http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:55
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
NEGOTIATORS from the two MDC formations say they have lost
confidence in
South African President Jacob Zuma’s mediation efforts and are
unhappy at
Sadc’s handling of the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
negotiations among
the feuding partners.
MDC-M chief negotiator
and newly elected president Welshman Ncube recently
went public with his
frustrations with South Africa’s facilitation efforts
which he called
“nothing short of disgraceful” on social network site,
twitter.
“South Africa’s conduct in respect to Zimbabwe is
nothing short of
disgraceful. South Africa rather than Sadc should be blamed
for the Zimbabwe
crisis,” Ncube said in a post at @minyango.
He
confirmed posting the twit in an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent
last week.
“That account is mine and it’s true I twitted the post
on that particular
day,” Ncube told the Independent. “South Africa as
facilitating country and
Sadc as guarantors should have paid more attention,
devoted more time to
assisting the parties to find common ground and they
have not done so. It is
that commitment to devoting as much time as everyone
here to a sustainable
solution to the Zimbabwean question that we think both
South Africa and Sadc
could have done more than they have
done.”
Ncube added that: “There are a lot of players who could have
done more, us
included. The foreigners are, however, called upon to do more
because they
are guarantors.”
The MDC president said that any
further delays in resolving the outstanding
issues helped Zanu PF to
maintain its stranglehold on power as it holds
possession on most of the
outstanding matters.
“Clearly, the party that is in possession of an
issue in dispute will
obviously accrue an advantage if the matter is not
resolved or that a
compromise is not reached on the issue,” Ncube
said.
MDC-T negotiator and Minister of Energy and Power Development
Elton Mangoma
said South Africa and Sadc had failed to resolve the
outstanding issues
early.
“We all could have done more and
therefore it’s important they (South Africa
and Sadc) do more to have the
matters resolved quickly,” Mangoma said in a
telephone interview on
Wednesday.
He referred further questions to party spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa.
Chamisa said: “We feel that the action of our guarantors,
Sadc and the
African Union, is in deficit. It is our wish that the half-full
glass of the
agreement is made full quickly by the fulfilment of the GPA in
its entirety.
“Guarantors have done something, but we, however, feel
there is capacity to
do more. They have the leverage to help the matters
solved and they can also
flex their muscles a little bit to make the issues
move forward.”
Zanu PF negotiator Nicholas Goche refused to comment
on the negotiations
when contacted by the Independent.
“There is
nothing for negotiators anymore. I am not answering anything,”
Goche said
curtly.
Since September 2008, the parties to the GPA have been
haggling on
allocation of senior government positions of ambassadors,
Attorney-General,
Reserve Bank governor, provincial governors and swearing
in of Roy Bennett
as Deputy Agriculture minister from the
MDC-T.
In October last year, President Robert Mugabe unilaterally
reappointed 10
provincial governors without consulting his partners in the
inclusive
government, leading MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai to challenge
their
appointment in court.
Chamisa said the belief that “African
problems needed African solutions”
will remain hollow until “countries show
boldness in making decisions and
implementing them. Unfortunately, we
haven’t shown that.”
President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, the
facilitator, recently said he is
working on an election roadmap to help the
protagonists overcome their
differences and hold credible elections that
will usher a new government.
Zanu PF has since called for the
elections to be held this year while the
two MDC formations are saying the
GPA should be implemented in full first
before elections can take
place.
Zuma’s roadmap is to be tabled at a Sadc troika meeting
expected to take
place before month-end.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:50
Brian
Chitemba
THE Zimbabwe government has closed fresh applications for
passports by
locals seeking to regularise their stay in South Africa, the
Zimbabwe
Independent has learnt.
Home Affairs officials were deployed to
South Africa last year where they
have been working with their South African
counterparts to process 275 000
applications for
passports.
Co-Home Affairs minister Theresa Makone yesterday could
neither confirm nor
deny the development.
“I am not really aware
of the latest development. I have been trying to get
the information from my
officials but they are in meetings,” she said.
But exile
organisations in South Africa on Wednesday met top Home Affairs
officials
led by the ministry’s director-general Mkuseli Apleni and the
chief director
of the Zimbabwe Documentation Project Jacob Mamabolo where
the officials
announced that new passport applications would not be
entertained.
The meeting also focused on ways to deal with
problems dogging the
registration process such as late processing of
passports by the Zimbabwean
government.
According to the
Pretoria-based Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF), Apleni
confirmed that new
applications for passports in that country would not be
accepted. Apleni
also said that deportations of undocumented Zimbabweans
would start in
August.
“Director-General Apleni reiterated that the interest of the
(South African)
government was not to deport people but to bring back
dignity to Zimbabweans
in the country,” said ZEF executive director Gabriel
Shumba.
He said the latest statistics showed 275 622 Zimbabweans in
that country
applied for work permits across South Africa but many were
hampered by the
failure of local authorities to produce passports on
time.
At the meeting, it was announced that South African Home
Affairs minister
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will next month meet with her
Zimbabwean counterparts
co-Home Affairs ministers Makone and Kembo Mohadi to
discuss issues related
to the documentation process. The ministers’ meeting
will be prefaced by
another between Apleni and the top Zimbabwe embassy
officials.
“South Africa’s open offer to Zimbabwe still stands and
if Zimbabwe needs
assistance, South Africa will assist in any way that it
can,” Apleni told
the meeting.
South Africa last September
scrapped a moratorium that allowed Zimbabweans
to work in that country and
ordered locals to regularise their stay by
December 31 but the deadline was
moved to the end of March.
Shumba said: “We once more appeal to the
Zimbabwean government to consider
this offer as it will assist our people in
South Africa.”
He added there was need for communication with the
South African police to
ensure that arrests of Zimbabweans do not start
before the August date.
“The Department of Education will also be
consulted to ensure that schools
do not demand permits upfront as has been
the case in some learning
centres,” said Shumba.
The
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says there are an
estimated
1, 5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, many of who fled
an
economic meltdown in the past decade.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
18:47
Paidamoyo Muzulu
THE NAMIBIAN-based Sadc Tribunal has
adjudged that Zimbabwe is undermining
the rule of law and violating the
founding principles of the bloc by
refusing to pay compensation to nine
victims of state-sponsored violence and
torture over the past decade.
The
judgment was handed down by Justice Arrirange Govindasamy Pillay in
Windhoek
in a December 2010 case brought by Barry Gondo and eight others
against the
government of Zimbabwe.
Gondo and the others argued that the
governmnet was refusing to pay them
damages that were awarded by the
Zimbabwe High Court after they had
succesfully sued it after they were
beaten up and tortured by security
agents.
“We hold,
therefore...that the Respondent (government) is in breach of
Articles 4 (c)
and 6 (1) of the treaty in that it has acted in contravention
of various
fundamental human rights, namely the right to an effective
remedy,” the
Tribunal ruled, and “the right to have access to an independent
and
impartial court or tribunal and the right to a fair hearing.”
The
judgment also ordered an adjustment of the awards made to the victims by
the
High Court and that this should be done under the supervision of the
Tribunal’s Registrar. An award of costs was also made against the government
in favour of the applicants’ lawyers.
Zimbabwe, which did not
defend the case in Windhoek, has argued that the
State Liability Act
protects its assets from being attached in trying to
enforce a judgement
debt. Section 5 (2) of the Act makes it impossible for
the applicants to
receive their damages from the state rendering their
relief
academic.
The Tribunal ruled the section unconstitutional citing a
South African
Constitutional Court judgement in Nyathi vs the
State.
The “State Liability Act is a relic of the legal regime which
was
pre-constitutional and placed the state above the law,” Pillay
ruled.
“A state that operated from the premise that ‘the king can do
no wrong.
“That state of affairs ensured that the state and, by
parity reasoning, its
officials could not be held accountable for their
actions.”
The nine victims, through their lawyer, JJ Gauntlett SC,
were trying to
recover Z$18 million awarded to them by the courts between
February 2003 and
January 2007 in separate judgments by the High Court
against the state
security agents.
The Zimbabwe initially raised
techncal objections to the application citing
procedural irregularities. The
matter was heard for the first time on April
22 2009. However, the Tribunal
overruled Zimbabwe’s objections and went on
to hear the merits of the
case.
The case was heard on June 1 2010. The government on the other
hand did not
respond to the application and the Tribunal proceeded to hand
down its
judgment.
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum)
applauded the Tribunal’s
judgment hailing it as progressive.
“We
applaud the Tribunal for handing down a progressive decision which
acknowledges the need for an urgent reform of repressive pieces of
legislation,” it said in a statement.
“The decision is
significant as it provokes debate on the implications of
Section 5(2) of the
State Liabilities Act on fundamental human rights such
as the right to
equality before the law and the right to an effective
remedy.
“It
highlights the need to assess and reform various other pieces of
legislation, apart from the overtly anti-democratic and repressive ones like
Posa and Aippa, to ensure full protection of human rights.”
The
Forum added that the ruling “confirmed what Zimbabwean civil society
orgnisations have been saying over the years –– that one of the country’s
main challenges is the flagrant disregard of court orders by the state and
the absence of the rule of law”.
The Forum implored the
government to respect the rule of law and to honour
its obligations under
international law.
This is the second major case Zimbabwe has lost at
the Sadc Tribunal after
the Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd v The Republic of
Zimbabwe case No. 2 of 2007.
In that case, commercial farmers who had
lost their farms during the chaotic
land reform argued that reforms were
racist in nature and that the state was
not undertaking the programme in
accordance with Zimbabwe’s laws.
Government, through Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa, refused to enforce
the judgement argung that the Sadc
Tribunal was not properly constituted.
However, foreign governments recognise
their jurisdiction and a future
democratic government in Zimbabwe will
almost certainly uphold their
rulings.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:43
Wongai
Zhangazha
THE majority of Zimbabweans have confidence in the
power-sharing agreement
between three main political parties, but remain
unhappy over the failure by
the principals to deliver on critical issues
agreed to in the Global
Political Agreement (GPA), a survey commissioned by
Afrobarometer has said.
Afrobarometer is an African-led series of national
public attitude surveys
on democracy and governance in
Africa.
The results of the survey conducted by the Mass Public
Opinion Institution
(MPOI) show that as of October 2010, 72% of Zimbabweans
had confidence in
the inclusive government as a mode of
governance.
“As of October 2010, Zimbabweans continued to place
confidence in
power-sharing as a mode of governance.
“Some 72%
agreed that “creating an inclusive government was the best way to
resolve
the recent post-election crisis,” reads the survey.
“This level of
popular endorsement represents an increase over time because
only 66% felt
the same way in May 2009.
By contrast, just 21% in the latest survey
regard power-sharing as
ineffective, believing that “leaders should have
found another way to
resolve the crisis.”
On the other hand, 42%
of Zimbabweans regarded power-sharing as a compromise
that falls short of
their preferred method of choosing a government.
“More than four out
of 10 (42%) see it as a second-best solution, to be used
only when elections
fail, a figure that has held steady over the previous
year. The rest of the
electorate is divided, with one quarter (25%) seeing
power-sharing as a good
alternative to competitive elections, which rarely
work well and another
quarter (26%) as a bad alternative that should never
replace competitive
elections,” reads the survey.
