http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012
12:18
Faith Zaba
THE conflict between Finance minister Tendai Biti
and Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority (Zimra) boss Gershem Pasi (pictured right),
in which the minister
is trying to relieve the tax chief of his job
escalated this week, with the
chief tax-collector getting the backing of
President Robert Mugabe and
several cabinet ministers to retain his
job.
This comes after Biti stepped up his efforts to oust Pasi by
raising
concerns over the slow implementation of critical projects and the
allegedly
inhumane treatment of travellers at border posts who were being
subjected to
body searches.
Government sources told the Zimbabwe
Independent this week that the concerns
were raised at a meeting held
recently among Biti, his officials and Zimra
board members.
The
issues raised included harassment of travellers at border posts, lack of
progress in implementation of projects that included automation, use of
fiscalised tax registers, cargo tracking, a large taxpayer’s office and
construction of a new Zimra head office.
These issues, the Zimra
boss’ allies say, were merely political machinations
to ensure that Pasi did
not succeed in the second round of interviews for
the post expected
soon.
The latest developments are likely to widen the rift between
Mugabe and
Biti, who are already deeply-divided over Pasi’s fate after his
contract
expired in October last year.
Mugabe, the sources said, had made
it clear to Biti that Pasi is not going
anywhere, although the minister says
Pasi is incompetent.
However, those supporting Pasi’s stay say under
his leadership Zimra had
surpassed its revenue targets, including in the
third quarter of 2011. Total
net collections for the quarter amounted to
US$660,7 million against a
target of US$654,9 million. Cumulative net
collections for 2011 were
slightly less than US$2 billion.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012 12:03
Owen
Gagare
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is headed for a head-on clash with members
of the
Joint Operations Command (JOC) pushing for the arrest of Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai (pictured) on allegations of misappropriating
US$1,5
million allocated by the Reserve Bank for the purchase of his
official
residence in 2009.
JOC comprises heads of
the country’s police, army, prisons’ service and the
Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO). Official sources say security
service chiefs were
desperately campaigning for Tsvangirai’s arrest over the
issue before the
next elections. It is said they wanted the premier picked
up last September
while Mugabe was at the United Nations General Assembly in
New York, a move
which would have triggered local and international
outrage.
JOC hardliners were also probing to check if Finance
minister Tendai Biti
was not an accomplice. They also wanted to arrest Biti
over the US$500
million (SDR funds) which the IMF gave Zimbabwe in
2009.
The situation deteriorated this week amid revelations that
Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono, who was the negotiator between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai
when the deal to give the premier $1,5 million was struck in late
October or
early November 2009, was facing arrest for “obstruction of the
course of
justice”. Gono was not available for comment.
Mugabe is
reportedly sceptical over the issue, while JOC hardliners are
convinced
Tsvangirai had a case to answer because he allegedly engaged in
“double-dipping” after he got $1,5 million from Reserve Bank and $1 million
from Treasury to buy and renovate the property located at 49 Kew Drive in
Highlands.
Mugabe fired warning shots across the bows of JOC
bosses this week, saying
police should not “just rush to make up things
against the prime minister”.
JOC’s position appeared to be becoming
increasingly untenable this week
amid disclosures that Vice-Presidents John
Nkomo and Joice Mujuru, Deputy
Prime Ministers Arthur Mutambara and
Thokozani Khupe were also building
houses with “state assistance” as part of
a programme approved by Mugabe,
raising questions why Tsvangirai was the
only one targeted.
“It will be interesting to check who the
complainant in this case is. Is it
the president, who approved the project,
is it the RBZ or the Minister of
Finance who released funds? I can tell you
that none of the above is the
complainant, so the next question is pushing
this investigation?” a source
said.
“Well, it’s some members of
JOC, but this case is going nowhere because you
have an unwilling star
witness in Gono and the involvement of the
president.”
The case is so
high profile that it is being handled directly by Police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, who sits on JOC. Criminal
Investigating (CID) chief superintendent Alison Nyamupaguma is leading the
investigation team.
The detectives have been to RBZ, several
banks and the courts and trawled
documents in a bid to nail Tsvangirai.
Nyamupaguma wrote to the RBZ on July
18 last year asking for help to gather
more information.
Details show that letters had been flying between
top police offices,
including that of Chihuri, and the banks as part of the
investigations. The
RBZ and four commercial banks, CBZ Bank, ZB Bank,
BancABC and Interfin are
involved in the case.
Police last year
obtained a warrant of seizure from the courts in terms of
the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act to facilitate their investigations,
particularly
to confiscate documents from the banks.
After Chihuri wrote to RBZ
governor Gideon Gono last year and got several
responses to his queries,
relations between the two started deteriorating
amid misunderstandings and
accusations that Gono was not being sufficiently
cooperative.
As
a result of clashes within government and JOC over the issue, information
was filtering through this week that police wanted to arrest Gono over the
issue.
“It’s a very complicated issue, but the long and short of it is
that after
Tsvangirai and the MDC-T pulled out of government in October
2009, Gono
acted as mediator between the president and the prime minister,”
a source
said.
Sources said the deal to assist Tsvangirai with
funds to buy a house was
struck just before a crucial Sadc troika summit in
Maputo, Mozambique where
Zimbabwe was top of the agenda following the MDC-T
withdrawal from
government on allegations that Zanu PF was violating the
GPA.
“MDC-T had a list of 28 grievances, including Mugabe’s refusal
to allocate
Tsvangirai an official residence. Tsvangirai complained that
Mugabe was
staying at Zimbabwe House while he was prime minister but was
denying him
the opportunity to stay there when both State House and Zimbabwe
House were
vacant,” said the source.
“The two (Mugabe and
Tsvangirai) then met and ironed out some of the issues
and in that meeting
it was agreed that Gono would look for money for
Tsvangirai to buy a house,
resulting in the release of the US$1,5 million.
“Tsvangirai wanted more
money but it was later agreed he would use the
allocation to buy a house
after which treasury would release more funds for
renovations. The agreement
was struck at a crucial time for the country and
the two leaders were keen
not to embarrass each other by talking about petty
issues such as failure to
allocate the PM a house at a Sadc summit,” said
the source.
Tony
West real estate was then tasked to identify the house before funds
were
released from the central bank to CBZ. Tsvangirai’s close relative,
Hebson
Makuvise, now Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Germany, received the funds on
behalf
of the premier and did the all transactions that later followed as
the money
was transferred through various. Makuvise was involved because top
government leaders usually do not use their own banks accounts to transfer
money.
The securocrats have been eager to nail Tsvangirai over
the alleged fraud
case and double-dipping. It has since emerged Mugabe was
aware of the
project and approved release of the funds, hence his reluctance
to have
Tsvangirai arrested.
Mugabe told ZTV in his 88th birthday
interview on Tuesday that the police
should be have solid evidence before
moving against Tsvangirai.
“What we don’t want is people getting arrested on
the basis of evidence
which is not clear and on the basis of facts which
have not been thoroughly
investigated,” said Mugabe.
“The police
must investigate these cases thoroughly so that by the time they
get to the
stage of building a case and taking it to the court, they are
quite sure
that they have a case against the particular individual to who it
relates,
but just rushing to build a case against somebody doesn’t do us
good at all.
If anything, it harms our reputation and I hope they have
investigated the
matter thoroughly, not just rush to make up things against
the prime
minister.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012
12:47
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will tackle the faltering
constitution-making process and crucial reforms needed before free and fair
elections can be held when he addresses journalists at his monthly media
briefing in Harare today.
Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke
Tamborinyoka confirmed the prime minister would
touch on issues embracing
the ongoing squabbles over the drafting of a new
constitution, the standoff
over the unilateral reappointment of service
chiefs by President Robert
Mugabe, the stalled Government Works Programme,
the dysfunctional Council of
Ministers and his recent tour of the Chiadzwa
diamond fields, among a host
of issues.
Mugabe recently angered his partners in the coalition
government when he
renewed the contract of police Commissioner-General
Augustine Chihuri
without consulting Tsvangirai as stipulated in the Global
Political
Agreement (GPA). The GPA requires that senior appointments be made
in
consultation between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Drafting of the
country’s new constitution has been riddled with confusion,
controversy and
even some comic scenes, with the three main political
players leading the
constitution-making processpublicly wrangling over
issues to be included in
the document.
Mugabe and senior Zanu PF officials have accused the
principal drafters of
being biased against their party and demanded that the
entire process be
abandoned and elections held under the current
constitution.This followed
clashes over the structure of the executive, dual
citizenship, gay rights,
devolution, and the national prosecuting
authority.
There is also a storm raging over proposals for a
maximum presidential age
limit. The proposed age limit is 70 years, and its
inclusion would
effectively bar Mugabe from contesting the next polls as he
turned 88 on
Tuesday.
There is also wrangling over the
wording of the two-term limit which some
say bars Mugabe from standing,
although lawyers say it does not.
Zanu PF says it will never allow
these clauses to be included in the draft
constitution. Tsvangirai and the
MDC formations are of the view that holding
elections without addressing the
root causes of the country’s political
paralysis risks creating a deeper
crisis, but Zanu PF has threatened not to
cooperate any further in the
drafting process saying the people’s input
captured during the outreach
programme had been completely ignored. Mugabe
and his party are thus now
pushing for elections with or without a new
constitution.
However, the two MDC parties maintain that the
sudden push for elections
with or without a new constitution or tangible
reforms would be clear
repudiation of the GPA and of theSadc and AU
leaders.
Laws that the MDC parties want amended before they can
entertain any talk of
elections include Posa, Aippa, the Police Act and the
Public Health and
Health Services Act as well as the introduction of a new
statute to regulate
operations of the Central Intelligence Organisation.
They also want media
and security sector reforms to remove the public media
from control by the
ruling party and for thestate security forces to stop
acting in a partisan
way in support of Mugabe and Zanu PF.
The
MDC parties also want the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to recruit new
staff
before the elections, while a new voters’ roll must be compiled.
The
Government Works Programme has proved to be a major headache for the
coalition government with only a fraction being implemented by the end of
2011 due to lack of capacity as most professionals have sought economic
refuge outside the country. Tsvangirai is likely to unveil a new way forward
since this programme is crucial to the rehabilitation of the country’s
dilapidated infrastructure.
Tsvangirai believes that failure of
the GWP largely emanates from lack of
commitment and the failure of the
government to implement its programme.
