The ZIMBABWE Situation
An extensive and up-to-date website containing news, views and links related to ZIMBABWE - a country in crisis
Return to INDEX page
Please note: You need to have 'Active content' enabled in your IE browser in order to see the index of articles on this webpage

Age clause set to bar Mugabe

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 18:01

Faith Zaba

AS the Constitution Select Committee (Copac) is busy working on a draft
document, it has now emerged that most people who made inputs during the
body’s countrywide outreach meetings want the maximum age for a presidential
candidate to be 70 years as at the time of polling.
If approved by the three political parties in the coalition government, this
clause would effectively bar President Robert Mugabe (pictured right), who
turns 88 next month, from contesting in the next elections later this year
or 2013.

Material gleaned by the Zimbabwe Independent shows that at least seven out
of the country’s 10 provinces have expressed a strong age-limit preference
of 70 years for a presidential candidate, while other provinces suggested a
limit of not more than 80 years.

A source told the Zimbabwe Independent that if Copac were to go by what the
majority of people who participated in the outreach meetings wanted, the
presidential maximum age limit would be set at 70 years.

“Yes, it is true that the majority of people want the age limit to be 70
years for a presidential candidate; that is the proposal at the moment. But
so far, no one has raised the issue or objected to that proposal,” the
source said.

Asked what his party — which has already endorsed Mugabe’s candidacy — would
do if that proposal sailed through, Zanu PF spokesman Rugare  Gumbo said he
could not discuss the matter until the politburo had been briefed by its
Copac co-chairperson Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana at a meeting scheduled for
next Wednesday.

“Well, I don’t know about that,” said Gumbo. “We will probably discuss
matters to do with the constitution at our next meeting on the 25th
(Wednesday) of this month,” he said.

Mugabe has threatened to undermine the constitution-making process if the
draft constitution does not capture all Zanu PF’s positions.
In a Zanu PF central committee report tabled at the party’s national
conference in Bulawayo last month, Mugabe said: “I must also make it very
clear that Zanu PF reserves the right to dissociate itself from a draft
constitution which seeks to undermine the cardinal goals of our national
liberation struggle and our national culture and values.”

Zanu PF wants the new draft document to retain a powerful executive
president with unchecked powers.

The Zanu PF position paper makes it clear that the land reform programme was
irreversible and wants the constitution to promote indigenisation and
empowerment. It also calls for the prohibition of homosexuality and same sex
marriages.

Gumbo said: “There are issues we are passionate about, which we want
included in the constitution, like the land issue.”
Zanu PF and its affiliates, such as war veterans and war collaborators, have
attacked the principal drafters, Justice Moses Chinhengo, Brian
Crozier and Priscilla Madzonga, and called for the disbanding of the
parliamentary process for allegedly introducing issues which were rejected
by people during the outreach meetings.

The issues include land rights, dual citizenship and homosexuality, among
others.

Mugabe, who has been Zimbabwe’s only leader since Independence, would be
seeking to extend his 32 years in power after Zanu PF endorsed him as its
presidential candidate for polls set after the draft constitution has been
tested in a referendum.

Mugabe is set to battle it out with 59 year-old Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai for the state presidency in what would be a replay of the 2002
and 2008 contests which were a close shave for the long serving leader.

Mugabe told his supporters last month that he would only retire after what
his party calls “illegal sanctions” were removed.
Explosive revelations in United States diplomatic cables by whistleblower
website WikiLeaks last year showed that Mugabe’s close allies were desperate
for leadership renewal in Zanu PF.

The faction led by the late retired army commander General Solomon Mujuru
wanted Mugabe out, but failed to block Mugabe’s nomination at the party’s
extraordinary congress in December 2007 where former politburo members
Dumiso Dabengwa and Simba Makoni, who later quit in frustration, were geared
to mount a surprise challenge against their leader.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Mujuru ‘wanted police guards withdrawn’

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 17:59

Wongai Zhangazha

THE housemaid of retired former army commander General Solomon Mujuru who
died in a fire at his Beatrice farm last year stunned the court yesterday by
revealing that she had heard what sounded like gunshots before being alerted
by a police officer that the farmhouse was on fire.
Rosemary Short made these revelations while testifying at the ongoing
inquest into circumstances surrounding the death of the former army
commander who perished in an inferno in August  last year.

Short’s evidence corroborated that of security guard Clemence Runhare who
was employed at Mujuru’s farm at the time of the tragedy. Runhare told the
court on Monday that he had heard sounds of gunfire about two hours before
he was alerted to the fire that is believed to have killed the General.

Short also told the inquest, led by regional magistrate Walter Chikwanha,
that Mujuru had often complained to her that police officers guarding his
farm were avoiding him and he was considering having them withdrawn.

The police officers in question were constables Augustinos Chinyoka, Lazarus
Handikatari and Obert Mark.
Short said she noticed that something was unusual when Mujuru left groceries
and his medication in the car as well as leaving the car unlocked. She said
this was something “he would never do”.

The court was left further shocked when it came to light that the keys
Mujuru had earlier said he did not have, saying he had left them in Harare,
were later found in his bedroom after the fire had been extinguished.

After being questioned by Mujuru’s nephew Tendai Mundawarara whether she had
heard any sounds from the farmhouse on the evening of August 15 2011, Short
said:

“I sort of heard two gunshots. I was asleep and I didn’t check what time I
heard the sounds. The reason that I ignored and did not check what was
happening was because there were some occasions when the police would fire
gunshots during the day or at night saying that they wanted to scare away
any intruders and at times kill snakes. When I went to the main house, I
told police officer Obert Mark that I had heard sounds that sounded like
gunshots, but he said the noise emanated from exploding asbestos and that
the smell was as a result of items that were burning.”

Short was asked why she did not reveal this information when police took her
statement during their initial investigations.
“It was relevant information but I had too much on my hands. The whole
incident had left me confused,” Short responded.

The General’s brother Joel Mujuru asked Short whether she had witnessed any
irregularities in the relationship between him and police officers who were
guarding the farm at the time of his death.

Short replied that the relationship was not good and at one point the
General had hinted to her that there wasn’t adequate security at the farm
and people were guarding themselves.

She said: “The relationship between the General and these policemen was not
good and he suspected that they were avoiding him, the reason being that
they had assaulted one of the farm workers and injured him in his leg to the
extent that he had to be taken to a hospital. Upon hearing the news General
Mujuru quizzed the police (officers on) why they had assaulted the farm
worker since the matter happened at a beerhall and without trying to
understand what had happened. The General further indicated that he was
thinking of removing the officers from his farm because they were not
working well with his workers, but because their period of guard duty at the
farm was lapsing, he was a bit reluctant.”

She indicated that although she had given Mujuru keys to the kitchen door,
she was surprised his car was that night parkedon the verrandah side when
she had given him keys to the kitchen door. She was surprised because he
usually parked his vehicle nearest to the entrance he would have used.

“ If he had used the kitchen door, he would have parked closer to the
kitchen.What surprised me further was that the vehicle doors were not
locked, given that there were groceries in the car. For the period I have
worked for the Mujuru family, he has never ever left the vehicle unlocked
with items inside. Moreover, he would never leave his medication that was in
a wallet behind,” Short said.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Zim guns for AU posts

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 17:50

Owen Gagare

ZIMBABWE has applied for two African Union commissioners’ posts to be filled
at the AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the end of the month.
The AU Commission’s chair and the deputy chair as well as eight other
commissioners’ posts will be up for grabs at the continental body’s 18th
ordinary session.

Hesphina Rukato and Rudo Mabel Chitiga of Zimbabwe have applied for the
posts of Commissioner-Political Affairs and Commissioner for Social Affairs.
Rukato has a doctorate in Environmental Management Standards and
Environmental Policy and Planning, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree
in Politics and Administration. She has vast experience and has country
experiences in Zimbabwe, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Namibia,
Botswana, Ethiopia, and Ghana.

She is currently employed by the Institute of Peace and Security Studies
(IPSS) at the  University of Addis Ababa as a senior advisor, High Level
Networking and Advocacy.

She has also worked for the German International Cooperation (GIZ) where she
was seconded to the AU Commission’s Office of the Deputy Chairperson, as an
advisor on the second Strategic Partnership Dialogue.

Rukato has also worked for Africa practice in Johannesburg before being
seconded to the AU Commission’s Department of Peace and Security in Addis
Ababa.

She worked for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, among other
organisations.

Chitiga has more than 30 years experience working in senior management and
leadership roles in government, civil society and inter-government
organisations.

She has country experience in Botswana, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso,
Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia, Gambia, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho,
Ethiopia, Jamaica, Burundi, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe.

South African Home Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who has the
backing of the15-member Sadc bloc, will battle it out with incumbent Jean
Ping of Gabon for the chairmanship of the AU Commission. Ping has the
support of French-speaking central and West African nations.

If Dlamini-Zuma, Rukato and Chitiga are successful, Sadc would have strong
representation at the AU. The three are highly qualified and experienced and
also have the gender balance advantage.

The AU has announced that commissioners and members of the Peace and
Security Council would also be elected at the summit.

“Given that the current bureau of the AU Commission is coming to the end of
its four-year mandate in 2012, the Heads of State and Government of the
African Union at their earlier 18th Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, will elect the chairperson of the AU Commission and that of deputy
chairperson of the Commission,” reads the statement from the AU.

“The executive council will elect the commissioners of the AU; 10 members of
the Peace and Security Council and one judge of the AU Ad-hoc Administrative
Tribunal.”

The Commission is the Secretariat of the Union and is entrusted with
executive functions. It is composed of 10 officials: a chairperson, a deputy
chairperson; eight commissioners and staff members.

The AU Commission is made up of the Peace and Security; Political Affairs;
Trade and Industry; Infrastructure and Energy; Social Affairs; Rural Economy
and Agriculture; Human Resources, Science and Technology as well as the
Economic Affairs portfolios.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

MDC-T dossier chronicles ‘Chihuri violations’

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:53

Faith Zaba

PRIME MINISTER Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC says Police Commissioner-General
Augustine Chihuri should not be re-appointed as police chief because of his
alleged selective application of the law, numerous human rights violations
and partisan approach to law enforcement.
Chihuri’s actions, the party says, were in violation of the Global Political
Agreement (GPA).

Police spokesperson assistant  police commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena refused
to comment on the allegations.
“I will not comment on that,” he said yesterday.

In a 28-page document titled “Partisan Policing” detailing various
violations allegedly committed by the police between 1999 and 2011, the
MDC-T accused Chihuri of making inflammatory statements which undermine the
letter and spirit of the GPA.

The party quoted Chihuri on November 26 2010 saying: “…this country came
through blood and the barrel of the gun and it will never be re-colonised
through the pen which costs as little as five cents.”

