The purveyors of the horrific political
violence that engulfed Zimbabwe prior to the June 2000 elections have all
been promoted by President Robert Mugabe, The Zimbabwean has
established. 09.07.1101:39pm John Chimunhu
A list of the
high-profile perpetrators, published by the Human Rights NGO Forum in July
2001, could be confused for a who's who of the high and mighty in government
and Zanu (PF) business today, after Mugabe blocked trials and issued
controversial amnesties to free those implicated.
The most senior
perpetrator now sitting in government with the leader of the victims, Morgan
Tsvangirai of MDC-T is Joice Mujuru, who was made vice-president after
conducting a nationwide reign of terror.
Mujuru was the acting minister
of defence in the run-up to the 2000 polls and authorized the supply of
weapons and logistics to war veterans and Zanu (PF) militias rampaging
through the farms, towns and villages attacking MDC supporters.
At
least 35 MDC supporters and five commercial farmers were killed during that
period but not a single conviction has been made for the murders, including
that of David Stevens, who was dragged from a police station and shot by war
veterans.
Most of the trial documents and physical evidence such as
bullets have disappeared while material witnesses have vanished after being
displaced or threatened.
Mujuru was seriously exposed after she wrote
a letter to the Mozambican police putting a $25 000 bounty on the head of
Sarodzi Chavakanaka, alias Zulu, a war veteran who had defected to the MDC
and was campaigning in her Mt Darwin constituency. Zulu lived four
kilometres from the border and was known to flee to Mozambique when Mujuru
supporters came looking for him.
Another perpetrator is Saviour
Kasukuwere, who was named in the death of a petrol attendant in Mt Darwin
and numerous cases of violence.
Other violators now in senior posts are
Herbert Murerwa, now minister of lands, Nicholas Goche, now minister of
transport and communications, former deputy ministers Joel Biggie Matiza and
David Chapfika, governor Ray Kaukonde and MP Shadreck
Chipanga.
Border Gezi and Chenjerai Hunzvi escaped justice through death
while others like Gladys Hokoyo, Sabina Thembani, Joseph Mwale, Wilson
Biggie Chitoro, Kainos 'Kitsiyatota' Zimunya, Artwell Chiwara and Nobbie
Dzinzi have actively been ptotected for a series of horrific murders,
torture and other assaults on Mugabe's opposition.
A parliamentary
investigation into the violence stalled in 2000 after Zanu (PF)'s Eddison
Zvobgo claimed the matters were with the police and in the courts and were,
therefore sub judice.
A Zimbabwe National Army Colonel, Charles Muresherwa,
has given MDC supporters in Mhakwe and Chikwakwa wards in Chimanimani an
ultimatum to renounce their MDC membership and join Zanu (PF) before July
15.
The homesteads of MDC supporters torched two
months ago by Zanu (PF) youths, allegedly on instructions from ZNA Colonel
Muresherwa.
Muresherwa, who is a serving member in the army and also
aspiring Member of Parliament for Chimanimani East, has been moving door-to-door
in the area with soldiers in army uniforms asking the villager’s political
allegiance.
“If you say you support MDC, they write your name down
and promise to get rid of all MDC supporters in the area after 15 July. All the
lists of MDC’s supporters have been handed over to local headmen and chiefs by
Muresherwa,” said Stephen Mhlanga, the MDC councillor for ward
19.
Mhlanga said some MDC supporters have already “defected”
to Zanu (PF) and are expected to be paraded at a meeting called by Muresherwa on
July 15 at Ndangana business centre in Chikwakwa.
“He has organised political rallies where he says
soldiers will address the villagers.All the local headmen and chiefs have been
instructed to mobilise their subjects to attend,” said Mhlanga. The MDC
coordinator for Chimanimani, Pardon Maguta, confirmed the latest development in
this MDC dominated area.
“We are taking Muresherwa’s threats seriously,” he
said.
Muresherwa has also been accused of setting up torturing
bases at Nyambeya primary school, Wengezi township and Nhedziwa growth point in
Mutambara where Zanu (PF) youths under his command terrorise opposition
supporters.
Two months ago Zanu (PF) youths, allegedly under the
colonel’s instructions, torched several huts of MDC supporters in Cashel Valley
while two beasts belonging to the local MDC district chairperson were axed by
the youths after the chairperson refused to sign the so called anti-sanctions
petition.
Muresherwa has also been moving around in the
constituency with Zanu (PF) youths dolling out cabbages and small pockets of
salt as part of his campaign gimmick.
During the run up to the discredited March 2008
elections Muresherwa moved around the constituency brandishing an AK 47 and
intimidating MDC supporters.
As
Zimbabwe awaits the arrival of SADC’s tri-national support-team to assist
with the process towards internationally accepted elections, the country’s
generals are finalising their own plans to ensure a victory for President
Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF.
The generals, most of them veterans of the
guerrilla war that ended white rule in 1980, have been an integral part of
the Zanu PF administration since it won power in the first democratic
elections. But when Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
emerged as a serious electoral threat after 2002, they moved directly into
all areas of government, creating a formal parallel administration in 2006,
accountable through the National Security Council (NSC) directly to Mugabe.
They have also moved, with Mugabe’s encouragement, directly into the
administration and operation of Zanu PF, holding the line against possible
compromise by the parliamentary party.
Since their 2008 failure, despite
widespread violence and disruption, to prevent an MDC electoral victory they
have operated as an informal opposition to the multiparty “inclusive
government” forced on Zimbabwe by SADC. With Mugabe they have also
marginalised the NSC – in which Tsvangirai serves – establishing in its
place the non-statutory Joint Operations Command (JOC) as a shadow
administration, competing for influence with the formal authorities in the
multiparty “inclusive government”.
The JOC’s place in security force and
civil government command and control is outlined in detail in the Profile:
Zimbabwe security forces supplement published this week.
The generals
remain openly antagonistic to Tsvangirai, refusing to acknowledge his
legitimacy as prime minister and committed to preventing him winning
presidential elections – he won the first round comfortably in 2008, but
withdrew from the run-off poll after a security force-Zanu PF campaign of
violence left nearly 300 dead and thousands displaced or forced into
exile.
The violence came too late to prevent MDC securing a
parliamentary majority - but rescued Mugabe’s candidacy only at the last
minute.
