http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
2
January 2012
The drafting of a new constitution is expected to resume on
Tuesday, with a
draft document expected to be complete by the first week of
February, a
COPAC co-chairman has said.
Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC-T
MP for Nyanga north and COPAC co-chairman, said
had it not been for ZANU PF
machinations and the childishness of its
representatives, the drafters would
have completed their work on 20th
January.
But he told SW Radio
Africa on Monday that because of delays caused by ZANU
PF it is no longer
possible to meet the January deadline. The MDC-T
spokesman also castigated
‘concerted efforts’ by ZANU PF to derail the
process.
‘If we do not
get any further disturbances, we would be able to get a draft
of the new
constitution in the first week of February. We want the drafters
not to be
interfered with when they’re doing their work.
‘This is why as COPAC, we
are sending the select and technical committees to
be based in Leopard Rock,
Vumba for 10 days to allow the drafters to do
their work without any
hindrances,’ Mwonzora said.
The MDC-T legislator strongly denounced
‘certain’ individuals in COPAC for
leaking fake documents to state
controlled newspapers, purporting to be a
‘national report’ from
COPAC.
‘No such document exists and we know certain individuals are
working with
the CIO and the military junta to derail the constitution
making process.
There are people who want to substitute people’s views with
ZANU PF views.
‘All I can say now is….its not the fault of the MDC-T. It
is the fault of
ZANU PF and the junta that we keep having these delays.
People should not be
fooled to believe the MDC-T is delaying the process
because they don’t want
an election. Just look at who has been causing all
the problems and make
your own informed decision,’ Mwonzora added.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
01/01/2012 00:00:00
by AFP
THE
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) say they have begun training programmes
for
officers ahead of 2012 elections.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF is
insisting on polls, despite reluctance
from the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
The police say the training programmes aim to ensure peace
during the polls.
Zimbabwe is due to hold a referendum for a new
constitution later in the
year.
However, Mugabe's party also insists
elections must take place in 2012, to
end the three-year old power-sharing
government.
Deputy Commissioner General Josephine Shambare told state media
police would
not tolerate bad behaviour from the public.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC says the police are biased in favour
of
Zanu-PF and wants security sector reforms before any poll.
By Lance
Guma
02 January 2012
An army general implicated in rhino poaching, partisan food distribution, election rigging and even the murder of an army captain, was last week unilaterally promoted by Robert Mugabe.
Three Infantry Brigade Commander, Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, stunned the country last year when he called for Mugabe to be declared life president. He also described Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a “major national security threat rather than a political one”.
This fanatical bootlicking has seen Nyikayaramba being promoted to Major-General. He will move from his base in the Manicaland province to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Headquarters in Harare, where he will be Chief of Staff .
Also promoted by Mugabe was Air Commodore Michael Moyo, who assumed the rank of Air Vice-Marshal. Moyo will be commandant of the National Defence College in Harare. But it is the appointment of Nyikayaramba that has an ominous bearing on the next election in Zimbabwe.
Nyikayaramba played a key role in rigging the 2002 presidential elections for Mugabe. At the time he was the Chief Executive Officer of the then Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC). His bias was confirmed further last year when he openly admitted he was ZANU PF and would not allow Tsvangirai to win.
In June 2008 Nyikayaramba was one of the over 200 senior army officers deployed around the country to co-ordinate the brutal ‘Operation Mavhotera Papi’ (where did you vote?) Over 500 opposition supporters were killed and tens of thousands were tortured, as punishment for voting for Tsvangirai who had won the March 2008 presidential election.
Nyikayaramba was also the head of the controversial Operation Maguta in which members of the army where deployed in every district of the country, purportedly to give technical assistance to farmers. The scheme was dismissed as nothing more than an attempt to justify the army presence in rural areas when in fact they were there to intimidate the rural electorate into voting for ZANU PF.
Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya told SW Radio Africa that Nyikayaramba’s promotion should be used as an “early warning system for the democratic actors in Zimbabwe.” He said Nyikayaramba’s role in the last three elections (2002, 2005 and 2008) “has seen him at the centre of the militarization of our politics, electoral institutions and the violent and partisan behaviour of the military.”
Ruhanya said Nyikayaramba has been strategically placed by Mugabe in his new position so that he can “run elections using the army.” He added that this had happened before, in 2002, when Nyikayaramba pretended to have resigned from the army so he could be CEO of the Electoral Supervisory Commission and rig elections for Mugabe.
“Where else have you seen a serving soldier run elections? In 2002 soldiers voted well ahead of time. They were also responsible for collecting ballot boxes across the country and in some instances, like Gokwe, using helicopters,” Ruhanya said. He added that nothing has changed and the new Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) still has workers who were recruited by Nyikayaramba.
Ruhanya was particularly scathing of the two MDC’s in the coalition government, arguing that their half-hearted reaction to Nyikayaramba’s promotion showed they were ‘naïve.’
“These people are sleeping at the expense of our people who have taken risks, who have defeated this regime, but at the level of political method and leadership, they are not doing enough to make the wishes of the people carry the day,” he said.
Nyikayaramba made sure the election body was stuffed with soldiers, state security agents and ZANU PF militia and “these are the people who are rigging elections. These are the people who were cooking figures in 2008. The whole ZEC is a product of Nyikayaramba and Mugabe is appointing in broad daylight the same people who robbed the MDC of victory” Ruhanya said.