Chihuri’s contract, together with that of Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander
General  Constantine Chiwenga, expires at the end of this month, while
Prisons Services Commissioner retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi, Air
Force commander Air Marshal Perance Shiri and Zimbabwe National Army
commander Lieutenant-General  Philip Sibanda’s tenures end in February.

The two MDC formations have said they will fight President Robert Mugabe
legally, politically and regionally if he re-appoints the service chiefs
without consulting Tsvangirai.

The GPA stipulates that the president should consult the prime minister when
making key appointments.

The MDC-T has indicated that the expiry of the contracts gave the inclusive
government an opportunity to get rid of Chihuri, who took over from Henry
Mukurazhizha in 1991 as acting commissioner before assuming the position on
a full time basis in 1993.

Chihuri’s contract, the MDC-T said, was renewed 13 times since his first
term expired in 1997.

“Augustine Chihuri assumed the title of commissioner-general in January
2008. Despite assuming a new title, Commissioner-General Chihuri maintained
his partisan approach to law enforcement which he had adopted prior to
January 2008,” reads the document seen by the Zimbabwe Independent.

“In the months preceding the June 2008 presidential run-off elections, MDC
supporters were subjected to violence by state security agents and Zanu PF
supporters, which saw hundreds of them being brutally murdered.

“Despite overwhelming evidence of the violent campaign against MDC
supporters by state security agents, Commissioner-General Chihuri maintained
that the MDC was responsible for the violence.

“As a result of the Commissioner-General’s bias against MDC, none of the
perpetrators of violence against MDC supporters have been arrested and
prosecuted.”

Some of the cases outlined in the document,which alleges Chihuri failed in
his duties, include the murder of Tsvangirai’s driver Talent Mabika and
Tichaona  Chiminya, whom the MDC-T claims were killed by state spy Joseph
Mwale accompanied by Tom Kitsiyatota in April 2000.

MDC-T said despite a High Court ruling directing the police and the
Attorney-General (AG) to arrest and prosecute Mwale, no action was taken
against him by the police or the AG’s office and he has remained free to
date.

The MDC document also cited the abduction in 2000 of Education minister
David Coltart’s polling agent Patrick Nabanyama, who was kidnapped by 10
armed men driving a Mazda truck with no number plates.

He was never seen again and on August 11 2010, a Bulawayo magistrate
declared Nabanyama dead.
The police, the MDC-T said, have not apprehended the persons suspected of
having kidnapped and murdered him despite the fact that they had been
identified.

The party contends Chihuri has failed to act against police officers that
have been accused of fabricating evidence against its supporters.
One such example was that of six MDC supporters, including former MDC
legislator Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, who were accused of murdering war veteran
Cain Nkala.

The police staged a discovery of Nkala’s body, with the accused making
indications pertaining to the location of the shallow grave and purported
manner in which they murdered him.

In her judgement, High Court Judge Justice Sandra Mungwira found that the
police had framed the accused.

The MDC-T said despite the fact that Tsvangirai was assaulted at Machipisa
Police Station on March 11 2007 and sustained a skull injury, no one was
arrested in connection with the assault.

“Between the years 2000 and 2008, Chihuri’s police were involved in numerous
violations of human rights of citizens, most of who were perceived to be
opponents of Zanu PF, a party Chihuri has publicly sworn allegiance to,”
reads the MDC-T report. “During these years Chihuri’s police became a law
unto itself ignoring High Court orders when it suited them.”

On selective application of the law, the document said: “The selective
application of the law by the police  Commissioner-General since January
2011 have considerably compromised the letter and spirit  of the GPA, to the
extent that there is a clear paralysis of government rendering it almost
dysfunctional.

“Police Commissioner-General Chihuri has resorted to selective arrests of
victims of political violence in a manner which aids and abets the
perpetrators of violence.”

The document went further to say: “In addition, in violation of the GPA and
Section 16 of the Constitution, police Commissioner-General Chihuri has
wilfully refrained from acting on three police reports of criminal
misconduct that have been made against  Minister of Local Government, Rural
and Urban Development Dr IG (Ignatius) Chombo and to date the police
Commissioner-General has not acted on these. This reflects partisan conduct
on the part of Police-Commissioner General Chihuri.”

There have also been police reports against prominent businessman Philip
Chiyangwa and two senior Harare City Council officials, Cosmas Zvikaramba
and Psychology Chiwanga, who have been implicated in fraudulent acquisition
of public property, said the document.

This, it said, was in sharp contrast to the arrest of Energy minister Elton
Mangoma on March 10 and 25 2011 on corruption charges and that of
Co-Minister of National Healing and Reconciliation Moses Mzila-Ndlovu on
April 15 2011 for allegedly holding a meeting without authority. Mangoma was
brought to court in leg irons on April 19 2011.

The MDC-T also accused Chihuri of being partisan in the manner in which he
has dealt with political rallies and meetings organised by Zanu PF
opponents.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Chinese hotel construction angers residents

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:52

Owen Gagare

TREES planted by heads of state on wetland between Belvedere and the
National Sports Stadium have been cut down to pave way for the construction
of a multi-million dollar hotel.
The project has angered Belvedere residents and environmentalists who want
the piece of land to remain an International Friendship Forest.
The ecologically sensitive piece of land was commissioned by President
Robert Mugabe in 1987.

It was set aside for the growing of indigenous trees to preserve it as a
wetland and several visiting heads of state planted trees as a symbol of
friendship and solidarity with Zimbabwe.

African luminaries, including former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere and
former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, planted trees on the site.
The late First Lady Sally Mugabe also led First Ladies in planting trees on
the land during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Harare in
1991.

A wetland is categorised as an area of ground that is saturated with water
either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are also categorised by their
characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions.
The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater or brackish.
The main functions of wetlands are as water purification systems, flood
control, shoreline stability, and as reservoirs of biodiversity.

Despite its historical and ecological importance, the government acquired
the wetland “for national use” before giving it to a Chinese contractor to
build a hotel.  According to Harare City Council minutes, the Local
Government ministry made the request in September 2010. The council
initially approved the request on condition that the government availed an
equivalent piece of land in Caledonia or elsewhere in the city.

In October 2011, the council’s finance and development committee called for
the reversal of the decision after Belvedere residents and their councillor
Paula Macharangwanda complained about the destruction of vegetation at the
site.

“A perimeter fence was being erected and trees at the site were being
uprooted,” read the council minutes. “The committee noted with concern that
the site had been preserved as a wetland and trees had been planted at the
site on numerous occasions in an endeavour to preserve it as a wetland.”

The council noted that no projects were allowed to take place on wetlands
and recommended that “urgent” measures be taken to stop the development. The
council also said the government had not said what it wanted to use the land
for, save to say it was wanted in the national interest. Despite the
protests, the Chinese developers have continued working on the site.

Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo referred questions to his
permanent secretary Killian Mpingo, saying he did not have details on the
project. Mpingo could not be reached for comment.

The Environmental Management Authority (Ema) has also slammed the project
and called for it to be halted.

Ema spokesman Steady Kangata said the authority had instructed the
developers to stop because an environmental impact assessment had not been
carried out on the site prior to the commencement of the project.

He said the contractor only submitted an environmental impact assessment
after Ema had given the order but the  assessment had not been approved.
“The order to stop operations is still standing. If they continue building
they are doing so illegally,” said Kangata.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Mujuru inquest: Zim disaster preparedness in a shambles

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:50

Wongai Zhangazha

REVELATIONS at the ongoing inquest into the death of retired former army
commander General Solomon Mujuru have shown that the country’s security
services and disaster preparedness are in a shambles.
People who attended the ongoing inquest this week were stunned when police
officers who were guarding Mujuru’s farmhouse continuously exposed ignorance
of the layout of the high security residence they were manning. They also
revealed that there were faulty communication systems at the farmhouse in
addition to them not having basic rescue training. The three officers had no
knowledge of critical points at the farm.

So astonishing were the revelations that Vice-President Joyce Mujuru
expressed shock and took a swipe at the police guarding her late husband.
Regional Magistrate Walter Chikwanha questioned the officers why they didn’t
go the “extra mile” in their six weeks guarding the property to familiarise
themselves with the farm even though they had not been briefed by their
principals.

Constable Augustinos Chinyoka told the inquiry that they had no idea about
where Mujuru’s bedroom was located and that lack of knowledge prompted them
to look for the maid Rosemary Short to assist them.

Chinyoka said: “I sent Constable (Obert) Mark to the compound to go and look
for Rosemary so that she could come and identify to us the bedroom of the
General which I was not familiar with because I never entered the farmhouse
during the entire period of my deployment. We had no instructions to enter
the house.”

The officers each worked 12-hour shifts starting from 6am to 6pm and another
from 6pm to 6am.

They said one officer would be on duty while others were on standby and
would patrol the perimeter of the farmhouse at random, particularly at
night.
Chinyoka was on duty on the evening of the day Mujuru died, August 15. He
said he made perimeter patrols and checks around the farmhouse at about
9.30pm.

“I carried out the first perimeter check; the second perimeter check was at
around 10.30pm up to 10.40pm,and at 00.30 hours up to 4am, I carried out the
last perimeter check. During these perimeter checks I found everything was
in order,” said Chinyoka.

However, the Mujuru family lawyer Takor Kewada of Scanlen & Holderness was
baffled how Chinyoka failed to see the fire starting during his last patrol.
“Would you agree with me that if a fire starts, it doesn’t start extremely
severely but it starts as something small and it spreads and therefore it
would take some time for the inferno that you described to take effect?
During these intervals is it your evidence that you could not detect or
observe there was a fire?” asked Kewada.

Chinyoka acknowledged that soon after a patrol, one would go back to the
guardroom by the gate and man the entrance which was 47 metres from the main
house and that the way the fire had started and its velocity was a surprise
to him given that his last patrol at 00.40 showed no signs of a fire.

Kewada was of the view that the police officers did not put a lot of effort
into trying to find Mujuru despite Chinyoka saying they had tried but were
inhibited by smoke and heat.

Chinyoka’s colleague Constable Obert Mark appeared confused by a sketch map
he was shown by the state represented by Sharon Fero and assisted by
Clemence Chimbare.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

‘Copac constitution a transitional document’

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:28

Herbert Moyo

ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has insisted that the current
constitution being drafted by Copac be used as a transitional document that
should be replaced by a permanent one in a stable post-inclusive government.
The lawyers’ body made these demands at the launch of its book entitled
Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Drafts –– Comparisons and Recommendations in
Harare on Tuesday.

The book contains a comparative analysis of the Lancaster House constitution
which gave birth to Zimbabwe with other constitutional drafts, such as the
Kariba, NCA and Constitutional Commission drafts. It also contains
recommendations drawn up by ZLHR as part of its input into the Copac
constitution-making process with a view to ensuring the creation of a draft
that would meet Sadc and other internationally acceptable guidelines.