–– Staff Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012 12:57
Elias
Mambo
EDUCATION minister David Coltart has taken a swipe at the inclusive
government for spending three times more on globetrotting than education
since coming to office in 2009. Finance minister Tendai Biti in his 2012
budget said foreign trips gobbled US$45,5 million.
Coltart told
guests at the signing ceremony of a US$6,5 million Education
Transition Fund
phase 2 with the European Union that for three years, the
coalition
government had adopted skewed priorities by spending money on
foreign
travels and other activities instead of resuscitating the country’s
ailing
education sector.
Coltart said the government’s priorities were
shameful since they were not
complementing efforts by donor partners who
have breathed life into the
education sector by providing about 20 million
textbooks to primary and
secondary schools in the first phase of the fund in
2009.
The EU has been on a drive to return Zimbabwe’s education
system to its
former glory by pumping funds to train at least 100 000
teachers, key
ministry personnel and 8 000 school heads.
Coltart
revealed that the government was spending only US$5 per child a year
on
education, and instead of his ministry being allocated about US$60
million
it hoped to receive in the national budget, it only received US$14,5
million.
This is a pittance compared to the US$20,6 million spent
by President Robert
Mugabe on foreign travel last year.
About US$54
million is needed to revive the once admirable education system
and Coltart
applauded the EU for taking steps in helping to tackle the
crisis.
Although the education sector had registered positive
growth due to
sustained investments mostly from Western countries, the
sector remained
fragile as evidenced by dilapidated infrastructure at the
country’s schools.
“Education remains in a state of crisis. One only
has to go to see the
infrastructure at the schools and the just ended strike
by teachers also
revealed that the situation is still fragile,” said
Coltart.
Political commentator Blessing Vava said: “We welcome the
move by the EU
given that our own politicians focus on self-aggrandisement
and our own
government is extravagant as shown by the luxury vehicles they
bought
themselves at the expense of improving service delivery, health,
education
and other government priorities.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012 12:56
Wongai
Zhangazha
THE battle over the new constitution has intensified with the
MDC formations
defending the constitution-making process following
widespread attacks by
some sections of civil society that the ongoing
process was not people
driven.
Clashes over the new constitution
are now escalating within Copac, civil
society, political parties and among
pricipals. MDC secretary-general
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (pictured
right) and her MDC-T counterpart
Tendai Biti have fiercely defended the
constitution-making process saying it
would be “naive” for anyone to assume
the process could be purely
people-driven.
They particularly
rejected criticism from National Constitutional Assembly
chairman Lovemore
Madhuku accusing him of not being honest with the aspect
of a people-driven
constitution.
Madhuku has been on the offensive against the
constitution-making process.
He dismissed the first draft of the proposed
constitution as a replica of
the Kariba draft.
The Kariba draft
was crafted during a retreat to the resort town of Kariba
by representatives
of Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC in 2007.
President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF are
also threatening to reject the
current draft
constitution.
Madhuku said as long as the constitution-making process
remained exclusively
in the hands of the three political parties in the
Global Political
Agreement, the resultant product would be a Kariba
draft-like document
vesting all powers in an executive president and not
doing enough in social
and economic rights.
He threatened to
campaign for the rejection of the draft arguing it was not
people-driven.
However, Misihairabwi-Mushonga accused Madhuku of not being
honest over the
issue.
“Some of us are founders of the NCA and we know what we meant
by
people-driven,” said Misihairabwi-Mushonga. “It was never that people
will
sit under a tree and write a constitution, and even Madhuku himself
knows
that. So to some extent, he is just politicking. I’m sure he is
sufficiently
intelligent a man to understand that we will not have a
situation where
people themselves will sit down and write the constitution,”
she said.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said the NCA draft constitution was
itself not written
by the people. “He (Madhuku) knows it. We went and spoke
to people and sat
down with those that were part of the management committee
of the NCA and
distilled those issues from what people were saying, and from
the best
practices as well as what we felt was progressive at that
particular point
in time.”
She said the constitution-making
exercise as always going to be a negotiated
process and people would have
been naive to assume that all the things that
people said during the
outreach programme would be put in the draft. Some of
the things that people
had said were emotional and not progressive.
“The reason why we have
a negotiated process in this thing is that a
constitution can only be a
constitution if it’s accepted and the three
political parties are in
agreement. Remember it has to go through
parliament. So unless you have a
buy-in from all the three political
parties, you are wasting your time,”
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said.
Biti said although the outreach process
was not without its own problems,
for critics to say people were not
consulted was an insult.
“The negotiating element is where we are right now.
There have been parked
issues where the parties are going to negotiate. I
know this process is
impolitic. To a large extent, you can say it is not
people-driven, fair and
fine, but it is such an important process that has
had a substantial number
of people participating that you can’t
ignore.
“The attitude is that let’s make the best of this process and
get the best
constitution. If Zimbabweans five years from now want another
constitution,
it is their constitutional right. In terms of the substantive
contents of
the constitution, there is no such thing as a transitional
constitution. So
if you fail to get it right, even with that flawed process,
don’t think you
will get it right the second time,” said Biti.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012
12:53
Brian Chitemba
THE MDC-T has reined in warring councillors
engaged in fierce battles over
committee posts on the Bulawayo City Council.
The party assigned its
national chairman Lovemore Moyo (pictured) and Luveve
MP Reggie Moyo to deal
with the intra-party skirmishes threatening to split
the party in council
chambers.
Lovemore Moyo, who is also Speaker
of Parliament, confirmed to the Zimbabwe
Independent that he had met
Bulawayo mayor Thaba Moyo at City Hall on
Friday, but he denied reading the
riot act to the mayor over the issue.
“It was an informal engagement
but we didn’t discuss the problems at the
council,” said Lovemore Moyo, who
is the chairperson of MDC-T’s conflict
resolution and management committee.
“What I know is that the party’s
secretary for local government, Sesil
Zvidzai, is seized with the matter and
we are waiting for
feedback.”
As part of efforts to contain the local authority feud,
councillors were
this week locked in a conflict-resolution retreat in
Beitbridge.
Following the eruption of an internal feud among the 24 MDC-T
councillors
over committee posts late last year, the party summoned them to
its Bulawayo
provincial headquarters for a meeting chaired by Zvidzai where
they were
told who to vote for committee chairpersons, but some of them
rebelled
against this instruction.
Although they had been
instructed to vote for Councillor James Sithole as
Finance Committee
chairperson, the MDC-T councillors ignored the directive
and instead voted
for Edward Ndlovu of the MDC led by Welshman Ncube.
However, sources
maintained that Lovemore Moyo had read the riot act to the
mayor for failing
to control the councillors. “Lovemore Moyo and Reggie Moyo
met the mayor to
solve the feud rocking City Hall.
The selection of council
chairpersons was messy because MDC-T councillors
voted for those belonging
to MDC. It is likely that the party will take
action against some
councillors with links to the MDC,” said a senior
councillor this
week.
Problems stalking the MDC-T started when past General Purposes
committee
members failed to block a resolution to rotate the chairmanship
annually
instead of five years.
Council committees are
influential particularly in the selection of
companies to be awarded tenders
as well as expenses-paid trips and
attractive subsistence
allowances.
The motion to rotate the committee members stemmed from a
raging debate over
the alleged involvement of deputy mayor Amen Mpofu in the
awarding of a
parking tender to Easipark.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 23 February 2012 16:06
ALMOST
endlessly, for more than a quarter of a century, and with almost
constantly
increasing intensity, many of Zimbabwe’s overly-long in office
political
leaders devote much of their time to harangue, berate and
castigate Western
countries. Their doing so is undoubtedly primarily
motivated to mislead and
deceive the people as to the real causes of
Zimbabwe’s innumerable economic
ills (those real causes being almost
entirely the mismanagement of the
economy by the politicians, including
immense corruption by them and their
underlings, failure to recognise the
need for critical policy changes,
pursuit of self-centred policies anathema
to first world democratic
countries, and the like).
Instead of pursuing reciprocal friendship
and collaboration with the Western
countries in general, and the former
colonialist states in particular, the
politicians determinedly and obliquely
reject opportunities for interaction,
conciliation and frank,
non-confrontational airing of views with a view to
restoring mutually
beneficial interactions and collaboration.
They endlessly contend
at rallies and other public gatherings, in parliament
and through the media,
that the Western countries are destroying Zimbabwe’s
economy with
deep-seated intents to achieve the over-throw of those
politicians, the
recolonisation of Zimbabwe, and to all intents and purposes
to gain control
over Zimbabwe’s natural resources and its people.
These policies and
intents of many of the country’s political hierarchy are
reinforced by a
vigorous promotion and adulation of a “Look East” policy,
with a concurrent
oblique persuasion to be blind and oblivious to others be
they north, south
or west, irrespective of the benefits that could accrue to
Zimbabwe from
wide-ranging interaction and collaboration, and to disregard
any negatives
associated with concentrated focus upon eastern countries.
To a
considerable extent, the attitude of the politicians is founded upon
massive
“chips on their shoulders” because of pre-Independence
discrimination and
ills inflicted by colonial powers.
They are imbued with the belief that
“the sins of the fathers are visited
upon their sons, unto the fourth
generation”, to such an extent that they
deliberately ignore the other
Biblical injunctions “to turn the other cheek”,
and to “forgive and
pardon”. They also ignore the fact that although there
can be no
justification for the racial discrimination that prevailed during
much of
the colonial era, there were also many benefits to the country
during that
era, including the identification and conversion to productive
usage of
innumerable natural resources, benefiting not only the colonialists
but some
of the populace.
The colonial era brought to the country
educational and health services,
technology transfer, employment creation,
and much else which did not exist
prior to the colonial era. That this was
so does not condone the
discriminatory practices that then prevailed, which
deserved severe
condemnation but nevertheless there were some compensatory
benefits.
Whilst the Look East policies of the post-Independence
regime has yielded
some loan financing and limited investment (including a
marginally effective
cement factory, some brickfields, a few gold mines and
innumerable small
trading outlets), the benefits to Zimbabwe have been
relatively minimal.
Those policies have not significantly addressed the
massive unemployment
prevailing in Zimbabwe, and the concomitant
wide-ranging poverty. They have
not minimised the magnitude of the national
debt, and not had any major
impact upon Zimbabwe’s continuing adverse trade
balance. Nor have they
materially aided the elimination of Zimbabwe’s many
other economic ailments.
