http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in Politics
WHILE
pondering the enormous task of winning souls in the Bible, Jesus
bemoaned
that there were only a few people to assist in this task.
Report by
Herbert Moyo
“The harvest is plenty but the labourers are few,” he
lamented.
In selecting candidates for the imminent, high-stakes general
elections, the
MDC-T seems to have no such worries, but a headache of a
different variety.
Apparently, there are just too many candidates chasing
too few posts up for
grabs in the elections later this year.
You
could describe it as a case of too many labourers for the harvest.
Last
week, some MDC-T officials said the party faces a huge challenge in
coming
up with the right people to govern the country should it win
elections as
most aspiring candidates lack the requisite expertise and
qualifications to
lead.
The party officials said of the more than 4 000 applications
received so
far, only Masvingo province has suitably qualified people, while
most
serving MPs’ qualifications fell short of expectations.
They
warned this was likely to force the party to look elsewhere — outside
its
structures — for people with craft literacy and craft competence to fill
in
government posts should the MDC-T win the next elections.
It is a
worrisome scenario, officials said, that some prospective candidates
list
the Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (Form 2) as their highest
qualification.
There is also a general lack of the right mix of age,
qualifications and
track record of performance, as most candidates with the
right expertise and
qualifications are too old while the young ones lack
suitable credentials.
When the MDC was formed in 1999 against the
background of a groundswell of
disenchantment with Zanu PF’s repressive and
failed rule, it faced the
dilemma of finding educated and professionally
qualified candidates to
contest the 2000 and 2005 elections due to the high
levels of violence and
intimidation.
So dire was the situation that
the fledgling party had to field green former
students who had no working
and professional experience such as the late
Learnmore Jongwe, Job Sikhala
and Tafadzwa Musekiwa to contest against
veteran Zanu PF MPs as experienced
professionals and intellectuals kept
clear of politics, fearing losing their
jobs and destroying their careers.
They preferred only to be associated
with the party in what party
spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora called
“unofficial capacities”.
Fast-forward to 2013 when the political
environment has changed
dramatically. There are now too many people —
including those from the
diaspora — keen to represent the party, amid claims
that some want to reap
where they did not sow or view politics as a way out
of poverty or to good
life, not an opportunity to offer public
service.
Dividing opinion within and outside the MDC-T is whether the
party should
discard tried and tested MPs because of lack of qualifications
and expertise
in favour of johnnies-come-lately who, despite high
qualifications, lack the
experience and courage to endure the rough and
tumble of local politics.
Bulawayo East MP Thabitha Khumalo is one of
party veterans facing MDC-T
purges.
“I built the party’s Bulawayo
East structures from scratch, traversing the
length and breadth of suburbs
from Woodville to Burnside,” she once said. “I’m
not aware of any attempt to
remove anybody, especially tried and tested
cadres as that would be akin to
removing those with an institutional memory
of the party in favour of
newcomers.”
Daily News cartoonist and political satirist Tony Namate
summed the feeling
of party veterans when he said on Facebook: “The MDC-T
says it is worried
about the low qualifications of most of the aspiring
parliamentary
candidates, but when they were in the trenches no one was
worried about
their CVs.”
Former United States ambassador to Zimbabwe
Christopher Dell once said there
was merit in allowing new blood, including
those in the diaspora, to come
into the party and assume leadership
positions.
Dell stoked controversy following the release by WikiLeaks of
secret US
diplomatic cables in 2010 in which he made disparaging remarks
about Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s leadership qualities, describing
him as “a
flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with
questionable
judgement”. He suggested Zimbabwe’s future leaders were in the
diaspora.
“The saving grace of the MDC is likely to be found in the
diaspora,” he
said.
Political analyst and convenor of the Southern
African Political Economy
Series Trust’s policy dialogue forum Ibbo Mandaza
said while ditching the
old party faithful would be “fatal” for any party,
it is important to
technocratise government by bringing in people who are
competent.
“We have a serious problem where we have some people who win
elections
resoundingly and yet when appointed Minister of Transport, for
instance,
they have no clue on how to run the ministry,” said
Mandaza.
Mandaza said Zimbabwe should have followed the Kenyan model
during the
constitution-making exercise where MPs remain in their
constituencies, but
technocrats are brought in from outside to run
government ministries like
chief executive officers.
Zimbabwe
Democracy Institute executive director Pedzisai Ruhanya said purges
were not
necessary.
“The technocrats they are talking about are needed to run
government
ministries and departments. Civil servants will guide the
politicians,” said
Ruhanya. “So in choosing party candidates, they should
not confuse political
leadership with technocrats needed for the civil
service.”
Critics say given the need to balance party loyalty with
competence in
running government, the MDC-T runs the risk of alienating some
of its loyal
but less-educated members for educated newcomers, possibly with
disastrous
results.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in Business
SOUTH
African diamond mining giant, DeBeers Consolidated, is reportedly
eyeing a
major stake in Rio Tinto’s Murowa diamond mine following reports
the group
plans to exit the diamond mining business, businessdigest has
established.
Clive Mphambela
Sources close to developments at
Murowa told businessdigest this week that
as many as seven potential suitors
were eyeing the takeover of part of Rio
Tinto’s stake in Murowa
diamonds.
“Most of those bidders are consortia comprising local and South
African
investors. They include some of the large South African mining
houses
already significantly involved in diamonds,” the sources
said.
In March last year, Rio Tinto announced plans to exit its diamond
operations
in Zimbabwe, Canada and Australia. Rio Tinto Diamonds operates
three diamond
mines — the Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia (100%
ownership), the
Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada
(60% ownership),
and the Murowa Diamond Mine located in Zimbabwe (78%
ownership).
Together, the three Rio Tinto mines produce 20% of the
world’s annual output
of rough diamonds, making Rio Tinto the world’s
third-largest producer of
mined diamonds.
“The first imperative is
for the whole deal to comply with the country’s
indigenisation laws,” the
sources said. “This means that only 49% of Rio
Tinto’s stake is available
for possible acquisition by non-indigenous
players, whilst indigenous
partners will take up the additional 19% required
to reach the
51%.”
The other 10% is likely reserved for employees and management as is
now
common under empowerment structures.