ZLHR director Irene Petras (pictured) said the Copac-drafted constitution
should only be used transitionally because various challenges which
bedevilled the constitution-making process would render the resultant
constitution an imperfect document.

Petras said only a stable government with “one centre of power” had the
capacity to initiate the process of creating a permanent constitution.

“Regrettably, the operating environment in which the constitution is being
drafted continues to remain polarised and repressive,” said Petras.
“Meetings to discuss constitutional issues continue to be banned or
disrupted using repressive legislation which should be a phenomenon of the
past. Free speech has effectively been stemmed as a result of pressure from
various interest groups whose intimidation tactics have made it difficult,
if not impossible, for other stakeholders to comment or put forward
alternative views for fear of retribution,” Petras said.

The lawyers alleged that there was inadequate representation of stakeholders
in the on-going stages of the constitution-making process and claimed that
it had been “effectively removed from the public domain and placed in the
hands of a small group of representatives of only three political parties
and this is highly exclusionary, and negatively affects public confidence in
the process”.

The body also accused Copac of double standards saying it interfered with
the drafters while warning other stakeholders to desist from doing so.

“As observers, we were advised that we would not be allowed to stand and
look over the shoulders of the drafters as they needed space to prepare
their draft and should not be interfered with, yet this is exactly what
Copac has been doing and continues to do.”

MDC-T Copac co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora declined to comment on these
accusations, but accepted a copy of the book and said he personally welcomed
contributions from ZLHR because they were definitely valuable from a legal
perspective and would assist the drafters.

“I have drafted before and this is the third constitution that I’m involved
in,” said Mwonzora. “I know how it is done and I know what is useful and
that is why I came.”

His Zanu PF counterpart Paul Mangwana dismissed the notion of a transitional
constitution saying a Copac constitution would be “for posterity because the
people’s representatives went out to the people and solicited their views”.

MDC co-chairperson Edward Mkhosi described the ZLHR suggestion as premature
because the constitution-making process was on-going and any criticisms of
the Copac process should be made when the draft was complete.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Copac using up US$100k a week

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:25

Paidamoyo Muzulu

THE Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution (Copac) is spending
an average US$100 000 a week on accommodation, travel and sitting allowances
for its 25 committee members spearheading the faltering constitutional
review process which has missed its target of producing a draft within 18
months.

Copac has come under heavy criticism from Zanu PF and organisations such as
war veterans and war collaborators in recent weeks for its extravagance and
failure to deliver a draft constitution on time. The committee remains
uncertain when the long-awaited document will be ready for public scrutiny.

Copac committee members have spent week-long retreats holed up in Masvingo
and Vumba strategising on how to complete the drafting stage. The committee
has been meeting almost every day since late last year.

The continual retreats and frequent meetings by the committee have given
cannon fodder to war veterans and war collaborators to attack Copac as a
money spinning venture for its members. They argue that the delays in
completing the draft were a deliberate ploy by committee members to pocket
more cash.
A source close to the Copac process said: “Committee members are receiving
US$125 a day each as sitting allowances; getting full-board accommodation in
five-star hotels or lodges that cost around US$200 a day, and receive fuel
allocation for transport.”

However, these figures do not include higher allowances paid to the 15-man
technical team assisting the three drafters to write the constitution. The
15, mostly lawyers - five from each of the political parties in the GPA -
are said to receive commercial rates.

The three drafters, Justice Moses Chinhengo, Brian Crozier and Priscila
Madzonga  are working fulltime on writing the constitution that will be
tested in a referendum after its completion.

Copac co-chairman Douglas Mwonzora refused to release the exact allowance
figures given to committee members. However, he said whatever allowances
being given had received the nod from the three principals in the inclusive
government.

“Copac does not set its own salaries and allowances. The allowances are set
by the management committee which is made up of the representatives of the
principals as well as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),” said
Mwonzora.

The Copac management committee is made up of the six GPA negotiators from
Zanu PF and the two MDC formations. The UNDP is managing the finances on
behalf of all donors who have contributed to the writing of the new charter.

A new draft constitution and a referendum are some of the major GPA
outstanding issues before Zimbabwe heads to polls to collapse the present
coalition government.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Skewed policies bog down mineral-rich Zim

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:16

Brian Chitemba

IN the last decade Zimbabwe has discovered vast mineral deposits with
enormous potential to turn around the flagging economic fortunes of the
country, but political instability, opaque indigenisation regulations and
prohibitive mining licence fees have scuttled projected growth.
Apart from the hyped discovery of diamonds in Chiadzwa, other precious
minerals, including gold, emeralds, nickel, quarts and aquamarine have also
been discovered in many districts in the country.

Zimbabwe is indeed endowed with vast mineral resources with a great
potential to resuscitate the economy which stagnated in the last decade due
to unfolding political tensions between Zanu PF and MDC-T.

Despite the discovery of gold and other minerals in Kwekwe, Tsholotsho,
Mberengwa and Beitbridge, among other areas, the economy is still
struggling.
The mining sector is still to realise its full potential because of skewed
policies, although it’s now the biggest contributor to the Gross Domestic
Product with 13,1%. It also presently rakes in about 50% of the country’s
export earnings.

According to Mines minister Obert Mpofu, the Chiadzwa diamonds could
generate about US$2 billion annually.

Economists have continually argued that the unending political bickering
between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was
scaring away potential investors who are well resourced to extract the
precious minerals.

The rampant smuggling of diamonds, platinum, gold and other precious metals
was also stalling economic growth, according to prominent economist John
Robertson.

About a fortnight ago, alluvial gold deposits were discovered in Kwekwe and
there has since been a “gold rush” resulting in arrests of several illegal
miners, including policemen.

As a result, the Sherwood area on the outskirts of Kwekwe has now been
cordoned-off by police and state security agents in a similar manner
Chiadzwa was barricaded after the discovery of gems.

Human rights watchdogs accused the army and state security apparatus of
gross rights violations, including murder and torture.

Diamonds were discovered in Marange in 2006, but villagers are living in
abject poverty amid allegations that only Zanu PF-connected individuals were
feasting off the gems.

Diamonds revenues have been a source of contention between Zanu PF stalwarts
and Finance minister Tendai Biti who has complained that part of the funds
realised from sale of the gems never reached the national treasury.

Robertson urged the government to ensure a business-friendly environment to
attract investors instead of threatening to seize mining firms. He also
criticised the mining licencing fees and tax regimes, which he blamed for
turning away potential investors.

“It requires serious investors to exploit minerals but the government is
discouraging companies,” said Robertson. “The nationalisation mantra is not
helping the situation.”

Robertson said mining companies were battling to raise licence fees while
taxes were skyrocketing, rendering the environment hostile for flourishing
business.

“Zimbabwe has enormous potential but the government has gone too far with
its skewed policies which scare away international investors,” Robertson
said.

According to the Mines and Mining Development ministry, the sector has
created 45 000 mainstream jobs as well as 16 000 downstream jobs.

Bulawayo- based economic commentator Eric Bloch said mining could be the
biggest contributor to economic revival, but investors were fearful of
political instability and the absence of law and order.

The push for nationalisation of mines, Bloch said, was contributing to
crippling Zimbabwe’s chances of economic recovery.
Bloch suggested that free and  fair elections were likely to usher in a new
government that would bring much-needed political stability to attract
renowned investors.

Bloch said there was need to modify indigenisation laws and scrap the 51%
stake for locals and design more attractive policies to help rebuild the
country’s battered economy.

The Indigenisation and Empowerment Act stipulates that foreign-owned
companies should cede a 51% stake to locals. Mugabe has even gone further to
say the 49% stake for foreigners was generous because they would be
“siphoning resources to their offshore bank accounts”.

Bloch said the inclusive government needed to modify tax laws to align with
other regional countries.

“The government has made positive moves to contain smuggling but the
policies and taxes remain prohibitive for potential investors,” Bloch said.
Since 2009, the mining sector has recorded constant growth due in part to a
change in the institutional and regulatory framework introduced by the
coalition government’s export-led growth strategy.

Some of the positive changes include the scrapping of stringent export
regulations,which forced mining firms to sell minerals through the central
bank, and decriminalising the gold sector by issuing trading licences.

Soaring mineral prices on the international markets are set to boost the
country’s coffers, but it’s highly dependent on how the mineral resources
are managed.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Constitution delay: Setting the record straight

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 15:53

By Douglas Mwonzora

IN HIS article published in the Zimbabwe Independent of January 6, the
organising secretary of the MDC led by Welshman Ncube (MDC-N), Qhubani Moyo,
raised a number of issues worth reacting to. These include the accusation
that the delays in the constitution-making process have been caused by the
MDC-T and Zanu PF, that some people seconded to lead Copac are unsuitable
and that the publication of the national report is being suppressed and that
the only suitable leader at Copac is Edward Mkhosi who is from the party
Moyo belongs to.

The only factual issue raised in that article is that Mkhosi is a mature
man. In fact, some of us who have worked with this wonderful man regard him
as one of the best peacekeepers in the land. That he deserves to be in the
leadership of this important process should never be doubted. Unlike most of
his colleagues in the MDC-N, Mkhosi has never fronted for Zanu PF in
attacking the MDC-T unfairly.

It is clear that the constitution-making process has been delayed. The
causes of the delays are well known.  The party responsible for the delay
has never been the MDC-T. It is, therefore, important to go into the dry
facts.

The first major programme in this process was the holding of the First All
Stakeholders’ Conference held in Harare in the middle of 2009. Moyo was
present at this occasion. Zanu PF MPs led by Patrick Zhuwao and Saviour
Kasukuwere led the disruptions of this conference on the first day. It took
the intervention of the three principals in the inclusive government to stop
these disruptions. The MDC-T had nothing to do with the barbarism displayed
by Zanu PF on that day and the resultant delay.

The second major programme was that of the outreach meetings. These meetings
were marred by politically motivated violence in some provinces. This
violence was perpetrated by Zanu PF supporters. Most of the meetings had to
be rescheduled by Copac in order to give the people in the affected areas a
chance to air their views on the new constitution. In Harare thousands of
Zanu PF militia bused from outside the capital led brutal attacks on members
of the public in Mabvuku, Chitungwiza, Dzivaresekwa and Mbare culminating in
the death of MDC Youth Assembly member, Chrispen Mandizvidza, at Mai Musodzi
Hall in Mbare.

The management committee had to intervene and ordered the process to be
redone. All right thinking people saw that the people who led to this sad
development were Zanu PF.

The third major programme was the uploading of the outreach data. The data
that had been gathered included views gathered from outreach, views from the
diaspora, institutional submissions, views from children and the views of
people living with disabilities.

When I was released from prison I discovered that Zanu PF had somehow
succeeded in excluding the views from the diaspora and institutional
submissions from the national data. The MDC demanded that the uploading of
data be redone in order to include these excluded views.

