http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009 22:44
FURTHER details have emerged over Zimbabwe's controversial platinum
deals
and credit facilities with China which have now provoked a storm in
government as the main political leaders fight to claim glory for the
funding.
Official sources said this week that Zimbabwe and
China recently
signed a cautioned Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the
Eximbank of
China over the existing US$200 million deal connected to the
anticipated
US$5 billion platinum mining deal between the two
governments.
The US$5 billion figure came out of complex
calculations involved
after a meeting between Treasury and Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ)
officials on June 8.
The meeting was attended by
Biti himself, his advisor Conrad
Nyamurova, and an official in his ministry,
Mary Takavarasha, Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono, his deputy Edward
Mashiringwani and Gono's advisor
Munyaradzi Kereke.
Minutes
of the meeting held at Biti's office on June 8 show that the
minister
highlighted he had recently signed an MoU with Eximbank as part of
efforts
to sort out the platinum deal linked to existing credit
facilities.
The minutes of the meeting headlined
"Zimbabwe-China US$5 billion
loan" note the following
points:
a.. The minister (Biti) lamented the current
format of the
platinum-backed loan through Eximbank of China which would
heavily prejudice
Zimbabwe;
a.. If the deal goes through, the
Chinese would get 50% in a mineral
resource (platinum) worth at least US$40
billion without paying anything;
a.. Gono agreed with the minister
(Biti)'s strong reservations and
added that the RBZ had long stood opposed
to the deal and;
a.. The minister (Biti) highlighted that recently he
signed a
cautioned MoU with Eximbank on condition of clear legal
documentation and
declaration of obligations of the Chinese.
Information gleaned from documents to hand show that Biti recently
signed a
cautioned MoU with China's Eximbank to pave way for work to begin
on the
mining concession that was mortgaged and thus encumbered after the
negotiation of a US$200 million credit facility with Eximbank. The initial
deal was structured on a wrong valuation framework of US$10 per
ounce.
Although the platinum concession involved is estimated
to be worth
US$40 billion, government officials say the deal with China
should be at
least US$5 billion considering the current platinum prices on
the world
market.
According to Platinum Today, a web-based
publication which claims to
be world's leading authority in the platinum
group metals, the monthly
average price of platinum of late has been between
US$1 167 and US$1 168 an
ounce. The price was US$1 109 per ounce
yesterday.
A senior government official said yesterday Harare
currently wants
Beijing to contribute at least US$5 billion in the platinum
deal.
"If Zimbabwe and China took the lowest possible price of
platinum per
ounce of say US$1 000 an ounce in view of the fact that there
are 30 million
ounces of platinum in the concession, the real value of the
deal would be
US$30 billion," the official said. "If you take the current
market prices it
goes up to US$40 billion.
This means that if
the Chinese were to get 50% of the equity as
initially agreed, they should
pay between US$15 billion and US$20 billion.
However, we think US$5 billion
is a reasonable figure and that is what we
are working with."
Despite Biti's feverish denials, government is engaged with the
Chinese over
the massive platinum deal and credit facilities, including the
US$950
million deal that is currently on the table. The US$950 million
negotiated
under China's buyers credit facility is almost a done deal
although there
are a few issues which need to be finalised.
Sources said
Zimbabwe first needs to clear its US$30 million arrears
to the Chinese and
pay a deposit of 10% of US$950 million - US$95 million -
and thus a total of
US$125 million before the money comes. However, the
conditions could be
waived. The issue is still under negotiation.
Biti signed an
MoU with Eximbank to free the platinum concession which
was mortgaged in
2006 when Zimbabwe signed a US$200 million facility with
the
bank.
The deal dates back to events starting in 2006. It
involved the
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and a Chinese
company, Wanbao
Mining, for the development of platinum in a concession
known as Selous and
Northfields reserves covering 110 square
kilometres.
ZMDC represented the Zimbabwean government and
Wanbao the Chinese.
Zimbabwe has huge platinum deposits. South
Africa is currently the
leading world platinum producer, followed by
Russia.
However, when Zimbabwe in 2006 negotiated a US$200
million facility
with Eximbank, the Selous and Northfields reserves were put
up as
collateral.
This left the concession encumbered and
the mining deal was stalled
for a while. Biti has now signed the MoU to
extricate the concession and
allow for the mining upon finalisation of
"legal documentation and
declaration of the obligations of the
Chinese".
The Chinese development assistance has been in the
form of
concessional loans, export credit (including buyer's and seller's
credit)
and grants.
Zimbabwe has benefited from a buyer's
credit loan from China. In
August 2006, China extended a US$200 million
buyer's credit loan facility to
Zimbabwe for the procurement of fertilisers,
agrochemicals, agriculture
equipment and tools, irrigation and other
equipment and animal health
products.
The terms of the
agreement include: the value of the commercial
contract should be more than
US$2 million.
The portion of the Chinese content of exported goods
should be no less
than 50% of the total value.
The cash payment
(down payment) made by the importer to the Chinese
exporter should not be
less than 15% of the total contract value or 20% in
the case of ship export
contract.
The export buyer's credit provided by the Eximbank of
China for an
export project of goods or services shall not exceed 85% of the
total
contract value, and 80% in the case of a ship export
contract.
Biti has been trying to sort this issue out in
relation to the
platinum deal.
BY DUMISANI MULEYA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009
22:40
DEPUTY Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara yesterday openly differed
with
President Robert Mugabe on fundamental issues at the inaugural two-day
Zimbabwe Investment Conference in the capital in an apparent show of discord
in the unity government.
Mutambara spoke strongly
against the stalling of the implementation of
the global political agreement
(GPA), attempts to foist the Kariba draft
constitution on the people, and
state failure to halt farm disruptions and
the breakdown in the rule of
law.
In a clear response to Mugabe's recent declaration during his
Zanu PF
Central Committee and Consultative Assembly meetings that the Kariba
draft
would be the only reference document during the constitution-making
process,
Mutambara said Zimbabweans were yearning for a people-driven
constitution.
The deputy premier said the inclusive government
should take on board
concerns raised by civic organisations on the
constitutional process.
"We need a people-driven constitution,
not the Kariba draft,"
Mutambara said. "(National Constitutional Assembly
chairperson Lovemore)
Madhuku and labour movements must be involved in the
(constitution-making)
process. No to Kariba! If we do these things (taking
on board concerns of
civil society) the next elections will be free and
fair."
Mutambara said government should stop blaming the West
and in
particular the United States for the socio-economic decline, but
should
uphold the rule of law, respect property rights and resolve the
outstanding
issues of the GPA if the country is to attract foreign direct
investment
(FDI).
"For you to be trusted, credible to
investors, we must resolve that
matter (outstanding issues) because if we
don't we lose credibility. How can
we convince investors if we don't respect
our own agreement," Mutambara
said.
Mugabe has in the past
decade accused the West of destroying the
country's economy through
sanctions after his government embarked on a
controversial land reform
programme in 2000.
Currently FDI contributes 4% of the gross
domestic product and
government is projecting 25% by the end of the
implementation of the Short
Term Emergency Recovery Programme in
December.
On fresh farm invasions and disruptions affecting
mostly white
farmers, Mutambara said there was need for a moratorium on the
disturbances
which he blamed for food insecurity in the
country.
