Zimbabweans panning for gold on the outskirts of
Bulawayo before the recent gold rush. Photograph: John Moore/Getty
Images
A gold rush near a
Zimbabwean mining city has
raised fears of a violent crackdown by security forces aiming to tighten
President Robert Mugabe's grip on
power.
Thousands of
illegal panners flocked to Kwekwe after word spread of newly discovered gold
deposits, the independent NewsDay newspaper reported. As the situation grew
chaotic, armed police with dogs moved in to lock down the
area.
Its gold wealth
has now been "claimed" by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, NewsDay said, in a potential
replay of Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields,
where Zanu-PF has allegedly siphoned off tens of millions of
dollars.
Kwekwe grew from a
mining settlement on the well-worn road from the capital, Harare, to the second
city, Bulawayo. Recent reports that panners in Sherwood Block, in the suburb of
Amaveni, had stumbled upon pure gold nuggets prompted a scramble reminiscent of
that for diamonds in the country's east. Then, in 2008, diggers were savaged by
police dogs, mown down by helicopter machine guns or buried alive. It is thought
more than 200 died.
According to
NewsDay, "the gold find triggered a spending spree in nightclubs around Kwekwe,
where panners from Amaveni who had been lucky were buying expensive drinks for
patrons".
But when groups of
vigilantes allegedly seized the area and demanded "tax" from the panners, many
of whom are typically driven by poverty and desperation, police stepped in with
weapons and dogs to take control on behalf of Mugabe.
"Announcing the
takeover of the area at a rally attended by hundreds of panners who had been
chased away from the fields by police, Zanu-PF Midlands provincial security
officer Owen "Mudha" Ncube said the gold deposits in Sherwood belonged to his
party," NewsDay reported. "Mudha said Zanu-PF had fought in the liberation
struggle to ensure that Zimbabweans owned their land and the minerals in it and
therefore had rights to control who mined at the fields."
The paper
described Mudha as chanting party slogans that insulted Morgan Tsvangirai, prime
minister and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has a
fragile power sharing deal with Zanu-PF.
NewsDay said
Zanu-PF has started compiling registers of people who will be allowed to enter
the fields to mine the gold. Cornelius Mpereri, a close ally of Emmerson
Mnangagwa, tipped as a possible successor to Mugabe, and Josphats "Gold" Sibanda
have registered the Sherwood Block mining claim, it added.
Eddie Cross,
policy director general of the MDC, said the Kwekwe area was rich in gold and
such discoveries were not rare. "What is unusual, if confirmed, is the move by
local Zanu-PF leadership. This is the home of Emmerson Mnangagwa. He is the
biggest gold trader in the country. The fact they have moved to take control of
this by force is unexpected."
Farai Maguwu, head
of Zimbabwe's independent Centre for Research and Development, which has
monitored rights violations in the diamond trade, said: "It's a country where
the law of the jungle, or survival of the fittest, is the rule of the game.
Given the politicisation of this new find, and in light of the fact that the
gold was discovered by ordinary, hard-working Zimbabweans who are now being
forced out by those who abuse state security apparatus for personal gain,
violence is inevitable.
"It may not be as
herculean as what happened in Marange diamonds fields three years ago, but the
hard lesson we all got from Marange is that when politics and poverty come face
to face in a resource area, there will be violence."
HARARE - Small scale miners’ contribution to
Zimbabwe’s gold output declined by six percent in December 2011, as the
country pins its hopes for overall economic recovery improved mining sector
growth, the African Development Bank (AfDB) says.
In its
December economic review on Zimbabwe, the regional bank announced that
primary producers — comprising large corporates like Blanket Mine, Freda
Rebecca and Casmyn Mining — managed to stabilise production of the precious
metal at 770 kilograms, compared to 770,2 kg in October.
AfDB said, in
November, that the role of small-scale gold miners was becoming more
pronounced in Zimbabwe’s extractive industry, with their contribution to
total production increasing to 50 percent in October 2011 from 30 percent in
September.
The total gold deliveries from the small-scale players
increased from 126,5 kilograms in June 2011 to 388,1 kg in October
2011.
Continued growth in the gold sector is however under threat
following government’s decision to increase royalties on gold from 4,5
percent to seven percent while those for platinum would double to 10
percent, effective January 2012.
The mining sector, with a lot of
idle resources, remains key to Zimbabwe’s economic recovery
process.
Winston Chitando, the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ)
president, has said the entire sector requires $5 to $7 billion over the
next five years to operate at full capacity and its contribution to the
fiscus.
Chitando announced in December that capacity in the gold sector
was underutilised, only at 44,4 percent based on current
production.
To this end, government set aside a $1 million mining loan
fund in the 2012 national budget to increase capacity — adding to another $1
million worth of mining equipment comprising compressors and stamp mills
that was distributed to small scale miners in 2011.
Government
support to small scale miners was only revived last year after the
initiative had collapsed during the Zimbabwe dollar era.
Statistics
obtained from CoMZ revealed that gold production volumes are expected to
generate $823 million in 2012 in export receipts, up from $334,2 million in
2010 and the $627 million at the end of 2011.
The sector contributed 65
percent of national exports in 2010 and is projected to contribute at least
50 percent of the $4,2 billion projected for 2011.
It also amounted
to 11,2 percent of GDP in 2010 and around 13 percent in 2011. CoMZ projects
a contribution of 22 percent by 2014.
Zimbabwe — with gold reserves among
the largest in Africa — produced 724,8 kilogrammes in January, which fell to
700 kg in February before increasing to 846 kg in March.
Despite
current growth in gold production, figures remain markedly below the record
28 tonnes produced in 1999.
Statistics obtained from CoMZ revealed that
gold production volumes are expected to generate $823 million in 2012 in
export receipts, up from $334,2 million in 2010 and the $627 million at the
end of 2011.
Posted by Tererai
Karimakwenda on Monday, January 9,
2012
Mteri Lodge
By Tererai
Karimakwenda 09 January, 2012
Two lodges that
cater to fisherman, and a small game reserve on the Hippo Valley Estates, were
illegally taken by war vets in late December.
Gerry Whitehead,
one of the few remaining white farmers in the area, said an initial attempt was
made in September to take over Mteri Lodge in the Lowveld region, and police
responded as they should and moved the war vets.
But the same group
returned a couple of months later and took over, without any police
interference. “The cooks and other staff remained but the actual management is
gone and so is the security,” Whitehead said.
He described the
evictions as a “western-style” gangland takeover, referring to the lawless, gun
slingers portrayed in American cowboy movies. The war vets are accused of
large-scale poaching on the estate, where there are herds of buffalo, eland,
antelope and other small game.
According to
Whitehead a white farmer named Richard Drummond, who works with the war vets, is
alleged to be eyeing the hunting concessions there, so he can bring tourists to
hunt the remaining game.
Drummond, who is a
white Zimbabwean, is also alleged to have taken part in failed attempts to take
over other properties in the Hippo Valley area.
“There are no
white farmers remaining on the estate now. The farms have all been taken,”
Whitehead explained.