The harsh reality is that, in order to have
a virile, nationally supportive
and constructive, economy, Zimbabwe cannot
“go it alone”, and likewise
cannot achieve it by constraining its
international economic associations to
a few selected Far East countries.
Zimbabwe desperately needs extensive
investment into almost all economic
sectors, most of which have very
considerable potential in the medium and
long term.
It needs not only capital resources but also
technology transfer; enhanced
access to international markets, substantive
value-addition to its plethora
of primary products; revitalisation of its
utility resources and the supply
thereof, and very considerable employment
creation. These are not
sufficiently forthcoming from Zimbabwe’s Far East
friends, and Zimbabwe
needs to look for them more widely. But that it
cannot do if it
never-endingly criticises, admonishes and insults the
countries from which
these economic benefits could
emanate.
Numerous first world countries’ investors would very readily
invest in
Zimbabwe’s economy if a conducive investment environment existed,
and if
that conduciveness included assured investment security, but such
environment does not presently exist. Many would invest if they were
accorded a friendly and collaborative reception, instead of being faced with
an atmosphere of resentment and apparent hatred for their
countries.
The reality is that first world, Western countries
cannot favour a country
which only pretends to pursue the fundamental
principles of democracy, the
observance and maintenance of law and order,
protection and preservation of
property rights, and respects the rights and
equality of all, irrespective
of race or origin. And most of these
attributes are very evidently absent
from any of the policies and statements
of many of Zimbabwe’s leading
politicians and rulers.
Instead,
those politicians and rulers continuously censure and chide
Zimbabwe’s
would-be friends, centring most of their vociferous hatred upon
what is
referred to as “illegal international sanctions”, and contending
that those
sanctions are the sole cause of the Zimbabwean economic morass.
They found
the allegation of “illegality” upon the fact that the sanctions
were not
initiated by the United Nations, whereas the reality is that any
country is
entitled to determine which countries it will interact, provide
funding, and
trade, and with which countries it will not do so.
The recurrent
attacks upon the West for its sanctions disregard that those
sanctions are
not wielded against the Zimbabwean people and their economy as
a whole, but
only against specifically identified individuals who abuse
democracy and law
and order, against government and its state-owned
entities, and against
enterprises owned by such individuals.
No sanctions are applied
against private enterprise, or against a majority
of the populace. The only
substantive negative economic consequences of the
sanctions are that
government cannot borrow monies from those applying the
sanctions, and that
the grossly mismanaged parastatals cannot seek recovery
support from the
sanction-imposing countries. Concurrently, the existence of
the targeted
sanctions enables the politicians to deceive the Zimbabwean
population that
the economic ills are solely a consequence of the sanctions.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 23 February 2012 16:00
Owen
Gagare
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (pictured) toured the
diamond-rich Chiadzwa
mine fields last week and was seemingly astounded by
the amount of work
being carried out in the area before declaring that there
should be
transparency in the marketing of diamonds.
Tsvangirai
suggested that revenue trickling into treasury coffers was not a
true
reflection of the work being done by the four companies operating at
the
fields, Anjin, Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources and Diamond Mining
Corporation –– a concern which has been raised by different stakeholders on
several occasions. The involvement of state security institutions in the
mining of Chiadzwa diamonds has helped fuel belief that some of the proceeds
from diamonds were not finding their way to national
treasury.
The army, for example, is in partnership with Anjin
while the police,
Central Intelligence Organisation and Zimbabwe Prison
Service are also said
to be involved.
“We must show transparency
in the way we exploit this resource; the way we
market it and the way we
benefit for all of our very wide range challenges
we face as a country,”
Tsvangirai said.
Finance minister Tendai Biti has been leading calls
for transparency and
accountability on how the Chiadzwa diamonds are
handled. Several
non-governmental organisations and international
organisations such as
Global Witness have also called for transparency in
operations at Chiadzwa.
Three days before Tsvangirai’s tour, Global Witness
released a report titled
Diamonds: A Good Deal for Zimbabwe, questioning
whether all revenue from
diamonds was finding its way to national
treasury.
The organisation said it was concerned that the Anjin
Zimbabwe board members
included senior serving and retired military and
police officers.
“Control by the military and police over a major diamond
mining company
creates opportunities for off-budget funding of the security
sector. There
is a real risk of these revenues being used to finance
violence during a
future election,” read the report.
The report
also said 25% of Mbada was passed to a third party,
Transfrontier, which had
an opaque company structure based in secrecy
jurisdictions and tax havens.
The beneficial owners of Transfrontier are
unknown although the firm is
named as a “sister” company by a South African
firm, Liparm Corporation,
whose sole director is former Air Vice Marshal
Robert Mhlanga, who is also
the chairman of Mbada.
“The presence of Mbada, Transfrontier and
associated companies in countries
with zero rates of corporation tax such as
Mauritius, Hong Kong, British
Virgin Islands and Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates, raises the questions
of where these companies pay their taxes and
whether these arrangements are
a good deal for Zimbabwe.
Complex
legal structures and secrecy jurisdictions can be used to hide who
benefits
from natural resources. Such secrecy is inappropriate for national
assets
and has the potential to conceal corruption, tax avoidance or off
budget
government spending,” said the report.
Tsvangirai said the discovery
of diamonds should be regarded as a blessing
for the country and the
benefits should cascade down to the ordinary people.
His call was
well-received by those in attendance, but stakeholders believe
there should
be transparency in all sectors of the economy, and not just in
the diamond
industry.
Minerals have the potential of spurring the growth of an
entire nation as
evidenced by Botswana, which heavily relies on diamonds.
The economy of one
of Zimbabwe’s neighbouring countries, Zambia, strongly
depends on copper.
Botswana, the world’s biggest diamond producer by
value, has maintained one
of the world’s highest economic growth rates since
independence in 1966,
transforming itself from one of the poorest countries
in the world to a
middle-income country with a per capita GDP of US$13,100
in 2010. Diamond
mining has fuelled much of the expansion and accounts for
more than
one-third of GDP, 70-80% of export earnings, and about half of the
government’s revenues. Botswana is rated the least corrupt country in
Africa, according to an international corruption watchdog, Transparency
International.
Besides the Chiadzwa diamonds, the precious
mineral is also being mined at
River Ranch Mine in Beitbridge and Murowa
Mine in Zvishavane, but very few
people are in the know of the value those
diamonds are bringing to the
economy. Zimbabwe also boasts of large deposits
of gold which have been
exploited for years, as well as platinum, emeralds,
coal, timber and
granite, among other precious resources.
Shamiso
Mtisi, an environmental lawyer with Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers
Association, which has been critical of the diamond mining operations in
Marange, believes there should be more transparency in the way the mineral
is being mined.
“There should be transparency in the whole
diamond supply chain. The
contracting or the licencing process should be
transparent. Zimbabweans
should know the criteria used in licencing.
Production should be
transparent, diamond mining companies should be able to
declare what they
are getting and we should know where the revenue is
going,” said Mtisi.
Mtisi said transparency should also be extended
to the whole mining sector
and other sectors of the economy.
“We
should adopt the “publish what you pay” concept, where government should
disclose what they are receiving from the mining companies and the companies
disclose what they are getting from their operations. I am sure the country
could be getting more if there was more transparency. We should commission a
research to see what mining has contributed to the fiscus; what is produced
by each company; what the value of the minerals is and then come up with a
way of curbing the leakages,” Mtisi said.
Mary-Jane Ncube, the
executive director of Transparency International
Zimbabwe (TIZ) said
Zimbabwe ranked low in terms of transparency.
Ncube said: “On a scale
of 1 – 10, Zimbabwe’s economic sector transparency
would rank as low as one,
with one being the lowest score. There is a crisis
because many private
sector players do not publish their financial
statements and annual reports.
The crisis is made worse by the largely
informal sector in which most of the
economic activity occurs.
“There is no requirement or process for
demanding, collecting or
disseminating information from the informal sector
which is arguably now
larger than the formal sector. There have also been
poor efforts made by the
economic sector both from government and the
private sector to produce
information for public consumption in the public
interest.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012 12:59
Reginald
Sherekete
A COMBINATION of internal and external problems buffeting the
local economy,
highlighted by the current balance-of-payments crisis and
rising
vulnerabilities in different sectors, will dampen Zimbabwe’s economic
recovery and growth, renowned business analyst Professor Tony Hawkins has
warned.
Hawkins, who lectures in business studies at the
University of Zimbabwe,
said the current economic recovery since 2009 —
which he emphasised was
strictly speaking not growth in real terms — was
under growing threats from
internal and exogenous factors.
On the
domestic front, Hawkins said factors militating against economic
recovery
included a fall in agricultural output, stunted performance by the
mining
sector, a continually deteriorating balance-of-payments position and
the
ongoing liquidity constraints.
He said the global economic slowdown,
weaker commodity prices, tighter
credit markets, reduced capital inflows
and a marked deceleration in the
South African economy are among the
external factors negatively impacting on
the prospects of sustained
recovery in Zimbabwe.
Hawkins said rising oil prices, where Brent
crude sprung from US$105 a
barrel to US$120 a barrel in the current quarter,
and international currency
turbulence were also affecting local
recovery.
“Given that 93% of Zimbabwe’s exports are commodities, it
is the impact of
the global slowdown on commodity demand and prices, arising
mostly from the
eurozone debt crisis, that is the biggest threat,” Hawkins
told an Alpha
Media Holdings strategic planning meeting on
Monday.
He said tighter global financial conditions meant that credit
lines would be
harder to access and more expensive. Foreign direct
investment would also
not improve since Zimbabwe was a high political risk
country. The impact of
this might not be great because the country was
unlikely to attract much
capital anyway, he added.
Hawkins warned
that the slowdown in South Africa could intensify regional
and import
competition, especially if the rand, which devalued by 18% last
year, stayed
weak while the dollar remained around current levels.
He forecast
agriculture to decline by 12% on the back of 35% fall in maize
plantings,
more than 60% downturn in cotton and soya output and a 10% drop
in tobacco
production.
Mining output would be constrained by electricity supply,
he indicated.
According to industry figures, power supply utility Zesa is
failing to meet
national demand for electricity by nearly 700 megawatts.
The utility has an
installed capacity of 1900 watts against an output of
1200 watts and peak
demand of up to 2100 megawatts.
Hawkins said
royalties and fees government was levying on mining companies
ate into the
sector’s cash flows, especially given weaker commodity prices
and rising
costs.
