who
accuse the city and town fathers of maladministration resulting in a number
of problems, ZBC reports.

“Residents who spoke to ZBC News accused the MDC-T-led councils of lacking
the pedigree to run city and town affairs while questioning the ability of
the Western-sponsored party to handle national affairs in the event it wins
elections,” ZBC mused.

The continued interference of Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo in
councils cannot go unchallenged. He has thrown spanners in the works of
councils’ operations with the spectre of dismissal hanging over their heads.

NewsDay reports that Chombo has brought in defeated Zanu PF officials
through the back door as Chitungwiza special interest councillors.

He appointed Zanu PF central committee members Joseph Macheka, Tsitsi Jadagu
and Innocent Hamandishe, district coordinating committee (DCC) chairperson
Wilfred Gwekwete and Zanu PF shadow MP for Zengeza East Victor Mambondiani,
who is also a DCC member.

This follows the decision by a “resuscitation” team, appointed by Chombo to
run the affairs of the Chitungwiza municipality, to fire two special
interest councillors last week.

Chombo cannot be allowed to continue wreaking havoc. The electorate should
be the judge of elected representatives, not Chombo.

Meanwhile the colourful MDC-99 president, Job Sikhala, has told SW Radio
Africa that he and 70 members of his party leadership will go on a 66-day
hunger strike at Africa Unity Square in Harare “until President  Mugabe is
gone”.

Quizzed about the significance of 66 days, Sikhala said “in terms of
scientific study, it is said a person can survive 66 days without food. So
we intend to stretch ourselves to the limit”.

“We will be drinking water obviously,” Sikhala says, “but on the whole we
will not talk to anybody, we will not be holding any stones or any axes. We
are going to engage in peaceful means. If it fails and the dictator
continues, we will go into overdrive.”

Asked what he meant by “overdrive”, Sikhala said they would hold
demonstrations to show that “we are tired of the dictator. Any call to
elections in our country is a call to a blood bath,”  he said. “Mugabe has
never appreciated elections as a contestation of ideas.”

Asked if they had secured police clearance for the hunger strike Sikhala
said “how can I request police clearance to refuse eating?”

Sikhala is better advised to take a less drastic route. In 2009 Sikhala
wrote a letter to then South African president, Thabo Mbeki, claiming his
party was “pulling out” of the Global Political Agreement.

“So who wants to know?” was the sentiment at the time!

Meryl Streep has been earning praise for her role as Margaret Thatcher in
the biographical film of the Iron Lady’s career. Famous for her unbending
will, she never enjoyed a joke. But that didn’t stop her stumbling across
one.

At a dinner for her deputy, William Whitelaw, who was retiring from
politics, she made the classic observation that “every prime minister needs
a Willie”.
Perhaps Mr Cameron would care to reply!

Eric Bloch Column: Foreign retail ban: Yet another howler from govt

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 16:30

IT is becoming increasingly apparent that there are some in government who
are determined to bring about the total destruction of Zimbabwe’s economy,
or have such intense fixations on negative and cataclysmic policies which
assure that destruction that they ceaselessly pursue those policies.  And
they do so with total and absolute myopia as to the diabolically negative
consequences of their ill-conceived decisions and actions.

Last week there was once again evidence of such obtuse, adverse, pursuit of
economic instructions. The state-controlled newspapers reported that Youth
Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment minister, Saviour
Kasukuwere, had directed that local authorities and municipalities had to
forthwith discontinue the granting or renewal of trading licences for any
enterprises engaged in retail that were wholly or partially owned by
foreigners (including Chinese and Nigerian traders), and that the retail
sector of the economy should be the exclusive domain of indigenous
Zimbabweans.

The consequences of such an ill-considered, racist and discriminatory policy
will be negative in diverse ways, including not only  being yet another
deterrent to any foreign investment but also potentially a major trigger for
future escalating inflation.

In recent years Zimbabwe has steadfastly discouraged very necessary inflows
of foreign investments to such an extent that although the Zimbabwe
Investment Authority  (ZIA) last year approved investment projects
encompassing foreign investments of US$6,6 billion, less than four percent
of that investment has materialised.

The interest of foreign investors in the immense and very varied investment
opportunities in Zimbabwe is considerable, but is counterbalanced by
concerns as to the security of any investments embarked upon.  The
investor –– with very rare exception –– is understandably unwilling to
transfer funds, technological know-how and access to his or her markets
whilst having no control or authority over the operations of the entity into
which the investment is made.