Nyikayaramba is nicknamed ‘think tank’ or ‘Mr Fix It’ by many in ZANU PF. It is believed his deployment as Chief of Staff at the army HQ will enable him to be responsible for deploying soldiers in the community and getting them to ‘campaign’ for Mugabe using all means necessary, including violence.
SW Radio Africa also has information that Nyikayaramba was allegedly involved in the 1989 murder of 35 year old army captain Edwin Bhundani Nleya. Captain Nleya’s body was found on a hillside in Hwange, two months after he disappeared in suspicious circumstances from 1:2 Infantry Battalion in Hwange.
Several reports claimed Captain Nleya was killed because of what he knew about the involvement of the army in poaching and smuggling activities in Mozambique. Nleya uncovered evidence of this while on military duty there in 1988.
Its alleged Nleya even refused to carry out one of the poaching missions and threatened to expose his commanders, who at the time included General Constantine Chiwenga who was commander of 1 Brigade and Nyikayaramba, who was then a lieutenant colonel commanding 1:2 Infantry battalion.
Poaching by the army at the time was so rife that there are reports that dozens of people who tried to expose it were also killed. Army lieutenant Shepard Chisango died in custody in 1991, after also threatening to expose ‘smuggling’ activities in Mozambique. He was arrested after trying to obstruct an army lorry which was carrying what were believed to be smuggled goods from Mozambique.
An Amnesty International report said: “In September 1987, two National Park officials, Martin Sibanda and Martin Marimo, who were investigating the illegal movement of ivory, were shot dead in an ambush. At least five people, all of whom were involved in investigating poaching or smuggling, were killed in car accidents between 1988 and 1990.”
To listen to the full interview with Pedzisai Ruhanya on Behind the Headlines. CLICK HERE
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, January 02, 2012-
The Minister of Transport and Communications,
Nicholas Goche, has issued a
circular to stop Air Zimbabwe management from
flying its aircraft to South
Africa and the United Kingdom where one of its
long haul Boeing 767 aircraft
was recently impounded over an outstanding
debt.
The circular was
issued last week leaving the national airline virtually
grounded. The
suspended routes are its cash cows.
Creditors in London and Johannesburg
South Africa are waiting to impound Air
Zimbabwe planes to try and force it
to honour its debts.
Sources at Air Zimbabwe told Radio VOP that the
minister of Transport and
Communications took the drastic action last week
after he got a tongue
lashing from President Robert Mugabe who nearly missed
his annual holiday to
the Far East after the long haul plane that he
normally uses to travel on
outside trips was impounded in
London.
Mugabe had to use a commercial plane specially hired for him by
Mbada
Diamonds where he is a shareholder.
“The circular was issued
last week and it targets two destinations,
Johannesburg and London,” an Air
Zimbabwe source said.
Air Zimbabwe Chief Executive Innocent Mavhunga
could neither confirm nor
deny the issuance of the circular saying, “I am
not aware of that,” but we
are still not able to fly to Johannesburg and
London until we get the money
to pay for our debts. The circular will last
until 15 January when the
government is expected to have released some funds
to Air Zimbabwe for debt
payment purposes.
Air Zimbabwe is however
still flying to Lubumbashi in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), the
Far East, Lusaka, Zambia and locally to
Bulawayo and Victoria
Falls.
The troubled airline is reported to owe $500 000 for services
rendered in
Johannesburg. A Johannesburg cargo handling company recently
refused to
offer services to Air Zimbabwe forcing the airline to transport
the over 100
passengers on board in a four-sedan vehicle from the plane to
the OR Tambo
International Airport Terminal.
An Air Zimbabwe plane
was recently impounded at London's Gatwick Airport
until a debt of $1.2
million was paid. The airline managed to fly back to
Zimbabwe on Christmas
day.
Air Zimbabwe is said to be in debt running into millions of dollars,
among
the debts are millions of dollars also owed to its restive workforce
three
quarters of whom have since stopped coming to work.
The
national airline used to be one of the best run airline companies in
Africa
but it has suffered from years of mismanagement and political
interference.
Efforts by successive chief executive officers to
revive the airline have
failed. Most of them have left the company in a
worse condition than they
found it.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
02 January, 2012
It has been reported that a group of ten
robbers got away with diamond ore
worth millions of dollars, after they
robbed a company truck that ‘broke
down’ in the Marange diamond fields last
week.
According to reports, thieves armed with an AK-47 rifle and
slingshots
overpowered two security guards who had been left to protect the
400
kilograms of diamond ore, and ran off into the night.
The truck
belonged to Marange Resources, one of four companies operating in
the
Marange area and which is in partnership with the state-owned Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation. No arrests were made but a special police
unit is reportedly investigating the theft.
Farai Maguwu, director of
the Centre for Research and Development in
Manicaland, which monitors
diamond activity in the Marange area, told SW
Radio Africa that there are
more questions than answers regarding the
“alleged robbery”.
Maguwu
said it is not clear how the robbers managed to carry off 400
kilograms of
diamond ore or how they happened to have a weapon used by the
military.
“The fact that there was an AK 47 used by the military
clearly points to
some connivance by those people charged with securing the
area and it is no
surprise,” Maguwu said. “This is a very high security area
where you don’t
expect robbers to break in without approval,” he
added.
But he explained that security staff are being paid meager wages
and
expected to protect a resource that does not benefit them. This causes
them
to get involved in all sorts of illegal, money-making
schemes.
