By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, February 7, 2:53
AM
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s parliament Wednesday began discussing a
new constitution that reduces some of the president’s powers, demands
political impartiality from his longtime loyalists in the police and
military and paves the way for a peace and reconciliation commission to
investigate a decade of human rights and electoral abuses.
The
160-page draft, completed after three years of bickering between hardliners
and reformists during often bitter and violent nationwide canvassing, will
be voted on in a national referendum slated for April, ahead of elections to
end a shaky coalition formed after the last disputed, violent polls in
2008.
Regional mediators made a new constitution a key condition for
fresh elections. Lawmakers will not be able to change the draft unless there
is a last minute revolt against it in the legislature, Veritas, an
independent legal monitoring group, said Wednesday.
There was no
immediate sign of that in the Harare parliament house Wednesday. Paul
Mangwana, co-chair from President Robert Mugabe’s party of a parliamentary
panel in charge of rewriting the constitution, told legislators the lengthy,
delayed process cost about $45 million.
“It has been a long journey and
we think did our best for the country,” Mangwana said.
He described
the funding, including United Nations and foreign donations, as money well
spent.
“People will ask why, but democracy is very expensive,” Mangwana
said.
All main party leaders have called for a ‘Yes’ vote in the
referendum after years of violence, uncertainty and economic meltdown that
has left the nation weary and demoralized.
The parliament debate is
expected to wind up after several sittings in coming days, followed by a
month for distribution of the proposed constitution to electors nationwide,
said Veritas.
The draft shows Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change both made concessions
over points in dispute.
According to the proposed constitution, a person
can be president for a maximum of two five year terms, but the term limit is
not retrospective.
That means Mugabe, who turns 89 this month and has
been in power for 33 years, can run for president again and if he wins could
rule to the age of 94, and even to 99 if he ran for, and won, a second
term.
But according to the draft, Mugabe would no longer have the power
to veto legislation and presidential decrees, which Mugabe has often used
unchallenged, would need parliamentary approval, mostly by a two-thirds
majority of lawmakers.
The president would not be able to arbitrarily
appoint the ten powerful provincial governors from his party and provinces
will be able choose their own chair, or premier.
Increasingly frail
at public appearances, Mugabe is seen to have recently lost much of his
trademark combative spirit. Tsvangirai’s party agreed not to insist that
presidential candidates nominate a running mate for the next poll, so Mugabe
will not have to pick a possible successor in his fractious, rivalry-ridden
former ruling party. The draft allows the victorious president to personally
appoint two vice presidents.
The new constitution binds the police and
military to be impartial and not to “further the interests of any political
party or cause.” Military commanders, accused of condoning past political
violence blamed on Mugabe militants, have refused to salute Tsvangirai, 60,
repeatedly vowing allegiance only to Mugabe, the nation’s first black ruler
and leader of the guerrilla war that led to independence from Britain in
1980.
A beefed-up constitutional court with powers over all other courts
and the new peace and reconciliation commission are proposed as reforms to a
judicial system critics say has long been packed with pro-Mugabe judges and
officials.
The constitutional court would deal with violations of the
charter and abuse of power or governance.
The proposed constitution
says the often violent seizures of white-owned farms since 2000 restored
land to blacks who were “unjustifiably dispossessed” of it by colonial-era
settlers and states that the seizures cannot be reversed. Displaced white
farmers say that clause legitimizes theft and the plunder of
internationally-recognized property rights.
The new reconciliation body
was praised as “a hopeful sign that victims of political violence may obtain
some justice” by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, a
non-governmental organization that encourages democracy.
Despite
continuing arrests of rights and democracy activists in Zimbabwe, the
constitutional changes represented some “significant gains,” said the
organization.
OSISA said the proposals were “better than feared but
far from ideal.”
The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) could turn out
to be the only civil society organisation urging a no vote on the draft
constitution, sources in Harare said on Wednesday.
SW Radio Africa
was informed that a group of civic leaders met in the capital on Tuesday to
discuss the stance adopted by the NCA. Lovemore Madhuku, the chairman of the
pressure group, had earlier in the day announced they would ask Zimbabweans
to reject the COPAC draft because it was ‘neither people-driven nor
democratic.’
Madhuku told journalists his organisation was confident of
getting enough support to defeat the draft at a referendum, expected at the
end of March.
All parties to the GPA have said they will be campaigning
for the approval of the draft. A source said the ‘Yes’ team brings together
political rivals from ZANU PF and the two MDC formations, to form a
formidable camp.
Others opposed to the NCA stance said that while the
draft is not perfect it is much better than the existing Lancaster House
constitution.
‘There are improvements in the draft constitution, but the
good has been mixed with some bad points that the NCA highlighted. There is
word already that the CSO’s will urge Zimbabwe to turn out in large numbers
and vote for the proposed constitution,’ the source said.
He said
there is a belief that the forthcoming referendum gives the country an
opportunity to end the long search for reforms.
‘People in the CSO’s are
saying the time has come for Zimbabweans to make a decision that will lead
to the re-birth of a new republic. They will campaign for all Zimbabweans to
vote Yes so that the proposed constitution passes with an overwhelming
majority.
‘They fear that supporters of the draft constitution who will
not vote will indirectly give a boost to the No camp,’ our source
added.
Meanwhile Douglas Mwonzora, the COPAC co-chairman representing the
MDC-T, on Wednesday presented a draft copy of the constitution and full
report of the exercise to Parliament. He was seconded by Paul Mangwana, the
COPAC chair from ZANU PF. MPs from all sides of the House adopted the
motion, triggering singing and ululation in Parliament.
It’s believed
by next week the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will effectively take
over the baton for the last phase on the road to a new constitution, by
preparing the public for the referendum.
The public vote has to take
place within 60 days of the publication of the proposed constitution. ZEC
will have 30 days to conduct civic education on the issue.
But if
politicians don’t abide by constitutional rights, it doesn’t matter what is
written in the new constitution.
HARARE — The National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) is demanding that Zimbabweans are given at least two months to debate
the draft constitution produced by the parliamentary select committee
(COPAC) or risk court action.
NCA chairman, Lovemore Madhuku, told a news
conference in the capital Tuesday that his organization wants the unity
government to give Zimbabweans enough time to debate the content of the
draft constitution so that people can vote wisely during the
referendum.
The NCA said the Public Order and Security Act, which
restricts people from gathering without permission from authorities, should
be suspended for the duration of the constitutional campaign.
Madhuku
threatened to take the unity government to court if his organization's
demands are not met.
Madhuku said the NCA will campaign for a "no" vote
because it is against the constitution-making process, which he said was
“not people driven”.
The constitutional body says there is nothing
positive in the entire draft charter, adding that the proposed governing
charter gives more powers to the president.
Madhuku said it is better
for Zimbabweans to go for elections under the current constitution than to
adopt the COPAC draft.
Madhuku said his organization will work with other
civic society organizations including the working class and students to
campaign for a “no” vote.
