Zim Independent
CFX mulls rescue plan
Vincent Kahiya/Conrad Dube
TROUBLED CFX
Financial Services, the holding company for collapsed CFX Bank,
is mulling a
rescue package that could see major shareholders and depositors
being
invited to take up shareholdings in the closed merchant and commercial
units
while the rest of the shareholders and depositors are paid off.
The plan,
authored by CFX group CEO Wilson Gwatiringa and distributed to
major
shareholders this week, proposes to seek liquidity support from the
Reserve
Bank to pay off the minor shareholders and small depositors.
The
group's subsidiaries, CFX Bank, CFX Merchant Bank and CFX Asset
Management
were put under curatorship on December 17 after it was discovered
that there
was a $115 billion hole in the company's accounts. Frank Kuipa
was appointed
curator.
CFX Financial Services was created out of a merger between
CFX and Century
Bank in September.
The Zimbabwe Independent
understands that if the Reserve Bank agrees to bail
out the bank, the rescue
plan could be set in motion immediately with the
commercial bank re-opening
its doors on April 1.
There are also plans to save CFX Merchant Bank
by turning large depositors
into shareholders. But the merchant bank is owed
$67 billion by the
commercial bank. Gwatiringa however believes that the
merchant bank can
weather the storm if it receives liquidity
support.
On CFX Asset Management Company, Gwatiringa has proposed
that it holds
preference shares in exchange for its $7 billion exposure to
the commercial
bank.
An alternative plan would save the merchant
bank and the asset management
company by rescinding the merger with the
former Century Bank. This would
inevitably result in the liquidation of CFX
Bank.
The Gwatiringa plan depends largely on the willingness of large
depositors
to stay in the group as shareholders and the willingness of the
RBZ to offer
support. For the large shareholders this could be the route to
take.
"Preliminary computations as per the attached paper show that
depositors and
creditors will salvage approximately 36% of what they are
owed by the
commercial bank," the plan says.
Gwatiringa raised
the possibility of CFX going into Zimbabwe Allied Banking
Group if his
proposals are not accepted.
The Independent this week got access to a
confidential RBZ report on CFX
which revealed that a management cartel at
the closed bank created
fictitious client accounts for temporary adjustment
to mislead auditors.
The cartel, according to the report from the RBZ
probe, was crafted in such
a way that various due diligence exercises
conducted by Imara Corporate
Finance, KPMG Accountants and Corporate
Excellence (Pvt) Ltd failed to
unearth these fraudulent business
practices.
The purpose of the RBZ investigation was to determine the
true condition of
the bank in light of concealment of operating losses by
management.
CFX management misrepresented the true condition of the
bank which was
achieved through the manipulation of the system-generated
income which was
showing accumulated losses of $115 billion.
The
manipulated management accounts reflected an accumulated profit of $9
billion instead of the accumulated loss of $115 billion.
The bank
had also created a fictitious asset base of $49 billion, which
arose from
the fact that a foreign currency position of $72,7 billion was
not backed by
a corresponding Zimbabwe dollar equivalent, the report says.
"Total
deposits exceeded interest-earning assets by $124 billion as at 31
October
2004 without a corresponding increase in non-interest bearing
assets. Given
that the losses of $115 billion were unreported for ten
months, there is a
high possibility of attempts to conceal fraud," the RBZ
report
said.
The report says the accounts were temporarily adjusted to
mislead internal
and external auditors. In his internal report, CFX IT
manager Henry Mazimbe,
who has been arrested in connection with the saga,
indicated that he was
under pressure from the financial accountant, Calvin
Mutombeni, to
manipulate interest computations in the live
system.
The RBZ report says: "The financial accountant acknowledges
creating a list
of client accounts that he gave to the IT manager for
adjustment in equation
and claims that this was as per the finance
director's instructions, and
that these adjustments had been
done.
"This was achieved by value- backdating some transactions in
selected client
accounts using an internally developed appendage to the
equation software
package."
The executives involved were the
former managing director Garainesu Shoko,
finance director Onias Ndlovu,
Mtombeni, assistant accountant Joseph Kwidini
and Mazimbe.
Zim Independent
No going back on Tsholotsho
Staff
Writers
INFORMATION minister Jonathan Moyo's bid to appeal against his
exclusion
from the Zanu PF primary elections in Tsholotsho will not succeed
once the
central committee adopts the decision to reserve the seat for a
woman
candidate, the ruling party's secretary for administration Didymus
Mutasa
said yesterday.
Moyo has appealed to Zanu PF's National
Elections Directorate against the
decision to reserve Tsholotsho
constituency for a woman, thereby
disqualifying him.
Mutasa said
the ruling party had only received Moyo's faxed appeal yesterday
although a
story appeared in the Herald yesterday morning reporting on its
contents. He
said the party would provide an "appropriate response".
"We have only
received the appeal today (yesterday)," Mutasa said. "The
central committee
will deliberate on the positions taken by provinces and
once adopted by the
committee, nobody can appeal. Moyo has just presented
his appeal to us today
and it will be looked into by the elections
directorate and it will come up
with an appropriate response before the
central committee
meets."
Senior members of the Zanu PF Women's League yesterday said
they would not
tolerate any reversal on Tsholotsho.
"As women, we
will not allow rules to be bent for one man," a politburo
member in the
Women's League said.
"This decision has to be respected and men must
give women a chance."
In his appeal to the chairman of the Zanu PF
National Elections Directorate,
Elliot Manyika, Moyo said the manner in
which Tsholotsho had been set aside
for women was unfair. He said he met the
party's criteria to contest the
primary elections as a current member of
parliament, a former member of the
central committee, a former deputy
secretary for information in the
politburo and as a current member of the
party's national consultative
assembly.
Moyo has fallen out of
favour with the party leadership since hosting the
ill-fated Tsholotsho
meeting, allegedly to try and block Joyce Mujuru's
elevation to the post of
vice-president ahead of Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Five provincial chairmen who
attended the meeting have since been suspended
from holding any party
position for five years.
Meanwhile, war veterans leader Joseph
Chinotimba this week said he would
disregard Zanu PF's nomination process,
insisting he was still the candidate
for the Glen Norah constituency. He was
disqualified at the weekend.
The Harare provincial coordi-nating
committee barred Chinotimba from
contesting primary elections scheduled
for January 15, reserving the seat
for former Harare commissioner Cleveria
Chizema.
Chinotimba ignored the disqualification and submitted his
papers for vetting
directly to the national elections directorate and
politburo.
Chinotimba confirmed to the Zimbabwe Independent that he
had submitted his
papers to the politburo for vetting after the provincial
coordinating
committee indicated that Glen Norah was reserved for a female
candidate.
"As far as I am concerned, I am still an aspiring
candidate for Glen Norah
until the politburo and the people of my
constituency reject me," Chinotimba
said.
"People of Glen Norah
should stay calm because I am still in the race to
represent them. I have
submitted my CV directly to the national commissariat
for vetting,"
Chinotimba said.
"All those who are claiming that they are already
candidates are lying
because the national commissariat and politburo are yet
to confirm their
candidature."
Chinotimba said there were a
number of candidates who were unfairly treated
and had forwarded their CVs
directly to the national elections directorate.
Sources in Zanu PF
said Manyika had been overwhelmed with com-plaints from
constituencies
throughout the country. They said over a dozen candidates who
felt robbed by
both the party's new requirements and reservation of seats
for women had
either written or sent emissaries to make representations to
the politburo
and national commissariat on their behalf seeking the reversal
of the
nomination process.
"There is serious disgruntlement among party
activists following the
exclusion of aspiring candidates who had spent
millions of dollars in
campaigning and assisting the electorate in the
constituencies," sources
said.
They said most incumbent MPs who
were imposed as candidates had failed
dismally over the past five years and
efforts to remove them were quashed by
the stringent guidelines set by Zanu
PF two weeks ago.
Only members of the provincial executive, na-tional
consultative assembly,
central committee and "clean" sitting MPs are
eligible to participate in the
primary polls.
Zim Independent
Govt witch-hunting 'troublesome' teachers
Loughty
Dube
THE government has embarked on a witch-hunt to sniff out organisers of a
teachers strike that nearly disrupted national examinations in October last
year.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) has in the last two weeks
been summoning
hundreds of teachers to appear before a committee at
Mhlahlandlela
government complex in Bulawayo to explain their role in the
"illegal"
strike.
The majority of the teachers who have appeared
before the probe committee,
chaired by the Matabeleland education director,
Dan Moyo, have not received
their salaries for the past three months for
allegedly taking part in the
strike.
According to sources, over
200 teachers have appeared before the probe team.
Moyo refused to
shed light on the matter and referred questions to PSC
chairman Mariyawanda
Nzuwa, who could not be reached for comment.
About 800 teachers in
Matabeleland had their salaries suspended on
allegations that they took part
in an illegal strike called in October last
year to press for an 800% salary
hike.
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has described
the latest
action by the government as a vindictive
witch-hunt.
"The Ministry of Education should stop the witch-hunt and
punishing people
unnecessarily because the interrogations they are holding
are illegal. The
exercise the teachers undertook was a legal channel that
was conducted
nationwide," said PTUZ secretary-general Raymond
Majongwe.
He said the PSC and the Ministry of Education had not come
out in the open
on the matter and said initially names of teachers who
allegedly
participated in the strike were compiled by the President's
Office.
Majongwe said it was puzzling why Matabeleland teachers alone
were being
targeted when teachers went on strike nationwide.
The
affected teachers have not been paid their salaries for three
months.
"This whole exercise smacks of tribal politics. The strike was
nationwide
and it is shocking why only Matabeleland is a target. The
teachers should
just attend the kangaroo sessions they are summoned to and
we will take
action from there," Majongwe said.
A teacher who
appeared before the probe team told the Zimbabwe Independent
this week that
the interrogators were interested in finding out the
ringleaders of the
strike in Bulawayo.
"It appears that those who will provide names of
ringleaders will be
re-instated on the government payroll and some innocent
teachers are going
to be victimised," said the teacher, speaking on
condition that he was not
named.
Zim Independent
Chiefs 'empowered' to prop up Zanu PF
By Ray
Matikinye
THE recent displacement of a family in Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe (UMP)
district
in Mashonaland East from the area by Chief Tedius Matambanashe for
allegedly
supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
will be seen
as a disturbing consequence of government's decision to repose
wide-ranging
legal powers in the hands of traditional
leaders.
Reginald Marongedza's family of eight was evicted from its
homestead and
banished from the area because relatives had misrepresented
his political
affiliation to traditional leader Matambanashe.
But
Marongedza (29) maintained that envious relatives had fingered him to
enable
them to gain a piece of land he had inherited.
"They have taken my
land and my livestock are being kept at a friend's home.
They are jealous
because I occupy a very big piece of fertile land and own
many beasts," he
told a local daily.
In the early 80s when government established
village community courts as an
adjunct of the grassroots legal system, one
such court in rural Mount Darwin
ruled that a villager compensates his
neighbour with an ox-drawn cart and
eight head of cattle for letting his
dogs maul the neighbour's goat.
Although the community court system
was disbanded due to incompatible
judgements, two decades down the line
government is keen to revive an
amended traditional justice
system.
In October last year Local Government minister Ignatious
Chombo announced
the upgrading of chiefs' status, giving them powers to
preside over cases
with a monetary value of up to $100
million.
"Chiefs' powers have been eroded over time and government
has since agreed
that these powers be restored," Chombo told a ceremony at
Brunapeg, 14km
from the Zimbabwe-Botswana border. "The decision to upgrade
their juridical
status is just one of the initiatives to empower
them."
Chombo said the Traditional Chiefs Act would be amended to
establish chiefs'
provincial and national courts of appeal to hear appeals
by litigants.
He declared: "Gone are the days when customary cases were
taken to the
criminal courts."
Social scientists are worried that
the new arrangement could scuttle fair
administration of justice,
particularly among simple peasants whose security
of tenure in communal
areas is often dependent on the whims of traditional
leaders.
More importantly, the complex array of land tenure
relations in the communal
areas is underpinned by the fact that although the
chiefs act like feudal
lords, this class of mediators is made to believe
they are owners of the
land yet the state effectively has title to all
land.
Some chiefs have uncodified laws, quaint rules and regulations
pertaining to
the areas under them. For instance, a chief in the Bota area
of Bikita
demanded from bereaved families a hindquarter from every beast
slaughtered
to feed mourners. In other areas peasants are fined for burying
their dead
without having made prior notification of the deceased's illness
to the
chief. There is a host of petty dos and don'ts that affect
peasants.
Law experts have questioned the ability of chiefs to
dispense justice,
considering that they were not trained in
law.
"There is no way they can handle those cases because they
(chiefs) are not
trained in law," said constitutional law expert and
lecturer Lovemore
Madhuku said. "You cannot just emerge from chieftainship
to practising law.