Reports of war
vets and ZANU PF chefs illegally taking over property and companies are nothing
new in Zimbabwe. But the lawless nature of recent takeovers has disappointed
many Zimbabweans who hoped for a return to the rule of law when the coalition
government was created over three years ago.
The co-Minister of
Home Affairs Theresa Makone has admitted she has no power to stop ZANU PF thugs,
even in her own constituency where she said they run wild. Unfortunately this
chaos drives away potential investors, at a time when Zimbabwe urgently needs
foreign capital.
Harare, January 09, 2012 –
Equatorial Guinea’s President Theodoro Nguema flew into Zimbabwe late Monday
morning on a state visit with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to
strengthen ties with the southern African country, a foreign affairs
official confirmed.
“President Nguema is going to meet President Robert
Mugabe this afternoon,” an official confirmed.
Nguema and Mugabe
developed strong ties after the Zimbabwean leader’s security agents blocked
Simon Mann and his suspected mercenaries who wanted to topple Nguema were
stopped at Harare International airport and arrested.
Mann, a former
special force officer of the British army served four years in Zimbabwe’s
prison before he was extradited to Equatorial Guinea where he served two
years after which he was deported to London.
Other members of the
mercenary team served less years before they were deported to their
respective African countries.
Mugabe and Nguema are expected to hold a
meeting at the State House later in the day, an official confirmed.
Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe have been trying to strengthen relations by
embarking on business deals but no major agreement has been
agreed.
Zimbabwe intends to get oil from Guinea while the northern
African country is hoping to get investment in manufacturing, energy and
construction from Zimbabwe.
Both Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai were notably absent from the 100 year old celebrations,
held by South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party over the
weekend.
The ailing Mugabe was reported to be on annual leave “in the Far
East” with his family and not expected back before the end of January,
according to the state-run Herald newspaper. The MDC-T issued a statement
saying Tsvangirai would be represented by national chairperson, Lovemore
Moyo.
But Mugabe was back in the country for a previously unannounced
state visit with Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who
arrived in Harare on Monday. Tsvangirai was reportedly in South Africa,
where reports say he was with his “girlfriend”.
The ANC centenary
event was held in Mangaung, in South Africa’s central Free State Province.
Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba, told the Herald the ZANU PF leader
had been invited, but Vice-President Joice Mujuru represented him
instead.
However, there was much speculation over Mugabe’s absence, with
some observers pointing to the eight trips he made to the Far East last
year, allegedly for medical treatment.
Luke Zunga from the Global Zim
Forum in South Africa, said it was not an issue that Mugabe did not attend
because his frail condition is well known and such a crowded event would
have affected him badly.
“He is not deemed fit enough to sit in the sun
and deal with the hustle and bustle of greeting other leaders. The Vice
President is also from Mugabe’s party and it was okay for her to go in his
place,” Zunga explained.
He added that Tsvangirai’s absence was also not
an issue since party representatives had been sent. “The ANC sent
representatives to ZANU PF’S annual congress last year, not the party
president, and that was acceptable,” Zunga said. But some observers said
the MDC-T leader missed an opportunity to mingle with ANC chefs in Mugabe’s
absence.
Meanwhile a report in South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper said
there were highway banners acknowledging leaders of the countries that
supported the ANC during the liberation struggle. Cuba’s Fidel Castro and
Mozambique’s Samora Machel were featured, but the banner honoring Zimbabwe’s
role showed Joshua Nkomo, not Robert Mugabe.
Zunga explained that
this was also not an issue because Nkomo’s ZAPU worked closely with the ANC
and they have a history. “It is only now that the ANC and ZANU PF are
forging an alliance. Back then it was ZAPU,” Zunga explained.
Harare, January 09, 2012 - Air
Zimbabwe has delayed President Robert Mugabe’s return from his holiday in
the Far East after an Air Zimbabwe long haul aircraft, a Boeing 767-200
which left Harare International Airport on Friday was barred from flying
over Vietnam’s airspace.
The plane was on its way from China to Singapore
to pick up the Zimbabwean leader, who has been holidaying in the Far East
since last month.
Informed sources disclosed that Air Zimbabwe was denied
flying rights over Vietnam from China and had to use a longer route which
flies through the South China Sea and hence delayed Mugabe’s early return
from his holiday by several hours. Mugabe was due to arrive at Harare
International Airport at around 21.00 pm on Sunday.
Sources said the
flight hurdles could have been caused by the long suspension of Air
Zimbabwe’s flights to China and the Far East. Last month the national
airline suspended flights to China and Malaysia because of fuel shortages
and also stopped international flights to London and Johannesburg to avoid
the impounding of its aircrafts which were seized at Gatwick International
Airport and OR Tambo International Airport last month over debts owed to a
US and South African firm.
“The Air Zimbabwe plane took a longer route
that planned on our way to Singapore because we didn’t have clearance codes
to navigate through Vietnam’s airspace,” said the sources.
Last month
Air Zimbabwe failed to ferry President Mugabe to his holiday destination as
its only operational long haul aircraft was impounded in London over a
US$1.2 million debt and later developed a technical fault which was only
fixed out of Mugabe’s departure schedule.
This forced Mugabe to rely on
an unnamed local diamond mining company which leased a plane for him to
travel to Singapore.
Meanwhile a former Air Zimbabwe employee has added
fresh misery to the country’s ailing state-run airline after impounding four
vehicles to recover his terminal benefits after quitting employment early
last year.
The Sheriff last week attached four vehicles including a
Mercedes Benz belonging to the airline’s acting chief executive officer,
Innocent Mavhunga to recover US$49 206.81 owed to Ian Dudman, a former Air
Zimbabwe pilot who resigned in March last year.
The seizure of the
airline’s property followed high court Judge Justice Tedious Karwi’s ruling
which was granted late last year ordering Air Zimbabwe to pay Dudman his
dues. Justice Karwi also ordered Air Zimbabwe to pay 5% interest on the
outstanding terminal benefits. This was after the former pilot took Air
Zimbabwe to court in May last year seeking to recover US$49 206.81 in unpaid
salaries, allowances and terminal benefits after he parted ways with the
ailing national airline in March.
Despite being served with summons
to pay Dudman his monies, Air Zimbabwe chose not to settle his dues forcing
Dudman’s lawyers of Coghlan, Welsh and Guest Legal Practitioners to attach
and take into execution three Mercedes Benz Compressor vehicles and a
commuter omnibus.
The three Mercedes Benz Compressor vehicles belong to
Mavhunga, Moses Mapanda, the airline’s general manager for passenger
services and Nicholas Munjere, the general manager for finance.
The
impounding of the airline’s vehicles follows the seizure of Air Zimbabwe’s
planes in South Africa and the United Kingdom by Bid Air Services and
American General Supplies over debts amounting to US$500 000 and US$1.2
million respectively.