Similarly, an investor fears the security and the retention of ongoing value
if the environment in which the outlay is made is characterised by
substantial political and economic instability, abuse and disregard for
international and domestic law, and intense over-regulation and bureaucracy.

Almost all investors are very willing to have indigenous partners and
co-investors in such enterprises as they wish to establish or invest in, but
not to be subordinates devoid of any authority or control over that which
they have invested.  In determined disregard –– verging on contempt –– for
such investor expectations and requirements, Zimbabwe persists in demanding
that a majority interest, of at least 51%, must vest in indigenous
Zimbabweans.

As a result they reduce the foreign investor to the status of an
economically powerless junior associate, bound by the dictates of the
majority equity-holders.  Moreover, some of that majority are not even at
the selection of the investor who is providing the substance of the
investment resource, but are selected by government or its agencies such as
the yet to be established Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Youth Development Fund,
and Community Share Trusts.

The latest reported dictate from Kasukuwere, in respect of retail
enterprises, is a further nail in the foreign investment coffin.  It will
apply not only to small grocers, clothing and other shops, but also to major
supermarkets, several of which are already significantly indigenously-owned
but also have as shareholders and investors some of South Africa’s largest
retail supermarkets and other enterprises.

Non-renewal of the trading licences of such trading ventures will either
force their closure or the foreigners will divest themselves in favour of
indigenous Zimbabweans.  This will result in grievous under-capitalisation
of the businesses, placing the continuance of their operations and survival
at very great risk.

Furthermore, the existing linkages between some Zimbabwean chain-stores with
South African businesses enables combined sourcing of trading stocks,
yielding the significant benefits of economies of scale for the purchasing
of bulk quantities of goods at invariably much more favourable prices.
Inevitably, the result of the increased cost of sourcing products will be
markedly greater selling prices, triggering a return to the catastrophically
great inflation by which Zimbabweans were victimised and impoverished in
2008.

The non-renewal of trading licences will inevitably result in the closure of
many stores and not, as the minister undoubtedly imagines, mere transfer of
ownership to indigenous Zimbabweans. There are very few of the latter with
the resources to acquire such ownership, or are even able to source
necessary operational funding.

The consequential lesser market competitiveness will be yet another catalyst
for raising inflation.  Concurrently, that closure of the businesses will
exacerbate Zimbabwe’s already very pronounced unemployment, and further
intensifying the endemic poverty in the country.  It will also significantly
diminish demand for locally-manufactured products, placing yet greater risks
of intensified industrial closures, with all concomitant negative downstream
economic effects.

Moreover, it is very doubtful that the minister is empowered to give
direction to local authorities and municipalities to withhold trading
licences. There is no provision in the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Act, or in its underlying regulations, vesting such power in the
minister.  The only ministry wielding clear authority over the local
authorities and municipalities is that of Local Government, Urban and Rural
Development, although it is questionable as to whether or not even that
ministry could issue such a directive.

It is long overdue for many of those in government to recognise, albeit
belatedly, the concurrent need for foreign investment alongside facilitation
of indigenous economic empowerment, instead of steadfastly and obdurately
pursuing measures which dissuade potential foreign investors from
considering Zimbabwe as a desirable investment destination.

On the one hand, Zimbabwe has an Economic Planning and Investment Promotion
ministry, which diligently strives to promote investment. On the other hand,
the country has a Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
ministry which endlessly pursues policies which are devoid of benefit to the
economy and the populace and substantially negates the promotional efforts
of its fellow ministry. At the same time it resorts to one action after
another which further decimates the embattled economy.

Three years on... ‘GNU still limping’

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 16:28

Owen Gagare
ZIMBABWE’S uneasy coalition government turned three on Monday, the day when
the Global Political Agreement (GPA) principals were supposed to meet to
iron out niggling issues regarding the constitution-making process and the
status of Augustine Chihuri as police Commissioner-General and other service
cheifs.
The third anniversary came a week after President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara held a crisis
meeting over the non-implementation of certain provisions of the easily bent
agreement which is subject to various interpretations.

The Monday meeting was, however, rescheduled after the Copac management
committee failed to provide principals with an update on the
constitution-making process.