"It's a political strategy by Zanu PF to give
chiefs powers to campaign but
at the expense of justice," Madhuku
said.
He said the increase in jurisdiction was a mistake.
MDC
secretary-general and law expert Welshman Ncube said chiefs should not
work
parallel to formal courts.
"Chiefs were appointed to deal only with
customary and traditional cases,"
Ncube said.
He said any
disputes outside the customary law and proper courts should be
handled
within the traditional framework. "It would be fundamentally wrong
for
chiefs to deal with cases outside customary law."
Claude Mararike of
the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of
Zimbabwe says although
there is need to improve the role and operations of
chiefs, greater caution
should be taken to prevent abuse of any authority
granted.
"Chiefs are unable to operate effectively because of the
dualism of using
Roman Dutch Law as the basis of our legal system and the
traditional system
of government which has been in place for a long time,"
he says.
Mararike warns of latent problems. "There could be serious
problems unless
the traditional system of government is clearly separated
from the political
party system whereby chiefs are expected to act in a
partisan way," he says,
adding: "Chiefs would be more comfortable if they
were not used as tools by
political parties and
politicians."
Traditional chiefs in Zimbabwe have unwittingly become
hatchet men for the
ruling Zanu PF party, acting as coercing agents during
elections.
Government is keen to reward the chiefs for their role in
frog-marching
poverty-stricken peasants in rural areas to polling booths so
as to
determine their voting patterns.
So far, the Traditional
Chiefs Act has reposed the maintenance of law and
order in traditional
chiefs' hands in their areas of jurisdiction. It is in
the process of being
amended to allow judgements passed at the chiefs'
traditional court to
become incontestable in the magistrates' courts, unlike
in the
past.
The Rural District Councils Act was amended as well to restore
powers to
allocate land in resettlement areas that were taken away from
tradition
chiefs in 1982 when rural district councils were
established.
Few traditional leaders have legal training to dispense
modern forms of
justice.
Mararike said the institution of chiefs
needs to be reviewed to ensure that
it moves with the
times.
"Young, educated and professional men should be appointed as
chiefs
otherwise the current crop would need support staff to dispense
justice
without biases among rural communities," Mararike
said.
Analysts say government has diminished the institution of
chiefs by
transforming them into political tools for the ruling party just
as it would
wish with all civil servants.President Robert Mugabe is willing
to sacrifice
Zimbabwe's economic wellbeing by pampering traditional chiefs
more to retain
their support than respect for their aptitude to dispense
justice, they say.
Expressing the chiefs' gratitude and at the same
time exposing fears that
the expedient largesse could cease when Mugabe
goes, president of the Chiefs'
Council, Chief Jonathan Mangwende, implored
the ageing leader to maintain
his grip on power.
"We made a
splendid job of campaigning for you during the presidential
election and my
colleagues are disturbed by rumours that you want to retire.
We want you to
stay," Mangwende told an annual chiefs' conference in
Bulawayo last
year.
They have since been issued with vehicles at heavily subsidised
prices that
will be fuelled by money from peasants fined for numerous
offences over
which chiefs now enjoy jurisdiction.
Most of the
chiefs have also had their homesteads electrified and boreholes
sunk to make
them as amenable to Zanu PF's whims as possible.
Zim Independent
Imminent split moves MDC on elections
Itai
Dzamara
PRESSURE from the international community and its local support base
has
forced the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to review its position
on
participation in the March election.
The Zimbabwe Independent has
established that there were plans by "dissident
party members" in the MDC -
supported by local business people - to launch
another party to contest the
election if the MDC boycotted it.
Sources involved in the
deliberations to form a new opposition party this
week revealed that members
of the MDC leadership opposed to the election
boycott would defect to the
new party.
The new party, sources said, would target the support base
of the MDC,
mainly the urban electorate and middle class. A possible
leadership
structure involving some MDC senior officials had already been
mooted but
plans were scuttled recently when the MDC assured the diplomatic
community
and leaders in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc)
that it
would participate in the election.
The Independent can
also reveal that during the Christmas holidays Botswana
president Festus
Mogae and representatives of President Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa convinced
the opposition party that it should contest the election.
MDC
secretary-general Welshman Ncube admitted the balance tilted in favour
of
participation as against a boycott.
"There has been a lot of pressure
and some people both from our local
support base and the international
community are urging us to participate,"
he said. "The majority want us to
participate but we still should continue
calling on Zanu PF to implement the
Sadc (Mauritius) protocol so that we can
have a better electoral framework.
We will announce our position soon but we
continue putting pressure on Zanu
PF."
Mogae met Tsvangirai during a private visit to Victoria Falls
over the
festive season to brief him on the deliberations he had with other
Sadc
heads of state. He reiterated that the common position was for the MDC
to
participate in the election or risk losing its
relevance.
Meanwhile, the state media has started coverage of
opposition parties
following what sources at Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings
said was a
directive from the Zanu PF information department to open
up.
Zanu PF secretary for information Nathan Shamuyarira said the
ruling party
wanted opposition parties to have coverage in the state media
as a way of
implementing the Sadc protocol.
"We have always
stated our commitment to implementing the Sadc protocol and
that is why we
agreed at our politburo meeting to have the media covering
all parties as
well as call for a violence-free election campaign period,"
Shamuyarira
said.
Zim Independent
Zanu PF 'Young Turks' splurge millions of
dollars
Staff Writer
SEVERAL Zanu PF "Young Turks" who were left in the
cold ahead of the party's
forthcoming primary elections spent millions of
dollars campaigning for
seats that they will not now be able to
contest.
The Zimbabwe Independent this week established that millions of
dollars used
by the young politicians to win support had been wasted as they
will not
feature in the party primaries scheduled for next
week.
The majority of Zanu PF "Young Turks" were barred from
contesting in the
party's primary elections after attending the ill-fated
Tsholotsho indaba,
while a sizeable number failed to meet the party's
stringent new conditions.
Party sources told the Independent that
most of the Young Turks spent over
$100 million each campaigning in their
respective areas.
The sources said one Masvingo mogul who was barred
from contesting in the
province for allegedly attending the ill-fated
Tsholotsho meeting spent
close to half a billion in "development
projects".
"The politician and businessman poured in over $500
million in projects in
Masvingo but has now been stopped from contesting and
his removal from the
constituency has given his opponents who put in nothing
in campaign money
the advantage," said a source.
However, the
biggest loser is President Mugabe's spin doctor, Jonathan Moyo,
who pumped
well over $1 billion in campaign funds into Tsholotsho.
Moyo's fame in
Tsholotsho began in late 2002 when he started making computer
donations to
schools in the district and followed that up with donations
worth millions
of dollars to district hospitals.
He moved a gear up by personally
sponsoring a $50 million annual football
tournament while at the same time
he started numerous projects in the
district that included bursaries for
school children and market-gardening
projects, among
others.
Eddison Zvogbo Jnr, son of the late maverick veteran
politician, also spent
millions of dollars in Masvingo Central but was
overlooked by the provincial
co-ordinating committee who ordered that he
should apply to the Zanu PF
national elections directorate to be
considered
Businessman and property developer, Jonathan Gapare, was
left out of Chivi
South after he spent over $300 million in development
projects in the area
over the last three years.
Contacted to
comment on his being left out by the party Gapare said he was
not bitter but
will still continue supporting development issues in the
constituency.
"I have appealed to the National Elections
Directorate but the issue that we
were vote-buying is not true because I
have been developing Chivi South for
the last three years.
Zim Independent
South African firm sues RBZ
Gift Phiri
A SOUTH
African law firm that acted as a conduit for information between a
"whistleblower" and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is instituting legal
action against the central bank for allegedly withholding its client's
payment after helping the police nab a high-profile businessman and
political figure.
The law firm, Herman van Eeden based at 41 De
Havilla Crescent at Persequor
Technopark suburb in Pretoria, alleges that
the RBZ is withholding more than
$2 billion, about 10% of the estimated
prejudice that the state suffered as
a result of alleged fraudulent
activities by the Chinhoyi-based tycoon who
has since been arrested based on
the information the law firm supplied to
the bank.
Although it
was not possible to obtain comment from Van Eeden, a senior
partner in the
law firm confirmed yesterday that lawyers were processing a
legal suit
against the RBZ for reneging on its promise to pay its client's
bounty. The
senior partner who cannot be named for professional reasons,
told the
Zimbabwe Independent that the law firm acted as an "agent" in
channelling
information supplied by the whistleblower, who did not want to
be
identified.
"But they are now in breach of the contract and we are
resorting to legal
action to recover what is owed to us on behalf of our
client," the senior
lawyer said.
Gono's spokesman Fortune Chasi
on Wednesday said he was not aware of any
litigation or threats to sue the
RBZ.
"We don't operate on the basis of making promises we don't
fulfil," Chasi
said.
The Independent understands that the law
firm handled information provided
by the whistleblower on Cecil Muderede, a
former Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) operative, who is out on
bail, jointly charged with Irvin
Mereki and Terence Mutasa for externalising
more than US$1,3 million and
R700 000.
Muderede is also facing 21
counts of defrauding the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB) of 7 915 metric tonnes
of grain valued at more than $63 million at the
time. The Independent
understands that at the time of his arrest, Muderede
had just bought a
building and properties firm, Posso Brilhante Properties,
from a South
African businessman, Sergio Gomes. He had also bought a
transport firm in
South Africa called Nemini for which he had deposited R1,5
million. He had
used 20 000 metric tonnes of maize as surety for the
purchase of the
transport company. He has since lost both firms after his
arrest. Gomes,
through his lawyers, Hauptfleisch Legal Firm, repossessed the
transport
company when Muderede defaulted on his monthly premium, a
condition that was
part of the Memorandum of Agreement.
Muderede now risks losing his
Mabelreign-based transport company, CRCM
situated at 3 Faber Road. The
Zimbabwe Republic Police's economic crimes
unit has already impounded
Muderede's Ford vehicle, registration number
PF2557-GP, as the
investigations into his operations continue.
Police have also impounded a
computer, which is understood to have been
thoroughly frisked for any
valuable information.
The Independent understands that when police
searched Muderede's Mabelreign
transport company, they stumbled on
information that implicated beleaguered
Telecel chairman James Makamba in
illegal foreign currency dealings,
prompting his arrest. It is understood
that police found documents showing
money transfers done from Muderede's
Absa account to a Telecel account in
Luxembourg.
Muderede would
sell maize to a company in South Africa called Industrial
Commodity Holdings
owned by one Piet Greyling. The company would then resell
the maize to the
GMB. The GMB paid the company in foreign currency. To avoid
detection,
Muderede would transfer his money from his South African bank
account to New
York and then back to Zimbabwe under the name Oakleen
Investments,
Muderede's investment vehicle.
The Independent understands that all
this information was passed on to the
head of investigations at the RBZ, one
Retired Major Santu, who is
understood to have since left the central
bank.
The RBZ set up the Whistleblower's Fund "to pay for quality
information that
assists in exposing violations of standing exchange control
regulations".
The fund, in a monetary policy statement delivered in December
2003 by Gono,
said payment to whistleblowers had been pegged at 10% of the
recovered value
and would be paid in foreign currency "for use as they see
fit".
Back then Gono said under-invoicing or transfer pricing at the
shop floor,
false forex loan repayments, deliberate or late acquittal of
export
earnings, collusion to over-invoice imports were among some of the
"unethical behaviour and conduct which will earn whistleblowers some foreign
exchange bonuses".
A communication centre has since been set up
in the RBZ for reporting
illegal foreign currency dealings.
Zim Independent
Severe grain deficit looms
Itai Dzamara
ZIMBABWE
faces a severe grain deficit again this season due to poor planning
by
government and lack of inputs and draught power among newly resettled
farmers.
This is evident in all main farming areas where vast swathes
of land have
remained fallow while early maize is turning yellow due to an
acute shortage
of ammonium nitrate fertiliser.
There was also a
serious shortage of tillage power last year despite claims
by government of
tractors coming into the country from China, France and
Iran.
The
District Development Fund and Arda do not have foreign currency to
procure
spare parts for thousands of tractors at their various
depots.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) managing director Kwenda Dzarira
said the
combination of seed and fertiliser shortages and prohibitive prices
had
affected most farmers this season.
"The outlook of any
agricultural season is determined at the end of the
rainy season. We are
aware that inputs have not been enough. The available
seeds and fertiliser
are not enough and the prices are too restrictive for
most farmers," he
said. "There was a breakdown at Sable Chemicals in Kwekwe
where we expected
the bulk of our fertilisers (to come from) and this
affected us
heavily."
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) president Doug Taylor-Freeme
said the
assessment by the union reflected another year of a serious
shortfall.
"It's not looking good at all. Inputs are in short supply
and the confusion
surrounding the land reform still haunts productivity in
the farming
sector," Taylor-Freeme said. "We are likely to have lower
harvests than
even last year due to the effects of all these negative
factors."
