http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
25
January 2012
A strike by civil servants will continue throughout this
week, after fresh
pay talks in Harare collapsed on Wednesday.
The
Apex Council, the flagship union that represents government workers,
interrupted the strike on Tuesday as a gesture to negotiate in good faith.
That decision though, turned out to be unpopular with the workers who
ignored the call. Most of them stayed away from work.
The government
workers union went into the negotiations demanding a minimum
monthly salary
of US$538, up from the current US$250. But the talks broke
down when
government negotiators insisted on offering a meager increase of
US$7 a
month, per person instead of US$288 they were expecting.
Takavafira Zhou,
President of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ) told SW Radio
Africa on Wednesday that they couldn’t accept ‘such an
insult’.
“It
was so pathetic, government representatives said they only had a mandate
to
offer civil servants US$240 million, which would amount to US$7 a month
per
person,” Zhou said.
He added: “In our view, this falls far short of our
minimum expectations
because we were hoping government would heed our calls
to improve the lives
of civil servants.”
Zhou said civil servants
vowed to ‘up the ante’ against the government and
confirmed there was room
to extend the strike beyond Friday.
Government negotiators are to go back
to their principals for consultations
and another round of talks with the
Apex Council has been scheduled for next
week Tuesday. Zhou pointed out that
for now, the civil servants will go back
to the trenches to fight for what
they deserve.
“From the look of things and from assessments on the
ground, there is room
for extension of the industrial action from Friday.
Tomorrow (Thursday), the
struggle continuous unabated, there would be no
defeat, no surrender,” Zhou
said.
He continued: “We are sharpening
our instruments of combat and from tomorrow
(Thursday) onwards we are
engaging a high gear and the strike will spread.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Wednesday, 25 January
2012 14:19
HARARE - Opposition MDC-99 president Job Sikhala yesterday
demanded the
resignation of Public Service Minister Lucia Matibenga as
thousands of
workers embarked on a Zimbabwe-wide public sector
strike.
Industrial action by over 200 000 workers in Zimbabwe has
affected most
schools, slowed down government business and forced a
postponement of
thousands of government appointments.
Matibenga, who
is hardly two months in office as minister, has allegedly
refused to give
the public service leaders an audience, and union leaders in
the Apex
Council were forced to call a strike after she allegedly refused to
entertain talks over demands to increase the amount of money public sector
workers earn.
Yesterday, the Apex Council decided to temporarily
shelve the strike to
allow for more dialogue.
The five-day strike,
that started in earnest on Monday, has piled pressure
on the feisty
Matibenga, with Sikhala yesterday calling on her to resign as
minister of
Public Service after displaying what the former student leader
branded
“astonishing arrogance” that he said has left many questioning if
she can
carry on in the light of her refusal even to entertain questions on
the
crippling strike action even from the press.
Addressing a press
conference at the Media Centre in Harare yesterday,
Sikhala said Matibenga
was obviously not in a position to run the Public
Service
ministry.
“If she cannot openly solve the crisis or the challenges that
she is given
as a minister she must publicly admit and resign as a minister
so as not to
waste people’s time by even refusing to address the press when
the people
are entitled to know what the minister is doing to solve the
crisis,”
Sikhala told the news conference.
Sikhala’s comments came
after union leaders were snubbed by Matibenga in a
meeting she had scheduled
at her office last week.
She reportedly refused to meet the union
leaders, including her arch rival
in the ZCTU factional wars Raymond
Majongwe — one of the leaders
spearheading the strike.
Matibenga is
in the George Nkiwane-led faction of the ZCTU while Majongwe is
in the rival
Lovemore Matombo-led faction that is tussling for control of
the country’s
biggest trade union.
“Basically, ZCTU factionalism has now been taken
into government business,”
Sikhala told reporters.
“Matibenga doesn’t
want to listen to concerns of civil servants because of
Majongwe’s position
in the ZCTU, he is the PTUZ secretary-general and is
also sitting in the
Apex Council.
“The thing is, she thinks the civil servants strike is
meant to discredit
her standing as a Public Service minister. So that is why
she is ignoring
them and throwing insults from the 6th floor of her offices.
It’s because of
that factional hatred.”
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC has issued a press statement alleging
that Zanu PF has
taken the strike action “as a political tool to further
their unfounded
claims,” insinuating that union leaders were agitating for
strike action in
the service of Zanu PF.
“We have to demystify that,” Sikhala
said.
“Matibenga is throwing insults that Majongwe is now being used by
Zanu PF
which is in actual fact false for some of us who know, some of us
who have
been fighting tyranny and dictatorship for the past decade, we know
that
Majongwe is a soldier of change. Majongwe has been in the trenches
fighting
for civil servants.”
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
25 January 2012
The idea that an accelerant might have
been used in the fire that killed the
retired Army General Solomon Mujuru
gained more ground on Wednesday, as more
members of the fire brigade
testified.
Their suspicions about the fire follow Tuesday’s revelations
that the late
General’s remains were discovered in a blue flame which
allegedly took some
time to extinguish. Blue flames are mostly associated
with highly flammable
substances.
Mujuru died last year in August in
a fire that destroyed his farmhouse in
Beatrice, just outside Harare. The
Mujuru family and ZANU PF youth called
for investigations after suspicions
were raised. It is widely speculated
that a power struggle within the party
led to the General’s sudden death.
SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon
Muchemwa said the fire fighters
testified that the flames that engulfed
Mujuru’s bedroom were too intense to
have been “just a normal fire”. One
witness said no ordinary fire could have
caused the roof of the house to
drop as it did.
The inquest started last week Monday and was expected to
last only a week.
But it has taken much longer to get though testimony from
the workers at the
farm, especially the maid and security staff, who
provided much of the
crucial information so far.
A disturbing
portrait of the late general and his relationship with his wife
has emerged.
And it appears relations with his security staff were also
strained.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
Staff Reporter 3 hours 1 minute
ago
HARARE - A detailed investigation into the farm fire which killed
the late
army chief General Solomon Mujuru may have started at two
locations: the
lounge or the bedroom, the Fire Brigade told an inquest into
his death on
Wednesday.
A fire with two sources is usually the result
of arson or an electrical
short circuit, said Clever Mafoti, the Station
Officer at the Fire Brigade
HQ in Harare.
But Mafoti said the Fire
Brigade could not definitively prove that theory
because the crime scene at
Ruzambo Farm in Beatrice had been contaminated by
too many people – other
than investigators – going through the 14-room
farmhouse.
The national
hero’s charred remains were found in the living room after the
August 16,
2011, blaze.
Mafoti was the 26th witness to give evidence since the
inquest opened at the
Harare Magistrates’ Court on Monday last
week.
With General Mujuru’s widow – Vice President Joice Mujuru – looking
on,
Mafoti told how the Fire Brigade was ill-prepared for
disasters.
He said: "The only vehicle we had was leaking, so if we had
driven from
Harare with water it would have all leaked by the time we
arrived in
Beatrice.
“We last had a normal fleet in the year
2000.”
Mafoti said they only left the fire station, without water, after
being
informed that there was a water source in the form of a dam and some
bowsers
on Mujuru’s farm.
