A group of nearly 80 clergymen from the
Church Province of Central Africa (CPCA) were evicted from Peterhouse High
School in Marondera on Tuesday, by police who insisted they did not seek
permission to gather for their annual prayer retreat.
Precious
Shumba, the spokesperson for Harare Bishop Chad Gandiya, said police came
within minutes of the Anglicans’ arrival on Monday, claiming they need
clearance in terms of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
The law
simply requires that they be notified, but police have used it selectively
over the years to restrict perceived ‘enemies’ from gathering. Shumba said
the Anglican clergy had “defied the order” on Monday since they were not
breaking any law, insisting the police remove them by force.
“This
morning police returned with re-enforcements and threatened to arrest men of
God, including the bishops, if they did not leave immediately,” Shumba said,
describing the eviction that followed on Tuesday.
He said the police
action is a continuation of the harassment and persecution of the CPCA and
demonstrates “their allegiance to the ex-communicated Anglican Bishop
Nolbert Kunonga”.
Bishop Kunonga split from the CPCA in 2007 after he was
ex-communicated and started his own church. He is known to be a loyal
supporter of Robert Mugabe and has received police protection during a
violent campaign against CPCA supporters.
Clergy from the CPCA were
last year evicted from church owned schools, hospitals and other properties,
including the main cathedral in Harare, after the courts granted Kunonga
temporary custody of church properties in Harare. The main church says he is
using this to take over properties in other provinces illegally, with
support from the police.
Shumba explained that Peterhouse is a private
school that allows other groups to use the venue and needs no permission
from the police.
Meanwhile, Kunonga and his supporters are reportedly
meeting at St. Augustine’s Mission School in Mutare, Manicaland province. It
is not clear whether they sought permission for the gathering.
The
evicted CPCA clergy are currently at an alternate venue in Marondera while
negotiations between the Harare bishop and the police continue, with hopes
of returning to Peterhouse to complete their week-long prayer retreat.
WAR veterans have urged President Robert Mugabe to dissolve
Parliament and call fresh elections claiming the country's constitutional
reform process has failed.
The move by the liberation war veterans –
who are dismissed by critics as shock-troopers for Zanu PF – follow a
similar threat by Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa.
In a statement
Monday, war veterans leader, Jabulani Sibanda claimed the constitutional
reform process had betrayed the views of ordinary Zimbabweans.
"We,
the war veterans of Zimbabwe, having read the preliminary reports of Copac
Drafting Committee, hereby express our shock, indignation and displeasure at
the total disregard of and departure from what the people said they want in
their constitution through the outreach programme," Sibanda
said.
Sibanda claimed the constitutional reform process had fallen victim
to forces keen to delay elections demanded Mugabe and his Zanu PF
party. He added that the Zanu PF leader should now move to dissolve
parliament in order to force the elections.
"It is also clear that
Copac's intention is to as much as possible delay the constitution making
process so as to avoid the holding of elections this year," he
said.
"Our considered view is that the President, in terms of the current
constitution, must dissolve Parliament and announce a date for
elections."
Chinamasa made a similar threat last month, accusing Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party of holding back the constitutional
reforms in order to delay elections.
“It is very possible for the
President to call for elections and there is no provision that prevents him
from doing that but it is our desire as Zanu PF to see the
constitution-making process concluded so that we hold elections under a new
constitution,” Chinamasa said.
“The MDC is always insisting on reforms
before the elections but it’s not clear who should reform what? We cannot be
held at ransom by the MDC-T which is employing every dirty delaying tactic
in the book to avoid elections.” Mugabe claims new elections must be held
early this year because the coalition government was no longer
workable.
But the MDC-T has insisted that political reforms, which
include a new constitution, must be completed to ensure the election outcome
is not disputed.
“(We will go) for elections after the completion
of the constitution-making process, the referendum, drafting of a new
voters’ roll, media reforms, completion of legislative reform, the
conclusion of outstanding issues at the dialogue table on security sector
realignment and staffing of ZEC,” MDC-T secretary general and Finance
minister, Tendai Biti told reporters after party’s national council meeting
last month.
“And also after the compliance by Zimbabwe on the SADC
electoral guidelines on free and fair elections and putting in place of
mechanisms to ensure that violence will not be a factor in the said election
that is what the roadmap suggests.”
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and bitter rival and
current Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are planning joint anti-violence
rallies ahead of elections analysts warn could be as bloody as the
inconclusive 2008 ballot.
The country-wide rallies, which would also
involve MDC leader, Professor Welshman Ncube, were confirmed by senior
officials from Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.
Said Zanu PF’s
Didymus Mutasa: "The dates have not yet been given to us by the President;
as you know there are three principals, but there is one main one who is
President Mugabe, so we are guided by him.”
"The purpose of the meetings
will be to inform the greater public on the need to tolerate each other.
This is an idea of all the parties in the inclusive Government, so we will
go to all the provinces with the same message of tolerance and
co-existence."
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga of Ncube’s MDC added: "We
are waiting for the principals to give us the dates and as you may be aware
the President is on leave so maybe the meetings will be held in
February.
"It was the principals who requested that they wanted to go to
all the provinces with the same intention of urging no
violence." Tsvangirai’s MDC was however, non-committal, insisting several
issues still needed to be clarified.
"It should be made clear in what
capacity the principals will be addressing the people if they are to address
together. I.e. are they addressing as presidents of parties or in their
government roles?" party spokesperson, Douglas Mwonzora said in an interview
with The Herald.
"We also want to know in what order they will speak;
i.e. are they going to speak in alphabetical order, are they going to use
their ages or their government positions in taking turns to
speak?
"We also want to know the message and how it is going to be
communicated. If there are agreements on these issues then I don't see
serious objections to this initiative." Mwonzora said, if held, the
rallies should address several key issues ahead of the planned
elctions.
"The substance of the principals' proposed campaign must
address the question of selective application of the law by law enforcement
agents," he said. "They must clearly indicate that there will not be any
sacred cows when it comes to dealing with perpetrators of
violence.
"We, therefore, expect the principals to give orders
unequivocally to law enforcement agents especially the police to stop acting
in a partisan manner."
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Ncube addressed
a so-called anti-violence indaba in Harare last November as concern
increased over clashes between the parties.
The Zanu PF leader has
insisted new elections must be held early this year to replace the coalition
government claiming the arrangement was no longer workable.
However
the MDC formations want reforms agreed under the SADC-mediated Global
Political Agreement GPA to be fully implemented first.
03/01/2012 00:00:00 by David Smith I
guardian.co.uk
IN the evening gloom the vast complex emerges into
view. Beyond a high security wall, insects dance in the beam of a giant
floodlight. Men are still hard at work in the skeletons of concrete tower
blocks, and standing at the centre of it all is the arch of a Chinese
pagoda.
Zimbabwe’s national defence college is under construction within
a sprawling, heavily-guarded compound whose brooding presence sends a clear
message to any would-be revolutionary. Some have dubbed it the “Robert
Mugabe national school of intelligence".
The construction site north
of Harare has also become the lightning rod for another source of simmering
resentment – Chinese labour practices.
Surrounded by a perimeter wall
that runs for a kilometre through what was once farmland, the shadowy
military academy is being built by a Chinese contractor whose managers are
accused of meting out physical punishments, miserable conditions and meagre
pay.
"The beatings happen very often," said a 28-year-old carpenter,
wearing blue overalls as he made the long walk home after a 14-hour shift.
"They ill-treat you and, if you make a mistake, they beat you up.