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary for
agriculture, Renson
Gasela, said his projections were that there would be a
decline in the
quantity of grain from this year's harvest compared to last
year.
A survey done by the parliamentary portfolio committee on
agriculture last
year concluded the country had a huge grain deficit despite
government's
claims that there was a bumper harvest.
The
parliamentary committee established that about 340 000 tonnes of maize
had
been delivered to the Grain Marketing Board by October compared to
claims of
over 2,4 million tonnes by government.
The country requires 1,8
million tonnes of maize for annual consumption plus
another 500 000 tonnes
for strategic reserves.
It has since emerged that government, which
had repeatedly told donor
agencies to take their assistance to "hungrier
people elsewhere", is
accelerating grain imports.
The South
African Grain Services this week released figures indicating that
Zimbabwe
is importing up to 8 000 tonnes of maize a week. The Zimbabwe
Independent
established late last year that government had placed an order
for a gross
of 300 000 tonnes of maize.
The country has been experiencing food
deficits since Zanu PF supporters and
war veterans embarked on farm seizures
in 2000.
White commercial farmers were chased off their productive
properties which
were subdivided into tiny plots for subsistence
farming.
Zim Independent
Moyo at it again
Gift Phiri
INFORMATION minister
Jonathan Moyo is suing Munn Marketing (Pvt) Ltd for
$100 million for
allegedly distributing in Zimbabwe the Sunday Times of
South Africa - a
paper he is also suing for carrying an allegedly defamatory
article.
Moyo in summons served last month said the article
insinuated that he did
not care about the people of Matabeleland and their
history.
In his court papers lodged with the High Court, Moyo stated
that Munn
Marketing should be held liable for circulating or distributing
the Sunday
Times which carried the article "which contained within it
offensive and
defamatory statements". However, Publications Distributors,
and not Munn
Marketing, distribute the Sunday Times in
Zimbabwe.
The Sunday Times story at the centre of the storm was a
front-page splash
under the headline "Mafikizolo Moyo feels wrath of
dictator scorned" and was
carried in the December 5 issue. The author of the
story quoted an interview
he said he had with Moyo in 2000.
He
wrote: "For the record, I asked the professor in 2000 how a person from
Matabeleland who would have been affected in one way or another by the
massacres was now the most violent apologist for, if not post soldier, of
Mugabe. He said that what happened in his home province had been nothing but
a necessary government intervention against treasonous elements from the
South."
Moyo, through his lawyers Muzangaza, Mandaza &
Tomana, said the words
attributed to him were "false" as he never had
discussions with the writer
of the article concerning the issue of the
Matabeleland uprising, where more
than 20 000 civilians were massacred by
Mugabe's North-Korean trained 5
Brigade during insurgency in the early
1980s.
"The words in the said article were understood by members of
the public to
mean that the plaintiff did not care about the people of
Matabeleland and
their history," Moyo said in his court papers. "The portion
of the article
so complained of gave the impression that plaintiff, a
minister of state,
did not appreciate the pain brought to his countrymen and
kin during the
uprisings in Matabeleland."
Moyo also charged that
the article implied that he was a "bootlicker" and an
employee of the
president, "when it is common knowledge that plaintiff is a
member of the
government and serves the government of Zimbabwe".
"The aforesaid
statements were wrongful and defamatory of the plaintiff and
intended to
damage him in his reputation and fair name," said Moyo.
At the time
of going to press Munn Marketing were communicating to Moyo's
lawyers that
they were not involved in the distribution of the Sunday Times.
Zim Independent
NGOs vow to continue despite Bill
Itai
Dzamara
NON-GOVERNMENTAL Organisations (NGOs) involved in issues of
democracy, human
rights and media advocacy have said they will continue
operating until
government uses the NGO Bill to ban them.
The NGO
Bill awaits President Robert Mugabe's assent after opposition
resistance in
parliament failed to stop the ruling party from pushing it
through last
year.
The Zimbabwe Independent this week established that donors from
Europe and
the United States have frozen further assistance to local NGOs
due to the
uncertainty brought about by the Bill.
The NGOs now
hope to be accredited by government in line with the provisions
of the NGO
Bill before they can get funding from the international
community.
However, local NGOs involved in democracy, human
rights and media advocacy
fear they may be denied accreditation. National
Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) chairman Lovemore Madhuku's personal assistant
Ernest Mudzengi said
they were already suffering from the withdrawal of
funding by international
donors but would continue
operating.
"The issue of donor funds is one problem that has been
created by this
Bill," said Mudzengi.
"It will be difficult to
operate without funding but we are not going to
stop fighting for a new
constitution. We will use all means possible to
survive for the sake of
democracy," he said.
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn)
chairman, Reginald Matchaba-Hove,
said they were weighing their options in
the event that the Bill was signed
by Mugabe.
"We are operating
as if all is normal because it hasn't been signed into
law," Matchaba-Hove
said. "But we are totally opposed to the Bill. It is
retrogressive for the
people of Zimbabwe. We are considering measures to
take in the event that it
becomes law."
Media Institute of Southern Africa chairman for the
Zimbabwe chapter
Thomas Deve also said they would remain in
operation.
"We are still operating and waiting for the next step by
government. We are
still surviving on the funds we already have," he
said.
Zimbabwe Human Rights (ZimRights) director Munyaradzi Bidi said
they were
still operating.
"We have to continue fighting for the
upholding of human rights. It is clear
the Bill is draconian and we have
made our statements clear regarding its
effects on the nation," he
said.
Implementing partners working with the United Nations World
Food Programme
retrenched more than half of their workforce in Zimbabwe late
last year. The
NGO sector employed more than 10 000 people before the
clampdown.
Zim Independent
Byo man missing in Thailand tsunami
Staff Writer
A
PROMINENT Bulawayo businessman is missing, presumed dead, after the
devastating tsunami that tore through Thailand's beach resorts on Boxing
Day.
Steve Le Roux (58) and his business partner Clive Baron (68),
both
Zimbabwean, were staying at the upscale Princess Island Resort at Koh
Phi
Phi near Phuket on Thailand's south-west Andaman coast when the giant
wave
struck on December 26, flattening the resort complex.
Baron,
who was badly injured, was airlifted to a Bangkok hospital on Monday.
He had
been on a respirator for several days. Le Roux is among the thousands
still
unaccounted for. His sister in Cape Town, Sue Le Roux, has been told
by
South African medical authorities to assume he is dead. DNA samples have
been sent to Thailand.
Sue Le Roux said her brother, who together
with Baron owned Cinderella
Manufacturing (Pvt) Ltd in Bulawayo, a prominent
clothes manufacturing
company, had spoken to the family on Christmas Day,
saying he was having a
relaxing holiday.
Baron, who was out
walking near his hotel when the tsunami struck, was
knocked unconscious. His
lungs were filled with water, doctors said. His
legs had been crushed and
his body was covered with bruises. He had been
rescued by locals and taken
to a clinic. From there he was moved to a
hospital and then airlifted to the
capital.
At one stage he faced amputation of the most badly injured
leg. But doctors
have been fighting to save it, friends say. His hospital
care in Thailand
has been "six-star", they said.
"He is like a
brother to us," Sue Le Roux said of Clive Baron. "Steve and
Clive had been
business partners for over 40 years. He was like a brother to
all Steve's
three sisters. We are only grateful we didn't lose both of
them."
Sue Le Roux said friends and colleagues in Bulawayo had been
wonderful. She
thanked them for their "prayers and support".
"We
love Clive dearly and know he will pull through," she said.
Cinderella
Manufacturing, currently closed, is due to reopen later this
month.
Former Bulawayo mayor Dr Eugene Gordon said the loss of Steve
Le Roux was a
blow to the Bulawayo business community.
"Steve was
highly-respected and very popular," Gordon said. "He was an
unassuming
person who did a lot of charity work that is not generally
known," he
said.
Zim Independent
Zim's domestic debt shoots to $3 trillion
Eric
Chiriga
ZIMBABWE'S domestic debt, which stood at $590,5 billion in December
2003,
had ballooned to nearly $3 trillion by November 5 last
year.
Figures from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)'s weekly economic
highlights
show that the country's domestic debt was $1,4 trillion at June
25 2004,
$2,5 trillion at August 27 and $2,8 trillion at September 24. The
debt stood
at $346 billion in December 2002.
Analysts say the
domestic debt will continue to soar because of the need to
fund various
imports such as electricity, grain and providing financial
support for
newly-resettled farmers.
They said the high interest rates coupled
with increased borrowing that tied
up a high percentage of the nation's
resources would continue to be a burden
on the fiscus.
"This is
an interesting figure considering that the government also wants to
give $3
trillion to agriculture," John Robertson, an independent economist,
said.
Robertson said this would double the debt because
government will have to
borrow the $3 trillion.
"Besides the
increase in the domestic debt, borrowing by government results
in crowding
out of the business sector," he said.
"Government borrows money to
pay wages and recurrent expenditure and this
increases inflation unlike the
business sector which borrows money for
productive
purposes."
When he took over as RBZ governor in December 2003, Gideon
Gono said the
current debt overhang had an adverse impact on money supply
and, therefore,
efforts to fight inflation.
He said treasury and
monetary authorities and the private sector were
engaged in active
discussions over the idea to ring-fence this debt and come
up with
innovative instruments to deal with the entire outstanding domestic
debt.
Gono then proposed a special facility bond where government
issues a
zero-coupon bond which investors purchase at a
discount.
He also proposed a weighting system to determine the
discount factor for the
said bond.
The governor said government,
together with the private sector, would
request friendly countries to issue
foreign currency-denominated bonds in
international capital markets. The
foreign currency raised would then be
sold to the RBZ and the local currency
used to extinguish domestic debt
while the foreign currency with the RBZ
could then be used to repay part of
the foreign debt or meet the country's
import requirements.
Zimbabwe's balance of payments position has
remained weak largely as a
result of poor export performance and continuing
importer demand.
Zim Independent
ZABG touches off furore
Shakeman
Mugari
SHAREHOLDERS of banks that have been merged into the
Zimbabwe Allied
Banking Group (ZABG) are seeking legal advice to protect
their endangered
stakes in the institutions.
This threatens the
ambitious project whose launch is already behind
schedule.
The shareholders who look set to lose billions of dollars in assets in
closed banks are understood to be ganging up against the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) for a serious legal dogfight to save their equity from being
nationalised.
Jeffrey Mzwimbi, former chief executive of
Royal Bank, which is set to
be part of ZABG, yesterday said shareholders of
the collapsed banks should
be protected.
"In our case, we
are not very sure how the ZABG will function," said
Mzwimbi. "We have not
heard or seen anything from the Reserve Bank but our
rights as shareholders
must be protected."
He said shareholders would consider legal
action if they lost their
rights in the bank. The banks have already started
to seek legal opinion on
the issue, which could defer the launch of the
bank.
ZABG was formed by the central banks to take over
collapsed banks. To
date Royal, Time, Trust and Intermarket form the
amalgam. The government and
the central bank will be shareholders in the
project. However, shareholders
of the banks want to know what will happen to
their investments.
The next two months are likely to see the
shareholders taking the
central bank and government to court over a number
of technical issues. At
the time of going to press some shareholders were
meeting to discuss their
options, which analysts say are limited to the
courts.
Trust Bank, Royal Bank, Barbican, CFX and Time Bank
were put under
curatorship by the central bank after it was discovered that
they were
facing serious liquidity problems.
The problems
for most of the banks were caused by a serious lack of
prudent banking
practices which saw them accumulating non-performing insider
loans which had
been given to directors and senior managers.
Attempts were made to
save some of the banks through the Troubled Bank
Fund. The RBZ poured more
than $400 billion into some banks, which still
collapsed
anyway.
Shareholders are worried that the formation of the new
bank could see
them losing their shareholdings and assets to
government.
The shareholders were allegedly not given a chance
to decide the fate
of their banks. They were not consulted by the central
bank when the
decision was made to merge the banks.
The
shareholders want to know the effect the ZABG would have on the
value of the
shares they originally held in the banks. They also want the
central bank to
carry out a valuation of the banks' residual assets before
they are taken
over under ZABG. These would then be used to decide the value
of their
shares.
A lawyer who represents one of the closed banks said
although papers
had not been filed with the court, chances were that the
shareholders would
sue.
"We have not yet sued but what the
shareholders really want is an
explanation of what is going on. They have
just lost a fortune through the
takeover of their banks and the logical
thing is to seek an explanation,"
said the lawyer.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
New products
IT is amazing to think that the Zimbabwe Independent will be turning
nine in
four months' time. How time flies when you are enjoying yourself! We
have
not exactly come of age - to employ an over-used cliché - but we are
proud
of our accomplishments to date, especially our contribution to
national
discourse in business and politics.
We have accomplished this
largely due to the support of our loyal
readers and advertisers. It is
incumbent on us therefore to keep improving
our product to offer more
quality reading.