After putting out the fire, he said, the
Fire Brigade’s investigators
focused on the bedroom and the lounge which
appeared to have been the
sources of the fire.
Mafoti said they can
tell the source of a fire using certain indicators like
the peeling of
plaster and cracks in the walls. He said these signs usually
suggested that
the fire had been in that area for a long time.
"When there are two
sources of fire, it could mean an arsonist was at work
or that there had
been an electric short circuit caused by an overloaded
socket," he
said.
"In our case, it was particularly difficult to conclude as to the
source
since both rooms had the same indications and also there were too
many
people. I’m afraid we lost key leads.”
The session which was
scheduled for 10AM was deferred to 2.15PM after the
Mujuru family lawyer,
Thakor Kewada, requested time to attend to some
personal issues.
"I
apologise to everyone for the delays, it was entirely my fault," Kewada
said
when the court was adjourning for Thursday morning.
Mafoti will return to
the stand on Thursday when two other witnesses – a
police ballistics expert
and a Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)
fire investigator – are
expected to testify.
Court officials say they expect Vice President Joice
Mujuru to take the
stand this week, possibly on Friday.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Police constables in charge of the security of
the late General Solomon
Mujuru could be fired, fined or imprisoned for
negligence.
25.01.1210:37am
by Fungai Kwaramba
Harare
The ongoing inquest into the death of the first
commander of the Zimbabwe
National Army has highlighted serious incompetence
in the force, as well as
tough working conditions.
Mujuru’s lawyers
and relatives have slammed the police for negligence. His
widow vice
President Joice Mujuru says government will look into the matter
after a
police officer admitted having slept on guard.
The inquest has heard that
the constables were fast asleep when the fire
that incinerated the general
broke out. Their police issue radios had not
been working for some time –
despite having been reported to their
superiors. They had no cash for
airtime for their mobile phones and
therefore no means of communication
whatsoever. They did not even know where
the general’s bedroom
was.
This breakdown in basic standards within the force was compounded by
the
fact that the municipal fire tender came 60km from Harare with no water
in
the bowser.
The officers could be charged under any or all of
these clauses in the Act:
“abandoning or delivering up any station, post,
camp on guard which it is
his duty to defend; leaving his guard post, beat,
patrol or other place of
duty without permission or reasonable excuse; or
sleeping, loitering or
committing any irregularity when on
duty.”
Contradictory evidence given by those appearing before the inquest
has
fuelled speculation that Mujuru, who was said to lead a faction within
Zanu
(PF) battling to take control of the party and come to some
accommodation
with the MDC, may have been a victim of foul play. But
forensic experts have
ruled out the use of inflammables. Some witnesses said
they heard gun shots,
while others said it was the sound of asbestos sheets
exploding.
The inquest heard that Mujuru had ordered staff at his farm to
stop feeding
the police officers guarding him, and had plans to ask that
they be
withdrawn just days before he died. He was reportedly furious after
the
officers, said to have been drunk, severely assaulted one of his workers
who
had to seek hospital treatment. Rosemary Short, a maid at the farm
Mujuru
occupied in Beatrice, told the Harare Magistrates’ Court that the
powerful
Zanu (PF) power broker had confided in her that the police officers
were
avoiding him since the brutal assault on an unnamed
employee.
“He said he had no security and was as good as being on his
own,” Short told
the court and under the Police Act “being drunk on or off
duty,” is a
punishable crime.
Efforts to get a comment from the
police were fruitless.
Giving testimony last week under oath Constable
Obert Mark admitted under
cross examination by Mujuru’s lawyers that he was
sleeping and also that he
did not know the house plan.
The other cops
who also were on duty during the fire are constables
Augastinos Chinyoka,
and Lazarus Handikatari.
(AFP) – 3 hours
ago
HARARE — Zimbabwe will tap into special reserves at the International
Monetary Fund to upgrade its sanitation system, amid a typhoid outbreak in
the capital Harare, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said
Wednesday.
Zimbabwe will spend $40 million (31 million euros) to improve
water and
sanitation facilities as well as the electricity supply across the
country,
said Biti.
"As we are sitting here, there is a typhoid
attack in Harare. It is
important that we rebuild Harare's water and
sanitation capacity," Biti told
journalists.
More than 600 cases of
the disease, which is linked to poor sanitation, have
been recorded in
Harare, health officials said this week.
Biti said a further $30 million
would be used to boost manufacturing, $20
million for agriculture and $20
million for the central bank to grant loans.
The country will leave about
$100 million in reserves with the IMF, he
added.
"Our sovereign debt
is $9.1 billion. It is not wise to further contract any
sovereign debt," he
said, without naming the creditors.
In 2009, Zimbabwe was granted $500
million in "special drawing rights" at
the IMF, which maintains the
so-called SDR as a reserve currency that it
lends to needy countries for
liquidity needs.
The support for Zimbabwe was a small part of the IMF's
global support of
about $250 billion provided to all of its 186 members.
Some of Zimbabwe's
allocation was used to settle its arrears with the global
lender.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
25 January 2012
1. Introduction
1.1.
The critical importance of the economy and macro-economic stability in
our
country predicates that there should be regular monitoring and oversight
of
all macro-economic indicators and vitals to allow Government, Business,
Labour and all other stakeholders to plan.
1.2. Given this imperator,
Treasury will, therefore, be providing periodic
communications on major
developments within the economy.
1.3. Pursuant to this, I am pleased to
advise that each month, I will be
providing a Monthly Budget Dashboard that
will outline monthly budgetary
developments, tracking in particular Budget
performance in the key areas of
public sector investment and social service
delivery.
1.4. In addition, the Monthly Budget Dashboard will also capture
and outline
important developmental challenges and issues affecting our
economy.
1.5. Over and above this, Treasury will also produce quarterly
economic
developments, quarterly budget implementation updates and, of
course, the
Mid Term Fiscal Policy Review.
1.6. The Monthly Budget
Dashboard and the quarterly economic developments
are Statutory obligations
mandated upon Treasury by Section 7(2)(a) and Part
4 of the Public Finance
Management Act Chapter [22:19].
2. 2011 Financial Accounts
2.1.
The Accountant General is in the process of finalising the 2011
Financial
Accounts of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Treasury will Gazette the
same in
February 2012.
2.2. These accounts will capture the Budget outturn for 2011.
This is an
important issue given the fact that the figures I presented in
the 2012
Budget last November were only up to 31 October 2011.
2.3.
However, the Preliminary Annual Statement of Financial Performance for
the
year ended 31 December 2011 indicates total revenue at US$2 921 million
and
total expenditure at US$2 890.6 million, resulting in an overall 2011
Budget
surplus of US$30.4 million.
2.4. This outturn allowed for Government to post
a small positive opening
balance which became available for supporting
Budget expenditures in January
2012, mainly salaries and pension payments,
at a time when revenue inflows
are seasonally low.
2.5. The original 2011
Budget had projected total revenues at US$2 746
million, an estimate which I
had revised upwards to US$2 950 million at the
time of the presentation of
the 2012 Budget in November 2011.
2.6. The Preliminary 2011 Budget revenue
inflows are broken down as follows:
US$ million
Taxes on Income &
Profits 1 072.5
Customs Duties 332.9
Excise Duties 306.6
VAT
911.6
Other Taxes 37.5
Non Tax Revenue 259.9
Total 2 921.0
2.7.