This time, the generals are preparing well in advance to avoid a
repeat of 2008. And although security force officers have played a direct
role in election administration and campaigning for Zanu PF since 2002, at
the next elections they intend to entirely replace Zanu PF officials and
office-bearers, particularly in the highly contested provinces of Masvingo
(lost to Tsvangirai in 2008) and Manicaland.
At the centre of the
military web is former Air Force of Zimbabwe head, Air Vice-Marshall Henry
Muchena, who retired in December to take up the innocuous-sounding position
of director of the Commissariat in Zanu PF. He is coordinating the generals’
strategy to manage the election (the generals continue to insist elections
will take place this year, in line with a Zanu PF resolution, although both
Mugabe and Zanu PF have privately acknowledged that presidential,
parliamentary and provincial polling will only be possible in 2012 at the
earliest).
The strategy involves an integrated, pre-emptive campaign of
military intimidation and mobilisation of paramilitary youth formations
(notionally through the Zanu PF Youth wing) for deployment against MDC
centres of electoral strength. The objective is to disrupt MDC electoral
mobilisation and to intimidate its supporters either into staying away or,
preferably, into voting Zanu PF. With MDC support running nationally at
nearly three times that of Zanu PF this is a tall ask, particularly with
control of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) now contested through the
appointment earlier this year of several independent or MDC-aligned
commissioners (see SAR Vol 29 No 18).
The months before the elections
will be difficult for rural Zimbabweans, particularly in Masvingo and
Manicaland provinces – designated “battleground provinces” in the
situational analysis on which the strategy is based. The generals believe
pre-emptive action can regain Masvingo and consolidate in Manicaland, giving
Mugabe a fighting chance to retain the presidency.
Muchena’s deputy in
the Zanu PF Commissariat, Kizito Kuchekwa – a Zanu PF representative on the
multiparty Joint Monitoring and Implementation Commission (Jomic) on which
SADC is placing substantial reliance – privately acknowledges the need to
“throw it all” at the two contested provinces, while working actively to
discourage support for MDC elsewhere.
The generals are in the process of
deploying two senior officers in each administrative district in command of
several non-commissioned and rank-and-file soldiers – given leave from the
military on a semi-permanent basis – to coordinate non-military activity
with that of the formal security force activity.
The military has
also taken direct control of Zanu PF campaigning in Manicaland:
Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, commander of the army’s Mutare-based
3 Brigade last month blandly informed Zanu PF politburo member Didymus
Mutasa that the army was taking over Zanu PF’s electoral campaign. With the
future of Zimbabwe at stake, he told Mutasa, the army “cannot afford to
leave the campaign exclusively to politicians who are weak and
divided”.
Mutasa’s sidelining is an indication of the extent of
military control in Zanu PF: Mutasa is a Zanu PF heavy-weight. A former a
liberation war commander, post-independence chair of Zanu PF, and one-time
Minister of State Security, he is still a Cabinet Minister (Minister of
State in the office of the President).
Nyikayaramba himself is no
political lightweight: while purportedly on retirement he served as Chief
Electoral Officer for the ZEC in 2002 elections (the first MDC contested),
when there was evidence of vote-rigging. His range of responsibilities is
the definitive example of the breadth of the security forces’ reach: he
chairs the board of the National Railways of Zimbabwe, and is the chief
advisor to Zanu PF in the Parliamentary Constitutional Select
Committee.
He first caught the public eye shortly after independence when
Lieutenant Shepherd Nleya, an officer under his command in 1:2 Infantry
Battalion in Hwange, was murdered after threatening to expose the
involvement of Nyikayaramba and other senior commanders in contraband and
illegal rhino horn smuggling on operations in Mozambique. The killing was a
defining moment for the military, from which it arguably never recovered.
Nyikayaramba and Brigadier Constantine Chiwenga were widely believed to have
ordered the murder. The incident did not inhibit the career of either man:
Chiwenga is currently head of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (the army and air
force).
Nyikayaramba is particularly blatant in his dislike for
electoral democracy, telling journalists recently that he and others in the
security services would do anything in their power to keep Mugabe in
office. By late last month, Brigadier-General David Manyika’s 4 Brigade began
a series of marches and parades throughout central Masvingo, advertising
their armed presence as an explicitly partisan force – MDC officials have
complained that the troops have been singing pro-Zanu PF and pro-Mugabe
songs.
A new element of Zanu PF’s electoral strategy is to
incentivise youth support for the party by fast-tracking youth
representation in the party’s leadership structures.
In the past
liberation war veterans who dominate party structures have treated Zanu PF
Youth and veterans of the National Youth Service as
functionaries.
Retired Air Vice-Marshall Henry Muchena, who now heads
the Zanu PF Commissariat and is coordinating the party’s military-created
elections strategy, is driving a programme to revitalise the party by
attracting young blood. He has already met youth representatives and has
undertaken to promote the nomination of candidates under 30 in three Harare
constituencies.
He is also campaigning for an enforced generational
mix in the Zanu PF politburo – arguing for a quota of 40% of politburo
members under the age of 40.
Officials of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party are
using the police against their perceived political opponents in Zimbabwe to
pursue political goals.
As long as politicized arrests and harassment
like this continue, there will not be a political environment that will
permit free and fair elections.
Officials of Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party are turning up the heat on their perceived political opponents in
Zimbabwe by using the police to pursue partisan political
goals.
Members of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party have been
arrested on trumped-up charges frequently in recent months, only to be
released when the courts found no grounds for their arrests. Unfortunately,
such harassment has become the norm in Zimbabwean politics, but these
arrests further undermine the rule of law in the troubled Southern African
nation and add to the partisan wrangling that is destroying it.
The
latest arrest came June 24 when Jameson Timba, a minister of State in
Tsvangirai's office, was detained for allegedly undermining the authority of
the president. Specifically, Timba was said to have called Mugabe a liar for
mischaracterizing the outcome of the recent Southern African Development
Community summit on conditions in his country. The nation's High Court
ordered Timba's release, but he was briefly detained and issued a warning.
That means the police could pursue the case at a later date.
The case
mirrors that of Elton Mangoma, the energy and power development minister in
Mr. Tsvangirai's cabinet. He was arrested on graft charges connected to the
importing of fuel to Zimbabwe. Here too, the High Court dismissed the
charges saying state prosecutors failed to present a case, but not before
Mangoma was arrested and incarcerated.