The paper has gone through various phases of
development in the past
nine years from the black and white editions of
1996-7 to the introduction
of full colour in 1998. The paper was rebranded
in 2001 to assume the
current masthead before the introduction of
businessdigest towards the end
of 2002.
We reach another
milestone this year with the promotion of Teldah
Mawarire to the post of
chief sub-editor with effect from January 1. She
becomes the first female
journalist to occupy that important newsroom
position. She joined us in 2003
and has displayed immense zeal and
resourcefulness in page layout and design
and updating the ZimInd website. I
wish her well in that challenging
position we have been struggling to fill
since the elevation of Joram Nyathi
to managing editor two years ago.
Businessdigest also welcomes
Chris Goko as senior business reporter
where he joins the hardworking team
of Godfrey Marawanyika, Conrad Dube and
Shakeman Mugari who have enabled us
to secure a lead in covering Zimbabwe's
banking saga.
We
are looking forward to another exciting year as we continue to add
value to
the paper. One way of doing that is to introduce new sections and
from next
week we will be launching an exciting new product for our
international
readers and Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
The Independent Auto
Trader will offer a platform for the motoring
industry to display and market
its products including the latest motor
vehicles, accessories, parts and
services. The full colour section will
offer a pictorial classified section
for commercial, light passenger and
luxury models on sale.
We also promise to provide candid commentary on new models and advice
on
vehicle purchases. For auto-traders, this is a new showcase worth testing
to
market your products.
Next week will also see the launch of a
new property section to be
known as Independent Friday Property. In the past
three years, the industry
has taken a severe knock from the
hyperinflationary environment and the high
interest rate regime which
suffocated mortgage financing of residential
properties and new
developments. But there is evidence - albeit marginal -
that the sector is
rebounding on the back of retreating inflation. In the
face of immense
adversity new property developments in the form of office
parks, cluster
houses and new residential areas are taking shape.
The
Independent Friday Property section will provide property
developers, estate
agents and private sellers with an opportunity to display
properties on
offer.
Again we will offer space for adverts accompanied by
colour pictures.
We will also work with estate agents' bodies and property
developers to
provide a guide to both sellers and buyers.
A
bonus to advertisers in our new sections and the rest of the paper
is the
launch of the digital Zim-Independent next week, which will replicate
the
print version of the paper but in electronic form. The Zimbabwe
Independent
will now be available through subscription in PDF format -
including all the
stories, pictures and advertisements. This is different
from our normal
on-line version which does not show editorial layout or
adverts displayed in
the print version and which does not carry all the
paper's
stories.
This is an exciting product in that subscribers with
Internet access
will be able to read the paper on their computers before the
paper hits the
streets here at 6.00am.
Advertisers are also
assured of greater mileage as they can now reach
the diaspora without paying
an extra cent.
We will strive to provide the electronic paper
to the majority of
international subscribers earlier than the time the
normal Independent
website goes up.
An added value of the
e-paper is that it can be downloaded in whole
onto a laptop or palmtop to be
read in areas where there is no Internet
access. In fact, once downloaded,
subscribers do not need to continue
connected to the Internet, which should
reduce telephone costs.
The service will also give subscribers
the opportunity to download
stories, pictures or adverts of their choice
instead of the whole paper.
There is also provision to blow up text or
pictures for easier viewing.
Thus a subscriber travelling out
of Harare before sunrise on a Friday
can download the digital-Zimind and
read it on the plane or at a lay-by on
the highway. That's a bigger
read.
We cherish your criticism and advice which has been
coming through
letters to the editor and the feedback platform on our
website. Let's
continue building this product together.
Zim Independent
No respite for crisis-hit Zimbabwe
Gift
Phiri
ZIMBABWE'S future in 2005 looks bleak, or uncertain at best, as
Zanu PF
wages a "real war" to win its greatest electoral challenge in the
March
general election.
Analysts say the ruling party's fortunes will
depend largely on how the
increasingly unpredictable President Robert Mugabe
manages the growing
pressure on his 25-year-old government ahead of
legislative elections.
Besides rising intra-party political violence, Mugabe
has stepped up
political repression against his opponents and recently
pushed through
parliament despotic security laws threatening jail terms for
journalists who
report falsely. Analysts believe the former guerilla leader
could still
alter policies that have contributed to Zimbabwe's slide into
recession and
put him on a collision course with most of the international
community.
"On the facts at hand, the future looks bleak or uncertain at
the very best,
but that does not mean that hell is unavoidable," political
analyst Emmanuel
Magade said. "Politics is not a mathematical equation, and
it's still
possible that Mugabe could realise that his current strategy is
not a
winning strategy," he told the Zimbabwe Independent.
To begin
with, a raft of repressive legislation has been passed that would
be the
envy of ruling parties elsewhere which are seeking re-election. The
Public
Order and Security Act, passed in January 2002, and amended late last
year,
gives officials the power to ban political rallies. It has also
criminalised
statements deemed to undermine the authority of the president,
insult him or
spark feelings of hostility towards him, thereby sounding the
death knell
for the average opposition stump speech. Already three people
have been
arrested in the past two months for "bad mouthing" Mugabe, even
where the
remarks would be considered fair comment.
The Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, passed in March
2002, and also amended recently,
has restricted the activities of the
private press by requiring journalists
to obtain accreditation from a
government-appointed Media and Information
Commission. "Local journalists
risk criminal charges if they try to speak
the truth," says an
Internet-based activist group, Sokwanele, which means
"enough". "Besides,
where would they publish? Most dissenting media voices
have long been shut
down."
In addition, a Non-Governmental
Organisations Bill passed by parliament last
month bans foreign human rights
groups from working in Zimbabwe. It also
prohibits local NGOs dealing with
human rights and issues of good governance
from receiving foreign
funding.
As money to finance these organisations' activities is scarce in
Zimbabwe
itself, the Bill could force many local NGOs to close their doors -
including several that deal with voter education. This prompted the European
Union to note in a statement issued on December 22 that the NGO Act, which
still awaits Mugabe's signature, "could have a significant negative impact
on the forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe".
The Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) Bill, also passed last month,
empowers the newly created
commission to decide which organisations should
be allowed to raise
awareness amongst voters. The establishment of the ZEC
was apparently
intended to bring Zimbabwe into conformity with a set of
electoral
guidelines adopted in August 2004 by the Southern African
Development
Community (Sadc).
Among other things, these stipulate that impartial
institutions should
supervise polls, that all parties should have access to
public media and
that campaigns should be free of political harassment. In
November, the
government-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) refused to
accept
adverts from the opposition MDC despite guarantees of payment. The
ZBH also
routinely condemns the opposition. The New York-based Human Rights
Watch and
others point out that the way in which ZEC commissioners are
appointed still
gives government too much say over who sits on the
body.
"They (Zanu PF party) have put everything in place to win the
elections,"
says Lovemore Madhuku, head of the National Constitutional
Assembly, a body
which lobbies for constitutional reform in
Zimbabwe.
The MDC has threatened to boycott the March election if
government fails to
fully comply with the Sadc electoral guidelines and
principles. Party
officials say a final decision on whether to contest the
poll will be taken
later this month.
But "there is more to gain by not
participating and mounting a campaign to
build a mass movement", observes
Madhuku.
Brian Raftopoulos, one of Zimbabwe's leading political analysts,
says Mugabe
is facing such massive domestic, regional and international
opposition that
he would not be able to get away with a violent election
campaign or
cheating.
"It would be suicidal," he said. "But I believe
that Mugabe can, in his own
interest, in the interest of his party and in
the interest of Zimbabwe, stop
listening to the hawkish advice of young
opportunists and intellectual
mercenaries in his court."
The
14-nation Sadc has publicly backed Mugabe's leadership but analysts say
there is tough talking behind the scenes to try to persuade him to comply
with regional and international norms.
Zimbabwe's economy has been
crippled by a shortage of fuel and foreign
exchange, while a drop in
agricultural output is threatening a food
shortfall. Inflation is at 149,3%,
while interest rates are above 100%.
Without international donor support,
Mugabe has little chance of resolving
the country's economic problems,
analysts say.
The European Union and the United States have slapped
Mugabe and his cronies
with targeted sanctions while the Commonwealth, a
grouping of mostly former
British colonies, has suspended Zimbabwe from the
club.
Mugabe, who will be 81 next month, launched his bid for his ruling
Zanu PF's
re-election last year with a fiery declaration that the
legislative vote
would be an "anti-Blair election". Mugabe said his ruling
party would wage a
"real war" against his political foes in the main
opposition MDC.
His government has proposed amendments banning independent
observers,
forbidding private voter education and denying voting rights to
millions of
Zimbabweans abroad. The government has also bulldozed a security
Bill
through parliament, which critics say contains sweeping powers to
suppress
the opposition ahead of the poll.
But the opposition MDC
still poses the strongest challenge to Mugabe's Zanu
PF since it came to
power when the former Rhodesia gained independence from
Britain in
1980.
Analysts said Zimbabweans could only secure their future by braving
political violence and throwing out Zanu PF in the March election.
"We
enter the year 2005, a year which could change the political and
economic
fortunes of this beautiful country if the people are courageous in
their
choice of leadership," Magade said.
Zim Independent
Comment
Global spotlight shifts to
Zimbabwe
THERE is no mistaking the panic on the part of government as the
March
election date inches closer by the day. Nowhere is this more evident
than in
the state media which apparently has been ordered to blow the
trumpet each
time some change to the electoral rules is
made.
"Compliance" is the name of the game. The whole world must be made
aware of
how far government is complying with the Sadc principles and
guidelines on
the conduct of democratic elections.
The past four
years have not been an electoral Elysium despite the feigned
nonchalance
about world opinion. It has been four years of shame.
The stigma of
illegitimacy will take a long time to exorcise despite the
bluster about
Zimbabwe's post-Independence record of conducting polls. We
are hearing the
chorus of compliance with the Grande Baie protocol to wring
endorsement from
critical neighbours who have just had their own elections.
It is what
still has to be accomplished to win legitimacy that is proving
hard to
achieve. The five general elections in quick succession last year
demonstrate that the region is no longer willing to be associated with the
violence and manipulation that has become the norm in Zimbabwe.
The
elections in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi were
conducted relatively peacefully under the auspices of independent
supervisory institutions. It was as if all the countries were trying to show
Zimbabwe the road map to international acceptability and economic
growth.
That means the international spotlight will now be firmly on
Zimbabwe to see
if we have learnt anything from our neighbours who have
endured so much over
the years in the name of African solidarity. The
judgement of our election
will be more brutal because of past experience of
coercion and other forms
of electoral irregularities.
The
militarisation of the electoral process has not been lost on the
international community. The use by the ruling Zanu PF party of the youth
militia to harass and terrorise the opposition is an obvious abuse of power.
The use of food as a campaign tool amid grain shortages is another.
All
this is not helped by government's refusal to grant the opposition space
in
publicly funded media to campaign - an egregious breach of the Mauritius
process. At the same time the police are using the Public Order and Security
Act (Posa) to deny the MDC their right to campaign or even meet.
Add
to this cocktail a murky voters' roll and you have a problem even before
the
dates of the election are announced.
The state media have been making
much of the passage of the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission Act and the
Electoral Act as signalling a levelling of
the playing field and compliance
with the Sadc principles. But both Acts
ensure key electoral players are
beholden to President Mugabe. Moreover,
Mugabe already enjoys the advantage
of incumbency despite questionable
legitimacy.
Both Acts were passed by
parliament despite adverse reports of the
Parliamentary Legal Committee. In
other words, the Acts themselves are of
dubious
constitutionality.
The same applies to the NGOs Bill which will infringe
on constitutional
rights by denying to civil society its right to engage in
electoral
education and enhance democracy.
But the real test of
whether Zimbabwe can make the transition from an
illegitimate government to
an internationally acceptable one is the role of
the militia and the
military in the election - the level of violence before
and during the
election period.
So long as the Zanu PF youth militia prowl the townships and
communal areas
together with war veterans intimidating and harassing
potential voters, we
have a huge problem. The two have already declared
parts of Mashonaland
West, East and Central no-go areas for the opposition.
This is a serious
handicap for an opposition that has been denied access to
the state media
and doesn't have any media voice of its own.
The
opposition should weigh its options very carefully not to give legality
to
daylight fraud by taking part under protest. Zimbabwe doesn't belong to
Zanu
PF and every party should enjoy equality before the law. People must be
able
to choose their leaders without fear or favour. This is the message the
MDC
should make clear to Sadc leaders pushing for its participation in the
March
election.
The opposition should meanwhile fight for unfettered access to
the public
media. It's not an issue for bargaining. ZBH is not financed by
Zanu PF, but
by Zimbabweans.
The opposition should also fight for the
repeal of vile statutes like Posa
whose sole purpose is to stymie their
political activities and give the
police undue influence in determining
electoral outcomes.