The survey said over the previous year
the proportion of citizens who
thought that the parties to the inclusive
government were cooperating
politically or working well together dropped
from 47% to 38%.
“Zimbabweans clearly recognise that a power
imbalance among leaders impedes
collective action. Two thirds of all adults
interviewed in October 2010
(68%) consider that political power in the
inclusive government resides
“mainly” or “only” with the president, a figure
that rose by 10% points over
a year earlier. Just 14% think power is shared
equally. And, remarkably, a
mere 6% think that power is held mainly or only
by the prime minister,”
reads the study.
The survey noted a
significant increase in the participation of people in
the
constitution-making process from 40% in September 2009 to 75% in October
last year.
“The change was due not only to Copac’s effort to
involve citizens in the
constitution-making process, but probably also to a
heavy-handed campaign
against meaningful change in the legal framework
conducted by Zanu PF
cadres, mainly in rural areas,” says the survey adding
that this confirms
that the outreach process became
politicised.
The survey results were released last month and
conducted in all 10
provinces of the country in October last year.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:43
Brian
Chitemba
THE Constitution Parliamentary Select Committee (Copac) has
launched a
stinging criticism of the government and donors over late release
of funds
which the committee blames for the delays in the
constitution-making
exercise.
Copac co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora told
the Zimbabwe Independent this
week that the funding partners, government and
the United Nations
Development Programme should have urgency when releasing
money for the
writing of a new governance charter.
“Our main
problem has been availability of resources on time. We implore the
government and donors to give Copac resources on time to avoid unnecessary
delays,” he said. “Getting funds on time has been a nightmare for
Copac.”
The constitution-making process, Mwonzora said, is already
lagging behind by
a month due to “unreliable funding” as well as violence
and intimidation
that led to the suspension of the exercise in
Harare.
Copac says it requires over US$6 million to finance the
remaining phase of
the writing of the constitution although Finance minister
Tendai Biti
allocated US$1 million under the 2011 budget. Biti’s allocation
has been
described by Copac co-chairperson Munyaradzi Mangwana (pictured) as
“a joke”.
“For us to meet the timelines our funders should honour
their word because
Zimbabweans complain that Copac delays the
constitution-making process but
the major problems lies with the government
and donors,” said Mwonzora.
Mwonzora said Copac had about $700 000
for the uploading and processing of
data expected to end on January 31. He
warned that his committee had no
resources for the sitting of thematic
sub-committees.
“If the cooperating partners delay again to give us
resources, the thematic
sub-committees may fail to sit as per our plan,”
said Mwonzora, a lawyer by
profession.
The outreach programme was
initially meant to conclude last October then
followed by the appointment of
a committee to begin writing the draft
constitution.
However, the
constitutional outreach meetings in Harare were suspended after
incidences
of violence, intimidation and racism, with both Zanu PF and MDC-T
blaming
each other. No timelines have been set for the completion of the
constitution-making process.
Zanu PF activists continued to hold
“consultative” meetings on the
constitution while MDC-T president and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
declared a constitutional crisis.
In
an eventful period, Copac drivers and technicians also went on strike
demanding their allowances, delaying outreach meetings.
Under the
Global Political Agreement signed by President Robert Mugabe (Zanu
PF),
Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T) and Arthur Mutambara (MDC), a new
constitution
should precede fresh elections to replace the coalition pact.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:42
Bernard
Mpofu
ECONOMIC Planning and Investment Promotion minister Tapiwa
Mashakada has
appealed to negotiators of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) to grant
more powers to the proposed think tank, the National Economic
Council.
The NEC is a critical component of the inclusive government’s plan
to
restore macro-economic stability in Zimbabwe’s ailing economy. Article 3
of
the GPA spells out that principals should establish the NEC which would
be
composed of representatives of the three political parties in the
inclusive
government, commerce and industry leaders, plus labour and
academia.
Former economic planning minister Elton Mangoma said other
nominations had
been made but political parties failed to make theirs as
tensions rose
within the inclusive government over opposing political
positions.
Mashakada told the Zimbabwe Independent on Wednesday that
after delays in
setting up the council, he wanted the think tank to be an
executive body
whose decisions would be binding and not an advisory council
as espoused in
the GPA.
The terms of reference of the council,
according to the power-sharing deal,
would include giving advice to
government and such other functions as
assigned to the council by
government.
Mashakada proposes to model the council along similar
structures as those in
economic powerhouses like China and Malaysia or
regional peers Kenya and
Uganda.
“I have written to the chief
negotiators of the GPA appealing to them that
they revise Article 3 of the
power sharing agreement so that the NEC becomes
an executive body,”
Mashakada said.
“The GPA says it should be an advisory body but I as
minister of economic
planning would recommend that the NEC would be an
executive
body so that whatever recommendations it makes would be binding. I
don’t
have faith in non-executive bodies.”
The setting up of the
NEC was one of the outstanding issues of the GPA that
was raised at the
November 2009 Sadc Troika meeting in Maputo.
Other outstanding issues
of the GPA include the arbitrary reappointment by
President Robert Mugabe of
the central bank governor Gideon Gono,
attorney-general Johannes Tomana and
the issue of provincial governors.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
18:41
Brian Chitemba
THE problems bedevilling Zanu PF’s Bulawayo
province are far from over after
the party’s national political commissar
Webster Shamu failed to bring the
warring parties to heel at a heated
meeting last week.
Shamu last Sunday interrogated district chairpersons
to get first hand
information of the causes of the shambolic state of the
party’s structures
ahead of possible elections later this
year.
Although Shamu was not available for comment yesterday, Bulawayo
provincial
chairman Isaac Dakamela confirmed the Sunday meeting, but
declined to
release details.
“We met with Shamu, but I cannot tell
you what transpired,” he said curtly.
But sources said Shamu, who was
accompanied by Airforce of Zimbabwe Air-Vice
Marshal Henry Muchena, who
doubles as director of Zanu PF’s commissariat
department, quizzed Dakamela
over the suspension of the provincial treasurer
Simon Khabo, his deputy
Kenias Sibanda, secretary for security Robert Ncube,
and provincial deputy
secretary for indigenisation George Mlala.
The four were suspended last
year after they allegedly accused Dakamela of
stealing meat and groceries
that were donated to President Robert Mugabe’s
birthday bash that was held
in the city in February.
Sources said Shamu lambasted Dakamela and other
politburo members for
unilaterally suspending the provincial executive
members at a time when the
party’s structures were ailing.
“We wonder
why Shamu didn’t lift the suspensions. It seems he once again
walked empty
handed from Bulawayo’s Davies Hall after failing to resolve the
differences
between senior party officials,” said a Zanu PF top aide.
The Media,
Information and Publicity minister was in Bulawayo province to
mend
relations between the fighting factions.
Shamu once told the politburo
that the party was not ready for elections
because of muddled structures
countrywide.
At the 2010 December conference in Mutare, Zanu PF politburo
and central
committee members instructed the Bulawayo provincial leadership
to lift
suspension of officials.
Sources added Shamu only promised to
communicate the outcome of the Sunday
meeting at a later date. The
commissar, sources said, chided politburo
members who are said to be
fuelling divisions in the party.
“The Bulawayo problems are still on,
nothing has been solved,” said a Zanu
PF member this week.
Last
October the Zanu PF Bulawayo executive resolved to sack officials
accused of
failing to participate in party activities but the resolution was
reversed
at the Mutare conference.
The re-launch of Zapu escalated Zanu PF’s
problems with former provincial
executives defecting in droves to the Dumiso
Dabengwa-led party. The
Dakamela executive came into office in 2008 but has
been paralysed by fierce
factionalism and alleged corruption.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
18:33
Veneranda Langa
SOME elements within Zimbabwe’s security
forces continue to allow themselves
to be used by Zanu PF to abuse people’s
freedoms, the two MDC parties have
charged.
The parties this week
made separate claims of incidences where police and
the military had
allegedly been used by the former ruling party to further
its interests
while committing human rights abuses and political violence.
The MDC-T
led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai charged in a statement on
Wednesday
that at least one of their supporters was abducted in Masvingo at
gunpoint
by a known assailant, but the police refused to open a docket on
the matter
on the grounds that the issue was too political for them to get
involved.
“The Masvingo South district secretary, Elson Mutonhori
was abducted at
gunpoint on Saturday morning by one Major Toperesu over a
petty issue of
putting on MDC-T party regalia,” the MDC-T said in the
statement. “Renco
Mine police refused to open a docket arguing that the
matter was too
political for them to be involved.”
The MDC-T said
they were however surprised that at the same police station
dockets for
MDC-T supporters were quickly opened.
They said Reason Mujaka, the MDC-T
Ward 24 youth chairperson was arrested,
hastily taken to court and locked up
at Mutimurefu Prison where he was
already serving a six-month sentence for
engaging in an altercation with a
war veteran who had assaulted his
father.
They said such actions by Zanu PF wrongfully placed “the image of
Zimbabwe’s
patriotic security sector, which is necessary to protect
integrity, autonomy
and the interests of Zimbabweans”.
National
Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena, however dismissed the
allegations and
said police were professional in their approach to duty.
“There is no
selectivity in the manner we treat cases of political violence
and the
procedure of arresting a person is that the provoker is the one who
is
arrested,” Bvudzijena said.
The MDC faction led by Welshman Ncube also
claimed they experienced a lot
of unfair treatment from the police during
the just-ended MDC National
Congress.
Nhlanhla Dube, the MDC National
Media, Information and Publicity
spokesperson, said two of his political
party supporters were arrested for
wearing MDC T-shirts during their
national congress last week.
“We had actually wanted the police details
present during the congress but
they demanded $13 000 for them to provide
security which we could not
afford. When these two were arrested we thought
it was curious that in the
first place the police refused to provide
security at the public event but
later arrested our supporters on spurious
grounds.
“As a political party we are a breathing entity in Zimbabwe
which has a
right to existence and so we encourage fair treatment from the
police,” Dube
said.
Henry Chimbiri, the MDC Provincial Chairperson
for Mashonaland Central said
police in Guruve were openly
partisan.
He cited an incident which allegedly happened on January 7 when
Zanu PF
youths blockaded the road between Mahuwe and Bakasa growthpoint with
stones
and logs to prevent their supporters from attending the national
congress.
“The Zanu PF youths hid in the nearby bushes and started
throwing stones at
our supporters. A fight erupted between them and our
supporters, but the
police came and arrested 47 of our supporters while no
Zanu PF supporter was
arrested,” said Chimbiri.
He said the arrested
supporters were locked up at the police station
resulting in them failing to
attend the congress. They were later made to
pay US$20 fines before being
released.
Bvudzijena however insisted police were not partisan and that
they always
arrested the first perpetrator.
“I am not privy to what
happened during the MDC congress but we always
arrest the first perpetrator,
unless if there is general public disorder,”
said Bvudzijena.
He said
the police always charged a fee for provision of security services
when
requested to do so, but in the case of the MDC, he was not aware of the
amount they were charged when they asked the police to provide security at
their congress.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:30
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
LOVE him or hate him, Welshman Ncube is an astute and shrewd
boardroom
planner whose ascendancy to the throne of his MDC faction
uncontested at the
party’s third congress last week proves that and
more.