Political analysts believe the crisis meetings are a testimony that the
government of national unity (GNU) is saddled with myriad problems and
limping.
Although the GNU is built on shifting sand, the analysts concur life is much
better than a decade ago.

While service delivery has generally improved, the political stalemate which
paned the current crisis has remained and still tops the agenda of Sadc
summits, dampening the spirits of ordinary Zimbabweans.

Political analyst Eldred Masunungure said the GNU has not been a complete
failure despite its tribulations.

“Well, it has neither been a complete success nor a complete failure,” he
said.“There have been improvements in certain sectors. Success has been
registered in terms of the economy and political tranquility.

“Although there are pockets of violence, peace has largely been restored.
The situation is much better compared to the 2008 era, particularly during
the reign of terror witnessed in the presidential election run-off.”

He added: “There has been notable improvement in service delivery compared
to 2008/2009 when we had a cholera outbreak. There is, however, an ever
present danger of resurgence of these problems, now we have a typhoid
outbreak and there is a danger of a cholera outbreak again.

“Nothing is fully functional, we are talking in comparison terms, and things
are better now. Schools had virtually closed in 2008, but by the end of 2009
they were open and functioning, civil servants are not happy.”

Masunungure said the problems in the financial sector and the increase in
inflation were signs that the economy was not out of the woods and warned of
the danger of a relapse. He said the constitution-making process, for
example, had taken too long while the constant quarrels in the inclusive
government were an indication of a dysfunctional coalition.

“On the balance sheet, if one wants to be fair, there have been more
failures than successes, but we have not regressed to the 2008 era,” he
said.
Another analyst, Joseph Kurebwa said the major achievement of the GNU rests
in the stabilisation of the economy and ensuring national peace and
tranquility.

“We still hear of disagreements on certain issues in areas such as national
security, national healing and elections and so on, but I think they have
done relatively well,” said Kurebwa.

Political commentator Blessing Vava said the achievements made by the
inclusive government are insignificant compared to failures.
“I think the success should be measured in accordance with what was supposed
to be done as outlined by the GPA. The GPA talks of media reforms, electoral
reforms, removal of sanctions and pirate radio stations and the crafting of
a new constitution — leading to an election thereby signalling the collapse
of the GNU,” said Vava.

“But a closer analysis will reveal to you that nothing much was achieved,
Zimbabwe has and is still on the agenda at each and every Sadc summit since
the GNU was incepted –– a clear sign that the arrangement has been an
unworkable one”.

He said Mugabe was still abusing his practically unfettered executive powers
to frustrate his partners in government, while political activists from the
MDC formations are still being arrested.

Vava said the state media had not changed its editorial policy despite a
clear call for them to do so in the GPA, adding that the last three years
proved politicians were cut from the same cloth –– only interested in
self-aggrandisement at the expense of the nation.

“Nothing much should be credited to the GNU, save for the availability of
basic commodities which many Zimbabweans are still can’t afford,” he said.
“Service delivery is still poor, there is no money for food, clean water,
electricity, medicines and education for the poor. The country is still
faced by a high unemployment rate and yet the government is bloated with
chefs awarding themselves heavy perks, the buying of luxury vehicles being a
classic case of greed and misplaced priorities.”

Among a plethora of issues which the GNU has failed to implement is the
establishment of a National Economic Council meant to advise government as
well as formulate economic plans.

The GPA partners agreed to commit themselves to working together in
re-engaging the international community to bring to an end the country’s
international isolation, but the programme has failed.

“They agreed to conduct a comprehensive, transparent and non-partisan land
audit for the purpose of accountability and eliminating multiple farm
ownerships. This however is still to happen,” Vava said.

“The GPA calls for free political activity, freedom of assembly and
association, but on several occasions the police have disrupted rallies
organised by the MDC formations which are part of the agreement”.

Most state organs have remained embedded with Zanu PF although the GPA
states they should be non-partisan and impartial.The parties agreed to bring
perpetrators of violence to book, but this has not happened in the main.
Some Zanu PF ministers have blatantly refused to report to Tsvangirai
although section 20.1.4 of the GPA gives him the mandate to oversee the
formulation of government policies by the cabinet and ensure implementation.

Overall, most agreed issues in the GPA have not been implemented and this,
coupled with endless powers struggles and disputes, paints a picture of a
troubled three-year period for the inclusive government.