Of late dubious political analysts have been roped in
to claim that Zimbabwe
has some of the best electoral laws in Africa and
beyond. Has the system
been put to test in an election?
That is for
Zimbabwean and international observers to say, not for the
government to
beat its own chest about. Government is trying to blackmail
the region to
endorse its insincere reforms so that whoever challenges them
is labelled a
tool of the British.
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch Column
Failed measures of economic
empowerment
Eric Bloch
IN the last 2004 issue of the Zimbabwe Independent,
this column addressed
the very negative, counter-productive policies that
are the mainstay of
Zimbabwe's economic empowerment of the black population.
The column
recognised that during the pre-Independence era, very pronounced
hindrances
existed to almost any endeavour of those constituting the
majority
population engaging themselves in economic activities, with
virtually the
only exceptions being employment in non-managerial roles (in
most cases)
within the diverse sectors of the economy, and the operation of
"tuckshops"
in high density areas.
In particular, they could not own
land, and could not lease business
premises within the central business
districts of Zimbabwe's cities and
towns. Similarly, they could not obtain
trading licences other than for some
limited business activity in the
quasi-ghettos of the high-density areas.
With such recognition of the gross
inequities of the past, the column
contended that there is a very great need
for constructive economic
empowerment to be pursued vigorously. However, the
Zimbabwean approach has
been an abysmal failure, with the only newly
empowered being - with rare
exception - those endowed with influential
connections within the political
environment, those who became flagrantly
enriched with corrupt practices,
and those who were able to disregard good
and sound, ethical economic
fundamentals. Of course, there are pronounced
exceptions, including the many
black professionals in the avenues of law,
accounting, finance, medicine,
insurance and various others. However, in
relation to the size of the
populace as a whole, the numbers that are
economically empowered, lawfully
or otherwise, are minimal.
This
appalling and unacceptable situation needs to be addressed, but not in
the
manner that government has pursued to date. Government's over-riding
approach has been that the much needed and very necessary economic
empowerment should be achieved by a heavy-handed, often draconian,
redistribution of existing wealth.
It has sought to disregard the
basic principles of international law, human
rights, morals and ethics by
expropriating thousands of farms, breaking them
up into unrealistic,
non-viable operational units, and redistributing them
to a favoured few
(less than 150 000 out of a population of over 12
million), without giving
them title to the land, and ignoring the recipients'
lack of resources and,
in many instances, their not being possessed of
requisite skills. The result
has been that those recipients have, with some
exceptions, not been
economically empowered, and concurrently the entire
economy was brought to
its knees and most of the nation impoverished.
Despite the pronounced failure
of the land programme (no matter the endless,
incredulous contentions of
government and its propagandists that the
programme has been a tremendous
success, although the evidence on the ground
refutes those contentions),
government is now contemplating similarly
disastrous forced transferral of
equity in the mining sector and in commerce
and industry to the indigenous
population. The result has been to create yet
another major deterrent to
both foreign and domestic investment.
Government has clearly not learnt
from its mistakes and also does not
appreciate that breaking-up a cohesive
entity does not necessarily preserve
viability of the entity's operations.
In contrast to the normal mathematical
rule, the sum of the parts does not
necessarily equal the whole!
Most of all, government has very evidently
failed to understand that not
only does taking wealth from some and giving
it to others not grow the
economy, and merely transfers it from some to the
others, but it also
invariably results in shrinkage of the economy.
Redistribution renders the
rich poor but usually does not make the poor
rich. The best way to benefit
the nation is to create new and additional
wealth, much of which should be
by facilitating economic empowerment of
those previously deprived of
opportunity.
The need for economic
empowerment is a characteristic of most on the African
continent.
Amongst the continent's countries seeking to achieve it is
South Africa.
Rather than tackling the issue without due analysis,
evaluation and
consideration, it established a high-powered Black Economic
Empowerment
Commission (BEE) to study in depth how best to achieve the
greatly needed,
wide-ranging economic empowerment. Under the very able
chairmanship of the
renowned Cyril Ramaphosa, very extensive research was
carried out, including
much dialogue with all sectors of society, and study
of over 100
publications and submissions.
The BEE Commission
concluded its task by the issue to government and to the
private sector of
an extremely comprehensive report. The prologue to that
report suggests that
its contents present "South Africa with an opportunity
to break the cycle of
under-development and continued marginalisation of the
black majority from
the mainstream economy". It further states that the
strategies proposed in
the report are "integral to the success of" South
Africa's Reconstruction
and Development Programme, and that "at the same
time it will launch South
Africa on a course of sustained and even
spectacular rates of growth". In 72
pages, it then strives to identify
positive measures to achieve those
objectives, and space constraints
preclude this column giving due justice to
it.
At the outset, the report states that BEE "must be implemented in a
coordinated and integrated manner.Accumulation strategies to expand the
identified growth sectors will have to go way beyond increasing the size of
the current narrow economic base. They must be accompanied by measures to
increase access to productive assets for the majority of the population and
appropriate support to ensure sustainable use." The key components of the
Integrated National BEE strategy include:
*An investment for growth
accord between business and government aimed at
reaching an agreement on a
concrete strategy to lift the country's levels of
fixed investment and
economic growth;
*The design and implementation of an integrated human
resources development
strategy.
*Implementation of the integrated
sustainable rural development strategy and
the creation of an agency to
streamline and co-ordinate funding and other
initiatives
in rural areas,
including land reform;
*A national procurement agency located within the
Department of Trade and
Industry aimed at transforming the public and
private sector procurement
environment;
*A National Black Economic
Empowerment Act, being enabling legislation aimed
at creating uniformity in
policy and establishing the necessary
institutional support and instruments
with which to drive the BEE strategy.
The Act should.facilitate
deracialiation of economic activities in the
public and private
sectors;
*An enabling framework aimed at improving access to finance for
households
and businesses through disclosure and reporting requirements in
the banking
sector and targets to encourage service delivery.
*Streamling
and co-ordination of public sector funding initiatives.
Thereafter, the BEE
Report addresses the various economic sectors. Amongst
other
recommendations, the BEE Commission recommended a public sector
restructuring programme which "must aim to improve delivery of services and
enhance the rollout of infrastructure to underdeveloped and rural areas",
which include:
*Retrenchments should be avoided at all
costs;
*Aggressive training and skills development programmes must be
introduced;
*Management should have the responsibility to facilitate
financial and
non-support for employees starting their own
business;
*Management should have the responsibility to seek alternative
employment
for workers in the event that redeployment and retention options
fail;
*A fixed percentage of restructuring proceeds should be earmarked for
social
plans.
The BEE Commission argues that "every form of black
equity participation can
be an effective instrument to drive empowerment",
but that "to realise the
objective of effective black equity and management
participation, the State
will have to play a facilitative role through the
provision of favourable
and preferential funding mechanisms and information,
support and independent
advisory capacity. To increase the equity and
management participation of
black entrepreneurs, the following measures
should always be considered:
discounts, deferred payment terms, and new BEE
founding mechanisms including
claw-back, earn-in and vendor funding".
To
improve the livelihoods of the rural poor, the BEE Commission called
for:
*Establishment of a framework for targeted initiatives that meet the
needs
of rural communities, aimed at breaking the cycle of under-developed
and at
stimulating rural economies;
*Improving the economic and social
position of woman in rural areas through
specific programmes;
*Increasing
levels of food security;
*Provision of increased access to schooling and
adult basic education and
training, including promotion of skills
development and entrepreneurial
capacity within schools, tertiary
institutions and SME support agencies;
*Giving rural communities real
ownership of productive assets by increasing
access to financial services
and through land reform programmes;
*Technical support, marketing and product
development to rural communities
to ensure productive utilisation of
land.
Instead of trying to achieve the very necessary black economic
empowerment
by expropriation and destruction, Zimbabwe's government should
strive to
develop economic growth through constructive economic empowerment
strategies
and facilitation, and could well take a leaf out of South
Africa's book.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
The real enemies of the state
IN view
of the oft-repeated claims that the MDC is a sellout party
manipulated by
Britain, recent charges of espionage against Zanu PF members
are more than
revealing. If for nothing else, at least for the allegations
of involvement
by senior government officials and embassy staff abroad.
The revelations are
damaging for a government claiming to embody the values
of the liberation
struggle and whose mandate is to "defend the national
interest". Next time
we feel the hot air of "sovereignty" we shall know what
to
expect!
Chinhoyi MP Philip Chiyangwa and four other important individuals who
included the ambassador designate to Mozambique were detained by security
personnel on allegations of espionage in mid-December.
The Zimbabwe
Independent carried the story on December 23. The state media,
however, no
doubt acting on instructions from government, declined to say a
word about
this episode until a week later when the Herald dramatically
announced "Spy
ring busted". This followed the appearance in court of some
of the
accused.
The paper had remained mum despite the fact that its photographer
was
assaulted while attempting to cover an earlier court hearing.
Why
does the Herald regard it as in the public interest to withhold
information
from the public regarding one of the country's most notable
politicians? Why
did it collaborate in the cover-up?
What made this case so shocking was the
fact that the men were held
incommunicado since December 16 with their
lawyers being denied access to
them. This breach of constitutional rights
was made evident to the
magistrate who nevertheless agreed to the state's
request for an in-camera
hearing. Morgan Tsvangirai's treason trial was held
in open court.
Despite the Herald's efforts to work up national
indignation over the "spy"
charges, the fact is the five are being charged
under some of the less
serious provisions of the Official Secrets Act
concerning the passing on of
classified information.
This is a measure
that the Law Reform Commission gave its attention to in
the mid-1990s.
Provisions of the Act were seen as incompatible with the need
for the public
to be kept properly informed. As one minister told a press
freedom workshop,
publication of the number of cups of tea he drank could be
deemed a
contravention of the Act.
In any case, the brash and garrulous Chiyangwa
could hardly be regarded as
suitable spy material. His life is an open
book.
Whatever the case, the fact that the state media concealed this
episode from
the nation which was abuzz with rumours demonstrates beyond
doubt the
muzzled and dissembling role the government media plays in the
nation's
life. What sort of access to information is this? We all recall
official
attempts to keep Laurent Kabila alive several days after his
death!
The diversionary claims by the state media to blame imperialist
enemies will
simply not wash with a very sceptical public. Let the
authorities get to the
bottom of the whole sordid affair so we know who the
real enemies of the
state are. So far it's turning out that both government
and the ruling party
have a lot of skeletons to hide in that copious
cupboard of theirs.
"Exhaustive investigations are in progress to net all
the people who have
been compromising national security by selling
classified information to
foreign powers, some of whom have publicly
declared that they want to remove
the government in Zimbabwe," warned a
Sunday Mail source. "There are going
to be a few surprises," he continued
darkly.
In Geneva a Foreign Affairs employee, Erasmus Moyo, was allegedly
at the
centre of operations in Europe. He apparently eluded his handlers at
the
airport as he was being taken to a plane home. According to the Mail
report,
Moyo hid somewhere in the "air terminal". Others, we are now told,
are
hiding in the cabinet. Some are even citizens of imperialist powers. Can
anybody be trusted?
Finally, the most obvious point. What does the
state think it is doing
illegally holding individuals for over two weeks
only to charge them with
minor infringements of the Official Secrets Act?
And why did the Minister of
State Security say he did not know about the
detentions? Is this not part of
his remit?
More cynical or
conspiratorial observers might suggest this episode has
successfully taken
the spotlight off Jonathan Moyo and his alleged sins.
However, Moyo's wish
to stand on a Zanu PF ticket in the Tsholotsho
constituency has been fatally
wounded, at least for now. He has become the
victim of the party's
affirmative action. Now only women will be allowed to
contest in the March
election, leaving Moyo to lick his festering wounds
from the infamous
Tsholotsho meeting of last year. Let's hope he will
continue the generous
donations in the province. Alternatively, he could
consider a sex
change.
Incidentally, a lady talking during a phone-in programme on SFM
on Tuesday
between 8.30 and 9am complained bitterly about lack of democracy
in Zanu PF.
She said they wanted Moyo to represent their constituency
"because he was
bringing development to the region. Now they say they want a
woman. Who
chose her?" she fumed.
Another casualty of Zanu PF intrigue is
war veterans leader Joseph
Chinotimba. He lost the Highfield seat to the MDC
in a 2003 by-election. He
didn't lose hope. He has formed a housing
cooperative under his name. He
recently also launched a soccer tournament to
which he donated a whole kit.
That is in addition to zhing-zhong shoes,
clothes and bicycles worth
millions he donated in the constituency recently
in a bid to win the race to
parliament. He also promised the electorate free
medical treatment. But Zanu
PF second guessed him out of the race. The
delimitation commission has
combined the constituency with Glen View and
Chinotimba has been left in the
cold.
Between 2.30 and 3.00pm on
Monday Muckraker was a victim of irrelevant
programming on SFM. We missed
the name of the programme, hosted by one
Kudakwashe Hove. We wondered as we
listened why the concern about skin
cancer, ultraviolet rays and sunbathing?