"I
saw some men beaten up yesterday. A guy complained: 'You're not treating us
like human beings,' and the Chinese replied: 'You should appreciate we've
come to assist you.' They beat him up and he was fired." He estimated
that there were about 600 Zimbabwean and 300 Chinese workers on the site.
Around 50 of the Chinese were managers.
Some of the Chinese have "nice
homes inside" while others live in wooden shacks just outside the complex.
The Zimbabweans and Chinese rarely mix, he added. "They don't speak English
so we use sign language. The Chinese eat off plates, then give us the
leftovers."
The carpenter said he typically gets up at 4am and works from
7am to 9pm every day. For this he is paid $4 (£2.50) a day, but at least it
is work so he can feed his wife and three children. "We don't have a choice
because we need to survive. But if it was possible to chase all the Chinese
away, I would."
Reports of abuse by managers at the Chinese
contractor, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company (AFECC), are
widespread, as are complaints that the government is turning a blind eye
because it cannot afford to lose such a valuable partner.
A
26-year-old builder, on his way to a nightshift, said: "We tried to go on
strike but the leader of it was beaten up and sacked. The government doesn't
say anything, even though it knows people are beaten up. I saw them undress
some workers and beat them with helmets. Some of them were crying with the
pain. "We feel angry but we need money, so there is no choice. If you
don't work 10 hours, there is no money."
Attempts to contact AFECC by
telephone and email were unsuccessful. The company's website refers to
projects in Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Zambia, and describes how the
project team of the Zimbabwe national defence college raised $4,570 for a
carpenter whose son needed treatment for leukaemia.
Zimbabwe received a
Chinese loan of $98m to build the college. It will be repaid over 20 years
through earnings from the Marange diamond fields, which are being mined by
another Chinese firm amid widespread claims of human rights violations under
military control.
Okay Machisa, director of the Zimbabwe Humna Rights
Association, said: "Parliament approving such a debt without consulting
Zimbabeweans is very serious. Why are we prioritising an army intelligence
college instead of universities and hospitals?
"Harare has no
electricity most of the time and the water is not good for human
consumption. It shows we are trying to keep Zimbabwe under the control of
state security."
China’scommercial empire has expanded enormously in
Africa over the past decade and Zimbabwe is trying to catch up. Trade
between the two countries stood at $550m last year, according to the Chinese
embassy.
The government in Harare has announced that China plans up to
US$10 billion in investments over the next five years, more than in any
other country.
Diamonds and other mineral resources are the main
attraction, but Chinese entrepreneurs have also seized opportunities in
construction, manufacturing and retail.
Chinese restaurants are
booming, attracting top politicians and businessmen. Shops are flooded with
cheap Chinese imports, or "zhing-zhong", of dubious quality. Zimbabwean
vendors claim they are being undercut and put out of work.
Just as a
recent Human Rights Watch report alleged poor conditions at Chinese-run
copper mines in neighbouring Zambia, so there is growing antipathy and
mistrust in Zimbabwe. Trade unions have called for action and even members
of Mugabe's Zanu PF party have expressed disquiet.
Machisa said: "We've
got alarming, shocking human rights abuses in firms operated by the Chinese.
We've got empirical evidence that is going to shock the people of Zimbabwe.
They are physically abusing the workers. They are psychologically
terrorising the workers.
"But they are not being prosecuted. There is a
culture of impunity." Others believe the problem is a cultural
misunderstanding.
A Chinese immigrant, 29-year-old Li Chen, said: "If
Chinese people work from 8am till 8pm they have no problem. Sometimes they
ask their employees to do the same and it makes them unhappy. It will not
happen. "It's a different culture. If people sit down and talk and understand
each other, it should change."
MDC-99 President Job Sikhala was arrested by
the police on New Year’s Day over an alleged immigration matter but his
party insist he is being persecuted for standing up against Robert Mugabe’s
dictatorship.
An aide who answered his phone told us the militant and
outspoken former University of Zimbabwe student leader was picked up by the
police from his St Mary’s home around 7pm on New Year’s Day.
‘He is
being held at Rhodesville police station where they’ve denied his wife and
family access to see him,’ the aide said, adding: ‘This is a clear case of
state sponsored intimidation against Sikhala.’
The aide who asked not to
be named, told SW Radio Africa that police have told them Sikhala is to be
charged with contravening the Immigration Act. The MDC-99 leader is alleged
to have assisted a South Africa citizen to enter Zimbabwe in July, through
the Beitbridge border post, without a passport.
‘The police are so
desperate to secure a conviction against Sikhala by any means possible that
they’re now fabricating charges against him. How on earth could Sikhala have
helped someone without papers transcend two border check points without
being noticed?
‘All they want is to instil a climate of fear to stop him
criticising Mugabe and ZANU PF. Unfortunately they won’t succeed, what they
are doing is hardening his resolve to stand up against this dictatorship,’
the aide said.
Sikhala is expected to appear in court on Wednesday. His
lawyer Harrison Nkomo told us his client denies the charge and has vowed to
fight ‘tooth and nail’ to clear his name. Party officials have linked his
arrest to protests he led in Harare last month.
In December last year
Sikhala was picked up by the police after he led a small protest march of
about 10 people, calling on Robert Mugabe to step down. Sikhala and his
group marched to Munhumutapa Building (Mugabe’s office) waving placards that
denounced Mugabe. He was released by the police for lack of evidence against
him.
By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer Tuesday, 03
January 2012 14:27
HARARE - The MDC says it is ready to fight Zanu
PF’s plot to force Zimbabweans to go to the polls without a new constitution
and electoral reforms to the bitter end.
A new constitution and
necessary electoral sector reforms are some of the major demands made by
Sadc and other political parties in the inclusive government for the holding
of a free and fair election.
Zanu PF, however, seems adamant the polls
would go ahead without the said reforms.
President Robert Mugabe’s
party has argued in the past that there is nothing wrong or amiss with the
current constitution while on the other hand, it has admitted to the need
for Zimbabwe to come up with a new constitution.
Zanu PF secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa insisted to the Daily News yesterday his party
would push for elections this year with or without a new
constitution.
Mutasa said the much touted electoral and political
reforms, including a new constitution, are not a necessity for the country
to go for an election.
“From our Bulawayo conference, the party resolved
that we are going to have elections this year.
“This means that we
will go for an election with or without a new constitution, if we fail to
have a new constitution this year, we will use the old constitution to hold
the elections,” said Mutasa.
He described the availability of a new
supreme law as an added advantage.
“We have held elections with the
current constitution. We can still use it and that is what we will
do. “Once the president announces that elections are going to be held on such
a date, then elections will be held, even without the new constitution,”
Mutasa said.
He, however, said his party had its own demands it would
push for.
“The reforms which the MDC should push for, is the closure of
those pirate radio stations and no other reforms,” Mutasa said.
But
Welshman Ncube, the president of the smaller MDC faction described Mutasa’s
statements as “political grandstanding” which if allowed to carry the day
would be suicidal to Zanu PF and the country.
Ncube said his party would
only accept conditions that include a new constitution as one suitable for a
free and fair election.
“A new constitution is a basic condition that
this country needs for holding free and fair elections.
“If Zanu PF
decides otherwise, that is political suicide and in short they will be
committing political suicide.
“They cannot force people to vote using the
old conditions,” said Ncube.
“As much as I know, political grandstanding
is the hallmark of Zanu PF and that is expected from such a party,” he
said.
Douglas Mwonzora, the spokesperson for the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
MDC said his party will not give in to Mugabe’s election demand if political
and electoral reforms that are stipulated and part of the Sadc negotiated
agreement are not met.