DeBeers is reported to have
once extensively explored the lowveld area and
reportedly failed to locate
the diamond deposit in Zvishavane, which was
eventually found by Rio Tinto
geologists at the site of the current Murowa
Diamond Mine.
DeBeers
has also been linked to successful diamond exploration activities in
Bikita
and Lower Gweru areas.
The eventual final bidder would have to partner
with local shareholders in
order to comply with the country’s indigenisation
laws.
DeBeers has a sound record of working well with local empowerment
partners
in some of the various countries in which it operates diamond
mines. In
South Africa, DeBeers controls 74% of the diamond mining
operations whilst
the local black empowerment partners have
26%.
Debswana in Botswana is a 50:50 partnership between the Botswana
government
and the Swiss-based De Beers Centenary, a 100% subsidiary of DB
Investments.
By far the world’s leading diamond company, De Beers was
founded in 1888 by
Cecil John Rhodes. The company has been run by the
Oppenheimer family or
trusted associates since the late 1920s.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in
Business
THE Grain Marketing Board (GMB) is finalising negotiations with
a foreign
investor for a US$61 million credit facility to recapitalise the
entity’s
commercial business unit as the cash-strapped parastatal steps up
its
restructuring exercise.
Report by Gamma Mudarikiri
GMB
chairman Charles Chikaura told businessdigest this week negotiations
were
nearing finalisation but would not be drawn into disclosing the name of
the
investor.
“We have identified lines of credit to capitalise our
commercial business.
Work to access the facility is at advanced stages,”
said Chikaura.
GMB’s commercial business comprises maize-milling, flour
products, pre-packs
trading and bakeries.
The parastatal this week
commissioned a new milling plant in Bulawayo as
part of plans to roll out
five plants in major towns at a cost of US$3
million to be finalised by end
of 2014.
Chikaura said the project was financed by internal resources and
upon
finalisation, production capacity is estimated to increase to 10 000
metric
tonnes per month from the current 5 000 metric tonnes.
The
first plant was launched in Harare in December last year, while other
milling plants will be installed in Mutare, Masvingo and
Gweru.
Chikaura said the current monthly maize meal production comprised
36%
internal production and 64% subcontracted capacity through toll milling
arrangements was unsustainable in spite of the fact that maize meal is
currently contributing 50 % of total revenues.
GMB said 849 employees
were retrenched from 3 150 in 2009.
Meanwhile, Bulawayo Metropolitan
Governor, Cain Matema has lambasted GMB and
private millers over perennial
failure to pay farmers on time, saying the
development was impairing the
sustainable recovery and growth of agriculture
in the country.
“The
failure by GMB to pay farmers on time is not sustainable to the growth
and
recovery of agriculture,” he said.
“Farmers must feel comfortable that
they have a ready market. It is
disturbing that the private players are also
not paying a fair return to the
farmer while GMB has struggled to pay the
farmer on time ,and this has
negatively affected cereal production in the
country,” said Matema.
GMB is also failing to pay a debt of US$6 million
owed to transporters and
is consequently failing to supply maize to millers
throughout the country,
which culminated in a marginal hike in mealie-meal
prices last month.
Mealie-meal prices marginally surged to US$5,40 for a
10kg pack from US$4,78
at GMB commercial outlets.
GMB however said
the payment of transporters remains the obligation of
government and payment
would be made as soon as treasury avails the funds.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in
Business
Government must restore the financial value of agricultural land
by
developing a robust market for agricultural land which will release a
mortgage market, triggering a natural capital gain in the value of all
land-based investments, the Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) has
said.
Report by Fidelity Mhlanga
In a working paper, the CFU
said in line with recent growth trends in
surrounding African countries, it
was crucial for government to engender an
attractive investment climate for
international and local investors to
finance the agricultural
sector.
The CFU said the current policy framework adopted in the wake of
the
agrarian reform programme was militating against agricultural sector
viability, exposing all farmers to a myriad of problems ranging from poor
access to affordable finance and isolation from international financial
markets, with virtually no access to collateral value.
In addition,
the loss of farm investment security and transferability of
title have
resulted in fewer wealth creation opportunities, poor technology
and less
access to commodity markets.
“It is imperative to establish a credible
and well financed Land Bank to
fund agricultural sector working capital
requirements at affordable interest
rates. This will establish confidence
and incentives on the part of both
financiers and farmers for long term
developments and capital expenditures,”
said CFU.
In his speech
marking the opening of the 2013 Tobacco marketing season,
Youth Empowerment
and Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere said banks
were channelling
peanuts towards agriculture as financial assistance to
farmers has dwindled
from 74% to 17%, forcing them to use meagre resources
to finance expensive
inputs.
The Zimbabwean banking sector remains largely crippled by lack of
liquidity
and a legal framework in the agricultural sector which hampers the
use of
land and agricultural developments as collateral security for loans
or
equity as investment in agriculture is regarded as high risk.
This
is because farmers do not have established track records with lending
institutions and a credible credit bureau is not in place, said the
CFU.
“For farmers this means that the cost of capital is extremely high,
making
the production of agricultural commodities in Zimbabwe uncompetitive.
This
proposal seeks to trigger the potential of local lending institutions
by
creating an enabling environment for them to lend confidently into the
agricultural sector at competitive interest rates,” CFU added.
The
establishment of a land market will inevitably lead to cross sectoral
recovery and boost revenue inflows to the government of
Zimbabwe.
“Greater production in the economy means more jobs and in turn
less social
dependency and more taxes. The Government of Zimbabwe will in
time be in a
position to pay for redemption on the bonds and pay interest on
them,” the
CFU said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in
Business
FOREIGN-owned banks have submitted their indigenisation
compliance plans to
the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
Board (NIEEB) in spite
of a war of words between the banks’ regulatory
authority the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe and the Indigenisation ministry over
the law.
Staff Writer
RBZ governor Gideon Gono’s position is that
the planned sale of the 51%
stakes in the financial services sector is
illegal because there is no law
that provides for arbitrary expropriation of
banking assets in Zimbabwe.
However Indigenisation minister Saviour
Kasukuwere says there are no sacred
cows when it comes to observing the laws
of indigenisation.