Apart from the threat of the seizure of the
airline’s assets, Air Zimbabwe is also confronted with wild cat strikes,
where workers regularly stage protests at the airline’s headquarters
demanding payment of their salaries, which haven’t been paid for the past
seven months while only two planes are operational at the moment as other
aircrafts including the Chinese-made Modern Arch 60 are grounded due to
technical faults.
Teachers across the country are still threatening to go on
strike at the beginning of the new term on Tuesday, to press for better
working conditions.
Union representatives from the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Zimbabwe Teachers Association
(Zimta) have blamed the government for not taking their demands
seriously.
The two main teachers unions also accused the government of
acting in bad faith. PTUZ secretary-general Raymond Majongwe told
journalists over the weekend that the decision to strike would not be
reversed, unless government showed commitment to meet the teachers’
demands.
Zimta chief executive officer, Sifiso Ndlovu, said his
organization was disgruntled by government’s lack of commitment towards
improving public servants remuneration.
PTUZ President Takavafirei
Zhou told SW Radio Africa on Monday that the strike is on and gathering
momentum, adding that his union has resolved that the strike will go ahead,
unless the government acts on its demands.
‘The teachers have realized
that the only thing that can ensure government responds to their legitimate
demands is by industrial action. We also urge parents and students to join
us and urge government to urgently deal with plight of teachers,’ Zhou
said.
Asked what has been government’s response to their intended action,
Zhou replied: ‘They are prevaricating, evasive, and arrogant. We have a
national crisis and government cannot convene a cabinet meeting to discuss
the issue.’
He said the speed at which the government will move to unlock
this crisis will determine how long the strike will last.
By Lloyd Mbiba, Staff Writer Monday, 09
January 2012 13:15
HARARE - Education minister David Coltart says he
cannot stop teachers from joining a looming civil servants’ strike, warning
that public schools that open tomorrow face a return to collapse because of
government’s failure to pay adequate salaries.
Civil
servants, of which close to half are teachers, say they will take “drastic”
action if government does not give a firm commitment to raise salaries when
the parties meet on Wednesday.
Teachers’ unions have voiced their support
for the demand for more pay, leaving government schools to open amid
uncertainty.
Reacting to threats of a strike by teachers ahead of schools
opening tomorrow, Coltart said he had no power to stop the action since his
ministry was not the teachers’ employer.
Teachers, like other civil
servants, are employed by the Public Service Commission, which falls under
the ministry of Public Service.
The Apex Council, which is the umbrella
representation body for civil servants, last week appeared determined to
take action if government again refuses to increase salaries.
Tendai
Chikowore, leader of the council, said government workers were now fed up
with the parent lack of interest in improving their livelihoods. Chikowore
is also the president of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association.
The council
is agitating for the lowest paid civil servant to receive a salary above the
poverty datum line currently pegged at $546.
Coltart, ranked by this
paper as one of the best performing ministers for the year 2011, warned the
industrial action risked crippling the education sector.
“We have
done what we can and everything is on track — exam papers are being marked,
dates for opening of schools have been set long ago, secondary school
textbooks are being delivered countrywide, but of course all of that will
mean little if teachers go on strike. But that is something beyond our
control,” he said.
Coltart has managed to turn around the decay in
the education sector by implementing effective policies that have seen the
sector rising from the ashes.
Zimbabwe’s education sector, once
ranked the best in Africa, was in near collapse when Coltart was appointed
minister at the formation of the coalition government in February
2009.
A decade-long economic meltdown and political turmoil resulted in
most government schools closing down and only opened after the formation of
the coalition government.
He introduced teacher’s incentives as a
means to generate money to complement the paltry salary which the teachers
are getting.
Coltart said he was speaking to the union leaders to try and
avert the looming industrial action.
“I am speaking to the trade
unions but not as part of the negotiations team because I do not employ them
and do not participate in the tripartite negotiations,” he
said.
Asked what damage control measure government had put in place if
the strike takes place, Coltart said: “It is very difficult to damage
control when one does not have teachers - they are critical to a school's
performance.”
ZIMBABWEAN ex-communicated Anglican Archbishop Nobert
Kunonga has openly declared his support for the ageing tyrant Robert Mugabe
and his party Zanu-PF in the next elections.
Kunonga urged
Zimbabweans to reject MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his party, saying
they are an embodiment of evil.
He was addressing about 200 loyalists at
an annual retreat at St Augustine's Mission last week.
Kunonga hailed
Zanu-PF's determination to come up with solutions to challenges besieging
the country through formulation of appropriate policies.
MDC-T's
policies, he said, remained parochial and completely divorced from national
aspirations.
"We are not choosing man, but principles and values they
embody. Who is fighting against homosexuality, who is giving people land, we
should stand guided by life and death," he said.
"Those politicians
and churchmen who are calling for the imposition of sanctions, propagating
for the inclusion of gay rights in the new constitution, and are refusing to
see life, are an embodiment of evil. During elections we will reject them.
We will reject death."
Kunonga said his church fully supported the land
reform programme, economic empowerment and indigenisation policies of
Zanu-PF as well as its anti-homosexuality and anti-sanctions
stances.
He branded as "evil" attempts by some politicians and churchmen
to champion homosexual rights in the new constitution.
"We will
choose life over death. When you give land and other critical resources to
the indigenous people, oppose homosexuality and sanctions, then you are
doing what God has willed for Zimbabweans, you are giving life to your
people, and we will choose you.
"If what President Mugabe and Zanu-PF are
doing resonates with the Bible and empowerment will of God for his people,
then what can prevent us from supporting them? They are offering life, but
if you are offering death to our people by calling for the imposition of
sanctions then that is evil, and we will never support, but reject
you.
"Does (Prime Minister) Tsvangirai call for sanctions? If that is
what he is doing, then that is evil of him, and he must be rejected," said
Kunonga.
He expressed shock that some local political leaders and
churchmen in the MDC-T were clamouring for the adoption of gay rights
despite the practice being despicable to our culture and values.
Such
pro-gay calls have palpably been precipitated by Western leaders like
British Prime Minister David Cameron who threatened to withdraw aid from
African countries that do not support homosexuality.
"We are on
record, and we want to reiterate our stance that we reject the doctrine of
homosexuality, as it is heretical, unscriptural, an abomination, it
dehumanises and removes human dignity and integrity," said Kunonga.
He
castigated the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe and at the same time
expressed optimism that God will continue protecting his innocent
inhabitants.
"Zimbabweans have capacity to survive with or without
sanctions because God wills for us, and he has sustained us under such
threatening conditions imposed on us by the British, the Americans and their
allies," he said.
Zimbabwe's indigenisation policy under which it says 51
percent of all investments into the country must be in the hands of locals,
Kunonga said, was nothing to worry about because there was no investment in
any country that was secure if it does not involve
locals.
"Empowerment is biblical, it is a divine inspiration. It is a
sure way of burying imperialism and it resurrects the life of the indigene.
It means taking the economic grip into our hands," said Kunonga.