His machinations in overcoming a potential split in the party on the
eve of
the congress proved his tactical prowess.
When everything
else looked so routine with barely 24 hours to the
congress — which would
transform him from kingmaker to king — disgruntled
party members led by
party chairman Joubert Mudzumwe attempted a palace
putsch.
Mudzumwe and cohorts held a press conference on Friday
“calling off” the
congress until after issues they raised in a petition sent
to Ncube, then
secretary-general, were satisfactorily solved. It was a
gamble. Welshman
remained cool and acted decisively, thanks to Arthur
Mutambara’s “support”.
The plotters raised issues surrounding what
they termed the failure by Ncube
to hold an annual national conference, or
cause the party’s finances to be
audited and the opaque manner in which
disciplinary issues were handled in
the party.
Ncube brushed them
aside — as a bunch of frustrated leaders who had failed
to gain any
nominations for senior party position at the 3rd congress.
Mutambara played
the “statesman card” and stayed above the fray while Ncube
had a free run to
the top.
Since the October 2005 split from the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
MDC faction,
Ncube has steadily built up his profile within the party and
nation.
Ncube used his position as the party’s chief negotiator of
the Global
Political Agreement and the resultant position of minister to
build his
profile and access the majority of the party members nationally.
His party
position then as secretary-general, made it easier for him to plan
his next
big move without much consultation with those likely to oppose his
rise to
the top.
As the congress drew closer, Ncube had all the
influential men and women in
the party in his camp. He had Priscilla
Misihairambwi-Mushonga, Edwin
Mushoriwa, Goodrich Chimbaira, Miriam Mushayi,
Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, Paul
Themba-Nyathi and David Coltart, the party’s
bigwigs, in his corner.
Mutambara, another strategist par excellence
albeit with little political
experience, read the writing on the wall. He
knew it was time to leave. A
strategist knows when to fight and when to walk
away and fight another day.
The numbers were with Ncube and any fight would
have been futile.
Once his plan was set, Ncube realised he had
limited positions to give to
his supporters and creatively suggested
amendments to the party’s
constitution to create more portfolios. The party
passed the resolution to
create six new portfolios and a council of elders
for the party. The game
was over.
Miriam Mushayi, the new
director of planning and implementation, confirmed
as much when she said:
“We solved the problems amicably and resolved to get
positions by consensus.
That is why people agreed not to contest each
other.”
To that
end, there was no contest for the seven party top positions namely,
president, deputy president, chairman, deputy chairman, secretary-general,
deputy secretary-general, treasurer-general and the deputy
treasurer-general.
Ncube’s acceptance speech was couched in the
language of a visionary
national leader. He thanked his predecessor
Mutambara for the way he had led
the party and his influence and role in the
inclusive government and the
party’s support for him to land the presidency
before promising to stay the
course Mutambara had set for the
party.
To Mutambara and more importantly to himself, he said: “Take
heart from the
abuse you have taken from our enemies, the media who abuse
you, in that
there is a great deal of truth in the words of Winston
Churchill: — ‘The
true measure of leadership is the animosity among your
enemies to you’”.
What remains to be seen is how well he holds on to the
power he has secured.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
17:56
Paul Nyakazeya
AN estimated 2,2 million Zimbabweans are in
need of food aid, the Famine
Early Warning System Network (Fewsnet), an
early warning system that
monitors food security around the world, said in
its latest report.
However, government has dismissed the report, with
Agriculture minister
Joseph Made suggesting that the Fewsnet projections do
not portray the
“correct” situation on the ground.
“Their
(Fewsnet) estimates are wrong. Such figures are not readily available
yet,”
Made said.
“We are waiting for the first crop assessment that will
give us the amount
of hectarage planted not yields, basing on the quantities
needed in the
country and then the food position can be interpreted,” Made
said.
The minister said the USAid-funded Fewsnet was not “transparent
and sincere”
when dealing with Zimbabwe and as such government ignores their
projections.
“Why should they care about Zimbabwe when they imposed
sanctions that are
hurting our people?,” Made said.
“In any case
they should leave us alone and relocate to Australia where they
are wanted
because of the calamity that is there,” Made said.
Some agriculture
experts, however, said Fewsnet’s projections portrayed were
“almost close to
the ground” as they deploy experts in all provinces to
record the correct
situation on the ground.
The annual national food requirement is
about 1,7 million tonnes, but only
around 1,35 million tonnes was harvested
in 2009/10.
The 1,8 million hectares planted for maize in 2009/10
represented a 20%
increase from the previous year, but the greater amount of
land under
cultivation was not mirrored in the harvest, which only increased
7% from
the previous year.
Zimbabwe’s combined cereal production
in the 2009/10 season was an estimated
1,52 million metric
tonnes.
Made said the “correct” assessment of Zimbabwe’s food
situation “will come
from assessments done by Zimbabweans, but I cannot give
you a figure as of
now. We are busy ensuring that our farmers have inputs to
improve crop
yields this year.
“It would be interesting to know
food projections in America against
freezing temperatures and climate
change.”
In June last year Fewsnet downgraded Zimbabwe’s food
security situation,
revising downwards the number of months covered by the
2009/10 harvest from
seven to four.
“This is a shift from the
April outlook estimate of seven-plus months of
cereal sufficiency for the
consumption year based on information from the
crop and livestock assessment
conducted by the Agriculture, Mechanisation
and Irrigation Development
ministry,” Fewsnet said.
It said Matabeleland South and Masvingo
provinces had the least cereal
supply, ranging from one-and-half months to
less than three months.
This was due to a mid-season dry spell which
adversely affected crop
production in the two provinces.
The
Matabeleland North cereal supply was recorded as being high due to the
success of small grains in the area.
Fewsnet said external
assistance was urgently needed in food-deficit areas
such as Masvingo,
Matabeleland South and parts of Manicaland provinces as
well as Mashonaland
East’s Mudzi district.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 17:55
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
JUSTICE Minister Patrick Chinamasa admits that the government
bungled six
years ago by taking over Mutumwa Mawere’s SMMH empire without
conducting a
due diligence inquiry.
Chinamasa made the admission when he
appeared before the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy on
Monday to give oral evidence on
how government placed SMM under state
administration and its subsequent
closure under the management of a state
appointed administrator.
SMMH was placed under the state
administration in September 2004 through the
Reconstruction of State
Indebted and Insolvent Companies Act. The
conglomerate then allegedly owed
state owned corporations a combined Z$115
billion.
Chinamasa said
the government messed up by plunging into the company without
verifying the
financial position of the mines.
“If we could have had the
information before this (putting SMMH under
administration) we would have
acted differently. This (financial position)
only came to light after we had
appointed an administrator,” he said.
He added that the government
acted in haste to save the company from folding
for two main reasons,
promoting indigenisation and to save Zvishavane town.
“Government
tried to stop lenders from placing SMMH under liquidation. That
was why we
hastened to get in. We were sucked into the situation because we
could not
tolerate the collapse of the mines that employed 5 600 people and
supported
the 60 000 population of Zvishavane,” Chinamasa said.
The minister
admitted that the mines would have been liquidated in 2008
after the Reserve
Bank pulled the plug on the ailing conglomerate in 2008.
“Once there was no
assistance from the RBZ, it was clear that nothing was
going to happen. I
knew that was the end. There was no need to go there. In
retrospect that was
what should have happened,” conceded Chinamasa.
The minister said the
mines were now in de facto liquidation without the
legal
processes.
The legal battles are still a long way to be settled after
Chinamasa vowed
not to settle outside the courts with Mawere as a
compromise.
“There is no way we will settle.Let the courts decide,”
Chinamasa stressed,“thereafter,
we will sit and discuss. It’s too late in
the day after 25 cases and we are
not agreed on who is culpable for the
demise of the mines.”
Chinamasa, however, said only President Robert
Mugabe’s intervention could
force him to abandon course.
“If the
president calls me and says do this I will do it without question.
In the
circumstances, the finalisation of the matter in the courts (in my
favour)
would give me a stronger standing and push me to present a new
position,”
the minister said.
Chinamasa further said the ownership wrangle was
keeping new investors away
and the government presently prefers investors
from the East because of
sanctions by the European Union and the United
States.
“No new investor would want to get in when the legal dust on
ownership has
not settled,” Chinamasa told the committee. “You will not have
any investor
other than the Chinese. That is correct. The position was
taken under
sanctions. It’s China. China is in the East.”
Mawere
is on record telling Parliament that Chinamasa’s actions were akin to
commercial violence when he issued the reconstruction order in
2004.
“This was purely commercial violence,” Mawere said then. “It is very
unusual
for a Minister of Justice to make a defamatory allegation against
someone.
The first thing is to ask Chinamasa what was his frame of mind when
he did
all this.”
The Supreme Court is still to rule on the
constitutionality of the
Reconstruction of State Indebted and Insolvent
Companies Act used to wrestle
SMMH from him by the state. Until it makes a
ruling, the wrangle will rage
on.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 17:52
Paul
Nyakazeya
WEIGHED down by years of mismanagement, poor industrial
relations and
bureaucratic bungling, a new substantive Air Zimbabwe CEO will
have a
daunting task of improving operations at the national
airline.
The airline is heavily indebted and morale among the staff is at
its lowest
ebb. Frequent flight delays and cancellations, loss of luggage,
overbooking
and shoddy passenger treatment are regular complaints from
travellers.
Aviation experts who spoke to businessdigest this week said
the problems
were symptomatic of bigger issues, which include mismanagement,
poor
industrial relations resulting in low productivity and disparity
between
revenue and expenditure.
“When such things are not in order,
human beings tend to display passive
resistance. How do you expect someone
who has not been paid to smile or
offer you a pleasant service?” a senior
manager at the airline asked. “An
airline is usually strong at home, but in
Zimbabwe a lot of people cannot
afford to fly, necessitating a deliberate
strategy to grow the market
outside of the country’s borders. However, since
mid-2007 the contrary
happened. Management pulled out of a lot of both
profitable and potentially
profitable routes such as Malawi, Dar-es-Salaam,
Dubai and Nairobi.”
The airline also briefly ran domestic operations in
the Democratic Republic
of Congo in partnership with Ligne Aérienne
Congolaises, the DRC national
airline. The DRC operation was described as
“costly but highly profitable”,
providing the airline with enough liquidity
to service its debts and
commitments as well as pay its staff.
The
pullout was not supported by a strategy to retain market share enough to
offset both operating costs and fixed costs. This resulted in extreme
erosion of the revenue base while the cost-base increased along with the
attendant spiralling debts.
Among the critical creditors is
International Air Transport Association
(IATA) which is owed nearly US$4
million. To reduce exposure to the
defaulting airline, IATA suspended Air
Zimbabwe from its clearing house
which effectively means that the airline
cannot feed into other airlines or
accept traffic from other airlines
through interline arrangements. Such
arrangements mean that Air Zimbabwe
cannot sell tickets on behalf of other
airlines and vice-versa.