He told reporters that the “no” vote
campaign would be door-to-door because his organization does not have money
to mount a fully-fledged campaign.
The NCA made it clear right from the
beginning of the constitutional revision process that it will push for a no
vote because it did not want the program to be driven by
politicians.
But the three parties in the unity government say they will
campaign for the adoption of the draft to pave way for fresh elections that
are expected to be held sometime this year.
By Richard Chidza, Staff Writer Wednesday, 06
February 2013 12:26 HARARE - Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has wadded
into a political storm with his stonewalling comments on military
reforms.
Addressing senior military personnel this week Mnangagwa, a
potential successor to President Robert Mugabe, declared there will not be
any security sector reforms as long as he remains in government
leadership.
“The current government is anxious to reform you and anxious
for security sector reforms. They do not want to have a defence force which
is knowledgeable, focused and revolutionary. We are against it,” the defence
minister is quoted as saying.
While Mnangagwa was taking a hard-line
stance on security sector reforms, Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo seemed
not entirely against military re-alignment but not before
elections.
“I suppose one can safely say the issue of security reform is
not one issue that should be discussed now because we are seized with the
Constitution-making process and the Referendum. Any reforms that may take
place perhaps can come after the elections, we cannot engage the military
now,” Gumbo said.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC spokesperson
Douglas Mwonzora said his party is not worried about the utterances coming
from Mnangagwa.
“As far as we are concerned, security sector reforms will
happen. The new constitution is clear on what behaviour is expected of our
military establishment and that is what will happen,” Mwonzora
said.
Former Zanu PF politburo member and now opposition Mavambo/Kusile
Dawn leader Simba Makoni said Mnangagwa had a warped understanding of what
security sector reform is.
“If that is his understanding of military
reforms, then he needs to school himself. The clamour for security sector
reform has never been about change of government but to make sure our
military personnel are professional in the discharge of their duties,”
Makoni said.
“I have not heard Morgan Tsvangirai (Prime Minister) or
anybody in the opposition movement agitating for an ignorant defence force.
Rather it is Zanu PF that has turned a national institution and a venerated
one at that into a partisan force that panders to a political party’s
whims.
“If Mnangagwa wants to maintain the status quo then he is
seriously misdirected. We want a non-partisan and apolitical force that
respects democratic ideals and norms,” said Makoni.
Although Industry
minister Welshman Ncube was not available for comment, his party deputy
secretary-general Moses Mzila Ndlovu last week told the Daily News security
sector and media reforms remain a grey area that needs to be dealt with
before the expiry of the term of the current Parliament.
Known as
Ngwena/Crocodile in political circles, the defence minister is hedging his
chances of landing the party and country’s biggest political post on support
from the army, his rivals say.
Calls for security sector reform have
reached a crescendo particularly after the 2008 bloodbath in the
presidential election run-off in which the military was fingered as having
been the power behind murders and disappearances that forced Tsvangirai to
pull out at the eleventh hour.
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 11:34 HARARE -
Chiefs who are seeking to derail the constitution- making process are out of
line as the programme is now beyond individuals or groups, the Constitution
Select Committee (Copac)) has said.
Traditional leaders are particularly
miffed by the new draft constitution because it whittles down their
powers.
They are also against the imposition of presidential term limits
in the draft negotiated by President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Copac, the parliamentary body that has been steering the
constitution making since 2009 before Mugabe and Tsvangirai hijacked the
process, says it is meaningless for chiefs to involve Mugabe or any other
Principal at a stage the country is preparing for a
referendum.
Douglas Mwonzora, a Copac co-chairperson representing
Tsvangirai’s MDC, said the chiefs are offside.
“The chiefs are late,
we consulted them on the Constitution and they gave their input. They cannot
preside over areas that are beyond their jurisdiction,” said
Mwonzora.
Chiefs, who are accused by civic society organisations and then
MDC of propping up Zanu PF through coercing their followers to vote for the
former ruling party, feel the draft constitution usurps their royal powers
on issues and assets such as land.
Clause 15.3 (2) of the draft
states that: “Except as provided for in Act of Parliament, traditional
leaders shall have no authority, control or jurisdiction over land except
communal land or over persons outside communal land unless the cause of the
action arose within the area of the traditional leader’s
jurisdiction.”
Chiefs are now seeking audience with Mugabe who ironically
endorsed the draft constitution along with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and Industry and Commerce minister
Welshman Ncube.
Paul Mangwana, Copac co-chairperson representing Zanu PF,
said chiefs have a democratic right to engage the president but should know
that the clause was inserted to avoid confrontations over areas of
jurisdiction.
“We have provided the best for our chiefs and they are
reading the clause wrongly. This clause calls for an orderly jurisdiction
over land.
“We give them the normal jurisdiction in communal lands but
then we approach other areas case by case. We are trying to find peaceful
resolution to possible disagreement,” said Mangwana.
Mugabe and his
counterparts in the uneasy coalition government are campaigning for the
adoption of the draft constitution in the referendum.
With Parliament,
which is dominated by Mugabe’s Zanu PF and the MDC, set to rubber stamp the
draft agreed to by Mugabe and Tsvangirai, Mwonzora says there is little room
for the chiefs to manoeuvre.
Zimbabwe's
second largest city, Bulawayo’s water situation has improved and will reduce
the rationing periods, said the Mayor, Patrick Thaba-Moyo.
The
Bulawayo’s water crisis had seen more than a million people going without
the precious liquid for four days a week and devastating an already reeling
local economy facing massive deindustrialization.
“Yes, the water
situation has improved. we have received significant inflows of water into
our supply dams in the past few weeks. So we don’t see any reason why we
should not reduce water rationing hours. We will definitely reduce the water
shedding periods for the benefit of our residents and also for the
city'sdevelopment,” Moyo told The Zimbabwean this morning Wednesday.
Moyo
added that the connection of the much awaited 42 km Mtshabezi water pipeline
three weeks ago also boosted the water supply situation in
Bulawayo.
Last year the local authority asked residents to
participate in a “big flush” concurrently at 7:30pm every Saturday evening
so that human waste does not solidify in the city’s aging sewerage pipes.
Out of the five water supply dams to Bulawayo two have so far been
decommissioned. In November last year hundreds of people gathered for a rain
prayer meeting at the Large City Hall organized by various church
organisations and the city council. Several pastors from church
organisations like Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe EFZ, Zimbabwe Union of
Churches (ZUC) and Zimbabwe Council of Churches led the rain prayer
meeting.
Last year the mayor told residents that if the water crisis
persisted the council would be forced to draw water from the Zambezi river
using the National Railways of Zimbabwe goods trains in order to save the
city.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai recently said his office would
work hard to resolve Bulawayo's critical water situation by connecting to
the Mtshabezi dam.
CITY of Harare will
soon introduce water rationing as part of efforts to find a lasting solution
to water problems afflicting the city. Most suburbs have been receiving
water intermittently for the past four days following a major pipe burst at
Prince Edward Water Works.