HARARE, Jan 9 (BERNAMA-NNN-NEW ZIANA) -- Zimbabwe's Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority is sitting on an ivory stockpile of 40 tonnes
valued at US$250 per kg which has been accumulating over the years as
international law does not allow the country to dispose of it, an official
says.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
imposed a ban on the sale of ivory more than 20 years ago, fearing that it
would stimulate poaching of elephants, which are threatened with
extinction.
In 2007, CITES permitted the southern African countries of
Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to conduct one-off auctions of
a combined 108 tonnes of ivory to buyers from China and Japan.
After
the auctions, which were conducted in 2008 and where Zimbabwe sold only five
tonnes, CITES imposed a nine-year moratorium on ivory sales.
Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority public relations manager Caroline Washayamoyo
said Sunday the stockpile was accumulated through a number of
ways.
"We mainly obtain the ivory through natural deaths, seizures
and road blocks regionally and internationally," she
explained.
Washayamoyo said the authority had put in place a number of
measures to reduce poaching and illegal exportation of ivory. "The authority
has deliberately created the Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ) meant to deter
poachers from illegal hunting and protect the rhinos," she said.
"We
also work with the police support unit as well as send rangers for training
to learn new trends so that they can be ahead of the poachers," she
said.
She added that the authority also conducted wildlife crime
workshops meant to raise awareness on wildlife crimes among stakeholders as
well as familiarize law enforcement agents with wildlife laws.
In
2008, the authority appointed a National Rhino Co-ordinator whose mandate is
to develop strategies for protecting the rhinoceros
population.
Washayamoyo urged the international community to assist in
the fight against poaching, particularly of rhinos, which face
extinction.
"All these efforts to reduce poaching will go to waste if the
international community does not help by killing the ready market for rhino
horns and ivory, as consumers are not within the country but overseas," she
said.
By Roadwin Chirara, Business Writer Monday, 09 January
2012 15:01
HARARE - Zimbabwe struggle with small change is set to
continue after banks returned 8 million South African rands worth of coins
back to South Africa and also shot down Finance minister Tendai Biti’s talk
of importing coins from the United States.
Financial institutions,
which had been sitting on the coins for close to a year after retailers
resisted buying them to ease change shortages, had sought regulatory
approval from both countries’ central banks to send the much-needed coins
back.
“Yes the coins were returned back to South Africa,” Bankers
Association of Zimbabwe (Baz) president John Mushayavanhu told the Daily
News yesterday.
Mushayavanhu refuted claims made by Biti in Parliament
late last year that his ministry was working with bankers to import coins
from the United States.
“We are not aware of any plans to import
coins,” the BAZ president said when asked about progress on the plan
announced by Biti.
Biti had said negotiations for the importation of
coins and new bank notes from the US had been finalised to alleviate change
problems and address concerns over soiled notes.
The Finance Minister
told Parliament that BAZ had entered into an agreement with unnamed US
institutions for the supply of new notes and coins.
“Government, through
the BAZ, has negotiated with certain institutions in America that I will not
name at the moment that will bring not only new notes but also coins. The
problem we are having now is of transport from Walvis Bay (Namibia) to
Zimbabwe because they weigh tonnes and tonnes but it is a problem that we
have attended to," Biti said.
Zimbabwe has faced a change crisis since
its introduction of the multi-currency system in 2009, with consumers being
forced to opt for sweets, credit notes, chocolates and pens in place of
their change.
Commuters have also not been spared with public transport
operators either demanding only those with change to board or forcing
passengers to look for their own change when they disembark.
Other
transport operators have resorted to overcharging commuters as a way to
avoid change challenges.
Recently, Zanu PF and later with the support of
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, passed a resolution at its
12th national people’s conference in Bulawayo for the re-introduction of the
defunct Zimbabwe dollar as a response to the change crisis.
Gono
suggested reviving the dead currency and linking it to gold reserves held in
the country.
Biti has however declared that he would not put the local
dollar back into circulation until the economy had achieved at least 60
percent capacity utilisation.
POLICE say they are battling to protect the country’s VIPs
since the introduction of the unity government.
The larger cabinet
means police have to work twice as hard to protect them. A senior police
officer said over the weekend that the unity government had nearly crippled
the force.
Senior assistant commissioner Fortune Zengeni said the police
force had been under strain since the signing of the unity deal in
2008.
“The formation of the inclusive Government has nearly doubled the
number of officials needing special protection by the force,” Zengeni
said.
“We are, therefore, faced with a crippling personnel shortage that
is threatening our ability to carry out our duties diligently.”
With
both the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu-PF party now in
government, Zengeni said it had doubled the number of Zimbabwean
VIPs.
The Sunday Mail say officers have had to be diverted to guard VIP
homes and offices which have led to a shortage of personnel to carry out
other duties. The MDC was worried the police would be biased in favour of
Robert Mugabe’s party as the nation was heading for elections.
Harare, January 09, 2012 - Zanu
(PF) subsidiary, Jongwe Printers, is struggling to pay its workers full
salaries with some workers claiming they have gone for 10 months surviving
on a US 100 stipend to pay rent.
“We have gone for ten months without
pay. For several months they have just been giving us $100 a month to pay
rent and we have been living on promises that we will get our salaries,”
said a worker at the Workington Jongwe Printers factory.
Jongwe
Printers prints material used by Zanu (PF) party such as speeches,
handbooks, the Voice newspaper and eulogy material used at National Heroes
Acre events.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer Philemon Dapi told
Radio VOP that the workers who are complaining are not sincere and lying
about the situation at the company.
“We use a performance appraisal
system and pay people accordingly. Those complaining are not doing well but
as a company we are doing well and have never failed to pay our workers. You
can come and see for yourself how we are doing,” said Dapi.
In
2009, parliament dumped Jongwe Printers after it called off a contract to
print the Hansard – the official record of all parliamentary debates. This
was after Jongwe Printers had failed to honour the contract for seven
months.
Jongwe Printers is one of the several Zanu (PF) aligned companies
which are on European Union (EU) sanctions.
A financial report
presented at the party’s last conference held in Bulawayo last December
showed that several Zanu (PF) companies Zidco, Jongwe printers, Treger
Holdings, Ottawa and aircraft catering company, Catercraft were facing
viability challenges.
By Own Correspondent Monday, 09 January
2012 09:30
HARARE - Zimbabwe's central bank has been ordered by an
arbitrator to pay more than $4,5 million owed to 237 non-managerial
workers.
The money is backdated from March 2009 up to August
2010.
Labour lawyer Rogers Matsikidze of Matsikidze and Mucheche who
represented the workers, said his clients were now waiting for the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) central bank to pay up.
“The workers have
suffered for too long and now deserve their reward although we would have
loved to get the awards with interest,” Matsikidze told the Daily News at
the weekend.
“We therefore expect no hitches except that the employer
should honour its obligations and mitigate the suffering of the workers as a
matter of urgency,” Matsikidze said.
He said failure by the bank to
pay on time would result in the workers attaching the bank’s
property.
Arbitrator Ms E Maganyani said the money owing was for salary
arrears backdating to 2009.
The bank did not dispute the debt, which
it said had accumulated because of lack of resources to pay.