The people to blame are therefore not from the MDC, but those who had sought
to suppress the views of some sections of our society in the first place. It
would have been irresponsible for the MDC to accede to a report that had
such fatal omissions.

When it came to the analysis of data in May 2011, Zanu PF insisted on the
quantitative approach while the MDC-T and MDC-N  correctly insisted on the
qualitative approach as resolved by the management committee meeting of
April 4 2011.

The disagreement inevitably caused delays. Even when an agreement had been
ironed out and signed by the Copac chairpersons on May 12, Zanu PF still
refused to honour the agreement with some members making outrageous
statements such as that its Copac chairpersons had been fed on alcohol to
accede to MDC-T demands. Somehow of course Moyo would find the MDC-T to
blame!

The issue relating to whether the select committee had to use the
quantitative or the qualitative approach took more than two months to
resolve. The MDC-T’s principal argument was that the process was
characterised by massive intimidation and the use of a purely quantitative
approach was undesirable. Subsequent events would show that the MDC was
correct.

It is important to note that the national report is not yet ready. What is
ready is the national statistical report that does not have explanations on
what certain figures really mean. The select committee resolved that the
national statistical report would be accompanied by narratives and other
documents for it to be a national report.

The committee then specifically resolved not to publish an incomplete
national report. In December 2011, some Zanu PF elements published what they
termed a national report in the Herald. This report did not have any
narratives accompanying the figures.

It did not include the views from the diaspora, children, people living with
disabilities and views from Zimbabwean institutions. The MDC-T then
vehemently protested against this fraudulent misrepresentation of facts to
Zimbabweans. Rightly it went public to condemn the so-called national
report.  Probably Moyo wanted the MDC-T to keep quiet while the nation was
being misled.

In December 2011, Zanu PF sought to unilaterally stop the drafting process
when it felt that the drafts did not favour its entrenched positions. The
MDC found this totally unacceptable and it did not hide its opposition to
this unilateralism. There were attempts by some sections in Zanu PF who even
wanted to call for the ouster of some of the drafters. The MDC totally
rejected and resisted these sordid manoeuvres.

Only recently, a group of Zanu PF supporters led by so-called war veterans
disrupted a Copac meeting in Nyanga in a bid to force the drafters to
abandon the drafting process. Zanu PF is still dreaming of reverting to the
Kariba Draft Constitution if the current draft is thrown away, a thing that
would never happen.

Sadly Moyo sees nothing good about what the MDC-T has done in trying to stop
Zanu PF from hijacking the process. The temptation that Moyo is getting into
is to try to blame everyone who is not from his party while glorifying
everyone who is from his party. Such behaviour is common with political
parties and Zimbabweans must not take his accusation seriously. There is
always a tendency by political parties to portray themselves as a source of
reason even though they may not be.

Again this is natural.

The history of Copac must never be falsified on the basis of political
convenience. Instead of firing un-researched diatribes at other political
forces, Moyo as an organising secretary must concentrate on recruiting
members for his political party.

He must have the ability to analyse political facts not from a laptop, but
from the actual field of political play.

Mwonzora is the MDC-T national spokesperson and also the party’s
co-chairperson of Copac.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Foreign tourists arrivals up 10%

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 14:05

Gamma Mudarikiri

ZIMBABWE recorded a 10% average rise in foreign tourist arrivals between
2009 and the first half 2011, driven by a stability in the political
environment and massive marketing campaigns branding Zimbabwe a safe tourist
destination.
According to a report compiled by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), the
country has since dollarisation registered growth in foreign tourist
arrivals.
Foreign tourist arrivals from 2009 to the first half of 2011 totalled 4 913
731.  Of these arrivals, Africa accounted for 84%. In 2009 there was a 3%
increase in arrivals on average. In 2010 arrivals grew 11% while they grew
by 16% in 2011.

The first half of 2011 recorded 657 302 tourist arrivals, representing a 16%
increase from the 568 706 recorded in 2010.

Arrivals from Africa rose to 566 913, an increase of 11% from the 510 310
recorded in the same period in 2010. South Africa remained the leading
contributor of arrivals from Africa, accounting for 246 889 visitors in H1
2011. However, this was a 33% decrease from the 367 538 recorded over the
same period in 2010. The highest increase in arrivals to Zimbabwe was by
Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, with the rise being attributed to increased
trade between those countries and Zimbabwe.

In the first half of 2011, overseas visitors accounted for 14%  of arrivals
in Zimbabwe, with nearly two fifths of those coming from Europe.
Actual arrivals from Europe in the first half of 2011 were up 51% to 34
713, from 23 030 recorded in the same period in 2010.  Of these arrivals 24
192 were from Britain and Ireland.

The USA remained a major overseas source market, recording 17 351 in the
first half of 2011, up 141% from the same period in 2010.
The ZTA attributes the decrease in Europe’s market share of vistors to the
financial crisis  sparked by the eurozone debt. The resultant illiquid
economy in Europe and high loss of jobs has affected tourist arrivals from
the region.

Tourist arrivals from Asia in the first half of 2011 increased to 21 959,
rising by 104 % from 10 771 recorded in the same period in 2010. China was
the major source of the Asian market’s share of arrivals in Zimbabwe,
registering a total of 9 460 arrivals in H1 2011, up by 213% from 3 023
arrivals recorded in the same period in 2010.

In the first half of 2011, arrivals from Mexico declined by 78% to 264 from
the 1220 recorded in the same period in 2010.

Where arrivals have declined between 2010 and 2011, this has been partly
been attributed to the end of the soccer World Cup held in South Africa in
2010. During 2010 Zimbabwe had recorded an 11% increase in tourist arrivals
compared to the previous year (2009), four percentage points above global
arrivals for that year and five percentage points above regional arrivals.

Of the 2 239 165 arrivals received by Zimbabwe in 2010, Africa contributed
87%, followed by  Europe (6%), the Americas (3%) and Asia (2%).


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Fertiliser shortage threatens farmers

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 14:04

Paul Nyakazeya

SHORTAGE of top dressing fertiliser and distribution challenges are
threatening to negatively affect maize, tobacco and cotton production this
year, the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) said.
In its latest crop and livestock weekly report, ZFU said the shortage of
fertiliser was affecting all provinces.

“The major challenge across all provinces is the shortage of top dressing
fertiliser on the market, including at Grain Marketing Board (GMB),” ZFU
said.
“The little that is on the market is expensive, with a bag of Ammonium
Nitrate being sold for US$34,00. Distribution challenges at GMB have
virtually made the scheme inaccessible to most deserving farmers.”

Top dressing is the term used when dry fertiliser is added on top of the
soil next to the plant. The benefit of top dressing is that the fertiliser
seeps into the soil over a longer period of time, using rain or irrigation
water. In addition, a farmer does not risk disturbing the roots of the
plants by digging the fertiliser into the soil.

ZFU said the crop stages for maize around the country currently were at
varied stages, with Mashonaland East at the top dressing stage (four weeks
after planting).

“The other provinces have the crop at various stages, with some farmers
still planting. There are reports of moisture stress as the dry spell
continues in some areas. The maize crop planted with the first rains is
experiencing moisture stress, especially in areas with light sandy soils.
The rains that have fallen lately are patchy and poorly distributed,” ZFU
said.

Farmers began preparing their land for the traditional planting season
despite not having enough inputs when heavy downpours hit most parts of
Zimbabwe in early October.

But faltering weather patterns in the region have created uncertainty on
when the best time to plant crops is, forcing farmers to either rely on
their own observations and judgment, or the sometimes unreliable advice from
meteorologists.

For Zimbabwean farmers, it is a double edged sword as farming inputs are not
readily available and are too expensive for many. Farmers are also failing
to access loans to buy implements and inputs.

Some Zimbabwean farmers are said to be no longer confident about the
agricultural season since the GMB, traditionally a source of seed and
fertiliser, indicated that it would not provide free farming inputs to
small-scale growers.

ZFU said planting of rain-fed tobacco was now tailing off while those who
irrigate the crop have started reaping and curing.

“Cotton, except for Zambezi valley where planting of cotton is tailing off,
most provinces have finished planting and are involved in weeding
operations, taking advantage of the dry spell. Field crop condition is
ranging from fair to good,” said ZFU.

The immediate past president of the Commercial Farmers Union Deon Theron
told businessdigest that this farming season was uncertain as in previous
years farmers were able to access loans to buy inputs such as fertiliser
which is expensive. Zimbabwe Farmers Union president Silas Hungwe said the
perennial challenge facing local farmers in acquiring inputs was now
critical.

“As a union we are worried but hopeful government will assist communal
farmers to avoid importing maize to meet shortfalls,” said Hungwe. “However,
in urban centres, input shortages and high transport costs could be brought
to an end by spreading agro-dealerships.”


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Politics strain economic recovery momentum

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 14:00

Paul Nyakazeya

THE recovery momentum that the economy has been experiencing since
dollarisation will come under severe strain this year, with political issues
such as elections, the constitution-making process and implementation of the
indigenisation law  likely to determine economic trends for the year ahead,
economic analysts said this week.
Economists said key domestic factors that will have a serious bearing on the
performance of the economy and companies were the above factors and the
availability of cheap long term funding, unreliable electricity supplies and
uncompetitive prices.

Finance minister Tendai Biti sees the economy growing 9,4% in 2012 buoyed by
improved performance in sectors such as agriculture, mining, tourism, social
sectors, finance, and electricity.

The positive performance in 2012 is expected to be underpinned by further
growth in finance, expected to grow by 23%, mining 15,8%, tourism 13,7%,
agriculture 11,6%,manufacturing 6%, and transport and communication 6%.

Zimbabwe’s economy is still recovering after it shrunk 60% between 2000 and
December 2008 owing to a series of economic policy blunders, general
mismanagement of the economy and an inclination to impose command economy
systems such as price control.

Biti said the performance of the real sector is not yet optimal in the face
of financing and power supply constraints which are stifling  the productive
sectors.
He further highlighted that the current levels of public and private
investment thresholds in capital development remained at low levels which
are inconsistent with the support necessary to underpin rapid economic
growth. Biti said capital development, as measured through gross fixed
capital formation, which is fostered by a savings and investment culture,
was needed.

“Given that public and private investment in capital development is an
essential imperative for economic growth, it will be necessary that our
fiscal stance inculcates a culture of high savings and investment,” he said
while presenting the 2012 w national budget.

Economist David Mupamhadzi told businessdigest this week that 2012 was
likely to be a difficult year for companies, largely because of both
internal and external factors.

“The key internal or domestic factors that will have a serious bearing on
the performance of companies include the hype about possible elections,
which will likely increase the country risk factor and make it difficult for
the country to attract any meaningful investments,” said Mupamhadzi.