AU threat to Zanu PF’s sinister agenda

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 16:26

By Phillan Zamchiya

WHY is President Robert Mugabe blasting fellow African leaders in public,
while meeting some in private? What is Mugabe trying to do? Is it in his
interests to throw diatribes at the African Union (AU)? What kind of game
plan is this one, people are asking?

Mugabe met the presidents of Zambia, Guinea and Malawi in  past months. In
public however he has been attacking other fellow African leaders, intensely
clamouring for the revival of the Pan-African ideals and spirit during the
AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mugabe’s  sentiments were mainly projected by Herald columnist Nathaniel
Manheru — believed to be presidential spokesman George Charamba — who
amplified his boss’ clarion call to heroically fight a new wave of Western
imperialism.

Yet it is clear the ideological drive behind all this is designed to
camouflage a repressive domestic agenda meant to derail Zimbabwe’s inclusive
government and revive Mugabe’s Zanu PF party  which has been on a
precipitous decline for  over a decade now. Mugabe is deliberately trying to
delegitimise AU states that are likely to disapprove of his political agenda
and actions during Zimbabwe’s current transition leading to elections.

As the inclusive government goes through its final year Mugabe, who does not
belong to a confederacy of dunces, knows that without embarking on
machine-gun politics his party will lose state power. Yet if Mugabe resorts
to his machine-gun politics, some AU states will publicly denounce his rule
and question his legitimacy.

Within this matrix, more worrying to Zanu PF is the growing pool of African
states that will condemn Mugabe given recent political developments in
countries like Ivory Coast, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia.

There are poignant divisions among AU leaders along lines of those who
believe in African solutions to African problems and those who are more
dynamic and take a global view of the situation.

Without delving into the AU divisions, what is clear is that they are a
threat to Zanu PF’s agenda. The divisions within the AU which played out
openly during its recent summit in Addis Ababa are a portent show of how the
AU could become a problem for Zanu PF during Zimbabwe’s transition. Given
that Zanu PF’s predominant international political base is largely confined
to Africa, the rhetoric about Pan-Africanism is a necessary and immediate
political currency for the party.

In these continental circumstances, the Zanu PF-styled Pan-Africanism
constitutes an attempt to deligitimise some AU states before they speak on
Zimbabwe as “fronts of Europe” or “agents of imperialism”.  This is quite
clearly the reason why Mugabe is now agitated enough to brand those
countries he does not agree with as allies or agents of imperialism. It is
not so much that they are what he claims, but more of a problem because they
don’t agree with him.

By the time the targeted African states condemn Zanu PF’s machine gun
politics, Mugabe would be in a position to say “I told you!”

Over the years, Mugabe has mastered the art of creating camps of patriots
and sell-outs, and insiders and outsiders, when faced with opposition such
as the one he potentially faces from the AU. His anger is always expressed
against defenceless Zimbabweans. He skillfully articulates an
anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist and pan-Africanist agenda to camouflage
political  repression  at home. With some success Mugabe has managed to
project himself as a champion against “new imperialism” in Africa.

However, Mugabe’s rhetoric is losing currency and relevancy because it is
based on selective narratives and amnesia as he has either forgotten or
deliberately ignores the question of civic and political rights which were
equally important in the anti-colonial struggles. No-one has responded
effectively to this, giving a correct version of Africa’s founding fathers
that embrace political and civic rights. A recent outburst by Zambian
President Michael Sata shows some African leaders have bought into Mugabe’s
rhetoric although such remarks are merely spectacular and can never become a
political game-changer.

The other salient point is Mugabe has failed to develop an anti-imperialist
and anti-colonialist narrative in speech which is also truly
anti-imperialist and democratic in practice.

The progressive forces require some ideological sophistry to counter the
selective articulation of African ideals by Mugabe and Zanu PF, particularly
so when imperial wars are sometimes hidden behind the discourse of human
rights across the globe. Civic and political rights can be disconnected from
the neo-imperial agenda. The idea is to articulate the virtues as part of
the African agenda.

It is possible for Mugabe to observe human rights but at the same time
reject neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism. Zanu PF wants Africa to fall in
the trap of throwing the baby with the bath water. The challenge is to
develop a 21st century critique that embraces good governance, democracy and
human rights while critically challenging neo-colonial projects.