But the assault on our ears was
relentless.
Just before closing the
programme for the news at 3.00pm the weather expert
on the programme was
asked: "Is there a chance of Zimbabwe experiencing an
ice age any time in
the future? This is in light of the tsunami disaster in
southeast
Asia."
Whatever the requirements of local content, surely the Department
of
Information can do better than this. Hove said next week they would be
discussing "global tectonics". This is the "study of the earth's crust and
the forces affecting it", according to the Collins Pocket English
dictionary.
Could Hove in any way be part of Zimbabwe's disaster
preparedness committee?
Or just part of the disaster?
On the same
station on December 26 there was what amounted to wanton
violence on the
Queen's English (or "the Queen's language" as state media
commentators love
to call it). Ellen Mkaka read a news item on the death of
Zanla commander
Josiah Tongogara. He was described as one of the
"principled" fighters who
did not have "malicious" presidential ambitions.
What kind of ambition is
malicious? Any, it would seem!
The MDC being a creature of the detested
colonial era is opposed to
elections precisely because of that," declared
the delusional Lowani Ndlovu
this week in the Sunday Mail. This declaration
was made in support of claims
that liberation movements brought democracy
and restored the dignity of
Africans. The MDC was allegedly against
elections because it was opposed to
this era of "milk and honey" that was
ushered in by the Unity Accord of
1987.
Like everything else in Lowani's
increasingly illogical arguments, he didn't
say why, if the Zanu PF
government was so popular, so many Zimbabweans were
leaving the country. He
didn't say why we have perhaps one of the greatest
number of displaced
professionals for a country not at war. He didn't say
why the same
professionals left the milk and honey at home to work in the
lands of our
former oppressors.
That would be an inconvenient admission of failure of the
archetypal African
state.
And how does a party formed in 1999 become "a
creature of the detested
colonial era"? At the
December Zanu PF congress
Enos Chikowore complained that Zimbabwe's new
farmers were failing to match
the production levels achieved by white
commercial farmers from Independence
up to 1999. Is this a solecism or are
Zanu PF officials hinting at something
we missed in the official media?
A ll is evidently not well in the state
press. Following the mortal blow
delivered to the Master of the Dark Arts by
his patron, there appears to be
dissension in the ranks. The Herald and
Chronicle were in such a hurry to
denounce the Financial Gazette's "false"
story on the minister's resignation
that they overplayed their hand and had
to be chastised by George Charamba
who pointed out that Moyo had not
disputed the disciplinary action taken
against him by the presidium and
politburo.
The stories had sought to emphasise the grassroots support
Moyo had in being
nominated by Tsholotsho for the central committee before
his name was
removed by the presidency.
Describing the Herald and
Chronicle's stories in defence of Moyo as
"untoward, partisan and quite
overboard", Cde George said the report was "a
straight story falling outside
an editorial comment and based solely on
unnamed sources. It thus amounts to
unwarranted editorialising, itself quite
unprofessional."
Since when
has "unwarranted editorialising" or "partisan" stories ever
worried the
Office of the President, George? Why this sudden concern for
professional
standards when, as far as we know, Mahoso's commission has
never once raised
a complaint against blatant editorialising in
government-media stories, even
when slipped into court reports? The "zealous
advocacy" which Charamba
complains of is surely part of the state editors'
job
description!
The Herald helpfully added the charge of "confusing the
nation" to the list
of the Fingaz's sins. Who is confusing who
here?
"Prof Moyo has since instructed his lawyers.to institute legal action
against the Financial Gazette," we are informed.
That is of course
the most stupid thing he could do. If the Fingaz story is
indeed untrue the
newspaper will suffer the consequences in terms of
diminished credibility.
If on the other hand Moyo sues the Fingaz and refers
the case to the MIC he
will quickly transfer public sympathy to the paper
and have the whole issue
of his standing as a minister raked over in court.
Is he somebody in whom it
can be said the president has shown confidence
lately?
Then there is of
course the matter of Aippa being used as a personal
instrument, precisely
the impression Moyo and Charamba have been trying -
unsuccessfully - to
avoid. They are pretending Aippa is a national project,
even going to the
extent of claiming the opposition endorsed it!
How will yet another press
prosecution look as the election looms? Why, by
the way, is the Bulawayo
state media referring to the Fingaz as "Gono's
paper"? Is it official
now?
Muckraker was interested to read Willard Chiwewe's account of the
Unity
negotiations of 1987, published in the Sunday Mail last month. Chiwewe
was
secretary to the talks at the time, we are told. He said one problematic
area had been the new party's logo. PF Zapu wanted a bull while Zanu PF
wanted the cockerel.
"But because these were negotiations for a purpose
to unite the country," he
said, "the two political parties agreed to use the
name Zanu PF and the
Jongwe logo."
Now that's not our understanding.
We thought the two sides agreed on a new
logo featuring the Great Zimbabwe
conical tower. Zanu PF however reneged on
this agreement and unilaterally
kept the Jongwe. Can anybody involved please
clarify.
Chiwewe says that
what struck him about the Unity Accord is that it was
achieved "without the
benefit of an arbitrator or middleman".
President Canaan Banana, who featured
prominently at the time in getting the
two sides together, has now - in true
Stalinist tradition - been airbrushed
out of the picture. He only gets a
mention in Chiwewe's account as being
present at the signing ceremony. He
was also removed from all but one or two
of the advertisements published
last month commemorating the event. Even
where he was present in the
picture, he wasn't named.
But the bit we liked best in Munyaradzi Huni's
account of Chiwewe's hitherto
undiscovered role in the unity talks was when
"Cde Chiwewe looked straight
at me with 'a talking eye' that seemed to ask:
'Young man, do you really
know what you are talking about?'" Most people
have that look every Sunday,
Munyaradzi!
Talking of airbrushing, how
is Nathan Shamuyarira's history book coming
along? Why no news on that
front? Muckraker would welcome a statement from
our illustrious media guru
as to what exactly he has been doing all this
time. Will there be a chapter
on how to manage Young Turks?
Finally, had anybody heard of Miss Tourism
World before last week? Whose
calendar of events is this fixture on and
where has it been hiding?
Zim Independent
Letters
Is it true only Zanu PF card-holders will
vote?
MAY you on behalf of the Gwanda South constituency check with
authorities
running elections in the country whether it is true that all
those without
Zanu PF membership cards will not be allowed to vote in the
March election.
This disturbing misinformation is being peddled by some
notorious war
veterans who are bent on instilling fear in people in an
attempt to cow the
community into voting for the ruling party.
It
does not matter how many times Zimbabweans have had the opportunity to
vote,
most of the rural people still don't know their rights and some
unscrupulous
people are capitalising on their ignorance. Added to that is
the element of
fear of the ruling party thugs that seems to be confusing
these rural
folks.
There is great need for voter education if these elections are
to be taken
seriously.
Please may the ruling party explain its
position on this and point out who
might have been behind it. We are tired
of dirty politics and need tangible
development
now.
Mthunywa,
Gwanda South.
Zim Independent
Letters
Shameful lies
ZANU PF lies about
cameras taking pictures of who is voting for the
opposition is an
unforgivable, shameful lie.
In the previous election the lie was heeded
by ignorant rural folk. Zanu PF
has started again this time with the lie
that they can detect the
finger-prints of those who have voted for the
opposition.
Such intimidation and lying makes people angry and
foments hatred. Why on
earth would a grown-up human being - an asapiring
leader for that matter -
tell a shameful lie of that nature? Please spare us
these shameful lies and
learn to win fairly.
We have already seen
through this ruse and advise those who devised it to
forget
it.
It's possible to still win and become a loved leader - clean and
smart. We
will all then respect you for that.
Play
Clean,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Letters
Mugabe setting stage for party's
death
MANY comments have been passed on Information minister Jonathan
Moyo over
the failed Tsholotsho Declaration.
Many have also hailed
President Mugabe for purging attendants of the
meeting, in particular Moyo.
What many fail to see is that Moyo has plainly
shown what might become the
fate of Zanu PF in the post-Mugabe era.
As a Zanu PF supporter, I
have seen things that not many have seen. The fact
that the president has
always barred talk of succession means that the whole
nation - including
those in the party - were left to guess the desires of
the
leader.
Many have always been of the opinion that the president
wanted to be
succeeded by Emmerson Mnangagwa and many still
do.
That the meeting was organised and attended by so many
influential
individuals who knew fully well the consequences of going
against the
president shows that they thought that they were conforming to
his wishes.
It is this mentality that might destroy our party in the
post-Mugabe era: a
culture of secrecy where certain things are not allowed
to be discussed. In
the same vein, I can see the same problem with the MDC;
do they have a
succession plan or not? If they don't, we shall become a
country of purges.
The president should come out in the open. If he
says "the people should
decide", let them; six out of the 10 chairmen had
spoken only to be
silenced. If he wants to personally name a successor, then
let him come out
and say so, not leave the party fumbling in the
dark.
Many are currently saying that Teurai Ropa (Joyce Mujuru)'s
appointment is
just a dummy to fool people so that Mnangagwa can take over
come 2008 after
both the president and vice-president Joseph Msika have
stepped down.
This culture of secrecy and fear by the leaders and of
the leaders must end
if the party is to move ahead.
David
King,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Letters
New boundaries a big farce
Dear
Editor, THE report recently produced by the Delimitation Commission
appointed by President Robert Mugabe is laughable and worth throwing into
the dustbin.
Imagine two constituencies being merged and two others
being split just like
that, without affecting the boundaries of other
constituencies in the same
province?
The new constituency
boundaries were discussed in Zanu PF meetings and were
known to many people
well before the commission started work - thanks to the
comrades in Zanu PF
who have been generous enough to leak such information.
Zanu PF
thought it could win the 2005 parliamentary election by reducing the
number
of MDC seats in the next parliament by merging constituencies in the
areas
deemed to be MDC strongholds and splitting those constituencies where
it
thinks it has a comfortable majority.
Some simple arithmetic will
prove the point: How many people were registered
in each of Mbare East and
West constituencies in the 2000 parliamentary
election?
How does
the total of the two constituencies added, compare with other
Harare
constituencies? Split the number of registered voters in Mudzi in the
2000
parliamentary election and compare the result with the number of
registered
voters in any other constituency in the same province.
Zanu PF,
through the Delimitation Commission, has justified their rigging by
saying
that there has been migration by people into and out of some
provinces, but
how do they expect all people who have migrated out of Harare
to have come
from Mbare East and West constituencies alone to justify
merging the two
constituencies into one?
By splitting Mudzi constituency into two
constituencies, Zanu PF is trying
to make the world believe that all people
who have migrated into Mashonaland
East province settled in Mudzi hence the
reason to split it into two. But
how does the world see this? This is
daylight cheating and everyone can
clearly see Zanu PF's
intention.
Zanu PF knows that it will not win a free and fair
election and is therefore
trying out all the dirty tricks.
This
is some of the evidence that the MDC should take to Sadc and
other
relevant bodies to prove that Zanu PF is trying to steal the
election from
the MDC again.
Benjamin
Chitate,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Letters
Long-term focus the solution to MDC
woes
I AM a Zimbabwean currently living out of the country but
in touch
with people at home.
I am shocked and surprised that
the MDC is contemplating to
participate in the next general election, hoping
to spring a surprise and
romp to victory.
Let me however be
frank. The MDC will be lucky to snatch at least five
seats. It's not that
people do not support or sympathise with the
opposition, but the reality is
that people have lost hope in removing the
Zanu PF government under the
current election system and constitution.
In the last two
elections, people did all they could to get rid of the
"Taliban government"
and attain change they were yearning for, but to no
avail.
In
the meantime, the opposition has been completely shut out and
people have
been denied access to the alternative medium that gave it a
voice while
massive propaganda has been peddled against it.
Let me predict
that there will be massive apathy by the people
especially in the opposition
strongholds because people will only
participate in an election whose
results they can influence. Remember former
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
would always win 95% of the vote in his "caged
democracy".
The Zanu PF government is so desperate to have the MDC participate in
the
coming elections so that they legitimise their hold on power.
Since when has Zanu PF been so courteous in parliamentary debates to
include
the opposition's concerns when implementing new legislation?
Even the government's mouthpiece, the Herald, has been calling for the
participation of the opposition. Despite public postures that they do not
care if the MDC does not participate, in reality they yearn for the
opposition to come on board.
The ruling party is trying to
create a semblance of democracy in the
period leading to the elections
including allowing "British" journalists to
come into the country and
allowing the opposition access to the media.
Surely, the
opposition cannot market its product in one month, having
been shut out
completely for a year and being bombarded with an avalanche of
propaganda on
a daily basis for the last five years.
The opposition needs to
be clear on its position pertaining to
participating in the elections
instead of sending incoherent signals as has
been the case. It should
specify the conditions they need to be in place at
least six months before
the elections.