The deputy Minister of Mines, Gift Chimanikire, also cast
suspicion on the
robbery, saying it had to be an “inside job.” Chimanikire
told SW Radio
Africa that there is night time imaging that can identify even
small animals
in the diamond fields where the truck broke down. He said the
system would
have to be disabled by someone who works there.
Meanwhile a
network of diamond dealers last month suspended one of their
members, who is
believed to have listed diamond stones for sale from the
controversial
Marange district.
Martin Rapaport, who heads the computer-trading network
Rapnet, said their
members are going to take extreme efforts to make sure
that the diamonds
they offer are not from Marange.
Addressing trade
members during two conference calls on the sale of Marange
diamonds,
Rapaport stressed that while the stones may be sold legally in
India, China
and many other countries, their sale to Rapnet members in the
United States
and European Union is illegal.
Rapaport explained that the network is
considering plans to further restrict
the sale of Marange diamonds,
including a ban on the sale of green-tinted
stones, because many diamonds
from Marange are known to be that color.
He said plans to offer rewards
to anyone who reports a member who violates
their rules are also being
considered, since the sale of Marange diamonds
poses “moral and ethical”
issues for the industry because they are linked to
human rights abuses by
the Mugabe regime.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Monday, 02 January
2012 10:52
HARARE - With 90 days left before a UN agency stops
funding over 20 local
authorities with water purification chemicals, mayors
and council
chairpersons say a big disaster is looming until something
drastic is done
to rescue the situation.
The officials have described
the situation as catastrophic because of the
precarious financial situation
that most of the local authorities are in as
a result of unpaid rentals and
huge wage bills.
None of the local authorities is prepared for what is to
come.
Bulawayo Mayor Thaba Moyo is doubtful that his city would be able
to go it
alone.
He said his council has begun budgeting for United
Nations Children’s
Emergency Fund’s (Unicef) withdrawal but said the major
challenge would be
ratepayers who are mostly reluctant to settle their bills
on time.
“We would like to appreciate the assistance Unicef gave us, we
hope that we
will be able to do it when they leave but the main problem is
defaulters, as
council we will not sleep and watch people drink water for
free,” said Moyo.
The situation is not anyway better for Kadoma city
council as mayor Peter
Matambo, told the Daily News on Sunday that his local
authority is still
battling to raise adequate funds to procure water
purification chemicals.
“We hope that we are going to come up with a
mechanism that would ensure all
local authorities are not put to risk, we
hope that this is going to be
coordinated by our parent ministry and our
association UCAZ,” said Matombo.
Unicef came to the rescue of local
authorities in 2008 following an outbreak
of cholera that claimed over 4000
lives countrywide.
The assistance was supposed to have ended in June, but
almost all local
authorities pleaded with the UN agency to stay put until
they can look after
themselves.
But six months down the line, most
local authorities still need hand holding
in service provision.
Their
appeals resulted in Unicef extending the assistance to March this year
after
which each local authority is expected to be independent.
Harare which
has been battling for the past 12 months to provide water to
its residents
said Unicef’s withdrawal would put the lives of over 4 million
people at
risk.
Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda told the state media recently that
his
council requires $3 million for water chemicals every month, a figure
which
increased by a $1 million from the previous budget.
He said as
long as people are not paying their bills, things will certainly
get worse
when UN donors pull out.
“People must pay up so that we are able to do
these things. We are not
getting any funding from government” said
Masunda.
Harare City Council requires a production of over 1 400 mega
litres per day
to provide for its growing population and surrounding towns
such as
Chitungwiza, Ruwa and Norton.
Masunda said all the smaller
towns getting water from Harare are not paying
anything to his council, a
development that could put the capital city back
on the international
spotlight if the deadly cholera outbreak re-emerges.
“We continue
supplying services in good faith. As we speak, council is owed
$9 million by
Chitungwiza municipality.
“They (Chitungwiza municipality) are supposed
to collect money on our behalf
and remit it to us, but Alderman Philemon
Chipiyo (Chitungwiza mayor) does
not know how the system works,” Masunda
said.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/
By George
Omondi and Rex Chikoko
Posted Monday, January 2 2012 at
16:27
Malawi has suspended maize exports to build national reserves in
the face of
a looming shortage, marking a surprise twist for a country that
has served
as Africa’s model for attaining food security.
The move taken
by the country’s ministry in charge of Commerce and Industry
nullifies all
export licences that allowed grain traders to ship maize out
of the country,
locking out one of Kenya’s source markets for cereals.
“Malawi Revenue
Authority and all licence holders are requested to take heed
of the
suspension order,” reads the press release.
In the 2010/11 season, Malawi
announced a bumper harvest of 3.2 million
tonnes of maize against a national
consumption of 2.4 million tonnes. This
surplus came handy for South Sudan,
Kenya and Zimbabwe, helping to plug a
drought–induced shortage that
persisted during most of 2011.
Lately, however, Malawi estimates that 10
of its 28 districts are at risk of
maize shortage between last month and
February.
In Kenya, where recent short season harvests can barely last up to
the next
long rains crop expected in August, the news comes as a setback to
private
millers who have been pushing for the renewal of duty free import
window
that expired on New Year’s eve.
Malawi, Zambia and South
Africa are the important source of white maize that
Kenya imports each year
to manufacture flour and animal feed.
“Extending duty free facility will
pile pressure on local farmers to release
the recent harvests that they are
currently hoarding in the hope of pushing
up market prices,” says Diamond
Lalji, the Cereals Millers Association
chairman.