The breakdown of the Preliminary 2011 Budget expenditures is as
follows:
US$ million
Employment Costs 1 816.8
Goods and
Services 604.7
Capital Expenditure 424.1
Total 2 890.6
3. Liquidity
Challenges
3.1. Stakeholders will be aware of reports of challenges with
regards to
liquidity in the entire economy, including the financial
system.
3.2. Part of this relates to festive season expenditure pressures on
financial institutions and the RTGS system.
3.3. This included economy
wide high volumes of high value transactions,
compounded by payments for
civil servants salaries and bonuses towards the
end of December
2011.
3.4. As a result, delays and temporary suspensions of some RTGS
payments
have been experienced.
3.5. Developments of log jams in RTGS
payments also adversely impacted on
the processing of Budget payments for
Government projects and related
payments.
3.6. I am happy to note that
the Reserve Bank, in conjunction with the
Bankers Association, has remained
on top of the situation, with the latest
indications showing resolution of
some of the major challenges that the RTGS
system encountered.
3.7. In
this regard, the Reserve Bank will be making the necessary
announcements as
part of their routine interaction with the market.
3.8. It will be necessary
that given the high volume and high value of
Budget transactions that
Government plays its part with regard to supporting
orderly transactions
within the financial system.
3.9. Pursuant to this, Treasury is instituting
the following measures:
Staggering of High Value Transactions
•
Staggering payments of high value transactions, in order to allow banks
sufficient time to plan for such transactions.
Notice Period for High
Value Transactions
• Introducing a system of Notice Periods for high
value transactions, in
order to give banks adequate time to prepare for the
processing of Budget
payments.
• Notice Periods will be related to the
value of the transactions, up to a
maximum of 7 working
days.
Balances with Banks
• Allowing for the build up of
reasonable balances with banks to facilitate
orderly transactions within the
financial system. These will be reviewed
periodically in line with
developments in market liquidity.
Civil Service and Pension Payment
Dates
• Reviewing the four monthly civil service and pension payment
dates to
allow for a time lag of at least four (4) business days between
payments.
Financial Sector Surveillance
• Continued close
monitoring of the status and performance of the financial
sector by the
Reserve Bank.
• Enhanced collaboration and sharing of information by all the
financial
sector regulators which include the Insurance & Pensions
Commission (IPEC),
and the Securities Commission (SEC).
4. Transfers
to the Exchequer Account
4.1. Reports from the Accountant General’s
Office indicate that some banks
are in arrears in making ZIMRA payovers to
the Treasury Main Exchequer
Account.
4.2. This has prejudiced Government
revenue inflows, compromising the
planned implementation of Budget
programmes and projects.
4.3. To dissuade banks against this practice,
Treasury is introducing
disincentive measures against financial institutions
that are taking long to
action ZIMRA payment instructions in favour of the
Treasury Main Exchequer
Account.
4.4. ZIMRA has already given each of the
concerned banks the necessary
initial written warnings, and has demanded
immediate remittance of all
overdue revenue pay-overs to the Exchequer, as
well as written guarantees of
timely remittances.
5. Use of
SDRs
5.1. The balance in Zimbabwe’s General SDR Allocation Account at the
IMF,
net of the US$142.1 million owed to the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and
Growth
Fund Facility (PGRF) Account, currently stands at US$212
million.
5.2. This balance is after Zimbabwe’s drawdown of US$50 million in
December
2009 and a further US$100 million in February 2010 in support of
various
infrastructure projects.
5.3. To augment resources allocated in
the 2012 Budget, Treasury is
withdrawing resources amounting to US$110
million from Zimbabwe’s General
SDR Allocation Account at the IMF in support
of the following:
Infrastructure
• Financing of priority
infrastructure projects which could not be
accommodated in the 2012 Budget
totalling US$40 million.
Lines of Credit
• US$30 million for lines
of credit to the productive sectors of the economy
currently operating at
low capacity. This is part of Government’s
contribution under the Distressed
and Marginalised Areas Fund (DiMAF) where
Old Mutual has already contributed
its US$20 million obligation.
Lender of Last Resort
• US$20
million towards the US$100 million announced in the 2012 Budget in
support
of augmenting the US$7 million already available in the Reserve Bank
for its
Lender of Last Resort mandate.
Agriculture
• US$20 million towards
complementing the previously announced support
towards
Agriculture.
6. Banks’ Statutory Reserves owed by the Reserve
Bank
6.1. The Reserve Bank currently owes US$83 million to banks in
statutory
reserves, contributing to some of the prevailing liquidity
challenges in the
financial system.
6.2. To facilitate transactions in
the money market, Treasury is introducing
Discounted and Tradable Paper
against Reserve Bank statutory reserve
liabilities to banks willing to
participate.
6.3. The modalities and the terms and conditions of issuance
will be
developed in conjunction with the Reserve Bank and the Bankers
Association.
6.4. Introduction of this instrument will overcome some of the
security
challenges banks have been facing with regard to accessing the US$7
million
Lender of Last Resort funds at the Reserve Bank.
7. Tariff
Measures Supportive of Domestic Production
7.1. Concerns have been raised by
stakeholders over some of the Tariff
Measures Government implemented from 1
January 2012 as part of the 2012
Budget in order to support increased
domestic production and level the
playing field vis-ŕ-vis some of the
imported commodities.
7.2. This was also against the background of an
unsustainable
over-dependence on consumption of imports at the expense of
domestic
production.
7.3. During the period January to December 2011,
declared export shipments
amounted to US$3.67 billion. This, though 65%
higher than the US$2.22
billion declared in 2010, is significantly out of
balance with the overall
figure of reported foreign payments for various
imports of US$6.28 billion.
7.4. Clearly, this level of reliance on external
savings is unsustainable,
making the institution of measures supportive of
growth in domestic
production unavoidable.
7.5. Treasury has, therefore,
embarked on the necessary stakeholder
consultative exercise. The appropriate
measures to review some of the
measures will, thereafter, be
instituted.
8. Growth & Inflation Prospects
Prices
8.1. In
my 2012 Budget presentation I had projected an annual average
inflation of
4.1% for 2011 and a year-end projection of 5%.
8.2. However, I am pleased to
note that actual developments to December 2011
show lower inflation numbers,
with an annual average outturn of 3.5% and a
year end of
4.9%.
Growth
8.3. With regards to overall economic growth
developments, Treasury is still
consolidating and finalising the submissions
on the performance of the
various sub-sectors to the end of 2011.
8.4.
Indications, however, are that the economy was on track with regard to
realising the projected 2011 real GDP growth rate of over 9%.
Hon. T.
Biti (M.P.)
Minister of Finance
HARARE
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
In what Finance Minster Tendai
Biti yesterday described as a miracle
Zimbabwe recorded a budget surplus for
the first time in many years.
25.01.1205:17pm
by Kingstone
Ndabatei
Biti was speaking at a media briefing on the state of the
economy and
economic projections for the year 2012.
“It is actually a
miracle but we have achieved it, the country had a budget
surplus of 30
million on last year’s budget and we used this for salaries
and pensions in
January.