"More than 80% of indigenous people now have land.
There is enough
land for everyone but we continue to face food shortages.
What is needed is
productivity, productivity; productivity.Sovereignty is
not about
ownership," the deputy premier said.
Mugabe -
who opened the investment indaba after Mutambara's
presentation - however
blamed the perennial food shortages on economic
sanctions and
drought.
He credited the inclusive government with tackling
matters of the rule
of law and property rights amid pressure from Western
Europe and the United
States that more had to be done to restore
confidence.
"Above all, Zimbabwe upholds the sanctity of
property rights," Mugabe
said. "The formation of the inclusive government
has strengthened our stable
political environment making us more conducive
to investment promotion. My
government is committed to promoting the rule of
law in all its facets,"
Mugabe said.
After the octogenarian
leader's speech, Commercial Farmers Union
president Trevor Gifford asked
Mugabe whether his government would
compensate white farmers evicted during
the chaotic land reform programme.
Mugabe said he would only
compensate "developments and improvements"
the farmers made on the farms in
line with the country's constitution.
He said Britain, the
former colonial master, should compensate the
farmers for the land his
government acquired.
"It's not every white farm which will be
taken. Not necessarily,"
Mugabe said in reply to Gifford. "The
responsibility of compensation rests
on the shoulders of the British
government and its allies. We pay
compensation for developments and
improvements. That is our obligation and
we have honoured that.
Sure there must be some compensation. Let's join hands and appeal to
the
British."
Britain's outgoing ambassador to Harare Andrew Pocock
last month said
his country had no obligation to pay the
compensation.
"In the fairly recent past, the Zimbabwean
government has said that
compensation rests with the United Kingdom. Well it
does not - either
legally or morally," Pocock said. "In Lancaster House,
sovereignty was
transferred to the Zimbabwean government. The disruption on
the farms was
not caused by anything to do with the United Kingdom, it was
driven by
Zimbabwean government policy . therefore we have no legal
obligation for
compensation. We've never accepted that, and we
won't."
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told the conference
that while there
may be disagreement on the way the land reform was carried
out, there was
agreement on the need for it. He said a lot is being done to
rectify what
went wrong.
"We need to rectify the problems
surrounding the land reform programme
for the last 10 years and that that
programme starts with the land audit
followed by the land commission which
will deal with all matters arising out
of that audit and I am sure there are
many, including issues of
compensation, issues of title, issues of disputes
on land," Tsvangirai said.
"I also say that perhaps we need now to move to a
phase where the land issue
in Zimbabwe has to be depoliticised, deracialised
so that we deal with the
phase of agricultural
productivity."
Mugabe assured investors that indigenisation
laws, which some foreign
investors dread in their quest to pour funds into
the cash-strapped
government, were misconstrued.
"Such
policies as the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act
should not be
viewed as obstacles to investment promotion," Mugabe said.
"They should be
welcomed as promotive of the greater participation of our
people in the
economy."
Despite Mugabe's attempts to put a gloss on the new
administration,
Mutambara maintained that more reforms had to be introduced
by the
government.
"We have challenges as an inclusive
government and we should not gloss
over them. This government, of which I am
one of the leaders, must reward
excellent failures and punish mediocre
success. Most of us are mediocre and
must be fired," Mutambara
said.
Government, according to Mutambara, should "take a
plunge" in its bid
to lure foreign investment. He said foreign investors
should pour their
resources into some loss-making state enterprises through
Public/Private
Partnerships and Build/Operate/Transfer deals. An investors'
prospectus
released at the conference identified 10 state entities and
private
companies that could attract investors.
Mutambara
said government "hates" foreign aid arguing that no state in
history had
achieved sustainable growth through such help.
Zimbabwe
requires close to US$10 billion to revitalise the economy.
BY
BERNARD MPOFU
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009
22:37
THE setting up of constitutional commissions, among them the
Zimbabwe
Media Commission (ZMC), has been delayed by the constitution-making
process.
Tongai Matutu, the chairperson of the parliamentary select
committee
on the media, yesterday said MPs tasked to shortlist candidates
for the ZMC
were currently tied up with the constitutional
process.
Other commissions are the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission,
the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission and the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission.
Matutu said since June 19 - the closing date of
receiving applications
from would-be commissioners - no progress has taken
place in constituting
the commission.
"There has been no
progress since June 19 as we (legislators) are tied
up with the
constitution-making process," Matutu told the Zimbabwe
Independent. "There
is no co-ordination, but we hope that after the first
all-stakeholders'
conference, we will move in to shortlist candidates and
invite them for
interviews."
He said his committee wanted the ZMC to be in place by the
end of
August.
"The interviews will be transparent and will
be held in public. The
media and the public would be allowed to attend, but
they will not ask
questions. This is according to what was agreed by
parliament's Standing
Rules and Orders Committee," Matutu
explained.
He declined to divulge names of the people who
applied to be
commissioners.
However, the Independent is
reliably informed that among the
applicants were chief executive officer of
the defunct Media and Information
Commission (MIC) Tafataona Mahoso,
academics Claude Mararike and Vimbai
Chivaura, and pastor Gift
Mabaudi.
The ZMC should replace the MIC, which has been the
state's weapon of
choice in its dealings with the media in the
country.
The setting up of the ZMC was supposed to be the
starting point in
media reforms, which would culminate in the establishment
of new newspapers,
and independent radio and television
stations.
In May Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said both
local and foreign
journalists, as well as media houses had no legal
obligation to apply for
registration until the ZMC was
constituted.
Tsvangirai said the 2008 amendments to the Access
to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) did away with the
statutory MIC, which was
responsible for the accreditation and licensing of
journalists and media
houses.
High Court judge, Justice
Bharat Patel, last month issued a
provisional order that MIC was now a legal
nullity, a move being opposed by
Media minister Webster Shamu and his
permanent secretary George Charamba.
lMeanwhile, Harare
provincial magistrate Moses Murendo is on July 21
expected to make a ruling
in an application by Independent editor Vincent
Kahiya and news editor
Constantine Chimakure - facing charges of publishing
or communicating
falsehoods prejudicial to the state - to refer the matter
to the Supreme
Court.
Kahiya, Chimakure and ZimInd publishers, represented by
finance
director Michael Curling, are challenging the constitutionality of
the law
they are being charged under.
Harare Area Public
Prosecutor Jonathan Murombedzi yesterday told the
court that the state had
failed to give a response to the application made
last month to the
journalists' lawyer Innocent Chagonda within the timeframe
agreed.
Chagonda said he was served with the response on
Tuesday when he had
indicated that he needed at least a week to prepare a
counter-response. He
said he would furnish the court with the written
response on July 14.The
defence and state attorneys then agreed to remand
the case to July 21 for a
ruling on the journalists'
application.
In their application, the journalists are arguing
that Section 31 of
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which
attracts a maximum of
20 years in prison, infringed Section 20 of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe,
which guarantees freedom of
expression.
The scribes argued that it was important that the
country's highest
court decides on the constitutionality of the provisions
as it was a matter
of public importance.
The law, they
averred, was a hindrance to the practice of journalism
and was not necessary
in a democracy.