With the next AU meeting scheduled for June, Mugabe will continuously play
his game of regimenting AU leaders as sell-outs, fronts, stooges or puppets
against a camp led by himself which he sees  as comprising patriots,
nationalists and anti-imperialists.

Mugabe knows that if Zimbabwe escapes discussion at the June Malawi AU
meeting, the next one will be in January 2013 by which time he would have
completed his project to derail Zimbabwe’s transition from dictatorship to a
democracy. This is in the same way Zanu PF has used the same
anti-imperialist card to try to delegitimise its rivals and the current
inclusive government.

While aware of this AU divide, Zanu PF will push very hard to limit the
discussion of Zimbabwe’s inclusive government to Sadc where it thinks its
stale and static nationalism still resonates. This is why Mugabe fought hard
to persuade the outgoing AU chair not to put Zimbabwe on the AU agenda
recently.

This is also the reason Mugabe has been meeting leaders from Sadc countries
and will continue to do so. In those meetings, amongst other things, he is
most likely to be cunningly seeking support to derail the transitional
project, claiming the GNU is dysfunctional and hence the need for early
elections without creating conditions for credible polls.

Being a juggler, Mugabe would also be seeking to delegitimise perceived
opponents in the AU, arguing that the Zimbabwean question must be left to
Sadc where he thinks he still has some leverage or room to manoeuvre. Mugabe’s
strategy is a calculated move to pre-empt and delegitimise AU opposition to
his continued rule in a bid to mask his repressive agenda at home to keep
himself in power.

Phillan Zamchiya is a PhD candidate, Oxford University, United Kingdom. He
can be contacted at Phillan.zamchiya@sant.ox.ac.uk .

Indigenous banks: Patriotism versus safety

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 16:24

By Ozias Bvute

IN Greece being a CEO of a bank could by now be the worst job that you can
get. “Bailout” is now the buzzword, and all news headlines do nothing other
than point towards a desperate situation which, unfortunately, needs the
bankers and their shareholders to sell their souls.
The huge piles of Greek bonds sitting on bank balance sheets have no known
values, and marking them to market is the greatest nightmare. Banking today
has indeed defied a number of factors that had come to be taken as truths,
such as the popular understanding in finance that “losses lie where they
fall”!

In Greece, economic losses induced by politicians’ behaviour are now lying
on bank balance sheets, and worse still, years of economic excesses have all
converged to lie on banks, hitting their income statements and capital
positions in a big way.

As vultures circle over Greece, the Greek bankers know that their balance
sheets are the primary targets for the huge debt write-offs, and like
sacrificial lambs, they are being led to the altar for the atonement of past
excesses.

The Greeks resent the austerity measures that are being imposed on the
country in order to satisfy conditions for Greece to remain in the eurozone
and thus get additional bailout packages.

On the other hand, the Germans resent the fact that they have to use their
savings to bail out “reckless” spenders such as Greece, Spain and Italy,
among other “reckless” European nations within the euro that may eventually
need bailouts to come out of the sovereign debt crises.

One thing that globalisation has done is to facilitate easy transfers of the
factors of production and technology, a situation that has, over the last 15
years, dissolved the competitive advantage of the Western countries in the
production of goods.

On the other hand, Asian countries have grabbed the opportunities of
technology transfers, blended them with cheap labour and unbridled sense of
nationalism to ride the competitive edge and become big global players.

That has condemned countries such as Greece to be dependent on nothing more
than the service industry as the pillar of GDP, a model that is not
sustainable and that is beginning to collapse the world over. And the Greek
banks now have to carry the cross!

Zimbabwean bankers are in the same boat as the Greeks, but their worries are
different. But they all are carrying their national cross to Jerusalem.
The upheavals in the Zimbabwean economy that characterised the last decade
are now beginning to show their biggest cracks ever, and if not managed
well, Zimbabwe could easily slide into a trading economy, the curse of
Greece.

The competitive advantage of having abundant mineral resources and cheap
labour will come to naught. After dollarisation in 2009 and the ensuing
stability, most companies have started experiencing the real challenges
relating to managing operational costs.

Bankruptcies are now accelerating at a frightening pace, something that
never occurred during the decade of hyper-inflation.

Since 2009, cumulative corporate losses have accelerated to US$710 million,
and considering Zimbabwe’s GDP of around US$7 billion and stock market with
US$3,9 billion, this figure is frightening.