This
effectively means the airline can only carry point to point traffic. As
a
result of this, passengers including government officials shun the
national
airline in favour of more networked foreign airlines.
“Airline business
is all about interlining which makes it easy for
passengers to connect and
is cheaper for individuals whose destination
involves more than one flight
as they will hold one ticket. As it stands,
Air Zimbabwe is operating like
an army of one person,” an aviation source
said.
Aviation experts say
Air Zimbabwe was not a total right off and could still
be profitable if
properly managed. Some aviation experts are of the opinion
that a majority
stake in the national airline should be sold to a strategic
partner that is
financially sound.
A recent investigation by parliament unearthed that
the national airline was
operating on an overdraft, unable to service its
planes or retire delinquent
debts estimated at US$64 million. The parastatal
is said to be operating at
a loss of US$2 million per month.
Air
Zimbabwe has pulled out of 18 routes from 25 and scaled down on the
number
of flights per week to “rationalise operations and contain costs”.
While
the airline was withdrawing from these routes citing “viability”
challenges,
its competition has stepped in to fill the void.
Kenya Airways now flies
to Harare 12 times a week between Harare and Nairobi
while Ethiopian
Airlines now flies into Harare daily.
South African Airways also plans to
increase frequencies from two to three a
day on the Harare — Johannesburg
route while the national airline is
struggling to operate its two daily
frequencies with regularity and
punctuality.
The reduction of routes and
frequencies impacted negatively on the
utilisation of resources, as the
airline still found itself faced with same
fixed costs.
“What Air
Zimbabwe needs to do is to maintain a reasonable amount of money
as
maintenance reserve. History has shown that this very same fleet can
still
be used to offer a decent product operating with regularity acceptable
in
the industry if well maintained,” an engineer told businessdigest on
Tuesday.
The engineer cited Boeing 737-200s which are still
operational and being
used by most companies in South Africa and are said to
be in good condition
and shape.
“In fact, the airline leases the same
equipment whenever they need
additional capacity,” insiders said.
Air
Zimbabwe has a high turnover of chief executive officers, which has seen
names such as Fungai Musara, Huttush Muringi (late), Irishman Brendon
Donohoe, Tich Garabga, Rambai Chingwena, Tendai Mahachi, Augustine
Mutyambizi and Oscar Madombwe (in an acting capacity) come and
go.
The latest in the long line, Peter Chikumba, left on December 31 and
has the
distinction of being the only CEO to complete his term of office at
the
airline.
Among the potential replacements are acting incumbent
Innocent Mavhunga,
Madombwe and the new secretary-general of the African
Airlines Association
Elijah Chingosho.
It is unlikely that Chingosho
would leave his new post for Air Zimbabwe
while Madombwe has held the job in
an acting capacity on two occasions ––
May 2004 to January 2005 and November
2005 – February 2007. He failed to
land the job on a fulltime basis on both
occasions.
Mavhunga is familiar with challenges at the airline and has
the opportunity
to show that he can turn the airline’s fortunes if given an
opportunity.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
18:19
By Silence Chihuri
JANUARY 8 will go down as a historic day
in Zimbabwean politics. For the
first time in the history of our volatile
politics, the sitting, able and
living leader of a political party stood
down and handed power to another
member of the party.
No matter how much
those people among us Zimbabweans who have chosen to be
judges of the
Zimbabwean political discourse and Zimbabwean politicians may
seek to
belittle or dismiss this monumental event as non-event, this is
historic as
much as it is important a development that puts a lot of things
relating to
Zimbabwean politics into perspective.
The subject of my writing is
the MDC formation formerly led by Arthur
Mutambara and what has happened in
that smaller but definitely no-push-over
party. It is a smaller party in
terms of its size in membership,
representation in both houses of parliament
as well as seats in government.
But the achievements of this party are by no
means small at all. Indeed
Mutambara in his parting address at the ended
congress called it “....this
great party!”
This is a party that
has produced a Deputy Prime Minister and has ministers
heading key
ministries such as education, industry and commerce among other
portfolios.
These two are ministries of paramount importance
in the development of our
country especially from the point of view of the
supposed peacetime we must
be enjoying. However, in the era of Zanu PF’s
tyrannical rule where force
and brutality has become the hallmark of being
in power, the ministries of
Home Affairs, State Security and Defence have
been catapulted ahead of these
and the result has been the collapse of
education and the economy.
This supposedly miniature party now called the
MDC-M has been leading from
the front in every respect but very little
credit has been given to the
leadership of the party thanks to what I think
is largely the judgemental,
opinionated and somewhat unforgiving nature of
Zimbabwean public opinion.
It is this kind of vengeful, vitriolic
and condemnatory attitude to our
politics and the politicians plying that
trade that has in a way prolonged
our political quagmire under which Zanu PF
has thrived.
We the Zimbabwean public are our public enemy number
one. We hate each other
with a vengeance and sometimes for no substantial
reason instead of
sincerely thriving to work together for the good of our
country.
Another virtue that seems to have fast deserted us is that
of the memory to
appreciate the efforts of those that have done certain
things to contribute
especially to our national
politics.
There is a very conservatively used expression that
says “history is not
built by trashing the contributions of your
forbearers”, meaning that for us
to be part of, and to make history, we have
to appreciate the contributions
of those before us, or simply those who are
doing what “we” might simply be
watching from a distance.
The
leadership of this smaller MDC-M has courted the ire of Zimbabweans but
quite unjustifiably in some, or rather most, of the cases and this has
resulted in the people of Zimbabwe failing to fully appreciate what the
leadership of this smaller but “great party” has done.
Ncube, an
academic and constitutional lawyer and businessman, is the
founding
secretary-general of the party. Ncube was a compromise candidate
for that
position and he has lived up to that role of being a compromise
politician
in the rapturous terrain of Zimbabwean opposition politics.
Ncube entered
politics for the very first time when the MDC was formed in
1999 and the
role of secretary-general is one that he went on to grow into
and filled
adequately in the process. He went on to become one of the most
respected
MDC leaders at home and abroad but very little notice has been
paid to the
pivotal role he played almost singlehandedly in taking the MDC
beyond
Africa.
I was privy especially to that process of taking the MDC
to the
international community because of my involvement with the party in
those
initial years and by virtue of happening to be abroad quite early on
in the
party’s existence.
As secretary-general of the party Ncube
was more or less the point person of
the MDC management committee and was
also among the so-called Top Six of
that committee comprising himself,
Morgan Tsvangirai, the late Gibson
Sibanda, Isaac Matongo, Paul
Themba-Nyathi and Fletcher Dulini.
The softly spoken, carefully worded
Ncube quickly won over the hearts of
many international governments and
world leaders as the roving ambassador of
the party, taking the MDC agenda
to all parts of the world as the Zimbabwean
situation became global as much
as it was national, if Pan-African.
At home Ncube did not get consumed in
the rabid megaphone and highly charged
politics of the MDC in which
punctuated insults towards Zanu PF and their
leader Robert Mugabe became the
norm. He remained largely restrained and
calculatedly cautious at a time
when visibly dangerous but seemingly popular
politics of “taking the regime
on” became the order of the day.
This was a dangerous course that
would lead the MDC to a full blown
confrontational course with Zanu PF that
would lead to the violence that I
dare say needlessly claimed hundreds of
lives. It was a miscalculated and
dangerous way of politicking because the
MDC leadership proved to lack both
the capacity and the will to substantiate
their rooftop threats to Zanu PF.
Like any profession, politics also
calls for risk assessment, judgment,
analysis, and most importantly,
restraint and caution on the part of those
who lead from the
front.
Ncube made his own individual assessment of the Zimbabwean
political terrain
quite early and he made up his mind to pursue cautious but
effective
politics.
This is the kind of politics that enabled him
bridge the ever widening gap
between Tsvangirai and Mugabe making it
possible to have the two erstwhile
enemies serving in the same government.
Without Ncube that would very
certainly have never been able to be achieved
realistically.
The very inaccurate and rather patronising assertions
by the recalled
American ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell that Ncube
is a divisive
figure in Zimbabwean politics must never go unchallenged.
However Ncube may
indeed cause divided opinion among Zimbabweans from a
political perspective,
but he should not be held responsible for the
porousness that is simmering
in Zimbabwean public opinion at the
moment.
Because that is without doubt the result of Zanu PF and
Mugabe’s divide and
rule tactics that he inherited very impressively from
Ian Smith at
Independence. If anything, Ncube has been a unifier and I will
once again
revisit his unifying role later on, but this again has never been
fully
appreciated because of this bizarre fixation with Ncube’s sparse
weaknesses
rather than his visible strengths and virtues as a
politician.
The dilemma of course with Zimbabwean politics at the moment
is one of
suitability versus capability and acceptability. There are certain
politicians who are perceived to be more acceptable (yet not necessarily
suitable/capable) to the Zimbabwean populace without necessarily giving due
diligence to their preconceived (suitability/capability) role as the
torchbearers of the Zimbabwean national agenda.
This nonsense
that Ncube has manipulated the entire MDC-M provincial
establishment around
the country to ensure he is catapulted to the
presidency of that party is to
me extremely bigoted and tinkers on the
equally bankrupt notion that has
also been peddled by some warped analysts
that, being a Ndebele from the
Matabeleland part of the country, there was
no way Ncube could mobilise
predominantly Shona provincial councils to
nominate him and eventually
getting him voted for the presidency of the
party.
The development in
the MDC-M party must send a very clear message that
political influence is
in those who are in politics and not those sitting in
the comfort of their
armchairs and analysing from their distant homes.
Continued next
week.
Silence Chihuri writes in his own capacity and can be contacted
on -silencechihuri@googlemail.com
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from spambots. You need JavaScript
enabled to view it .
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
18:17
General Constantine Chiwenga thinks it’s OK for him to meddle in
politics
while threatening NGOs with expulsion if they do the same
thing.
“Zimbabwe will not hesitate to kick out NGOs that meddle in the
country’s
internal politics,” he warned in an address at an Anglican church
meeting
last week.
He urged church organisations to be wary of
“machinations of Western
imperialists” to topple legitimate governments
through their institutions.
“We have a plethora of NGOs here and most of them
are political commissars
of neo-colonialism,” he said.
“If you come
saying you want to build Blair toilets and we later see you
interfering in
political affairs of this country, we will tell you to go.”
What about
military officers that interfere in the internal affairs of this
country? We
hope they have to go as well. Are the operations of NGOs not
governed by
law? What right does Chiwenga have to dictate who can and cannot
work here?
He should be attending to the needs of the armed forces and
providing a
professional service to the nation. That is his job, not
policing civil
society.
Zimbabwe has a problem with Zanu PF supporters over-stepping their
responsibilities. We drew attention recently to Brigadier Douglas
Nyikayaramba who told us 10 years ago that he was a retired officer and thus
eligible to be chief elections officer. Now he is marching around in uniform
threatening people who support the MDC-T.
We hear Zanu PF apparatchiks
like Karikoga Kaseke talking about “negative
perceptions” of Zimbabwe which
deter tourism. When we see military officers
engaging in politics and
threatening people who don’t subscribe to Zanu PF’s
redundant views we are
not at all surprised that such perceptions persist.