Charges against Kahiya, Chimakure and Zimind
Publishers arose on May 8
when the news editor wrote an article headlined
"CIO, police role in
activists' abduction revealed", stating that notices of
indictment for trial
in the High Court of MDC-T activists allegedly abducted
between October and
December last year had revealed that the activists were
either in the
custody of the CIO or police during the period they were
reported missing.
BY NQOBILE BHEBHE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009
22:26
THE High Court yesterday reserved judgement in a case where
former
Information minister Professor Jonathan Moyo is seeking the
nullification of
last August's election of MDC-T national chairman Lovemore
Moyo as Speaker
of the House of Assembly on the grounds that the poll was
flawed.
Professor Moyo, the Tsholotsho North MP, wants Justice
Bharat Patel to
declare the election of the Speaker a farce.
Lawyer Terrence Hussein representing the lawmaker told the court that
the
MDC-T chairman's election was flawed citing incidences where the secret
ballot was "brandished" to the public as evidence that the election process
was not in line with best practice.
Lovemore Moyo beat
MDC-M secretary for elections Paul Themba
Nyathi -who had the backing of
Prof Moyo and Zanu PF - for the speakership.
Lovemore Moyo
garnered 110 votes while Nyathi polled 98 amid claims
that some MDC-M and
Zanu PF lawmakers voted for the MDC-T candidate.
Hussein said
MPs "did not fold" the ballot in the booth and this
defeated the whole
concept of a secret ballot.
He also said the Clerk of
Parliament, Austin Zvoma, tasked to conduct
the election, failed to execute
his duties by not restoring order in the
House despite clear indications
that there was "chaos" in the chamber.
This, Hussein argued,
could have been avoided by putting the vote on
hold until order
prevailed.
The lawyer further argued that Zvoma did not rein in
the "fracas" to
ensure the vote was in line with rules.
But
advocate Mathew Chaskalson representing the Speaker defended the
voting
process saying no objections were raised during the poll.
He
argued: "This is because no party should wait and see who wins and
then
raise complaints.
The applicants cannot seriously submit that
they could not object in
the voting process."
Choise
Damiso, counsel to parliament, also defended Zvoma saying no
formal
objections had been raised on the day in question, a development
giving
credence to the outcome of the vote.
She averred that Zvoma was
an innocent bystander in a vicious
political storm.
On the
charge that the atmosphere was chaotic in the House and that
the only
reasonable action that could have been taken would have been to the
stop the
process.
Damisa argued that the situation seemed disorderly
because of the
"dramatic growth of parliament" but was otherwise conducive
to the poll.
BY CHRIS MURONZI
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09
July 2009 21:37
A HIGH Court judge has said the police have failed to
absolve
themselves in the alleged abduction of MDC-T activists between
October and
December last year.
In a written judgment released
on Tuesday referring the case of four
MDC-T activists to the Supreme Court,
Justice Tendai Uchena said evidence
led during the hearing did not absolve
the police from the alleged
abductions.
MDC-T activists,
Concillia Chinanzvavana, Fidelis Chiramba, Violet
Mupfuranhewe and Collen
Mutemagau, facing charges of recruiting youths to
undergo military training
in Botswana for purposes of committing banditry in
Zimbabwe, applied for
referral of their case to the Supreme Court on the
strength that their
abductions and torture violated their constitutional
rights.
The state, however, argued that the application was
"frivolous and
vexatious" and that the MDC-T activists were never abducted
by the police
between October 31 and December 22 last year, but were in
custody of state
security agents.
In his ruling, Justice
Uchena said the Attorney-General (AG) - the
respondent - failed to deny the
allegations raised during the hearing by the
activists.
He
said the AG's response was "simply that the applicants were from
October 31
2008 to December 22 2008 in the custody of state security
agents".
"That response attempts to distance the police from
the alleged
wrong-doing, but does not succeed because the police are alleged
to have
been involved from the time the applicants were abducted," Uchena
said.
"The second (Chiramba) and third (Mupfuranhewe)
applicants were kept
in police custody for a long time before they were
taken to a house where
they were kept until December 22 2008. The response
does not absolve the
whole state law-enforcements agents."
Justice Uchena said an exhibit produced in court on police
investigations
did not absolve the police as it gives the impression that
they dealt with
the applicants from December 22 2008 onwards without
specifically denying
earlier involvement as alleged by the activists.
He said: "Even
Chief Superintendent Magwenzi's own affidavit does not
respond to what is
alleged to have happened before December 22 2008. The
respondents' response
leaves the allegation of detention beyond 96 hours
unchallenged.
"
Justice Uchena said the applicants were held for more than
one and a
half months without being taken to court and if that is proved it
would be
in contravention of provisions of the country's
constitution.
"It cannot therefore be held that the applicants'
application is
frivolous and vexatious," he ruled.
The
state argued that besides referring the matter to the Supreme
Court, there
were other remedies the MDC-T activists could take for their
alleged
deprivation of liberty - such as suing for damages.
In regard
to the question of physical mistreatment in which the
activists alleged that
they were assaulted and treated in an inhuman and
degrading manner, Justice
Uchena also referred that question to the Supreme
Court.
The applicants also sought referral to of their case to the
constitutional
court on the grounds that they were denied the protection of
the law and
access to their legal practitioners.
They also want the Supreme
Court to consider whether or not they
should be prosecuted given that they
were before the court illegally.
They alleged that the police
knew that they were missing and that
Justices Charles Hungwe and Yunus
Omerjee had ordered their release.
"It is not in dispute that
the applicants' enforced disappearance was
known to the police. The police
were party to the proceedings before Justice
Hungwe where the issue was the
disappearance of the applicants and others.
They at first denied knowledge
but conceded after the applicants' legal
practitioners had proved that some
of the applicants had been detained at
various police stations," Justice
Uchena said.
"The applicants' access to legal practitioners is
a constitutional
right which ensures the protection of an accused person's
right at the time
of his or her arrest and thereafter."
He
said the allegations made against the law-enforcement agents were
very
serious.
"It would be unacceptable for such serious allegations
to be swept
under the carpet. The request for an investigation is in my view
not
frivolous and vexatious. Its seriousness is demonstrated by the
respondent
and the police having considered it necessary when they
investigated the
allegations," Justice Uchena added.
The
judge making reference to provisions of the Criminal Procedure and
Evidence
Act (CPE Act) lambasted the detention of the activists saying it
far exceeds
the period allowed under Zimbabwean law.
He said: "The CPE Act
provided for the detention of an accused person
in police custody for not
more than 48 hours without a warrant of further
detention and not more than
96 hours if a warrant of further detention was
issued. Even if one had been
issued, the applicants' detention far exceeded
the period permissible under
our law.
"The applicants' unchallenged allegations merit the
attention of the
Supreme Court. They cannot be held to be frivolous and
vexatious. I would in
the circumstance refer this question (unlawful
deprivation of liberty) to
the Supreme Court."
The
applicants in their affidavits alleged that they were kidnapped
between
October 30 and November 3 2008. They further alleged that they were
thereafter kept by their abductors and associates until December 22
2008.