In the meantime, I advise the opposition to
concentrate on developing
its grassroots structures and have a long-term
focus instead of adopting a
"quick-to-power" syndrome which has destroyed
many parties in the country.
Change will eventually come, just be
patient.
Taurai Muzondi,
Birmingham.
Zim Independent
New AG should protect basic rights
By
Beatrice Mtetwa
THE appointment of Sobusa Gula-Ndebele as the
principal legal advisor
to the government of Zimbabwe has been welcomed with
great expectations not
only by the legal profession in Zimbabwe, but also by
all law-abiding and
fair-minded citizens who would like basic rights
enshrined in the Bill of
Rights respected.
It is the hope of
all law-abiding citizens that our brand new
Attorney-General (AG) will seek
to restore Zimbabwe to that league of
African nations that have been
pioneers in the protection of basic rights
such as the right to full
protection of the law regardless of one's
political beliefs, the right not
to be deprived of personal liberty outside
provisions of the law, the right
to the freedoms of conscience, expression,
movement, assembly, association
and the right not to be discriminated
against on any
grounds.
The new AG has been appointed the government's
principal legal advisor
at a time when the rule of law and the general
administration of justice is
at an all time low with virtually every aspect
of the Zimbabwean legal
system having broken down to some extent. Although
much has been written
about the breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe,
the AG has, for reasons
that are difficult to understand, largely escaped
criticism as a contributor
to such breakdown. This is despite the fact that
the AG wields considerable
constitutional clout, particularly in criminal
prosecutions and the
rendering of legal advice to the government of
Zimbabwe.
The office of the AG is a constitutional creation
just like that of
the judiciary. Like judges upon appointment, the AG has to
take the oath of
loyalty to "be faithful and bear true allegiance to
Zimbabwe and observe the
laws of Zimbabwe". It is hoped that our new AG will
at all times seek to be
guided by the oath of loyalty which obliges him to
bear allegiance to the
country and its laws, and not to individuals and
politicians. The
constitution is the supreme law of Zimbabwe, and in theory
overrides all
other laws that are inconsistent with its provisions. It is
hoped that
Gula-Ndebele will at all times seek to uphold all provisions of
the
constitution, particularly the fundamental rights enshrined in the
Declaration of Rights.
In terms of Section 76(4) of the
constitution, the AG has the sole and
exclusive power "to institute and
undertake criminal proceedings before any
court, to take over and continue
criminal proceedings, to discontinue at any
stage before judgement is
delivered any criminal proceedings he has
instituted". The AG also has the
power to require the commissioner of police
to conduct certain
investigations and to report to him on any matter in
which the AG believes
might constitute a criminal offence or suspected
criminal conduct and the
constitution obliges the commissioner of police to
".comply with that
requirement". In the exercise of these powers, the
constitution makes it
clear that the AG ".shall not be subject to the
direction or control of any
person or authority".
From these provisions from the supreme
law of the land, there can be
no doubt that the AG wields considerable
independent power that should not
be interfered with by anybody. Yet we have
witnessed in the past four to
five years, an unprecedented assault on the
individual freedoms provided for
in the Declaration of Rights. We have not,
in the past five or so years,
heard of any AG who has refused to approve
repressive legislation that is
inconsistent with provisions of the
Declaration of Rights. Instead, we have
seen the AG's office mounting
spirited defences to legislation that clearly
offends against the most basic
rights in the constitution.
In the past four to five years, we
have not seen the AG declining to
prosecute hopeless criminal cases such as
the treason charges against Morgan
Tsvangirai, the spurious charges against
Kumbirai Kangai and his then
permanent secretary, the long incarceration and
subsequent prosecution of
those falsely accused in the Cain Nkala murder
case, the persecution and
prosecution of the Daily News and its directors,
and a host of other cases
that could not pass even the first hurdle before a
judiciary that has been
forced to deal with cases that ought not to have
been brought before the
courts in the first place.
We are
currently witnessing the prosecution of those allegedly
involved in
so-called spying activities and yet the AG does not appear
concerned that
the suspects were held incommunicado for periods in excess of
those provided
for by law before being brought before the courts. Instead,
the war cry from
the AG's office and those law officers that appear on his
behalf has
generally been a chorus of "we shall appeal against this
decision", "we are
studying the decision and are considering an appeal", in
circumstances where
a professional AG's office should go back to the drawing
board in an
endeavour to avoid future similar embarrassing prosecutions.
These are
evidently embarked upon with the hope that the judicial officer
will
understand the political context of the case and will therefore
accordingly
convict in the assurance that an appeal cannot possibly succeed
given the
general belief that the Supreme Court is sympathetic to the
executive.
Given the very clear and unambiguous
constitutional powers given to
the AG, it is surprising that his office has
largely escaped criticism in
the erosion of the rule of law. In terms of the
constitution, no prosecution
can take place unless the AG or his
representative is satisfied that there
is a lawful basis for such
prosecution. The AG is obliged by law to embark
on a prosecution for no
other reason than that he or his representative is
satisfied that on the
facts presented to him, there is a prima facie case
justifying a
prosecution.
One would think that this basic and simple legal
principle should
present no problems to those highly educated and
experienced officers in the
AG's office. Regrettably, the reality on the
ground is that the majority of
so-called high-profile or politically
motivated prosecutions are embarked
upon in complete disregard of the AG's
powers as set out in the
constitution.
Suspects are routinely
placed on remand on the flimsiest of grounds
and officers in the AG's office
routinely oppose the release of suspects on
bail.
The reasons
for such opposition sometimes include such inane grounds
as police
opposition to suspects being released on bail. This is despite the
fact that
the AG is constitutionally bound to exercise his prosecutorial
powers
without direction or control of the police, politicians or any other
party.
Why, therefore, has the AG escaped criticism in the
erosion of the
rule of law? Why have judges and other judicial officers
taken the flak in
circumstances where cases that were brought before them
ought not to have
been brought in the first instance? Why have judges and
magistrates been
fodder for columnists in the state media when they do what
every respectable
court would do by acquitting persons who ought not to have
been prosecuted
in the first place? And why have persons who have suffered
malicious and
politically motivated prosecutions where there clearly was no
evidence not
sued the AG? After all, there is precedent for such legal suit
made way back
in 1989.
Why are judges and magistrates who
are forced to sit through mountains
of irrelevant evidence in the
politically motivated prosecutions made to
carry the can when they acquit
and discharge accused persons who should
never have been arrested in the
first place, let alone prosecuted? Why do
such columnists not attack the AG
for embarking on hopeless prosecutions in
the first
instance?
While I cannot speak for the columnists in the public
media, I can
safely state without apology that the AG's office has been more
than
complicit in the breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Law officers
have
been happy to take instructions from politically connected individuals,
from
members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and from other senior
personnel in
other organisations such as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe with
complete
disregard of the constitutional provision that the AG shall not be
subject
to the direction or control of any person or authority. Where
prosecutions
have taken place and suspects are properly acquitted, it has
become common
that the AG's office pronounces that an appeal will be
lodged.
Demands that the law officer or prosecutor who would
have conducted
the prosecution write a report of such acquittal in order to
explain to
politicians why the acquittal would have occurred in the first
instance are
now normal occurrences. It is such reports that then incite
columnists in
the public media to unfairly blame the judicial officer who
would have heard
the case.
In short, the last four or so
years have seen the AG surrender
wholesale the constitutionally protected
powers that he has. He has given
these to the police, politicians, and a
host of other bodies that are seen
to hold political clout. Whilst one might
understand the actions of an
acting incumbent whose substantive appointment
depends on "toeing the line",
the appointment of Gula-Ndebele should serve
as a lesson that "toeing the
line" does not always produce the desired
result. It is the hope of all
right thinking and law-abiding Zimbabweans
that our new AG will at all times
"be faithful and bear true allegiance to
Zimbabwe and observe the laws of
Zimbabwe".
It is hoped that
the observance of the laws of Zimbabwe will be
consistent with the basic
provisions of the Declaration of Rights as
enshrined in our constitution and
all other international and regional
treaties, declarations, etc, signed by
our government. And it is hoped that
bearing true allegiance to Zimbabwe
will not mean blind allegiance to
individual interests and that it will mean
bearing allegiance to all the
peoples of Zimbabwe regardless of their
political, social, economic, racial
and educational status. It is also hoped
that the new AG will allow officers
in his office to once again reclaim the
professional independence that any
self-respecting lawyer should be allowed
to have. Anything short of this
will not restore the Zimbabwean judiciary to
the glory that it once enjoyed
from the early 80s to the year
2000.
*Beatrice Mtetwa is a Harare-based human rights
lawyer.
Zim Independent
From haughty Moyo to folk hero Gono
By
Chido Makunike
CHIDO Makunike continues his appraisal of the
performance of public
officials in 2004.
Jonathan Moyo:
Haughty, arrogant and embittered Mugabe propagandist
who delighted in
throwing his weight around, seeming to enjoy spreading his
deep-seated
misery everywhere.
Began 2004 on a high note, enjoying the
catharsis of having a highly
placed forum to vomit his generalised anger at
anybody and everybody.
Ended the year humiliated by the same Mugabe
who had given him enough
rope with which to hang himself, in an
unprecedented case of political
suicide. A man with more pride and a sense
of honour and principle would
have resigned, but Moyo is an opportunist with
so few options now he will
have to take anything Mugabe throws at
him.
From being the man everybody in the Mugabe regime wanted
to be in good
books with for his cynical, ruthless abuse of the state media,
he has become
a pariah no one dares be associated with. What Moyo threw
around has come
back around rather quickly!
All his silly
games and convoluted scheming, his frequent childish
temper tantrums were
all cries for help from a wounded soul who is desperate
to gain some
attention and sense of importance at virtually any cost.
A
pathetic individual whose folly will provide lessons on foolishness
for
generations to come.
Sekesai Makwavarara: Politician who has
provided an amazing example of
the depth of cynicism in Zimbabwean public
affairs. Became a Harare ward
councillor on an MDC ticket, mouthing all the
widely-shared
anti-establishment mantras to do so. Then after feeling which
way the winds
of patronage were blowing, shamelessly did a high-profile
Jonathan Moyo-type
flip flop into the ruling party.
Pretext
for government deposing MDC city council was non-performance,
but
Makwavarara is conspicuously absent from the frontlines of the
innumerable
crises bedevilling the council. She has no comments to make
about workers
not paid their salaries or continuing deterioration of
services, preferring
to only pretend to be chief executive in lightweight,
ceremonial ways. As
the municipality stumbles from day to day, the highest
point of her tenure
so far has been to parcel out donated Christmas presents
to various
children's homes. A sad commentary on the depths to which
politics has sunk
in Zimbabwe.
For agreeing to be used the way she is being done,
she now enjoys the
use of two luxury official vehicles assigned to her, a
built-up expropriated
farm given to her and protection from having to be
subjected to voter
opinion for at least several years. In return for being
an obedient
figure-head, rarely has a politician "achieved" so much in so
short a time
on the basis of so little!
Emmerson Mnangagwa:
A mixed year for this master schemer. Many point
to how he lost the second
vice president's position to Joyce Mujuru in the
last few weeks. But it is
forgotten that he achieved the amazing feat of
even being considered a
strong contender for the position when the year
began with rumours that he
was the main target of the anti-corruption
gimmick Mugabe mouthed off so
loudly about for a while. Reports of various
official bodies sniffing around
him circulated, but none of them had enough
evidence or guts to bite into
this man who knows where all the Mugabe's
regime's skeletons are tucked
away.
Some say being moved from Zanu PF politburo's
administration portfolio
to that of legal affairs was a demotion, but seen
in the context of the
rumours of earlier in the year, it could be said that
the fact that he
retained a position at all in the politburo is a sign that
this cool cat has
nine lives, of which he has only used a few! The many
efforts within Zanu PF
to trip him up will continue, but given this
consummate insider's probable
intimate knowledge of the bloody sins of the
founding fathers and many
others within the regime, I think he is quite
safe. His potential to
single-handedly do great harm to the ruling regime by
what he knows is his
greatest protection, so I was somewhat surprised that
he recently stooped to
uncharacteristic, nauseating boot-licking of Mugabe
in an effort to position
himself as front runner for the now filled
vice-presidency. Is purportedly
ruthless master schemer Mnangagwa growing
soft and weak?
Obediah Musindo: I am fascinated at how the
Mugabe regime likes to
have a thin veneer of religious approval for its
existence. To this end
every year some willing preacher-man is given a lot
of exposure and official
favour in return for "anointing" the regime as
being righteous and fully
approved by God, who of course the
flavour-of-the-year pastor is thought to
have a more special connection to
than anyone else.