“If we stick to our principles this is always achievable, we
should eat what
we kill and we did that last year we killed 2.9 billion and
ate just over
2.8 billion,” Biti said.
The Finance Minister spoke on
a variety of issues but emphasized the need to
keep the policy of cash
budgeting and that the government has maintained
inflation figure within
manageable levels.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be providing a
monthly Budget
Dashboard that will outline monthly budgetary developments,
tracking in the
particular budget performance in the key areas of public
sector investment
and social service delivery.
“Over and above this
treasury will produce quarterly economic developments,
quarterly budget
implementation updates and of course the Mid-Term Fiscal
Policy Review,”
Biti said
He said the final accounts for the country relating to the 2011
budget are
being finalized and will be out by February.
Zimbabwe has
been operating on a budget deficit for many years and this
turnaround is
largely due to prudence by the Inclusive Government formed
when foes Premier
Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe went into
what analyst have
termed a marriage of convenience.
The country’s economy almost came to
its knees largely due to little or no
production in the agricultural sector
caused by violent farm invasions that
forced commercial farmers off their
land.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
25 January
2012
Cases of typhoid are continuing to rise in Harare, where at least 90
people
have been hospitalised and more than a thousand are suspected to have
contracted the disease.
Residents in and around the capital have been
on high alert since the first
typhoid cases were confirmed last year. But in
recent months, the
combination of extreme heat, summer rains and dilapidated
basic municipal
services, has resulted in perfect conditions for the disease
to spread
“We have attended to over 600 cases in Kuwadzana alone,” city
health
director Prosper Chonzi was quoted as saying in the state media this
week.
The MDC-T meanwhile said on Wednesday that more than one thousand
Harare
residents had been treated this month.
The bacterial disease,
which spreads most easily in areas without proper
sanitation, causes
vomiting, fever and diarrhoea and the public have been
urged to use good
hygiene to prevent the situation from worsening.
The city and surrounding
areas have been struck by severe water shortages
since last year, with some
areas not being supplied with clean water for
many weeks. The shortages have
sometimes resulted in residents fighting each
other while trying to access
water from the limited number of boreholes
across the city.
The
boreholes were sunk back in 2008 when a devastating outbreak of cholera
swept through the city. The worst affected areas were Glen Norah, Budiriro
and Glen View, and once again these areas are facing serious water
shortages.
Simbarashe Moyo from the Combined Harare Residents
Association (CHRA) told
SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that the City Council
has been unable to deal
with the problems which have led to the disease
spreading.
“We have piles of uncollected refuse, burst sewers
everywhere,” Moyo said,
adding: “The Council now faces a mountainous task of
keeping the disease
under control.”
He explained that the Council
urgently needs to start clearing the refuse
off the city streets and sorting
out the broken down sewerage systems. He
added that even just a simple
public education exercise on the threats of
the disease would be
welcome.
Meanwhile Finance Minister Tendai Biti said in a press
conference on
Wednesday that money will be funneled towards supporting local
councils,
like in Harare. Biti announced that over US$100 million will be
set aside to
finance ‘priority’ projects, which could not be accommodated
for in his 2012
budget.
Addressing his first Treasury media briefing
of the year Biti said most of
the new financial allocation will be used to
improve service delivery, such
as water reticulation and energy. Money is
also being set aside for sectors
like manufacturing and agriculture.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
25
January 2012
A magistrate in Gwanda on Tuesday threw out two charges
against Media
Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) employees Fadzai
December, Molly
Chimhanda and Gilbert Mabusa, who were arrested in
December.
Although magistrate Sheila Nazombe dismissed charges that the
three failed
to notify police of a public meeting and distributed material
intended to
‘breach peace’, she still upheld charges that they allegedly
undermined
Robert Mugabe’s authority as President.
The trio were
arrested in Gwanda last month before spending two weeks in
custody. Although
Gwanda Magistrate Douglas Zvenyika granted them US$50 bail
each on the 9th
December. the Mugabe regime invoked controversial
legislation to set aside
the bail for another 7 days.
It was only when Bulawayo High Court Judge
Nicholas Mathonsi later dismissed
the appeal by the Attorney-General’s
Office that led to the trio’s release.
Meanwhile in Masvingo, magistrate
Dorothy Mwanyisa on Monday acquitted the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association
(ZimRights) and its senior official Joel
Hita on charges of organising a
photo exhibition. The exhibition held in
Masvingo and entitled ‘Reflections’
exposed the 2008 election brutality.
In similar cases of persecution,
seven MDC-T activists arrested in May as
part of a larger group are still in
custody nearly 9 months later.
Glen View Ward 32 Councillor Tungamirai
Madzokere, Rebecca Mafikeni, Phenias
Nhatarikwa, Lazarus Maengahama,
Stanford Maengahama, Yvonne Musarurwa and
Stanford Mangwiro face what have
been described as ‘trumped up’ charges of
murdering a policeman.
In
October the police arrested MDC-T Youth Assembly chairperson Solomon
Madzore
over the same charges. Since November his bail hearings have been
postponed
for more than 8 times. Police claim he was arrested while on the
run despite
video evidence proving he addressed several public MDC-T events.
The
MDC-T say they will now take the issue of Madzore’s continued
incarceration
to the regional SADC grouping who are the guarantors of the
power sharing
deal. Youth Assembly Secretary General Promise Mkwananzi said
they had met
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and asked him to lobby SADC
over Madzore.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
25 January, 2012
Supporters of the MDC in Chimanimani
West, who bought ZANU PF cards earlier
this year in order to get seeds and
fertilizer, were thrilled on Sunday when
these items finally arrived from
Cashel Valley. But there was one more
stipulation.
The desperate
villagers were told to add their names onto a list of people
expected to
claim disability in the next election, so they can be assisted
in the
polling booth. Anyone who fails to do this “will be dealt with worse
than
2008,” was the threat made, according to witnesses.
The MDC-T has said
over 500 members and activists were killed during a ZANU
PF sponsored wave
of violence that followed their defeat in the March 2008
elections.
References to that period are still being used by ZANU PF in
order to scare
potential opposition voters.
Local activist Peter Chogura told SW Radio
Africa that Sunday’s distribution
of seeds and fertilizer was organized and
managed by a former ZANU PF
councilor named Lucky Hlukuzo and Army Major
Charles Muresherwa. Uniformed
soldiers were also present at Ndaga Business
Centre, Ward 19.
The seeds and fertilizer are supposed to be handed out
to all local
residents in need, regardless of what political party they
support.
According to Chogura, ZANU PF is trying to ensure they get some
votes from
the food they give out, by forcing MDC supporters to claim they
need ‘help’
in the booth.
“Vanototaura zvema statistics,” Chogura
said, meaning: “they even speak of
statistics.” According to the activist,
lists of MDC supporters who claim to
have switched loyalties are being
compiled in other constituencies around
the country.
The Mugabe
regime has always used food as a political weapon, but this new
strategy
puts added pressure on those who buy party cards to survive and
protect
their families. It also denies them their right to vote in a private
space.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, January 25, 2012-The High Court
Judge who recently slammed the
Attorney General’s Office for infringing upon
people’s fundamental right to
liberty by vetoing bail orders granted by
magistrates and judges has been
transferred from his Bulawayo station to
Harare.