Chiramba in his affidavit alleged that he was on the
night of October
31 2008 arrested by heavily armed man at his house in
Banket who took him to
Rhodesville Police Station, Harare, and was later
transferred to Borrowdale,
Marlborough, Highlands, Avondale and Hatfield
police stations between the
day of his arrest and November 4 the same
year.
On November 4, he was told he was innocent and would be
taken home
before a warned and cautioned statement was
recorded.
Chiramba alleged that as they got near Mount Hampden
another vehicle
came and signalled the one he was in to
stop.
He said he was dragged out of the car which was supposed
to be taking
him to Banket and thrown into the motor vehicle that had
signalled them to
stop and immediately blindfolded and driven back to Harare
where he was kept
in a carpeted house.
There he alleges he
was assaulted all over his body.
"He was put in a deep freezer
where he felt close to death. A few
minutes after being removed from the
deep freezer he was ordered to remove
all his clothes, and hot water was
poured onto his genitals causing him
excruciating pain.
"He
was also asked to walk stark naked in front of women who were also
in
captivity. His abductors looked on laughing and mocking his body make-
up,"
wrote Uchena in the judgment.
Mupfuranhewe in her affidavit
narrates that on October 31 2008 she was
taken from her Banket home by men
who produced their police identification
cards and said they were police
officers from Chinhoyi.
The police officers agreed that her
two-year-old son who was crying
for her could go with her to CID Chinhoyi
where they were taking her.
Mupfuranhewe was kept in police
cells in Chinhoyi where she was asked
about the whereabouts of her husband,
to which she professed ignorance.
She was later transferred to
Mabelreign police station and alleged
that she heard men who had brought her
telling police officers on duty not
to give her food.
She
was transferred to Borrowdale police station where six men
interrogated her
and later taken back to Banket to show her interrogators
the houses of other
MDC-T members.
During her detention she alleges that she was
given rules regarding
her child, that he was only going to be allowed to go
to the toilet and was
not to cry for food.
"On the third
day of their arrival at this house she was ordered into
a tub of very hot
water for failing to participate in a quiz. She was burnt
on the buttocks.
One day she and another participant in this application
were accused of
spoiling the toilet and they spent the whole day having ice
cold water
poured into their pants," read Justice Uchena's ruling.
BY WONGAI
ZHANGAZHA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009 21:31
MDC-T treasurer-general Roy Bennett will be sworn in as Deputy
Minister of
Agriculture alongside six new provincial governors next month,
the Zimbabwe
Independent learnt this week.
This is contrary to claims that
Bennett's case had been referred to
Sadc as one of the outstanding issues of
the global political agreement
(GPA) after President Robert Mugabe refused
to swear him in arguing that he
was facing serious terrorism
charges.
Gorden Moyo, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's
Office,
confirmed to the Independent this week that Bennett would take the
oath of
office alongside five governors from the MDC-T and one from the
MDC-M in
August.
"Contrary to what some sections of the
media have been saying, the
issue of the swearing in of Bennett is not an
outstanding issue," Moyo said.
"There was an agreement reached on the issue
by the three principals and he
is likely to be sworn in as deputy minister
in August when the new governors
are sworn in."
He said the
only outstanding issues of the GPA were the appointment of
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General
Johannes
Tomana.
"As far as outstanding issues are concerned we are now
left with the
Gono and Tomana issue that has been referred to Sadc," Moyo
explained.
"Bennett will be sworn in with the new governors and the current
governors
were allowed to complete one year of service before the new
governors are
appointed."
Bennett is facing terrorism charges in
that he plotted to procure
weapons to overthrow Mugabe's
government.
Bennett was arrested before he could be sworn in
along with other
deputy ministers in February.
He was
released on bail a month latter and since then he has not taken
the oath of
office despite the fact that he was sworn in as a
non-constituency senator
upon his release from remand prison.
Bennett will serve as
deputy to Joseph Made, who oversaw the country's
chaotic land reform
programme and sanctioned the takeover of Bennett's
coffee farm in
Chimanimani.
During his time as a member of parliament, Bennett
shoved Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa to the floor during a heated
parliamentary
debate, an episode that led to him being jailed for eight
months for the
offence.
BY LOUGHTY DUBE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009
21:31
TEACHERS and government are heading for a showdown this month-end
after teachers' organisations indicated that they will not accept salaries
below US$400.
Government promised to pay civil servants - who
have since February
been surviving on a monthly allowance of US$100 -
salaries beginning this
month though it indicated that it has a thin
budget.
However, the country's two main teachers' organisations,
the militant
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Zimbabwe
Teachers
Association (Zimta), said they would reject a salary below US$400
and will
embark on a nationwide strike.
PTUZ
secretary-general Raymond Majongwe yesterday said: "We will only
agree to an
acceptable figure and since the cost of living in the country is
around
US$400 that is the amount that we will accept otherwise we will stop
reporting for duty."
Tendai Chikowore, Zimta president,
said teachers have been patient for
too long on the salaries issue and were
not being consulted by the
government.
"As teachers'
representatives we are still unaware of the salary
scales government will
put in place because we were not officially
informed," she
said.
Chikowore could not be drawn on the ideal salary Zimta
members wanted,
but sources in the organisation said the teachers were
looking at minimum
monthly pay of US$400.
She said while
government's decision to pay salaries was welcome and
long overdue, her
organisation was concerned that they were not consulted on
the
matter.
"The salary issue is not clear and while we commend the
government on
coming up with plans to replace the allowance, we are worried
on the lack of
consultation as this will create problems in future if there
is no
consensus," Chikowore explained.
Finance Minister
Tendai Biti a fortnight ago announced that the
government had mobilised
resources and will with effect from the end of July
start paying salaries to
civil servants.
The government of national unity between
President Robert Mugabe,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy
Arthur Mutambara is broke
and has struggled to pool resources to revive the
comatose economy.
The allowances paid to civil servants since
the formation of the unity
government were raised from donors.
BY LOUGHTY DUBE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July
2009 21:20
"IT is through the grace of God that we managed to survive
the cholera
outbreak, otherwise it should have wiped us all out," said
Fungai Moyo from
Mbare, Harare.
Residing at Paget House -- a
dormitory meant for women only in the
high density suburb -- the 38-year-old
Moyo expressed disillusionment with
the inhuman and humiliating conditions
she and other residents are made to
live in at the flat.
For
the four years she has stayed there, and the Harare City Council
has made
countless promises it never honoured to improve the conditions.
Contrary to the empty promises, the situation has worsened and is in
need of
urgent attention. This is despite the fact that the women pay what
they term
exorbitant rates to the council.
Moyo said they were living
like animals and were at times embarrassed
of the surroundings they were
living in.
Showing the Zimbabwe Independent news crew around
this week, Moyo
explained how harsh the conditions they were staying under
were.
At the entrance of the flats, a stench emanated from the
side of the
dormitory.
Dirty water trickling from blocked
showers and tubs upstairs could be
seen flowing down the walls into the
flats' dining room.
Moyo lamented: "You see this is a place
where people are supposed to
be eating, but look at how it looks with water
from blocked showers upstairs
flowing. This is disgusting. It is a miracle
that we are not sick. Further
down are the kitchens where we cram when we
want to cook."
On the first floor of the house, the first thing
one sees is the dirty
water that has accumulated in the
showers.