Failure by farmers
to release their November/December harvests have recently
forced the
National Cereals and Produce Board to raise its producer price to
Sh3,000
per bag in what World Bank describes as among the highest in the
world.
This gesture has, however, failed to soften farmers’ stand
with just a few
trickling back to the NCPB depots since it made the offer in
late October.
The hoarding has denied the consumer the benefit of low
market prices that
normally prevails at harvest time as flour prices remain
at high between
Sh108 and Sh112.
Being Comesa countries, maize from
Malawi and Zambia attracted just 25 per
cent duty compared to South Africa’s
which is subject to EAC’s common
external tariff of 50 per cent.
This
means that with the lapse of duty free incentive, local importers would
easily turn to Malawi or Zambia to boost national stock.
Seen as a
model African state where state subsidy programme has helped
farmers to
increase acreage under maize through improved access to modern
inputs,
research and technology, the looming shortage is likely to send the
region’s
policy makers back to the drawing board.
Recently, Malawi’s secretary in
the Department of Relief and Disaster
Preparedness Jeffrey Kanyinji
announced that the country has put aside 4,000
tonnes that are expected to
be distributed to about 200,000 Malawians that
are, at the moment, affected
by food shortage in the southern part of
Malawi.
A government
corporation that controls the sale of maize in Malawi,
Agriculture
Development and Marketing Corporation, announced the increase of
maize
prices by 50 per cent from $12 (Sh1,040) to $18 (Sh1,530) for a
50-kilogramme bag. This would be equivalent to Sh2,754 a 90-kilogramme bag
in Kenya.
Malawi’s Agriculture deputy minister Kingsley Namakhwa said
the review would
save farmers from exploitation of parallel market
traders.
omondi@ke.nationmedia.com
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
2 January
2012
Controversial and flamboyant businessman Phillip Chiyangwa has been
reportedly cleared to contest the Mashonaland West provincial chairmanship,
triggering bitter factional infighting among party bigwigs.
The
weekly Zimbabwe Standard reported that Chiyangwa will stand in elections
for
the vacant post of provincial chairperson, slated for end of January.
But
elections for the chairperson in Mashonaland West province have been
postponed on several occasions, due to the intensity of the
infighting.
A source told SW Radio Africa that Chiyangwa’s candidature
was splitting the
party right down the middle. He said even the politburo
was divided over the
issue. However, there are reports that Chiyangwa is a
hugely popular figure
among the poor from ZANU PF in the province.
He
is well known for using money to buy power and influence and this
practice
does not sit well with other party members, especially party leader
Robert
Mugabe.
In November last year Mugabe personally blocked Chiyangwa’s bid
to contest
the chairmanship, reminding members of the politburo that the
businessman
was still considered a security threat because of the espionage
case he
previously faced.
‘Chiyangwa uses money to buy influence and
you have a lot of these politburo
members fighting in his corner. That
should tell you something. But the
issue of elections in the province has
created a lot of tension and this
could split the party right down the
middle,’ our source said.
http://www.radiovop.com
Magunje, January 02, 2012 –
Zanu-PF’s Mashonaland West leadership is
planning to hijack developmental
projects initiated by late music icon
Prince Tendai Mupfurutsa as a
springboard for their campaigns ahead of
possible elections this
year.
Zanu-PF acting provincial chairman Reuben Marumahoko had no kind
words to a
Salvation Army Major Mubaiwa who requested for limited time for
those paying
last respect saying “It is our time and church leaders must not
be here to
preach during funerals”.
Marumahoko saw Mupfurutsa’s
burial as an opportune time for campaigns
saying, "Cde Beremauro (Hurungwe
Central MP) you must finish off Mupfurutsa
projects here".
Not to be
outdone, Webster Shamu said Zanu-PF leadership must accord the
late musician
a status for his role in bringing development to Hurungwe.
"Zanu-PF
recognised the roles of musicians such as late Simon Chimbetu and
Mupfurutsa
" he said.
Wilson Makanyaire of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
laughed off the
campaign by Zanu-PF big wigs saying it is unfortunate that
desperate to win
votes Zanu-PF grabbed the burial of an apolitical
artist.
"We are surprised that Zanu-PF hijacked the funeral and removed
all those
not aligned to the former ruling party from speakers list.
Mupfurutsa was
apolitical and we cherished his developmental plans for the
area regardless
of political persuasion.
“It is unfortunate that
Zanu-PF leaders want to cheat villagers here. He was
neither Zanu PF nor
MDC”.
“Mupfurutsa's body must be turning in the grave especially after
Shamu’s
comments alleging that Mupfurutsa fought hard against sanctions,”
added
Makanyaire.
Mupfurutsa who started working as an unqualified
teacher in 1976 before
joining Hurungwe and Zvimba rural district councils
as secretary had
development at heart.
When he went to Harare
venturing into insurance companies where he formed
companies he assisted in
sourcing furniture for most schools in education
starved Hurungwe
district.
He sponsored drilling of a borehole within his village and
graded a gravel
road linking to his homestead yet to be completed.
At
the time of his death he had plans of assisting his community build
health
facility.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Tonderai Kwenda, Deputy News
Editor
Monday, 02 January 2012 10:54
HARARE - December 31 is
always treated as a sacred day by many people around
the world.
It is
such an important day because it heralds the arrival of a new year. On
this
day a lot of people tend to be extra cautious and that is exactly what
they
did yesterday.
I took a drive around Harare where I met a number of
people who were looking
forward to 2012 with much anticipation.