As long as politicized arrests and
harassment like this continue, there will not be a political environment
that will permit free and fair elections. This is unfortunate, because the
people of Zimbabwe deserve to have a government that will respect their will
and protect their rights.
The United States again calls on all parties to
work together to fulfill the promises they made in signing the 2008 Global
Political Agreement and work to depoliticize the operations of the police
and other state institutions.
Zanu (PF) leaders here have hired an
apostolic prophet in a bid to boost party
membership. 08.07.1104:46pm Jane Makoni
Led by Sheppard
Kaserere and Marondera East Party chairperson Sheppard Zenda, the party last
Friday hired a preacher to persuade suspected MDC supporters to swap
allegiances at Nhowe Shopping Centre.
Villagers were threatened and made
to believe the prophet had divine powers to flush out MDC supporters among
the crowd.
“It would be in the best interest of your personal security to
voluntarily repent and join Zanu (PF) before the prophet here present fishes
you out,” Kaserere warned shoppers.
“All MDC supporters come forward
and confess your political ‘sins’ and swear loyalty to President Robert
Mugabe and Zanu (PF).
“Failure to do so now would attract regrettable
consequences.”
Party officials told The Zimbabweanthey had to regain as
many supporters as possible before MDC invades the area ahead of the next
general elections.
“The moment Iain Kay visits the area for political
campaigns, everyone would listen to him and follow his advice,” a village 14
Zanu (PF) youth organising secretary said.
“This time around we
devised a counter strategy and before Kay lands here everyone would be Zanu
(PF) and barred from attending MDC rallies.”
He said MDC officials were
also being forced to join Zanu (PF) structures.
Sharp political
differences, suspicion, grandstanding and vested interests have resulted in
complete communications chaos in Zimbabwe's troubled coalition
government. 08.07.1104:25pm Staff Reporter
The coalition of
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been
issuing conflicting statements on a myriad of issues.
The deliberate
misinformation has been costly to the MDC, which saw Jameson Timba, the
minister of State in the Prime Minister's office, arrested and jailed
briefly for calling Mugabe a liar over the outcome of a regional
summit.
The conflicting statements have become even more confused as
the GNU hurtles towards another election.
The latest has been on the
agenda of a meeting whose purpose was to agree on a timeline for reforms to
be carried out in the homestretch of the political marriage.
The
President and the Prime Minister last week issued separate and divergent
news statements at the end of what was supposed to have been a principals’
briefing.
The GNU has tried bonding retreats to promote cohesion in
government but that has apparently been unhelpful. The fissures are
widening.
One senior government spokesman is saying one thing, while
another says the contrary. The comical drama has played out in the coalition
government since its formation in 2009 but has got worse over the past six
months. Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba is at the
centre.
Misleading reports
The PM's spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka,
a trained journalist, moved quickly to correct misconceptions created by
Mugabe's spokesmen about the outcome of the briefing on the election roadmap
and media reforms.
"There have been misleading reports in the press about
what transpired at the meeting of the principals held at Zimbabwe House on
July 6," Tamborinyoka said.
"The Minister of Media, Information and
Publicity and the Permanent Secretary are not spokespersons of the
principals and cannot claim to speak on behalf of all the principals of the
inclusive government.
By Chengetai Zvauya and Helen Kadirire Saturday, 09 July 2011
13:48
HARARE - Zimbabweans from all walks of life have demanded the
immediate dismissal of power utility firm Zesa Holdings management and the
disbandment of underperforming parastatals following paralysing power cuts
throughout the country.
Ordinary people, human rights
organisations, farmers, traders and the general populace has called on
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to immediately
take action against Zesa board and management as power shortages persist in
the country.
The people are demanding that new heads should take over at
the power utility whose erratic supply of electricity has caused untold
suffering to farmers, patients at hospitals and industry while the darkness
that befalls every suburb in Harare has seen residents being terrorised by
thugs.
Most homesteads and industries now rely on generators which are
expensive to run because of the high costs of fuel and maintenance. While
management at Zesa is busy harassing Minister of Energy Elton Mangoma, they
are failing to deliver power to the country.
The blackout is heavily
felt this winter with power outages affecting industries and residential
areas.
Even the city centre this week experienced serious blackouts which
severely affected business.
Farmers are also feeling the pinch of
blackouts as the power shortages are affecting their winter cropping which
needs electricity to drive the water irrigation pumps while poultry, piggery
and ‘Disband Zesa’ beef projects need electricity to be fully
operational.
Farmers who spoke the Daily News said that they no longer
had confidence in the power utility and wanted it to be disbanded and be
replaced by more serious private players.
A newly-resettled farmer in
the Mazowe area, Ben Chakanetsa who grows wheat, potatoes and maize and is
also into poultry and cattle breeding, said Zesa was letting down
farmers.
“We are not getting any electricity that we desperately need
this winter for our cropping and breeding programmes. For our farming season
to prosper, we need adequate supply of electricity which is not available.
We hope that Zesa is going to help us. We feel that Zesa needs to be
disbanded and allow another player to come into the industry so that we can
have other options,’’ said Chakanetsa.
However, Zesa spokesperson
Fullard Gwasira said Zesa was trying their best to service its
customers.
“It is not secret that we have been experiencing power
problems since 2000, but we are trying to do our best. I don’t know that
there was power problems in the city yesterday. I shall find out from our
maintenance department what problem affected the city and I will inform
you,’’ said Gwasira, clearly displaying the arrogance that has crept in at
the struggling power utility firm. Zesa has for many years been one of the
best examples of how to mismanage businesses and also a good example of a
firm which has dismally failed to deliver service to the people.
The
country produces 1400 Megawatts a day from the power stations at Hwange,
Munyati, Kariba and Harare. Zimbabwe needs 2200 megawatts a day.
Zesa
is importing 300 megawatts from Mozambique and Namibia.
Load-shedding has
increased this winter season as the residential areas and industries are
spending many hours in without electricity.
Combined Harare Residents
Association (CHRA) coordinator Simbarashe Moyo said on several occasions the
organisation has condemned the poor service delivery by Zesa.
Moyo
said they have been receiving many reports from their structures complaining
about load-shedding.
“The residents say that what was now happening is no
longer load-shedding but complete blackouts as some sections can be without
electricity for days. Residents are now wondering whether they should be
paying their bills considering that they hardly have power,” Moyo
said.