The four foreign owned banks — Barclays Bank of
Zimbabwe, Stanbic, Standard
Chartered and MBCA — submitted their compliance
plans to the board last
year.
The other foreign-owned bank, Ecobank,
has already complied with the law
after African Development Corporation had
a share swap deal with Brainworks
Capital, a local private equity
firm.
Gono has, however, urged the authorities not to use the
one-size-fit-all
approach.
He further added in apparent reference to
the Indigenisation Act, that no
legislation is superior to any other except
the constitution.
He said no one had the right to encroach in other
people’s territories by
making frequent attacks on banks even when one “may
not be as knowledgeable
as we are”.
NIEEB Compliance manager Zweli
Lunga told businessdigest that the board had
communicated with the banks ,
adding marathon meetings are scheduled for
next week to finalise and fine
tune the plans for compliance with the
country’s law.
Lunga said
contrary to the stay-away-from-banks stance being promoted, the
foreign
owned banks had brought in their plans for approval because “it is
what is
required of them by the law”.
According to documents seen by
businessdigest, Barclays, which has a
localised shareholding of 32,23% wants
to give a stake to an employee share
ownership scheme, a pension fund scheme
as well as be given empowerment
credits.
The other three banks have
almost similar plans.
Lunga said: “Barclays employee share ownership
scheme is acceptable to us.
Where we have a problem is on the empowerment
credits. This is why we need
to have meetings with the banks so that we
craft the best way of
implementing the plans.”
Barclays has also
proposed to raise funding for the agricultural sector of
up to US$100
million.
Reached for comment this week, Kasukuwere said indigenisation
was not just a
policy but the law, which means all the companies that fall
within the
brackets, must comply.
Kasukuwere said: “If there is in
any foreign-owned company, which does not
want to follow the law then we
will consider them as having taken a
political position.”
The
minister said he had instructed the board to interrogate and scrutinise
the
plans within a week and should come up with a position after
that.
However, Gono this week refused to back down, insisting until he
has been
consulted and laws harmonised, any move on banks would be unlawful.
He said
the central bank was guided by relevant laws which must be equally
respected.
“We have been saying this since 2007 before Kasukuwere was
Minister of
Indigenisation and I would like to repeat that a
one-size-fits-all policy
reflects a sub-optimal strategy towards achieving
indigenisation and
empowerment aspirations of the people in the financial
sector, and this
matter is as clear as the difference between morning and
evening.
“Those who want to proceed without consultation are oblivious to
the
downside consequences of trying to indigenise people’s deposits.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in Business
Zimbabwe’s
internet subscribers more than doubled between 2011 and 2012 as
internet
service providers commit to improve accessibility on their
platforms, latest
statistics show.
Staff Writer
According to Postal and
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe
(Potraz) figures,
internet subscribers stood at 4,5 million at the end of
2012 compared to 2
million subscribers the previous year.
Mobile internet subscribers,
according to the regulator, had reached 3.2
million in the second quarter of
2012.
Potraz figures show that the country’s tele-density rate as at
January 31
this year, for both mobile and fixed telephony, went up 16% to
91% from 75%
prior year.
Teledensity refers to the number of landline
or mobile telephones in use for
every 100 individuals living within a given
area and is normally a mark of
development with areas that have higher
densities normally being
economically advanced than those with lower
density.
The growth is attributable to mobile phone companies that have
given their
combined 10 million-plus subscribers internet access on mobile
devices
through third and fourth generation internet platforms popularly
known as 3G
and 4G.
The mobile network providers-Econet Wireless, Net
One and Telecel- have also
promoted internet use through various
promotions.
Government, through its sole fixed telephony line provider
TelOne completed
the fibre optic cable link between Harare and Bulawayo and
is soon expected
to link Bulawayo and the country’s premier resort town of
Victoria Falls in
time for the United Nations world Tourism organization
general assembly to
be co hosted with Zambia in August this
year.
Zimbabwe’s links to the undersea cable has improved internet
capacity and
quality.
However, internet tariffs remain high, slowing
internet usage growth to full
potential.
According to Freedom House’s
Freedom on the Net 2012 report, there are many
practical obstacles that
hinder Zimbabwean citizens’ access to internet
services, including high
prices and limited infrastructure.
Freedom House said the rate for
pre-paid mobile web access for Telecel,
Econet and Net One is US$0,11,
US$0,15 and US$0,10 per megabyte
respectively, making Net One the
cheapest.
The country’s mobile network providers, for instance, continue
drawing most
of their revenue from voice calls as internet charges are
arguably
prohibitive.
Last year, Telecel reported only 4, 2% of its
US$611 million annual revenue
for the year ended February 2012 came from
internet.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in
Business
GOVERNMENT’S effort to privatise its wholly owned People’s Own
Savings Bank
(POSB) is no walk in the park as investors fret over political
and economic
uncertainty, highly placed sources say.
Taurai
Mangudhla
Officials close to the restructuring exercise, which will also
see the bank
launching a new commercial unit, said there had not been any
interest on the
state asset so far, likely due to the current operating
environment.
“This is no surprise because foreign investors are worried
about our laws
and lack of consistency,” said the source who requested not
to be named.
“We are now pinning our hopes internally, on local investors,
who do not
have the funds.”
However, the official said even the local
investors have also adopted a wait
and see attitude in the face of a
decisive election, likely to change the
political and economic
terrain.
Analysts also argued efforts to privatise state owned banks
could prove to
be a huge challenge as investors generally prefer a flexible
partner with
less beauraucratic processes and willing to disclose
information.
Government recently approved restructuring proposals that
will transform
POSB’s shareholding structure and lead to the possible
listing of the bank
on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
The move is aimed
at enabling the bank to modernise at a much faster pace
with the inclusion
of private players who will bring in capital and lines of
credit. State
Enterprises and Parastatals minister Gorden Moyo in January
said government
had approved a restructuring plan which would also see the
bank listing on
the local bourse.
“Three key issues that need to be addressed are firstly
that the POSB’s
original mandate of serving the grassroots people needs to
be retained.
There is need for the country to have a bank that specifically
caters for
the marginalised sectors of the economy, particularly the
rural-based
population. POSB’s infrastructure and distribution network has
that reach.
And that needs to be preserved,” Moyo said.