The
excitement was quite measured as most people sought to avoid being among
those who “almost” made it into 2012.
At Rhodesville Shopping Centre in
Greendale, I met a couple doing their New
Year ’s Eve shopping.
“We
will be spending the day at home waiting for the New Year and we won’t
be
going out,” said Tafara Chikwara of Chaplin Road in Greendale.
Just
nearby at Red Fox nightspot, workers at the joint were busy making
preparations for yesterday evening’s festivities which featured the visiting
dancehall reggae star Red Rat.
Along Samora Machel Avenue brothers
Tichaona and Tafadzwa Muzerengi, who are
roadside-roasted maize vendors, saw
nothing extraordinary in the day.
“Christmas we were here and New Year we
will also be here. There is nothing
special these days all we want is to
make a living from what we do. Let
those who see something special
celebrate,” they said.
At several Chinese restaurants which have become a
favourite of many
Harareans, it was business as usual. Wing Wah
International Hotel located
along Glenara Avenue had its doors closed when I
walked in.
They were making preparations for the New Year’s Eve although
they had
nothing out of the extraordinary on their menu.
“We are
operating as normal and we will be closing at 9pm like we do every
day. We
don’t have any special New Year treats but we are open to our
customers who
might want something organised for them,” said a waiter at the
double storey
restaurant.
Wing Wah International Hotel serves traditional Chinese food
and charcoal
barbecue.
At Shangri- La restaurant along Enterprise
Road business was also low with
no indications of any spectacular New Year’s
Eve festivities.
“We don’t have any special treats for the New Year’s
Eve. We are operating
as normal and we will be closing at 10pm,” said an
official at the famous
Chinese restaurant which is a favourite of some
look-east policy believers.
Meanwhile, many drivers I met on the roads
where uncharacteristically
cautious. Even the numerous malfunctioning robots
did not dampen their
spirit of care as they rolled over into
2012.
Sam Levy’s Village was abuzz with New Year’s eve shoppers picking
up items
such as champagnes, wines, beers and meat to help lift up the 2012
cheer.
Millers Restaurant at the Sam Levy’s Village was a hive of
activity with
people of all races enjoying the festive treat.
A
waiter at the restaurant said they were planning to open for 24 hours but
were not yet certain if they were going to get enough business to do
so.
Police spokesperson Andrew Phiri said his team was keeping eyes on
and off
the road for mischief-makers.
Overally, it was a slow roll over
into 2012.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Everson Mushava, Staff Writer
Monday, 02 January
2012 12:00
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe, who is clamouring for an
early poll to
beat advanced age and reported ill health, is faced with a
similar situation
that led to his defeat to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in
the March 2008
presidential elections.
Mugabe only managed to
return to government after Tsvangirai boycotted a
violent run-off, forcing
the formation of a coalition of the bitter rivals
with the former trade
unionist coming in as Prime Minister.
The two men are set to fight it out
again in elections most likely in 2013,
although Mugabe is pressing for a
2012 poll.
The Daily News on Sunday can reveal today that MPs that
revolted against
Mugabe in 2008 under an operation code named “bhora musango
(kick the ball
off the field)” are at it again.
Under the 2008
operation, his MPs called for people to vote for them alone
and not
Mugabe.
Angered by the former guerrilla leader’s refusal to leave power
to the
younger generation despite declining public support, MPs are grouping
to
resist Mugabe’s early election poll.
They also want to push for
the scrapping of internal primary elections for
sitting MPs, arguing that
an early election would have prejudiced them since
their terms, which were
supposed to end next year, would have been cut
short.
This would be
the second time that the MPs’ terms will be cut after Mugabe
called an early
election in 2008 when MPs’ terms were supposed to end in
2010.
Party
sources, including several MPs, said the plot is code-named “Operation
gara
pauri ipapo (stay where you are)”.
The plot, according to sources, is
still muted but gathering momentum.
Under the operation, MPs and
ministers are vowing to stay put “the way
Mugabe did” and intent to launch
an offensive against the party’s procedure
of conducting primaries ahead of
general polls.
Observers note that it will be an uphill task for the MPs
to pull off the
plot given the history of senior party members who plot
against Mugabe only
to chicken at the octogenarian’s word.
The plot,
which also involves current Zanu PF ministers, exposes how Zanu PF
stalwarts
are against an early election. They feel the elections could mark
the end of
their political careers if handled in a rush since the party lost
its
parliamentary majority in 2008 for the first time since independence.
The
MDC also ended Zanu PF’s dominance of rural councils in 2008.
“If Mugabe
remains President, then we all should remain MPs and no primaries
should be
conducted in constituencies. If Mugabe is unchallenged, the same
should
happen to legislators,” said one MP.
According to the MPs, most Zanu PF
officials on the ground in their
constituencies were uncomfortable to
challenge the MDC in the next elections
with Mugabe as the man in
charge.
Most Zanu PF heavies, including serial flip-flopper, Jonathan
Moyo confided
to American diplomats that Mugabe was out of favour with most
party
officials and was of ill health.
“The truth is we (Zanu PF) do
not want elections now,” said another MP.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare
Gumbo confessed ignorance of the secret plot.
“President Mugabe was
endorsed at the congress (last month) and I do not
know the mechanism the
MPs will use to represent the party in their
constituencies without going
through primary elections.
“As a party, we live by the conference
decision and we are ready for the
polls,” said Gumbo.
In 2008, Mugabe
suffered defeat to Tsvangirai under similar circumstances
when his
legislators called for voters to vote for them only and not
Mugabe.