He said there have also been reports of household electrical
appliances being damaged due to unannounced power cuts.
Moyo also
said residents have now resorted to paying fixed amounts because they do not
get their statements and when they do, it is not a true reflection of what
they would have consumed.
“Residents should not be made to suffer because
Zesa has debts that it is failing to settle. They should first clear then a
way forward can be forged from there,” he said.
Glen View resident,
Timothy Magede said there is no reason for Zesa management to be still
occupying their positions and taking home huge perks while making the people
suffer.
Prominent Harare resident and businessman Paddington Japajapa
said it was criminal for Zesa management to remain in office while blackouts
persist.
“It’s a scandal that we still have people claiming to be bosses
at Zesa while denying people electricity. It’s like we are in a war
situation. In other countries, the board and management should have been
arrested,” said the fiery Japajapa.
Last month Bulawayo residents,
mainly women organised by Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) a non-governmental
organisation that advocates for women’s rights in the country, marched in
Harare and Bulawayo demanding the power utility firm provide quality service
to its customers.
They said Zesa is charging high tariffs which do not
justify the shoddy service they are providing to customers. They gathered
to sign the “anti-abuse of power petition” to express their frustration at
the persistent 18-hour power cuts which occur on a daily basis.
Woza
said Zesa was engaging in daylight robbery through the unending power cuts
but charging large amounts of money.
Woza requested Zesa to stop using
fixed meters and to ensure they provided proper timetables of load-shedding
and urgently put in place a proper and transparent billing
system.
They chanted slogans, calling for justice, freedom and urgent
social reforms.
Zesa owes regional suppliers more than US$100 million
in accumulated debt.
Despite facing electricity supply problems, Zimbabwe
is exporting power to Namibia at a low cost. Zesa officials have in the
past, defended this saying they are paying back what they owe the
Namibians.
The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), a subsidiary of the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), has warned of more rolling
blackouts as the utility struggles to meet demand on the back of collapsing
infrastructure and sub-economic tariffs. 08.07.1104:19pm Vusimusi
Bhebhe
ZPC chairman Richard Maasdorp said load shedding would “remain
a way of life until we expand generation at Hwange and
Kariba”.
Current total generation capacity at the two stations and
smaller thermal plants in Harare, Munyati and Bulawayo is around 1 400
megawatts against national demand of 2 200MW.
Maasdorp however said
new investment and private sector funding into generation capacity would not
be forthcoming while our tariff remains sub-economic and in the absence of a
long-term tariff formula.
The current tariff of 7.53 USc per kilowatt,
was set in February 2009 and 28 months later the utility was still awaiting
approval of a “cost-reflective tariff”.
“In the absence of an
increase to the tariff, ZPC has now had to slow down its efforts to
stabilise and optimise power from its existing power stations. In addition
efforts to raise capital for adding generation capacity (a four-to-five-year
process from when funding is secured) will be thwarted,” the ZPC chairman
warned.
He revealed that the utility has in the meantime been forced to
cut back on maintenance and ongoing refurbishment in order to compensate for
the sub-economic tariff.
“This is clearly not sustainable and if the
situation is not addressed urgently, the lights you have from time to time
today will go out tomorrow,” he said.
Zimbabwe has experienced
rolling power cuts during the past decade due to inadequate generation
capacity by ZESA.
This has seen ZESA implementing a load management
programme under which the utility regularly switches off some customers
during the day in order to stretch the available supplies.
The daily
power cuts have affected domestic consumers as well as the business
community, with some factories forced to retrench workers due to low
production.
ZESA said it was making alternative arrangements with other
southern African utilities to augment supplies during the shortages
necessitated by the ongoing maintenance work on the Kariba
plant.
Zimbabwe imports about 35 percent of its power needs from the
national utilities of Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa
and Zambia.
Residents here are up in arms
about the disconnection of water and electricity by the Bulawayo City
Council and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority for those who have not
paid their bills. 09.07.1101:29pm Staff Reporter
They feel that
the service providers are being insensitive as it is common knowledge that
most Zimbabweans are either unemployed or earning salaries below the poverty
datum line. The Progressive Resident’s Association has recommended that the
two service providers meet with residents so that payment plans can be made
and disconnections avoided.
Residents have also castigated the Zimbabwe
National Road Authority for its failure to maintain roads in the city,
despite getting funds from tollgates. ZINARA has also been accused of skewed
allocation of funds for road maintenance. Nothing much has been done to fix
potholes this year, and residents fear the situation could spiral out of
control if the next rainy season begins and nothing has been done to deal
with potholes.
The BPRA has held two public meetings to discuss ZBC
television licences, as inspectors have been demanding payment of $50 for
the license plus $20 fine for late payment. Residents say this is daylight
robbery because BC programming is of very poor quality, characterised by
repetition of programmes and political propaganda.
Most residents
have resorted to satellite television as a result and refuse to pay for a
service they are not accessing. They vowed to continue resisting payment
until there was an improvement by ZBC.
The proposed amendments to the
Electoral Amendment Bill, to be put before parliament soon as part of the
roadmap to elections, leave Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede firmly in
control of the controversial voter’s roll. 08.07.1104:24pm Staff
Reporter
In its recent analysis of the amendments, the Election
Resource Centre explains that the existing electoral act is not explicit
around the issues of the voters' roll. It assigns responsibility for the
custody of the roll to the Zimbabwe Election Commission, but the maintenance
of the roll remains firmly in the hands of the Registrar of
Voters.
The Registrar falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is not
accountable to the Commission, which falls under the Ministry of Justice.
Such a situation makes it difficult to secure accountability around the
roll, hence the controversy on the issue. The proposed amendment is still
silent on the issue, meaning that even after it passes, Mudede will still be
in charge of the roll.
Despite considerable evidence to the contrary
that has been fully reported in this newspaper, Mudede continues to claim
that the document is perfect.
The ERC has highlighted a number of
problems with the current act and the proposed amendments. One chief concern
is that the Chief Election Officer is the Returning Officer in the
Presidential Election.
“Such a provision means that a formal decision on
the election will be made by an individual and the commission has limited,
if any, say in it. In international practise, the Returning Officer in the
Presidential election is the Chairperson of the Election Commission and
decisions are made by a quorum of Commissioners. Considering the controversy
around the secretariat at ZEC and the failure to come up with a solution on
the matter in the roadmap to elections, this is crucial,” says the
ERC.