He said investment inflows are critical for the country to achieve the key
macroeconomic targets set for 2012.

“The on-going challenges around the constitution-making process, and the
expected referendum thereafter, point to a year which is likely to be
heavily influenced by politics than economics,” said Mupamhadzi.

“The indigenisation and economic empowerment crusade is another policy which
is likely to adversely affect the performance of companies in 2012,
especially those in the mining sector. The indigenisation and empowerment
policy is a noble initiative, however, our key concern is on its
implementation, which in its current form might reverse the economic gains
recorded to date.”

Economists said the performance of companies in 2012 will also be adversely
affected by lack of liquidity in the economy. There is a huge funding gap,
and most companies could find it difficult to raise capital for their
operations. Although levels of deposits in the financial sector are slowly
improving, they are still too low and cannot meet the demands of industry
given their short term nature.

Economist John Robertson said industries require long term funding which he
said unfortunately banks cannot currently provide because of the tenor of
deposits that they are receiving.

“Although there is potential for companies to enhance capacity utilisation
in 2012, liquidity will remain as one of the biggest challenges,” he said.

Power supply will also continue to be a major challenge in 2012. The
government is projecting electricity output of 1244 MW in 2012, which will
not meet the requirements of the country, even assuming that this projection
is met. Thus power supply will remain a serious challenge to industry in
2012.

“There is need for the government to intensify the rehabilitation programmes
at Hwange, Kariba and small power stations, and attract new investments in
the sector,” said Mupamhadzi.

Economic analyst Eric Bloch told businessdigest that the key challenges
confronting most Zimbabwean companies in 2012 is tight liquidity.

He said the companies are generally unable to resolve the lack of liquidity
due to the gross insufficiency of resources in the money market and the
miniscule extent of access to investment funding, as most potential
investors are reluctant to invest in the light of prevailing indigenisation
legislation.
“Exceptionally poor service delivery by parastatals and local authorities
will affect economic recovery,” Bloch said.

“Ongoing demands by labour for enhanced remuneration, beyond the means of
employers, and as a result intensively deteriorating employer/labour
relationships, will negatively affect productivity.”

Bloch said lack of price competitiveness    against imported products would
affect industry.

Economists said externally, the global economic outlook was dim owing to the
global financial crisis which emanated from the euro debt crisis.
A number of countries that are Zimbabwe’s trading partners and potential
investors are still recovering from the crisis, and this could negatively
affect the demand for exports and inflow of foreign direct investment.

Economist Brains Muchemwa told businessdigest this week that the major
challenges that companies are likely to face this year are high gearing
levels and high cost of funding.

He said debt remained the biggest challenge facing companies this year.
“The debt markets are very much less likely to soften, considering that the
cumulative inflows of fresh capital into the economy remains below US$1
billion per year,” he said.

Solutions to funding and restructuring debt on balance sheets will,
therefore, remain the biggest challenge for the year, and companies with
appealing business models that can attract off-shore funding will be much
better placed to take advantages as the economy continues to grow, he
forecasted
He said the manufacturing and service industries remained the hardest hit,
citing the cases of once big companies such as Cairns, which are now saddled
with heavy debt. Cairns is one of the many companies that are heavily
geared.

“Managing costs has become the second most pressing challenge, especially
for the service industry. Banks and hotels will have to dig deeper into
finding solutions to managing costs so that their operating models continue
to generate positive earnings in a difficult market,” Muchemwa said.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

MuckRaker: ‘What crisis?’ Thabo Mbeki at it again

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 14:52

FORMER South African president Thabo Mbeki says he is sceptical about the
social networking site Twitter being a great conveyor of reliable knowledge,
reports iolnews.

Mbeki said, in response to a question after a speech to the University of
Stellenbosch Business School, he thought the social media tool was not
appropriate for discussing knowledge meant for the betterment of society.
“I am sceptical about this notion of Twitter being that great conveyor
instrument for the democratisation of knowledge,” Mbeki said at the start of
the school’s knowledge conference.

“If you want to discuss knowledge (on) the betterment of society, I don’t
think it is appropriate.
“Even the Internet in general, blogging and so on, is not the place where
you can put all these things under theories.”

He suggested that “false knowledge” was used to remove slain Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi from power. “False knowledge was advanced that the Gaddafi
regime was about to slaughter millions of civilians,” Mbeki said.

“This was to justify the imposition of a ‘no-fly zone’ over Libya which
served as a cover to overthrow the Libyan government and impose a regime
approved by the Western powers in their interest.”

It seems that “What crisis?” Mbeki is finally finding his voice and as usual
he is out of step with reality.

Recently he was commiserating with deposed Ivorian strongman Laurent Gbagbo
and his wife Simone, who he said had “ended up as humiliated prisoners”.
This was despite the fact that Gbagbo refused to respect the ruling by the
Constitutional Court that declared Alassane Ouattara the winner and
tenaciously clung on to power.

On Libya, the know-it-all Mbeki is conveniently oblivious of the fact that
it was the Libyan people themselves, and not Nato, that initiated the
uprising against Gaddafi’s rule. Social networking sites like Facebook and
Twitter were the key mediums through which the protesters in the Arab
revolution organised themselves to take to the streets and overcome the
military forces.

Closer to home Mbeki’s failure to speak out on clear human rights and rule
of law violations in Zimbabwe led to the monicker “What crisis?”.
His Aids-denial policies were directly responsible for the avoidable deaths
of more than a third of a million people in South Africa, according to
research by Harvard University.

Mbeki turned his back on the scientific consensus that Aids was caused by a
viral infection that could be fought –– though not cured –– by medical
drugs. In 2000, at the International Aids conference in Durban, Mbeki
publicly rejected the accepted scientific wisdom. Aids, he said, was brought
about by the collapse of the immune system –– but not because of a virus.

As a result 330 000 people died unnecessarily in South Africa over the
period and that 35 000 HIV-infected babies were born who could have been
protected from the virus.

A bemused reader had this to say: “Did this man not use false knowledge from
the Internet causing the deaths of many South Africans from Aids. Is this
now all forgotten? He seems to be talking from experience.”
We couldn’t agree more.

Meanwhile ZBC’s local “analysts” have said the chaos that has taken root in
Libya since the ouster of Gaddafi is a clear lesson on the dangers of
allowing Western countries to meddle in African politics.

Political analyst Advocate Fortune Chasi said: “Africa should learn a
valuable lesson that external forces should never be allowed to take a
leading role in solving problems on the continent as they are the ones who
will benefit from the situation.”

“Those who stand to benefit when a country is in disarray like that are the
very countries that went in to invade,” said Chasi.

Another more familiar analyst, Chris Mutsvangwa, also said that if the
situation in Libya is allowed to deteriorate, another Somalia is in the
making as signs of a civil war are already showing in the streets of Libyan
cities.

Ironically the likes of Mutsvangwa and Goodson Nguni who, at the height of
protests in Egypt that led to the toppling of Hosni Mubarak, had attributed
these developments to Mubarak’s “pursuing Western interests for the past 30
years at the expense of the Arab world”.

We were interested to hear President Mugabe’s remarks at the Zanu PF
Bulawayo conference that he will not retire until after what the party calls
“illegal sanctions” are lifted.

“Sometimes there have been calls that I must retire,” he told the party
faithful gathered in Bulawayo last month. “But as long as there is still a
lot of work to be done, I cannot leave you on your own in the deep-end.”

Isn’t this what all autocratic leaders claim? That they are indispensable
and cannot abandon their followers? But are their followers ever given a
chance to express their views?

We wonder how SK Moyo’s visit to Nicaragua for the inauguration of President
Daniel Ortega went? The Herald’s account of events in that country left some
gaps. We were told that Ortega led a Marxist government that clashed with
the United States over nationalisation of mines after his Sandinista regime
came to power in 1979.

That is true. We recall a certain Mr Campbell being given acres of airtime
by ZTV to propagate the Sandinista regime’s mantras. But it needs to be said
that after the Sandinistas defeated General Samoza in 1979 their tenure was
a relatively short one. Ortega was defeated in national elections in 1990
and again in 1996.

It was only after 10 years in opposition that Ortega won free and fair
elections in 2006. During that time Ortega abandoned many of his Marxist
shibboleths.
SK said Zimbabwe and Nicaragua shared a similar ideology. They did. But do
they still now? Nicaragua has moved on.
“This invitation, coming as it does on the heels of the ANC centenary
celebrations here serves to demonstrate the closeness of the liberation
movements not only regionally but globally,” SK said.

The difference being of course that Nicaragua holds regular elections whose
outcome the Sandinistas respect. As for global solidarity, we were intrigued
by George Charamba’s remarks to this paper about South Africa decampaigning
Zimbabwe’s bid for a UN Human Rights Council seat in 2009. Zimbabwe
eventually got the seat but no thanks to South Africa. Which is why
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma should not take Zimbabwe’s support for her candidacy
for the AU commission chair for granted.

We were interested in remarks made by Justice Nicholas Mathonsi  in regard
to Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. This followed the
arrest in Gwanda of officers from the MMPZ on charges of insulting the
president and violating Posa.
“The time had come,”Justice Mathonsi said, “to announce to law officers that
Section 121 should be invoked only in those situations where there is merit
in appeal”.
Law officers have used the legislation to punish Zanu PF’s opponents and
civic critics.
Justice Mathonsi  said the abuse of Section 121 to keep persons in custody
who have been granted bail has tended to bring the administration of justice
into disrepute.
“That is an improper use of the discretion given to the Attorney-General by
Section 121,” he said.

Alpha Media Holdings has also found itself a victim of this pernicious
legislation.
Nqobani Ndlovu, a Standard newspaper reporter based in Bulawayo,  was
arrested on  November  17, 2010 in the presence of his lawyer, Josphat
Tshuma, after handing himself over to the police.  This happened after the
paper’s Bureau Chief, Dumisani Sibanda, had been  questioned on the
whereabouts of Ndlovu and was only released after he made it clear Ndlovu
was out of town,

Ndlovu’s  arrest was in connection with a story he wrote which was published
on  November 24 2010, in which he alleged retired police officers and war
veterans were being recalled to take up vacant posts in the force to direct
operations in the next elections. The development, according to the story,
had resulted in the scrapping of promotional examinations for the police
force which were scheduled to start in early November 2010.
Ndlovu was charged with criminal defamation which can attract a fine or two
years in jail.

When he appeared before a Bulawayo magistrate he was granted US$100 bail but
the state, represented by prosecutor, Trust Mudimu, invoked the notorious
Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which meant he had
to spend seven more days in jail while the state appealed to the High Court
against the granting of bail.

However, hearing the appeal, Justice Mathonsi threw out the state appeal
arguing it was a waste of time as it had no merit.
Ndlovu spent 10 days  in detention at Khami Maximum Security Prison before
being released.