Churches, rights groups and election observer groups later
accused the
military, whose leaders are fiercely loyal to Mugabe, of driving
a violent
run-off campaign that Tsvangirai says left at least 200 of his
supporters
dead.
Thousands others were forced to seek refuge as their
houses were bombed and
burnt as known MDC activists came under intense
attack.
Mugabe and his close lieutenants are already sensing
danger.
Late last year, Mugabe used an inter-party anti-violence indaba
to warn Zanu
PF members against repeating the sabotage that resulted in his
March 2008
humiliation.
He took a swipe at his MPs for betraying him
during the 2008 poll under the
operation bhora musango.
“Kwedu
takamboita bhora rainzi rovera bhora musango rekuti mumwe atadza
kusarudzwa
asi anoenda achiti ini ndinavo vangu vanondisupporter havambofa
vakakuvhotera iwewe. Ibhora re rudzwai, ghedi racho riripi? (In our party,
we once had people undermining each other because they claimed to have more
support than other party cadres),” Mugabe said then.
His party’s
political commissar, Webster Shamu, known as a staunch backer of
prolonged
Mugabe rule, has also fired warning shots, realising that the 2008
ghost
will come back to haunt the party.
He recently warned party members
against challenging or undermining Mugabe
in the next elections.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Monday,
02 January 2012 10:59
HARARE - Several people were arrested last year
for insulting him, some
allegedly called him a homosexual, impotent and an
idiot among a host of
insults hardly suitable for an ageing 87-year-old
liberation war veteran.
But such has been President Robert Mugabe’s
decline that the year 2011 is
likely to go down as a bad one for the former
school teacher and guerrilla
war leader who has turned from hero to villain
in just over three decades
since independence from Britain in
1980.
From a failed anti-sanctions petition and 2011 election drive to
alleged
failing health and waning public support, the 87-year-old leader is
theoretically living in hell on earth.
Information leaked during the
year showed his close confidantes spoke
glowingly of him in public but
rubbished his leadership credentials in
private discussions with American
diplomats.
Members of the public also had their share of venting their
anger and
frustrations on the ageing leader and one of the leaders of the
liberation
struggle — Mugabe.
From MDC cabinet ministers, members of
Parliament, to ordinary people on the
streets, Mugabe has been a target for
insults and this has landed several of
them in hot soup.
Over a dozen
of people have been locked up on allegations of either
undermining the
office of the President or insulting the office and the
person of the
President.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s close aide, Jameson Timba
led the team of
Mugabe’s insult charge victims in 2011.
He was
arrested in June on allegations of labelling Mugabe a liar after the
Sandton
South Africa Sadc Summit where Mugabe reportedly twisted the outcome
of the
meeting to suit his political party’s drive and push for early
elections.
Timba was charged with undermining the authority of the
President.
Vendors on the streets also tasted Mugabe’s wrath with one
Johan Ndhlovu
from Esigodini Township near Gwanda being arrested for calling
on Mugabe to
step down.
Ndlovu allegedly said “the old man must
resign” in what was interpreted as
meaning Mugabe is old and should step
down.
Still in Bulawayo, a white farmer, Van Royen, was in July
“arrested” by Zanu
PF youths on allegations that he had insulted
Mugabe.
His lawyer Tawanda Mashayamombe told the Daily News on Sunday
then that
Royen was facing charges of insulting Mugabe.
“He is facing
charges of insulting the President” said Mashayamombe.
The charges
against Royen emanated from a discussion he held with Bulawayo
Zanu PF youth
chairperson Joel Tshuma over his farm.
In the east of the country, three
Penhalonga residents were arrested in
February this year for allegedly
singing an altered version of Mbare
Chimurenga Choir’s pro-Mugabe
“Nyatsoterera” song.
The charges against the three are that on February
3, 2011 at Tsvingwe
cemetery, Penhalonga, Patrick Chikoti, Faith Mudiwa and
Phillip Dowera or
one or more of them engaged in disorderly and riotous
(sic) conduct and
threatening words “Nyatsoterera unzwe kupenga muhofisi
mune mboko
nyatsoterera unzwe kupenga (Listen carefully and hear the
madness. In the
office there is a mad man. Listen carefully how mad he
is)”.
They also allegedly chanted: “Ngatishandei nesimba takabatana
tibvise
kamudhara aka muoffice mupinde president wenyika Morgan Tsvangirai
(Let us
work hard to remove this old man from the office so that our dear
leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai might enter office).”
Zebedia Mpofu, a
52-year-old Harare man, was in July summoned to appear in
court to answer to
charges of insulting Mugabe’s person after he allegedly
told a workmate who
supports Zanu PF that Mugabe’s supporters were only
beginning to enjoy a
relatively good life because of Tsvangirai’s entry into
government.
Mpofu allegedly charged that his workmate Gilbert
Mataruse, was having a
good lunch thanks to Tsvangirai’s entrance into
government.
The accused then shouted to Gilbert through the window,
saying that the
biscuits and the Cascade he was having were brought courtesy
of Tsvangirai.
MDC Chiredzi West, MP Moses Mare was in August fined $20
for assaulting a
15-year-old school boy who was singing “Nyatsoterera”, a
song that exalts
Mugabe and his Zanu PF party.
Even convicts had no
kind words for the former liberator as evidenced by
Daniel Mutema, who was
convicted of robbery last month and sentenced to 12
years in
prison.