The adaptation of a polling station based voters’ roll can only
serve to accommodate further disenfranchisement of voters through
displacements, especially in the absence of security guarantees for the
voter. The ERC believes a broader approach to the roll such as the one
prevailing now would allow insecure voters to travel to safer polling
stations to cast their ballots within the same ward.
The ERC has
urged Parliament to tighten all the obscure clauses that could potentially
undermine future elections and reject inhibiting sections in the gazetted
bill.
Problem issues in current Act
Silent on announcement of
results.
No long-term observation
Early deployment of domestic and
international observers not possible.
Silent on access of election agents
and observers to national, provincial, constituency and ward election
centres where tallying of votes is conducted.
Promotes opportunities for
electoral manipulation.
Makes the Chief Election Officer the Returning
Officer in the presidential election.
Formal decision on election
will be made by an individual - commission has limited, if any,
say.
Polling station voters’ rolls – will further disenfranchise voters
through displacement, especially in the absence of security
guarantees.
New registration of voters – The amendment needs to
explicitly state that new voters should submit themselves in person. This
would assist in curbing the current scenario where one political party is
reportedly simply submitting lists of new voters for
registration.
Removal from the roll – if person absent from constituency
for12 months - disenfranchises a significant proportion of
voters.
ERC Proposals
Ensure access of the registration process to
potential voters and allow voters to decide where they would like to
register - as long as they can provide proof of residence.
Relax
proof of residence which is too stringent and has disenfranchised thousands
of potential voters owing to its stringent nature.
Allow lodgers and
rural people ostracised for their political beliefs and unable to court the
favour of traditional leaders to exercise their constitutional
right.
Recognise the need to monitor all election processes by
international observers.
Do not limit the scrutiny of future election
processes - open them up through allowing early invitation of domestic and
international observers,
Facilitate smooth accreditation of observers and
protect them from obstructions and hindrances in the execution of their
duties.
Protect secrecy of postal ballot through explicitly protecting
successful applicants.
Introduce an inner envelop with the name of
voter and an outer one which will be shown to election agents and
observers.
Tighten process of opening postal ballots to further protect
secrecy.
Harare, July 09, 2011 - Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party has completed drafting a bill to regulate the
operations of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
The bill
was drafted within the framework of the party’s growing demands for security
sector reform The party tabled its demands for security sector reform during
the ongoing talks for an electoral roadmap for the country demanding among
other things the regulation of the operations of the talks.
During the
talks, Zanu PF threw the ball in its court saying it did not know how to
regulate the CIO and therefore the party has to come up with a draft bill to
guide the discussion on CIO operations.
“We have got a draft bill already
which in our own opinion should regulate the operations of the
intelligence,” said Tendai Biti, mainstream MDC Secretary
General.
“There is nothing new about what we are doing; we have used
precedence from South Africa and other countries with a regulatory
framework. The issue is not about regulating their operations and say, you
should follow this one and tap this phone that’s not the issue. The issue is
that the institution definitely must be accountable to parliament that’s all
we are saying.”
Depending on how it will be received by the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) parties, the bill should be presented before
parliament and enacted into law if all goes well.
The party has in
the past accused the CIO, police and army for deliberately targeting its
members to break their political spirit. The party in a document sent to the
Joint Implementation Committee (JOMIC) last month chronicles how its members
were abducted and murdered in political raids in 2008.
The party
blames the attacks on the security arms of the state. It also believes that
the continuing violence in the country is being sponsored by the state and
executed by security apparatus.
The State Security Minister, Sydney
Sekeramayi, is in charge of the CIO.
Estimates of the number of ghost workers range from 13,000
according to the MDC formation of Industry Minister Welshman Ncube to 75,000
by the count of the MDC wing led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
Blessing Zulu, Gibbs Dube & Tatenda Gumbo |
Washington
Zimbabwe's national unity government is again in
gridlock, this time over so-called ghost workers who have moved to center
stage as the government looks for the means to increase civil service
salaries without driving the national budget into deficit.
The
Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said the alleged ghost workers include many youth militia members
who were improperly put on the national payroll by the former ZANU-PF
government, and that many millions can be saved if they are dismissed from
ward-level positions.
The Cabinet is sharply divided on the issue
while the unity government principals were unable to reach a consensus on
the fiscal and political muddle.
The government was put in an awkward
position last week when negotiators for public workers announced they had
hammered out a deal with government negotiators under which the lowest-paid
state employees would be paid US$253 a month. Civil servants were jubilant
until it became clear that the deal had not received Cabinet
approval.
Since then, ZANU-PF has pushed for the government to ratify the
pay increase which President Robert Mugabe promised state workers months
ago, while Mr. Tsvangirai and Finance Minister Tendai Biti, secretary
general of his party, have dug in against the increases saying the
government is too financially strapped to afford them.
The Tsvangirai
MDC formation has made the case that a pay increase for civil servants would
be more affordable if public payrolls could be purged of "ghost workers," a
term covering not only no-show or deceased state workers, but also the youth
militia said to have been hired by the thousands by ZANU-PF as rural
political enforcers.
ZANU-PF ministers refused to adopt a report prepared
by consultants Ernst & Young on ghost workers. It was the second report
the party has dismissed. It previously rejected a 2009 report by Auditor and
Comptroller General Mildred Chiri which said the youth ministry illegally
employed more than 10,000 youths during the 2008 elections.
Estimates
of the number of ghost workers range from 13,000 according to the MDC
formation of Industry Minister Welshman Ncube to 75,000 according to the MDC
wing led by Prime Minister Tsvangirai. The International Monetary Fund
reckons there are 14,000 ghost workers on state pay lists and another 38,000
irregularly hired workers.
Public Service Minister Eliphas
Mukonoweshuro said the cabinet has formed an inter-ministerial task force of
experts to review the consultancy report on ghost workers.
ZANU-PF
Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere accused the MDC of politicking. “There are
no ghost workers in the public service and I think the MDC is making
unnecessary noise about this issue,” said Kasukuwere, whose portfolio
includes indigenization.
Finance Minister Biti has warned that
increased civil servant salaries would force the government to cut funding
for health, education and other critical social programs.