Volatile commodity prices were worsening the country’s
balance-of-payments
position, forcing the authorities to curb imports and
offshore payments.
Hawkins estimates that by the end of last year, the
country’s
balance-of-payments position was a negative US$2
billion.
This situation would continue to worsen the country’s
liquidity position
given that many banks were fully loaned up, the cost of
credit was
increasing and credit lines constrained by a combination of the
eurozone
crisis and domestic political uncertainty.
Against this
background, Hawkins said he expected the economy to grow at a
much slower
pace over the next two years, reaching a growth plateau, since
fundamentals
of the failed state were still in place and little had changed
institutionally and in policy terms.
He stressed the economy was
in transition from a three-year period of
rebound since dollarisation,
growing at an average rate of 7,5%. Such rates
were normal for countries
that would have undergone exchange rate
stabilisation.
“After
three strong rebound years since dollarisation, the economy will lose
momentum in 2012/13 and since it is in transition from a three-year period
of rebound of 7,5% a year, it will reach a growth plateau of, say, 5%
annually,” said Hawkins.
“This is not abnormal since many
countries that have taken an exchange-rate
stabilisation route enjoyed a
strong rebound. It was this exchange-rate
stabilisation that defined the
post-crisis economy, not a makeshift,
dysfunctional administration like the
GNU (government of national unity).”
He said such growth patterns
were followed by either a long period of
plateau growth or a sharp reversal
and steep decline.
The Zimbabwean scenario coincided with favourable events
which included a
boom in international commodity prices, diamond
exploitation, increased
tobacco output and macro-economic stability in the
aftermath of
dollarisation.
Stronger policies and a favourable
external environment supported a nascent
economic recovery during 2009-10
period. Real GDP growth accelerated from 6%
in 2009 to 9% in
2010.
However, economic growth started from a low base and was
concentrated on
primary commodity sectors in mining and agriculture, both of
which are
sensitive to exogenous shocks. Structural impediments weighed
heavily on
manufacturing and utilities, which used to be the locomotives of
growth and
employment creation.
Hawkins said there was a lot of
unanswered policy questions on rationalising
land redistribution,
indigenisation, debt relief, currency regime,
privatisation, public sector
reform and the rule of law.
He said it would be difficult to expect
sufficient investment to sustain an
economic growth rate of 8% without
convincing rational answers to these
policy questions amongst others. More
likely 2012 would be below trend
growth at around 4% to 5% at
best.
Hawkins pointed out that since the GNU was always intended to
be
transitional, it was not realistic to expect such a government of
opposites
to coalesce magically into a united administration capable of
making
strategic policy decisions that would improve investor
confidence.
“Indeed, the eurozone crisis and the Arab Spring are
reminders that there is
no such thing as certainty in politics, business or
economics. The best we
can do is to adapt to what is happening, rather than
pretend to be able to
change or influence it,” Hawkins
observed.
He pointed out that in addition the economic downsides and
domestic
political risks play a critical role in influencing economic
recovery and
growth.
Hawkins said Zimbabwe’s economic prospects
depended on various scenarios,
including the following:
The constitution is agreed, referendum late 2012, elections by mid-2013.
Constitutional deadlock — president calls elections under the existing
constitution late 2012 or GNU is “timed out” by April 2013.
Parties
(go back to negotiating and) agree GNU-11
President steps down, election
within 90 days sometime in 2012/13. (In
fact, if the president steps down
under the GPA and current constitutional
arrangement, he is replaced by
another Zanu PF leader. However, outside the
GPA and Constitutional
Amendment No. 19, if the president steps down
parliament sits as an
electoral college to elect a new leader for the
remainder of his term —
Amendment No. 18).
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 23 February 2012
15:47
FOLLOWING representations from various stakeholders, NSSA a
fortnight ago
suspended the proposed increase in pension contributions. The
increase would
have seen the insured limit rising to US$1 000 from US$200,
whilst the rates
of contributions would also have increased to 8% from 6%
per month for both
employer and employee.
This would have translated into
a maximum monthly contribution of US$40 from
both the employer and employee.
No doubt the decision was well received as
it brought back relief to the
already overstretched worker. However, the
worker will have to bear the
brunt of reduced payouts on retirement as the
insurable limit is very
low.
By definition, NSSA is a corporate body that was established in
terms of the
National Social Security Act Chapter 17:04 to put in place
social security
schemes for the provision of benefits to the contributors of
the scheme.
The main objective of establishing the authority was to
create a fund to be
used for one’s well-being on retirement, that is, at 65,
or in the event of
suffering an occupational accident. Clearly the idea is
noble, which
explains why such schemes are created elsewhere in the world.
In Zimbabwe,
both the employer and employee each pay 3% of the employee’s
basic wage
towards the pension.
For the Accident, Prevention
and Workers Compensation Scheme, the employer
is the one who is mandated to
make the full contribution. The role of NSSA
is to administer these
contributions and derive value for the intended
beneficiaries.
NSSA is arguably one of the biggest players in the
financial markets. For
the first time since dollarisation, NSSA released its
full-year results to
December 2010, which showed a net surplus of US$142,6
million, representing
a growth of 36,5% from 2009. Income grew by 13,4% to
US$200,2 million.
Premiums and contributions were US$181,4 million in total,
against claims of
US$27,1 million, representing a payout ratio of
15%.
Despite negative comments that have come from labour unions
pertaining to
the lower sums that NSSA pays to pensioners, there seems to be
a lack of
appreciation of the significant role played by the institution in
the
economy. Ironically, NSSA has become a big player in the financial
markets,
with investments worth more than US$200 million.
In its
financial results, the authority revealed that 30% of its funds are
invested
in equity. Notable equity investments include a stake in FBCH,
Fidelity
Life, OK Zimbabwe, Turnall, Zimplow, AICO, ZHL and ZBFH. Quite a
number of
corporates and institutions have been rescued financially and owe
their
continued viability to NSSA. Some of them could have gone under, with
devastating consequences to workers in particular.
The
institution has also supported a number of capital raising initiatives
on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and some of the companies have done
exceptionally well. A case in point is the support provided for Fidelity
Life’s capital raising through a private placement. Fidelity Life is doing
well and has emerged as a stronger institution after the capital raise. In
2011 the share price rose by a significant 629%. Quite a good investment
indeed and in US dollars!
Whilst we do not seek to exonerate the
institution from other unfavourable
investment outturns, it would not appear
unusual for an investor to make a
few bad investment decisions every now and
then. In any case, a pension fund
has a longer term investment horizon and
investments that might not be
favourable in the short-term might turn around
in the long run.
Turning to the banking sector, for most bankers,
NSSA is their biggest
client. With 20% of NSSA’s funds sitting in the money
market, this has
benefited the banks and borrowers, and has to some extent
helped ease
liquidity challenges. The authority last year announced a
favourable deal to
the banks that its deposits would cost 10% but, however,
gave a condition
that banks in turn are supposed to on-lend these funds at
15%. Clearly,
both the banks and the borrowers have benefited from this
arrangement.
NSSA has quite a number of social responsibility
programmes. It has
partnered with FBC Building Society to develop medium
density housing units
in various suburbs, which to some extent has eased the
housing shortage in
the country. Plans are also underway to develop low cost
housing units for
civil servants in partnership with
government.
The institution has also been at the forefront in
supporting small to medium
enterprises by making available funds for various
projects. A US$5 million
facility was also made available to two commercial
banks at an interest rate
of 10%, to help former contributors to the
National Pension Fund who have
been retrenched to finance business
projects.
In partnership with RTG, NSSA is building a hotel in
Beitbridge and is
separately building a commercial centre in Bindura. The
authority has also
contributed to national development through building
projects in small towns
such as the Gwanda Shopping Mall, something that
other property investors
overlook.
The operating environment has
also been tough. Property investments are
suffering from low yields and high
default rates from sitting tenants.
Equity investments have been negative
due to the lacklustre performance of
the ZSE.
Essentially, it
means that the large portion of obligations to pensioners
have to be met
from current contributions made by those that are working. It
also does not
help that the number of people in formal employment has
reduced and will
continue to do so as a result of the harsh economic
environment. This has
had an impact on monthly contributions.
As the economy improves and
more jobs are created, we might also see an
improvement in NSSA’s payouts to
pensioners.
No doubt conflicts of interest are bound to emerge as
workers and pensioners
seek to safeguard their contributions. But looking at
the bigger picture,
NSSA plays a far bigger role in the economy than is
immediately obvious,
which at the end of the day could prove beneficial to
both the worker and
pensioners.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 23 February 2012
15:45
Chris Muronzi
GOVERNMENT has listed Glenara Estates, a
productive farm owned by listed
agricultural concern CFI, for its land
redistribution programme.
The prime 2 200 hectare farm, just 20km on the
outskirts of Harare on Mazowe
Road is home to some of CFI’s poultry
business and cropping.
According to sources, civil servants and military
personnel brandishing
offer letters told management at the farm they would
be taking over parts of
the estate.
Government, through Zimre Holdings
Ltd, owns a majority stake in CFI
Holdings.
Glenara Estates
acting GM Langton Nyabanga confirmed the development.
Nyabanga said
due to the sensitivity of their poultry business on the farm,
the group’s
birds would be prone to disease should the new beneficiaries
settle on the
farm.
Apart from diseases key water facilities were located on the
400 hectares
that the civil servants want to occupy.
Nyabanga
said CFI a few years back applied to government to block the use of
old
Mazoe Road to enable the group to deal with disease control in the
area.
Crest Poultry Group’s MD Tapera Mpezeni said the group invested
US$2 million
from a drawn down a 5-year US$3,8 million PTA Bank facility to
construct
Environmentally Controlled Houses on the Estate with a capacity
to handle
40 000 birds each. He said four such houses were under
construction.
Mpezeni said the new facility would lower mortality
rates to around 3% to 5%
compared to 8-10% at the open sided facilities at
the estate.
“We get our target weight in 33-35 days in
environmentally controlled
houses, compared to 42 days in the open sided
facility. The houses are
feed and space efficient,” said
Mpezeni.
The CFI group solely owns Glenara Estates. The agricultural
estate houses
part of CFI’s broiler operations. Management sees the estate
increasingly
becoming the core location for the group’s poultry
division.
In addition to broilers, the estate has 714 hectares under
commercial maize,
270 hectares under soya beans, 33 hectares under seed
maize and 50
hectares under sugar beans.