Mutema claimed that Mugabe was “impotent”. “Even if you sentence
me to 70
years in prison, I don’t care because Mugabe will be dead by then
and
Tsvangirai will be in power and I will still come and deal with you,” he
told the prosecutor who led the case on the State’s behalf.
The wrath
against those critical of Mugabe did not end there, as a Bindura
lawyer
Ernest Jena was two weeks ago arraigned before the courts facing
charges of
undermining the authority of the president.
State prosecutor Emmanuel
Muchenga alleged that Jena insulted Mugabe on
December 9, 2011 while
enjoying some refreshments at Kimberley Reef Hotel in
Bindura, Mashonaland
Central Province.
Muchenga allegedly said: “Mugabe mudenga, Mugabe
mudenga, muroverei pasi”
which the State translated to mean, “Lift Mugabe up
in the air and then
crush him against the ground.”
Chimanimani West
MP Lynette Karenyi spent Christmas period in custody on
allegations that he
labelled Mugabe gay.
According to state papers, Karenyi is alleged to have
said Mugabe was
practising homosexuality with serial flip-flopper Jonathan
Moyo.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
02/01/2012 00:00:00
by Professor Sabelo J.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni
THE New Year is a time to reflect on the past with a view
to transcending
the murky present and then forecast on the mysterious
future.
For Zimbabwe, the past, the present, and the future, are so
inextricably
intertwined to the extent that some political forces are even
trying to stop
the wheel of history itself from turning so as to immortalize
a particular
historical moment as the ‘end of history.’ Simply put, to try
and stop the
wheel of history from motion is a futile exercise.
What
needs to occupy our minds is to clearly understand what went wrong in
Zimbabwe. Politicians, civil society organizations, and intellectuals as
well as all concerned citizens must strive to come up with a ‘scientific’
and ‘objective’ analysis of the causes and nature of the Zimbabwe problem.
Only from this basis can its resolutions be found consisting of effective
therapies and durable peace settlements.
One of the main weaknesses
of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) as a form
of resolution of the
Zimbabwe problem is that it suffered from the ‘crisis
of presentism,’ which
translates to the common human habit of seeking to
deal with what
immediately appeared on the surface of life as reality. In
short, the GPA
became informed, framed and driven by the urge to deal with
symptoms rather
than causes of the Zimbabwe problem.
The land issue, sanctions, human
rights abuses, poor governance, violence,
lack of rule of law, ethnocracy,
racism, and other problems that appear on
the surface of the political
landscape of Zimbabwe are mere symptoms of
deep-rooted, structural and
hidden issues, that require critical minds to
unearth.
Unless a clear
diagnosis of the causes and nature of the Zimbabwe problem is
made, we will
live with a catalogue of minimalist resolutions such as the
3rd March
Agreement of 1978 that failed to stop the liberation struggle or
to resolve
the Rhodesia problem; only producing the anomaly called
Zimbabwe-Rhodesia
government that became complicity in the bombings of
liberation movements’
rear bases in Zambia and Mozambique.
Following that we had the Lancaster
House Agreement of 1979 where the
sacrifices of the sons and the daughters
of the soil who perished in
Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, and inside
Rhodesia theatres of war fighting
for freedom were short-changed and sold
out by their petit-nationalist
bourgeois leaders, who succumbed and
capitulated to the demands of global
and local white capital to produce a
neo-colony of Zimbabwe, where land and
other factors of production remained
in the hands of the white minority
citizens.
And then there was the
Unity Accord of 22 December 1987, that became nothing
but nationalist elite
accommodation of each other after exposing 20 000
innocent peoples of
Matebeleland and the Midlands regions to death, before
finding each
other.
Then there was tThe GPA of 15 September 2008, that simply allowed
a losing
political formation to continue being politically relevant and to
spoil the
democratic political trajectory of the country. We as a people
are poised
for more of these flawed conflict resolution mechanism as long as
a clear
diagnosis of the Zimbabwe problem does not form the basis of
negotiations
and formulation of effective therapies and durable
resolutions.
What went wrong in Zimbabwe? I am not the first one to be
pre-occupied with
this pertinent question. Intellectuals like Brian
Raftopoulos, Jonathan
Moyo, John Makumbe, Ibbo Mandaza and others have
worked towards explaining
the problem. The emerging consensus in the various
attempts is that the
problem is historical and structural. It is
multi-layered and multi-faceted.
What I will try to do is to try unpacking
the layers and revealing the
historical and structural nature of the problem
in very simple terms.
Colonial Layer
Zimbabwe is a colonial and
nationalist invention of the 20th century. It’s
making involved violence and
conquest of the various people inhabiting the
lands lying between the
Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, who otherwise had
different
identities.
No black person consented to be part of Rhodesia as a
colonial state.
Rhodesian authorities were content in creating a state but
were not eager to
create the nation of whites and blacks as equal and
consenting citizens.
Divide and rule was the key style of governance. Black
people became tribes
and subjects and whites became citizens and
masters.
Strategic resources were allocated to citizens while subjects
provided the
needed cheap labour in this colonial matrix of power. However,
this
colonially created citizen-subject and settler-native relationship was
unsustainable except through violence and imprisonment.
But violence
itself has never been sustainable and successful as a lever of
maintaining
asymmetrical power relations and tyrannical governance.
Inevitably Rhodesia
imploded into conflict called the liberation struggle in
the 1960s and
1970s. Roots of violence and authoritarianism are traceable to
the colonial
layer. Colonial violence begot nationalist violence. This
scenario of
conflict takes us to the next layer.