“We know that Zanu PF is not willing to
implement these agreed reforms in the election roadmap. As a party, we will
use all the available tactics to ensure that the country does not go for
elections in the same mood of June 2008,” said Mwonzora.
He said
Mugabe no longer wields much power to call for an election wilfully as such
a call is process- driven.
“Holding of elections will be determined by a
process which includes ensuring that those in the Diaspora are allowed to
vote, we have media reforms, we have security sector reforms and have a new
constitution.
“It is not Mugabe’s sole prerogative,” Mwonzora said.
Election Resource Center Director Tawanda Chimhini said that
while he supported training for officers ahead of the national vote, he was
doubtful they would follow through on their nonpartisan pledge
Jonga
Kandemiiri, Ntungamili Nkomo
Zimbabwe's national police force has
launched preparations for the national elections expected to take place this
year, with officer training programs to stop violence and keep the peace,
Deputy Commissioner-General Josephine Shambare told state media.
The
police have been accused of failing to arrest the perpetrators of political
violence in the 2008 elections and in previous ballots, particularly if such
perpetrators were supporters of the ZANU-PF party of President Robert
Mugabe.
But Shambare said the police won’t tolerate violence by members
of any party. Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri urged all political
parties recently to shun violence, saying officers will crack down on
perpetrators regardless of their affiliation.
Election Resource
Center Director Tawanda Chimhini told VOA’s Ntungamili Nkomo that while he
supported training for officers ahead of the national vote, he was doubtful
they would follow through on their pledge to apply the law impartially
across the board.
Douglas Mwonzora, spokesman for the Movement for
Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said his
party will only believe the police if they put their words into action,
considering that perpetrators of 2008 violence remain free.
Political
analyst Charles Mutasa told Jonga Kandemiiri that most people will find it
hard to take seriously the police pledge to even-handedly maintain the
peace.
Bulawayo-based analyst Effie Dlela Ncube declared his skepticism
as well.
By Nkululeko Sibanda, Senior Writer Tuesday, 03 January
2012 13:01
HARARE - Zimbabwe's political situation comes under the
spotlight next month when the regional grouping, Sadc meets to review the
situation in the region.
Sadc executive secretary Tomaz Augusto
Salamao told the Daily News yesterday that the dates of the summit will be
agreed on during the forthcoming African Union summit set for Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia in three weeks’ time.
The African Union meets in the Ethiopian
capital starting January 21, with the summit expected to run until January
28.
“The African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will afford
leaders of Sadc an opportunity to discuss when we can hold the Sadc summit,”
said Salamao.
“That is the summit where we will, as Sadc, be able to
review the political and economic situation in all the countries that have
been hotspots in the region, Zimbabwe included, in the previous year,” he
added.
Zimbabwe, Salamao said, had indeed and undoubtedly become a
regional hotspot.
“If you look at the Zimbabwean situation, one does
not indeed doubt that the country’s political and economic situation has
been a cause for concern for the Sadc region.
“You need to look at
the number of summits that have been held on Zimbabwe in the year and others
gone by and you will appreciate that Sadc simply is seized with the
Zimbabwean issue,” Salamao said.
The regional grouping’s secretary said
it was Sadc’s wish to see Zimbabwe regaining peace and tranquillity which
prevailed in the years after independence.
“Zimbabwe was known to be
a peaceful country. All we yearn for, as Sadc, is to see the country
regaining its peace and the people enjoying life as is happening in other
countries,” he added.
Lindiwe Zulu, the spokesperson of the South African
facilitation team said last year that the team, working with South African
president Jacob Zuma, hoped 2012 would be a better year for
Zimbabwe.
“It is our hope that with the New Year, the situation in
Zimbabwe will improve further and things will be better than the previous
year. As the facilitation team, we will remain committed to helping Zimbabwe
find solutions to its challenges and hope that together we will conquer
those challenges,” added Zulu.
The facilitation team, Zulu said, was
hoping to push the negotiations between the three political parties in the
country to their logical conclusion.
“We still have some issues with
the negotiation teams that we still want to deal with.
“Once those
are pushed by the wayside, we are certain that we would have edged closer to
our destination, which is to see the principals in Zimbabwe meeting the
facilitator to do the final review of the situation,” she added.
By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer Tuesday,
03 January 2012 14:31
HARARE - A referendum due this year is seen as
a key test of the coalition government ahead of general elections to be held
most likely this year, with pro-democracy groups saying a “No” vote by the
people will not necessarily stall a fresh election.
Tensions have
been high as major parties in the coalition government, President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC try to outdo
each other in stamping their dominance on the constitution making
process.
A man died in Mbare and several have been injured in clashes
between Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s supporters as the tussle
continues.
The constitution making exercise has now entered the drafting
stage but the process has hit a snag after Zanu PF accused the legal
drafters of doing the MDC’s bidding by allegedly attempting to fraudulently
emasculate the people’s voice in the analysis of data collected during over
4 000 outreach meetings.
However, whatever compromise draft will be
produced, it must be tabled before a second All-Stakeholders
Conference.
The draft constitution and its accompanying report must then
be tabled before Parliament.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s power sharing
accord, also known as the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth
to the coalition government states that the draft and report must be tabled
within one month of the second All-Stakeholders Conference.
Both
houses of Parliament will have a month to debate the draft.
Then both
houses of Parliament must conclude their debate on the draft
constitution.
The draft constitution emerging from Parliament must be
gazetted before the holding of a referendum.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai
have agreed that Zimbabwe will hold fresh elections only after a new
constitution has been drafted, although it will require a positive
referendum result to be adopted as the new governance charter.
At 87,
Mugabe, seeks to retain the presidency to ensure life rule, while the MDC is
fielding former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, who won the first contest
in the March 29, 2008 poll.
Charlton Hwende, an MDC provincial leader
said the referendum will have a significant bearing on the next
election.
“It will take a miracle for the parties to agree on a single
draft to take to the people,” Hwende said.
“As MDC these issues are
at the core of what we believe in and our supporters were very clear on
these issues during the public consultations: dual citizenship, protection
of minority rights including the right to reproductive health and the right
to sexual orientation, abolition of capital punishment etc.
These are
issues that we will not compromise on and they will have to be referred to
the people in a referendum,” Hwende said.
He added: “Zanu PF has now
realised that their campaign of violence during the outreach programme and
attempts to silence the Zimbabwean masses did nothing in preventing the
populace from expressing their views on the constitution and the Zimbabwe
they want. We are reasonably confident that they will speak again loudly and
clearly during the referendum.”
Problems emerged as thematic committees
tasked with sifting information from public hearings began analysing
data. Zanu PF began demanding a quantitative approach or to count up how many
times an opinion had been expressed and the most frequently expressed views
to go forward as what the people want.
This would have enabled Zanu
PF to smuggle into the constitution trivial matters such as the death
penalty for anyone advocating for sanctions or criticising the President,
and capital punishment for gays.
Zanu PF now accuses the legal drafters —
all consensus candidates agreed to by the three parties in the ruling
coalition — of attempting to produce a draft reflecting the MDC
position.
Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of constitutional reforms campaign
group, National Constitutional Assembly, said the outcome of the referendum
will have no bearing on the next elections.
“It will have no bearing.
It has no effect,” Madhuku said. “The current government ends next year.
Their right to govern ends in June 2013. It (the coalition government) must
leave office whether there is a new constitution or not. They will not
remain in government forever.”
Madhuku, a professor of law at the
University of Zimbabwe, said a rejection of the draft in a referendum would
result in fresh negotiations on the way forward.
“If there is a “No”
vote it doesn’t mean they don’t hold elections. Their mandate expires
whether there is a dispute or not. It will mean that the country will
discuss on how to constitute a new government.”