UN chief Ban ki-Moon has demanded that Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad
“stop killing his own people”.

“The old order of one-man ruleand family dynasties is over in the Middle
East,” he said. “The Arab Spring showed people will no longer accept
tyranny.”
Indeed, not just the Arabs. In this connection we were interested to read
Bornwell Chakaodza’s remarks in the January 12 edition of the Financial
Gazette, quoting  a blog by Prof  Sabelo J Ndlovu.

“What is seriously lacking in Zimbabwe,” Prof Ndlovu wrote, “is a positive
nationalist spirit that unites the people and the leaders as well as
informing the behaviour of those claiming leadership across political
divides.

“There is a serious nationalist deficit in Zimbabwe,” Prof Ndlovu said.
“Nationalism is now abused as a regime-security guarantor rather than
unifier of people. Nationalism is now a private ideology of particular
political actors rather than a broad sentiment of patriotism.”

“All what this indicates,” Chakaodza added, “is that there are no real
nationalists in Zimbabwe any more but lip-service ones who only use
nationalism for regime-security purposes.  Little wonder therefore that the
hope and promise of 20 or so years in this country has given way to poverty,
cholera and corruption...”

Readers following the trials and tribulations over the years of Malaysian
politician Anwar Ebrahim may have seen press reports of his recent acquittal
on sodomy charges.

Ebrahim, once deputy prime minister to Mahathir Mohamad under whose regime
he was first arrested, always claimed he had been the victim of a stitch-up.
He has said how difficult it is to get justice from a Malaysian court.

Now at last his innocence has been proved. After his acquittal he said: A
guilty verdict would have left Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has sought to
cast himself as a reformer, “facing the fact that Malaysia would be equalled
to Burma or Zimbabwe”.
So word has spread of Zimbabwe’s repression even to our friends in the East!

Finally, it would seem nowadays that our South African brothers can be
relied upon to do or say something really daft that we can use in this
column. This week it is the turn of the weather service.

Water and Environmental Affairs minister Edna Molewa says a Weather Service
Bill may be changed after it was found to limit freedom of expression.
The Bill criminalises issuing a severe weather warning without the Weather
Service’s written permission, Business Day reports. Offenders face penalties
of up to R10 million or 10 years in jail.

The Democratic Alliance said the Weather Bill created an unfair monopoly. DA
environment spokesman Gareth Morgan said extreme weather events were often
localised and struck quickly.

“The Bill makes criminals of civic minded people and organisations who offer
warnings to fellow citizens…It is simply stupid law.”
Department of Environmental Affairs spokesman Albi Modise said this week it
was “highly likely given these recent concerns about the Bill that
parliament will request the department to review the perceived problem
provisions”.

At least in South Africa there is debate and change in parliament when
considered necessary.  It is not just a storm in a teacup!


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Eric Bloch Column: Misdirected protection of industries

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 14:50

VERY correctly, although unjustifiably belatedly, government has recognised
that there is a critical need to extend protection to Zimbabwe’s
manufacturing sector, and to facilitate and aid its survival, recovery, and
growth.

It is a harsh and tragic reality that, over the last three years, industry
has been afflicted by innumerable negative factors of such magnitude that a
very great number of manufacturing enterprises have ceased operations, an
even greater number have had to resort to extensive downsizing, and almost
all that still exist are confronted by a myriad of negative circumstances
which place their survival in great jeopardy.

The causes of the gargantuan constraints which have confronted industry (and
still do so) are manifold. They include pronounced under-capitalisation and
critical illiquidity,  primarily occasioned by the intense hyperinflation
that prevailed in 2008 and the subsequent demonetisation of Zimbabwe’s
currency.  Another of the principal constraints has been, and continues to
be, the grossly inadequate service delivery by essential parastatals such as
the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, National Railways of Zimbabwe,
Air Zimbabwe, and TelOne.

The cataclysmically poor operations of those entities very severely
jeopardise industrial productivity and viability of manufacturing
operations.  Also impacting adversely on industrial operations is
wideranging, ongoing conflict between employers and labour; the latter
struggling to maintain themselves, their families, and their dependants, on
wages very markedly below the poverty datum line, but employers’
circumstances precluding wage enhancement.  The consequence is very
diminished productivity on the part of the demoralised labour force, further
jeopardising the viability and continuance of manufacturing operations.

Yet a further constraint upon the continuance of manufacturing is the
increasing inability of most enterprises to be export-competitive.  The
industrialists are unable to achieve value production to an extent as yields
the economies of scale which are attained by manufacturers in the Far East,
Europe and South Africa, resulting in much higher unit costs than those
sustained by competitors abroad, and therefore being a barrier to the
penetration of export markets.  This also impacts negatively against
competing in the domestic market, with imports being available at
significantly lower prices (and especially so when those imports are
smuggled into Zimbabwe in order to avoid customs duty and other imposts).

Government has for some time recognised and acknowledged the ongoing and
accelerating decline of the manufacturing sector, with  the concomitant
negative effects upon employment, the economy in general and revenue flows
to the fiscus, but has been extraordinarily tardy in addressing the causes
or in seeking to reverse industrial collapse.  It has done nothing of
substance to enhance money market liquidity, thereby enabling industry to
access funding, nor to create a conducive, secure investment environment
which can facilitate industry recapitalisation.

Admittedly, almost four months ago, it created the Distressed Industries and
Marginalised Areas Fund  to give financial aid to manufacturers, but on the
one hand the provided funding, being a niggardly US$40 million, cannot
achieve anything meaningful; for the capital resources  needed to revitalise
the manufacturing sector exceed US$1 billion and, on the other hand, no
funding has been released by the fund to date.

Government has similarly done nothing to resolve the gross inadequacies of
parastatal service delivery, nor to achieve reconciliation between employers
and labour.  It has also failed to provide any meaningful support and
incentives to enable manufacturers to effect viable exports.  Until
recently, its only industry-related action was to ban the export of certain
unprocessed minerals (primarily chrome), but that was an exercise in the
pointless for, although it was government’s wish to benefit the economy by
ensuring local value-addition to primary products, the reality was that
existing industry did not have the capacity to effect such value-addition
beneficiation to any material extent in relation to the production volumes
of the primary products.  That has resulted in a negative effect of a marked
decline in the production of those products, and a concomitant lessening of
exports.

However, despite its extreme tardiness in addressing the issues afflicting
industrial survival, suddenly government decided to act in one respect, ie
to protect industries from competition in the domestic market. Commendably,
it imposed substantially increased customs duty on clothing and footwear,
having a partial effect in eroding the price advantages attained by foreign
manufacturers whose governments accord them massive export subsidies, far in
excess of those prescribed in terms of the international general agreement
on tariffs and trade.  It has also banned the importation of second hand
underwear.

Having witnessed some positive results from its action on duties on clothing
and footwear imports, (although only of some limited benefit to
manufacturers because of the magnitude of other operational constraints),
government decided — without due and proper consideration — to impose
increased duties on numerous other products, believing that doing so would
beneficiate many Zimbabwean producers.  It enforced, with effect from
January 1, a surtax of 25% on 108 different products, ranging from poultry
and fish, to dairy products, fruit and vegetables, meat products, a vast
range of groceries, aerated cool drinks and alcohol, certain toiletries and
cosmetics, refrigerators, stoves, certain motor vehicles, and many other
products.

In principle, the imposition of the surtax has merit and will motivate
greater consumer recourse to various locally-produced products, but it is
blatantly clear that no consideration was given as to which of those
products are currently available from domestic suppliers in sufficient
volumes.  Many of the specified products are presently  being locally
produced in low volumes, including diverse fruit, vegetables, and essential
groceries.

As a result, insofar as those products are concerned, Zimbabwe will need to
continue importing for the foreseeable future, and that importation will
attract the 25% surtax.  This will further impair the fiscal liquidity of
many wholesalers and retailers, thereby constraining the extent of their
operations.  Furthermore, the surtax will have a marked impact upon
inflation, with consequential further decline in consumer spending power,
and intensification of consumer hardships.

None can credibly argue that the surtax should not be applied on such
products as are sufficiently produced in Zimbabwe, provided that those
products would be price- competitive or comparable with like imported
products, but the surtax should not apply to products in short supply from
domestic sources, or where the consequence will be surging inflation.  I

nstead of acting unilaterally, thoughtlessly and destructively, government
needs to have meaningful dialogue with local producers and their
representative bodies, in order to determine measures that would be
economically constructive, and to avoid those as would be prejudicial.
Acting in the manner that it has done, both in seeking to enhance local
value-addition to primary products, and maximisation of market demand for
locally-produced products`1 is grievously misdirected and counterproductive.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Whither Zim after constitutional impasse?

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 14:47

Paidamoyo Muzulu

WHAT is likely to happen should the protagonists in the present coalition
government fail to agree on crafting the constitutional draft until the
expiry of the constitutionally mandated five-year government term in 2013?
Under normal circumstances Zimbabwe should go to the polls in June 2013, but
confusion has mired the constitution-making process with bickering taking
centre stage and uncertainty hovering over the whole exercise.

Can elections be held with or without a new constitution as one of the
tripartite partners in the Global Political Agreement (GPA), Zanu PF, has
been declaring, or is Zimbabwe headed for another political settlement to
solve a potential constitutional crisis?

Constitutional law expert and National Constitutional Assembly chairman
Lovemore Madhuku said Constitutional Amendment 19, which was wrought by the
GPA, would be of no consequence since it was time-bound and hence elections
should be held in the middle of next year.

“The elections in Zimbabwe are constitutionally due in June 2013 and if
there is no new constitution in place (by then) they would be held under the
present legal framework,” Madhuku argued. “Clauses in Schedule 8 (of
Constitutional Amendment 19) will automatically fall away; they are
time-bound.”

He added:“The term of the government is limited to a five-year term as
elected in 2008. The sharing of power can only be during the duration of
Mugabe’s term of office. A term of office for government is prescribed by
the constitution that it starts counting from the day the president is sworn
into office for the next five years.”

But some analysts argued that while Mugabe was sworn in in June 2008 after a
one-man disputed presidential election run-off, the inclusive government was
a product of negotiations and hence its term should also be negotiated. The
current government was sworn in on February 13 2009 following the inking of
the GPA on September 15 2008 between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.

University of Zimbabwe constitutional law lecturer Greg Linnington said
Amendment 19 was only valid during the lifetime of the GPA.

Lennington said: “The 19th amendment is only valid during the subsistence of
the GPA. As long as the coalition government is in place, then (President
Robert) Mugabe should consult (Prime Minister Morgan) Tsvangirai on all
important matters like senior government appointments and the dissolution of
parliament.”

Kent University law lecturer and constitutional expert Alex Magaisa said
Mugabe would only have unfettered powers to call for elections if the
coalition government collapsed.