"These showers have been like that for a long time. It
is now a year
we have been facing such problems. It is difficult to shower
in such
conditions. That is the same condition with the tubs. There is no
running
water and we have to collect it from the taps outside," Moyo
explained.
The bathtubs are brown and rusty with dirt while
only two toilets on
the floor that has about 28 rooms were functional. Two
people share each
room.
"The toilets also do not have
running water forcing us to use the
bucket system," she
said.
Yet with all these problems, Moyo -- who makes a living
from sewing
and mending clothes -- owes the city council US$124 in
rentals.
"I am required to pay the council US$124 for rent and
an additional
US$23 they call property tax, but for what? For this dirt! It
makes me very
angry. The rent is backdated from February and the woman that
I share the
room with has to pay the same amount. All in all we have to pay
the council
close to US$300 for this tiny room with a smashed window," said
the
disgruntled woman showing us the broken window.
She
alleged that some of the windows were smashed during the countdown
to the
bloody June 27 2008 presidential election run-off by Zanu PF youths
during
their campaign for the 85-year-old Mugabe.
Last week, the
Harare City Council resolved that Paget House and
Carter House, also in
Mbare, be closed as they were a health hazard and
needed renovations to make
them habitable.
The council said Carter House, which offers
overnight facilities,
needed repairs in dormitories, sanitary facilities for
both males and
females, laundry, kitchen, cloakroom, linen and refuse, while
Paget House
required renovations in the dining room, kitchen, sanitary
facilities from
first to the third floor and improvement in refuse
collection.
Moyo welcomed the city fathers' idea, but her
biggest worry was where
they would be housed if the two flats were to be
closed.
She said: "We welcome the development to renovate this
place but where
will they accommodate us during this renovation. Staying
here is a sign that
we do not even have homes.
"Besides we
are yet to see if it will be renovated, we are used to
these promises by
city council. All they want is to milk our money. "
Apart from
the renovations at the two houses, councillors suggested
the demolition of
illegal structures and businesses that were mushrooming in
the
city.
The proposal was first made by Councillor Thomas Muzuva
who said the
city was facing a serious health hazard because of illegal
structures.
"The illegal structures are promoting unhealthy
conditions which can
give rise to cholera, for example, at Mupedzanhamo
(Mbare) canteens are
mixed with shops that sell chemicals, a very serious
health hazard. Plans
should be set to demolish these structures
immediately," Muzuva said.
Prominent places that were
highlighted by the councillors include
squatter camps along Mukuvisi River,
Mupedzanhamo, Boka Tobacco Floors and
sculptures at
Newlands.
Councillor Mooza Allana raised concern over a lot of
dumping of
rubbish at Pennywise in Eastlea saying it was unhygienic and said
the city
fathers were also to blame for the mushrooming of squatter
camps.
"Mushrooming of squatters has also to do with the
planning of the
city. People are trying to earn a living.
Are
we helping our people to get the resources or land properly?" said
Allana.
Councillor Paul Gorekore on the other hand said it
is the council that
was giving people space to conduct such businesses, an
indication of how
rife corruption is within the system, especially in
Mbare.
\He said council should be consistent in the enforcement
of its
by-laws.
It is yet to be seen whether the city
council will be able to achieve
the set tasks following confessions by the
finance director Cosmas
Zvikaramba that the municipality was facing serious
financial problems.
BY WONGAI ZHANGAZHA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009
21:12
ZIMBABWE'S constitution-making process is on Monday expected to
go a
gear-up with the convening in Harare of an all-stakeholders
conference.
Our News Editor Constantine Chimakure on Wednesday
caught up with the
co-chairperson of the parliamentary select committee
spearheading the
process, Douglas Mwonzora, at Parliament Building in the
capital to explore
how far the process has gone, the problems it is
encountering and the
controversial Kariba draft. Below are excerpts from the
interview.
Chimakure: Give us an update on the first
all-stakeholders conference?
Mwonzora: First, the
all-stakeholders conference will go ahead as
planned. There were concerns
raised mostly by our colleagues in Zanu PF
through their caucus and these
concerns are that the conference must be
attended by everyone who must
attend and that there was no adequate time for
the invitation to reach those
people in the remote areas.
The complaint on the part of the two MDCs
was that we should under no
circumstances as a select committee vary the
global political agreement
(GPA). Therefore, we should stick to the timeline
as given under the GPA.
For that reason we have a cut off date, being July
13, so any extension must
fall within that prescribed timeline. Having set
down as chairperson of the
select committee together with the administration
of parliament headed by
the speaker we then agreed to extend the date of the
conference to July 13.
Delegates will arrive on July 12 and on the 13th of
July and half of the
14th of July we will hold the
conference.
Chimakure: Before you go any further, are you
saying the conference is
now going to take one and a half days instead of
the initially planned four
days? Why the change?
Mwonzora:
The conference itself was supposed to take one and a half
days. The days we
were including to make them four were arrival and
departure days.
The decision to move the conference to July 13 was a fair compromise.
We
need to strike a balance between the concerns of Zanu PF that everyone
who
should come, and the concerns of the two MDCs of not going against the
GPA.
Chimakure: How were the delegates
selected?
Mwonzora: The delegates were selected using the
provincial
consultative assembly attendants. At the provincial consultative
meetings we
asked our secretariat to get a record of the stakeholders who
came, these
were various organisations and individuals.
In order to
come up with the national representation, we looked at
organisation which
had a national representation as obtained during the
consultative meetings.
We had to look at organisations with a regional
representation and we also
had to look at individuals with special
endowments like special experiences,
which will be helpful in the
constitution-making process or special
qualification.
Having done that we then divided the stakeholders into
23
categories -- labour, youth and students, farmers' organisations,
religious
organisations, informal sector, NGOs, freedom fighters, business,
disabled,
political parties, traditional leaders and healers, arts and
culture,
children's organisations, media, local authorities, academia,
parastatals,
residents and ratepayers' associations, government arms, sports
organisations, minority organisations, professional boards, women's
organisations and development agencies.
From these organisations we
then allocated a quota for each
organisation by way of percentages. All in
all we are inviting 4 000
delegates and we looked at, at the
representativeness of the organisation.
We also looked at the proportion of
each organisation to the population of
Zimbabwe and using that we then
allocated percentages of the delegates, for
example, the organisations that
deal with the disabled will have 2%,
students and youths 4%, business
organisations 3%, traditional leaders 2%,
traditional healers 0,4%, media 2%
and academia 1%.
Using these percentages we are then able to determine
the absolute
number, then apportion these numbers to each organisation
following in each
category looking at the size as far as we could
determine.
We are aware that that this is not very, very mathematically
correct,
but it is the closest to mathematical accuracy.
Chimakure: Is the constitution-making process well financed given
reports
that your committee wanted US$36 million, but was cut by the
executive to
US$19 million? Also shed light on reports that the executive,
especially the
president's office, is against the donor-funding of the
process.
Mwonzora: Regarding the financing of this process,
the finances are
going to come from the treasury as well as from
international donors. The
select committee simply does a budget, presents
that budget to parliament's
Committee on Standing Rules and Orders and it
takes the matter up with the
executive and the donors. That coordination at
that level is not a concern
of the select committee, but the realities of
the Zimbabwean situation
should always be borne in mind, that is Zimbabwe as
a country is broke and
relies heavily on outside donors.