There are also perennial water shortages in
some areas that council has failed to address. Town clerk Dr Tendai
Mahachi yesterday said the city would come up with a proper water rationing
schedule as they continue to refurbish the city’s water
equipment.
“We are going to be scheduling and publishing the water cuts
to residents as we battle to replace the obsolete equipment in the city’s
water system,” he said.
In parts of Kuwadzana, Budiriro, Glen View,
Mufakose, Kambuzuma and other western suburbs, residents only receive water
at night.
“I fail to understand what they mean by that because they
started rationing water long back. “What surprises us is their billing
system. In some cases we receive huge bills that do not justify the little
water that we receive,” said Mr Robert Mazarura of Glen View.
Areas
such as Mabvuku, Tafara, Ruwa, Greendale and others in the eastern parts of
Harare have had perennial water challenges.
Mbare hostels are the worst
affected as they use communal toilets that double up as bathrooms. There
has been no water in most of the hostels for the past four days, posing a
health scare.
In hostels such as Nenyere Flats, residents were fetching
water from a nearby industrial park while others were resorting to unsafe
water sources such as drains and shallow wells along Mukuvisi
River.
“We have nowhere else to go to, though we are not aware of where
this water is coming from. “This is the only source of water we have at
the present moment,” said Rodgers Manyeruke of Mbare. Council authorities
attributed the crisis to ageing equipment, shortage of water treatment
chemicals and incessant power cuts by Zesa.
Harare Residents Trust
director Mr Precious Shumba said Harare mayor Mr Muchadeyi Masunda should
resign because he has failed to run the city.
“We are advocating that the
mayor steps down as he has dismally failed to develop the city. When
residents go without water we expect local authorities to intervene through
bowsers,” he said.
Mr Shumba accused city fathers of fabricating petty
excuses to justify their failure. “They come up with excuses in a clear
demonstration of their failure to prioritise provision of clean
water.
“They have failed to upgrade the infrastructure and to improve
their water sources,” he said. Mr Shumba urged the city authorities to
seek assistance from the central Government and other humanitarian
organisations.
Recent assumptions are that Harare is producing enough
water but is losing up to 60 percent of it through leaks.
Residents’ associations in Harare have warned that public outrage
over ongoing water problems in the city is reaching boiling point, with city
authorities being urged to hurry up and deal with the
issues.
Intermittent water supply and sewage issues in the capital have
been recurring problems for years, and most recently several suburbs across
western Harare were left without water for days because of a break down at
the Warren Control Pump Station. The areas have included the densely
populated Mbare suburb, as well as Glen View, Budiriro, Rugare, Sunningdale
and others. Almost a week later, most of the areas are still without clean
water.
Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda has promised that there will be
an improved water supply soon, after meeting with South African municipal
water authorities for advice.
“If everything goes according to plan,
we should start seeing considerable improvement in the provision of potable
water from March onwards,” Masunda told the Standard
newspaper.
Masunda said the city council expected to spend about US$2
million on its plan to reduce the ‘pressure’ on the water system, which he
said was currently too high. “Our pipes are too old, some of them dating
back to the mid-1970s, so you can imagine what this pressure, which is high
enough to kill a person, does to them,” Masunda said.
But Masunda is
being criticised for taking too long to come up with solutions to the
problems that have been dogging city residents for so many years. The
council has been repeatedly blamed for not doing enough and residents have
now said they have had enough.
The Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) said
this week that locals are “sick and tired” of the situation, and are
demanding changes. The Combined Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA) echoed
this sentiment on Wednesday telling SW Radio Africa “the situation is a
ticking time bomb.”
“There is a time when people are going to rise up and
say ‘enough is enough’ and that time is coming and it is coming fast,” CHRA
chairman Simbarashe Moyo warned.
He said the city authorities have
failed again and again to provide clean water, and are always relying on the
intervention of NGOs like UNICEF, which has in the past sunk boreholes for
communities.
“We cannot keep turning to the donor community. We are done
with that. The challenge must be solved by the municipality,” Moyo said.
HARARE -
Harare residents representative groups are wasting their time attacking
council over service delivery issues in the media, the city’s mayor
Muchadeyi Masunda has said.
Masunda took a swipe at service delivery
activists who have been “making noise” on public platforms. “All the
problems bedevilling greater Harare require long-term and sustainable
solutions,” Masunda told the Daily News.
“The answers are certainly not
going to come out of scoring brownie points against each other in one-sided
programmes on television or unbalanced stories in newspapers,” he
said.
Combined Harare Residents Association (Chra) and Harare Residents
Trust (HRT) have been vocal in their criticism of council
performance.
He called on residents representative organisations to join
hands with the struggling local authority to restore Harare’s sunshine
status.
“I would like to extend an olive branch to pressure groups that
have mushroomed more recently to join forces with us in proactively
grappling with the myriad problems.
“These include indiscriminate
vending and littering, domestic and industrial pollution, traffic congestion
caused by a proliferation of commuter omnibuses, unmetered taxis and
vehicles for driving schools, children and homeless people living on the
streets as well as the serious inconvenience caused by commuter omnibuses to
licensed shops and bona fide shoppers,” said Masunda.
Meanwhile,
Masunda chairs the John Sisk & Son board not Murray and Roberts as
stated in our Sunday paper. - Wendy Muperi
The Australian government on Wednesday unveiled a
$30 million grant that will be channeled towards water and sanitation
rehabilitation programs in 14 small towns in Zimbabwe.
Officiating at
the grant handover ceremony, Margaret McKinnon, First Assistant Director
General of the Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID),
said her government was committed to help Zimbabwe in programs that uplift
the standards of living of its people.
Accepting the small towns’ water,
sanitation and hygiene programme grant, Water Resources Minister Samuel
Sipepa Nkomo, said the resources would help Zimbabwe fight the spread of
water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo said his ministry would ensure that the local
authorities will put the money to good use.
Interim UNICEF representative
in Zimbabwe, Gianni Murzi, the Australian grant will help Zimbabwe to
achieve its millennium development goals on health.
The grant will be
managed through UNICEF.
Responding to a question from a journalist on why
donor agencies continue to channel their resources through organizations
such as UNICEF, Minister Nkomo said Zimbabwe remained under sanctions and
cooperating funding partners have indicated that they can only help Zimbabwe
through UNICEF and other UN agencies.
The grant availed by Australia
will be used to improve the operational capacity and efficiency of piped
water supply systems in 14 targeted towns through the rehabilitation of
sewage and water reticulation systems and treatment plants.
Bulawayo police raided the offices of
the National Youth Development Trust on Wednesday, two days after arresting
two youths from the organization for allegedly possessing voter registration
receipts.
Initially 40 people were detained on Monday but were later
released, leaving Brilliant Goboza and Ray Ncube.
Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights information officer, Kumbirai Mafunda, said the two were
released on Wednesday after their lawyer, Charles Moyo, successfully
challenged and convinced the prosecutor that they had not committed a crime,
resulting in them being freed before going to court.