Madhuku predicted that
Zanu PF and MDC will adopt a similar position towards the draft
constitution. “If they don’t agree (on the draft) there won’t be a
referendum. That is what the GPA says.”
Welshman Ncube, a law
professor now leading a breakaway faction of the MDC said the new
constitution would have to be a “negotiated document” by coalition
parties.
Ncube’s MDC is the smaller partner in the
coalition.
Observers say the MDC cannot afford to oppose Zanu PF during
the referendum as Mugabe will use this to gauge his strength shortly before
a general election and engineer a response mechanism, as happened in
2000.
“If Zanu PF fails to have its way it might be panicked into
unleashing violence between the referendum and the election,” political
commentator Ronald Shumba said.
Both parties have accused each other
of using violence. A fragile truce has been holding since a peace indaba
held in Harare in November by the national executives of all the three
parties in the ruling coalition resolved to peacefully co-exist with each
other.
But the nascent peace has been shattered by last week’s petrol
bombing of a Zanu PF provincial office in Gweru. Police say they are
still investigating charges that unidentified militants petrol-bombed the
Zanu PF offices. The MDC has denied responsibility for the
attack.
Shumba said the ongoing squabbling over the constitutional
draft was a preview of the presidential vote in 2013, in which Mugabe has
said will run, despite losing an election in 2008 and reported
ill-health.
“While much can be said about the arguments over the drafting
stage — the underlying issue is rather the psychological effect on the more
important election next year,” Shumba said.
In the general election
in 2008, Zanu PF lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since
independence from Britain in 1980.
Tsvangirai claims at least 200 of his
supporters died in the violence that characterised the 2008 poll.
A
new constitution due to be introduced within the next six months is expected
to replace the current document cobbled at Lancaster House in London, in
December 1979 ending colonial rule in then-Rhodesia.
Inter-party disputes
and the lack of acceptable budgeting systems, which led to donor funding
delays, resulted in the outreach only starting towards the end of June 2010
— 11 months late.
The constitution making process is now lagging even far
behind by more than a year. Ordinary Zimbabweans are not amused, a process
that was supposed to take less than two years is now spilling into the
fourth year.
Sean Moyo, a local social activist, said Zanu PF’s spirited
attempts to derail the process showed it knew the time was up.
“This
is the end and the country is heading into a new era of freedom,
constitutionalism and prosperity. We need this constitutional reform process
no matter how flawed it is to give power to the people.
“We realise
that it is not a given but it is something that we have to fight for — and
fight for the rights of Zimbabweans to decide our destiny, we will. Zanu
will not have its way this time around.”
The present constitution has
been amended 19 times, the last being in February 2009 to formally pave the
way for the formation of the coalition government that created the Prime
Minister’s post for Tsvangirai.
By Ngoni Chanakira Harare, January 3,
2012 - The Danish aid organisation, Danida, has given the cash-strapped
Zimbabwe Government US$43 million in development assistance, Ketil Karlsen,
the Charge d'Affairs of the Royal Danish Embassy in Harare, has
confirmed.
"Zimbabwe has huge potential waiting to be released," he
said in an interview.
"The country must, however, take decisive steps
to ensure democratic and economic reform and take a careful look at current
policies to attract private sector investment. We are here to
help."
He said the US$43 million would be used to support private sector
development in the agriculture sector, rehabilitate water and power supply,
as well as for good governance, democracy and human rights.
Karlsen
said Denmark was opening an Embassy in Harare, thus upgrading its office
which was the case since the days of economic mismanagement.
"Denmark and
Danida is back in Zimbabwe" he said in the interview. "Denmark has resumed
its active role in its engagement - and is one of the five largest bilateral
donors to Zimbabwe."
Support would also be for power supply and clean
water in the major cities and towns in the country, help speed up the
implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), as well as help
strengthen the judiciary which has come under fire in Zimbabwe.
He
said the cash would also be used to provide computers, cars, generators and
legal material for nine provincial courts, making the justice system ore
efficient.
"Victims of human rights abuses will also receive legal
assistance," Karlsen said.
HARARE - Air Zimbabwe acting chief executive officer Innocent
Mavhunga says the struggling national carrier is waiting for government to
release distress funds to get the troubled airline out of the
woods.
Mavhunga said at the moment, the airline is in a state of
paralysis and would need government action to get it back on
track.
“I am sure you are aware that government made a commitment to take
over Air Zimbabwe debts so we are waiting for government action,” said
Mavhunga.
He described the situation at the national carrier as worrying,
but said he remained hopeful that the airline will bounce back
soon.
“We remain positive that things will turn for the better,” said
Mavhunga.
He said he is equally worried that workers have gone for some
months without being paid.
“The situation is bad and I am equally in
the same situation as any other Air Zimbabwe worker,” he
said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Nicholas
Goche, has issued a circular stopping Air Zimbabwe management from flying
its aircraft to South Africa and the United Kindom where one of its long
haul Boeing 767 aircraft was recently impounded over an outstanding
debt.
The circular was issued last week leaving the 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.
Air Zimbabwe is however
still flying to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the
Far East, Lusaka in Zambia and locally to Bulawayo and Victoria
Falls.
The 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 in Africa but it has
suffered from years of mismanagement and political interference.
"I
am sure you are aware that government made a commitment to take over Air
Zimbabwe debts so we are waiting for government action."
HARARE - Controversy surrounding the publication of
constitutional material by the state media comes under discussion today when
the Parliamentary select committee (Copac) meets in Harare.
The move
by the state media has been described by some members of the committee as an
attempt to derail the constitution making process.
Douglas Mwonzora, the
Copac co-chairperson representing the mainstream MDC party told the Daily
News at the weekend that the select committee meeting is aimed at taking
stock of the constitution making process, including the actions by the state
media.
“The issue of The Herald publishing information that it purports
to be from Copac will be tabled,” said Mwonzora, adding that the meeting
will also be attended by the other two co-chairpersons, Paul Mangwana of
Zanu PF and Edward Mukhosi of the smaller MDC party.
Mwonzora said he
expected the meeting to come with a position on the issue but added that “if
my colleagues are not willing to take on The Herald and develop fatigue I
will do so on my own.”
The drafting of the country’s new constitution is
key to the holding of a free and fair election. The process plunged into
fresh crisis after the state media published constitutional
material.
Mwonzora said the selective publishing of the information in
the state media purporting to be from Copac is designed to cast the drafters
in bad light therefore derailing the whole exercise.
Mwonzora is
pushing Copac to take the state media to court to stop it from publishing
what it purports to be constitutional material from the committee tasked
with the making of the country’s new constitution.
The leaking of the
constitutional material is being blamed on Zanu PF members in Copac but
Mangwana told the Daily News last week that his party had nothing to do with
it since the document was circulated to several Copac members.
He
said anyone from any party could have leaked it.
“Zanu PF is not
responsible. We wanted to keep whatever draft which was being drafted by the
drafters packed somewhere but unfortunately towards the end of the year,
there was a feeling from Copac members that they wanted to have a copy of
what has been drafted and we now do not know who has actually leaked the
drafts to the public."
“There were initial drafts which were under
discussion and they are not binding anyone to anything,” said Mangwana.
Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) --
Zimbabwe’s electricity demand is projected to increase 29 percent this year,
boosted by the mining industry, the state power utility said.
Demand
rose 6.2 percent last year from 2010, Fullard Gwasira, a spokesman for the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, said by phone today from the capital,
Harare.