In a
document reviewing aspects of public service pay submitted to the president,
prime minister and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, Biti argued that
an increase to the proposed US$253 a month will result in a US$400 million
deficit for this year.
Estimated employment costs including medical
insurance and pensions will hit US$1.8 billion against a budgeted US$1.4
billion, Biti said.
Economist John Robertson said the finance minister is
correct in saying tax collections cannot support a wage increase.
Commentator Bekithemba Mhlanga said ZANU-PF should not be twisting Biti’s
arm to push an unworkable populist agenda.
Students, meanwhile, said
the stalemate over state sector pay is affecting education at all levels and
if continued could roll back the progress made since the unity government
was launched in early 2009. Students Solidarity Trust Program Coordinator
Masimba Nyamanhindi said students want to see a workable solution as soon as
possible.
By Bridget Mananavire, Staff Writer Saturday, 09 July 2011
13:55
HARARE - An MDC official accused of undermining the authority
of the police is being kept in remand prison out of spite by prosecutors,
the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has said.
The state
invoked Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA) to
revoke bail granted to Oliver Mukombwe, the MDC treasurer for Bindura
district.
Section 121 of CPEA has the effect of suspending bail for seven
days pending the filing of an appeal by the State in the High
Court.
Mukombwe is alleged to have provoked police constable Nemiah
Muzinda over the weekend in a public place in Bindura. Mukombwe is
alleged to have said: “Makajaidzwa naMugabe. Munofunga kuti chipurisa
chinoshamisa here? Zvenyu zvokupinda nechiZanu PF hazvina basa saka ini
ndinoda kukuuraya (You have been spoiled by Mugabe. You think the police
work is special? Your joining of the force through Zanu PF partisanship is
useless, so I want to kill you).”
He was arrested and subsequently
granted bail before the state invoked the harsh law.
ZLHR said it was
perturbed by the state’s “malicious and obdurate” action, which showed that
prosecutors were “bent on continuing to unnecessarily infringe upon the
fundamental right to liberty of accused persons by bringing up Section 121
of the CPEA”.
Prosecutors and law officers from the Attorney General’s
Office have on numerous occasions abused the controversial provision to keep
accused persons in custody despite them being granted bail by the
courts.
Attorney General Johannes Tomana last year acknowledged that his
law officers and prosecutors had at times misjudged when they unnecessarily
invoked section 121 of the CPEA to effectively reverse the granting of bail
to accused persons.
“ZLHR is concerned at the frequent abuse of this
draconian piece of legislation, which is used to the prejudice of suspects
as prosecutors are clearly usurping the powers of the judiciary who in this
case had safeguarded the fundamental right to liberty of Mukombwe,” said
ZLHR.
The human rights organisation said it remained concerned about the
increased number of cases in which Section 121 of the CPEA had been
“arbitrarily and unjustifiably” invoked, particularly against members of the
MDC and other genuine human rights defenders in Zimbabwe.
Harare, July 09, 2011 -United
States based diamond trading group, Rapaport Trade said Friday the Kimberley
Process's United Arab Emirates (UAE) office has released 14 packets of
Marange diamonds for export as expected, but warned members to seek
clarification on the Chiadzwa gems as they are plugged by
controversy.
“The diamonds have been held in Dubai since November 2010
shortly after arriving from Zimbabwe .The Rapaport group warns responsible
buyers to require written supplier guarantee that they are not selling
Marange diamonds,” Rapaport said in a note to members.
"While not all
Marange polished diamonds have a greenish hue and not all the green hue
diamond are from Marange significant number of such Marange stones are
appearing on the market. All members of the trade should ask their suppliers
to do everything they can do to ensure that they are not supplied Marange
diamonds."
Rapaport did not disclose the value of the gems.
Last
month, the KP meeting held in Democratic Republic of Congo gave Harare the
green light to sale the Marange gems, but the decision drew the ire of other
members such as the Canada and US government.
Even, diamond pressure
groups within the civil society protested about the authorisation of the
selling of the Marange gems.
At the Kimberley meeting in Kinshasa on June
23, rights groups simply walked out after the chairman, Mathieu Yamba of the
Democratic Republic of Congo, gave the green light to two companies to sell
gems from Zimbabwe's Marange fields.
Marange diamonds, touted as the
find of the decade were in 2006, drew in thousands of small-time miners in
the eastern part of the country resulting in Zimbabwe security forces moving
in to restore order. Human rights organisations and diamond players have
said human rights were trampled of the diamond panners.
Harare, July 09,
2011 - Zimbabwe High Court on Friday granted bail to four more MDC activists
facing trumped up charges of murdering a police inspector in Glenview
surburb more than a month ago.
The MDC said eight of their activists are
still remanded in custody from a total of 24 supporters who were arrested
after police inspector; Petros Mutedza was murdered after a brawl at a beer
drinking pub in Glenview surburb, Harare. The MDC argues the allegations are
baseless.
"Four MDC members including Councillor Oddrey Sydney Chirombe
were today granted bail at the High Court," the MDC said Friday.
"The
members granted bail today are; Jefias Moyo, Abina Rutsito and Tendai
Chinyama. Councillor Chirombe, Rutsito and Moyo were granted a US$100 bail
each while Chinyama was given a US$300 bail by Justice Felistus Chatukuta.
Moyo and Rutsito are MDC employees."
Twelve MDC members including
Last Maengahama, a member of the MDC National Executive Council were granted
bail last week Friday.
"Eight more MDC members still in remand prison.
They are; Councillor Tungamirai Madzokere of Ward 32 Glen View, Rebecca
Mafukeni, Yvonne Musarurwa, Cynthia Manjoro, Edson Maengahama, Lazarus
Maengahama, Lloyd Chitanda, Stenford Mangwiro and Phineas Nhatarikwa," the
party said.
In a related case, Oliver Mukombwe, the MDC Bindura district
treasurer was remanded in custody after the State invoked the draconian
invoked the notorious Section 121 of the Criminal Evidence and Procedure Act
(CPEA), the party said.
Mukombwe is facing charges of undermining
police authority appeared at the Bindura Magistrate’s court on Wednesday and
was granted a US$20 bail. However, the State invoked Section 121 of the
CPEA, which suspends the bail order for seven days pending the filing of an
appeal by the State at the High Court.
The MDC which is led by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been complaining that their supporters are
targeted by state security institutions. The party says the institutions
support President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party.