Mafunda said during
the raid on Wednesday police searched the group’s offices looking for voter
registration certificates or material which ‘negatively affected the
state’.
There were no arrests this time around, but the police are said
to have confiscated some documents, including the organization’s workshop
schedule and transport reimbursement details of its members. Mafunda said
civil society is ‘under siege’ as the police intensify their crackdown
against activists ahead of elections.
He said ZimRights offices in
Harare, Chinhoyi, Gwanda, Bulawayo have been raided in recent weeks and
several people have been arrested with charges linked to voter
registration.
There are currently four people, including Leo Chamahwinya
(deputy programs manager for ZimRights) still in detention, facing similar
charges of undertaking an “illegal” voter registration exercise ahead of the
forthcoming polls.
Streets kids and vagrants were this week rounded up in a
police swoop that involved organizations that work with vulnerable
children.
Duduzile Moyo, a director with Streets Ahead, an NGO that works
to protect children living on the street from violence and abuse, said the
exercise on Monday was meant to reunite children with their
families.
She said the raid on the streets was carried out after a
meeting of all stakeholders, who included the social services, police and
NGO’s. Moyo also confirmed that none of the children who were taken from the
streets were put in police cells or slept in custody.
‘As they were
brought to the police stations we had our members waiting to take them away
to a safe, clean environment where we provide counseling, rehabilitation and
education,’ Moyo said.
While police said the kids’ presence on the
streets of the capital had transformed the city into a hostile environment
for shopkeepers, commuters and residents, Moyo said not all of them were out
to cause problems.
‘Obviously there is growing concern when you see such
a high number of these kids rooming the streets and becoming unruly or
engaging in violent activities. This is where we come in to try and keep
them away from trouble,’ she said.
Asked what forced the kids onto
the streets, Moyo said there are many complex reasons.
‘Poverty,
family disintegration due to death or abandonment, abuse, neglect, loss of
parents due to HIV/AIDS, are all often triggers that result in a child
living on the street and doing hazardous work.
‘It is evident that
conflict and poverty disasters can decimate communities, leaving children
helpless, without parents and family and resorting to a life on the street,
they simply have nowhere to go,’ Moyo added.
Our correspondent in Harare,
Simon Muchemwa, cited business sources who said many of the children and
adults engaged in unlawful activities like stealing, drug abuse and
prostitution. The street kids have also invaded food courts, becoming a
public nuisance to customers keen to enjoy their meals with family and
friends.
Muchemwa said most of the children are not on the streets by
choice but forced out from their homes by circumstances beyond their
control. He said most are forced to go out and beg for money to supplement
whatever little income the family gets.
‘Lack of financial resources,
cruel treatment and neglect are among the factors that facilitate the huge
presence of street children in the city,’ Muchemwa added.
A police
spokesman Tadious Chibanda said street kids can be a danger to the public as
many become habitual criminals.
He explained that the police had received
complaints from the public about street children who end up robbing people
or assisting criminals in committing crimes in the Central Business
District.
Media rights group MISA-Zimbabwe has slammed the national
broadcasting authority for attempting to “mislead” the public, by announcing
new licences were available.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe
(BAZ) has announced that licences are available for companies and
individuals that that provide broadcast content. This includes hotels, banks
and even bus operators who broadcast radio or television content to its
clients. BAZ has since instructed all of these groups to apply for licences
or risk contravening the Broadcast Services Act.
In a notice, BAZ
said the licences were “not subject to a public inquiry:”
“The
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe wishes to advise the public that the law
defines a broadcasting service in Section 2 (1) of the Broadcasting Services
Act (Chapter 12:06) as ‘any service which delivers television or radio
programmes to persons having equipment appropriate for receiving that
service’,” reads part of the notice.
The licence applications fees
range from US$300 to US$10,000 depending on what category the affected
groups are listed under. For example; banks, five star hotels and other
business entities are expected to pay US$10,000 per year if they broadcast
television or radio content. Even bus operators, who broadcast on their
coaches, are subject to a US$100 per vehicle annual licensing
fee.
This new licensing structure comes as there is still an urgent need
for the opening of the airwaves in terms of independent radio groups and
community radio projects. To date, the only commercial ventures to be given
broadcast licences are Star FM and ZiFM, which have both been linked to ZANU
PF and the highly partisan state media.
MISA-Zimbabwe director
Nhlanhla Ngwenya told SW Radio Africa that BAZ is trying to “mislead the
public that they are doing something about opening the broadcasting
sector.”
“It is clear this won’t do anything to help ordinary Zimbabweans
access information. It does nothing for people who need information across
Zimbabwe,” Ngwenya said.
The agreement that formed the unity
government in 2009 clearly states that media reform must be undertaken
before an election. But Ngwenya warned that this latest move by BAZ
indicates such reform was unlikely. He said this was a sign of BAZ’s
reluctance to “open up the media space and offer more than piecemeal
changes.”
“We have witnessed this piecemeal approach to reform clearly in
line with what has been happening in Zimbabwe for ten years, with BAZ
delivering so little while appearing to give so much,” Ngwenya
said.
He added: “It would appear we would not be having any meaning
democratisation of the media sector before elections.”
Zimbabweans have expressed shock after
seeing the country’s central bank governor, Gideon Gono, appearing to give
credence to the so-called ‘miracle money’ prophets, Emmanuel Makandiwa and
Eubert Angel, at a press conference in Harare on Tuesday.
Economist
John Robertson told SW Radio Africa the Reserve Bank Governor missed the
chance to caution the general public against the prosperity gospel prophets.
Instead Gono appeared to confirm that ‘miracle money’ is a reality and his
only concern was that such miracle money had to conform to the laws
regarding currency. Money being miraculously materialized should come with a
paper trail and proper serial numbers.
Social commentator Rejoice Ngwenya
said the Gono press conference with this controversial pair is in the same
league as the incident of the diesel n’anga, Rotina Mavhunga, who fooled
ZANU PF ministers into believing that she could miraculously draw diesel
from a rock.
Ngwenya said this shows “Zimbabwe is a land of ‘jokers’,
where you have the head of the country’s bank paying attention to such
‘frivolous’ beliefs.
The two self-styled prophets have been dominating
the news and drawing thousands to their churches, claiming they can perform
extraordinary miracles, promising wealth and a better life to their
followers.
Some worshippers reportedly found cash in their wallets,
pockets and bank accounts, while others claimed to have found diamonds and
gold during the church service. Some said they experienced equally
‘extraordinary miracles’ like hair being extended, sudden loss of weight and
new teeth.
After the meeting with Makandiwa and Angel at the Reserve Bank
offices Gono said: “We, as the central bank, came in to give our views
concerning their work. They belong to the spiritual realm, we are charged
with ensuring that earthly laws are observed, implemented and
monitored.”