A number of listed
agricultural firms have lost land to influential people,
including judges
and cabinet ministers over the years, after Zanu PF
launched its land reform
exercise a decade ago for redistribution to
landless blacks.
But
critics say government and party officials got the lion’s share of the
prime
land.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 23 February 2012
15:39
Happiness Zengeni
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ)
will soon be restructured in a bid
to address the challenges the company has
been facing over the years, GM Air
Commodore Mike Karakadzai said.
NRZ’s
major challenges are obsolete equipment, the need for rail line
maintenance
and high staff overheads, he said.
Karakadzai told businessdigest in
an interview that the Minister of
Transport Communication and
Infrastructural Development, Nicholas Goche,
would soon present a draft
memorandum for recommendation to cabinet, which
would see the parastatal
lose its monopoly over the railway lines.
He said restructuring would
be anchored on vertical separation, where
ownership and maintenance of
infrastructure will be removed from running the
system. New players would be
brought in, Karakadzai said, adding NRZ would
operate toll
gates.
“The current NRZ will remain running freight and passenger
services only,”
he said.
Karakadzai said that the NRZ and other
railway operators would have to pay
access fees to use the
system.
He said there was need for a railway regulator once space
had been opened
up.
Karakadzai said several options such as
privatisation and concessions had
been thrown around.
He said
privatisation was thrown out because railway infrastructure and its
operations were capital-intensive amid feelings the return on investment was
long term in nature.
The concessions option was also shot down,
Karakadzai said.
He added that countries that followed this route
produced catastrophic
failures.
Railway concessions are contracts
that are entered into between governments
for an investor to operate in a
particular area of the railway system.
“Britain, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania
and Malawi all had to withdraw their
concessions. Zambia tried to chase away
a concessioner but the World Bank
put in a condition that they had to pay
off the investor,” he said.
He also said Build Own Operate Transfer
agreements had been considered.
Karakadzai, however, noted that there
was already the Beitbridge Bulawayo
Railways Company, which was still a
virgin project. The company has a
concession period of 30 years from 1996 to
2026. It operates the line from
Beitbridge to West
Nicholson.
Karakadzai said the operations had already been
commercialised after the
passing of the 1997 Railways Amendment Act, which
granted authority for
competitive tariffs.
At the moment, NRZ
requires US$2 billion to restore operations. The
parastatal was allocated
US$20 million this year against a bid of US$75
million. Karakadzai said NRZ
should access the first tranche of the US$20
million in the first quarter of
this year.
Since dollarisation, NRZ was allocated US$7 million in
2009, US$12 million
in 2010, US$15 million in 2011 although the company
managed to access only
half of the amount.
NRZ monthly revenues
are at US$7 million against expenditures of US$10,5
million. Karakadzai said
NRZ was capable of operating with only 5 000 of its
9 000 employees but a
decision had been made not to retrench. At the moment,
salaries are
interchangeably staggered among the employees, he said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012
13:45
EMBATTLED Malawian President, Bingu wa Mutharika, who came to
Zimbabwe a few
weeks ago “seeking wisdom” from President Robert Mugabe on
“survival
tactics” has now condemned any comparison between himself and the
regime in
Harare.
WaMutharika bridled at the suggestion of
creeping tyranny in his country
mirroring his southern neighbour: “Malawi
and Zimbabwe can never be the
same,” he told the Guardian. “The political
system is different, the
economics are totally different.
“It’s
total nonsense because there’s no country in sub-Saharan Africa that
is as
free as Malawi,” wa Mutharika insisted.
“What they are trying to do is to
draw a parallel between the leadership of
Zimbabwe and Malawi. There is no
basis for that. That is totally unfair and
uncalled for. I have been very
democratic.”
However, after a three-hour meeting with President
Mugabe three weeks ago
the Malawian leader had said he was visiting Zimbabwe
to exchange ideas with
his counterpart.
“President Mugabe is my
elder brother and it is well that I visit to share
ideas with my elder
brother on various issues,” he said.
Malawi Ambassador to Zimbabwe Professor
Richard Phoya had also said there
was nothing unusual about the visit,
adding that Zimbabwe and Malawi were
very close friends sharing a common
history.
What are we to believe then Cde
waMutharika?
Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, has
again “lashed out” at the
UN and Nato over the attacks on the Muammar
Gaddafi-led Libyan regime.
The UN gave free rein to the US, France and the
UK, known as the P3, to
intervene in Libya without any evidence of war,
Mbeki said in Cape Town last
week.
“In this context, I would like to
state that there is absolutely no evidence
that the [Muammar] Gaddafi regime
either committed or had any intention to
commit any genocide or wage a war
against civilians, justifying the
evocation by the UN, the P3 and Nato of
the so-called ‘right to protect’,”
Mbeki said.
Mbeki said it was young
military officers, led by Gaddafi that originally
overthrew a feudal regime
to “assert the rights of African people”.
Here we go again. Clearly
Mbeki’s idea of democracy is quite different from
what we
understand.
Muckraker was reminded of the time when Mbeki also “lashed out”
at the
international community for insisting that the Ivory Coast needed to
hold
democratic elections to end its crisis, “even though the conditions did
not
exist to conduct such elections”.
“However, the objective
reality is that the Ivorian presidential elections
should not have been held
when they were held,” Mbeki had said. “It was
perfectly foreseeable that
they would further entrench the very conflict it
was suggested they would
end.”
Instead of elections, Mbeki suggested that, “the Ivorian crisis
necessitated
a negotiated agreement between the two belligerent Ivorian
factions, focused
on the interdependent issues of democracy, peace, national
reconciliation
and unity”.
Thank goodness his idea to accommodate
Laurent Gbagbo, who had clearly lost
the mandate to lead Ivory Coast, went
unheeded.
With the adulatory birthday messages for President
Mugabe in overdrive this
week, we were amused by the story of the teacher
who once taught him at
primary school.
ZBC reports that Oscar
Munyoro Katsukunya (115) “has more than a tale to
tell as he speaks about
his life as a teacher”.
“Born in 1897, Mr Katsukunya says the story of his
life saw him train as a
teacher at Kutama and was then posted to Murombedzi
which is in Zvimba
district as part of his teaching
practice.
“Telling his story with difficulty now because of advanced
age, he remembers
vividly that the Robert Mugabe he taught at Sub A was an
intelligent young
boy,” we are told.
As expected, ZBC took the
adulation to dizzying heights. Among thousands of
students who passed
through Katsukunya’s hands, we are told, he vividly
remembers one who is now
a renowned national leader and “global political
supremo”, referring to
President Mugabe.
There were the usual parade of congratulatory
messages in the state press
this week saluting the president on his
birthday. However there would have
been one message that would have felt a
bit disconcerting. The greetings
from Doves!
Meanwhile the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), keen on lavishing President
Mugabe with the
loftiest hero worship possible, took it a tad too far.
Describing him as an
“astute revolutionary”, the ZRP goes on to claim that
President Mugabe “has
stood the taste of time (sic) even in the wake of our
detractors and the
illegal economic sanctions”.
Not to be outdone, the Higher and
Tertiary Education ministry stated: “May
you inspire us with your
unprecedented achievements as an educator par
excellence and indeed a
visionary.
“The ministry continues to develop highly skilled human
capital and
harnessing the brain drain through its human capital
website.”
Instead of stemming the brain drain, they boldly claim to be
“harnessing”
it.
The European Union has given President
Mugabe a birthday present by lifting
sanctions against 51 people including
journalists and politicians. But no
sooner had the announcement been made
than Zimpapers journalists started
lying about the reasons for the
imposition of the measures in the first
place.
“The embargo that
was imposed on Zimbabwe a decade ago for embarking on the
land reform
programme to resettle the landless majority has brought untold
suffering to
ordinary citizens,” one bootlicker wrote in the Herald.
No mention
there of the expulsion of the EU observer mission team headed by
Pierre
Schori. No mention of the political violence and manipulation that
accompanied the 2002 election.
Part of the problem lies with EU
ambassador Aldo Dell’Arrichia who
pronounced that Zimbabwe had a free press
the minute he stepped off the
boat. He didn’t seem to think it necessary to
consult the “free press” to
get their views. There had been “improvements”
in the media, he now thinks.
So why did he tell us all was well in the first
place?
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said the removal of
certain
individuals from the list was in light of developments in the
country. Does
that refer to remarks made by Douglas Nyikayaramba? Or Zanu
PF’s
denunciation of the constitutional draft?
The EU has done
Zimbabweans few favours with their clumsy diplomacy.
South African
President Jacob Zuma has reportedly told the EU that if they
lift sanctions
Mugabe would have no excuse for behaving badly. It would
appear the EU has
bought this argument. It will be interested to see what
results
emerge.
Despite the Environmental Management Agency (EMA)
insisting that the
construction of a five-star hotel near the National
Sports Stadium in Harare
must stop to ensure that a proper environmental
impact assessment is carried
out, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has
said the project will continue
as it met all environmental
“requirements”.
The Standard reports that ZTA chief executive
officer, Karikoga Kaseke, last
week said the outcry over the construction of
the hotel on a wetland was
largely driven by personal hatred of Chinese
people by certain sections of
society.
“Zimbabweans look at
everything from a political angle,” he said.
“I am convinced that if the
investor constructing the hotel was from the
United Kingdom, USA or other
Western countries, no one would have queried
the project. The Chinese are
close to Zanu PF and some people are not happy
with that,” Kaseke
fumed.
No, Mr Kaseke, we are looking at it from an environmental
angle. The
building is being erected on a protected wetlands area, if you
didn’t know.
“I am not corruptible. I have no regrets because what I am
looking for are
investors who can come and put up tourism infrastructure in
the country.
This is what I was mandated to do by President Mugabe who
appointed me.
“So some people wanted us to sacrifice thousands of
jobs and forgo these
massive investments in order to protect frogs and 23
trees?” he asked. “Why
did they not complain when the National Sports
Stadium was built?” he added.
Is that the price we have to pay for
investment; the destruction of our
wetlands? Just because “over 3 000 jobs
would be created” as Kaseke claims,
we are supposed to leave it be. And just
because the investors happen to be
Chinese there is laxity in the
application of regulations.
Environment minister Francis Nhema was
surprisingly tame on the issue,
claiming EMA had not approached him over the
Belvedere wetland issue.
“I have not received any letter of complaint
from any client regarding the
issue,” he was quoted saying.
All the
hullabaloo over that issue has apparently escaped his notice. What
has he
got to say about Kaseke’s contempt for the flora and fauna set to be
destroyed, we would like to know?