Zesa generates 900 megawatts to 1,200 megawatts compared with
demand of 1,900 to 2,200 megawatts. The country imports 35 percent of its
electricity from Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo, yet fails to
meet demand, resulting in almost daily power cuts. Zimbabwe is the
third-largest power consumer in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa and
Nigeria, according to the World Bank.
The country’s economy is
estimated to expand 9.4 percent in 2012, led by growth in the finance and
mining industries, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Nov. 24. The economy
was forecast to grow 9.3 percent in 2011, with mining output climbing 26
percent as the nation attempts to recover from a decade-long recession that
ended in 2009, Biti said.
Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and
Distribution, a unit of Zesa, said power demand by mines in the nation’s
northern region is expected to advance 22 percent in
2012.
“Developments in the mining sector include Maranatha Ferrochrome at
13 megavolt amperes, Mazoe gold mine at 5.5 megavolt amperes and RioZim Ltd.
at 5 megavolt amperes,” Harare-based ZETDC said in a report handed to
Bloomberg News.
Industry, Agriculture Demand
Maranatha is a
closely held company. Mazoe is owned by South Africa’s Metallon Corp. while
RioZim was once controlled by Rio Tinto Plc.
Demand by the industrial
sector is forecast to rise 55 percent while farms will raise demand by 33
percent, ZETDC said.
In the nation’s southern region, the Mimosa mine,
owned by Aquarius Platinum Ltd. and Impala Platinum Ltd., plans to start
using 15 megavolt amperes, while the Wel mine, owned by Chinese investors,
will need 5 megavolt amperes, ZETDC said. Sino- Zimbabwe Ltd. of China is
planning an additional 6 megavolt amperes.
Though the health care system has recovered to some extent and
sanitary conditions are better in some locations, Harare says it now lacks
funds to address the factors that caused the 2008-2009 cholera
epidemic
Sandra Nyaira | Washington
Zimbabwe's Health Ministry
is stepping up its fight against typhoid and other water-borne diarrheal
diseases whose outbreaks call up memories of the 2008-2009 cholera epidemic
which claimed more than 4,200 lives from nearly 100,000 cases.
Dr.
Portia Manangazira, the Health Ministry’s head of epidemiology and disease
control, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the
United States have sent two experts to help authorities in Harare deal with
the problem and prevent a new epidemic.
Though Zimbabwe's national health
care system has recovered to some extent from near-collapse in 2008 and
sanitary conditions are better in some locations, Harare says it lacks funds
to address the problems that gave rise to the deadly
epidemic.
Manangazira said South Africa has also sent a specialist to
help Harare deal with the crisis, and the Cabinet is being updated weekly on
public health developments.
Harare Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Chiroto said
the city is worried about a new outbreak of cholera as it cannot come up
with funds to address water and sanitation issues.
An aid
worker treats a cholera patient in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe, on the border with
South Africa during the 2008/2009 outbreak of the waterborne
disease
MHONDORO, 3 January 2012 (IRIN) - Barbra Phiri, 20, a
single mother living on a farm settlement in rural Mhondoro, about 45km
southwest of the Zimbabwean capital Harare, does not think twice about letting
her two-year-old twins splash about in a pool of greenish water close to her
hut.
Since the rains began several weeks ago, dirty water has been
accumulating on the settlement, now home to hundreds of former farmworkers and
others displaced during Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 which razed illegal structures and left thousands
without shelter.
Phiri remembers the 2008-2009 outbreak of cholera which
killed more than 4,000 people and infected nearly 100,000 others, but sees it as
a thing of the past and is still ignorant of how waterborne diseases are spread.
Her twins have a skin infection and frequent bouts of diarrhoea but,
like most residents, she attributes such ailments to witchcraft, consulting a
traditional healer for a cure.
Phiri told IRIN her first child died two
years ago from diarrhoea. “We don’t use dirty water for drinking or cooking. We
get clean water from the dam or the wells, so how can our children die from
waterborne diseases?” she asked.
A few metres from Phiri’s hut is an
overflowing pit latrine. Many inhabitants have resorted to relieving themselves
in the open since most of their pit latrines are overflowing and unusable.
The 2009 Multiple Indicator Monitoring
Survey (MIMS), compiled by the government and UN Children’s
Fund (UNICEF), listed diarrhoea as one of the major causes of infant mortality
resulting in around 4, 000 deaths in Zimbabwe annually.
The MIMS survey showed a 20 percent increase in
under-five mortality since 1990.
With the advent of the rainy season and
poor sanitary and hygienic facilities, people living in rural and peri-urban
settlements like Phiri’s are vulnerable to waterborne diseases.
The
survey said: “Recent assessments show a significant decline in rural sanitation
sector performance,” adding: “The inability of vulnerable populations to access
safe water and basic sanitation… has resulted in frequent diarrhoeal and cholera
outbreaks.”
The Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for Zimbabwe, launched in early December 2011, said
“a third of rural Zimbabweans still drink from unprotected water sources and are
thus exposed to waterborne diseases,” and noted reports of cholera cases in
rural Chipinge, in the eastern province of Manicaland, and Chiredzi in the
southeast of the country.
More people seek
treatment
A senior nurse at a clinic in rural Seke District,
about 50km south of Harare, who preferred anonymity, told IRIN the number of
people seeking treatment for diarrhoea and dysentery had increased since the
onset of the rains.
“Typical of this time of the year when the rains
fall, we treat a high number of people suffering from waterborne diseases… We
have not received any cases of cholera but there is need to be on the alert all
the time, because the surrounding villages are characterized by poor hygiene and
sanitation. Many villagers tend to relieve themselves in the open because they
cannot rehabilitate the Blair pit toilets that were built long ago,” she said.
Blair pit
toilets were constructed in large numbers to improve rural sanitation in the
1980s. A fine wire mesh allowed gases produced by decomposition to escape, but
prevented flies around the faecal matter from exiting the septic tank and so
prevented the spread of diseases.
According a 2011 report by the UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the government entitled A Situational Analysis on the Status of Women’s and
Children’s Rights in Zimbabwe, 2005-2010 42 percent of people in
rural communities practised open defecation, while cholera, which used to see
significant outbreaks every 10 years or so in the 1980s and 1990s, has now
become an annual event.
The boreholes that were
drilled in the 1980s have broken down and only a few that were sunk in recent
years still function
Poor household income, the senior nurse said, prevented
some villagers from seeking treatment, “meaning that the number of people
suffering from waterborne diseases could be higher as some of the cases go
unreported [as people cannot afford to travel to clinics].”
David
Shoniwa, 65, from Dema village in Seke District, said people in his community
tended to relieve themselves along river beds during the dry season.
“The boreholes that were drilled in the 1980s have broken down and only
a few that were sunk in recent years still function while, due to poor rains, it
is difficult to sink new wells. When the rains fall, people turn to the rivers
for water to drink and use for cooking, thereby exposing themselves to the
diseases carried by the human waste,” Shoniwa told IRIN.
[This report
does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
Every five years, Zimbabweans go to the polls
only to get their right to a decent life trampled upon by the people they
vote into power. 02.01.1209:49am by Simbiso Marimbe
For the
second year running, parliamentarians have threatened to block the approval
of the national budget unless government gives in to their demands for new
cars and sitting allowances of US$75 per sitting dating back to
2008.
Indications are that the three principals in the inclusive
government have bowed to the legislators’ demands and agreed to pay a
whooping $3, 3 million in outstanding allowances.
On Monday 28
November, MPs were given a chance to analyse the budget at a post budget
analysis workshop with support from the Southern Africa Parliamentary
Support Trust (SAPST). Instead of getting down to serious business, they
turned the workshop into a circus. Rest assured they were paid sitting
allowances for spending half a day hurling insults at each other like high
school students. Yet one week after that incident the legislators allegedly
refused to debate the budget, arguing they need more time to scrutinize
it.