“Secondly,
there was a proposal to introduce a commercial unit within POSB
that will be
very competitive. This unit will aggressively engage with other
big banks in
competing in the same space with them. To this end, POSB will
need to be
capacitated through an injection of capital and additional
skills.”
Moyo said this would necessitate the creation of a joint
venture with an
appropriate local, regional or international
partner.
“To this end, the agreed position is that government is prepared
to
relinquish 49% shareholding in POSB to such an identified partner,” Moyo
said. “Government would need to amend the POSB Act to align with the new
strategic thinking.”
Detailed documents on the proposed plan seen by
businessdigest show that
after amendment of the POSB Act, a strategic
investor would then sink in
capital.
Officials preparing the
restructuring memorandum made several
recommendations with four options:
“These options entail invoking Section 25
subsection (3) of the POSB Act
which provides for equity participation of up
to 49% by the private players
in POSB”.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in
Opinion
Popular demands for a new constitution in Zimbabwe largely arose
from a
crisis of state governance and legitimacy, as well as pressure to
democratise the country.
Opinion by Pedzisai Ruhanya
When the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) was formed in 1997 to demand
a new
constitution, they were primarily concerned with the overbearing
structure
of the executive and excessive presidential powers.
Presidential powers,
they believed, had been terribly abused and a new
constitution was needed to
curtail them and allow democratisation to take
root.
The first draft
constitution in February 2000 was rejected in a national
referendum because
it left the president’s powers fundamentally unaltered.
This latest
process of constitutional reform was being driven by Article XI
of the
Global Political Agreement signed in 2008 which formed the basis of
the
coalition government of Zanu PF and the two MDC parties.
The MDC groups
hoped that the new constitution would form part of a raft of
essential
political reforms that would pave the way for the holding of free
and fair
elections.
At the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI) we believe that the
drafting
process for this new constitution has been fundamentally flawed,
producing a
weak and ineffective constitutional draft.
Essentially,
we also think the hype over this draft has diverted attention
from the
other, crucial reforms necessary for free and fair elections to
take
place.
Our critic of the draft is without prejudice. It is appreciated
that
constitutions are born out of struggles, but these struggles should not
be
limited to power struggles but broader principled democratic struggles.
Despite its rallying calls for liberty, fraternity and equality, the 1789
French revolution teaches us that not all struggles against tyranny lead to
democracy.
Any useful analysis of the new draft constitution should
appreciate that it
is a product of political negotiations, horse-trading and
compromises
between the three main political parties in government, not a
creation of a
genuinely people-driven process.
Consequently, the new
draft constitution does not reflect the views and
aspirations of the people
of Zimbabwe, and must be viewed as a transitional
constitution that citizens
should revisit in the future and review when the
political environment is
conducive.
Whereas the draft was crafted by the major political parties
in the
inclusive government, minority parties and interests groups were
sidelined.
Such a critical national pursuit should have been inclusive and
non-partisan.
While Zanu PF and the MDC parties are the major
political players, most
Zimbabweans do not belong to these political
parties. In fact, they
represent a narrow section of
society.
Zimbabweans in civil society, business, minority groups and
small political
parties should have been equally represented in the
constitution-making
process. Since it was a flawed process, the product
would inevitably be
flawed.
The new draft constitution is not a
significant improvement on the current
constitution: it retains excessive
executive powers of the president; fails
to embrace the principle of
substantive devolution; fails to abolish the
death penalty; and retains
discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation, among other things
civilised societies have done away with.
What is more, Zimbabweans in the
diaspora have no right to vote and the
contentious issue of dual citizenship
is not adequately addressed by the
constitution, leaving it to the winning
party in the next elections to
legally address citizenship rights.
To
its credit, the new draft constitution grants significantly more rights
to
women and has more provisions aimed at supporting gender equality.
For
instance, it provides that 60 legislative seats shall be reserved for
women
and that in all constitutional commissions or committees,
representation
shall be 50% women, and 50% men.
Furthermore, for the first time, social and
cultural rights such as the
rights to health, water and education are
protected by the founding law.
The difficulty will be how to realise
those rights, given that the state is
economically incapable of fulfilling
them and government is bankrupt.
Unlike the current constitution, the new
draft constitution also sets term
limits for the president at two terms of
five years. However, this does not
apply to the serving president. So
President Robert Mugabe would still be
entitled to two further presidential
terms under the new constitution. He
can rule until he is 99 years old if
nature and his health allow.
This falls short of what most Zimbabweans
wanted. They expected Mugabe — who
has been in power for 33 years — to be
barred from contesting the next
elections on the basis that he presided over
the state’s political and
economic decay, not to mention his involvement in
colossal human rights
violations during his three-decade rule.
Prior to
its presentation to the legislature, all political parties decided
to vote
in favour of the flawed draft constitution.
Consequently, it received
unanimous endorsement from the two houses of
parliament, the House of
Assembly and Senate: a passage reminiscent of de
facto one-party state days
under Zanu PF.
The two houses rubber-stamped the draft without debate at
all, showing the
parties involved have no regard for democratic
tenets.
Given the elite consensus between Zanu PF and the MDCs
underpinning the
constitution-making process and to support a “Yes”
campaign, their
supporters will vote for the new draft constitution in the
referendum on
March 16 without debate.
Some civic groups, including
the NCA, are campaigning for a “No” vote to the
draft constitution, but ZDI
expects that the draft will be approved at
referendum because the majority
of civil society organisations have been
co-opted into the state after their
main political ally, the MDC-T, joined
government in 2009, which is a
setback for democracy.
Moreover, these civic groups are under economic
pressure to support the
constitution despite its imperfections: the drafting
process was bankrolled
by their major funders to the tune of more than US$50
million.
This has complicated and compromised their position, and
explains why there
is a lack of independent thought leadership, but
sycophancy from this sector
on the draft constitution.
But
ultimately, how much difference would the draft constitution make even
if we
were to hypothetically say it is good? The draft constitution is
ultimately
unlikely to improve the political situation because the
fundamental problem
in Zimbabwe is not the lack of a good constitution, but
mainly a refusal to
embrace constitutionalism and attendant failure to abide
by the rule of
law.