“The
Tribunal is forced to make an estimate using information provided not to
just pluck a figure from nowhere and we have not received information to the
contrary.
“Also it has reasonably inferred that the Respondent was not
disputing the figures claimed by Claimants when it stated in its written
submissions that there was no need to quantify figures known to Claimants,”
Maganyani said.
She said with regards to the issue of interest, the
Arbitrator noted the Claimants did not specify when it should start to apply
hence it was dismissed.
Despite an order to the effect that the bank
should abide by the order within three months from January 3, 2012 when the
ruling was made, Maganyani noted that this might fail to happen because of
the RBZ’s financial situation.
“…that the award ordering for the debt
to be paid within a specified period would not be enforceable and also that
it simply does not have such that it can only honour the debt when funds for
that purpose are made available,” Maganyani said.
ZINE GEORGE and MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA | 09
January, 2012 08:15
Former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda warned
South Africa against repeating the same mistakes that other African
countries, such as Zimbabwe, had made in trying to resolve the land
issue.
"To you Comrade [Jacob] Zuma, you have more serious problems than
any of us - the land question. Please remember two wrongs can never make a
right," he said. "Discuss with leaders, white leaders, the problem of land.
The situation here is very serious."
Kaunda was addressing hundreds
of dignitaries at the former Vista University grounds.
The elderly
statesman earlier received a standing ovation as he rose to
speak.
More than 40 former and current African statesmen attended the
event, as well as US human rights activist the Rev Jesse
Jackson.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni praised the ANC for do ing the
entire continent proud by introducing a plan to instil non-racialism through
the Freedom Charter.
"The way you handled the issue of racism - the
Freedom Charter - that was a master stroke when you said it does not matter
who you are, whether you are black or white."
He also credited the
party with ending tribal wars.
"We salute you for transforming the
struggle. The ANC galvanised all these tribal struggles into a national
struggle."
Struggle stalwart and Robben Island inmate Ahmed Kathrada
nearly broke down in tears as he recalled his arrest in the then Orange Free
State in 1955 as Indians were not allowed to visit the province at the time.
Only whites and black labourers were permitted.
He also recalled how
a former Rivonia treason trialist, Vuyisile Mini, was hanged for refusing to
give evidence against another Robben Island inmate, Wilton Mkwayi.
"A
lot has been achieved. South Africa is now free. We have our dignity
[back]," said Kathrada.
In its 100-year history, the ANC, the oldest
liberation movement in Africa, has had 12 presidents. It is an achievement
praised by many African leaders .
Zambian President Michael Sata said
the ANC had remained the same over the century.
"A hundred years is
nothing. But what is important is its achievements of 100 years," he
said.
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza said: "When we talked about
the ANC in this part of the world, we would talk of a movement that for the
first time after [the colonisation of Africa] organised itself to
politically respond to the challenges of the moment."
The dinner was
briefly disrupted after Zuma and his entourage rushed off to light the
centenary candle at Waaihoek Wesleyan Church, where the ANC was formed in
1912.
Harare, January 09, 2012 - Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku will on Monday preside over a ceremony to mark the beginning of
the 2012 legal year where Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) youth leader
Solomon Madzore will stand trial for allegedly murdering a police
officer.
Chidyausiku will lead proceedings at the official opening of the
High Court session in Harare while High Court Judge President George
Chiweshe will preside over the ceremony in Bulawayo, where all high court
Judges have been advised to attend.
In a memorandum addressed to all
judges and the Master of the High Court, Justice Chiweshe ordered all judges
to be present at the ceremony.
“The honourable Chief Justice will preside
over the Harare ceremony whilst the honourable Judge President will preside
over the Bulawayo ceremony,” reads part of Justice Chiweshe’s memo which was
seen by Radio VOP.
During the 2012 legal year, the high court will
preside over the trial of Madzore and other Glenview residents who were
arrested last year and charged with murdering police officer Inspector
Petros Mutedza and that of diamond mining executive Lovemore Kurotwi who is
accused of committing fraud.
Former high court judge Justice Rita Makarau
has in recent years protested against poor remuneration for judges and a
mounting backlog of untried cases because of a staff exodus.
Last
year, the high court presided over the trial of Energy and Power Development
Minister Elton Mangoma who was accused of abuse of public office. However,
Mangoma was acquitted by Justice Chinembiri Bhunu.
ROGUE judges that violate the new provisions set out
of them in the Judicial Code of Ethics for Zimbabwe face firing from the
bench, a senior judge has said.
Addressing lawyers and guests at the
High Court of Zimbabwe held in Bulawayo during the opening of the 2012 legal
year, Justice George Chiweshe said judges had gotten used to the
"traditional" belief that there was an unwritten code of ethics that
governed their conduct. He said the said code was "known" by judges
themselves and same has been put on paper for everyone's
benefit.
Justice Chiweshe said the unwritten code was "justified" given
that judges are subject to a higher "degree of accountability and
transparency" than public officers.
In terms of the new code, judges
must give reasons of their decisions and be accountable to the
public.
Those that are caught in violations of the set provisions, face
expulsion from the bench.
The judge said in part: "The traditional
belief that existed amongst judiciaries was that there existed an unwritten
code of ethics that governed the conduct of judges, which presumably was
known by the judges themselves.
"This was justified on the basis that in
relation to their judicial functions, judge's are subject to a higher degree
of accountability and transparency than any other public officer," he
said.
The judge added: "The judges do their work in public, the must give
reasons of their decisions and conduct in court are subject to public
scrutiny and to criticism in the press and other media.
"Judges are
also subject to removal from office, admittedly by a cumbersome process, for
misbehavior or incapacity" he said in part.
The judge added that the
finalized code of ethics will "soon" be published in the form of a statutory
instrument.
Apart from spelling out the values and standards of judicial
conduct, the code also introduces a more formal complaints procedure in
relation to Judges and Presidents of special courts.
The code applies
to all constitutionally appointed judicial officers.
By Ngonidzashe Mushimbo, Staff
Writer Monday, 09 January 2012 14:11
HARARE - After grounding
national carrier, Air Zimbabwe, top government officials are now taking up
seats on foreign airlines for their sojourns to South Africa, as abandoned
workers claim some of their peers are dying or staying as squatters due to
neglect.
Air Zimbabwe has stopped flying the lucrative South African
route fearing that creditors will seize the plane, as happened in London
recently.
The airline is on the verge of collapse. Unending labour
disputes, a grounded fleet and the inability to fly the lucrative London and
South Africa routes, have epitomised government’s failure to run the
airline.
As workers camped at the Harare International Airport
desperately pushing for an end to their misery, top government officials
including Vice President Joice Mujuru who booked into a foreign airline for
her trip to the rich southern neighbours.
Mujuru on Friday left to
attend South African ruling party African National Congress (ANC)’s
centenary celebrations in Johannesburg.
Workers are outraged at the
seemingly lack of care by government.
Some told the Daily News that all
Mujuru has done is to make empty promises.