Meanwhile, the nation
relies upon NGOs to keep rural folk fed because Zanu
PF has destroyed the
country’s agricultural base. Despite reports of a great
leap forward, the
country is still dependent upon US and EU support.
Why does Welshman
Ncube choose to focus on the need to lift sanctions
without condemning the
sanctions Zanu PF has imposed on the country?
Ncube said at the MDC-M
congress that “sanctions continue to impede the
democratic process”.
Do
they? What about the refusal of the state to issue broadcasting licences?
How can people make an informed choice at the ballot box when the only voice
heard across the land is President Mugabe’s. What about the arrest of
editors in what is becoming increasingly a police state? What about the role
of the military in electoral intimidation, and the breakdown in the rule of
law?
What about the proposal by the Attorney-General to set up a
commission of
lawyers to examine prosecuting Tsvangirai for treason, a
dubious step if
ever there was one?
Instead of examining these matters in
his speech Ncube chose to make a
populist address about sanctions and
“Western interference”.
Is this really what the people want? Another lecture
on the evils of
colonialism and how all our troubles can be put down to
sanctions?
Prof: Can we stop you if we’ve heard it? And if it is “the right
of the
people of Zimbabwe to choose who should lead them at any given time”,
why
don’t you submit yourself to their verdict and find a seat to contest?
Or
are sanctions preventing that?
The leadership change that occurred
within the formerly Arthur Mutambara-led
MDC is a clear testimony of lack of
focus in the party, at least according
to Zanu PF.
On Monday evening
unlucky viewers were subjected to the “scoff” by Zanu PF
of the just-ended
MDC conference which saw Welshman Ncube ascending to the
post of
president.
Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Rugare Gumbo is
quoted as
saying the MDC “has got no vision or programme for Zimbabwe and
this was
evidenced by the chaotic scenes at the party’s third congress and
the
divisions that emerged in the movement.”
We are tempted to surmise
that the “chaotic scenes” Gumbo is referring to
are about Mutambara
peacefully stepping aside without any bloodshed. Zanu PF
officials have made
clear on numerous occasions their disdain for the
peaceful transfer of the
reins of power. At their own conference in Mutare
they swiftly suppressed
any talk of succession within their ranks.
A Cde Boniface Mutize is quoted as
saying the recent events at the MDC-M
congress reveal that the faction is
not credible (sic) even to qualify to
receive government funding given to
political parties in Zimbabwe.
“This is a clear testimony of lack of focus in
the party,” he mused. “Surely
these guys do not even deserve receiving
government funding.”
Leadership change is clearly an alien concept in Zanu
PF’s view and to them
it is a sign that “the party (MDC-M) is immature as
far as politics is
concerned.”
Probably having “a party of
octogenarians,” as Jonathan Moyo describes Zanu
PF, is the sign of maturity
that they are looking for!
Not to be outdone, MDC-99 leader Job Sikhala
is reported by ZBC as stating
that there would be no fundamental changes in
the MDC because of Ncube’s
ascent.
“The fortunes of the party which had
been on a downwards trend,” says
Sikhala, “look set to continue.”
Sikhala
goes on to point out that the Ncube faction faces the challenge to
change
public perceptions from being a regional and tribally inclined party
to a
national movement. He also said that in case of elections he does not
see
the Ncube-led formation getting more than 1% of the votes.
Talk about the pot
calling the kettle black! It would be prudent for Sikhala
to focus on his
own party’s measly political fortunes. He too faces a
monumental challenge
to change public perceptions of his party from being a
Mickey mouse outfit
to one whose membership exceeds 99 people.
We were interested to read in
NewsDay that settlers at Vreigright Farm near
Figtree are “up in arms” with
the government over the eviction of a white
farmer who has been replaced by
Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Maphios
Cheda.
“When we accepted this
land at the height of the land reform we were settled
as A1 land holders and
we were advised by the district authorities to
coexist with a white farmer
who had a conservancy here and we did that,” a
representative of the farmers
said. “About three months ago however we saw
Justice Cheda coming from out
of the blue to settle here.”
Justice Cheda had an offer letter for 500
hectares they said. That was “a
huge chunk” of land, they said, wondering
where their animals would graze.
“The settlers said Justice Cheda ‘had
already started dictating as if he was
our landlord and it had become
difficult to get water from him unlike in the
past when the white farmer was
on the land’.”
“We lived well with the farmer but now we have seen police
coming around
with the surfacing of Justice Cheda from nowhere and we now
have a very
uneasy relationship with him…Obviously we fear him being a judge
and do not
see why the white man was removed.”
This is an interesting
story. The Zimbabwe Independent has argued
consistently over the years since
2000 that it was injudicious for judges to
accept gifts from the government.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku says
judges are as entitled as anyone
else to apply for land.
But in the case reported above we see how there is a
possible conflict of
interest.
After the opening of the new legal year by
the Chief Justice this week in
which he asserted the need for an independent
judiciary, the Herald was full
of praise.
But while we also welcome this
assertion of the independence of the
judiciary, we know that the allocation
of farms to judges –– who preside
over land cases and whose farms can just
as easily be withdrawn by the
minister –– vitiates that
independence.
This is something that needs to be examined during the
constitutional reform
process.
We were interested to note that Tendai
Midzi, who pours scorn on Morgan
Tsvangirai, is now simply locating himself
in London and no longer pretends
to be an economics lecturer at the London
Metropolitan University. That is
perhaps because the Herald edited his
extravagant claims. However, his
Metropolitan fiction persists on his
website.
Why is the Herald so dependent on columnists who refuse to live in
Zimbabwe?
There must be some resident Zimbabweans who are prepared to defend
Zanu PF!
One of those brave few, Isdore Guvamombe, last week illustrated the
problem
of half-baked local commentators by telling a whopper about a girl
in a
miniskirt. The story was passed on to him second hand so by the time it
reached the Herald it had become, like his hero, rather elderly.
Anyway,
young Isdore’s uncle was working in a labour gang of four men plus a
foreman
on Manica Rd when the miniskirt came past. Unused to such shameless
exposure, the men stared. So disconcerted was the girl by this “visual
harassment” that she lost her step and tripped.
The white foreman
confirmed in court that the men had embarrassed the girl
with their “talking
and lustful eyes”. They were, according to Guvamombe,
sentenced to
six-months jail.
Needless to say, Guvamombe takes some liberties with his
story. He places
the event in “a part of town reserved for whites only”,
that is “the
“eastern side of the CDB (sic), that is the area from King’s
Way (sic) going
up to First St”.
“Under normal circumstances they would
not put their foot there for it was
the preserve of the white Rhodesian
supremacists…”
“The ‘No Jews, No Blacks’ insignia was inscribed at shop doors
and hotels
but they (the road repair gang) had the privilege to work in the
area.”
Normally it would not be worthwhile discussing this tosh, but as
Guvamombe
claims it is part of a campaign to prevent anybody daring to
mention human
rights in the current era, it would be useful to
comment.
Here are just a few points for the record. Guvamombe says his uncle,
from
whom this story emanated, worked on construction sites in Harare from
1957
to 1980. Miniskirts were worn in the late 1960s. There was no
“insignia”
outside shops and hotels saying “No Jews, No Blacks”. In South
Africa in
the 1950s perhaps, in Rhodesia no. More likely was an occasional
“Whites
Only” sign but these had been largely removed by the late 60s when
miniskirts were common. There were needless to say no parts of the city in
the 1960s reserved for whites. Where did he get that from? And we are
unaware of any law called “Visual Harassment”. Perhaps Guvamombe can tell us
when it was passed? Crimen Injuria would have been a more likely
“offence”.
We understand Zanu PF’s need to recall colonial brutality to beef
up its
sagging cause, but there is a whole generation now that knows who is
responsible for the nation’s current plight and refuses to embrace those who
tell tall tales. The story of colonial discrmination needs to be told. But
it would be useful if official regurgitators could get just a few of their
facts right.
By the way, has anybody looked at sidewalk pavings in the
CBD today?
Absolutely no attempt has been made to prevent them from being a
terrible
hazard to pedestrians.
We were intrigued to see Commissioner
of Prisons, Retired Major-General
Paradzai Zimondi, talking of a
“turnaround” in the prison system
He was speaking on the occasion of the
promotion of two deputy
commissioners.
“Let it be known that His
Excellency the Head of State and Government and
Commander in Chief of the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces Cde RG Mugabe and the
Government of the Republic of
Zimbabwe appreciate your exceptional efforts
and thus you have kindly been
rewarded,” Zimondi told the deputy
commissioners. He said the prisons faced
a “blessed” year.
So what exactly has been achieved in the prisons system
since Justice Rita
Makarau wrote that excoriating report on shocking
conditions under Zimondi’s
regime?
It would be good to hear that the
prisons chiefs have spent some time
improving conditions in the prisons,
that is of course when they are not
heaping praise on each other.
And
what was this “button stick” a police officer used to stop Douglas
Mwonzora
from running over another officer? Was it the same as a baton
stick?
MPs
should lead by example, police spokesman Supt Andrew Phiri said. He didn’t
mean running over policemen we hope!
While the Herald editorial of
January 10 lauds the slashing of maize in
undesignated areas, another
state-controlled organ, ZBC, condemns it as
inspired by agents of
imperialism.
Talk of the left eye not seeing what the right does. Ever heard
of cognitive
dissonance?
The Herald carried a rather dishonest
caption on January 8 in its “People &
Living” supplement. It showed
Rastafarians “puffing cigarettes at their
shrine in Glen Norah” during the
recent visit by Capleton.
Cigarettes my foot. A quick glance and any reader
would safely conclude
those weren’t cigarettes they were puffing!
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:16
MEDIA reports
in recent weeks have cited numerous industrial, commercial and
business
authorities’ views on the many factors which have contributed to
low levels
of the economy in general, and of inadequate productivity in
particular.
All of those media sources emphasised that most, if not all,
of the
economically debilitating causes, still prevail and are likely to
endure
into 2011, and many of them probably into years ahead. Amongst the
many
hindrances confronting a substantive economic turnaround, almost all
those
identifying the constraints have identified the paucity of parastatal
service delivery as one of the keymost ones.
First and foremost
of the service delivery deficiencies which are impacting
so negatively is
the provision of essential energy supplies. Save for some
relatively
limited usage of private sector generators, the exclusive source
of energy
is Zesa, primarily electricity generated from the Hwange thermal
power
facility, and from the Kariba hydro-electric infrastructure,
marginally
supplemented by electricity imports from some of Zimbabwe’s
neighbouring
territories. The extent of such imports is markedly minimised
by a
combination of many of the neighbouring countries having limited excess
electricity over their own national needs, and by Zesa’s inadequacy of
resources to fund the imports.
However, limitations of energy
generation by Zesa have been very markedly
exacerbated by most of its
infrastructure becoming increasingly aged and,
therefore, ever subject to
increased frequency and extent of mechanical
breakdowns.
This
circumstance has progressively been further worsened by Zesa’s
inability to
maintain, adequately and fully, its generating resources,
particularly due
to funding insufficiency, and partially as a result of
limited availability
of requisite technological skills, many of its skilled
personnel have gone
to other countries in the region, and beyond.