Previously the banker had described the prophets’ claims as
“very dangerous” and said they could be breaching international laws
governing the printing of money. But in a complete u-turn Gono said he was
now “sure that what the two men of God do is not in violation of any
rules.”
Gono said he could not prove that they had broken any laws, even
though there was no explanation as to how the ‘miracle money’ is being
deposited into individuals’ bank accounts without following normal banking
transactions or regulations.
Some observers have said that the
central bank governor should be dealing with facts and not hobnobbing with
these prophets, which undermines his credibility.
Robertson said Gono
should never have allowed himself to be associated with this activity in any
way at all. “The implications now are that many people are clever at
defrauding other people and they are going to get away with it.
The
prosperity gospel duo in-turn said their “miracles” were based on
“restoration of what one would have lost” and “not on creation of
money”.
Ngwenya said there is a fine line between “religious freedom and
religious insanity but then again Zimbabweans have a history of extreme
behavior.”
The commentator said it is possible that with ZANU PF in the
middle of an election campaign it is looking at this huge block of potential
voters from the Pentecostal movement, and wanted Gono to do a bit of ‘damage
control’.
“This to me is just one of those political jokes that is only
meant to prove that ZANU PF accommodates these eccentric characters for the
purposes of political capital.”
Ngwenya believes this ‘incites a
sense of laziness in Zimbabweans that manna comes from heaven.”
He
pointed out that it is difficult to say how the prophets have committed a
crime since none of the so called beneficiaries have gone to a bank and
produced the money that has allegedly been materialized with the help of the
prophets.
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
governor Gideon Gono on Tuesday met “prophets” Emmanuel Makandiwa and
Uebert Angel Mudzanire over claims they are making money appear miraculously
in the pockets and bank accounts of their followers.
Gono had
previously described the claims as “very dangerous”, warning that the
“prophets” risked bringing international scrutiny on the country over
possible breach of international conventions relating to money laundering
and funding of terrorism.
But Makandiwa and Mudzanire told Gono
during a meeting in Harare that their “miracles” were based on “restoration
and not on creation of money”.
Said Mudzanire: "We are not crazy! We did
not say we are creating money. This was merely restoration of what one would
have lost.
“For instance, if you lose US$20 in Mutoko, when God restores
that money you will get it all back with serial numbers and
everything.
"God is doing these miracles. Miracle money was a sign that
God is able to do greater things. But let it be put on record that we are
not trying to make people lazy."
Makandiwa added: "Today, we have
made ourselves clear on how we operate to the governor. We know there are
laws that should be followed and we are determined to do just
that.
“Sometimes when we pray, things that most people do not understand
might happen. These things will continue happening.”
Speaking to
reporters after the meeting, the RBZ chief said he had only been concerned
by a possible violation of the law. He said: “It was necessary to meet these
people to understand whether they are printing or minting money. As a
superintendent of the financial sector, you can’t stand disinterested when
newspapers are awash with wild claims.
“They committed to observing
earthly laws and that to me was very important. There is no contradiction
between what the prophets have been doing and the laws of the
land.
“Following the meeting, we are sure that what the two men of God do
is not in violation of any rules. There is no violation of the nature we
feared.”
And speaking barely a week after Finance Minister Tendai Biti
revealed that Zimbabwe’s public account was down to US$217 after paying
civil servants, Gono joked: “The miracles, signs and wonders of this nature
will not result in the growth of the broad money supply. We should,
therefore, not expect the liquidity situation of the country to
change.”
The two wealthy “prophets" have attracted widespread attention
after promising followers “wealth, health and a better life” in a country
still struggling to shake off the effects of a decade-long economic
recession and political strife.
Followers of Mudzanire claim to have
“found” extra cash in their purses and pockets during prayer sessions while
Makandiwa’s congregants last month claimed to have found themselves with
diamonds and gold nuggets in their hands during a miracle session.
In
response to media reports, Gono had accused the “prophets” of making
irresponsible claims and urged them to find other ways of “pleasing their
followers”.
“I can safely say that what they are telling people is
very dangerous indeed and they must stop it forthwith. You cannot just wake
up in the morning and say that my account has this much money (but) I cannot
tell where it came from … it’s not possible,” Gono said.
“It is
possible however, that our men of God are not aware of all these serious
earthly laws and could be at risk of breaking them unknowingly, but then, as
the saying goes, ignorance of the law is no defence.
“We are a country
still under illegal sanctions and economic siege and, in any case, where
were these miracle men and women of God during the period 1998 to 2008 when
some of us were trying every trick in and outside the book to keep this
country afloat?”
HARARE — The governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon
Gono, has warned that the country’s overreliance on imports from South
Africa could undermine Zimbabwe’s economic recovery prospects.
South
Africa is Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner, with trade between the two
countries growing from R19.2bn in 2011 to R22.5bn last year — mostly in
South Africa’s favour.
"Exports realised over the period January to
December 2012 amounted to $3.8bn, which compares unfavourably with imports
of $7.5bn," Mr Gono said. "It doesn’t require rocket science to appreciate
the fact that where a country is relying more and more on importation of
finished products, particularly those that it can produce on its own, is on
a path of self-destruction and deindustrialisation."
Mr Gono, who
presented the central bank’s monetary policy statement last week, painted a
grim picture of the country’s economic state that reflected low exports,
limited foreign direct investment and weak international commodity prices.
The affected minerals included platinum, copper and
diamonds.
Zimbabwe relies heavily on minerals for revenue
generation.
Analysts have said the stalled economic growth was an
indictment of the four-year-old unity government that has been fraught with
political bickering and economic policy inconsistency.
Zimbabwe’s
trade deficit stands at $3.6bn and its manufacturing industry is reeling
under the weight of imports from South Africa, which account for 65% of the
total into the economy. As a result, industry capacity utilisation declined
from 57% in 2011 to slightly under 44% last year.
According to the
industry and commerce ministry, Zimbabwe’s industry requires about $2bn for
re-capitalisation after being decimated by hyperinflation in
2008.
Economics professor at the University of Zimbabwe Tony Hawkins said
the economy was characterised by excess consumption spending by the private
sector and the state, negligible savings, and an unsustainable balance of
payments position.
The country’s overall balance of payments remains
in deficit and stood at $498m last year. Zimbabwe is further saddled with a
$10bn debt. It owed the World Bank $1.2bn, the African Development Bank
$500m, the International Monetary Fund $200m and the Paris Club of Creditors
$3bn, among many others.
Trevor Maisiri, a senior analyst based at the
Johannesburg office of the International Crisis Group, said yesterday that
goods from South Africa would continue to flood the Zimbabwean market
because they were cheaper. The Zimbabwean manufacturing sector is in decline
and unable to meet local demand.
"Zimbabwe will need to resolve the
current liquidity challenges, high interest rates, low volumes of capital
and restrictive capital sources ," Mr Maisiri said. "However, these
challenges are not merely operational, (they ) are structural and dependent
on the overall political and economic landscape ."