Nationalist Layer
Nationalism
confronted colonialism with a view to creating a postcolonial
state led by
the black petit-nationalist bourgeois who had imbibed
coloniality and
liberal modernity in churches, mission schools and overseas
universities.
What became the liberation struggle emerged as a clash between
the
established white colonial bourgeois and emerging black bourgeois over
power.
The struggle began when the white colonial states could not
accommodate the
colonially educated black bourgeois into its structures of
power and
privilege. Black peasants, workers, and other social groups were
mobilized
to fight on behalf of the petit-nationalist bourgeois who were
struggling
for power. This class struggle was marketed as a liberation war
and a
struggle for freedom.
It is not surprising that this struggle
culminated only in mere juridical
freedom marked by the ascendency of
petit-black bourgeois into political
power that was left by the colonial
government and this shift of faces at
state house from white to black, was
celebrated as independence for everyone
including peasants and
workers.
Because the black bourgeois had attained what they wanted, they
were quick
to accommodate the erstwhile white bourgeois through policies of
reconciliation and forgiveness. Besides regular elections marked by
violence, the style of governance continued in the same manner as under
colonial rule with use of emergency powers against opposition, with violence
being celebrated, and democratic spaces being closely monitored and
closed.
The petit-black nationalist leadership now in charge of the
post-colonial
(neocolonial) state arrogated to itself pedagogical powers and
skills to
teach workers and peasants what liberation meant and the meaning
of being
patriotic. This arrogance bred the idea of nationalists and war
veterans to
claim to have died for all of us and on the basis of this claim
to assume
the psychology of being the alpha and omega leadership of
Zimbabwe.
The Neo-Colonial Layer
Zimbabwe was born in April 1980 as a
typical neo-colony, whereby at the top
political level, were black
individuals who called themselves our new
leaders, revolutionaries,
comrades, and liberators and at the economic
level, the former white
Rhodesians still dominated. Even the land issue
which was one of the main
causes of the liberation war remained unsolved and
the so-called
revolutionary leaders were not ashamed of this open betrayal
of the core
ideal of the liberation struggle.
This scenario portended future
conflicts and continuation of violence as a
variable in resolution of
conflicts. Zimbabwe, typical of all neo-colonies,
when the time came for it
to flex its little muscles, it targeted an
internal black minority (the
Ndebele) and its overseas handlers (America,
Britain, and others, together
with it collaborators in the continent and the
region) looked aside, as this
manufactured conflict rooted in intra-black
bourgeois competition for power
mediated by regionalism and ethnicity that
unfolded in 1963 consumed lives
of innocent people, because it diverted
energies of those in political
control of the state from taking
decolonization to its logical
conclusion.
In Matebeleland and Midlands regions any black peasant hungry
for land who
trespassed into a white farm was reported as a dissident and a
legitimate
target of the Fifth Brigade that enjoyed a close working
relationship with
white farmers in the region throughout the
1980s.
Therefore, the resolution of the land question in Zimbabwe was
delayed not
only by the clauses of the Lancaster House Constitution but also
by
intra-nationalist bourgeois conflicts pitting Zanu PF against PF Zapu. As
this conflict raged on, corruption, clientilism, patronage, nepotism and
kleptocracy reigned supreme exemplified by the Willovalle Car Scandal; while
at the same time the little that had remained of democracy fell into what
the veteran Edgar Tekere termed intensive care unit.
Our Current
Situation
We are now back to a similar situation whereby intra-and
inter-elite
competition for power is weighing heavily on the Zimbabwe body
politic
consuming lives of innocent people and opening the gates for foreign
intervention including sanctions. The energy that Zanu PF and MDC formations
spend opposing each other rather than working together for the good of the
nation is just enormous.
While this is happening, ethnocracy and
racism have been normalized as
virtues rather than aberrations that only
announce the level of sickness of
our society and the depth of issues that
remain unresolved.
What is even surprising is that since 2009, the
political leaders of the
dominant political formations, with all the space
of meeting every Monday,
have failed to work together amicably. Zimbabwe has
since 2009 been run
through SADC communiqués. Real nationalists would be
ashamed of this
situation. We need internal consensus in Zimbabwe rather
than direction from
SADC.
What is seriously lacking in Zimbabwe is a
positive nationalist spirit that
unites the people and the leaders as well
as informing the behavior of those
claiming leadership across political
divides. There is a serious nationalist
deficit in Zimbabwe. Nationalism is
now abused as a regime security
guarantor rather than unifier of the people.
Nationalism is now a private
ideology of particular political actors, rather
than a broad sentiment of
patriotism.
All this indicates that there
are no real nationalists but lip-service ones,
who only use nationalism for
regime security purposes. Pursuit of power for
power’s sake is detrimental
to the nation. Vision is the DNA of leadership
not lust for
power.
What we need is positive nationalism as a unifying ideology
capable of
forming a new basis for re-articulation, re-imagining and
re-constructing of
the idea of Zimbabwe in line with the present context.
Zimbabwe needs to be
freed from the Chimurenga ideology of the 1960sand
1970s together with
Gukurahundi as its policing agent. We need a new idea of
Zimbabwe that is
accommodative of diverse identities and civic spaces where
all people will
enjoy equal rights irrespective of gender, region, tribe,
race, religion and
generation.
Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is a
Professor in the Department of Development
Studies at the University of
South Africa (UNISA). He can be contacted at:
sjndlovugatsheni@gmail.com