Mathonsi commenced his duties at the High Court in Harare this
week after
his transfer from Bulawayo where he has been operating from since
his
appointment as a judge in 2010.
On Wednesday the judge presided
over proceedings in court C at the high
court, where he heard unopposed
matters in the motion court while on Friday
he will deal with
sentences.
Mathonsi was sworn in as a judge in May 2010 together with
Justice Garainesu
Mawadze and Justice Andrew Mutema.
Their
appointment as judges together with Justice Martin Makonese, Justice
Hlekani
Mwayera and Justice Maria-Zimba Dube brought to 27 the total number
of High
Court judges in Zimbabwe.
However, it is the re-assignment of Justice
Mathonsi which has raised
eyebrows as it comes following his passing of some
judgments that were
deemed unfavourable to the police, the Attorney
General’s office and other
government authorities.
Recently Justice
Mathonsi shredded prosecutors for abusing their powers to
keep accused
persons admitted to bail in remand prison, saying such actions
were putting
the reputation of the justice delivery system into disrepute.
In a
judgment delivered early this month dismissing an appeal by the
Attorney
General’s office seeking to overturn the granting of bail to two
Media
Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) employees, Fadzai December and
Molly
Chimhanda and MMPZ member, Gilbert Mabusa, Justice Mathonsi tore
prosecutors
to pieces and said time had come for them to be schooled on the
appropriate
use of Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act
(CPEA).
December, Chimhanda and Mabusa were arrested last year and
accused of
undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe by
distributing DVDs
that police said carried offensive material. They were
also charged with
violating the Public Order and Security
Act.
However, on Tuesday, a Gwanda Magistrate dropped the charges of
contravening
POSA but maintained that they will have to answer to charges of
insulting
Mugabe.
In May last year, Justice Mathonsi chided police in
Matabeleland North
province for unlawfully detaining a Nkayi activist, Jorum
Dube, for two
weeks without bringing him to court.
The judge
criticised Nkayi police officers for lacking knowledge of the law
and that
ignorant officers posed a threat to the public. Dubewas only
released
following a High Court Order declaring his detention illegal.
http://www.voanews.com
24 January
2012
Select committee sources said parties had agreed on dual
citizenship, the
devolution of power from the central government and the
abolition of capital
punishment, but ZANU-PF now wants to reopen those
points
Blessing Zulu | Washington
Zimbabwe's often-delayed
constitutional revision process hit another
obstacle this week as President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF reversed itself on
issues including devolution of
power, the death penalty and dual
citizenship, holding up work on a
draft.
Sources in the parliamentary select committee in charge of the
revision said
it had been agreed to introduce dual citizenship, to devolve
power from the
central government and to do away with capital punishment,
but ZANU-PF now
wants to reopen those issues.
ZANU-PF's insistence on
keeping the death penalty comes despite indications
from the judiciary that
capital punishment has not had the intended
deterrent effect.
Murder
cases brought before the High Court are said to have increased from
386 in
2010 to 395 last year and are expected to rise further this year.
Select
committee co-chairman Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana of ZANU-PF could not
be
reached for immediate comment on the reported about-face.
But his
counterpart Douglas Mwonzora of the Movement for Democratic Change
formation
of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said that the issue has gone
to the
management committee, which includes senior negotiators for all
governing
parties.
http://af.reuters.com/
Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:46am
GMT
HARARE Jan 25 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe is set to raise registration
fees for
platinum mines to $2.5 million from the $300 it currently costs to
discourage the holding of claims for speculative purposes, state media
reported on Wednesday.
The government will soon announce the changes,
which will mostly target the
growing platinum and diamond sectors, Prince
Mupazviriho, the permanent
secretary in the mines ministry, told the
state-controlled Herald newspaper.
The application fee for a prospector's
licence for platinum would also soar,
to $500,000 from $150, the newspaper
said, citing a draft schedule prepared
by the ministry.
Ministry
officials could not immediately be reached.
For diamond miners, the
prospecting fee will remain at $1 million, while a
fee of $5 million will be
required to register a claim, it said. The
application fee for coal,
coal-bed methane gas, mineral oils, natural gas
and nuclear energy mineral
resources will cost $100,000, compared to $5,000
currently.
Zimbabwe's government, struggling to raise revenue as the
economy slowly
recovers from a decade-long slump, has increasingly looked to
the mining
sector for funding.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said he
expects $600 million cash inflows from
the diamond sector to help fund a $4
billion budget for 2012.
Biti also raised royalties on gold to 7 percent
from 4.5 percent and on
platinum to 10 percent from 5 percent.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
25 January 2012
The branding of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai ‘as a Western stooge’ by
the new Zambian President Michael Sata
has raised diplomatic eyebrows
between the two countries.
Political
aides to Tsvangirai reacted with fury to Sata’s disparaging
remarks about
the MDC leader, in his interview with the UK Telegraph
newspaper. In the
interview published by the paper on Tuesday, Sata, known
as ‘King cobra’ for
his sharp tongue, indicated that he would not block
Robert Mugabe’s push to
abandon the unity government.
In the same article, the 74 year-old Sata
made comments likely to have irked
pro-democracy movements in Zimbabwe. He
first dismissed Tsvangirai as a
‘stooge’, and described calls for security,
electoral and constitutional
reforms in Zimbabwe as
‘unnecessary’.
Analysts said it is incomprehensible that Sata can
trivialise and denigrate
constitutional reforms and clean voters’ roll which
are vital pre-conditions
for free and fair elections. Other commentators
believe Sata could be
‘isolated from reality’.
MDC-T officials who
spoke to SW Radio Africa on the condition of anonymity
agreed that Sata
seemed to go ‘off the rails’ in the Telegraph interview,
admitting that he
showed extremely poor judgment.
‘We don’t know the policies of Morgan –
he has other people speaking for him
rather than speaking for himself. There
will be elections and Mugabe will go
and someone else will take over but not
someone imposed by the Western
countries,’ Sata said
London based
academic and former diplomat, Clifford Mashiri roundly
condemned the Zambian
leader’s undiplomatic remarks, warning that his sharp
tongue could turn out
to be his Achilles heel.
Mashiri told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that
Sata has exposed one of his
major weaknesses as lack of good
diplomacy.
‘One would have thought Sata would exercise extreme caution
when commenting
about fellow leaders of other countries especially when they
are his
neighbors,’ Mashiri added.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Nkululeko Sibanda, Senior Writer
Wednesday, 25
January 2012 12:14
HARARE - Motorists complaining about toll gates
increasing their travelling
expenses should be prepared to fork out
more.
The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) says it plans to
increase
more toll gates in the country to raise more cash for
infrastructure
rehabilitation.
Announcing a decision to take over
collection of toll fees from the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra), Zinara
tolling points manager Ostern Chimedza
said the current 22 toll gates
countrywide were inadequate.
“There are areas where the tolling points
are not there. We realise these
indeed will need to have the toll gates
introduced but we cannot give
details as to when these will be put up,” he
told reporters yesterday.
Toll gate fees range from a dollar to five
dollars.
Zimra has been collecting toll gate fees on behalf of Zinara
since the toll
gate idea was launched in August 2008.