In the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) discussions, the two main parties, Zanu PF and MDC
are heavily disagreeing on the need for security sector reforms. The MDC
wants state security institutions to be answerable to parliament so that
their operations are monitored.
A backlog of prisoners is
building up on Zimbabwe’s death row because the authorities are struggling
to recruit a new hangman.
By Aislinn Laing,
Johannesburg
10:34PM BST 08 Jul 2011
A total of 60 people are
currently awaiting execution but since the country’s previous executioner
retired in 2005, no one has been found to take his place.
Some have
been waiting for more than 10 years to go to the gallows, and campaigners
say their sentences should now be commuted to life imprisonment and the
death penalty abolished.
Obert Gutu, the country’s Deputy Minister of
Justice and a senator for the Movement for Democratic Change which supports
abolition, said many Zimbabweans would not take the job for fear it would
attract “evil spirits to the hangman and his family”.
“In the African
culture, a job that entails the killing of another human being is not
considered a job at all,” he said.
“It is looked at with contempt and
superstition, mostly because as Africans, we believe that if one kills
another human being, the spirit of that person will return to torment its
killer and his family.”
He said that keeping people on death row
perpetually was “inhumane” and he hoped to see the death penalty abolished
in the new constitution currently being drafted by the coalition government
of the MDC and Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF.
“It is not a job one can
openly talk about, it is a gory job only those deemed evil and cursed can
ever want to do. Culturally, people shun the spilling of human blood,
whether the victim is guilty or innocent,” he said.
With a civil
servant’s salary of just $3,600 (£2,200) a year, and a requirement for a
complete lack of mercy, the dearth of applicants would hardly be surprising
were it not for an unemployment rate in Zimbabwe of between 70 and 95 per
cent.
Since independence in 1980, 73 men have been hanged for offences of
murder and high treason.
The previous incumbent in the role,
variously said to be a Malawian man or a former Zambian police officer, is
known to have struggled with his conscience.
He retired after
carrying out his last hanging in 2004, of Edmore Masendeke and Stephen
Chidhumo, armed robbers who broke out of Zimbabwe’s Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison, killing a guard in the process.
Pedzisai Ruhanya, a
human rights academic, said the practice of hanging was
“outdated”.
“Only the devil himself can do that job, not a normal
human being,” he said.
“After all, the hangman is paid peanuts like the
rest of civil servants. Is US$300 a month enough for one to kill people for?
Never. Zimbabweans should refuse to take up this job.
DESPITE arresting secessionists at home, President Robert
Mugabe on Saturday joined celebrations to mark South Sudan’s break-away from
the north.
Under a blanket of moist, oppressive heat, tens of thousands
gathered in a field surrounding the mausoleum of John Garang, the late rebel
army leader who is considered the father of the nation, and shouted
deliriously as the flag of Sudan was lowered and that of South,
raised.
The new President, Salva Kiir, signed a transitional constitution
and then took the oath of office. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is
wanted on charges of genocide in Darfur, looked on.
Mugabe joined
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former US Secretary of State
Collin Powell, and other heads of state including South Africa’s President
Jacob Zuma and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni to welcome the 55th African
state.
“Zimbabwe is delighted that this day has come after a long day of
struggle by the people of Southern Sudan to achieve the objective of self
rule and independence,” Mugabe said.
"It's a day, which we celebrate
not only because of the struggle, but also after the struggle there was an
agreement, which stipulated what had to be done.”
Mugabe’s backing of
the South Sudan state however, contrasts sharply with his attitude towards
calls for a separate Matabeleland state in south western Zimbabwe where his
government is accused of killing over 20,000 civilians during a sustained
campaign of ethnic cleansing between 1982 and 1987.
In March, the
leaders of the Mthwakazi Liberation Front, a fairly small but vocal group
advocating a break-away from Zimbabwe, were arrested and charged with
treason.
The London-based Zimbabwean academic Brilliant Mhlanga, a
supporter of the break-away movement, said Mugabe’s backing of a South Sudan
state and his brutal treatment of Mthwakazi Liberation Front leaders “smacks
of hypocrisy”. “Zimbabwe is a colonial structure. What Mugabe is doing is
hypocritical,” Mhlanga said.
“Mugabe cannot claim to be a Pan
Africanist and yet go on to deny and even persecute those advocating for a
dismantling of colonial boundaries. There is nothing that the Mthwakazi
Liberation Front is advocating which is un-African.
“Matabeleland
people must also be allowed a referendum to decide their future, and in this
we expect Mugabe’s support since it’s part of the decolonisation project
which he claims to champion.”
By Godfrey Mtimba in
Belgium Saturday, 09 July 2011 13:58
BRUSSELS - Joint African
Pacific Caribbean and European Union (ACP-EU) Parliament co-president David
Matongo says the world should stop election losers from refusing to leave
office and seeking comfort in coalition governments.
Matongo, a
Zambian, gave President Robert Mugabe as an example of one such
leader.
Addressing delegates at the 26th ACP-EU social and economic
meeting here, Matongo described Zimbabwe’s shaky coalition government as
“unacceptable and undemocratic”.
He said it was worrying that
election losers were rejecting results and using violence to force the
formation of “useless and unworkable” coalition governments.
He spoke
as Mugabe and coalition partner Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai both
concurred that their dysfunctional relationship was affecting the
economy.
“As the ACP-EU joint parliament president let me clearly
state that we do not support unity governments after someone loses
elections.
If you lose elections get out. We want democracy and respect
of the will of the people in Africa,” said Matongo.
Matongo accused
coalition governments of forcing people to legitimise despots whose term of
office would have been ended by the electorate.
He said the whole
phenomenon was derailing the democratisation of the African
continent.
“At this juncture in time allow me dear colleagues to point
out that governments of national unity crafted hurriedly after disputed
elections are unacceptable and undemocratic for they tend to entrench
despots whose era and tenure of office ought to have come to an
end.
This creates a deficit in the democracy we all yearn for in Africa,”
he added.
Matongo, who is MP for Pemba constituency in Zambia,
expressed dismay at Mugabe whom he accused of rejecting the people’s
will.
He said Mugabe was promoting chaos in Africa because other leaders
ended up imitating him, giving the Ivory Coast crisis as a recent point in
case.