In addition, energy
delivery is recurrently impacted upon negatively by
breakdowns in the
national transmission network, in part as a result of
paucity of
maintenance, and partially due to recurrent vandalism and theft
of
transmission lines and equipment.
All of these circumstances confront
Zesa with few alternatives but to resort
to recurrent loadshedding, which
is extremely disruptive to the operations
of industry, the mining sector,
and others, grievously impacting upon
productivity.
Loadshedding
is also very demoralising and discomforting to the populace in
general,
resulting in increasingly great decline in productivity motivation.
Compounding the consequential economic losses, unscheduled disruptions in
energy supplies frequently occasion massive losses for manufacturers through
impairment of materials in the course of production.
The
inability of Zesa to service the economy’s needs is intensified by the
service delivery deficiencies of many other parastatals. Air Zimbabwe,
almost wholly due to financial limitations, has reduced its services to a
greater extent. Until recently it was servicing 25 domestic, regional and
international routes, and now only seven.
As against a proud
record, the envy of most other regional airlines, of
exceptional punctuality
and timeousness of flights, many Air Zimbabwe
flights are now subject to
time delays or cancellations. This air service
decline has negative
consequences upon essential business travel and,
therefore, upon the
economy. Very similar circumstances apply to the
service delivery of
National Railways of Zimbabwe.
Yet another parastatal’s service
delivery decline that is impacting
negatively upon the economy and,
therefore, upon attaining a substantial
economic recovery, is that of
TelOne. Although it has demonstrated itself
as a customer caring service
provider on many occasions, and particularly so
in Matabeleland, it too
suffers from financial illiquidity, and losses of
skilled personnel,
severely affecting service delivery, and its service
constraints intensified
by the domino effects of erratic energy supplies.
If government has a
genuine intent to restore economic wellbeing to Zimbabwe
and its people, one
of the extremely urgent needs is to address —
comprehensively and
constructively — is the rehabilitation of the
parastatals.
However, the harsh fact is that it does not have the
resources necessary to
do so. To all intents and purposes, government is
bankrupt, with debt
approximating US$7 billion, and annual revenues being
minuscule as compared
to essential expenditures. There is, therefore, only
one way whereby a
complete, and relatively rapid, transformation of
parastatals, and
restoration of their effective service delivery, can be
achieved, and that
is by effective privatisation of the parastatals, in
whole or in part.
By merely divesting itself of ownership of the
parastatals, government will
not restore their wellbeing.
The
disinvestment must be primarily in favour of investors who are able and
willing to recapitalise the parastatals to the full extent necessary for
effective, ongoing operations, and who can also accord the entities with
comprehensive access to requisite technological skills. The investors must
not only be providers of finance but, to all intents and purposes must also
be strategic operational partners.
In pursuit of such
partners, government must have an unequivocal recognition
that there are
few, if any, of investors in Zimbabwe with the required
resources and,
therefore, despite the excessive governmental fixation on
indigenisation,
the investors will have to be sought further afield than in
Zimbabwe.
That does not preclude some indigenous equity
participation, be it by way of
employee share participation, listing on the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, or
otherwise, but a major portion of disinvestment
must be in favour of foreign
investors who can provide the parastatals with
the finance which they
desperately, and critically require.
A
by-product benefit of parastatal privatisation is that the impoverished
government will realise some inflows to the fiscus from the investors, and
concurrently can achieve release from guarantees it has given for loans
resorted to, over the years, by many of the
parastatals.
Ministers Tendai Biti and Gorden Moyo, as well as
some others, have often
emphasised the need to progress parastatals’
privatisation as a matter of
urgency, but that is yet to materialise. Doing
so now requires unreserved,
determined, rapid, real action for, if that is
not the case, the prospects
of a meaningful and expeditious economic
recovery are non-existent.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
18:14
Leonard Makombe
IT IS almost election time in Zimbabwe and
the treason season is upon us. In
fact, anyone looking to challenge
President Robert Mugabe for the presidency
of Zimbabwe and before that the
prime ministership, first has to leap the
hurdle of a treason
trial.
It has become a sort of initiation and the higher the stakes or
the stronger
the opposition the more likely a treason trial will be in the
run up to the
elections.
Anybody who has challenged the hegemony of
Mugabe, such as the late Joshua
Nkomo (Zapu), Ndabaningi Sithole
(Zanu-Ndonga), Abel Muzorewa (UANC), and
more recently Morgan Tsvangirai
(MDC-T), has faced a death threat, the
maximum sentence for
treason.
In fact Edgar Tekere, who formed and headed the short-lived
Zimbabwe Unity
Movement (ZUM) in 1990, is the only opposition leader never
to be charged
with treason.
While none of the accused were convicted,
the time and resources involved
are energy-sapping and with the exception of
Tsvangirai none have posed much
of a threat to the established
order.
It is no coincidence that the biggest threat to Mugabe’s
uninterrupted
rulership of Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai, has faced more treason
charges than any
other politician. In 2004 Tsvangirai was cleared of treason
charges
emanating from his involvement with Dickens & Madson, a
political
consultancy firm led by Ari Ben Menashe, where they allegedly
discussed the
“elimination” of Mugabe in a contrived scenario.
Enter
WikiLeaks and the sharks have smelled blood.
Attorney-General Johannes
Tomana, is expected to set up a commission to
investigate Tsvangirai’s
alleged statement in a cable released on December
24 2009, in which he
insisted that sanctions be kept in place.
If the commission was to decide
that he has a case to answer, Tsvangirai
would once again stand trial –– his
political future and life at stake.
With the exception of Sithole, the
treason accused have all escaped
conviction. Sithole died in 2000 while
appealing against a guilty verdict.
With such a poor prosecution record,
analysts question the motive for
bringing forward treason charges with the
scantiest of evidence.
Irene Petras, director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights, said the
treason charges were “used frequently after
Independence.”
“In most cases, there was no success,” said Petras.
“However, it takes a lot
of time and energy answering to the treason
charges.”
South African-based analyst, Sabelo Gatsheni-Ndlovu said
accusing opposition
leaders of treason fitted into the Zanu PF strategy of
“scapegoating and
othering” of political opponents as
counter-revolutionaries, sellouts,
puppets, dissidents, enemies of the state
and other such labels.
“Creating cases for political opponents and
turning them into enemies of the
state is indeed a very old Zanu PF strategy
that they will continue to use,
wear down, waste time and resources as long
as it distracts the political
opponent from the core political business,” he
said.
“As we approach crucial elections this year or later, this strategy
will be
used on opposition leadership while violence deals with the
electorate.”
A treason trial involving a high-profile politician could
drag on for long
periods which may hinder the politician or party from
campaigning.
While Tomana, who has openly declared his support for Zanu
PF, cannot
legally constitute a commission to investigate Tsvangirai (such a
commission
can only be appointed by Mugabe), the possibility that the MDC-T
leader can
find himself in the dock exists if Mugabe so
decides.
“Zanu PF’s use of the law as a political weapon to further
expand its
hegemonic project is unfortunate though of course no-one must be
above the
law,” said Booker Magure, a post-doctoral research fellow at
Rhodes
University, South Africa. “It is an open secret that the law is
selectively
applied in Zimbabwe especially when we consider the fact that
treason is
used by Zanu PF to whip opposition figures into
line.”
Treason charges against politicians have invariably crumbled for
lack of
evidence leading observers to accuse the state of “false
flagging”.
Tendai Biti, the MDC-T secretary-general was in 2008 accused
of writing a
treasonous document ahead of the inconclusive harmonised
elections. The case
was later withdrawn.
Dabengwa, now the president
of the revived Zapu, together with the late
Lookout Masuku were in 1982
arrested for high treason. They escaped
conviction but were unable to enjoy
their freedom because the state
continued to detain them.
Muzorewa,
the leader of the short-lived Zimbabwe Rhodesia of 1979 was
arrested in 1983
under Operation Chinyavada (scorpion), accused of sending 5
000 auxiliaries
to the then apartheid South Africa in preparation for a
coup.
Muzorewa,
whose party had won three seats in the 1980 elections was later
released.
Reverend Sithole was accused of leading a dissident group,
Chimwenje,
plotting to kill Mugabe using explosives.
The WikiLeaks cables
have provided Zanu PF hawks with ammunition to fire at
Tsvangirai in the
run-up to possible elections later this year.
Political scientist Takura
Zhangazha said Zanu PF was “playing politics with
the issue of WikiLeaks”
and was trying to give a false impression that the
MDC was “working in
cahoots with the American government”.
Zhangazha said: “Their persecution
of opposition figures may however not be
as extreme as that of Idi Amin (of
Uganda) or Mobutu Sese Seko (of the then
Zaire now Democratic Republic of
Congo) but it is all the same apparent,
especially via some of the arbitrary
legal mechanisms they utilise against
the opposition”.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
18:12
By Mutumwa Mawere
TODAY (Tuesday) is a very special day for
me, for it was the day I was born.
When I woke up today I expected to get
pleasant birthday messages and
presents as is customary.
However,
this year my unforgettable birthday presents were a number of
articles
containing outrageous and defamatory allegations made by Justice
minister
Patrick Chinamasa during a hearing conducted by the Portfolio
Committee on
Mines and Energy chaired by Edward Chindori-Chininga on Monday.
It was
only in November 2010 that Chinamasa had objected to my appearance
before
the same committee on the grounds that doing so was subjudice and yet
when
he appeared on Monday, I am informed that he felt so comfortable to
make
statements which when fully analysed expose a scary phenomenon that
would
not ordinarily be associated with a transitional democratic
constitutional
order.
It is instructive that Chinamasa insisted that I did not own SMM
Holdings
Ltd (SMMH), a company incorporated in the UK that is the sole
shareholder of
SMM Holdings Pvt Ltd (SMM).
He then made the point
that I was responsible for the collapse of SMM. In
addition, Chinamasa
stated confidently that: “The situation right now is
that SMM Holdings is
100% owned by government. (Mawere) has never been the
owner even on the
basis of the sale and purchase agreement and we gave him
de-facto control of
the companies, but not ownership — as ownership of SMM
Holdings resides with
the government of Zimbabwe, 100%.
“Mawere failed to raise the US$60
million required to complete the
acquisition of the company from its
previous United Kingdom-based T&N Plc.”
After reading the above, it
becomes critical to question the kind of
constitutional order that would
permit a Minister of Justice to make
comments about a transaction that took
place before he was appointed
minister of the government of Zimbabwe, and
more significantly why it would
be his business to retrospectively seek to
review without the assistance of
a competent court of law a transaction
involving foreign domiciled
companies.
If Chinamasa on July 9 2004
came to the conclusion that it was in the
interests of justice to specify me
in respect of the affairs of SMM, then
how can it be the case that after six
years I am suddenly irrelevant? If I
am irrelevant today, then it stands to
reason that I should have been
irrelevant then.
If I had not been the
owner of SMM as alleged by Chinamasa, then why would
it be the case that I
could be credited with destroying that which I did not
own in the first
place?