“If the coalition government collapses we revert to the old constitution.
Under that constitution, Mugabe would have greater powers to control when an
election can be held as he would no longer be bound by the 19th amendment
and Schedule 8which requires him to consult the primeminister,” said
Magaisa.

However, Magaisa was sceptical that Mugabe was ready to commit political
suicide by unilaterally calling for elections outside the GPA framework as
it would be considered a slap in the face of Sadc. Sadc is the guarantor of
the GPA.

“Choosing to pull out of the GPA would be a slap in the face of Sadc and
(the) African Union and I don’t think Mugabe politically would like to be
seen to break his relations with his African colleagues,” Magaisa said.

It would seem this reality has dawned on Zanu PF, hence Mugabe’s
intransigence on reforms over the past three years. Mugabe has remained
indifferent to the slow pace of reforms and his party supporters,
particularly the war veterans’ violent disposition towards Copac officials.

Zanu PF politburo member and strategist Jonathan Moyo (pictured  above,
left) and war veterans have been on the war path in an attempt to hinder
Copac from producing a new constitution.

Any conduct of elections during the existence of the coalition government is
subject to Constitutional Amendment 19, which specifically states that only
Mugabe and Tsvangirai can officially occupy the offices of president and
primeminister respectively until the constitution is amended otherwise.
The coalition government only has one other option of letting the present
administration run its full course, thereby allowing Amendment 19 to
automatically fall away since these are sunset clauses.

Parliament constitutionalised the position in Amendment 19 when it rubber
stamped the draft signed and presented by the three political parties to the
GPA in 2008.

Schedule 8, Section 20.1.6 of Amendment 19 sets out the composition of the
executive. It reads: “(1) There shall be a President, which Office shall
continue to be occupied by President Robert Gabriel Mugabe. (2) There shall
be two (2) Vice Presidents, who will be nominated by the President and/or
Zanu-PF. (3) There shall be a Prime Minister, which Office shall be occupied
by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.”

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki facilitated the GPA signed by
Zanu PF and the two MDC formations that sought to preserve the status quo
and accommodate Tsvangirai in a coalition government. The GPA plucked
Zimbabwe from the abyss it had been plunging itself into since the turn of
the century.

The ongoing constitution-making process has been hindered by issues relating
to land reforms, homosexuality and dual citizenship. The difference between
the coalition partners seems unbridgeable and as a result Zanu PF-aligned
war veterans have begun using force to put across their party’s entrenched
position.

The fear of falling foul to Sadc requirements and support has kept the
political foes within the dysfunctional coalition government together. To
that end, the MDC formations cannot countenance new elections without full
implementation of GPA-agreed reforms while Zanu PF does not want to break
ranks with Sadc.

The GPA calls for constitutional review, media reforms, security sector
reforms and electoral reforms, among a battery of reforms. However, it looks
certain that these outstanding reforms will not be implemented under the
current coalition government’s term and seventh parliament’s life.

Zanu PF negotiator and Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa has on several
occasions pronounced that his party would not concede to any security sector
reforms and neither would it open the airwaves without corresponding
disbanding of foreign-hosted stations beaming into Zimbabwe.

Zimbabweans wait with bated breath to see how the regional bloc will react
should Mugabe call for elections without fully implementing the GPA.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

In defence of the constitution drafters

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 14:37

By Tawanda Hove

THE constitutional reform process has lately been plagued by controversy
including unwarranted and unfair attacks by Zanu PF politicians on the team
of experts charged with drafting the constitution.
The principal source of the controversy is the unethical and irregular
disclosure of confidential information pertaining to the drafting of the
constitution.
Although the exact source of the confidential data leak is not known, it is
hardly a coincidence that the principal origin of the vicious public
criticism of the drafters is Zanu PF and that the location of its
publication is the state media, which is controlled by Zanu PF.

Although Zanu PF refuses to take responsibility for the leak, the fact
remains that the conduct of its members in the public media cannot go
unchallenged. Public attacks of the kind that we have read in the public
media reflect cowardly behaviour which undermines the drafting team. It is
cowardly because everyone, including those leading the attacks, knows that
drafters do not have the same facility to respond publicly to the harsh
words and accusations being made against them by Zanu PF politicians.

It is for this reason that drafters must be accorded the same principles of
protection against public attacks as those given to judges who, by the
nature of their profession, are usually not in a position to respond
publicly. It is, therefore, unfair, unethical and indeed cowardly for
politicians to subject drafters to public attacks. It is by no means a fair
contest.

The politicians leading these public attacks know very well that there are
channels through which they can respond to the drafts that the drafters have
produced and there is absolutely no need to play to the public gallery in
the manner that we have witnessed lately.

The reasons they have decided to play dirty so early in the drafting process
are unclear although it is fair to say that the tactic is probably designed
to intimidate and influence the drafters. Zanu PF is trying hard to send the
following message to the drafters: “We are watching you and you must play
ball.”
This pattern of behaviour –— which is latent psychological violence — is
consistent with the violent tactics designed to intimidate and instil fear.

The main theme of the public attacks is that in drafting the constitution,
the drafters are allegedly disregarding the “will of the people”. This is
based on the premise that data that was gathered from the outreach process
is so clear-cut that there is a complete picture of what constitutes the
“will of the people”. As all members of Copac and its technical committee of
experts are aware, this is not accurate.

That the “will of the people” is hazy and incoherent contrary to what some
would have the public believe is demonstrated by the following: First, Copac
and its technical committee of experts have had to conduct a process of
“gap-filling”, which essentially means filling in the gaps that were
apparent in the data collected from the people.

For example, when people said they wanted devolution of power, they were
probably responding to the lived experience under a state that is highly
centralised and therefore inefficient across all regions. Yet in proposing
devolution, not much thought would have been given to the matter of exactly
how this system of government will operate at law and in practice.

The technical and operational design of a devolved system of government in
these circumstances would require gap-filling by experts. The experts would
then put in the nuts and bolts to the system so that it works. This is the
job of Copac and its technical committee of experts. They then instruct
drafters to reduce the proposals into writing.

But even then, drafters may observe gaps that would need filling to ensure
that the draft makes sense. In doing so, both the Copac committee of experts
and the drafters have looked to constitutions of other countries that have
similar systems of devolution for guidance. There is nothing wrong about
this as looking at precedents is standard drafting practice.

Second, even after filling in the gaps, the Copac select committee and its
technical committee of experts found that there were issues that were so
unclear that they could not agree what exactly were the agreed views of the
people. These unresolved issues have been referred in Copac nomenclature as
“parked issues”. The idea is that unless there is agreement, they would be
referred to the political party principals for resolution.

Some may argue, quite rightly too, that these matters ought to actually be
taken back to the people but that is a separate matter. The fact is that the
existence of these parked issues reflects that the will of the people is far
from certain on all issues contrary to what has been presented by the Zanu
PF politicians. If it were so clear, there would be no need for this
category of “parked issues” which they know exist.
What the drafters have done in the interests of trying to assist in the
resolution of the “parked issues” is to provide clauses around which the
issues can be debated. The rationale for doing this is simple: sometimes it
is easier to resolve a problem when you have an actual clause to work from
rather than working from a blank page. Perspectives may change based on the
form of the clause.
In addition, these clauses are not set in stone. They are merely suggestions
and not prescriptions to the nation. Copac, including the politicians
leading the public attacks, know only too well that they have the choice to
adopt or reject the suggested wording. Instead, the drafters are being
pilloried for their generosity.
Third, as everyone in Copac knows, not all of the data that was collected
during the outreach process was constitutional material. Copac itself,
including Zanu PF politicians leading the public attacks, went through a
painstaking process of separating the constitutional issues from those that
do not necessarily warrant a place in the constitution.
It is not that the data was considered irrelevant. It was simply that it did
not fit into the constitution and could be dealt with under legislation.
This was a process of “constitutional distillation” so to speak, to identify
the “concentrate” of the “will of the people”. But in doing so, several
aspects of what the people actually said fell into the residue and was
relegated to legislation.
Likewise, even with the distilled data from Copac, the drafters are bound to
come across aspects that would not necessarily fit into the constitution and
would best be dealt with under legislation.

Thus at the drafting stage there is also an inevitable additional stage of
“constitutional distillation”. It is expected of course that the drafters
would explain the use or non-use of particular data in the instructions.

In any event, Copac and the people of Zimbabwe have the ultimate power to
judge whether the drafters properly captured their instructions at the
referendum. Public criticism of the drafters at this early stage is,
therefore, premature.

Fourth, the people of Zimbabwe ought to be informed that they are not making
the new constitution in a legal vacuum. The “will of the people” is of
serious significance but it also takes into account Zimbabwe’s obligations
as a member of the international family of nations.

Over the years since Independence, Zimbabwe has signed up to various
international human rights instruments which set generally accepted
standards for governance and rights protection. These include the United
Nations Charter of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and People’s
Rights, African Charter on Elections, Democracy and Governance, Convention
on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women,
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant
on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, etc.

Some of these instruments have been adopted into our law, therefore forming
an integral part of our legal system. In formulating the new constitution,
such standards have to be taken into account and upheld. You cannot, for
example, include in the constitution the power to permit torture when
Zimbabwe has signed up to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or punishment which makes the prohibition
against torture a non-derogable right.

You cannot say it is part of our culture to give away a girl child as
compensation for murder when this is strictly prohibited under international
human rights instruments to which we have signed as a people. In drafting
the new constitution, the drafters have to apply their expertise to take
cognisance of these instruments. They would be neglecting their duty if they
did not do so.

Therefore, when the drafters refer to these human rights instruments, they
are not imposing foreign rules upon Zimbabweans — they are simply using
their expertise to confirm what Zimbabweans have said through these years
when they signed up to those rules. Viewed in this way, the “will of the
people” is not simply what was stated during the limited period of the
outreach process but the narrative that Zimbabweans have spoken over the
years through adopting international human rights instruments. To castigate
drafters for making reference to such instruments reflects poorly on the
accusers’ understanding of the law and the process of constitution-making.

Finally, allegations that the drafters have used constitutions from other
countries are spurious and demonstrate a lack of understanding of the
drafting practice among the critics. As any draftsperson would know, the use
of precedents in drafting documents is not a novel practice.

A draftsperson’s task is to find words that best capture and express the
intentions of his instructor. It’s not always that you commence from a blank
canvass. If it has been done before and there is a precedent to look up to,
you take it into account and re-model it if necessary to best capture the
will of the instructor. This is perfectly normal drafting practice.

Therefore, when the drafters consider clauses in the constitutions of
countries such as Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and similarly placed African
countries, they are by no means imposing other constitutions on Zimbabwe.
They are simply using precedents in their efforts to find a formulation that
best expresses the instructions from the people of Zimbabwe. They are not
copying content but drawing lessons from the style and form of drafting.
They could have done the same without telling us which constitutions they
looked to for assistance. That they have done so is a credit to their
character as honest drafters. They should be commended not derided for their
honesty and transparency.