Considering that he is the
Environment minister, he seems to be strangely
distant from the
issue.
Meanwhile Kaseke claimed that the wetland would still be preserved as
the
Chinese contractors were using technology which will do “minimum damage”
to
the area’s environment.
Oh please! Like that will reassure
anyone.
President Mugabe’s customary birthday interview yielded
few surprises except
for the usual diatribes against the West and the MDC
formations. However we
took particular note of Mugabe’s abdication of
responsibility for any of the
challenges that befell Zimbabwe. It was all
the West’s fault, we are told.
“Yes, sure, we had that inflation that
rendered our Zim dollar worthless but
these things happen to economies when
they have the burden of sanctions, the
burden of bearing lots of debts and
so on and so forth,” Mugabe claims.
Ironically he now believes that
he can solve Zimbabwe’s economic ills, only
if Zanu PF pulls out of the GNU
and goes it alone.
“We cannot improve the situation in the GPA very much.
That’s why we would
want to have an election and we know as Zanu PF
government we would
certainly bring about a much better situation to the
economy in respect of
getting capital injection into it,” he
said.
Mugabe did not furnish us with the details of how a Zanu PF
government would
be able to achieve this feat no thanks to the fawning
Tazzen Mandizvidza who
would nod in approval even before the president began
to speak.
“But look at the strides we have made since Independence,”
Mugabe declared.
“Look at our people, we have almost eradicated illiteracy
and almost
everybody can read and write. We have now been able to export
skills, you
see.”
“Even in Australia, Britain, they are proud to
have young Zimbabweans with
skills to operate in their factories or in their
banks etc.
“That’s Zimbabwe!”
We enjoyed the bit in the
birthday interview about Bona being diligent and
Robert Junior not so
bright. A Convent parent recalls Bona receiving an
award a few years ago for
being “the most improved student” –– in Scripture!
The applause was
“thunderous” as the Herald would say!
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012
13:39
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe (pictured below), who turned 88 on Tuesday
and will
celebrate his birthday tomorrow in Mutare, is revered and reviled
at home
and abroad with great emotional
intensity.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 32 years
without a break, is many
different things to many different people. To some
he is a liberator and
hero, yet to others he is a freedom
fighter-turned-tyrant.
Mugabe is a complex and paradoxical character.
His life story, which
includes family tragedies and assassination attempts,
rivals the best
Shakespearean plays in drama and ambition.
From
being a village herdboy to a university graduate with seven degrees,
his
case history covers a long political career which
started almost
accidentally. It is a story which peaks with utopian euphoria
at
Independence in 1980 and ends with tragedy at the Animal Farm-like
dystopia
that Zimbabwe is today.
The dark side of Mugabe’s character emerged
early during the 1980s, with
ruthless crushing of bitter rival, Joshua Nkomo
and Zapu in pursuit of a one
party-state agenda, command economy and
political hegemony. His
contemporaries and colleagues during the liberation
struggle now say Mugabe
has always had a ruthless streak, which first
manifested itself during his
days in exile in Mozambique when he suppressed
rivals.
Up to this day, he is still using the same authoritarian
methods to remain
in power. In recent years, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his MDC have
borne the brunt of his repression. During the
past decade, Zimbabweans have
gone through hell as Mugabe used violence and
intimidation to remain in
power.
Repression, arrests, detentions
and killings have characterised his rule. He
has always been mercurial
political player — volatile, iron-fisted and
ruthless in his
manoeuvres.
Perhaps the best description of him in recent years came
from former United
States ambassador to Harare Christopher Dell in 2007 who
said: “He is a
brilliant tactician and has long thrived on his ability to
abruptly change
the rules of the game, radicalise the political dynamic and
force everyone
to react to his agenda.”
Dell, however, said
Mugabe was being let down by his astonishing economic
ignorance.
But his
life history is far more complex. Having emerged from humble
beginnings to
acquire several university degrees and lead the liberation
struggle before
becoming prime minister and then president, Mugabe was
initially viewed as a
liberator.
During the 1980s, he ran a command economy along socialist
lines. Despite
many problems, he did well in term of economic management in
the first
decade. The economy grew by an average of 4,47% between 1980 and
1990.
Mugabe vastly expanded social services, especially access to
education and
health, improving people’s standards of living and quality of
life. As a
result of that, Zimbabwe has the highest literacy in Africa.
Roads were
paved and small-scale agriculture also
expanded.
However, given the deterioration of the past decade, his
achievements now
pale in comparison to his failures. At his peak, Mugabe was
greatly admired
and governments queued to host him; universities fell over
each other to
bestow honorary degrees on him and in the process he massed
many awards,
including an honorary knighthood in Britain. He wined and dined
with kings,
queens and world leaders.
But things changed
somewhere down the road, mainly after 2000 when he
embarked on farm seizures
and launched a vicious campaign of repression in
the face of rising
political and social discontent, leading to the emergence
of the MDC in
1999.
The MDC was born out of deteriorating economic and social
conditions. In
reaction, Mugabe unleashed a fierce wave of repression
manifested through
state-driven terror, property seizures, systematic
crackdown on political
opponents, civic activists, diplomats, judges,
lawyers and journalists to
crush dissent.
Countries which had
hosted Mugabe reacted by imposing sanctions on him and
his cronies, while
universities competed to strip him of their honorary
titles.
This
has kept the debate around Mugabe burning: Is he modern Africa’s
Stalin, or
a patriot fighting to reverse the damaging legacy of colonialism?
Put
differently, is Mugabe an African hero or a ruthless dictator consumed
by
hubris and self-righteousness?
Further questions arise. Is Mugabe so bad or
he is just being misunderstood?
Now that he is facing an endgame of
potentially horrifying dimensions, how
will he be
remembered?
Whatever people think of him, Mugabe would be enjoying
the usual razzmatazz
of his North Korean-style birthday celebrations,
organised by the 21st
February Movement, tomorrow in the scenic city of
Mutare.
Mugabe and his entourage will paint the town red with a
colourful array of
celebrations, tributes and festivities. His celebrations
are likely to
resemble a revue — a show in theatre with songs, dances,
jokes, short plays
or poems in his honour.
Mugabe’s lavish scale
of birthday partying in recent years invariably
conflicts with the current
situation in Zimbabwe, home to an economy
struggling to emerge from a
meltdown and hyperinflation of the past decade.
As someone who
belongs to the “eccentric end of the market”, to quote his
bitter rival
former British premier Tony Blair, he is a known admirer of the
late North
Korean ruler Kim Il Sung whom he visited in the early 1980s.
After
visiting the “Kingdom of the Absurd”, Mugabe was said to have
particularly
liked the Juche (self-reliance) ideology, mass following, cult
of
personality, as well as systematic political indoctrination, huge army
parades, stadiums full of energetic masses doing calisthenics and colourful
displays.
It is said Mugabe returned home from Pyongyang a
changed man, convinced
about the North Korean model on which his own
totalitarian project was to be
based. Subsequently, he invited the North
Koreans to work with him on his
different projects, including the
Gukurahundi massacres at their killing
fields in the south-western region.
Their footprints are still fresh in
Zimbabwe.
Born on February 21
1924 at Kutama Mission in Zvimba, about 100 km north of
Harare, to a
carpenter father and housewife mother, Mugabe’s case history is
full of
dramatic twists and turns.
He grew up scrounging for survival in poor
rural areas, herding cattle
before he was educated by Jesuit priests at
Kutama Mission.
After completing his secondary education, Mugabe taught in
various schools
for nine years while he also continued to study privately
for his
matriculation certificate.
Subsequent to passing his
matric, he went to the University of Fort Hare in
South Africa where he
studied with many future African nationalists and
leaders. He graduated with
a BA in English and History degree in 1951 before
he went on to acquire six
other degrees.
Mugabe then returned to the then Southern Rhodesia to teach at
several
schools before he left for Zambia and Ghana.
After
political parties were banned in 1964, Mugabe and many other
nationalists,
including Nkomo, were thrown into jail until 1974. While in
detention,
Mugabe was forced to assume the Zanu leadership in a prison coup
after the
ouster of Ndabaningi Sithole.
When he was released in 1974, he
briefly lived in Harare until 1975 before
crossing into Mozambique to join
the liberation struggle. However, it was
not until 1977 that he managed to
gain control of the party rocked by
internal strife, which was characterised
by cutthroat competition for
positions, revolts, kidnappings and killings.
This paved way for him to
become Zimbabwe’s first leader in 1980 until
now.
— Sunday Times.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 23 February 2012
15:55
Phillip Pasirayi
THE press is awash with reports of
corruption by local authorities through
to the upper echelons of Zimbabwe’s
inclusive government. The inclusive
government was founded, among other
things, to deal with corruption and
strengthen accountability mechanisms and
ensure there is transparency in the
allocation and use of public
resources.
Persistent structural problems and clientelistic politics by the
parties in
the inclusive government have hampered the anti-corruption
agenda.
The Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed between Zanu PF
and the MDC
parties on September 15 2008 brought back smiles on the faces of
many
Zimbabweans who thought this political pact represented a new political
dispensation. Despite the rhetorical commitments to end corruption, the
inclusive government has failed to put in place mechanisms to address this
problem in its three years of existence.
If anything there is
lack of political will by elites across the political
spectrum to deal with
corruption in concrete ways. The battle against
corruption has been lost to
partisan politics and the persistence of
political clientelism in which Zanu
PF and MDC politicians seek to
perpetuate their stay in office through
appropriation of public resources
not for the public good but for political
survival.
The thinking and justification behind this primitive
accumulation by our
leaders in is that “a goat eats where it is
tethered”.
The creation of parallel government structures to rival
official ones has
meant that there are some public servants in the inclusive
government who
engage in shady corrupt deals and are not asked to account
because they
enjoy the protection of their party, whether Zanu PF or MDC.
There is a high
premium that is placed on partisan politics at the expense
of a more civic
and bi-partisan approach to issues. MDC ministers are
undermined by
permanent secretaries who owe their loyalty to President
Robert Mugabe.
If the inclusive government was working properly, one
would expect Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to be allowed to steer the
noble Government Work
Programme (GWP) and monitor public policy
implementation. In the absence of
a harmonious working relationship between
the three parties in the inclusive
government it is going to be difficult to
stem corruption and hold officials
accountable.