“It is now our
intention to move in and do the collections on our own. We
are engaging the
ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development to
take over the
collection programme,” said Chimedza.
Chimedza said Zinara hoped to
improve structures currently used as toll
gates from the fees.
“What
we have at the moment are tolling points, which essentially means we
have
just points where we are simply collecting our fees. Our view and hope
is
that we create better structures that can be toll gates, maybe in line
with
regional standards. It is our hope that when the time comes for us to
collect these toll fees, we will be able to improve these structures and
move them from their current state,” Chimedza said.
He said there
were plans to take over some staffers employed by Zimra.
“We are not
going to take on board everybody. Some will remain behind while
we let some
go,” he said.
According to Zinara statistics, the parastatal is
collecting close to $80
million annually.
Toll gates, per year, rake
in between $17 and 18 million, with fuel levy
bringing in about $23
million.
Vehicle licensing fees have weighed in significantly with a $24
million
contribution, while other revenues come from transit, abnormal load,
and
over load charges.
Zimra retains 10 percent of the revenue
collected from the toll fees.
Chimedza said in the foreseeable future,
Zinara could consider increasing
its tolling points.
Zinara, however,
cried foul there were many defaulting toll gate fee payees
who have claimed
they are exempt from paying at toll gates.
“There are a number of
defaulters that have claimed they are exempted from
paying toll fees. It
should be made very clear that the Zinara Act only
exempts the police, the
army, government plated vehicles, ambulances, Fire
Brigade vehicles and the
ones for the diplomatic service, from paying toll
fees and not everybody
else,” said Precious Murove, Zinara’s human resources
and administration
manager.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Wonai Masvingise, Staff Writer
Wednesday, 25
January 2012 10:32
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is “key”
in Zimbabwe’s political
transition and should do more to ensure stability
ahead of watershed
elections, Gabonese leader Ali Bongo has said.
In
a message sent through a special envoy yesterday, Bongo said his country
supported the African Union and regional grouping, Sadc’s efforts to find a
peaceful solution to Zimbabwe’s political situation.
A disputed
presidential election in June 2008 led to the formation of
Zimbabwe’s
fragile coalition government.
A planned election to end the coalition but
whose timing is still a subject
of disagreement has already heightened
tensions between supporters of
President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai
resulting in a resurgence in
political violence.
Bongo’s envoy,
Emmanuel Issoze Ngendet, met Tsvangirai in the company of
Gabonese
ambassador to Zimbabwe Jean Yves Teale at the Prime Minister’s
Strathaven
residence yesterday.
“Prime Minister Tsvangirai is a key person in the
transition process in
Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is in an interesting period of
political reform and
transition.
“We want this country’s leaders to
show the best commitment and stability,”
Ngendet, who is Gabon’s Minister of
Budget said.
“We support this inclusive government and our aim is to
promote it by
discussing with political actors. We preach a message of peace
to this
country.
“South Africa is playing a very interesting role in
terms of facilitating
for peace. Gabon as a member of the African Union has
the obligation to
support this role which is taken by South Africa,” he
said.
Luke Tamborinyoka, a spokesperson in the premier’s office said, “He
(Ngendet) had brought a confidential message from the President
(Bongo).”
Sources said Ngendet was also in the country to drum support
for the
re-election of Jean Ping, the outgoing chairperson of the commission
of the
African Union, a Gabonese national.
Ping is facing tough
competition from South Africa’s Nkosazana-Dhlamini Zuma
when his office
comes for re-election this month.
Bongo’s father, Omar Bongo ruled Gabon
for 42 years before his death in
office in June 2009.
Ali, who had
long been assigned key ministerial responsibilities by his
father, won
election in August 2009.
The West African country is a major exporter of
oil, timber, manganese and
uranium.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Zimbabwe’s Global Hunger Index is at its
lowest yet, according to this year’s
report, and with continued investment
in small-scale farmers and the
government’s commitment to national social
protection, it could continue to
decrease.
25.01.1202:56pm
by JOY
MORRISON
The report was jointly published by the International Food
Policy Research
Institute, Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe. Ranked 46
out of 81
countries where data was gathered, Zimbabwe has shown a promising
reduction
in its GHI score from 21.3 in 2001 to 17.7 in 2011. The index is
designed to
measure and track global hunger and it uses three indicators:
undernourishment, child underweight and child mortality. It ranks countries
on a 100-point scale where zero is the best and 100 is the worst. The
countries are then listed from ‘low’ to ‘extremely alarming’. Because of
Zimbabwe’s decrease it is now ranked as ‘serious’ and not ‘alarming’ as it
was in 2001.
Although the calculation is limited by the data
collection of governments
and international agencies, and the current
figures only reflect information
collected between 2004 and 2009, it does
reveal an alarming trend in
Sub-Saharan Africa where the level of hunger is
highest.
Gaining ground
In spite of Zimbabwe’s decrease, it still
ranks above countries such as
Namibia, Botswana, Nigeria and Swaziland.
However, in light of the changes
that occurred in the period between 2004
and 2009 when the economy spiralled
out of control and the controversial
land reform programme was in full
swing, it is encouraging to see Zimbabwe
gaining ground.
There are a number of hurdles to overcome
The 2011
report focuses on the issue of food price spikes and volatility,
which have
played a large role in the global food crises of the last decade.
“Many
poor people already spend large shares of their incomes on food, and
surges
in food prices leave them unable to pay for the food, healthcare,
housing,
education, and other goods and services they need,” the report
states.
Before the dollarization of the economy, people found it
almost impossible
to keep pace with rising food prices. The massive
reduction in food being
produced from the commercial farms meant a greater
reliance on imported food
stuffs which the financially crippled government
could not afford. The shop
shelves were empty and the poor were the worst
affected, with some forced to
supplement their diets with wild berries and
tree roots.
Govt commitment
In recent years, the amount of foreign
direct investment in agriculture in
developing countries has increased.
However, the efforts to increase
production must be coupled with the
government’s obligation to national food
security and development
strategies. This has been called into question
during election periods when
non-governmental organisations have been
targeted by Zanu (PF) in an attempt
to monopolise food distribution for
political purposes.
“There are a
number of hurdles to overcome in increasing agricultural
production,
including land and water constraints, underinvestment in
agricultural
innovation, deficient agricultural banking, extreme weather
events and
climate change, and declining investment in agricultural
research.
Overcoming these hurdles requires research and innovation,
increased yields,
and guaranteed access to markets,” the report states.
Concern’s work in
the area of conservation farming was hailed as an example
of how farm yields
can increase when modern farming techniques are employed
and farmers have
access to inputs, fertilisers and an assured place in the
market.
Recommendations
In 2008, the organisation ran a
project to improve a local community’s
access to food by offering training
programmes and providing the necessary
seed, fertiliser and herbicides.
1,120 farmers participated in the
initiative.
One of the findings of
the project was that farmers went from being
production-deficit households
to production-surplus households. They
embraced the new techniques and
eagerly adopted the communal-based,
conservation farming.
Some
recommendations made in this year’s GHI report include establishing
national
social protection systems, improving emergency plans and investing
in
small-scale farming initiatives and climate-adaptive agriculture.