The recent results coming out of CFI and Chemco, among other listed
companies, show that indeed most corporates are still in the woods.
Equally disturbing are the levels of debt sitting on most balance sheets
that remain toxic, a sure sign that the banks will be on the winding road to
recover what they are owed much longer than desirable.

The debt restructuring challenges and subsequent circus at Rio Zim, once a
formidable blue chip company, confirms that the road ahead remains tricky
and treacherous for the banking sector.

On the background of bad and slow performing debts and poor capitalisation
of the central bank, the market liquidity has taken a huge shock, and, as in
Greece, the bankers in Zimbabwe are now having sleepless nights.

The huge publicity the situation is attracting is not assisting; worse still
for indigenous banks that all get labelled as unsafe when in fact some of
them are sound as their liquidity ratios are showing.

At the time of dollarisation in 2009, the economy desperately needed
liquidity to kick-start the process and indigenous banks, for what they are,
shouldered the burden.

Their loan-to-deposit ratios ran well ahead of their foreign counterparts
such as Stanchart, Barclays and Stanbic.

At one point the RBZ implored foreign banks to be sensitive and lend
“generously” to assist the economy to come out of the recession at a time
some of their loan-to-deposit ratios were ridiculously low at about 22%.

The gesture of indigenous banks then was commendable, and they got the
applause for embracing the broad vision of taking the economy forward.
Indeed, the figures of GDP growth that have averaged about  9% over the last
two years and notable increases in productive capacity that have seen more
local products occupying shelf space in supermarkets mean indigenous banks
must be commended for playing  their part.

Definitely the economy would not have come to where it is today if
indigenous banks had taken the very conservative approach of their foreign
counterparts.
But banking has always been a zero-sum game for bankers themselves. All bad
decisions that come to haunt banks are always blamed on bankers, and never
on the economy or borrowers.

When borrowers fail to pay back it’s the bankers that would have made bad
decisions. The borrowers are exonerated. The blame is placed on greedy
bankers that would have engaged on reckless lending to ramp up massive
income.

Most corporates in Zimbabwe are sitting on huge piles of debt and when
evaluating the fact that most of them are making huge operating losses, it
becomes evident that the current liquidity crunch in the market has more to
do with poorly performing debts than anything else.

Banks are now in a dilemma. A huge slowdown in lending will definitely see
the economy miss the projected GDP growth of 9% by a wide margin. Equally,
continuing to lend may create more liquidity challenges for the individual
banks such that they may not live long to be congratulated by policymakers
for playing their part in the revival of the economy.

Given the circumstances, banks will likely settle for the former and begin
massive foreclosures that will, among other things, collapse the housing
market and see rising unemployment as most companies will lose their
equipment and buildings to banks.

A new wave of bankruptcy will grip the economy as banks call-up their loans
from poorly performing companies and surely the end result will not benefit
anyone. And politicians know this for certain. However with the coalition
government, the blame will be swinging from one corner to the other as has
always been the case on key policy aspects.

The RBZ has done well in calming the markets in the monetary policy
statement. But more needs to be done to ensure stability and prevent the
flight of deposits from mainly indigenous banks that, unfortunately, all get
painted with the same brush.

A quick survey has shown that indeed a number of indigenous banks such as
NMB, FBC, Zimbank and Metropolitan, among others, are still able to meet
their customer obligations, but more needs to be done collectively for the
banking industry to ensure that banks that have been taking heed of the
policy maker’s calls to assist in building the economy are not unnecessarily
punished by negative publicity and weak assistance from the lender of last
resort.

Ozias Bvute is the managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket. He writes in his
personal capacity.

Independent Comment: Reforms key to re-engagement

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:16

WHEN Government of National Unity was formed in 2009, there was hope it
would provide an opportunity for re-engagement and restoration of between
Zimbabwe and the international community, especially the EU and the United
States.
The GNU set up a ministerial team to engage the EU on sanctions under
Article 8 of the 2000 Cotonou Agreement. Article 96 Cotonou Agreement of
June 23 2000 – to which Zimbabwe is a signatory – specifically deals with
issues concerning the respect for the rule of law, human rights, democracy
and accountability.