Zimbabwe has been implicated as one of the 54 countries that
were involved in assisting the Central Intelligence Agency of the United
States in torturing individuals who were suspected of being involved with Al
Qaeda following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in Washington and
New York. It is alleged to have detained Fahad al Bahli, Ibrahim Habaci,
Khalifa Abdi Hassan, Mahmud Sardar Issa, and Arif Ulusam after they were
arrested in June 2003 in Malawi, in a joint operation involving the CIA and
Malawi’s National Intelligence Bureau.
The five are said to have been
flown to Harare, where they were held for almost a month, and ultimately
flown to Sudan where they were released, according to a report by the Open
Society Foundation released yesterday.
The report says there were no
known judicial cases or investigations in Zimbabwe relating to its
participation in CIA secret detention and extraordinary rendition
operations.
But it adds that while primary responsibility for the human
rights violations associated with the CIA’s secret detention and
extraordinary rendition operations no doubt lies with the United States,
countries that participated or assisted in these operations also bear
responsibility for these violations.
“International human rights law
not only bars states from directly committing the violations associated with
the extraordinary rendition and secret detention programmes, but also
obligates them not to transfer individuals to states where they are at real
risk of torture or to otherwise cooperate with or facilitate the commission
of those violations,” the report says.
The report lists 136
individuals reportedly subjected to the CIA operations in 54
countries.
The 54 governments identified in the report are: Afghanistan,
Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark,
Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong
Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Libya,
Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri
Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United
Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) was formed in 2003 to
give women an united voice against the social and human rights conditions in
Zimbabwe. Since then, WOZA members have been repeatedly arrested, harassed and
beaten by police after exercising their right to peacefully protest.
Next week will be the tenth anniversary of WOZA’s first
Valentine protest and to mark the occasion Amnesty activists are organising a
demo in London on 16 February. The details are below if you're interested in
taking part.
The demo will take place from 1-2pm outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy in London.
Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe 429
Strand London WC2R 0JR The nearest underground station is Charing
Cross
Please bring a single paper rose (or real if you
prefer) to lay outside the embassy gate before the demo.
For more information, please contact Maggie
Towse, the Zimbabwe Country Co-ordinator:maggie.towse@amnesty.org.uk.
Cape Town -
Preparations for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's 89th birthday
celebrations have begun, with the fundraising committee aiming to raise $600
000 for the event, according to a report.
The state-owned Herald reported
on Wednesday that the funds were expected to be raised from the country’s 10
provinces.
The celebrations, slated for Chipadze Stadium in Bindura on 23
February, will be held under the theme "Youth for Indigenisation,
Empowerment, Development and Employment Creation".
The chairperson of
the fundraising committee, Absolom Sikhosana, could not be drawn to disclose
how much had been raised so far, but said "everything was on course", adding
that "those assigned to carry out various tasks were working
timeously".
"We have raised a substantial amount for the event.
Everything is moving according to plan and it is our hope that we will meet
our targets," he said.
Sikhosana said donors were providing
overwhelming support and called on others to be involved in the
celebrations.
Over 60 000 people were expected to attend the
occasion.
Although Mugabe is now one of Africa's oldest leaders, age
hasn't dented his enthusiasm for office and he is set to contest in upcoming
elections after more than three decades in power.
Zimbabwe was plunged into serious
debate after 81.6 percent of children failed their 2012 Zimbabwe School
Examinations Council (Zimsec) Ordinary Level examinations, a drop from the
previous year’s equally shocking 80.5 percent.
Only 31,767 pupils out
of 172,698 countrywide passed in five subjects with Zimsec attributing the
decline to an increase in the number of students who registered for the
exams, which went up by over 20,000 from last year.
Education, Sport and
Culture Minister Senator David Coltart reacted to the news and gave the
following reaction.
It is important to put the O level results in
context. When I took office on the 13th February 2009 the O level exams had
not even been marked, never mind announced. The O level pass rate for 2008
was 14.44% for the 207212 children who wrote.
The pass rate for 2012
is 18,4% for the 268854 children who wrote. So whilst these results are very
serious they must be out in their proper context. Enormous damage has been
done to our education system in the last decade.
For example we lost
20000 teachers in 2007 and 2008 and the damage done by that alone to a
generation of children cannot be easily undone. Whilst we have made
significant strides in stabilizing our education system much remains to be
done.
The same applies to the other exams. For example in 2009, 272397
children wrote Grade 7 exams and the pass rate was 20.11%. That has now
risen in 2012 to 292375 children writing and the pass rate is now
31.5%.
In 2008 33985 children wrote A levels with a pass rate of 67.21%
which has risen in 2012 to 36678 children writing at a pass rate of 82.09%.
This gradual overall progress has been achieved in an environment of minimal
Government funding for education outside of the payment of
teachers.
Whilst donor support through the Education Transition Fund has
been generous it has been small compared to the amount of donor support the
education sector got in the 1980s. For example in one year alone in the
1980s the US Government contributed over US$100 million to the education
sector.
The total US Government support for the sector since I took
office in 2009 has been US$1 million, and no support whatsoever has been
forthcoming for the 2nd phase of the Education Transition Fund from that
quarter.
The damage done to the education sector by the chaos of the last
decade (and underfunding for two decades) is incalculable but we see the
effects through these low pass rates.
It is going to take our
collective, and sustained, effort as a Nation and increased international
support if we are to restore excellence to our education
sector.
There has been absolutely no discussion regarding the 2012 Grade
7 results. In 2011, 288365 children sat with a pass rate of 28.89%. In 2012
that went up to 292375 with a pass rate of 31.5%.
Relevant to this is
the fact that we concentrated on the Primary sector first – for example we
got text books out to the Primary sector in 2011. Textbooks for Secondary
schools were only distributed at the end of 2011 and we are still in the
process of completing that exercise.
So many of the children who wrote O
levels last year at best only had textbooks in Form 4. Anyone who expects
children to do well without textbooks simply doesn’t understand the basics
of a good education system.
ZIMBABWE is to start building
first ever open prisons in the country, a senior Government official has
said.
The development follows recommendations that the current
convectional incarceration system is not ideal as some inmates have to live
with their babies in prison.
At the moment 69 babies are living with
their mothers in prison.
Responding to journalists during a recent media
tour of Harare Central Remand Prison recently, Commissioner of Prisons
Retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi said the site had been identified in
Marondera.
Rtd Maj Gen Zimondi lamented gaps resulting from shortages of
finance in the department.
“Finances remain a major challenge, the
service has partnered with the corporate world, religious and civic
organisations, as well as individuals who felt the need to extend their
generous hand to prisoners,” said Rtd Maj Gen Zimondi.
“Some have
since withdrawn their assistance while others are continuing to assist and
this has alleviated challenges of feeding and clothing
prisoners.”
It is estimated that construction of the prison will
cost close to US$700 000.
There are 16 315 people in the country’s
prisons.
Of these 587 are women.