The legislators’ demands for hefty payouts at a time when citizens
are battling with daily power cuts, food and water shortages amid frequent
disease outbreaks, has attracted condemnation from various political
commentators.
Political analyst, Professor John Makumbe, said whilst
parliamentarians are entitled to their allowances, they should put national
priorities before their own interests. “ If the Finance Minister pays out
those allowances he will not be able to improve the income of civil servants
who are earning less than half of the Poverty Datum Line”, said Professor
Makumbe.
Harare Lawyer and political commentator, Dzikamai Machingura,
said, “It is surprising that parliamentarians are only becoming visible when
they make noise for their own pockets, yet the legislative agenda has not
moved an inch except for passing iniquitous pieces of
legislation”.
SAPST reports that most parliamentary question and answer
sessions are attended by a few parliamentarians where they are expected to
respond to questions pertaining to their specific responsibilities. It is
also worrisome that government agrees to dish out these ridiculous amounts
to legislators whilst the majority of the nation is living on less than $2
per day.
It is no secret that the government at this point is cash
strapped and some of the commitments made on the 2012 budget are simply
paper commitments as there is not enough money to disburse. Government has
failed to increase civil servants salaries, not even marginally. Meanwhile,
among a host of other national maladies, maternal mortality rate stands at
795 deaths per every 100 000 live births- nothing short of a disaster. To
put it more graphically this amounts to more than ten bus loads of women who
die during the process of giving life!
As Parliamentarians get a
‘windfall’ in allowances, there is essentially nothing allocated towards
programmes under the Ministry of education. Of the $700 million allocated
for education in the 2012 budget only one percent is for programmes whilst
the bulk is going towards salaries. To make up for deficits, the Education
Minister has authorized school fees hikes-further squeezing the heavily
taxed poor citizens.
Given the above scenario it is imperative to ask the
moral question why the electorate has to endure the cost of maintaining
legislators and not be able to demand what is due to them. “This Parliament
has not performed to expectation in respect of the legislative agenda, due
the paralysis in the inclusive government, so they have not quite executed
national duty save for the deliberations on the constitutional review.”,
said Professor Makumbe.
The level of debate in Parliament, and the
gravity of the issues challenging the nation are worlds apart. A
Harare-based law and parliamentary monitoring group, Veritas reports on how
parliament rubber-stamped a controversial $98 million Chinese loan for the
construction of a National Defence College (NDC) without much debate. In the
process they ratified borrowing for non productive purposes. The state’s
diamond revenues are to be used to service the loan. Article 9 of the loan
agreement requires the government to ensure that its income from the
Sino-Zimbabwean Anjin joint diamond-mining venture at Chiadzwa will be
dedicated to making payments due under the loan agreement. ‘To actually draw
on the loan the Government must first enter into an agreement “to establish
an escrow account to secure the payment and repayment of the Facility with
the revenue of the Zimbabwe side’s benefits from Anjin Investment (Pvt)
Ltd.”, reads the Veritas report.
Further, Article 2.5 of the agreement
states that “goods, technologies and services” purchased with the proceeds
of the loan must be “purchased from China preferentially and also from
Zimbabwe where this will benefit the Project and End-User” – the End-User
being the Ministry of Defence, according to the Veritas
report.
Veritas also reports that despite some resistance to last-minute
rubber stamping and despite MPs querying misplaced priorities and the
country’s capacity to service the loan, the debate in Parliament did not
sufficiently reflect the outrage that people have been publicly expressing
about this deal, nor did it probe the purposes to which the college will be
put.
Public concern has focused on the diversion of diamond receipts from
far more pressing needs, on the fact that the NDC will benefit an elite few
rather than the struggling general population, and on reports that the
complex will include VIP recreational facilities and medical facilities and
a “techno-spy centre”. – in stark contrast to the lack of health facilities
for the general population.
A recent visit to one of the hospitals in
Bikita by this writer exposed the appalling situation where several people
injured from a car accident could not get their wounds dressed for three
days despite the doctor having indicated they only needed saline water and
Betadine to clean the wounds. Two out of the three deceased people from that
accident died due to excessive bleeding which could have been avoided if
there was a ready ambulance to ferry the injured on time. The nurse to
patient ratio at the hospital on that particular day was roughly 1: 50! A
visit to Parirenyatwa hospital in October this year indicated that health
workers at the hospitals are almost always overwhelmed and the quality of
service is likely to be compromised.
Zimbabwe is already struggling
to repay its external and domestic debts of $7.1 billion and $1.5 billion
respectively-which debt is affecting the poor the most. This debt has
blocked new lines of credit and at this point, no matter how ‘cheap’ a loan
can be, government is not in a position to repay non-productive loans such
as the NDC loan.
Interestingly also, Parliament allowed an agreement
between government and Essar Africa Holdings in which the latter is
acquiring 60 percent stake in ZISCO Steel as well as 80 percent of the Iron
Ore mining unit BIMCO. Critics have argued that the Essar deal is ceding
more than necessary to ESSAR and the deal is more likely to benefit the
Indians than Zimbabweans. It remains to be seen whether or not the revival
of ZISCO steel will make a difference in the lives of the company’s
retrenchees that have been in the woods since its closure in 2008. One also
wonders whether the purported benefit of employment creation in the - most
likely to be a low-wage arrangement, would make up for the whooping 80
percent iron ore stake gone to the Indian company.
The above are some
of the important issues resulting in the suffering of the Zimbabwean
electorate-which issues should be taken seriously at the level of parliament
and government rather than them draining the fiscus through foreign trips
and huge allowances. Parliamentarians’ demands for ‘special’ treatment ahead
of civil servants and the rest of the citizens is tantamount to abusing the
people’s vote unless it tallies with the discharge of their legislative
duties.
The citizens should be empowered to recall non performing MPs,
demand accountability and seek redress when parliamentarians fail to address
their priorities, particularly humanitarian ones. The electorate should not
continue to endure 5 years of subsidizing Parliamentarians' lavish
lifestyles. If those hefty allowances are paid, it most certainly means more
pressing needs are sacrificed and neglected, translating to more maternal
deaths, an increase in malnutrition and fewer resources channeled towards
education, safe water, energy, food security and other social services. All
this despite Finance Minister Tendai Biti constantly warning the government
against “eating elephants after killing rats”.
One parliamentarian
once likened the Zimbabwean government’s skewed priorities to a patient
enjoying an ambulance ride under paramedic care and commanding the driver to
take a longer route. And ignoring the consequences of that ambulance running
out of fuel.
Eddie Cross says
SADC must stick to its guns if violent chaos is to be avoided
Few
would dispute the view that 2012 has the potential to be a watershed year
for Zimbabwe. The waning health of "our dear leader" puts a deadline on
events as he holds onto power and influence and does not allow his own Party
to renew its leadership and policies. History speaks into such situations
and records that political Parties who fail to face change, eventually die
with their leaders.
It was deeply moving to watch the funeral of the
Czech leader Havel and to remember that this humble and intelligent man had
been responsible for the events that finally brought down the Soviet Empire
and brought freedom and opportunity to hundreds of millions of people. The
political parties that terrorized his world for most of his life and that
seemed immortal have been swept away and only dark memories
remain.
Those of us who are tired of the struggle and constant conflict,
tired of the economic hardships that most of us have to contend with on a
daily basis, tired of the abuse by Policemen at Road Blocks, surly and un
cooperative civil servants who wield their limited power with vindictive
antagonism to any who might differ with them. We know it has been a tough
year and that it came on top of 12 years of struggle and hardship, but we
are nearly there and it's no time to quit.