However, not much progress has been since 2009. Zimbabwe still remains
largely a pariah state and parties to the inclusive government are
struggling to convince the EU and the US to lift targeted sanctions imposed
on President Mugabe and his inner cabal, as well as limited financial
restrictions.

The government ministerial team regrouped this week to strategise once more
before embarking on a mission to knock on the doors of Western countries.
The team comprises Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa, Tendai Biti (Finance), Elton Mangoma (Energy and
Power Development), Priscilla Misihairabwi (Regional and International
Cooperation) and the Organ of National Healing co-chair Moses Mzila Ndlovu.

The regrouping by ministers follows a resolution by principals last week
that re-engagement must be resuscitated.

The sending of the team by the principals back into the field to explore
avenues for re-engagement at this juncture could turn out to be an exercise
in futility. The ministers are merely testing the waters as they know how
this will be received in Western capitals.

While the GNU in its early days offered hope for Zimbabwe’s return into the
community of nations, it has over the years continued to degenerate into a
citadel of negative political contest in which principals have had to
negotiate basic tenets of governance on a weekly basis.

Nothing works without a fight and the raging power struggles have stymied
the GNU from dealing with political reforms which are a key pre-condition to
successful re-engagement.

The biggest shortcoming of the GNU has been failure to implement agreed
issues under the Global Political Agreement (GPA). Western governments and
donor agencies argue that re-engagement will be determined by the
implementation of the GPA and progress towards the “Hague Principles”
established for engagement with Zimbabwe.

The principles state that non-humanitarian assistance will be closely linked
to progress on governance and democracy. The reforms specified in the
principles include full and equal access to humanitarian assistance,
commitment to macro-economic stabilisation, restoration of the rule of law,
including enforcement of contracts, an independent judiciary, and respect
for property rights.

Commitment to the democratic process and respect for internationally
accepted human rights standards, including a commitment to freedom of
expression, freedom of print and broadcast media, freedom of assembly, and
freedom of association and the holding of timely elections in accordance
with international standards are some of the issues benchmarked.

The Cotonou Agreement set out the same essential elements of partnership
between European countries and the ACP states, to which Zimbabwe is a
signatory. Respect for human rights, democratic principles and the rule of
law underpin the ACP-EU Partnership.

So what the EU and US are saying to Zimbabwe is that first meet the
benchmarks of your own local and international obligations before sanctions
could be lifted.

The conditions set by the EU and US to ensure successful re-engagement
resonate with keyAfrican standards of good governance. These can be found in
the Sadc Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections which were
promulgated at the regional bloc’s summit in Grand Baie, Mauritius in August
2004.  The principles are restated in the African Union Charter on
Democracy, Elections and Governance. This shows principles on good
governance are universal.

How the GNU has performed

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:11

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai provided his own assessment of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) and Government of National Unity (GNU) in a letter
written to President Robert Mugabe on February 5. Below is an edited version
of the letter.
The GPA

In 2008, we entered into an agreement which amongst other things sought to
achieve two broad objectives.

(a) Restoration of economic stability

(b) Restoration of peace, stability and implementation of democratic reforms
including a new constitution.
The pursuance of the above broad objectives were intended to prepare the
country for a fresh election, which is free, fair, credible and respects the
will of the people.

Progress and challenges

Restoration of economic stability: We have largely restored basic services
although more work is needed. We have recorded modest growth rates. Our
industrial capacity utilisation is improving although we still face
challenges of liquidity in the economy and access to credit lines.

Sanctions and measures

The parties to the GPA agreed that all measures must be removed. Sadc on its
part has been engaging the EU and the US without success.
Government Work Programme (GWP)

There remains a disturbing trend where some ministers and in particular Zanu
PF ministers are not attending the Council of Ministers, thereby derailing
the implementation of the GWP. This trend, Mr President, if allowed to
continue, will make this government totally dysfunctional.

The Land Commission

Cabinet in 2011 mandated the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement to
recommend to the principals and cabinet persons fit for appointment to the
Land Audit Commission which will be given the task of undertaking the land
audit.

May I implore you to urge the minister to comply with cabinet decisions.

Violent acts

Your Excellency up until the tripartite meeting of the parties and
government, there was tension in the country with reported incidences of
violence in urban areas, some of which occurred in our parliament building.
Whilst the perpetrators of these acts of violence are known, both the
Attorney-General and the police are yet to act. May I implore you to urge
the police to act.