“As
long as the extreme poor face the prospect of recurrent devastating
shocks
with little protection, they will continue to be excluded from
sustainable
development,” states the report.
Farmers need access to inputs
It
goes on to outline the coping strategies that families are forced to
employ
in light of food shortages such as removing children from school,
engaging
in commercial sex work and crime. This exposes households to
disease,
violence, social exclusion and ultimately death.
“Social protection has
the potential to support improvements in maternal and
early childhood
nutrition, especially when linked with complementary
services.
Non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations
have an
important role to play in these activities,” states the report.
In terms
of emergency policies, the government and NGOs may respond to
national
disasters, but they are not good at reacting to slow-onset
disasters such as
food price crises.
“Global, regional, and national agencies need to be
fully engaged, establish
triggers that will activate responses under crises,
invest more in
preparedness, and mobilize their capabilities to monitor and
assist the most
vulnerable people,” states the report.
Farming
potential
Following the land re-distribution exercise and the increase of
small-scale
farmers nationwide, it is necessary to adapt agricultural
practices and
develop strategies that support these men and women. They
should be equipped
to contribute to national food and nutrition security and
the government and
donors should look at ways of reducing their
vulnerability and tapping into
their potential.
“To improve
resilience, farmers need access to inputs backed by appropriate
financing
channels, knowledge transfer through extension services, support
for crop
diversification, natural resource management, and improved rural
and
regional market infrastructure,” states the report.
With many
organisations countrywide responding to this call to invest in
community-based farming, there is hope that these enterprising farmers will
be able to contribute to a further decrease in Zimbabwe’s GHI ranking in the
years to come.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Zimbabwe has missed out on accessing money for
elephant conservation
programmes, due to its non-participation in the recent
CITES committee
meeting in South Africa.
25.01.1210:02am
by Stephen
Tsoroti
Six African states were allocated money for conservation
initiatives at the
meeting in December 2011. The CITES fund was launched in
August 2011 and has
received approximately $250,000 in contributions from
Germany, France and
the Netherlands. During the three-day meeting, the
members of the Committee:
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya,
Nigeria and South Africa met
with representatives from Germany and the
Netherlands to allocate $150,000
to six elephant conservation projects,
ranging from investigating regional
illegal ivory markets to mitigating
local human-elephant conflicts.
Poaching on the rise
According to
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, there has been a surge in
elephant
poaching countrywide. Waterholes have been poisoned, land invaders
have been
involved in poaching and trees are being chopped down for
firewood, placing
the animals at risk.
The current national elephant population is about
100,000 and of this Hwange
National Park holds about 50,000 while the
Zambezi Valley, Sebungwe and the
South East Lowveld hold 30,000, 15,000 and
5,000 respectively. These figures
are based on aerial surveys undertaken
jointly by the Zimbabwe Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority and World
Wide Fund for Nature.
Trophy hunting
To date, Zimbabwe has relied
on two programmes for the sustainable
utilization of elephants in the
country: (i) non-consumptive (photographic,
elephant rides) and (ii)
consumptive (trophy hunting and management
off-take). Consumptive
utilization is based on an approved quota with the
exception of problem
animal control which cannot be predicted.
Trophy hunting, which annually
utilizes 500 animals that are declared to
CITES each year, takes place in
the following designated places:
• State hunting safari areas - 145
animals
• Private land (mainly conservancies) - 115 animals
•
CAMPFIRE in communal areas - 210 animals
• Forestry areas - 30
animals
No trophy hunting takes place in National
Parks.
Management off take, unlike trophy hunting, takes place in any
protected
area where elephants occur, including national parks, and involves
both
trophy and non-trophy animals.
However, the trophies are not
allowed to be exported. The ivory from such an
initiative ends up in the
central ivory stores at the Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority Head
Quarters. It is properly recorded with a distinct
serial number, area of
origin, cause and date of mortality and size (length
and weight of
tusk).
The ivory is then sold on the domestic market through regular
auctions to
registered ivory manufacturers in line with 1997 CITES COP 10
Resolution
which allowed Zimbabwe to engage in highly-controlled domestic
ivory trade.
Management off takes are for ecological reasons, to manage
surplus animals.
Culling approved
In April 2007, prior to CITES
COP 14 in The Hague, SADC Ministers
responsible for wildlife management
approved the Southern Africa Elephant
Management Strategy which recognizes
culling as one of the main tools for
effective population control. However,
in the event that the Authority needs
to undertake culling, all the
political, ecological and other
considerations, including thorough
stakeholder consultations, need to be
met.
In preparation for a
possible requirement to control elephant population
through culling, the
Authority has embarked on a training exercise for its
staff. The training
involves hunting, recovery and processing of elephant
products and gathering
of scientific data.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
25/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWE will approach South Africa over the possible
extension of a
documentation exercise for Zimbabweans living illegally in
the country, Home
Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi has said.
South
Africa insists there will not be a second phase of the programme after
255,282 Zimbabweans had their stay regularised under the current exercise
which officials say is nearing completion. The remaining 20,480 applications
are expected to be finalised by March this year.
Mkuseli Apleni, a
director general with the South African Home Affairs
department, ruled out
extending the exercise insisting: "We have said it is
closed forever. If
there are those who did not take up that offer, they are
now here
illegally."
Speculation is rife that the completion of the documentation
process in
March would likely culminate in massive deportations of illegal
Zimbabwean
migrants in South Africa.
However, Mohadi – who shares the
Home Affairs portfolio with MDC-T’s Theresa
Makoni -- said there was still
room for further negotiations over the issue.
“We will have to re-engage
our counterparts over the issue. At the moment
they are still busy and we
will have to wait for them to complete the first
phase before further
engagements,” Mohadi said early in the week.
“Engagements would continue
because this is not a one-off thing. A lot of
people continue to cross the
border into South Africa without proper travel
documents and it is something
that happens everyday.”
Estimates suggest some 1,5 million Zimbabweans
are living in South Africa,
most of them having crossed the Limpopo in the
last few years to escape a
deepening economic and political crisis back
home.
Pretoria last year stopped deporting illegal immigrants and issued
a
December 31 deadline for them to regularise their stay but many were not
eligible for residency permits because they are either unemployed or have
part-time jobs.
But with South Africa’s unemployment increasing to
about 25.3 percent in
recent years, the presence of illegal migrants has
often sparked unrest with
locals viewing them as competitors for jobs and
housing.
Xenophobic violence in May 2008 claimed more than 60 lives and drove
thousands from their homes.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Corruption is a cancer eating
away at the fabric of Zimbabwean society,
according to Senator Obert Gutu,
the Deputy Minster of Justice.
25.01.1209:27am
by Byron Adonis
Mutingwende
“We should fight very hard to identify, curb and
ultimately eliminate
corruption in our judicial system and also in the
Police Force and the
Prison Service,” said Gutu.
Born at Gutu Mission
Hospital on October 20, 1962, Gutu was the sixth child
in a family of 10. He
did his primary education at Gutu Mission primary
school and later moved to
Fletcher High School in Gweru where he spent six
years before enrolling for
a law degree at the University of Zimbabwe in
1982.