For instance:
what is the nature of the military involvement in the
extractive industry
particularly the diamonds at Chiadzwa? How much of our
land and mines have
we given to the so-called “all-weather” Chinese friends?
Which arm of
government is overseeing these deals so that it is established
whether they
benefit the people of Zimbabwe or members of a political party?
The
discovery of diamonds has further strengthened Zanu PF’s resolve to
cling to
power and ensure that it is a major beneficiary from the country’s
resources.
Recent reports of high-level corruption involving
Zanu PF ministers have not
been investigated by the Anti-Corruption
Commission or police. In a
democratic country with viable institutions,
anti-corruption bodies are
expected to investigate statements such as
reports by Finance minister
Tendai Biti that treasury is not receiving funds
from diamond mining. The
silence by the anti-corruption watchdogs is
hypocritical and gives credence
to reports that the body is an appendage of
the executive.
Some public officials and securocrats are taking
advantage of this
disharmony to exploit the absence of accountability
mechanisms in government
to enrich themselves. There are some MPs,
councillors and government
bureaucrats who think that they should make the
most out of this arrangement
because there is no guarantee they will retain
their positions when a new
government is elected into office in the next
elections.
Whilst the parties in the inclusive government are
fighting each other on
the political front there is also evidence of
consensus on the appropriation
of economic opportunities for personal gain
by officials from across the
political divide. Some euphemistically call
this inclusive looting, citing
the involvement of some MDC officials in
corrupt deals. The talk about
community empowerment by these leaders is only
rhetorical.
The example that is commonly cited is when these elites
influence the award
of government tenders to companies that they have
business interests. A more
sophisticated version of this political
corruption is when both MDC and Zanu
PF ministers sponsor the debate and
adoption of legislation by parliament
that is favourable to their business
interests without declaring conflict of
interest.
The controversy
surrounding the looting of the Constituency Development Fund
(CDF) by both
Zanu PF and MDC MPs is one example of the rot in the inclusive
government.
Recent press reports that the issue of MPs who have abused CDF
will be
referred to the principals (Mugabe, Tsvangirai and deputy prime
minister
Arthur Mutambara) and not to the Anti-Corruption Commission or
police
demonstrate that something is wrong with our politics. Looting CDF
funds is
a criminal issue which must be referred to the police for further
investigation and prosecution.
To prove that some people are more
equal than others, we hear that some MPs
who have failed to account for the
CDFs have been given a moratorium by the
Ministry of Constitutional Affairs
to prove what they used the funds for;
even when it is clear that the funds
were looted. On the other hand, whilst
corruption is synonymous with Zanu
PF’s 30 years in power, there is a real
danger that allegations of
corruption against some senior MDC politicians
will erode the credibility of
the MDC parties as viable alternatives to Zanu
PF’s misrule. If Zanu PF
fails to destroy the political careers of some MDC
politicians through
exposing sexual scandals they will surely turn to
corruption.
The
rot in local authorities and poor service delivery throughout the
country
cannot be divorced from the structural deficiencies that
characterise the
inclusive government. This is exacerbated by local
government legislation
that is undemocratic and vests in the Minister of
Local government
“imperial” powers that allow him to interfere with the
day-to-day running of
local authorities.
The legislation vests too much power in the
Minister of Local Government,
Ignatious Chombo, including the power to sack
democratically-elected
councilors on flimsy charges of incompetence. Many
MDC councillors have
fallen victim to Chombo’s shenanigans. Without
democratising local
government and giving it the protection of the law by
including it in the
new constitution it would be difficult for government to
rid local
authorities of corruption.
Most local authorities have
dysfunctional political and technical structures
which cannot work properly.
Seeing that Zanu PF would lose the majority of
local authorities under their
control in the 2008 harmonised elections, Zanu
PF devised a strategy to
neutralise this influence by introducing an
amendment to the Urban Councils
Act. Mirroring the disharmony at the higher
echelons of government where MDC
ministers are continuously undermined by
permanent secretaries who owe their
allegiance to Mugabe.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 23 February 2012 15:52
By
Pedzisai Ruhanya
THE subsistence of political transitions is marked by
political infighting,
partisan positions and attempts to revert to the old
authoritarian rule
especially if the undemocratic elements within the elite
power arrangements
feel that full-scale democracy could lead to loss of
power.
Zimbabwe has been grappling with a transition whose primary aim is to
return
the country to democratic legitimacy premised on the rule of law
through a
credible electoral process and outcome.
After the
country’s electoral and political institutions failed to
administer a
credible electoral process in 2008, the inclusive government
through the
Global Political Agreement (GPA) was supposed to address both
software and
hardware issues attendant to the holding of credible future
elections under
the supervision of the Southern African Development
Community (Sadc) and
African Union (AU).
There are still disagreements dating back to 2009
over the role of the
security apparatus in political and electoral matters,
democratisation of
the public media and the prevailing culture of
impunity.
The constitutional review process, the role of electoral
institutions such
as the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) and the
Registrar-General’s
office, and the partisan nature of the personnel in
these institutions need
to be audited.
Both the administrative
and environmental issues related to the electoral
process and, most
critically, the restoration of law and order in Zimbabwe
are glaringly
absent yet the party which created the problems — Zanu PF —
has the temerity
to call for elections without reforms. The argument that
reforms must come
after elections is simply untenable in this environment
and anybody who
thinks they can convince Zimbabweans on that issue is
clearly taking them
for granted. Given our recent history and painful
experiences over disputed
elections, people don’t want to go down that route
again.
In
trying to understand the strategy of Zanu PF and its security
establishment
hardliners, it is important to appreciate what human rights
scholars
describe as the “spiral model” in the study of regime
transitions.
The spiral model builds upon work on transnational
advocacy networks in the
field of human rights such Amnesty International,
local groups like the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), ZimRights and
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition whose activities are meant to bring democratic
rule and respect
for human rights in norm-violating states such as
Zimbabwe.
Through the work of such organisations, a boomerang pattern
of influence
exists when domestic human rights groups in a repressive state
such as
Zimbabwe bypass, during crises, the state and directly search out
international allies to try to bring pressure from
outside.
National opposition groups, civic bodies and social
movements link up with
transnational advocacy networks and
inter-governmental organisations who
then convince international human
rights organisations, donor institutions
and powerful states through the UN
system and regional blocks such as Sadc
and the AU to pressure
norm-violating states like Zimbabwe.
Crisis in Zimbabwe’s Coalition’s
regional advocacy office in South Africa
serves this process in the current
situation in Zimbabwe.
There are five critical stages that a regime in crisis
goes through before
it relinquishes political power during a transitional
process such as the
one that Zimbabwe is currently going
through.
Democratically relinquishing power is not a given unless the
democratic
elements in that transitional arrangement are awake to the
political
machinations of the political cabal that wields coercive power and
respond
decisively through political mobilisation, among other
methods.
It is important to understand and appreciate the spiral
model in order to
come up with strategies to block the democratic reversal
agenda that Zanu PF
hardliners, the security apparatus and their attached
intellectuals are
crafting in the forlon hope of succeeding.
The
first stage of the spiral model is associated with massive repression
and
egregious human rights violations by the norm-violating regime. It is
also a
stage that is associated with activation of advocacy networks to
expose
human rights violations and inform the international community about
the
abuses.
This stage might last a long period because, in this case, it
took extended
time for the transnational groups to put Zanu PF’s activities
on their
agenda.
This explains the silence of international human
rights groups on the
atrocities of the regime in the 1980s during the
Midlands and Matabeleland
massacres and the 1990s election-related violence.
The double-standards and
vested interests of powerful liberal states partly
explain the silence on
the massacres of the 1980s as well.
In any
case, some very oppressive regimes such as the one in Zimbabwe do not
become
the subject of international campaigns by advocacy networks because
information-gathering on human rights violations requires at least minimum
links between the domestic opposition and the transnational networks in
order for advocacy groups to gain access to norm-violating
regimes.
The NCA, ZimRights, Catholic Commission for Justice and
Peace in Zimbabwe,
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights were
formed in the late 1990s and at the turn of the 21st
century managed to
filter information on human rights violations to the
international arena for
scrutiny.
This leads to the denial stage,
the second aspect of the spiral model. In
this stage information about
massive rights violations becomes public among
foreign governments and
transnational advocacy networks.
The information is compiled by local
advocacy networks and assists to shape
public opinion and policy-makers and
national governments abroad, making
them inquire and respond to these
violations.
However, like we have witnessed for a long time in
Zimbabwe, denial means
that the government refuses to accept the validity of
international human
rights norms and that it opposes the suggestion that its
national practices
are subject to international
jurisdiction.
Zanu PF sings the tired song of sovereignty despite the
fact that Zimbabwe
is a state party to international human rights treaties
and a signatory to
the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
This is a critical stage because the fact that the state
denies human rights
violations means the process of norm socialisation is
taking root and indeed
in Zimbabwe it has.
Because of the
continued pressure from local and international bodies and
governments, the
government moves to the third stage — that of tactical
concessions.
This involves releasing prisoners from jail or some
cosmetic changes such as
signing of the GPA without necessarily implementing
the provisions of the
agreement, and embracing full-scale
democratisation.
The government can revert to the denial stage once
it realises that the
opposition and local advocacy networks have been
exhausted by previous
violations, are going to bed with politicians or are
weakened with
divisions.
However, faced with fully-mobilised
domestic advocacy networks and
opposition parties linked up with
transnational advocacy networks, the
proponents of the spiral model argue
that norm-violating regimes such as
Zanu PF have few choices but to
comply.
In the case of Zimbabwe it would mean complying with all the
provisions of
the GPA. This has not happened because local advocacy groups
are not fully
mobilised; others have gone to bed with politicians while some
are suffering
from glaring lack of strong leadership.
If the
advocacy groups in Zimbabwe were fully-mobilised and the domestic
opposition
fighting as before, we could move to the fourth stage, the
prescriptive
stage where Zanu PF would fully accept the validity of the GPA.
The
government in this stage would also accept the validity of human rights
norms when ratifying international human rights conventions, norms are
institutionalised and domesticated into law. Validity can be accepted while,
for example, people continue to be tortured.
Continued pressure
from below by domestic actors and from above through the
work of
transnational advocacy networks can lead to the final stage of
rule-consistent behaviour. At this stage international human rights are
fully-institutionalised domestically and norm compliance habitual as
actors — especially government — enforce the rule of law.
When
the GPA is fully implemented and repressive laws such as Aippa and Posa
are
repealed, there is an end to impunity and constitutional reforms.