It is
possible to get money from donors without any strings attached.
What is
of importance is that the president's office -- through the
Chief Secretary
to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda -- acknowledged
that part of
the funds are going to come from the donors. That is why Dr
Sibanda wrote a
letter to us sometime ago clarifying how the money from the
donors are going
to be coordinated. That is an acknowledgement that donor
money is
important.
Chimakure: Are you saying there is a change of heart by some
elements
in government, especially from Zanu PF, who were insisting that
donors may
end up influencing the process and its outcome? During the joint
Zanu PF and
the two MDC formations' caucus meeting on Monday, Zanu PF MPs
even objected
to the invitation of South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa to come
and address the
conference on the grounds that he would influence the
process and ultimately
its outcome. What do you say to
that?
Mwonzora: Firstly, there is nothing wrong with donor
money. It is a
reality that Zimbabwe has to live with and that responsible
members of
parliament must live with. Zimbabwe has no money and requires
outside help
and that is why cabinet has taken positive steps to woo
international
donors.
These donors do not interact with the select
committee but interact
with the executive and the administration of
parliament. So, if they are to
influence anyone then it would be the
executive and not us. Some MPs do not
appear to understand the concept of
sovereignty. Sovereignty does not mean
international isolation; it simply
denotes the independence of nations when
they make national
decisions.
Chimakure: The Ramaphosa issue?
Mwonzora: Media reports on Ramaphosa were very unfair. The select
committee
had expressed a wish to invite him as one of Africa's most
distinguished
lawyers and constitutional negotiators. Also, he is from Sadc
and
importantly from a country that has dealt actively in Zimbabwe's recent
history. However, no invitation had yet been dispatched to Ramaphosa at the
time the MPs made their utterances. I do not agree that this is a Zanu PF
position. This is an individual MP's position. I say so because I have had
sight of the Zanu PF caucus resolution made on that day and the resolution
does not talk of barring outsiders.
The issue is people must avoid
talking in double tongues. At one time
we people purport to expouse
Pan-Africanism, on the other hand they do not
want to invite successful
Africans. That does not make sense. We must borrow
from African
wisdom.
Chimakure: Your committee has made several
pronouncements to the
effect that it will not use the Kariba draft
constitution as a reference
document. Why was the document then acknowledged
in the GPA when my
understanding is that the constitution should have been
enacted before the
March 2008 harmonised elections, but Zanu PF later
reneged on that
undertaking? Why not acknowledge other drafts crafted before
the Kariba one?
Mwonzora: The Kariba draft does not bind the
select committee. This is
because according to Section 6.1 sub-paragraph 4
of the GPA, the select
committee together with all those involved in
constitution-making must come
up with their own draft. It is in black and
white. Had the negotiators
intended us to bring an amended version of
Kariba, that section should have
stated that. Whether the Kariba draft will
be used as reference, the answer
is yes together with all relevant draft
constitutions. That is why we are
going to mass produce the Kariba draft,
the NCA draft, the Zimbabwe we want,
the rejected Constitutional Commission
draft as well as the draft produced
by Fodesi under Margaret Dongo. The
status of the Kariba draft is that it
is one of the documents that will be
availed to the people of Zimbabwe. It
is up to them to accept it or
not.
Chimakure: Why was it then acknowledged in the GPA and are
you
suggesting that President Mugabe is wrong by insisting that it should be
the
reference document?
Mwonzora: It is important to
understand that acknowledgment does not
mean adoption. The Kariba draft is
the only document, of all these drafts,
signed by the parties. It is
important to note that Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC-M
do not represent all the
people of Zimbabwe and therefore it is unfair to
the people of Zimbabwe to
impose their draft on them.
Chimakure: Mugabe insists that the
Kariba draft is the reference
document as agreed by the three political
parties?
Mwonzora: President Mugabe is a skilled negotiator and
my reading of
what he said is negotiating. He knows that there is Section
6.1, therefore,
what he may want as a leader of Zanu PF may not be what
Zimbabweans want in
general.
Chimakure: But Mugabe
reportedly told his central committee a
fortnight ago that if the Kariba
draft is not used as a reference document,
Zanu PF members should vote
against a new draft constitution once it is
tabled in parliament. Don't you
see the danger of Zanu PF sabotaging the
constitution-making process at the
last minute?
Mwonzora: No, because once the referendum passes
the new constitution
it is not to parliament to reject it. But of course
politicians may try to
circumvent the will of the people. This they will try
whether the
constitution has been spearheaded by the select committee or by
the civil
society, but they do so at their own peril and there are
ill-advised in
doing that. My personal plea to President Mugabe will be to
respect whatever
comes out of the referendum.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday,
09 July 2009 20:06
BY now the Zimbabwean government should have gotten
smart when it
comes to mortgaging national resources to secure cash or any
other important
commodity.
After getting a heads-you-lose and
tails-you-lose deal from Libya at
the height of Zimbabwe's economic crisis a
few years ago, analysts say the
troubled southern African nation should be
shying away from such deals.
But recent reports that Finance
minister Tendai Biti (below) could
have signed a tentative agreement with
China to secure US$5 billion in
exchange for the country's platinum paints a
bleak picture of a desperate
inclusive government keen on bolstering its
empty coffers at any cost.
Though Zimbabwe desperately needs critical
foreign funding to lift the
economy from the current doldrums, analysts say
mortgaging national
resources is not a sustainable strategy for any serious
government.
Economist Daniel Ndlela warned that mortgaging the
country's resources
is never an option to consider for any country saying
Zimbabwe should take a
cue from Zambia's experience.
The economist
highlighted how a copper boom in 2002 saw Zambia crying
over spilt milk
after initially agreeing terms with the Chinese.
Ndlela said: "It is
always a bad thing when a country resorts to
mortgaging national resources
in general. If in this instance Zimbabwe is
going to do so, then it is
definitely not a good idea.
"In principle, it is never a good idea
because countries ideally have
to secure loans on their export merits. If a
government is desperate then it
might happen. But we have to look at the
Zambian experience to learn. Zambia
mortgaged its mineral resources when the
government was desperate but after
mineral prices started increasing on the
international market, Zambia
started complaining."
This, he added,
saw the Zambians pulling out of the deal.
"When there was a world
mineral boom in 2002, the Zambians reneged on
their own terms because prices
had increased. In principle, mortgaging
national resources has never been a
good strategy for any country. It
normally exposes serious desperation,"
Ndlela explained.
Ironically, this is not the first time Zimbabwe has
mortgaged its
assets.
In 2002, Zimbabwe attempted to mortgage its
oil assets to Libya in
exchange for fuel.
The assets included a
major oil pipeline, which runs from Zimbabwe's
eastern city of Mutare to
Harare, as well as oil storage facilities in
Harare, under a deal aimed at
settling Zimbabwe's debt to Libya and securing
fresh fuel supplies.
An independent valuation of the assets conducted at the time and
seconded by
an Italian company, Roux Italian, valued the country's oil
assets at about
US$150 million then, but Libya's oil company, Tamoil, valued
them at only
US$38 million. The assets would have gone for a song.