Disruption of PM’s Government Programmes

This happens nowhere in the world where a Prime Minister is treated like a
common criminal. May I implore you to instruct the police to respect members
of the Executive in the discharge of their duties.

Arrest of ministers

During the period under review, two cabinet ministers from my party namely
Hon Elton Mangoma the Minister of Energy, and Hon Jameson Timba the Minister
of State in my office were arrested on flimsy charges which our courts threw
out. May I implore you to instruct the police not to be overzealous in the
discharge of their duties and to be sensitive to the fragility of our
transition.

Attorney-General’s office

A professionally managed and fully equipped Attorney General’s office is a
key ingredient of our stability. May I implore you to urge the minister to
gazette the bill.

Appointment/ promotion of Service Chiefs

Your Excellency, I believe you are aware that our amended constitution
requires that all appointments that you have to do under the constitution or
any act of parliament have to be done in consultation with the Prime
Minister.

Implementation of democratic reforms

Constitution reform process: The constitution-making process is at drafting
stage as you are aware. It is important that you and I ensure this process
continues with minimum disruptions so that we can proceed to a referendum in
the shortest period of time and thereby prepare the next phase which calls
for the realignment of some of our laws which might be in conflict with the
new supreme law.

Media reforms: Reforms that we have agreed to as principals have failed to
take off. May I implore you to urge the minister to comply with all our
directives.
Election roadmap issues

(i) Free political activity

(ii) Realignment of security sector.

(iii)  State intelligence service.

(iv)  Professionalisation of ZEC staff.

(v) Amendment of Section 121 of the Criminal Code.

Finally, Your Excellency, time is not on our side as we move towards the
next election. Let us give momentum to our agreement by facilitating the
creation of an enabling environment for our people to exercise their right
to choose their leaders freely and fairly.

Sincerely,
Morgan Tsvangirai

Candid Comment: Overregulation, policy see-saws hurt economy

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:10

Itai Masuku

THIS week we woke up to a new list by Zimra of products that are now subject
to 25% surtax. This replaces a previous one not so long ago which made the
products subject to the same tax. The previous week we learnt of new licence
fees governing the mining sector. This followed earlier announcement on fees
relating to the same industry.

Thereafter we had the Reserve Bank making a raft of new measures, among
which was telling us how much of our money we can withdraw or transfer. It’s
our money, but they also want to determine how we use it.

Then last week, we had minister Kasuks announcing new regulations about shop
trading licences. All in the space of less than a month! Anyone want to add
to this list of rafts of new measures that are constantly being announced in
case we lose track of them? Our authorities have a proclivity for over-
regulating.

If we are not careful we risk sliding back into the old days of price and
what-have-you controls and the damaging consequences on economic activities.
For newspapers it’s good business because the public will constantly need to
know what the latest is and therefore buy the paper every day. One doesn’t
believe that government constantly needs to come up with new laws and
regulations although these are necessary from time to time.

From the little one can remember from ‘O’ level Biology once upon a time,
there is a phenomenon in the human body called homeostasis. The enlightened
will excuse the shallowness of the narrow definition thereof   but some have
defined homeostasis as the property of a system that regulates its internal
environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties
like temperature or pH.  Some key words from this statement are ‘stable’ and
‘constant’.

To these two could also be added ‘environment’ and ‘temperature’.  Drawing
from this definition, we need an economic homeostasis. We need an economic
environment that is stable and constant. We also need an investment climate
(temperature) that is neither too cold nor too hot for business to handle.

Once there is an element of predictability, the investment — both domestic
and local that we are constantly clamouring for will — be a matter of
course. In fact in all living organisms homeostasis is a critical factor.
Agreed, homeostasis is stability and in the natural world, according to the
experts, multiple dynamic equilibrium adjustment and regulation mechanisms
(whatever those are), make homeostasis possible.

In modern economies, governments play the role of the system that regulates
the internal environment. Really, that’s the job of a government. But ours
overdoes it and hence we’re at best an overregulated economy with see-saws
in policy that go against stability. Why the three years of the GNU are
celebrated is because there has generally been financial stability because
of the US dollar.

Thank goodness it’s a multi-currency regime otherwise we would wake up to be
told we are a US dollar economy today, South African rand tomorrow, British
pound  (mmmm) tomorrow, and Greek drachma (heaven forbid) next.