Indeed, it must be added that all parties in Copac have throughout the
process given examples from other constitutions with some even “looking
 east” to the Chinese constitution. References have also been made to the
various locally produced drafts including the NCA Draft, the Law Society of
Zimbabwe Draft, the Kariba Draft and even the Chidyausiku Draft that was
rejected in the 2000 referendum. All parties, including Zanu PF, have
referred to these local and external constitutions to assist in the drafting
process.

Overall, the relationship between Copac and the drafters is not unlike that
between a home builder and an architect. The home builder gives raw
information of the kind of house he wants to the architect and the architect
employs his expertise to produce the architectural design. The home builder
selects an architect that he trusts and leaves him to do the job. At the end
of the day the home builder has a choice to accept or reject the design.

Copac and the people of Zimbabwe are the home builders and the drafters are
the architects. Copac and the people of Zimbabwe will have their day when
they decide whether or not to adopt the design. For now, the drafters must
be allowed to get on with their job free from harassment and the vitriol
that we have witnessed in recent weeks. It is cowardly behaviour to publicly
attack and humiliate those whom you know cannot defend themselves.


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Independent Comment: Mujuru inquest exposes police

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:10

THE long-awaited inquest into the suspicious fiery death of one of the
country’s most decorated soldiers and liberation war hero General Solomon
Mujuru finally began at the Harare Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Mujuru was burnt to ashes under unclear circumstances at his Alamein Farm in
Beatrice on August 15 2011 and the inquest will try to determine the origins
of the fire and cause of his death.

There is keen interest in the Mujuru inquest given the role he played in the
war of liberation, the influence he was believed to have had in Zanu PF as
one of the faction leaders and kingmakers and the highly mysterious
circumstances under which he died.

Although the inquest is still in its infancy it has so far exposed some
shocking shortcomings in the calibre of personnel in the Zimbabwe Republic
Police and how the force conducts its work.

One thing that has become apparent so far is that security at Mujuru’s farm
was lax on the fateful night as some officers charged with protecting the
property confessed in court that they were fast asleep when the fire broke
out.

One of the three police officers guarding the farmhouse on the night Mujuru
died, Constable Obert Mark, admitted that security was inadequate with no
form of communication between those that manned the property’s gates and
those in the guardroom. He revealed that the southern gate of the farm was
unmanned and people could go in and out of the farm unnoticed.

After failing to identify the rooms which were affected by fire on sketches
of the farmhouse produced in court, Mark told the court that he and other
officers did not know the room Mujuru slept in despite guarding the property
for six weeks. He said they were supposed to have been briefed where the
General’s bedroom was located but that never took place. This came as a
shock to Mujuru’s widow, Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who has some security
training.

From the police officers’ testimony, it is clear that the deceased General
was not provided with adequate security by the people who were meant to
guarantee it. If the shortcomings demonstrated by the police officers are a
demonstration of the calibre of the police’s human resources base, we are
tempted to say our police have been reduced to a ragtag force.

We question the adequacy of the police’s training curriculum, given that
basic principles of security were not observed by officers protecting a
VVIP. Given that each officer worked 12-hour shifts, we wonder if our VIPs,
such as cabinet ministers and judges who are given 24-hour protection by the
Police Protection Unit, can rest in the knowledge that their security is
guaranteed.

Even the manner in which the entire investigation was conducted leaves us
with a lot of questions about our police force’s professionalism.
We were shocked to hear VP Mujuru saying she was not even briefed about any
stage of the investigations into her husband’s death. Although she was
entitled to see the report and statements from witnesses at least 14 days
before the hearing started, she and her family lawyers were denied that
right, resulting in the inquest beginning while the family was unprepared.

Mujuru is a vice president of the republic and yet she was subjected to
shambolic treatment by police investigators and the Attorney-General’s
office. If a full vice-president of the country can be subjected to such
bizarre treatment by the police, we shudder to think how ordinary citizens’
cases are handled by the same force.

Can ordinary Zimbabweans have faith that they would be served professionally
by law enforcement agencies when the country’s Second Citizen is treated as
a suspect when in actual fact she is the complainant? Can ordinary citizens
have complete faith in the police to provide meaningful updates of cases
being investigated?

We wonder why the vice-president was not regularly updated of developments
regarding investigations into her husband’s death. In whose interest was it
to impose a complete blackout on the case, including denying a mourning
widow the right to know progress being made in determining the cause of her
tragic loss?


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Editor’s Memo: GNU implementation remains key

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:08

Constantine Chimakure

SOME analysts have over the past two months postulated that parties in the
wobbly inclusive government will this year opt to renegotiate the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) to strengthen the coalition, rather than go for
early polls with or without a new constitution and necessary reforms.
The analysts’ sagacious argument is that there is no alternative to the GPA
in ending Zimbabwe’s decade-long political crisis that has immensely
affected social development. Other analysts argue that President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu PF intended to collapse the unity government and force early
polls where the party would use brute force and state machinery at its
disposal to rig the election in its favour.

The reasoning is that if the democratic space in the country is broadened
through a new constitution and real political and legal reforms occur,
Mugabe and Zanu PF would not stand a chance of winning.

But do coalition partners need to renegotiate the GPA? Do any of the
coalition parties have the powers to collapse the inclusive government and
get away with it?

It is common cause that the GPA signed by Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara on September 15 2008 was and is
still not a perfect document, but it captures the necessary reforms for free
and fair polls to take place. It clearly sets out the ground rules of good
governance and democracy in a modern state.

We don’t need a revision of the GPA. What we need is the implementation of
agreed positions captured in the pact. We have to deal with the
intransigence of the coalition parties in implementing the agreed reforms.
The main outstanding issue of the GPA is its implementation and that should
be the focus of any political negotiations in the country this year.

On August 5 2010 — almost a year after the GPA was inked — Mutambara on
behalf of Mugabe and Tsvangirai wrote to Zuma saying as principals they had
agreed on 24 out of 27 outstanding issues of the coalition agreement. He
also claimed that they had agreed on the implementation matrix on the agreed
issues. Alas, to date the implementation process has remained a dead letter.

We have said it, and we will repeat it: Mugabe and Zanu PF’s intransigence
in consummating what has been agreed upon remains the major challenge.
Mugabe has refused to appoint provincial governors from the MDC formations.
Despite agreeing to media reforms, Mugabe and Zanu PF have ensured that the
national broadcaster, ZBC, maintains its archaic monopoly.

The land audit, which would have brought sanity and accountability to the
land issue, remains a pipedream. The efforts of the National Organ on
Healing and Reconciliation have been rendered useless as incidents of
violence across the country continue unabated. Mugabe and Zanu PF are
adamant that there will be no security sector reforms. Now they are
sabotaging the constitution-making process, claiming people’s views are not
being captured by the drafters.

Another contentious issue has been the tenure of the inclusive government.
There is no sunset clause in the GPA and claims by Zanu PF that it expired
after two years are not only absurd, but nonsensical. Even those who claim
that come what may, elections are constitutionally due in 2013 are missing
the point. Our current government is not a creature of an election, but
negotiations. Therefore, its time in office would be a result of
negotiations.

Some political analysts have argued that Mugabe’s term started in June 2008,
after that sham one-man presidential election run-off; hence the tenure of
the current government ends in June 2013 because the president appoints the
executive. The argument is hollow in that Mugabe’s election was disputed
leading to talks that culminated in the inclusive government. Mugabe and
Tsvangirai, as captured in Constitutional Amendment No19, will remain
president and prime minister of the country as long as the inclusive
government subsists.

No party in the coalition government can collapse the government on its own
by simply walking out of it. The GPA and the inclusive government are
guaranteed by Sadc and the African Union, hence any party seeking a divorce
would have to convince the guarantors and other coalition parties that the
marriage has irretrievably broken down, leaving no chance of reconciliation.

Besides the Zanu PF rhetoric, there are no elections this year and the
inclusive government will not collapse, but wobble on.

cmchimakure@zimind.co.zw


Click here or ALT-T to return to TOP

Candid Comment: Government’s gravy train riders costly

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Thursday, 19 January 2012 16:07

Itai Masuku

A VERY curious statement emerged from the presidential spokesperson early in
the year that most ministers were away in January and this was normal.
Said George Charamba: “When the president goes on leave, everyone takes
advantage of his absence to go for a break, including the vice-presidents.”
Even the prime minister took advantage of the situation and in colloquial
parlance went awol.
In its own context this absenteeism by government officials makes sense as
apparently, in the absence of the president, cabinet cannot sit –– meaning
executive authority of the country has been compromised and key decisions
cannot be made.

So government business presumably grinds to a halt? Not really. According to
Charamba, a core pool of ministers who run key ministries remain behind to
run their ministries and also act on behalf of other ministers.

Aha! Without wanting to get to the details of who these core ministers are,
suffice it to say, these are the ones who we really need in this country.
The rest are excess baggage, dead weight, gravy train riders or whatever you
choose to call them.  Isn’t it amazing how we forget key issues that have
dogged us for a long time and get side-tracked by so-called new issues?

Hasn’t the debate since Independence always been on the bloated governments
we have always had and each successive government voraciously gobbling
resources that could otherwise benefit the majority of the populace?

The last 2012 budget presented by Finance minister Tendai Biti bears
testimony to this; recurrent expenditure accounted for more than 60% of the
national purse. What has happened to the debate on the bloated government?
Why has the opposition not kept the issue alive once they got into power?

One remembers back in the 1980s when there was alarm and despondency when
the Zanu PF government had 26 cabinet ministers. In the GNU, we’ve exceeded
the number of ministries that Zanu PF used to have. There are now at least
32 ministries, each having its minister, deputy minister, and secretariat
and attendant lower-echelon civil servants.

Many of those can easily be merged into one. For instance, we have about six
or seven “economic” ministries but this hasn’t made our economy tick; we
have basically four education ministries, explaining why no one knows how
many teachers there are in the country; three or four ministries dedicated
to infrastructure development of sorts yet our poor infrastructure is now
legendary; two ministries of agriculture, yet forecasts are that we’ll have
a grain shortfall this year, and the list goes on.

And that is not all. As one of our readers pointed out, when the president
is away and everyone else is awol, the acting president doesn’t seem to have
much power either. Zimbabwe’s constitution limits the power of an acting
president as laid down in Section 31 (2). Well to say limits is an
understatement because there is a whole list of things that the acting
president cannot do including “the administration of any act of parliament
or of any ministry or department, or to cancel any such assignment of
functions.”

The acting president cannot declare war or carry out any such drastic
measures, fine. But if he cannot carry out basic administration as outlined
in the preceding clause, well, as our readers pointed out, what does he or
she do

Back to the Top
Back to Index