But it now seems
that Zimbabwe is willing to reach out for diamonds on
the devil's belt
before it learns its lesson.
When Zimbabwe failed to pay its US$67
million fuel debt to Libya,
government had no choice but to sell its
shareholding in CBZ Holdings and
Rainbow Tourism Group to the Libyans to
save the state's oil assets.
Political commentator Eldred Masunungure
said Zimbabwe should not be
blind to the country's future needs by pursuing
a short-term and
shortsighted policy that would eventually prejudice the
nation.
Masunungure said: "Mortgaging anything, let alone national
resources,
must be a last resort for any country for the simple reason that
it is in
the national interest of any country. This is a short-term and
shortsighted
approach to deal with the unity government's immediate
problems.
"I think mortgaging any resource undermines national
interest. This
plan of mortgaging resources won't deal with long-term
generational inequity
because we will be prejudicing future generations.
Clearly this exhibits
desperation on the part of government. We should not
be blind to tomorrow's
needs so that we can satisfy today's wants and
needs."
Government is said to have inked a cautioned Memorandum of
Understanding with the Eximbank of China (Eximbank) for the platinum-backed
US$5 billion loan on condition of explicit legal documentation and
declaration of the obligations of the Chinese.
In the latest deal,
Zimbabwe would get US$5 billion from Eximbank of
China and in return the
Chinese will get 50% equity in a US$40 billion
platinum concession without
paying anything.
The US$5 billion would be converted into equity for
the Chinese,
although it falls US$10 billion short of the total value of
their
shareholding.
Analysts argued that since the platinum
concession is worth about
US$40 billion, this means the Chinese would
collect US$20 billion out of
their 50% equity- a whopping US$15 billion
profit - at the end of the
transaction.
Experts fear that Zimbabwe
is securing lines of credit from cash-rich
nations with national resources
to buoy the economy.
Biti denies entering into any such deal with the
Chinese, but analysts
are not buying the official line saying this could be
a face-saving denial
by the minister, a key opposition official, once
opposed to mortgaging of
national resources.
Zimbabwe has more than
40 different types of precious minerals which
make the country potentially
one of the richest in Africa.
China is making forays in Africa's
resources sector but Zambia's
opposition accuses the Asian powerhouse of a
poor safety record and paying
workers low wages.
BY CHRIS
MURONZI
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009
19:52
GOVERNMENT has identified five state assets which would require a
combined US$2,1 billion to be revived within the next 12
months.
According to an investors prospectus made available
yesterday,
government said the Zimbabwe Power Corporation requires US$900
million to be
revived in the next three months whilst a total of US$160
million is needed
to recapitalise public company Hwange Colliery in the same
period. National
Railways of Zimbabwe require US$274 million to start
functioning smoothly.
Air Zimbabwe needs US$750 million immediately to
operate viably and compete
with other airlines. TelOne immediately requires
US$278 to upgrade its
network.
Zimbabwe Investment Centre Chief
Executive, Richard Mbaiwa yesterday
said private enterprises which had been
identified as requiring urgent
funding include Seed Co, Continental Private
Limited, African Associated
Mines and Infrastructure Development
Bank.
Cabinet last month approved a commercialisation and privatisation
plan
which will take different forms as part of a rationalisation,
reconstruction
and transformation agenda.
The country needs close
to US$10 billion to rivitalise its battered
economy and has so far received
close to US$2 billion.
Minister of Finance Tendai Biti recently told
businessdigest that
government would assess different state assets and
decide on the model which
they will use either to commercialise or privatise
them.
"Cabinet has approved the process of commercialisation and
privatisation. This includes how it will be done, the timing and
objectives," Biti said.
Biti said the process had been divided
into different categories and
classified state enterprises under each of the
groups to ensure maximum
benefit for the country.
He said there are
some high-value state companies which had huge
potential but needed
capitalisation and good management.
This category includes companies
such as TelOne, POSB, power stations,
Zisco and National Railways of
Zimbabwe.
He also said there were strategic high-value enterprises
which were
seriously draining the fiscus such as Air Zimbabwe.
"These would need comprehensive commercialisation and partnership
plans to
be revived," Biti said.
Biti further said there were strategic
high-value state enterprises
which were currently dormant but had potential
if they could be revived.
These include companies such as the Cold Storage
Company and Arda.
"Government should consider various options to revive
and resuscitate
these companies," Biti said.
He indicated that some
of the companies needed to be commercialised
and privatised at the opportune
time to ensure government gets maximum
benefit.
Biti said
government was determined to ensure that commericlaisation
and privatisation
plan succeed because it was an integral part of the
economic recovery
programme Sterp.
BY PAUL NYAKAZEYA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009
19:44
MORE than eight in every 10 formally employed workers in Zimbabwe
will
not encourage their relatives in the Diaspora to come back home despite
being relatively optimistic of the inclusive government formed in
February.
An employee confidence survey carried by Industrial
Psychology
Consultants, a human resources think tank in June shows that 83%
of workers
in the survey sample - drawn from industry and commerce -would
advise their
relatives and peers beyond the borders to continue working
outside the
country.
Interestingly this poll was conducted in
the same month Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai -- during his three-week
international tour seeking to
engage Zimbabwe with the West and the United
States -- failed to convince
Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom to come back
home.
"When asked what advice they will give to their Diaspora
relatives at
this stage of our economic development, 83,1% of the
respondents said
'hold-on there. It is still a long way to go' and 16,9%
said 'come back home
now, employment opportunities are available'," reads
the survey.
"While the economy seems to be stabilising the majority of
respondents
feel it is not yet the time to advise their Diaspora relatives
and friends
to come back home. There is still a lot of work to be done on
the ground by
the inclusive government to increase the confidence of the
populace."
An area of major concern for employees according to the
survey is that
the economy is not creating more jobs as shown by 59,6% of
formally employed
not feeling that they were secure in their current jobs
and were actively
searching for other job opportunities. With manufacturing
industry operating
at 10% capacity and most banks on flexi-time, workers in
the two sectors
seemed hardest hit by the transitional period.
Low
salaries, the poll further stated, would make it difficult for
companies to
attract skilled labour that moved to more economically active
countries.
"While the government and the private sector have been
holding
conference after conference, including rebranding of the country in
order to
attract foreign investment thereby creating employment, very little
is
happening on the ground to impact positively on the lives of the working
population. The government has been very slow to implement key initiatives
to inspire confidence in working population," the survey said.
However, at least half of Zimbabwean workers continue to pin their
hopes on
their current employers while the other half considers moving on.
An
estimated 50,7% of employers interviewed in the survey feel that
the future
of the employees was bright, compared to 49,30% who said they do
not see a
bright future for their employees.
When asked if they were confident of
finding a new job in the current
environment, 76% of the respondents said
yes. Out of these, 83% aged below
25 years said they were confident of
finding a new job compared to 87% in
the 26 - 30 age group, 70% in the 30 -
40 age group and 80% of those above
40 years.
Eighty percent of the
respondents said they were confident of getting
a new job compared to 66%
for the females out of the hopefuls, while 78% of
the managerial employees
also indicated that they were confident of getting
a new job.