The open prison system allows
inmates with relatively light sentences to check in at the prisons, yet be
free to visit their families during weekends.
In some instances,
prisoners may be allowed to go back home every evening if they are able to
report to the prison in the morning.
Male prisoners have an open prison
at Connemara in the Midlands Province.
By Erin Conway-Smith,
GlobalPost Posted: 02/05/2013 08:01:03 AM
PST
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Over and over again, the
baby elephant scrapes its skin against the metal bars of a zoo in northern
China, appearing agitated and distressed.
Not long ago this elephant
lived with its family herd in the wilds of Hwange National Park, the largest
reserve in Zimbabwe. Then it was caught, and along with three other young
elephants, flown halfway around the world.
At Taiyuan Zoo, where Chinese
animal lovers filmed the plight of the little lone elephant behind bars,
another that came from Zimbabwe died soon after its long and difficult
journey. The elephants arrived in late November, during a winter of record
cold temperatures.
Now animal rights groups in Zimbabwe are fighting to
stop more of their country's baby elephants from being taken from the wild
and sold to zoos in China, which pay handsomely for these animals from
Zimbabwe's cash-strapped national parks.
China and Zimbabwe have
close political and economic ties, with trade between them reaching more
than $800 million last year. There is no shortage of elephants in
southernAfrica and there is demand in China, but animal rights groups argue
it's inhumane to take young animals from the wild and send them on difficult
journeys to overseas zoos where they are kept — often in dire
conditions.
Dave Neale, director of animal welfare for the Animals Asia
Foundation, said that trade in wild elephants caught and sold by Zimbabwe to
China is legal under CITES, the international authority that regulates trade
in wildlife.
But it is “far from ethical,” he said.
Elephant
calves form close bonds with their mothers and other female relatives, Neale
explained, and removing a young elephant from its herd in the wild to
captivity is devastating. Many of the calves die, he added.
“From a moral
standpoint, removing a highly intelligent, social animal from its family
group and wild habitat to be shipped to another country and placed inside a
concrete cell cannot be justified,” Neale said. “This trade in wild-caught
elephants is morally repugnant and should stop immediately.”
After news
of the young African elephant's death at Taiyuan Zoo, five other 3- and
4-year-old elephants slated to be sent to China were returned to the wild
following weeks of pressure from the Zimbabwe National SPCA. While animal
lovers cheered this success, by that point it was impossible for the young
elephants' family herds to be located.
And while that shipment was
stopped, animal rights groups say there are reports of four more baby
elephants soon to be exported to China.
Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, has been working to draw attention to the
situation, and fears this won't be the end. He said that Chinese zoos have
paid for a total of eight elephants, and when public attention lessens, the
rest of the order will be shipped.
“When everybody cools down, these
animals are going to go,” Rodrigues said.
He said that Zimbabwe's
national parks badly need the money — they have been unable to pay the wages
of employees the past few months.
Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokeswoman for
the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the government agency
that runs the country's national parks, couldn't be reached by phone despite
repeated attempts, and didn't respond to emails requesting an
interview.
Ed Lanca, chairman of the Zimbabwe National SPCA, said this
moneymaking venture by Zimbabwe's national parks “is basically
kidnapping.”
“It's unacceptable that a baby elephant is taken from its
mother and sent to a foreign country with substandard conditions,” he
said.
Lanca said the Zimbabwe National SPCA, which is barely surviving on
limited private donor funding, has too few resources to help monitor the
exports of elephants. His organization only has two animal welfare
inspectors for the entire country, and their last truck capable of making
out-of-town trips recently broke down.
“If another export happens, we
can't assist because I don't have the means to intervene,” he said. “It's
dire.”
Feb. 5 (GIN) – Authors of a new book, Zimbabwe
Takes Back its Land, have set off sparks with the claim that despite
political violence and hyperinflation, the black farmers who received land
under President Robert Mugabe’s “fast track” land reform are doing
relatively well, improving their lives and becoming increasingly productive,
especially since the US dollar became the local currency. The authors,
Teresa Smart, Joseph Hanlon and Jeannette Manjengwa, scholars from UK
universities, reject the dominant media narratives of oppression and
economic stagnation in Zimbabwe. They spoke at a recent UK roundtable at the
thinktank Chatham House. “Fast track” land reform made headlines around
the world when Pres. Mugabe acceded to demands of liberation war vets to
receive land occupied by whites. Thousands of landless Black farmers and
some friends of the Mugabe administration received small and large
plots. Today, a growing number of writers and researchers, including New York
Times correspondent Lydia Polgreen, are moderating their criticism of the
south African country. Polgreen noted that fewer than 2,000 farmers were
growing tobacco when fast-track began in 2000, and most of those farmers
were white. “Today, 60,000 farmers grow tobacco, the vast majority of them
black and many of them working small plots … Most had no tobacco farming
experience yet managed to produce a hefty crop, from a low of 105 million
pounds in 2008 to more than 330 million pounds this year.” Not all
Zimbabweans, however, share her views. Jaquelin Kataneksza, writing on the
blog Africa is a Country, wrote scathingly: “What this book achieves … is to
sanitize and trivialize a decade of mayhem. Mugabe, the “champion of mass
justice,” asserted that the redistribution of land in Zimbabwe would redress
the wrongs of colonial injustice. Yet, it was conducted in a way that
appears to make a mockery of the very notions it supposedly espoused–those
of justice, equity and freedom.” Zimbabwe Vigil, a dissident group in the UK
also found fault: “If, as claimed in the book, agricultural production is
returning to former levels, the Vigil warmly welcomes it. But this assertion
does not square with the statement by the UN that 1.6 million Zimbabweans
are facing starvation – some 12% of the population – and for yet another
year Zimbabwe needs international food aid.” Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land
is available in paperback on Amazon.com
TAKE CHARGE: VOTE NO IN
THE REFERENDUM - NCA PRESS STATEMENT Presented at Bumbiro/Isisekelo
House
SAY NO TO A CONSTITUTION BY POLITICAL PARTIES: THE PEOPLE MUST
WRITE THEIR OWN CONSTITUTION
1. The mission of the NCA has
remained unchanged over the years. It is to advocate for a new, democratic
and people-driven constitution in our country. By a people-driven process,
we mean a process led by an independent Constitutional Commission not
answering to the dictates of politicians of the day. It is on the basis of
this approach and its mission that the NCA rejected the COPAC process and
vowed to urge the people of Zimbabwe not to accept any constitution authored
for them by three self-serving political parties. It is now clear that COPAC
is exclusively an affair of three political parties. The COPAC Draft
Constitution is neither people-driven nor democratic and must be rejected.
The NCA is campaigning for A NO VOTE in the envisaged
referendum.