In many instances, the Zanu PF regime simply ignored constitutional
provisions or, where the judiciary ruled government conduct to be
unconstitutional, simply amended the constitution to suit its needs, thus
undermining the rule of law.
In some cases, court rulings and orders
have been brazenly ignored, while
unlawful activities have been
normalised.
This challenge still remains. So too does the problem of
partisan and
politicised government institutions which violate the
constitutional
principle of the separation of powers, for instance, in the
security sector.
Unless there is robust pressure from Sadc and the
African Union as well as
the wider international community, Zimbabwe’s next
elections under this new
constitution will be marked by the same
authoritarian and fraudulent tactics
of Mugabe and his political cabal to
retain power at all costs.
After their 2008 experience, Mugabe and his
party would not want to leave
anything to chance: it is the margin of terror
that is likely to make the
difference again.
Ruhanya is Zimbabwe
Democracy Institute director and a PhD candidate on
media studies.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in Opinion
THE call for
employment of technology in Zimbabwe for both voter
registration and
facilitation of the electoral process is not entirely new.
Opinion by
Samuel Chindaro
Masvingo MP Tongai Matutu called for the introduction of
biometrics, lodging
a motion in parliament to this effect in
2010.
The issue was raised again in March last year by Pishai Muchauraya
who said
though it had been discussed with Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa,
nothing concrete had materialised.
In April last year,
Information Communication Technology minister Nelson
Chamisa also called for
the adoption of a digital biometric voters’ roll.
I also brought up this
issue in July last year in which I explored the
basics behind biometrics
technology. Most recently, calls led by Regional
Integration minister
Priscillah Misihairabwi-Mushonga to have online voters’
registration were
rejected by the Registrar-General (RG) who contends that
this does not
provide adequate checks as required in Section 24 of the
Electoral
Act.
Importance of voters’ roll
The voters’ roll is of paramount
importance for the running of any
democratic election, and as such needs to
be kept accurate and up-to-date.
To hold credible elections it is imperative
to have a credible voter
registration.
The quality of the voters’
roll is a crucial factor in determining the
validity and legitimacy of
election results and can be a deciding factor on
the outcome of
elections.
A bloated or inaccurate voters’ register always has a negative
effect on the
electoral process. The voter registration framework and
processes must be
designed to allow only eligible persons to register as
voters.
Therefore the voters’ roll has a direct influence on the results
of any
poll, as only those on the roll are allowed to vote.
A
deficient voters’ roll can disenfranchise those entitled to vote and an
inflated roll with duplicate entries, “ghost voters” and names of people who
have migrated, lends itself to electoral fraud, for example, through ballot
stuffing and manipulation of numbers without raising an obvious
alarm.
It can also affect the delimitation of constituencies by giving
wrong
indications of the population within each constituency — directly
impacting
on and influencing the election of MPs.
It is therefore
vital that measures be put in place to ensure an accurate
voters’ roll
before conducting any elections in Zimbabwe. It can make or
break the
democratic process and therefore the embracing of any technology
which can
improve this process is important.
State of the voters’ roll
The state
of the voters’ roll has historically been controversial and
debated mostly
during previous elections in Zimbabwe.
It has emerged as a bone of
contention each time the country prepared for
elections, and the anticipated
2013 elections are not going to be an
exception.
Participants in
elections have already raised the issue of ghost voters;
with names of
deceased persons, young people below the eligible voting age
and those who
have migrated. Furthermore, names and addresses of completely
non-existent
voters have been known to feature on the voters’ roll.
Duplication of
names in different constituencies has also been raised as a
contentious
issue, with the high-profile case of Muchauraya whose name
appeared in two
constituencies: Makoni South and Makoni Central in the 2008
voters’ roll
being a prominent example.
The state of the Zimbabwe voters’ roll as of
October 2010 was described as a
complete shambles.
Reports produced
by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) based on
the roll supplied
by the Zimbabwe Election Commission (Zec) at that time
revealed an increase
of 366 550 in the number of voters from the roll used
in the 2008 harmonised
elections.
Debatable figures of 49 239 new voters over the age of 50 with
16 033 of
these over the age of 70 and 1 488 over the age of 100 were
presented in the
report.
According to the report, in Mount Darwin
East, there were 118 registered
voters aged above 100 years old, with a
significant number of birth entries
showing the same date of birth of
January 1 1901.
With research showing only three men and three women were
aged 108 and above
in Zimbabwe as of 2012, the reader is invited to make a
verdict on the
authenticity of the above figures.
A number of
registered voters were either under age or too young (228). The
report also
revealed that 182 564 people were duplicated in the same or more
than one
constituency.
The Zesn report showed that 27% of voters registered in the
voters’ roll
were deceased, with the case of David Stevens, who was widely
reported in
Zimbabwean newspapers as the first victim of the land
redistribution
programme being highlighted.
It is not clear as to how
many people who are in the diaspora (but are not
allowed to vote) are still
on the voters’ roll, but an educated guess should
put this figure into
millions!
According to the RG there were 5 612 464 registered voters by
December 2007,
but the number rose to 5 934 768 by February the following
year.
This number is quoted to have gone down to 5 589 355 by November
2012. These
figures are also debatable according to a report produced by the
South
African Institute of Race Relations, which analysed the roll as it
stood in
2010 and concluded that taking into account Zimbabwe’s population,
age-range
and levels of voters’ registration elsewhere, the voters’ roll
should
consist of a maximum of approximately 3,2 million people.
Even
though these figures may not be entirely accurate and up-to-date, the
above
reports and statistics give indications that the current state of the
voters’ roll does not provide a firm foundation for conducting credible
elections.
The roll provides a recipe for possible chaos
post-elections with results
likely to be disputed by any losing candidates,
as happened in the past.
Biometrics elections in Africa
The proposal
for adopting technology has not just been plucked out of the
air without
considering any precedence. Biometric technology has been used
successfully
in a number of countries across the world, and in particular
Africa.
In 2005, La Commission Electorale Indépendante in the
Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) used biometric technology to register
more than 25 million
voters ahead of the country’s first democratic
elections in four decades. In
Nigeria, some 65 million people had their
pictures taken and fingerprints
scanned and the system was used in
presidential and legislative elections in
2011.