Zimbabwe
could have followed this framework. However it has proved
impossible so far.
Political transitions are bumpy and turbulent; they are
like rivers infested
with crocodiles and swimming in such uncharted waters
is not an easy
exercise. Nothing should be taken for granted and trusting a
party like Zanu
PF is perilous.
The greatest lesson from the spiral model is that in
political transitions
such as the one in Zimbabwe, it is important for civil
society to remain
focused on the broader democratic goals and never to go to
bed with
political players. On the part of political players, insisting on
norm-compliance without compromise should be the game plan to avoid
democratic regression.
Pedzisai Ruhanya is a PhD Candidate,
University of Westminster, London.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012 13:08
WITHOUT
attempting to delve into the esoteric, an area in which one is not
qualified
anyway, there is a need for developing a positive mental attitude.
It
was the legendary Hannibal who told his army that “I don’t see any
mountain,” and yet they were facing the formidable Alps range, two thirds of
which are in Italy, then the centre of the Roman Empire.
Was
Hannibal denying the existence of the mountains? No. He was seeing the
mountains. He was most likely seeing himself defeating the mighty Roman army
on the other side.
Zimbabwe may be said to be in a similar
situation. The Alps we are facing
are the myriad external challenges that
stand in the way of economic
recovery.
As summarised by
distinguished Business Studies Professor Tony Hawkins,
these include the
global economic slowdown, weaker commodity prices, tighter
credit markets ––
reduced capital inflows, sharply higher oil prices, a
marked slowdown in
South Africa, and currency turbulence.
These are the Alps, the
formidable mountain range. Can anyone be like
Hannibal and say “I don’t see
any mountain”? Remember, when Hannibal said
this, his soldiers repeated it
after him.
Thus they mustered the courage to conquer the
unconquerable Alps first
before engaging the mighty Roman
army.
Motivational speakers call this PMA (Positive Mental Attitude). We
desperately need to remain positive in the face of such realities. Unlike
Zimbabwe, however, Hannibal sorted out his politics, hence he had his army
rallying behind him.
In our case, our camp is in total disarray.
Again, to quote the professor,
the issues to be resolved are rationalising
land redistribution, sorting out
the indigenisation issue with efficacy,
tackling debt relief, addressing the
currency regime, and making headway on
privatisation and public sector
reform.
An army moves on
discipline and in our case the impartial rule of law should
prevail. So here
we are; a US$10 billion economy (Hannibal) versus a $70
trillion global
economy (the Alps).
Again, the question, will anyone proffer to say
“I don’t see any mountain?”
Interestingly, there is a group of CEOs that are
trying to see things the
Hannibal way. The CEO Roundtable, as they are
known, has been saying this
for two years now.
They believe
Zimbabwe’s economy can not only be turned around to become
merely
functional, but it can become a US$100 billion economy in 18 years’
time.
And that roughly translates into an average growth rate of 14,16% a
year. A
“fantabulous” figure, ie sounds like fantasy but at the same time
would be
fabulous if it turned out to be true.
Given this premise, it
would be interesting to see, if the Almighty grants
us life over the next 18
years, if such an economic miracle occurs. We’ll
then know if this was just
a money-spinning event or a substantiated dream
or vision. We are certainly
not ruling out that possibility. Greatest
achievers, we are told, are
today’s daydreamers.
And to finish off with a quote from Professor
Hawkins: “The eurozone crisis
and the Arab Spring are reminders that there
is no such thing as certainty
in politics, business or
economics.”
One can adduce therefore that the seemingly impossible
can be achieved; it’s
a question of mind over matter.
By Itai
Masuku
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012 13:06
SINCE the
formation of the government of national unity (GNU) in 2009,
Zimbabwe’s
economy, virtually moribund amid a meltdown and hyperinflation
exacerbated
by conditions of a failed state by December 2008, has been on
the
rebound.
Stronger policies and a favourable external environment
supported the
nascent economic recovery during the 2009-10 period. Real GDP
growth
accelerated from 6% in 2009 to 9% in 2010, averaging 7,5% by end of
last
year.
This was despite the fact that economic recovery
(which is not growth in
real terms since we are yet to go back to pre-1999
levels) started from a
low base and was concentrated on primary commodity
sectors in mining and
agriculture, both of which are sensitive to exogenous
shocks.
Structural impediments weighed heavily on manufacturing and
utilities, which
used to be the locomotives of growth and employment
creation.
As Professor Tony Hawkins observes elsewhere in this
edition of our paper,
we must not read too much into what has been
happening, although credit must
be given to those working hard to revive the
economy.
The fact is the economy is in transition, from a meltdown
through a rebound
and now towards a slowdown caused by internal and
exogenous factors. The
rate of recovery which Zimbabwe has been going
through over the past three
years is normal in countries that have undergone
dollarisation and
exchange-rate stabilisation after serious economic
upheavals.
He said such growth patterns were followed by either a
long period of
plateau growth or a sharp reversal and steep decline.
This
is very important to note to avoid authorities settling in a new
comfort
zone thinking they have turned the corner when the reality is that
nothing
much has changed in institutional and policy terms since 2009 to
support
sustained recovery.
Although the macro-economic situation has
stabilised and normalcy restored
in the economy and local markets, as shown
by some indicators at the moment,
recovery, let alone growth, is still a
long way off. This is now
particularly so given volatile internal and
external factors affecting the
economy.
A combination of internal
and external problems buffeting the local economy,
Hawkins said, highlighted
by the current balance-of-payments crisis and
rising vulnerabilities in
different sectors, will dampen Zimbabwe’s economic
recovery and
growth.
On the domestic front, Hawkins said factors militating
against improved
economic performance included a fall in agricultural
output, stunted
performance by the mining sector, a continually
deteriorating
balance-of-payments position and the ongoing liquidity
constraints.
The banking sector is currently reeling from a liquidity
crunch, threatening
to reverse the gains made since 2009. The liquidity
crisis reflects
underlying problems in the economy.
It is also a
manifestation of poor economic performance, low-capacity
utilisation by
industry and depressed demand against a backdrop of low
disposable incomes.
The current liquidity crisis is further attributable to
volatile short-term
transitory deposits and limited lines of credit. The
problem of low savings
due to poor salaries and wages, as well as low
interest income against high
operating costs and “hot money” is worsening
the crisis.
All
these issues show that the economy, despite an average 7,5% growth in
the
past three years, is still not yet out of the woods.
With the global economic
slowdown, now dramatically highlighted by the
euro-zone crisis and the Greek
bailout, weaker commodity prices, tighter
credit markets, reduced capital
inflows and a marked deceleration in South
Africa’s economy –– Africa’s
biggest economy and Zimbabwe’s largest trading
partner –– it becomes clear
that prospects of sustained economic recovery
are under threat.
If you
factor in rising oil prices and international currency turbulence, it
further becomes clear we are in a state of flux.
However,
government can alleviate the situation by dealing with the
following
problems: Unanswered policy questions on rationalising land
redistribution,
indigenisation, debt relief, currency regime, privatisation,
public sector
reform and the rule of law, as well as elections. This is what
is fuelling
uncertainty and instability internally and which requires urgent
attention.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 24 February 2012 13:03
OUR management
at Alpha Media Holdings, publishers of three national
newspaper titles,
recently made changes at NewsDay and the Zimbabwe
Independent to refresh the
editorial teams and give them a bit of zing.
In this world
where the social media is changing the face of society and
journalism, there
is always need to reorganise to inject dynamism and punch
in news
coverage.
It’s not just media organisations which have been jolted
out of their
comfort zones by social media, all sorts of businesses and
individuals have
had to adjust in a bid to keep up with changes in the
increasingly shifting
operating environments, mainly triggered by
technological innovations and
growing customer demands –– in this case
newspaper readers.
At this point it is important to reaffirm we are
driven by what our readers
or the market wants. We hold no brief for anyone,
including the publisher.
This is the way we operate.
But that was
a parenthesis even though it’s central to our editorial policy.
Technological changes and the advent of social media, among other such
momentous developments, are also rocking Orwellian regimes –– which thrive
on authoritarian control –– around the world.
That is why it is
surprising to find some regimes still clinging onto
old-fashioned and failed
totalitarian models in the 21st Century. In the
case of Zimbabwe, government
remains frozen on a Stalinist paradigm in terms
of its political culture and
how it relates with its citizens and the media.
But remaining
handcuffed to the past is hardly the best strategy of coping
with the only
constant in life –– change. The fact is whether were are
talking about
President Robert Mugabe’s birthday party tomorrow, the
eurozone crisis and
the Greek bailout, Whitney Houston’s recent death, the
Arab Spring, the
Occupy Movement, phone-hacking scandal or Zambia’s recent
victory at the
African Cup of Nations, social media is gaining momentum and
exerting ever
more dramatic impact on us, making state control of the media,
information
and censorship redundant.
That’s why as media we need to keep on
adjusting to service our readers and
audiences better. Despite changes
around us, we will not change our vision,
mission and values as a newspaper.
But we may change a few things in our
coverage of news to refocus and
achieve differentiation as we work to
maintain and consolidate our market
position.
Our focus remains the same: To be the most reliable and
trusted provider of
business news, information and data, as well as
political insight in
Zimbabwe. To achieve this, we need to provide
cutting-edge, incisive and
dynamic news coverage, as well as compelling
investigative reporting and
analysis on multimedia
platforms.
Credibility, relevance and professionalism will remain our
core values in
service of communities and democracy in our role as a public
watchdog.We
want to be the home to fresh ideas, critical thinking and
investigative
journalism.
Even though we acknowledge the role of
social media, we however don’t want
to overstate its impact on society and,
more specifically, on journalism.
Certainly, real scoops and insightful
reporting are still better secured
through traditional investigative
methods, with social media serving as a
tool to achieve that.
We
hope to change how our people relate to government and interact with
public
institutions and their leaders, as well as society at large. It is
important
to ensure informed, honest and robust debate in society, while
helping to
improve how people make their choices and connect to business and
the
economy.
As a newspaper, we will continue to hold government to
account and fight for
progressive democratic alternatives. Our spotlight
will remain on the public
and private spheres of life to expose abuse of
power and corruption, while
chasing consequential stories in the public
interest.
This means we will have to push the envelope or frontiers
to get good
stories and broaden the democratic space in our operations. It
will be an
uphill task but a welcome challenge.
By Dumisani
Muleya