“Such presidents like Mugabe who refuse to hand over power and form
coalition governments are a bad influence to other African
leaders.
The recent case of Ivory Coast remind us of how bad those people
who want to cling on to power at all cost regardless of the impact on their
people’s lives and especially after they lost lections are.
The
leader also wanted a coalition government just like in Zimbabwe and Kenya,”
he said.
Matongo urged the ACP and EU countries to withdraw support to
the countries with coalition governments as a way of pushing African leaders
to move towards democracy and do away with dictators whose continued stay in
power was contributing to Africa’s underdevelopment.
“These
governments should not get support from ACP-EU and other organisations
because we will be supporting the continued stay of dictators and tyrants
who oppress people and slow down development in the continent. Africa needs
new young leaders who will bring fresh ideas and energy and vitality in the
continent,” Matongo said.
Mugabe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents abroad
are on a mission abroad to instil fear and disrupt the anti-Mugabe movement
in the Diaspora. Among tactics they use are stalking bloggers (writers of
internet articles) and just being a nuisance. I know what I am talking
about.
Among things of special interest to them are the motivation and
drive behind the new wave of online opinion papers written by Zimbabweans
exercising their freedom of expression to criticise Mugabe’s dictatorship
and to educate people by challenging Zanu-pf propaganda. The regime is still
very afraid of a Tunisia and is not leaving anything to chance.
One
of the things that has irritated the leadership of the much-hated spy
organisation is the courage of people to engage the regime in a no-holds
barred global confrontation through the internet and independent radio
stations.
So worried is the regime that it is desperately trying to
find out if bloggers are being financed in their ever-growing attacks on the
regime. What the CIO does not know is that not all Zimbabweans are motivated
by money in their quest for a democratic, stable, non-racial and progressive
country.
What is surprising the CIO is the fact that the cyber
warfare against Mugabe’s dictatorship is growing faster and in a very
focused way by targeting the regime’s propaganda which it uses to mislead
people.
While their bosses back home are busy engaged in illicit deals
involving precious minerals, CIO spies are wondering why some Zimbabweans
are working tirelessly if they are not paid for expressing their opinions
freely outside Zimbabwe’s borders.
In 2008 CIO spies stepped up their
surveillance of Harare-based Western embassies and aid agencies it suspects
of co-ordinating funding for the opposition (The Zimbabwean, 01/03/08). That
was an election year and they had reason to worry about opposition to
Mugabe. Top on their list of the aid agencies they were targeting were
Germany’s humanitarian foundations Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and
Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
Others on the CIO list of surveillance were
ZLHR, ZDHR, LSA, NCA, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, ZINASU, Hivos, CIDA,
DANIDA, MSO, NORAD, USAID, WFP and DfID. WOZA women also said they were
being stalked by the CIO. Fixed telephone lines at virtually all the
suspected aid agencies and embassies were bugged by the CIO. Journalists
were not spared the surveillance during the CIOGATE (NewZimbabwe, 11/12/09).
The CIO hatched a plan to harm journalists who had exposed their dirty
plans.
In the UK Mugabe’s spies are active regardless of the laws of the
host country. According to Guy Talyor , “often these agents pose as asylum
seekers, completely fooling the UK border agency and judges of the
immigration tribunals,” ( Mugabe’s spying on Britain, 20 May 2011, http://nzcn.wordpress.com).
It is
common knowledge that there are some CIO agents in the UK, some of who were
making life so difficult for Zimbabwe opposition supporters based in
Southend and elsewhere pretend to be seeking asylum or students. What the
CIO does not know is that we alert others about their presence and evil
activities once we have identified them.
Winter crept in under the door this week, just when we thought
it had forgotten us. In twenty four hours the day time temperature plummeted
from the mid twenties to a bitter seven degrees Celsius and Zimbabwe
shivered. As the mist and wind swept in and swallowed my neighbourhood, the
electricity went off and plunged us into the cold and dark.
In my home
town the electricity supplier, ZESA, said it was load shedding when we
phoned, even when we told them it was a fault. The problem was a main
overhead power cable which had woken the whole neighbourhood when it broke at
around five in the morning. Crackling, banging, flaring and sparking, the
cable had snapped in two places and then fell along and across a small
suburban road. It took a telephone cable down with it and finally came to a
rest on a neighbour's steel gate. What a mess it was and extremely dangerous.
After repeated calls to ZESA telling them there was a live cable lying on a
man's gate and along a few hundred metres of suburban road, they finally
arrived three hours later, at 8.30 in the morning. By lunch time the cable
was still lying across the tar road and ZESA had left a team of tree cutters
to remove branches that were touching the overhead cables. The usual absurd
and extremely frustrating conversation between residents and ZESA workers
wasn't long in coming.
'Why don't you come any do any maintenance on
these lines anymore," we asked.
'Aaah, we don't have money,' was the
reply.
'But if you came and trimmed the trees every year, like you used
to, the cables wouldn't get weakened and break and it wouldn't lead to
such expensive repairs.'
There was no reply. It's been at least six
years since ZESA have gone around my neighbourhood clearing vegetation and
brush from around their poles and transformers or trimmed tree branches
growing too close to the lines. Someone pointed to the shoulder high dry
grass and scrubby bush growing right up to the ZESA switching box. Last year
a bush fire in exactly this spot had caused an explosion in the box, the
melted green paint proof of the near tragedy that we had all rushed to avert,
extinguishing flames with branches and sacks.
Just a few metres away
the branches of a large eucalyptus tree blowing and swaying in between the
overhead power cables were easily visible.
'While you've got the workers
and the ladders here, will you at least trim the eucalyptus branches,' we
asked.
'Another time,' came the reply. It's exactly the same response
they gave us when we made the same request about the same tree a year
ago.
That response was about as comforting as the mid year statement made
by the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Power Company a few days ago. Mr Maasdorp
said : "the only way to compensate for a sub-economic tariff is to cut back
on maintenance and ongoing refurbishment. This is clearly not sustainable
and if the situation is not addressed urgently, the lights you have from time
to time today will go out tomorrow!"
Not mentioned in the Chairman's
public mid year statement was the recent report in The Zimbabwean newspaper
that farmers on seized farms owed ZESA eighty million US dollars in unpaid
bills and wanted government to give them more financial support. While
they're at it, I'm sure a couple of million urban residents won't mind
government paying their electricity bills either!