Ghana registered more
than 12 million voters using biometrics in 2012. In
Kenya, after protracted
disputes over procurement, 15 000 biometric
registration kits have arrived
ahead of the elections scheduled for next
month. Sierra Leone’s national
biometric voter registration was carried out
over a three-month period in
2012, registering over 2,5 million people to
vote across the
country.
Other African countries such as Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Zambia,
Mozambique,
Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Cameroon, Somalia and Uganda have also
turned to
technology to improve the accuracy of their voter registers.
Zimbabwe’s
neighbour, Zambia has adopted a biometric voters’
roll.
Almost half a million electronic voting machines were in action in
Brazil’s
municipal elections last year. In a pilot programme, around 7,5
million of
140 million Brazilian voters were using fingerprint-based
biometric
machines.
Biometric technology cannot solve problems rooted
in issues such as mistrust
among stakeholders or lack of political freedoms.
Elections, at the end of
the day, are a political process. In spite of all
the challenges, the
introduction of biometrics in the compilation of voter
registers should
improve accuracy and provide the foundation for clean and
violence-free
elections.
Dr Chindaro is an electronics engineer,
biometrics expert and researcher
trained at Nust in Zimbabwe, University of
Birmingham and University of Kent
in the UK. He can be contacted on S.Chindaro@googlemail.com
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in Opinion
The European
Union continued leaning over backwards in its bid to coax
concessions from
Zanu PF despite the party not budging an inch in effecting
the reforms that
brought about the sanctions in the first place.
By The
MuckRacker
This week travel bans imposed on six cabinet ministers and 21
individuals
were suspended as a result of a “step forward” in finalising the
draft
constitution.
The draft constitution “adds further momentum to
the reform process and
paves way for the holding of peaceful, transparent
and credible elections
later this year,” said the EU statement.
Among
the ministers to get a reprieve was Information minister Webster Shamu
who
has refused to comply with cabinet directives to reform the public media
vowing to take “full control” of state-run media for Zanu PF
campaigns.
Only last year Shamu was threatening to return the nation to
an era of
vicious media repression if the media persisted with an
“anti-African and
anti-Zimbabwe frenzy”, whose meaning he did not
clarify.
Give em an inch …
Ironically, political repression ranked
high among the reasons the sanctions
had been imposed in 2002 yet the EU
believes the reasons why the sanctions
were placed on the individuals no
longer exist.
EU ambassador Aldo Dell’Arrichia, upon arrival in Zimbabwe had
declared the
nation had a free press before even consulting the “free press”
to get their
views.
The EU’s carrot-and-stick approach with a party
bent on retaining power at
all costs is bound to be ill-fated judging by the
adjectives Zanu PF
mandarins were spewing.
It was “totally
meaningless, outrageous, preposterous and divisive”, the
party snarled.
Instead of acknowledging the EU’s concession, Zanu PF
demanded that they be
removed “in totality and unconditionally”.
Give Zanu PF an inch and they’ll
take a mile.
Same old same old
The “revolutionary” party, it
seems, is reverting to default mode. In a
Herald story on Monday headed
“Sekeramayi rallies cadres for massive
victory”, the Security minister was
quoted at a burial on Saturday as
urging Zanu PF cadres to mass mobilise for
an emphatic vote against
“elements trying to reverse the gains of Zimbabwe’s
Independence”.
So the former ruling party has kicked off its campaign
with the same old
redundant jargon that lost it the 2008
election!
Sekeramayi said the forthcoming elections, likely to be held in
July, would
give Zimbabwe the direction to pursue for the
future.
“These elections would determine that Zimbabwe would not go back
into the
hands of the imperialists with the influence of outsiders,” he
said, “or
would be led by people who understand its principles and
sovereignty.”
So here we have at the outset the ridiculous claim that
“outsiders” want to
“reverse” our Independence when all they want to do is
help get us out of
the hole Zanu PF has dug for us.
Sovereign
poverty
It is “outsiders” of course who are paying for the new
constitution and
possibly elections because Zanu PF has run the economy into
the ground. Is
that the sort of sovereignty they want?
Sekeramayi
said Zanu PF was the only party with the people’s interests at
heart.
It is also the only party in the world that depends upon
somebody else’s
currency because it has so liquidated its own. Let’s hope
the sleepy MDCs
recover from their long slumber and remind the country what
nonsense Zanu PF
peddles and how they have the temerity to claim to be
defending the country
when they are busy consuming it.
Some more
‘equal’
The draft constitution upholds the fundamental principle that all
persons
are equal before the law and have the right to equal protection and
benefit
of the law. “Every person has the right not to be treated in an
unfairly
discriminatory manner on such grounds as their nationality, race,
colour,
tribe, place of birth, ethnic or social origin…”
Aware of how
land seizures are in breach of a person’s rights, we are told
that “no such
person may apply to a court for the determination of any
question except for
compensation for improvements effected on the land
before its acquisition
and no court may entertain any such application; and
the acquisition may not
be challenged on the grounds that it was
discriminatory in contravention of
Section 56 (above).
In other words, in the case of white citizens, they
can be deprived of their
right to property on grounds of race, despite the
new constitution
establishing equal rights for all, and are forbidden to
appeal against any
such seizures in the courts.
That is manifestly
discriminatory and investors are unlikely to advance
funds when political
parties collaborate in what amounts to the theft of
property.
Self
sabotage
Meanwhile Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere has
bemoaned the
“sabotage” of the indigenisation programme by “unscrupulous
individuals”
within government and the country “working in cahoots with
foreign-owned
companies”.
Kasukuwere’s diatribe comes amid
allegations of irregularities in the
so-called indigenisation deals with
reports a firm is pocketing millions
from advising on the arrangements,
having been handed the contract without
going to tender. Wading into the
banking sector, where he has threatened
foreign-owned banks of seizure,
Kasukuwere whined about an “attitude
problem” at the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe.
Understandably, his banking credentials will do nothing to calm
restive
markets after his mortal rendezvous with Genesis
Bank.
Inconvenient solutions
‘The statements they are saying
(criticising the indigenisation drive) are
ego trips. They are saying things
that are against the law and are a danger
even to the interests of the
country,” Kasukuwere said.