I see two possibilities in
the New Year, one, which the MDC leadership terms the "Chaos Scenario". It
is clear to all but the blind that Zanu PF and their security hangers on are
trying to engineer the collapse of the GPA and the GNU government. They
justify this by saying that "it is not working, is dysfunctional; we are a
sovereign State - it is our right to call an election to replace this
arrangement with a properly elected government".
The problem with that
approach is that we in the MDC would not contest such an election. Zanu PF
could not restrain itself and such an election would be violent with
widespread intimidation, vote fraud, falsified counting and reporting and
finally a hurried, brief swearing in for a motley collection of elderly
leaders and thugs. Such a government would not be recognized by anyone, no
regional leaders would accept such a government into its ranks. The
international community would repudiate the new regime and impose harsh
sanctions. Our pariah state would be confirmed.
The second scenario
envisages that the region will stick to its guns and demand that Zanu PF
follow the road map laid down by SADC leaders in 2011. This means they must
allow a new constitution, new rules for elections, new staff for the IEC,
SADC supervision of the whole process, an open media environment without
direct Zanu PF control of the State media, and no violence. Such a road map
leads Zanu PF into the abyss and they know that. I doubt they could win a
single seat in such circumstances; they would cease to exist as a political
force.
So what to do? They might still have a go at the first scenario -
they are desperate enough, might pull it off and be prepared to live with
the consequences and become a client State for the Chinese in Africa. But
such a situation would be a catastrophe for the region. Millions would flee
to neighboring States, economic recovery would collapse and reverse and an
elite in Zimbabwe would live like kings on revenue from mines and extortion
supported by a thinly disguised military Junta.
Down to the wire,
this is a power game. If the region allows such a scenario to play out there
will be little they could do to reverse matters. None of them have the
military or political will to remove such a regime the way Idi Amin
eventually had to be removed by Tanzanian forces.
I am confident that the
region and African leadership as a whole; are not going to allow the failing
leadership of Zanu PF to commit suicide and in the process take the country
with them. In ways that may not be public, South Africa will finally put its
foot down and tell the Zanu leadership that there will be no deviations from
the GPA road map.
When they do that, Zanu PF will immediately open talks
with the MDC to engineer a soft landing. At the very least this will involve
a Presidential election as soon as possible, the retirement of Mr. Mugabe
and eventually the entire JOC structure. It will lead to another GNU but
this time led by new leadership and no longer a divided house. This will
give the young Turks in Zanu PF as well as the moderates in their present
leadership an opportunity to try and rebuild the Party before the next
harmonized, free and fair elections in perhaps 5 years time.
Such a
compromise would be workable, give Zimbabwe a chance to show what it is made
of, be acceptable to regional leaders and the international community. It's
not first prize for the democrats, but it's not the "booby prize" either.
For the weary warriors in the trenches, it is time to keep up the struggle,
our victory is near, only then can we relax and enjoy the dawn of a new
day.
Reply to Masimirembwa and Mudenda's "Zimbabwe: the critique of the Constitution"
By Douglas Togaraseyi Mwonzora
1. Introduction
Towards the end of the year 2011,
the Constitution making process which hitherto had been going on relatively well
was plunged into a rare form of chaos.
The genesis of this chaos is the
unilateral attempt by Zanu PF through Paul Mangwana, it's co-chairperson in
Copac to stop the drafters from continuing drafting the constitution after
availing the first four preliminary draft chapters of the constitution to the
co-chairpersons of Copac.
The advice for Mangwana to act as
he did came from a memorandum that was written to him by Jacob Mudenda and
Goodwills Masimirembwa critiquing the draft chapters and impugning the mandate
of the drafters. For reasons known to them, on 19 December 2011 Mudenda and
Masimirembwa went on to publish their advice to Mangwana as a “critique to the
draft Constitution" in The Herald.
Thereafter a lot of accusations
were made against the drafters and the MDC. Impressions were created that the
drafters had acted outside the mandate given to them by Copac in not looking at
the national report during the drafting. They were accused of importing items
that Zimbabweans had never talked about into the draft constitution chapters.
They were also accused of siding with the MDC among other unpalatable
accusations.
The MDC in particular was accused
of trying hard to suppress the views of the people of Zimbabwe. The purpose of
this article is to attempt to set the record straight for the benefit of those
innocent Zimbabweans on behalf of whom we are undertaking this historic work at
Copac. We wish to assure these Zimbabweans that, views of the people of Zimbabwe
were never suppressed and will not be lost. We wish to demonstrate that the
drafters never exceeded the mandate specifically given to them by the
co-chairpersons.
No political party stands to
benefit from cheating the people of Zimbabwe. In this particular process at no
point did the MDC representatives in Copac seek to unilaterally change the views
of the people of Zimbabwe.
2. The publication of the
advice to Mangwana by Mudenda and Masimirembwa.
Our view is that the two men
being part of the technical team representing Zanu PF are and were entitled to
give any advice that Mangwana needed. But there was something very wrong when
they sought to publish that advice in the press. In that process they undermined
both Copac and the receiver of that advice.
These men are working for Copac
as part of the technical team and did take part in the production of all the
documents that were used by the drafters. To make matters worse, their
appreciation of the facts was remarkably poor. Had they engaged Copac first
before rushing to the press they would certainly have deleted some of the things
they wrote about the drafters and the drafts.
3. The mandate
Masimirembwa and Mudenda were
right about the mandate given to the drafters. This mandate was given to the
drafters by the three chairpersons of Copac and a video recording of that
mandate is available. During the briefing with the drafters a question arose as
to whether the drafters should themselves interpret what the people of Zimbabwe
wanted in the constitution.
It was felt that the
interpretation of what the people of Zimbabwe wanted would be done by the Select
Committee and that the drafters would be given what to draft on. That meant that
there was no need for the drafters to use the national report. Further the
national report would contain contradictory information.
For example it would have a
portion where some people said they wanted an executive president. In the same
report one would find where people wanted a titular president. If the drafters
are to resort to the national report they would have to choose between the two
options themselves.
That is not their job. It is the
Select Committee that would choose the appropriate option and give same to
drafters. It was agreed in the same meeting that the drafters would use the list
of agreed constitutional issues that had been prepared by the Select Committee
and approved by the management committee.
This document was extracted from
the national statistical report by the technical team of which Masimirembwa and
Mudenda were part of. It was further agreed that the drafters would use the list
of agreed constitutional principles agreed by the Select Committee and approved
by the Management Committee.
Again Masimirembwa and Mudenda
were part of the technical team that refined this document at Great Zimbabwe
Hotel in Masvingo. This document is an extract of the national statistical
report. It was agreed that the drafters could fill in gaps were they found them
as long as they would clearly indicate were they had done so. It was made clear
that these gaps so filled by the drafters would remain suggestions to the Select
Committee to be considered in the same vein as the gaps that were being filled
by the technical team.
4. The constitution making
process as a people driven process
In their attack on the documents
used Mudenda and Masimirembwa allege that they were advised that the drafters
were availed the national report and chose not to use it.
This is not correct.
The process of availing the
national report would have entailed the drafters to choose on what to put into
the constitution and what to leave out. This can not be the work of drafters. In
a process like this the drafters are given what to draft or what to draft on by
the Select Committee. This was done.
To put readers into the picture,
at the end of the outreach program Copac produced a national statistical report
containing everything that was said by the people of Zimbabwe irrespective of
whether it was constitutionally relevant or not. Thereafter, Copac engaged
technical experts to extract constitutional issues from the whole mass of
outreach data.