“All those civil
servants and members of the uniformed forces who would like
to be active
politicians should resign and thereafter, freely participate in
the
political melting pot. A politician wearing a uniform and holding a gun
is a
very dangerous politician.”
Developmental projects
As Senator,
Gutu has embarked on a number of developmental projects in his
Chisipite
constituency.
“In August 2011, I approached the Australian Embassy to
source funds used to
drill two boreholes in Ward 46, an area facing
perennial water shortages.
Currently, I am working on a project to provide
20 soccer balls, netballs
and basketballs to all the wards in my
constituency. You should bear in mind
that as a Senator, I do not have
access to CDF funds and so I have to use
alternative means to raise
money.”
A resident who benefitted from the boreholes sunk in Mabvuku
praised Gutu’s
initiative.
“We are very poor. We do not have the
ability to sink our own boreholes like
our neighbours in the affluent
suburbs of Glen Lorne. We thank Senator Gutu
for his donation which averted
a typhoid outbreak here.”
Gutu has also tried to help his rural area in
Gutu Central constituency by
building a modern supermarket complex at
Mushayavanhu Business Centre.
“More than 10 years ago, I donated a
computer to Mushayavanhu High School
and I understand this was the first
computer at the school. My aim was to
develop ICT in the rural areas that
are lagging behind in technological
advancement,” Gutu said.
From
lawyer to politician
With a background in law, Gutu’s reasons for
venturing into politics were
influenced by the steady decline in living
conditions and basic human rights
nationwide.
“I felt I had to help
my country in whatever small way I could, that is how
I ended up in
politics,” Gutu added.
The Senator sees his role as a key player in the
democratization of
Zimbabwe.
“The scourge of corruption has to be
nipped in the bud. If there is anything
that I hate with a passion, it is
corruption. We can overcome our challenges
on the political front mainly by
encouraging and fostering a culture of
tolerance and unity in diversity. The
current political climate in Zimbabwe
is poisoned by polarization across the
political divide. There is a lot of
hate and malice in our politics. This is
primitive. It should stop!” Gutu
said.
When asked what should be done
to improve the justice delivery system Gutu
said, “To improve the justice
delivery system, we should first of all
de-politicise our State institutions
such as the judiciary, the
Attorney-General’s office and the police. We
should develop a culture of
professionalism in all our government
departments.
Family court system
“There have been a lot of changes
since I was appointed Deputy Minister of
Justice & Legal Affairs in
June, 2010.For instance, the food situation
in all our country’s prisons has
significantly improved. All prisoners are
getting three meals a
day.
“We are also in the process of establishing a formal family court
system and
within the next few months, Zimbabwe will become one of the few
countries in
Africa to have one. This will help in handling family issues
such as
divorce, custody and maintenance of children as well as domestic
violence,”
Gutu said.
Gutu’s vision for the future of Zimbabwe is a
country at peace where basic
human rights are respected and the rule of law
is upheld.
“I want Zimbabwe to be a country that denounces political
intolerance,
political violence and corruption. As soon as we exorcise the
ghost of
tyranny and dictatorship, I would be happy to practice law on a
full-time
basis.”
By Clifford Chitupa
Mashiri, 25/01/12
The rejection by UK Development Minister Andrew
Mitchell of civil society
calls to audit Zimbabwe’s US$7 billion debt before
relief under HIPC is
regrettable.
Whenever an audit is resisted, it
inevitably raises eyebrows. Some suspect
those against the audit have
something to hide because of the potentially
embarrassing
revelations.
Resistance to an audit of Zimbabwe’s debt can be viewed as
running counter
to the Manila Consensus on Public Financial Management (PFM)
of June 2011
comprising Partner Countries including the UK, multilateral
and bilateral
development organisations, parliaments and civil society
organisations
(CSOs).
According to OECD, Partner Countries were
called upon to demonstrate their
political commitment to strengthening PFM
and to increase transparency for
better accountability to the public
including through civil society
organisations (CSOs) for all public
resources.
It is therefore, understandable that Zimbabwean CSOs are
demanding
transparency because that principle should be seen to be applied
universally
regardless of the region – whether it’s in the North, South,
East or West.
The reason why Zimbabwe’s debt should be audited should be
obvious to
everyone who has bothered to follow closely developments in the
southern
African country.
Since the late 1990s to 2009, Zimbabwe was
mired in controversy ranging from
arms trading, state-sponsored violence,
negative world records in terms of
3.2 quintillion percent inflation,
corruption, suspected money laundering
and run-way poverty.
While the
Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is being proposed
as a
better evil to other options, it is no panacea to Zimbabwe’s debt
problem,
because HIPC will only provide reprieve for debts owed to
International
Financial Institutions and Paris Club pre-2004.
It is a matter of common
knowledge that Zimbabwe has no post 2004 debt with
IFI and the Paris Club,
however any debt accumulated post 2004 is with
non-traditional donors and
this will not be included under the HIPC. For
instance Zimbabwe’s run-away
debt with China will still need to be repaid.
It is worth noting that
other than doing nothing about the debt, Zimbabwe
has also utilised the
so-called Angola Model of debt relief, whereby Mugabe
reportedly entered
into a ‘platinum backed’ loan facility agreement with
China in
2009.
This involved mortgaging Zimbabwe’s natural resources by giving
China a 50%
stake in a platinum concession worth US$40billion in return for
a US$5
billion loan to Zimbabwe.
According to financial experts,
China would make a US$15billion profit
(300%) from a US$5 billion loan at
the end of the transaction – representing
a monumental loss to the present
and future generations.
Zimbabwe’s civil society is justified to demand
transparency in the country’s
financial commitments to both Western
countries and China because some of
the debts are shrouded in
mystery.
For example, exact figures of China’s arms sales to Zimbabwe are
hard to
come by because neither country allegedly submits reliable reports
to the
United Nations Register of Conventional Arms or to the U.N.
Commodities
Trade Statistics Database (Comtrade).
According to Human
Rights First, although the two countries do submit import
and export figures
to Comtrade, their reported figures are inconsistent and
too low to be
credible.
Among the most implausible examples is Zimbabwe’s report of
Z$205million
worth of tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles imported
from China in
2005, and China’s report of only US$50million worth of small
arms sales to
Zimbabwe from 2000-2006.
How were those weapons paid
for when the country was on its knees? If they
were loans, why should they
be paid in view of the state-sponsored violence
seen in Zimbabwe over the
years around election time since the late 1990s?
Similarly, in 1984, the
Thatcher government sold Zimbabwe a large number of
Hawk fighter planes at a
time of the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland
(See Daily Mail, How can
we be so blindly stupid as to sell arms to despots
then bleat about
democracy? 24/02/11).
It is, therefore right and proper for a
Parliamentary Debt Audit Commission
to conduct a forensic audit of
Zimbabwe’s debt in the same way developed
countries probe their debts as a
constitutional requirement for checks and
balances vis-ŕ-vis the
executive.
There is a compelling case for an audit of Zimbabwe’s debt
especially as
there are reasons to suspect foul play, with poverty and
typhoid ravaging
the country despite abundant diamonds, gold and platinum
resources.
The Jubilee Debt Campaign deserves the support of all
Zimbabweans of sound
thinking.
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political
Analyst, London
zimanalysis2009@gmail.com