“There are others who are very good at
criticising, but proffer no
solutions. We would want to move forward, we are
sick and tired of those who
sit and look for mistakes and never provide
solutions.”
This is despite RBZ governor Gideon Gono having announced
that Zimbabweans
interested in joining the banking sector could approach the
RBZ for licences
or takeover under-capitalised banks, giving the example of
Mines Minister
Obert Mpofu who took over ZABG bank.
Clearly such
solutions are inconvenient for a clique bent on grabbing rather
than
investing.
Do as I say, not as I do
Once again first lady Grace
Mugabe found it necessary to implore Zimbabweans
to “play their part” in
conserving and preserving the environment. Not long
ago she was expounding
on the virtues of “hard work”.
“The judiciary should impose stiffer
penalties on people who commit
environmental crimes,” she said recently
without a hint of irony. “It is
important to maintain natural landscapes for
the benefit of future
generations.”
We wonder what she thinks should
be done to those who grab private property
with impunity.
She said
President Mugabe was a “strong proponent” of a good environment and
in his
quest to keep the environment clean had launched the Tree Planting
Day.
Ironically, under her husband’s watch the indiscriminate cutting
down of
trees has become the norm epitomised by the jambanja land grab-spree
which
commenced in 2000. The recent invasion of the Save Conservancy by Zanu
PF
officials and army commanders who engaged in an orgy of wildlife hunting
and
tree cutting is but one example of Zanu PF-inspired environmental
destruction.
Grace Mugabe herself recently grabbed 1 600 hectares of
Interfresh’s Mazowe
Citrus with the promise from Mashonaland Central
governor Martin Dinha to
“give” the Mugabes more land.
Over the years
the effect of Zanu PF on the environment has been palpable,
leading to
desertification in some areas. That does not deter them from
lecturing us
about conserving the environment anyway.
Blasphemy-spree
Finally as if
the blasphemous ranting of the “war vet” Jabulani Sibanda last
week wasn’t
effusive enough, another Zanu PF apparatchik equated President
Mugabe to
Jesus Christ.
“President Mugabe is like Jesus,” Zanu PF Bulawayo
provincial chairperson
Killian Sibanda chirruped. “Why I say that is because
Jesus was sent by God
to come and deliver us from our sins. Similarly our
president was sent by
God to come and save the people of Zimbabwe from all
the challenges we face
today.”
“So as from today know that our
president Robert Mugabe is just like Jesus.”
Curiously Jabulani Sibanda
had described Zanu PF’s Bulawayo leadership as a
“big joke”.
No
argument there!
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in Opinion
IN 1981, only a
year into power, President Robert Mugabe — who turned 89
yesterday —
declared his political creed: “The concept of setting up a party
merely to
oppose and not to assist the government in being to govern on a
national
basis is repugnant to me.”
Column by Mthulisi Mathuthu
He said
this to a clearly stunned Thames TV’s Julian Manyon.
“Not that I am anti
-democratic principles, but rather that I cherish the
principle of national
unity.”
To leave no illusion as to what he actually meant Mugabe went
further: “My
view is that it is a luxury to indulge in politics of
opposition.”
After that the stage was set for Mugabe’s rule and what it
would entail. As
Mugabe turns 89, it is important to retrace how Zimbabwe
under his rule got
to where it is today.
There is a tendency for
some, those who suffer from selective amnesia, to be
surprised about what
Mugabe is doing, claiming he has changed when he has
been consistent in his
aversion for opposition and democracy.
To implement his one-party state
doctrine — which was in Zanu PF’s 1980
elections manifesto — Mugabe straight
away devised a deceitful strategy to
consolidate and maintain power after
his ascendancy through violence and
intimidation even at the height of his
popularity.
He reinforced his pseudo-reconciliation policy — which
ironically came at a
time when he was stoking political fires and pursuing
vengeance against
Joshua Nkomo and Zapu.
Imbued with a sense of
invincibility, he revived the war-time terror
machinery to wage what former
Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay referred to as a
“purported anti-dissident war”
and yet it was, in essence, a crackdown
characterised by fierce repression
and systematic massacres to achieve a
one-party state, dictatorial
control.
Mugabe did not seek just a one-party state, but a totalitarian
system in
which his will would prevail and in which he would be the sole
purveyor of
both goodwill and fate.
After a vicious campaign of
brutality, he secured a quasi one-party state
instead through the 1987 Unity
Accord which marked the demise of Zapu and
advent of the imperial executive
presidency which lies at the heart of
Zimbabwe’s problems.
After
becoming executive president in 1989 following a transition from the
premiership to the new arrangement, he became somewhat of a demigod, with
new overwhelming powers to fortify and defend his fledgling
authoritarianism.
Although his de jure one-party state agenda was
dead in the water by 1987 as
Zapu’s demise was followed by Zum’s rise,
Mugabe still yearned for a de
facto one-party state and thus sought to crash
any opposition in whatever
form it manifested itself.
When the MDC
emerged in 1999, Mugabe upped the ante and went back to his
repression
manual of the 1980s. The MDC, civil society groups, human rights
activists,
farmers, judges, lawyers, diplomats, and journalists, among other
dissenters, were targeted. In fact, everybody who was opposed or critical of
Mugabe and his party came under fire.
As he celebrated his birthday
yesterday, nothing seems to have changed
despite a veneer of peace and
stability following the formation of the
coalition government in
2009.
At 89, Mugabe still looks as fit as a middle-aged man. He remains
guided by
the same creed — a conviction that the opposition is unnecessary
unless it
serves his political agenda and interests.
Strangely, as he
moves into the twilight zone of his long political career,
Mugabe remains
the same: instinctively authoritarian and rigid despite
sporting all sorts
of masks.
He was like this in 1980 when he took power aged 56 and he
still is like
that 33 years later as he turned 89 yesterday. As they say,
old habits die
hard.
Apart from being instinctively authoritarian and
rigid — for Mugabe does not
tolerate a diversity of views unless they help
to reinforce his dogmas — he
also has a skewed definition of democracy,
which is why he would publicly
say with a straight face “my view is that it
is a luxury to indulge in
politics of opposition”.
Besides, his
concept of national development stands athwart to conventional
development.