This year's such preacher-man is Musindo,
whose outfit seems to have
done rather well for itself for "blessing" the
actions of the ruling regime
and singing praises to its head. Is an
alarmingly large component of
religion in Zimbabwe a shallow, cynical
business or am I revealing wicked,
"heathen" tendencies by even asking such
a rude question?
Gideon Gono. Dominated 2004 as few public
officials have done,
officially as Reserve Bank governor, but unofficially
as virtual prime
minister under Mugabe. Became a folk hero for reining in
high-flying bankers
and others who made overnight fortunes from speculation
and rubbed it in the
public's face by arrogantly flaunting
it.
Spent most of 2004 basking in the glow of Mugabe's
approval, the state
media dutifully, uncritically almost deifying him, which
the
publicity-loving Gono revelled in. Stepped on many powerful toes in many
ways, with many lurking in the wings hoping contradictions between past and
present actions, or between words and deeds, may yet bring him down. We have
many examples of how high stature under Mugabe can in the long run be a
double-edged sword!
Many are sceptical about accuracy of
end-of-year inflation figures,
but he is widely given credit for indeed
reducing the rate of price
increases and generally being a breath of fresh
air in his conduct as a
public official.
But how much
further inroads can he make into dealing with the
symptoms of economic
problems brought about by a repressive, unimaginative
and internationally
isolated regime?
Tafataona Mahoso: Old-school ideologue who was
given the
influential-sounding position of keeping tabs on the ethical and
professional conduct of the media. Under Jonathan Moyo's inspiration, some
newspapers considered politically incorrect were taken out for very flimsy
reasons, with sekuru Mahoso expected to play the difficult role of
justifying the closures to a sceptical public.
Began the
year looking like a powerful new bureaucrat of the system,
but as time went
on the hypocrisy of the application of the new laws he
operates under merely
made him look like another sad example of a willing
functionary who does as
he is told in order to survive an imploding economy
in which the options are
few and dwindling. A prolific writer, but being a
columnist for the ruling
party's paper while half-heartedly trying to also
act as if he were a
neutral media-professionalism arbiter has left sekuru
Mahoso looking
embarrassingly compromised in a way that is not at all in
keeping with the
ubuntu he is always preaching about!
Morgan Tsvangirai. A good
year personally for him because he escaped
his ruthless chief opponent's
efforts to dislodge his neck from the rest of
his body, using the pretext of
thin treason charges.
Went on a long Mugabe-type junket around
the world to celebrate
escaping the hangman's noose, causing what sounded
like jealous carping
about the globe-trotting from the internationally
isolated ruler, as well as
wider questioning on whether this was the best
way to use his time a few
months before an election. His party's coyness
about whether or not they
will take part in the election increasingly looks
like confused indecision
rather than a clever ploy to put pressure on an
unpopular regime that
favours an electoral process stacked against the
opposition.
Retains significant sympathy and under-dog support
from a large part
of the electorate that is tired of a repressive and
impoverishing ruling
regime, but has mostly failed to transcend the
repressive climate to be a
truly inspirational leader.
Zimbabwe's free-fall under Mr Mugabe continues unabated, but the
multi-faceted drama is fascinating to watch.
*Chido
Makunike is a regular contributor to the Zimbabwe Independent.
Zim Independent
Zanu PF/MDC show is not a choice
By Denford
Magora
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe would have us believe that the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) is dead and buried. Only last month, at
the Zanu
PF national congress, the president stood in front of masses of his
supporters to declare that the MDC's 15 minutes of fame were now
up.
The president, I am afraid, is gravely mistaken. The MDC is in
existence
today because of the failures of his party. Moreover, the MDC will
remain in
place as long as his party fails to deliver.
Inaction
and disinterest in policy matters from Mugabe started in 1993,
leading the
Economist magazine to speculate that he was about to step down.
Instead, the
president had put the country on automatic pilot, an
unforgivable sin for
any elected leader.
Mugabe sat on the sidelines on the real issues
affecting the people who had
voted him into power. He chose to rely on
ministers to steer the state,
oblivious to the fact that the ministers
themselves had also put their
responsibilities on autopilot.
No
one was taking charge and it was a free for all. The president turned a
blind eye. People struggled with issues like employment, health, transport
and even basics like food.
Zimbabwe, instead of developing,
witnessed an unprecedented assault on the
forces of progress. True
development - not the wells and boreholes type -
was stymied at every
turn.
This country, which got a television service before South
Africa did, still
finds itself with only one free-to-air TV station and no
satellite network.
We have to import DStv from South Africa.
The
examples of the ruling party's failures are numerous. Inflation
was
allowed to reach the highest levels in the world while the
president's party
was, at best, a mere spectator and, at worst, an active
participant in
fuelling the monster.
Still, the president and his
ministers and his party insist on believing
that governing the country is
about making speeches. It is not. Action is a
concept that the ruling party
needs to pursue not only when it feels
threatened but all the time in order
to uplift the lives of our citizens.
Land alone is not an elixir that will
cure all our economic ills.
So, Mr President, the MDC will continue
to be in place and to attract people
as long as housing is treated with the
cavalier attitude that Ignatious
Chombo currently shows with a vengeance.
The MDC will continue to exist as
long as people have to wait for two or
three hours after work to catch a
lift home; as long as they have to wake up
at 5am in order to be at work by
eight; and as long as the Grain Marketing
Board continues to behave not as a
grain buyer but an arrogant
bully.
Yes, the MDC will continue to exist as long as the people feel
that Zanu PF
acts only when its interests are at stake.
This
criticism has nothing to do with imperialist running dogs, unless a
homeless
Zimbabwean has now become an imperialist running dog. It has
nothing to do
with sabotage of the land reform unless demanding that the
government finds
a lasting solution to our perennial transport blues is now
sabotage of land
reform. No.
This criticism has to do with broken promises. It has to
do with empty
speeches and pronouncements. Threats to deal with
land-grabbing buffoons
within the upper reaches of Zanu PF have proved to be
just that: threats.
Threats to dismantle corruption have proved as hollow as
the space between
Joseph Made's ears.
From experience, then,
Zimbabweans have learnt not to trust the government
of President Mugabe.
They have also learnt not to trust his party. And who
in their right minds
would, given the broken promises and the ineptitude?
If the president
wants more examples of his party's ineptitude, then he
should consider this:
Didymus Mutasa is employed in a specially created
ministry that is supposed
to get rid of corruption. And how did the new
minister go about his job? The
nation remembers that the man went to press
to ask corrupt people to own up
and hand themselves over to his ministry.
Perhaps we will be
lenient," said the minister. If there ever was an example
of ineptitude,
then this is it. It's like the police sitting in their
offices, appealing to
thieves to come and hand themselves over to the law.
Fat chance. But the
president and his party seem to think this is how such
an important ministry
should be run.
Then you have an acting Finance minister who thinks
that a Public/ Private
Partnership policy means calling on the private
sector to "join hands" with
the government. The attempts by Herbert Murerwa
are so nakedly half-hearted
that I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that
the man will still be issuing
exhortations to the private sector three years
from now, if he is still in
government.
Until Mugabe finds
ministers with a passion for developing Zimbabwe and not
lining their
pockets and throwing their weight around, the MDC, whether in
its current
ineffectual guise or not, will continue to exist.
One thing Mugabe
and Zanu PF need to know is that, today, they appear
stronger only because
the MDC appears weak. Zanu PF is not strong in its own
right and that is
fact. People are finding themselves with no choice because
the MDC/Zanu PF
show is not a choice.
Just as the MDC assumed that it was strong
because Zanu PF was weak, now the
roles are reversed. But with a strong
opposition, a tireless and visionary
alternative leadership, Zanu PF would
be wiped off the face of the earth in
a heartbeat. It has been unresponsive
to people for too long.
So, to answer the president, the MDC will not
disappear or be "dead and
buried" as long as he insists on promoting
mediocrity over merit, as long as
he puts loyalty to the party above
national interests.
Here is the true fact of the matter: Zanu PF has
been given a new lease of
life today not because of its visionary policies,
not because of its
credentials when it comes to caring about the welfare of
home seekers,
commuters and food seekers. No. The party is strengthened only
by the power
of incumbency. This is complemented by a paralysed opposition
that is busy
picking its teeth while the country burns. That is not the
foundation upon
which Zanu PF should be building its claim to leadership of
this nation
beyond the silver jubilee of Independence.
*Denford
Magora is a Harare-based marketing executive
Zim Independent
Polls-equal-democracy mantra wrong
By Blessing-Miles
Tendi
THE early 1990s were a period of profound enthusiasm for multiparty
democracy in most of Africa. The centralist or communist one-party system
was steadily challenged by the diffusion of the idea of multiparty electoral
democracy.
The work of local forms of civil society and international
financial aid
agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
World Bank (WB)
brought about the transformation from single-party to
multiparty democracy
in post-Cold War Africa.
Internally, African
civil society, particularly church groups, brought
active lobbying and
protest to bear on reluctant single party governments in
Zambia and Malawi,
for example, resulting in the introduction of multiparty
systems.
Externally, international financial donor agencies like
the WB and IMF
attached conditionality to the disbursement of financial aid.
The adoption
of multiparty democracy became a pre-requisite for African
states seeking to
access international donor support.
However, a
decade after the euphoria and tumultuous change brought about by
the advent
of multiparty democracy on southern Africa's political landscape,
critical
problems remain. During the 1990s - and even today - there was a
tendency to
reduce the concept of democracy to the staging of multiparty
elections.
If an African state turned its back on the one-party
system in favour of
"regular free and fair multiparty elections", it was
labelled a democracy by
international governments and aid donors, and
therefore qualified for
international donor support. But such reductionism
was highly misinformed.
Staging a multiparty election does not make a
given state a democracy. The
enactment of laws in line with the general
will, protecting human rights,
respecting the rule of law and good
governance are some of the other
important ideals now identified with
democracy.
Nevertheless, the erroneous belief that the holding of
multiparty elections
is tantamount to being a democracy seems to have seeped
into the political
thought and vocabulary of southern Africa's political
elite.
It is commonplace for the Zimbabwean political elite to
dismiss allegations
that Zimbabwe is not a democracy on the basis that since
Independence in
1980 it has never failed to hold multiparty elections in
accordance with the
Zimbabwean constitution. But Zimbabwe falls far short in
upholding other
democratic tenets such as freedom of the
media.
Elections in poorer southern African countries like Malawi and
Mozambique
are far too dependent on external resources. Independent
electoral
commissions to efficiently administer multiparty elections have
yet to find
a foothold throughout southern Africa except in the more mature
democracies
of Botswana and South Africa.
The right of all
political parties to have equal access to public media
continues to be
violated in Zimbabwe and Namibia where the ruling parties
receive the
majority of public media attention. When the opposition in these
two
countries does receive the attention of the public media it is mostly to
demonise and ridicule the opposition.
In Angola, regionalism
largely influences how Angolans vote with the Angolan
leader Eduardo Dos
Santos consistently drawing his main support base from
northern Angola, for
example. Needless to say, credible elections still seem
very far off in
post-conflict Angola.
Some of southern Africa's multiparty systems
have ceased to be competitive.
They have come to be dominated by a single
mammoth party commanding the vast
majority of seats in parliament, as
evidenced by the 70% majority support
South Africa's ruling African National
Congress secured in April 2004.
Over the past 10 years, the number of
political parties competing in
national elections in southern Africa has not
declined significantly.
Smaller political parties are still not receiving
the NO vote from the
electorate.
This electoral trend indicates a
failure of southern Africa's multiparty
democracies to stabilise.
Stabilisation is crucial for democratic
consolidation. The multiparty system
of any existing mature democracy today
is characterised by stable and
institutionalised political parties with a
history or
tradition.
These characteristics act as stabilising agents for a
multiparty system.
They prevent the degeneration of a multiparty system into
a chaotic matrix
of political parties with little or no sound political
agenda. A feature
that tends to unnecessarily split the electorate's
vote.
The splitting of the electorate's vote increases the
possibility of the
manipulative rise to power of undemocratic forces. Had
the opposition in
Malawi's national election of May 2004 fielded only one
candidate to face
the eventual winner, Bingu wa Mutharika, the opposition's
single candidate
would have defeated Mutharika. For Mutharika only secured
35% of the votes
in Malawi's 2004 presidential election.
In
addition, the fact that the authenticity of results of multiparty
elections
in southern Africa is always violently disputed on the streets
reflects not
only an absence of effective electoral conflict management
mechanisms but
also a lack of confidence in the electoral systems
altogether.
South African President Thabo Mbeki recently
commented that "next year,
2005, elections within the Sadc region will be
held in the DRC, Mauritius,
Tanzania and Zimbabwe. We are certain that these
elections will confirm the
excellent track record our region achieved this
year (2004), concluding with
no manipulation behind the scenes to ensure the
ruling party is re-elected."
In light of the problems facing
democracy in southern Africa, Mbeki's
comments require further
justification.
*Blessing-Miles Tendi is a Zimbabwean based in the
UK.