Chinamasa makes the case that he, and not the seller of SMMH, gave
control
of the companies to me but not ownership, without explaining how
control can
be legally divested from an owner without an agreement providing
for the
transfer of ownership and control.
If it was the case that I
had no ownership rights as alleged, then the only
relationship between the
previous owner of SMMH — T&N Plc — and Africa
Resources Ltd (ARL), as
the purchaser, would have been that of principal and
agent.
As a lawyer,
Chinamasa should know that you cannot refer to an agreement
being that of
sale and purchase if in reality the outcome is that one would
be an agent of
a contracting party.
A sale and purchase agreement produces outcomes that
are well established at
law and yet Chinamasa would want the world to buy
into some logic that such
an agreement would produce some other absurd
outcomes presumably only
because he wants to justify the unlawful seizure of
a private company.
If it is indeed true and factual that the Zimbabwe
government was involved
in the acquisition of SMMH, then there would have
been no need of passing a
new legal instrument to allow the appointment of
an administrator by the
executive branch of government, rather than by the
judiciary as prescribed
by the Companies Act that has general
application.
It is significant that Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku at
the opening of
the 2011 Legal Year on Monday made the following
observation: “The doctrine
of the separation of powers and independence of
the judiciary should be
respected. While the judiciary and the executive all
occupy influential
positions in society, we are not one and the same and our
decisions on
issues need not necessarily be the same.”
Why would the
Chief Justice make such an observation if there was no problem
in Zimbabwe?
However, when the problem emanates from the office of the
minister in charge
of promoting justice and equity, then one must know there
is a much more
fundamental problem at play in Zimbabwe.
Where else can a Minister of
Justice be involved in undermining the rule of
law and respect of property
rights?
The minister makes the case that I failed to raise the US$60 million
required as the consideration for the shares in a UK-based company and not a
Zimbabwean company where he has jurisdiction. If this was factually correct,
then the injured party would be the seller and any rational seller would not
need the assistance of Chinamasa to assert its rights.
Why would
Chinamasa want to superimpose himself in a commercial transaction?
The only
justifiable reason would be that he had no other window to poke his
nose in
this transaction other than invoking state of emergency powers to
achieve
what could not be achieved using existing laws.
How then would the
government now end up owning 100% of a UK registered
company? Chinamasa made
the case that through a nominee company, AMG Global
Nominees Pvt Ltd (AMG),
the government of Zimbabwe had purchased the rights
held by T&N by way
of security in a legitimate transaction, but forgot to
tell the committee
that AMG lost the case resulting in the ownership
remaining the way it was
in 1996 through the day I was legally disabled
using unorthodox
measures.
Incidentally, AMG are the initials of Gwaradzimba standing for
Afaras Mtausi
Gwaradzimba. The minister made no attempt to explain why it
was prudent and
in the national interest to use a company controlled by
Gwaradzimba as a
nominee.
If the reason for placing SMM under
reconstruction was that it was state
indebted and insolvent, then surely
such a company would legally have its
liabilities exceeding the assets it
owns and the residual value will have to
be negative and yet in this unusual
case, Chinamasa does not see a problem
in justifying the payment of real
value for something that was already
destroyed by me.
Some have
warned me not to respond but this is a case that demands response
because
ultimately, if we remain silent in the face of tyranny and abuse
then
history will not judge us correctly. There are certain decisions,
choices
and actions that are so reprehensible that they compel any rational
human
being to be outraged.
It is evident that Chinamasa has made this a
personal fight against me. He
is a state actor armed with state powers and I
have been transformed into
his opponent without access to the same powers
that he has by virtue of the
peoples’ power underpinning his
authority.
To establish ownership, one needs not go any further than
visiting the
Companies House website www.companieshouse.gov.uk to search
for SMMH
details. You will easily establish that I am one of the directors
of SMMH.
How then could I end up being a director of UK company purportedly
controlled by my self-declared worst enemy? It is a pity that the resources
available to the committee presumably did not permit them to access this
publicly-available information.
The records of the company will show
that ARL through its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Africa Construction Ltd (ACL),
is still the sole shareholder of
SMMH.
If this was the case in 1998,
how then can Chinamasa purport to represent a
company that is capable of
representing and asserting its own rights?
What is Chinamasa’s interest
in SMM? Only history will be the judge, but
what is instructive is his
persistence and his unwillingness to see logic
and pretend that we are all
fools.
It is unfortunate that it is our silence that defines our
generation. We
have many cowards who refuse to express their outrage,
leaving it only to
victims to be the authors of their condition and
circumstances.
This matter is pregnant with lessons of how not to build a
nation. Imagine
Chinamasa, a senior member of Zanu PF, a party that has just
completed its
annual conference under the theme of ‘Total Empowerment’,
would appear
before the committee and boldly claim that Chinese investors
are more
acceptable than a previously-disadvantaged person like
me.
What I know is that Chinamasa, who is already behaving as if he was
the
president, if he were to have his way, he would have no problem being
the
persecutor, prosecutor, judge, and only God knows what else on matters
concerning me.
What is it that I am supposed to have done to make
this man so angry and
irrational? The company in question was privately-held
and the shareholders
at the point of transaction were fully entitled to
refuse to proceed with it
and yet history will record that the transaction
was indeed completed in
accordance with the wishes of both
parties.
If the Zimbabwe government was involved in the transaction, then
it would
need no assistance from Chinamasa — rather the Minister of Finance
would be
competent to represent the interests of the state and yet in this
unusual
case, the only person who appears to be empowered to deal with me is
Chinamasa and no other.
He made a very significant point that in his
opinion, I remain guilty as
charged and in so doing castigating the
Co-Ministers of Home Affairs for
making the decision to de-specify
me.
If the Chief Justice needed any evidence of political meddling and
unacceptable behaviour of any member of the executive, he needs to go no
further than follow closely the SMM saga.
To imagine that this
absurdity can occur after more than 30 years of
Independence is to question
the justification of the liberation struggle. —
newzimbabwe.com.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:09
By
Dumisani Nkomo
THE major weakness of Zimbabwe’s main political parties
continues to be
their failure to dictate the political pace, course and
direction of the
country.
They also suffer from a debilitating inability
to put their differences
aside to face a common enemy and choose to waste
time and energy trading
petty insults whilst the nation
burns.
Tragically, elections in Zimbabwe and Africa in general are not about
ideas,
policies and election of sound leaders, but are rather a mere contest
of
power between belligerents with little or nothing valuable to offer to
the
electorate.
Major weaknesses
The MDC formation led by
Morgan Tsvangirai stands the most realistic chance
of defeating Zanu PF and
its leader President Robert Mugabe in elections.
The party and its
president, however, have tragic flaws reminiscent of
Shakespearean tragedies
principal of which is the fact that the party has
been accused of being
ideologically bankrupt, an argument which has not been
convincingly
rebutted.
The party does not appear to have a clear and consistent
ideological agenda
and as such has tended to merely react to Zanu
PF.
It has been accused of failing to clearly articulate its
policies on land
reform and indigenisation, weaknesses which Zanu PF has
revelled in.
Thankfully for them, Zimbabwean politics at the
moment is not about ideas,
ideologies and policies, but rather personalities
and issues of the stomach.
Besides moments of brilliance from the likes of
Finance minister Tendai Biti
and a few others there is little indication
that the party is a social
democratic party with definable and tangible
ideological or philosophical
distinctives.
Some people have even
gone to the extent of arguing that if Zanu PF and
Mugabe did not exist, the
MDC-T would struggle to justify its existence and
relevance. The party is
primarily a protest movement which thrives on the
unpopularity of Mugabe and
Zanu PF rather than on well thought out policies
based on solid ideological
or philosophical foundations.
Protest party status
The
MDC-T seems to be struggling to transform itself from a protest movement
to
a pro-active polity capable of governing the country. This is the same
problem we have had with Zanu PF, a party which has failed to transform
itself from a liberation war movement to a proper ruling
party.
Consequently, even though Zanu PF left the bush 30 years ago, the
bush has
not left them as they still believe they are in a war as evidenced
by their
political discourse, diction, language and mannerism. The MDC-T
should
metamorphose from just being a protest movement to a proper political
party
with an agenda for governing the country and not revel in mistakes
made by
Zanu PF as this is not sustainable in the long
term.
Structural deficiencies
MDC-T has been at the
forefront of the democratisation agenda and its
members have demonstrated a
lot of courage and resilience in the face of
state-sanctioned violence.
However, courage and resilience are not enough in
politics and any vibrant
political party needs to be strategically
competent.
The
party’s failure to mobilise its members in the constitutional outreach
process is an example of how the MDC-T was outwitted and outmuscled by Zanu
PF. Whilst their leadership may pontificate that it was not their role to
mobilise people, but political reality dictates that every political party
worth its salt has a role in mobilising people around its beliefs, policy
direction and policies.
They were found wanting in this regard in
the constitutional outreach
process which Zanu PF strategists used to gauge
their strength. This
strategy deficit was also evident in the manner in
which the party failed to
engage in effective regional lobbying at Sadc
level, only succeeding at the
level of the European Union and the
Americas.
Strategically this has led to the perception by some key
African leaders
that the MDC-T is a Western project which has no clear
understanding of the
dynamics of African politics and diplomacy. This has
been accentuated by
disabled international structures with a weak foreign
policy engagement
framework epitomised by collapsed or collapsing
international party
structures.
Importantly, however, the MDC-T
does not appear to have a coherent and
effective strategy at a regional and
international level to lobby on
Zimbabwean issues.
The
party’s foreign advocacy /mobilisation strategy should not be premised
on
the accidental brilliance of individuals in the diaspora, but should be
the
product of a well defined and refined foreign policy matrix interwoven
into
stratagem imperatives defined by think tanks on external affairs. Such
a
policy would enshrine a framework for engaging and mobilising the diaspora
as an entry point for international advocacy and
diplomacy.
Structural defects and inertia
The
constitutional outreach process proved that the MDC-T has ineffective
grassroots structures and is dependent entirely on the unpopularity of Zanu
PF and the popularity of the “Morgan Tsvangirai brand”.
Factionalism
and accusations of “kitchen cabinet” decision-making have not
helped the
cause of the party which has the potential of comprehensively
winning the
elections even with the prevalence of violence. Importantly,
elections held
in five to 10 years time will no longer be about Mugabe or
Tsvangirai, but
who can best govern the country. If the MDC- T values its
relevance to the
future, it should start positioning itself for the
post-Mugabe
era.
Lack of quality leadership
The quality of a lot of
MDC-T councilors and MPs leaves a lot to be desired
and could result in the
party losing several seats, especially in
Matabeleland.
There is an
urgent need for the MDC-T to consider recruiting talented
personnel from
various sectors of society if it is to be a respectable and
effective
political movement capable not only of defeating Zanu PF, but more
importantly running the country and not running it down.
The party
should be careful lest it be destroyed by the “we died for this
country
syndrome” which alienates a lot of gifted individuals who could add
value to
the democracy and transformation agenda.
Strengths of the MDC-T
are:
* Their mass appeal to ordinary Zimbabweans who identify
with its
grassroots origins.
* The party‘s position as the only
movement at the moment capable of
defeating Zanu PF in an election as
evidenced by the massive gains it made
even in traditional Zanu PF
strongholds in the 2008 harmonised elections.