In his world, competition is alien; ideas can only come from
the top, hardly
from the bottom. It is no surprise then that human rights
activism and
opposition politics remain risky business in Zimbabwe.
Free speech,
including jokes and name-calling Mugabe, is punishable by
arrest or jail
terms. So omnipresent is Mugabe and his antiquated thinking,
which still has
some threadbare purchase on the brainwashed, that he is
almost the climate
in Zimbabwe.
His birthday, as captured by the so-called 21st February
Movement — a
shadowy organisation comprising a hotchpotch of gullible youths
and
praise-singers who assemble annually to eulogise the “Dear Leader”, is
treated like a national event.
Of course parallels abound, with North
Korea providing the best example and
inspiration for Mugabe. That is why he
lifted their idea of getting
followers to praise him to the skies and
treating him like a demigod.
That is also why he hired North Korean
slaughterers to massacre his own
fellow citizens in the 1980s for merely
refusing to vote for him as they
held different views and supported a
different political party.
The now discredited claim that government
security forces moved into the
south-western region to suppress dissidents
and killed civilians as
collateral damage, no longer sells. Even the
gullible Mugabe brigade has now
come to accept that civilians were massacred
for parochial political
agendas — the hatred of opposition and one-party
state ambition. The only
serious question now is whether that was genocide
or not? Quite clearly, it
was but that’s debate for another
day.
Overall, Mugabe’s best moments are when he has had to pursue
opponents with
vengeance. Essentially, his has always been government by
vendetta to which
he still is consistently committed even as he turns
89.
It is this consistence which many confuse for principle. In essence,
he is a
political dinosaur battling the tides of history and inevitable
change.
Mathuthu is a freelance Zimbabwean journalist based in London. He
previously
worked for the Chronicle, closed Mirror Newspapers Group and
Zimbabwe
Independent.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
February 22, 2013 in Opinion
Although a few
countries in Africa have economies comparable with some on
other continents,
the majority of Africa’s states have very fragile
economies with the
majority of their populations extremely poor.
Opinion by Eric
Bloch
All in all, Africa is undoubtedly the poorest of the world’s
continents.
Yet most of Africa’s countries have substantial potential
wealth, vested in
varied resources which could be the foundation of
extremely strong
economies.
Admittedly, some countries have utilised
their diverse economic resources,
including Nigeria and several of the
countries in North Africa; Angola and
Mozambique, who have been accessing
fields of oil and natural gas; Egypt,
that has partially accessed both its
agricultural opportunities in general
and cotton in particular, as well as
its substantive tourism drawcards.
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana,
Zambia and Angola, endowed with many of
the world’s valuable minerals over
and above a number of other significant
sources of national wealth, have
also done so.
All the same, even those who have sought to exploit the
potential available
to them have generally done so to a far lesser extent
than is readily
possible.
In consequence, millions of Africans live
on minimal incomes, suffering
considerable stresses of poverty and extreme
hardships, endangering their
health and that of their descendants. It is an
incomprehensible
contradiction that Africa should have such great latent
wealth, but
endlessly fails.
There are numerous factors causing
failure by so many African countries to
realise their potential and needs or
action to transform their debilitated
economies. Probably first and foremost
are the characteristics of the
continent’s politicians.
With a few
notable exceptions (as was exceptionally the case in the
post-1994 era of
Nelson Mandela’s presidency of South Africa), most of
Africa’s politicians
have little or no real interest in the needs and
desires of the populations
they govern.
Their interests are focused on endless retention of
authority and power,
desiring to rule and govern for life.
Thus they
devote their endeavours on enhancing their grasp on power, having
contemptuous disregard for the real needs of the people. Most of them are
concerned with enriching themselves, instead of the countries they control
and are supposed to lead.
In their avarice for wealth, many of
Africa’s leaders pursue this by any
means fair or foul. They unceasingly
raid the national coffers, no matter
how limited these may be, thereby
rendering those treasuries incapable of
funding their economies.
They
do so by resorting to expenditure inflation on international travels,
on
ministerial salaries and allowances, on luxurious properties, innumerable
motor vehicles, and much else.
To a very extensive degree they resort
to corrupt, unlawful practices,
conscious that more often than not, their
elevated positions of authority
enable them to circumvent actions of law
against them for their misdeeds.
A disastrous consequence of the unending
and varied corrupt practices of the
political elite, who make themselves
immune from accountability and
punishment, is that a majority of the
grievously impoverished population end
up also resorting to corrupt and
illegal practices for survival.
Notwithstanding, African people are
inherently honest, even when they are
suffering and their children are
crying and dying of hunger. They can only
behold the immense wealth of their
national leaders and the corrupt
practices of those leaders, who are
supposed to lead by example.
Desperate to minimise the hardships their
families and dependants suffer,
some of the people abandon their concepts of
honesty and instead emulate the
leaders. By so doing, they further decimate
the economies.
The inadequacy of economic development in Africa is lack
of developmental
capital, which is essential. The minuscule economies cannot
provide the
start-up capital required, and yet a majority of the needy
countries
effectively discourage foreign investment.
The political
leaders have fixations against according non-nationals the
opportunity of
investing in the economic opportunities of their countries,
notwithstanding
that attaining foreign investment is effective partnership.
For the
foreign investor provides capital, technological inputs and access
to
markets, while the country is not only providing access to resources and
the
economic opportunities, but benefits from infrastructure development,
creation of employment, taxation revenues and eradication or minimisation of
poverty.
Almost all of Africa needs to learn that partnership means
reciprocal
collaboration and benefit. Also necessary is to recognise that
foreign
investment is hardly ever forthcoming unless investors believe that
their
investments will be secure in a stable, democratic, political
environment
with rule of law and order, sound economic policies, as well as
physical
security for all.
Governments must ensure that all essential
infrastructural facilities exist
to an extent necessary to service the
entirety of the economy and the needs
of all the population and that such
facilities are properly maintained and
fully operative.
They should
also be enhanced timeously to meet growing needs of the economy
and the
people.
This applies to all essential utilities and services, including
energy,
water supplies, telecommunications, roads, rail and air
services.
The reticence of most politicians to facilitate privatisation
of loss-making
state enterprises is an immense retardent to economic
development and
stability.