These experts were drawn from
across the political divide. Zanu PF seconded five experts who included Mudenda
and Masimirembwa, while the two MDC’s seconded five experts each. With the able
help of these experts a document was produced which listed all the
constitutional issues that came from the people of Zimbabwe. That document is
one of the official documents of Copac.
From the list of all the
constitutional issues that came out of outreach, Copac, with the help of the
Technical Team produced a list of constitutional principles. Thereafter an
exercise was undertaken to determine those issues that would go into the final
draft. This culminated in the production of the document entitled “list of
proposed constitutional issues, Rainbow Towers, Harare".
This document contains all those
issues that the Select Committee with the help of the technical committee,
agreed to be in the constitution. It also contains those issues that were
“parked" and are subject to further discussion in the Select committee. What is
important is that this document is a refined extract of the National statistical
report.
The Select Committee secured the
approval of the Management Committee to start drafting on the agreed issues and
that is why the drafters were engaged.
Further, Masimirembwa and Mudenda
think that the Copac national report is available. It is not yet available.
What we have is the National
Statistical Report which is in two versions. Further these gentlemen seem to
think that the information from the outreach meetings constitute the national
report. This is not correct.
The national report would contain
information from the 1950 wards, plus views from the Diaspora, views from
Zimbabwean institutions, views from people living with disabilities as well as
views from children.
Lastly the two men seem to think
that the drafters should look at the frequency of figures in the National
Statistical report to determine which view should take precedence over the
other. Nothing could be more irresponsible.
First, frequencies in the
national report show the number of wards or meetings in which a particular issue
was mentioned. It does not show the number of people who supported that view. It
is therefore not a basis of determining the majority or minority status of a
view.
Second, the frequencies do not
take into account the views gathered outside wards. In this case they do not
include the views from the Diaspora, or of the institutions or of people living
with disabilities. They also completely ignore the views of children. Therefore,
using this statistic to justify the inclusion or exclusion of a view is first
class cheating.
Finally all the documents
subsequently produced by Copac follow the thematic areas which were followed
during outreach.
5. The draft clauses
Having tried to show that the
drafters acted outside their mandate the authors of the so-called critique
attempt to attack the substance of the draft. Their criticisms of each clause
will not be repeated in this article. But the substance of the criticism will be
replied to
On Clause 1:
According to Mudenda and
Masimirembwa, the drafters should have followed the Kariba draft in describing
Zimbabwe. They opine that drafters should have followed the South African
example.
Yet elsewhere they criticize the
drafters of following constitutions of other countries. The criticism is without
any merit. The drafters got information they drafted from issue number 4 on page
9 of the document on agreed issues that was extracted from the national
statistical report.
On clause 3:
Masimirembwa and Mudenda want the
drafters to include Zimbabwe's liberation struggle in the founding values of the
constitution. This shows clearly that the gentlemen were confusing the founding
values and principles with the preamble. The preamble is coming and it will
include such issues as the liberation struggle.
However, what the drafters put in
is found in the document on “draft constitutional principles" compiled by the
Select Committee and approved by the Management Committee. It is also found on
pages, 9, 11 and 61 of the document on the "proposed list of constitutional
issue" that Mudenda and Masimirembwa helped to compile for Copac. This document
was approved by the Management Committee.
Mention of minorities
The gentlemen think that a clause
that “provides for recognition of the rights of racial, ethnic, cultural,
linguistic, religious and political minorities “should not be there. This is
completely surprising. This clause is contained in the document entitled “draft
constitutional principles" that was drafted by the Select Committee and approved
by the Management Committee. It is also in the document on agreed constitutional
issues. Contrary to what Mudenda and Masimirembwa think, protecting rights of
minorities does not compromise the oneness of Zimbabwe. It is the suppression
and domination of minority communities that lead to wars and other forms of
civil strife.
6. Conclusion
A simple survey of the documents
given to the drafters shows that these people did not exceed their mandate but
acted like competent and patriotic Zimbabweans. At the last meeting of the
Select Committee the drafters were correctly cleared of any wrong doing and were
allowed to continue with their work.
Copac has done a tremendous job
of keeping a paper trail of all the issues that will finally be in the
constitution. At every stage every one of the political parties has been well
represented. It is important that political parities realize that this project
is for the people of Zimbabwe. We will seek to serve the people of Zimbabwe with
honor and devotion. In the meantime we urge patience of all the stakeholders
while we craft the New Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Hon. Mwonzora is the
Copac Co-chairperson and the MDC National Spokesperson.
Dear 2012, Will you promise to be better than 2011?
By Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 03/01/12
It was a great delight and
privilege to meet you on Sunday, because many – great and small, who would
have liked to see you, could not make it for reasons we shall not get into
now, at least until after the promised inquest.
Talking of promises,
how different will you be from 2011? At this same time last year, we were
made to believe that South African President Jacob Zuma would submit to SADC
not only a roadmap for Zimbabwe’s elections but mechanisms for the transfer
of power. That did not materialise. And resistance to security sector
reforms actually earned Nyikayaramba a promotion!
What do you promise
the workers at Shabani Mashaba Mines (SMM), which 2011 did not? By this time
last year, only the mine’s communal toilets were spared of water
disconnection to avert a possible cholera outbreak over an unpaid
US$3million water bill.
Apart from underpaid diamond mineworkers, farm
workers had a raw deal as their pay of US$55 per month hardly met the
skyrocketing cost of living in 2011 even after factoring in allowances if
any. Some farm workers were evicted in Bromley before Christmas.
2011
promised a Zimbabwe Diamond Act amid revelations then that the country could
have lost more than US$30 million to leakages and smuggling in Marange’s
diamond fields. But that Act never saw the light of the day. So did the
diamonds cash audit?
2012, will you promise that no more broke
ministries will dig deeper into their begging bowls and splash full colour
advertisements in the state media congratulating the Head of State and
Government and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces on his
birthday?
Would you promise that the two MDC formations will not be lured
into reviving Zanu-pf from its Lazarus moment through the guise of the
proposed joint rallies when Zanu-pf has hardly held political rallies of its
own other than numerous state funerals since 2008?
2012, will you
promise a level playing field which 2011 failed to deliver in the areas of
media reforms, radio and television broadcasting and freedom of expression
without harassment of journalists under the criminal defamation
laws?
This one may be a big ask, 2012. Would you promise by December
the MDC-T will have a Think Tank to guide the party with objective and
critical assessments of its moves in what promises to be a stormy year ahead
as Zanu-pf is spoiling for a real fight?
Another worry 2012, is the
ever rising cost of living in Zimbabwe caused by greed, fuel prices, lack of
supervision by government, Zesa outages and the turbulence in the global
economy since the dollarisation of the economy– would you promise to hold
prices at their 2011 level until December, please!
2011 failed to deliver
on many promises including the New Constitution, revision of the defective
voters’ roll, the referendum, the Human Rights Commission Act, the stalled
Beitbridge-Harare Road Project, the overdue liquidation of Air Zimbabwe and
so on. Would you promise to deliver on that before the arrival of your
successor (2013)?
Just one more assurance, 2012 – please don’t repeat the
mistakes of your predecessors like the threatened bank and farm seizures and
holding sham elections without the Diaspora Vote let alone a clean voters’
roll, as you will be 100% sure that targeted sanctions and an assets freeze
will remain in force and legitimacy denied accordingly.
Hoping you
will make a difference, 2012. All the best!
Is another cholera epidemic on the
way?
The boreholes that were
drilled in the 1980s have broken down and only a few that were sunk in recent
years still function