People may thus be moved to
back a party with the necessary electoral
aptitude to change the political
direction of the nation vis a vis an
election contest.
* The
charisma of Tsvangirai at grassroots level. Whilst Ncube, Dumiso
Dabengwa
and Arthur Mutambara may possess admirable leadership skills they
lack
charisma, especially that charisma which appeals to toiling masses and
not
just middle class or upper middle class appeal. This (the working class,
informal sector and rural folk) is the strata of the populace which
determines the outcome of elections.
The outstanding brilliance of
individuals such as Nelson Chamisa, Biti and
the commitment of its youth
cadre ship.
* Its willingness and openness to advice from
stakeholders outside the
corridors of power.
* Its understanding
of grassroots issues and ability to resonate with
alienated voices. This
singular factor makes the party the most popular
political party in Zimbabwe
as the electorate is currently interested in
those who scratch where it
itches.
The electorate is not interested in what it considers to be
abstract upper
middle class pre-occupation with ideologies, but rather with
political
parties that promise bread on their tables. Whether or not both
the tables
and indeed the bread exists may be another issue
altogether.
Again the merits or demerits of the propensities or preferences
of the
electorate are not the subject of this article, but the plain facts
on the
ground indicate the electorate’s affinity with “popular protest
movements”
for the next few years anyway. The MDC-T’s propensity for
theatrics can also
be viewed as strength in the rough terrains of African
politics.
* Dumisani O Nkomo is the chief executive officer of
Habakkuk Trust and
the principal spokesperson for the Matabeleland Civil
Society Consortium. He
writes here in his personal capacity.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:28
THE MDC
held its congress last weekend and as expected Welshman Ncube was
elected as
the new party president.
While we congratulate Ncube, we feel that the
changes are nothing short of
window dressing which was made to satisfy
personal agendas.
The changes which were couched as democracy at work
through the transfer of
the party leadership from Arthur Mutambara to
Welshman Ncube were soon
exposed for what they were in a NewsDay interview
given by Ncube.
“Principals are principals and they are the leaders
of the party,” he said.
“That means that the principals that we have now are
(President) Mugabe,
(PM) Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube,” he
said.
The pronouncements by Ncube clearly demonstrate that the
congress is being
used as an instrument to ensure his elevation to power and
not in keeping
with the tenets of democracy as they would want us to
believe.
Ncube must come out clearly that he wants to be the Deputy
Prime Minister
and not pretend he really wants Mutambara to continue in the
job. In one
instance he said that recalling was not part of the party’s
culture and then
in another breath said they could shuffle the party
positions at any time.
He should not take the nation for
fools.
Instead of wasting time on doublespeak, he should be working
on trying to
breathe life into a party which has performed well below par as
a political
entity. Ncube must start to show that the MDC is more than just
an extension
of Zanu PF or a poor imitation of the MDC-T.
Arthur
Mutambara’s reign as party leader has by and large been a failure.
The
miserable performance of the party under his tenure began in 2008 when
Mutambara, Ncube, Trudy Stevenson and then party member Job Sikhala were
trounced in the harmonised elections.
The party then expelled three
of its legislators, Abedinico Bhebhe, Norman
Mpofu and Njabuliso Mguni. The
party failed dismally to have its candidate
Paul Temba Nyati elected as
Speaker of Parliament losing to the MDC-T
chairman Lovemore
Moyo.
Under Mutambara the party has endured continuous and
embarrassing
defections. This has been worsened by the comical antics of
Mutambara
himself. Who can forget “So help me …God?” at the
swearing-in?
We cannot but agree with former United States ambassador
to Zimbabwe
Christopher Dell’s assessment of Mutambara in a classified cable
released by
whistleblower WikiLeaks, in which he said: “Arthur Mutambara is
young and
ambitious, attracted to radical, anti-Western rhetoric and smart
as a whip.
But, in many respects he is a lightweight who has spent too much
time
reading US campaign messaging manuals and too little thinking about the
real
issues.”
Mutambara was once quoted as saying that “there was method
in his madness”
after being appointed Deputy Prime Minister. After his
tenure as party
leader, we have only seen the madness.
Which is why Ncube
should now focus on rejuvenating his party if they are to
become relevant to
the country’s political landscape.
His failure to have the name of the
party changed from MDC to the Congress
for the Movement of Democratic Change
was hardly an encouraging start to his
leadership.
This is aggravated
by the threatened split within his party by a faction led
by the former
national chairman Joubert Mudzumwe which could prove to
further weaken the
wobbling outfit. The ability to handle the conflict and
resistance within
his party will be the first real test for Ncube.
He comes in at a
time when they must win the hearts and minds of voters
ahead of elections.
It should be remembered that Ncube and Mutambara are in
their positions as a
result of the Global Political Agreement and not on the
people’s mandate.
Ncube lost to Thokozani Khupe in Makokoba and Mutambara
lost in Zengeza
West.
Ncube has said that they hold the balance of power in the
inclusive
government but if they do not turn the tide in the next elections,
they will
join the political scrapheap.
Given the enormity of the
task ahead of him, drinking tea with Mugabe on
Mondays should not be the
reason why he becomes a principal.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January 2011
18:26
PROPOSED changes to the way the country conducts polls, especially
around
the role of electoral courts, could be a turning point in the quest
to make
Zimbabwe’s elections more credible.
The contest during elections
is no longer just about votes but also about
what happens before and after
the polls. In most cases this contestation has
spilled into the courts which
unfortunately have failed dismally to handle
the
cases.
Opposition political parties, especially since 2000, have
sought recourse
from the courts for what they call the “subversion of the
electoral process
by the regime (Zanu PF) in a bid to frustrate the will of
the people”.
The MDC, which has mounted a serious challenge to Zanu
PF since the turn of
the century, has frequented the courts more than any
other political party
as it felt hard done by, especially after the June
2000 parliamentary
elections where the party brought 39 electoral
challenges, most of them
unresolved by the time of the next election in
2005.
Another electoral challenge was brought challenging President
Robert Mugabe
in 2002 after the presidential election that
year.
The MDC brought a further 15 electoral challenges in 2005. Some
of these are
still to be dealt with.
These statistics are clearly
informative on the ineffectiveness of the court
processes in dealing with
electoral issues.
What the politicians who have challenged any
electoral result have learnt is
that the court processes prior to the
institution of the Electoral Court
have been long and wearisome with no
useful outcome so far.
In some cases five years would elapse before a
case was concluded, which
would render the ruling academic.
It is
against such a problematic history that one has to look at the
proposed role
of the Electoral Courts under the proposed reforms.
We should take a
look at how Brazil has decentralised the issue to have
regional electoral
courts responsible for the control and inspection of the
whole electoral
process in their jurisdiction. These courts are empowered to
register each
regional branch of the political parties and the production of
reports.
These regional courts are responsible for the registration of
voters, for
the constitution of electoral districts and for reporting the
results. They
are also supposed to settle disputes regarding the elections
and judge
appeals regarding decisions of the electoral judges.
In
Zimbabwe it has to be acknowledged that the institution of the Electoral
Court was largely a response to the surge in the number of challenges which
could not be included under the normal legal process. It thus would be an
injustice if the courts with a particular interest in elections do not pay
special attention to the time-sensitive nature of the cases they would deal
with.
As such, the operations of the electoral courts should be
time-bound so that
whoever challenges a result gets recourse to the shortest
possible time.
This should apply to cases brought prior to voting and
after.
Any challenger should make the case known within the shortest
period with
the court sitting and giving a verdict in say less than three
months.
This should give room for appeals, which should also be heard in less
than
three months thus giving a maximum of six months for the hearing of any
electoral challenges.
These time frames are important if we, as a
country, are serious about
elections. What sense would it make to have a
disputed outcome settled after
more than five years?
A delay in
settling a dispute not only robs the electorate of their rightful
representative but it also gives an incentive for further electoral fraud
and corruption which has come to punctuate the local politics of
late.
We have learnt the hard way and the proposals would be very
refreshing if
they pay attention to the basics, especially the time
frames.
If properly implemented, these changes would be a step in reforming
our
electoral process.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 13 January
2011 18:25
THE recent shooting incident in the US which killed six
people, including a
nine-year-old girl and left Congresswoman Gabrielle
Giffords fighting for
her life, has sparked a fiery debate about the dangers
of heated political
rhetoric. While some have dismissed it as a sporadic
incident which involved
a single person with mental problems, it has,
however, brought to the fore
the consequences of hate speech.
The
motives of the shooting were not immediately apparent, but have been
placed
in the context of the edgy American political landscape. Republicans
via the
“Tea Party” movement have become very militant and it was not
difficult for
observers to lay the blame at the door of its de facto leader,
former
vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The US is classified as an
advanced democracy, and its political system is
deemed as being far superior
to that of most African countries. Zimbabwe
does not come close, we are
told!
Yet it seems that politicians across this seemingly wide divide
appear to
have in common fear for their safety and also have to endure an
atmosphere
where hate speech prevails.
According to Newsweek
magazine the state of Arizona alone has been rocked by
threats of violence
against its politicians for nearly a year. Politicians
have been threatened
with death, have had their offices vandalised and been
shot at; and one
reportedly even had a US$1 million bounty placed on his
head.
Together, the magazine adds, they produced an itching fear
that long
preceded the alleged crimes of the shooter Jared Lee
Loughner.
Even if Loughner is shown to suffer from mental illness, as
he likely will,
he did not exist in a vacuum. He lived in a climate teeming
with charged
rhetoric due to the economic challenges the US is facing. The
Tea Party
movement has been criticised for stating in their demonstrations
that they
would use “bullets if ballots don’t work”.
On a map on
Palin’s political action committee’s website, Giffords’ district
was among a
number that had been depicted with “cross hairs” –– a rifle
lens.
Giffords’ election opponent held a campaign event in which
participants were
offered the opportunity to fire a fully loaded M-16 with
him, as a symbol of
his assault on Giffords’ seat.
It becomes
clear therefore that toxic rhetoric, whether in America or
Zimbabwe, can
only serve to retard democratic processes and soil an
atmosphere where
issues and not people are supposed to be on the agenda.
It is
poignant to note that Giffords was shot whilst engaging in a “congress
on
your corner” event where she was interacting with constituents. What
better
illustration of how disruptive this incident was to the cause of
democracy.
Politicians will be politicians, and a bit of sparring
would ordinarily
constitute acceptable public discourse.
What
would politics be without politicians “jabbing” each other from time to
time
such as the recent exchanges between Welshman Ncube and Nelson Chamisa,
as
reported by NewsDay. What should be clear however is that a line should
be
drawn between politicking and outright hate speech that puts fellow
politicians as well as supporters in the line of fire.
President
Robert Mugabe and senior Zanu PF officials have in the past
professed
ignorance and denied culpability in the violent acts those who
support them
have perpetrated, yet their rhetoric has crossed this line on
more than a
few occasions.
Politicians and public officials who exploit public
fears and advance their
careers through the use of vitriol should ratchet
down the rhetoric and
discipline themselves, particularly with elections
seemingly around the
corner.