“We sent some of our
colleagues to the office of VP Mujuru before she left for South Africa and
she promised to look into our problems. But then she left for SA, leaving
behind an urgent national problem,” said one worker.
Last week police had
to be called to Harare International Airport to deal with workers who had
gone on strike demanding their dues.
Workers who spoke to the Daily News
on condition of anonymity were not named said such treatment left them
terrified.
During their strike, the workers raised placards that
denounced Goche as a failure. The Daily News recently rated Goche as the
worst performing government minister for 2011.
Air Zimbabwe is
struggling to stay afloat, weighed down by debts estimated at about $140
million.
“The main culprits in the demise of Air Zimbabwe are the greedy
politicians who are running the ministry,” said another worker.
Most
Zimbabwean politicians in the coalition government have been snubbing Air
Zimbabwe even before it abandoned the Johannesburg and London
routes.
Last week, Air Zimbabwe suspended all domestic flights after its
sole local aircraft developed technical problems, leaving scores of
passengers stranded as most of the engineers are involved in the ongoing
strike.
Posted by Tichaona
Sibanda on Monday, January 9,
2012
Senator Obert Gutu
27
December 2011 with
Tichaona Sibanda
Senator
Obert Gutu, the MDC-T deputy of minister of Justice fears that as long as Zanu
PF remains with its tenacious hold on instruments of state power like the
police, the CIO, the army, and also the national radio and television stations,
it might not be possible to have free and fair elections in
Zimbabwe.
TS: Hello
Zimbabwe and welcome to this special festive season programme, Election Watch
2012. My name is Tichaona Sibanda and my guest on the programme is Senator Obert
Gutu, the deputy Minister of Justice and Provincial spokesperson for the MDC-T,
Harare Province. Senator; good day and welcome to the
programme.
OG: Thank
you Tich, good day and thank you for having me.
TS: You’re
welcome. As we draw close to the end of 2011 we are hearing increasingly of talk
of an election in 2012 which everyone expects to be free and fair. But where are
we as far as electoral reforms are concerned for Zimbabwe to hold elections that
will not be disputed if at all we have them next year?
OG: That
is a very good question Tichaona, the problem we have in this country is that
there’s a lot of misinformation and also disinformation. Most of the time it is
actually deliberate misinformation.
The position is
that we are still a very long way from having what one might want to call a
level playing field for the purpose of holding an election that will pass the
test of legitimacy.
By so meaning what
I’m simply stating is that we still have a long way to – for instance the
Electoral Amendment Bill has not yet been tabled in the Parliament of Zimbabwe;
we are still having issues to do with certain aspects of the Bill that obviously
have to be dealt with at a political level before the Minister of Justice and
Legal Affairs pilots the Bill through both Houses of
Parliament.
We also have the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission as you know Bill, that has gone through the
first reading stage in the House of Assembly and is still stuck at that stage
because again there are certain political issues that have to be agreed upon,
with particular reference to the issue of the dates which the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission should start to investigate issues pertaining to human
rights.
Some people’s
argument is that look, it should start investigating all human rights issues
starting from the formation of the inclusive government which is February 2009
and some people, and I’m one of those people, do believe that the Human Rights
Commission should actually start investigating matters, all human rights matters
starting from the time that Zimbabwe attained independence i.e. 18 April 1980.
So there are a lot of those issues which are very, very contentious, extremely
contentious that; have to be looked into.
Same applies to
the issue of the Electoral Amendment Bill. There’s a lot of argument around the
polling station-based voting system. Basically what one might want to say a
voter would only be allowed to vote at a particular polling station, so that if
you stay in a Ward, and even if there are about five or so polling stations in
your Ward, you can only go and vote, you can only go and vote at the particular
polling station that you registered for.
We are saying as
MDC it will give us all sorts of problems particularly in rural communities
because it will open the way for intimidation where people will simply be told
to say look, at polling station A at Ward One or whatever, we want every village
head, every Sabhuku to bring his people so that we know how many people come to
vote.
It will be easy to
victimize people because you will be told to say look we know that these are the
number of people who are going to vote at this polling station or who are
registered to vote here and if Zanu PF loses, then we know what happened, we
know that you people didn’t vote for Zanu PF in this particular Ward at this
particular polling station and people can be victimized, particularly in the
rural areas.
So we are saying
as MDC, it’s better to have the system that we used in 2008 – that as long as
you are a registered voter in a particular Ward you don’t have to go to a
particular designated polling station in your Ward, you can go to any polling
station as long as it is in your Ward.
We think that that
way, people particularly in rural areas, you can still say look the polling
station nearest my house, if I feel uncomfortable voting there, I’ll go to the
next as long as it is in our Ward, we think it’s safer, it’s a good guarantee
against intimidation.
TS: Still
on the voters’ roll Senator, NGOs like the Zimbabwe Election Support Network
have said the voters’ roll should be the sole responsibility of ZEC and not a
shared job with the Registrar General’s Office which in the past has been
responsible for the country’s flawed electoral register.
Now civil society
organizations argue that an accurate, credible voters’ register is a
pre-requisite for free and fair elections – what is your opinion on
that?
OG: I do
actually agree with that point of view Tich because when you look at the present
voters’ roll in Zimbabwe, if at all it qualifies to be called a voters’ roll,
it’s in a shambolic state. Why I say so is because if you go to inspect a
voters’ roll in any Ward you will be surprised by the number of deceased voters
whose name still appear on the voters’ roll.
I remember in
2008, I remember particularly the case of Mount Pleasant. Why Mount Pleasant?
Because Mount Pleasant has got a special interest to me because Mount Pleasant
falls under my Senatorial constituency of Chisipite in Harare – I remember we
came across about 38 names of people who were born between 1890 and 1901 so
which would mean that those people as at 2008 they were aged around 120 years,
115 years and obviously I don’t want to believe that those people are still
alive.
So I’m just giving
you an example of how shambolic the voters’ roll is and I’m told this kind of
problem of deceased voters still appearing on the voters’ roll is replicated
throughout the country. And you also see that people sometimes have voters who
appear on the voters’ roll whose ages are ridiculously low – like you have a two
year old, there was this is example of a child was born in 2003 whose name was
appearing on the voters’ roll for 2008.
I mean you have
those kind of ludicrous examples if I may call it that and you are saying look
how can you possibly think you are going to have a legitimate free and fair
election when the voters’ roll itself is in such a shambolic
state?
So I do agree with
those civic society organizations and with all political analysts, and with all
politicians who argue that we should have ZEC capacitated to commence a fresh
registration, voter registration exercise and that we cannot rely on Mr Mudede’s
voters’ roll which over the years has been proven to be so shambolic as to be a
piece of document that can only be worthy of being thrown out of the window. We
have to start all over again.
TS: Some months
back Senator Gutu we reported that proposed changes to the Electoral laws were
likely to hit a brick wall following suspicions that the new set of rules would
only benefit Zanu PF. Is this still the case because of major concern to civil
society groups is the proposal by Justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, a Zanu PF
hardliner, to ban civic participation in voter education?