2. The NCA calls upon the inclusive government to ensure
that the referendum is credible and that the people be afforded a free and
fair framework to exercise their choice in the matter. The following are the
conditions we demand:
Making the Draft available as widely as
possible in the major languages. Adequate period for the campaign to enable
all voters to have a full grasp of the provisions of the Draft Constitution
before making their choice. A minimum of two months is required. Our lawyers
have been instructed to make an urgent challenge in the Supreme Court should
a shorter period be given. Suspension of the provisions of POSA for campaign
meetings. If this is not done, the NCA reserves its right to campaign
without being restricted by POSA. Equal access to the public media by
both the YES and NO voices. Impartial civic education on the contents by the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and civil society (other than NCA). The NCA
regards any outreach programmes by COPAC on the draft as
partisan. Peaceful campaigns and in this regard call upon the political
parties in the inclusive government to desist from any forms of violence and
intimidation. 3. The NCA recognises that the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission is an independent body. We call upon it
to provide
training to polling agents for both the YES and NO sides. The NCA has no
resources to train its agents. to announce details relating to eligibility to
vote(whether its by IDs only or there is a voters roll) and polling stations
at least two months before polling day. to monitor provisions on equal
access to the media. 4. The NCA`s main campaign strategy will be door to
door and small group meetings.
5. Here are our reasons for the
VOTE NO CAMPAIGN.
A. PROCESS
1. This is not a democratic
and people-driven constitution. A democratic constitution must be
people-driven.
2. This is a constitution being imposed on us by
three political parties, yet the people are bigger than these three
political parties.
3. No political party or group of political
parties must be allowed to give the country a constitution. A constitution
must come from the people.
4. It is not about what people wanted or
said but about the selfish and personal interests of politicians. We need a
constitution that will survive the test of time and not a deal for current
politicians.
5. Politicians spent 4 years and squandered over US$50
million to produce a constitution which is not good for the country but for
themselves.
6. If people say YES to a constitution being imposed by
political parties, they will be giving away their power permanently and
politicians will never respect the people and the country will not
develop.
7. A NO vote is the answer. It will allow people to write
their own constitution after the elections through an INDEPENDENT
CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION.
B. CONTENT
8. The
constitution leaves all power in the President, who is allowed to do what
he/she wants. Here are the powers of the President:
The President is head
of state, head of government and commander in chief.(sec 89). The powers
of the President as head of state are unlimited.(sec 110(1)). The president
appoints all Ministers and Deputy Ministers on his/her own without the
approval of Parliament.(sec 104). There is no maximum limit on the number of
Ministers and Deputy Ministers. It is up to the President.(sec 104). The
President alone constitutes the Cabinet.(sec105). The statement in the Draft
Constitution saying the President exercises executive authority “through
cabinet” has no value because the Cabinet is the President`s baby. All
Cabinet Ministers are hired and fired by the President at his/her
pleasure. The President is allowed to appoint up to three Ministers from
outside Parliament. This is bringing back appointed non constituency MPs.
(sec 104(3)). The President appoints all ambassadors without consulting
anybody.(sec 204). The President has the final say over the appointment of
all permanent secretaries.(sec 205). The President appoints all security
chiefs (Army Commanders, Commissioner of Police, Director of CIO etc). In
making these appointments, all the President is required to do is to consult
one of his/her Ministers.(Chapter 11). The President has the final say
over the appointment of all judges. (sec 180). Although there is provision
for interviews, the President has power to refuse to appoint any of those
recommended and order the Judicial Service Commission to start
afresh. The President has the final say over the appointment of all
Commissions including the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. (chapter
12). The President approves salaries, allowances and benefits for all civil
servants from the lowest to the highest worker. (sec203(4)). The President
still has this power after appointing a Minister for the Public Service and
the Civil Service Commission. The President has power to dissolve
Parliament if it refuses to pass his/her government`s budget.(sec
143(3)). The President also has power to dissolve Parliament if it passes a
vote of no confidence in his/her government. (sec 109(4)). The
Constitution does not impose a duty on the President to answer questions in
Parliament. It leaves this to be decided by a future Parliament so that the
political party controlling Parliament will shield the President from
answering questions.(sec 140(3)). The President has unlimited immunity
while in office and is allowed to plead “good faith” after leaving
office.(sec 98). The President has power to declare war. The role of
Parliament in this regard is useless.(sec 111). The President has power
to pardon his/her political allies. (sec 112). The President has power to
declare a state of emergency. (sec 113). 9. There are 2 Vice
Presidents.(sec 92). We no longer need 2 Vice presidents in a new
constitution.
10. The size of Parliament has been increased to a total of
350 MPs( 270 National Assembly and 80 Senators).(sec 120 and 124). We have
no resources for such a huge legislature.
11. The increase in the
size of Parliament is coming from an additional 60 seats for women. The
quota for female MPs should be taken out of the existing number of MPs
without increasing the size of Parliament.
12. Despite its huge size,
Parliament remains very weak. It is just a talk shop. So why increase the
number of MPs to join a talk shop. The political parties are just creating
employment for their supporters at the expense of the people.
13.
There are no term limits for Members of Parliament.
14. Except for the
Bill of Rights, this constitution can be amended by Parliament without a
referendum.(sec 328). This means that all provisions including those on term
limits will be amended by future Parliaments, thus maintaining the current
problem where the constitution has been amended several times.
15.
For the next ten years, if the President resigns or dies, there are no
by-elections for the President. The country is given a President by the
political party of the former President, yet people elect a person and not a
political party as President.( see paragraph 14, schedule 6). This means
that if there are internal fights in the political party concerned, the
country will have to go without a President until the political party sorts
itself out. Is this not making political parties more important than the
country? Further, does this mean that a citizen not nominated by a political
party cannot stand for the office of President? The issue of running mates
which will apply after ten years did not come from the people.
16.
There is no devolution at all. There are very weak Provincial Councils
composed of the same people who are in Parliament. MPs will have two jobs:
the province and Parliament. The provincial Councils do not govern anything
in the Province.(chapter 14).
17. There is no provision compelling
the State to allocate a specified minimum percentage of the nation`s revenue
to deal with the needs of the poor. A people- driven constitution will
allocate specific funding for food, health, education and water.
18.
Most rights in the Bill of rights are listed for decoration as there is no
mechanism for their realisation.
19. For workers, the right to strike is
very restricted and will not be available, while government workers will
continue to be subject to conditions of work different from those of other
workers, such as with collective bargaining.
20. There is no right to
vote for Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
21. The Zimbabwe Media Commission
established by the constitution(sec 248) will be an instrument used by the
state to undermine freedom of expression.
22. The winner-take-all
electoral system is still intact despite the demand by the people for a
mixed electoral system, allowing proportional representation for half the
MPs.
23. The death penalty does not apply to all female murderers and
males above 70 years. This is undesirable. If the death penalty is retained,
it must not be applied in this discriminatory way. (sec 48).
24.
There are provisions which will apply after several years ranging from seven
to ten years. Why have them in the constitution now? The idea is to have a
constitution which will not affect the political leaders promoting this
constitution. Some provisions will disappear after ten years.
Members of WOZA peacefully
demonstrating, Feb 2012 © Private