OG: I see
that actually being, I can almost call it a deal-breaker in as far as leveling
the electoral playing field is concerned because when you look at the Zanu PF
side of government, there is a general dislike and a mistrust of
non-governmental organizations. I mean as a matter of principal, Zanu PF
generally distrusts civic organizations, more so those organizations that are
active in the field of human rights.
I’m pointing out
here to organizations like ZimRights, organizations like ZESN, Zimbabwe Election
Support Network, organizations like Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights,
organizations like NANGO – any organization whose mandate touches on matters to
do with issues of governance and or human rights, Zanu PF is pretty
uncomfortable with that.
And I understand
why because the whole issue is that Zanu PF is scared of losing power. They can
see it coming; they can smell defeat so what they are trying to do now is to
come up with all tricks under the sun to try to block the democratic train from
moving ahead.
So you will notice
that they are keen in having all other non-governmental players not being given
opportunity to carry out voter registration. But obviously, in a country like
Zimbabwe, that is unworkable because look, you know that we are always
complaining about issues of low budgeting, underfunding and the government
simply doesn’t have money to go out there and be able to carry out a massive,
unbiased and impartial and effective voter conscientization and voter education
exercise.
TS: Now only
recently Zambia held their elections and I think as Zimbabweans we can learn a
lot from that…in particular, regarding the peaceful transfer of executive power.
Analysts have said MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai actually won the 2008
Presidential election but was unable to win power. What sort of mechanisms are
in the draft or proposals that; are to be contained in the draft that will
ensure a smooth transfer of power in the next poll?
OG: Yes I
think what you’re working on now, Tich, is a situation where the constitution
that we are going to come up with, I’m sure that the drafters are very mindful
of that need. i.e. the need to ensure that there is a smooth transfer of power
from the loser to the winner because the problem that we have is, we have a
situation where winning an election in Zimbabwe does not necessarily guarantee
you, does not necessarily guarantee you getting into power.
Like the 2008
example, it was very; very clear that Dr Tsvangirai won that election hands
down. Everyone knows that, Zanu PF know that. Everyone in Zimbabwe they know
that Zanu PF lost, their candidate lost the 2008 presidential elections but the
problem that we have is that because there was no mechanism to ensure a smooth,
peaceful and non-violent transfer of power from the incumbent to the winner, we
ended up having an inclusive government.
This unworkable
arrangement that we have presently so I would like to believe that the three
main drafters of the present constitution, of the COPAC driven constitution
making process are mindful of the fact that we should have certain definite and
very clear, very unambiguous clauses in the new constitutional document that
clearly set out what has to happen, what has to take place rather when there is
need for a transfer of power from an outgoing administration which has lost an
election and an incoming administration which would have won an election. I
believe that the drafters are mindful of that
TS: The
reason why I asked that question Minister is because I remember that when
Chinamasa first brought up the proposed draft he was seeking to have the results
of the elections announced by the head of the ZEC secretariat and not the
Chairman, Justice Simpson Mutambanengwe as is the norm in other Sadc
countries.
OG: Yes.
From the way I look at it, I don’t think Honourable Chinamasa’s suggestion will
see the light of day because as you know, Zimbabwe is a member of Sadc and we
have got what we call Sadc norms and standards of holding free and fair
elections and one of the key aspects or one of the key provisions of those Sadc
norms and standards for free and fair election, for the holding of a free and
fair election is to have an independent and non-partisan electoral
commission.
And it’s also
standard practice now within Sadc; not only within Sadc but internationally that
the electoral body should be mandated with the whole electoral process – from
voter registration, from conducting the election, from counting the votes and
from announcing the results so it follows that we won’t agree with his
suggestion.
TS: But there’s
fear that the same electoral body contains a lot of CIOs and military guys –
what are you going to do about that?
OG: That’s a very
good question Tich. I think what we are going to do and this will be made very,
very clear, I’m sure the Prime Minister, right Honourable Dr Morgan Tsvangirai
has been very clear on that, to say we want the ZEC Secretariat to be cleansed.
We are saying as a party, as the largest and most popular political party in
Zimbabwe at the moment, we are saying that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
should have a Secretariat that is non-political, a Secretariat that is not
constituted of state operatives or agents of the secret police or the secret
service, we want genuine and legitimate people to constitute the Secretariat of
the ZEC and I believe that it is one of the key requirements before Zimbabwe can
have a free and fair election.
Because right now,
if you are going to hurry, dash things and go for an election in Zimbabwe with
things as they are, we are going to have a replay of June 2008. We are actually
going to have violence at an unprecedented level because Zanu PF is more
unpopular now than it was three years ago in 2008 and they are acutely aware of
that.
Zanu PF doesn’t
want to give up power voluntarily and Zanu PF will use all methods, conventional
and unconventional to make sure that they hold onto power. So we are aware that
they are reluctant to have the electoral playing field evened out because they
know that once they do that they know they are going to face a crushing and
humiliating defeat come the next election.
TS: Right
at the beginning of the programme Senator, you told me that a lot needs to be
done to ensure we have an election that is not contested at all and I’m sure
you’ve had an opportunity to go through the proposed document. Would you say you
are happy with what is contained in the draft itself or as you said, there’s
still a lot to be done?
OG: I
actually think Tich and to all listeners that I will actually put my head on the
block and say that we right now as we are talking, right now the situation is
very uneven; there’s a total blackout of all MDC activities on national
television or what is supposed to be national television, it is effectively a
Zanu PF propaganda television, a propaganda mouthpiece, there is a total
blackout on all activities, not only the MDC led by Dr Tsvangirai but of all
other political players and you are saying, one of the key conditions for a free
and fair election is to have all political parties and all political players
having equal and unfettered access to the national
broadcaster.
And in this case
all the activities for instance that we do as a party, we had a big rally in
Harare in early December, (2011) it was not covered, not even by the Herald
although we invite them, not even by the ZTV although we invite them and all the
major rallies that have been covered, the peace rallies, by our president, Dr
Tsvangirai, very few if any of them have been covered on TV.
If at all they are
covered, they will just be short snippets; that are twisted and spinned to
lampoon our leader, to just portray him as somebody who is violent, who can’t be
trusted and you can’t call that equal access to national television or to the
public broadcaster.
So as it is now if
we are going to have to go to an election, of course we as the MDC will win but
the issue is we are going to have an election that is going to be bloody, an
election that will be anything but free and fair, and an election whose results
are most likely to be contestable and this is what we are trying to
avoid.
TS: So
what is the major stumbling block in Zimbabwe having a free and fair
election?
OG: I
think the major stumbling blocks are very clear. We are saying to Zanu PF, our
hostile partners in this so-called inclusive government, we want a situation
where all political players, not only the MDC led by Dr Tsvangirai, we are
saying all political players in this country should be treated as genuine and
legitimate political parties.
And we are saying
we should do away with this issue of hate language on national radio stations,
on national television. We should do away with violence as a tool for political
mobilization because as you know, Zanu PF and violence are
synonymous.
They might say we
are preaching anti-violence messages but I can bet you my bottom dollar, I can
tell the listeners here now, that Zanu PF and violence are like Siamese twins,
they are inseparable, so to the extent that Zanu PF cannot extricate itself from
this DNA of violence, intimidation and thuggery. I don’t see how Zimbabwe can
have a free and fair election.
So at the end of
the day the main culprit is Zanu PF, everybody knows that and the few incidents
where MDC is involved in violence is normally reactive violence, when our
supporters are being beaten up, when our supporters are being mistreated, when
our supporters are just being given a hard time so them being human beings,
sometimes they would obviously want to respond, they will actually react and
defend or want to defend themselves.
So I would say
that for as long as Zanu PF remains with this tenacious hold on instruments of
state power like the police, the CIO, the army, the prison services and also the
national radio stations and the national television station, we’ll never have a
free and fair election in Zimbabwe, never, I can bet my bottom dollar on that
one.
TS: Lastly
Senator, you are a minister in an inclusive government that has survived by the
grace of God, do you have any positives for 2012?
OG: Going
forward to 2012, I actually look at a situation Tich and I can tell the
listeners now that I’m confident that a new constitution for Zimbabwe is going
to be enacted and approved by the people at the national referendum some dates
or some month in 2012 and I am confident, I’m pretty upbeat because I believe
that Zimbabwe can never go backwards.
I believe that we
can only but be doing better going forward and I’m confident that come next
year, at least we are going to have a new constitution and I believe that
although there are people who are going to campaign for a ‘no’ vote I don’t see
the ‘no’ vote succeeding so I think the most significant achievement that we are
looking forward to in 2012 will be the adoption of a new constitution for
Zimbabwe for the first time since Independence from Britain in
1980.
TS: Well
on that note Senator Obert Gutu, thank you so much for taking your time to talk
to us on this special festive season programme Election Watch
2012.
I am always
astonished at the resilience of our community. What a century we survived –
my father said he could not remember more than a handful of years when we
were not engrossed in some sort of crisis.
The early conflicts when the
first settlers arrived and suppressed the local population and attempted to
extend the reach of the British Empire, then the First World War when a
quarter of all the able bodied settlers of European extraction died in a
conflict that really had nothing to do with us, then the struggle for
Dominion Status within the Commonwealth, the global crash in the 30’s
followed by the Second World War.
This tiny country had the highest
percentage of volunteers to serve in that conflict of any of the different
communities in the Commonwealth and trained many of the pilots who fought
the battles over Britain.
Then the growing conflicts internally, the
formation of the Federation and its demise, the crisis triggered by UDI in
1965, followed by intense global sanctions and a protracted civil war.
Independence followed in 1980 and then Gukurahundi and the start of the
democratic struggle in 2000.
We have every right to be exhausted and
downhearted. So many of us can look back on a lifetime of struggle, effort
and enterprise and are now virtually destitute, assets either stolen or
simply destroyed by the actions of a delinquent State. I have friends who
started out on 2 000 hectares of wild, uninhabited bush.
I can
remember their first home, a rough pole and mud hut, the first farm
buildings going up before they built a better home. Then staff housing and a
farm dam and only then a decent home in a spacious garden that the farmer
tried hard to limit and which was extended by his wife.
Eventually a
farmers hall and club 15 kilometers away and then a farm school and clinic.
The children starting school at home with assistance by radio and then going
to boarding school in a distant town. The periodic trips to town, the
heartbreak of droughts when I phoned them from Harare and said we had rain
and the wife breaking down in tears saying it was not fair.
Making that
last payment to the Land Bank and a quiet celebration recognizing 20 years
of effort and struggle.
Now they live in a small flat in Harare, their
children all over the world and doing well but a long way from home. They
lost everything when they were invaded and forcibly expelled from their
property. The psychological wounds are deep but they maintain some links
with the farm, now derelict, and the staff that keep in contact.
In
2008, the Zimbabwe economy collapsed. Our currency worthless, prices
doubling every few hours, children out of school, hospitals just glorified
mortuaries, 42 000 women dying in childbirth, life expectancy collapsing to
37 years, 70 per cent of our population on food aid.
In that
situation we faced an entrenched oligarchy that controlled all the levers of
power and we had a reform movement that had adopted a completely non violent
strategy for dealing with the power elite. We were faced with a regional
power bloc that at best was neutral and at worst, supportive of the
entrenched elite while the international community was concerned but
preoccupied.
Europeans talk about a crisis and we just laugh. What
Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal are going through is a walk in the park by
comparison. Yet somehow we are still standing, how on earth do we do
that?
Firstly we are a nation of faith. An estimated 70 per cent of our
population is Christian; the majority of our people go to Church on Sunday.
In a global post Christian era and in an increasingly secular and skeptical
world, Zimbabweans are a significant exception.
We actually believe
in God and quite often even let our faith guide our lives. The Bible says of
such people that they “shall rise up and fly on eagles wings”. They shall be
like “trees on the banks of rivers, green in times of
drought”.
Secondly we are a people of enterprise and hard work. We have
simply had to survive over the past 50 years – sanctions, excessive
government regulation, exchange control, hyper inflation have all combined
to make us a community of people who “make a plan” no matter what we are
faced with.
Thirdly, we are at heart, nationalists – all of us. The
intense pressure on us from the international community, the pressures of
the civil war where every family experienced loss and suffering, the
emergence of a dictatorship and associated kleptocracy which has forced us
to work together to survive. All this has given us a special character and
sense of community.
When we went into government in February 2009, we did
so knowing full well that the GNU would not work (it is a Mule – sterile and
stubborn), knowing that we had been shortchanged (we had won the 2008
election but were forced into the GNU as a junior partner) but recognizing
that we had to go into the arrangement to stabilize the situation and try to
get the basic services working again.
We have done so and the country
has responded in an amazing manner. The specialists in the IMF and World
Bank must be watching our situation with bemused astonishment.
In
2008 they estimated our inflation at 240 million percent, the GDP at no more
than US$4,3 billion, cash in circulation at the year end at US$6 million (60
cents a head). 4 years later we are expecting State revenues to reach US$4
billion suggesting that our GDP has to be more than US$16
billion.
Work that out – it’s a growth rate of 40 per cent per annum!
How do we achieve that? We simply do not know ourselves – exports have more
than trebled in three years – rising by over 50 per cent in six
months.
This year the rains have come late in the northern areas and this
will affect our crop prospects there. In the south we have had good rains
(we are standing at 380 mms) but we are now in the midst of a prolonged dry,
hot spell. This will last a month and will have some impact but both grazing
and surface water.
Reserves look OK at this point in time. Overall I
am expecting all sectors of agriculture to experience further reductions in
output. We will have to import the bulk of our foods this year and that
might be a problem as regional stocks are down.
Politically a few
things are looking certain – the transition is underway, power is sliding
away from the kleptocrats and the dictatorship is failing, the process is
irreversible and there can be no going back. The final outcome is certain –
Zanu is finished and all that remains is the actual burial and
celebrations.