When
analysed by marital status 76% of married employees said they
were confident
of getting a job compared to 82% for the single (never
married) and 67% for
the single (married before).
At least 34% of the interviewed workers
view career development as the
major source of stress followed by 28% who
view "lack of job security' as
another stressor. More than a 10th of workers
according to the poll are
discontent over management style with 6% worried
about "lack of
communication on the developments in the company".
The cited top stressors seem to cut across all the demographic
categories
like age and gender. "Those with post graduation qualifications
are more
worried about job security (36%), while those with first degrees
(40,4%) and
those with diplomas (47,9%) are worried about developing their
career.
Employees with 'A' Levels are stressed by lack of job security," the
report
said.
When analysed by industry, the results indicate the top stressors
for
the major industries are as follows: manufacturing employees are
stressed by
the need to develop their career (27,3%), compared to "lack of
job
security-actively looking for a job" at 4,6% for the financial services
employees. In mining the major stressor is the need to develop their careers
at 30,8%. This same stressor is true for those in the NGO or diplomatic
sector at 40%."
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009
19:38
ONLY two foreign exhibitors have so far registered for this
year's
edition of Zimbabwe's premier annual mining and engineering trade
exhibition
the Mine Entra to be held at the Zimbabwe International Trade
Fair (ZITF) in
Bulawayo.
The exhibition will run from July 22
to 24 under the theme 'Providing
a platform for dynamic
take-off'.
The Mine Entra exhibition will run concurrently with the
mining
conference to be held at the same venue to be attended by minister of
Mines
and Mining Development
Speaking at a press conference
yesterday, Daniel Chigaru, the ZITF
general manager said only two foreign
companies who are from the Southern
African region had shown interest to
participate at this year's Mine Entra.
"We have so far received
responses from three foreign companies, two
from South Africa and one from
Zambia," said Chigaru.
Chigaru also revealed that the ZITF had so far
not received any
responses from Europe and the Far East who used to exhibit
over the years.
"We have not received any bookings from countries in
Europe, the Far
East and the West to exhibit at the 2009 Mine Entra,"
Chigaru said.
Chigaru said the snub of the Mine Entra by powerful
European countries
and the Far Eastern countries will not do well for the
country's economy as
it seeks foreign currency from investors to jump-start
the decade long
economic recession.
"The snub does not augur well
for the resuscitation of the mining and
engineering sector as the exhibition
forms an ideal marketing forum for
mining and engineering companies," said
Chigaru.
The mining industry is still failing to attract new investment
despite
the government's withdrawal of the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill
last
week.
The controversial mines and minerals bill demands
foreign-owned mines
to surrender 51% stake to indigenous businessmen, and
including giving the
government a free 25% stake.
President Robert
Mugabe was quoted last year saying the bill will
broaden the participation
in the mining sector by indigenous people.
But this has backfired as
potential foreign mining investors have
continued to shy away from the
country as they fear for their investments.
The country is rich in
minerals and the mining sector has contributed
a third of the export
revenue.
BY HENRY MHARA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09 July 2009 19:13
A NEW Zimbabwean search engine could give google and top search
engines a
run for market share after launching what the developers says is a
faster
search engine this week.
Onny has an uphill task to fight bigger
and established search engines
such as google and yahoo for market share and
advertisers.
Most advertising revenue is now going online mostly to
search engines
and webs where costs are minimal and reaches a broader
audience and users.
Kingstone Kanyile, the brains behind Onny, said he
was hoping to tap
into the market through cheaper adverts for continental
and international
markets.
But first it has to establish a strong
user base and be sure that the
site is sexed up to appeal to new
users.
"Onny is different from other search engines in the way all
pages and
search results are indexed on the web-pages. Onny has been
developed to
become the darling search for all internet users, knowledge
workers,
students, business people and communities. In essence, Onny is for
everyone
who has a compelling need to keep informed and understand their
world to
stay ahead," said Kanyile.
Kanyile said Onny is the first
of many innovative IT driven solutions
with local roots and a global
reach.
"Onny is signalling the dawn of a new era for Zimbabwe as we
embrace
innovative solutions to claim our space and share on the global
arena.
"It has built in intelligence and is faster than other search
engines."
Kanyile is the former head of Genesis Investment Bank
and Industrial
Development Bank Zimbabwe. He is a software engineer and says
he spent at
least 18 months working on Onny.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 09
July 2009 21:12
SINCE the formation of the inclusive government, civil
society - in
its broadest sense - has been correctly seeking ways and means
to influence
the new government's policies.
This was done
initially within the ambit of the parameters set up by
the Global Political
Agreement (GPA), with various non-governmental
groupings seeking to monitor
its implementation.
Without a doubt this has been unfamiliar
territory for most civil
society organisations for a number of reasons, but
mainly due to the fact
that very few civil society leaders have had any
experience in engaging with
a unity or inclusive government.
This is especially so in the case of Zimbabwe which now has a
government
that includes a political party that was formed through labour
and
broad-based civil society support. The ascendancy of both Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) parties into government was never simply a party
project.
It was a project that involved in its beginning
and until the last two
years, the sharing of a common democratisation of
Zimbabwe agenda not always
through deliberately symbiotic acts, except for
the "NO" vote' in 2000 and
the Save Zimbabwe Campaign Prayer Rally of March
11 2007. In all these
years, political repression by the Zanu PF
administration has been
experienced and shared between civics and the
MDC.
Whether eventually intended or not, civil society
organisations that
sought the democratisation of Zimbabwe in the last 10
years cannot easily
deny that they shared some common principles and
experiences with the MDC.
It is within this context that the
advent of the inclusive government
in February 2009 has significantly
changed the manner in which MDC- civil
society relations have been
configured over the last 11 or so years.
This is mainly as a result
of the fact that before the MDC signed the
GPA, its positions and manifestos
tended to reflect the policy intentions
and requests of the majority of
civil society organisations.
Added to this is that through MDC's
nine-year parliamentary presence,
civil society was involved in lobbying the
aforementioned party's
legislators to greater reception than with the Zanu
PF parliamentary caucus.
Given the reality that the MDCs are in
government, it is this
relationship with civil society that needs
re-examination either in order to
continue with it as of old, or to begin to
redefine its parameters.
There are two inclinations within
civil society over the nature of the
relationship that must be pursued with
the inclusive government.
The first is that a number of civil
society organisations have argued
strongly that the inclusive government is
an opportunity that cannot be
allowed to whither or be lost.
This is a position that has bordered on the sacrosanct given the
political
environment that was experienced in the country particularly
between March
and June last year as well as over the last 10 years.
It is
reasonably argued that the inclusive government is a very
important
opportunity and it must be supported as far as is possible
regardless of the
shortcomings of the GPA or the lack of expected progress
and delivery on
promises made by government.
The opportunity is also premised on
fear of the return to an
outrightly repressive political environment and
hence a return to a
political status quo dominated by Zanu
PF.
Ostensibly this position can also be viewed as one that
understands
the next phase of the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe to be
closely
linked to that of the fate of the MDC in government and not
necessarily as a
political party.
The alternative position
within civil society is that the current
political environment is not
necessarily one that is preferable in terms of
the processes that occurred
after the March 2008 harmonised elections that
were as undemocratic as was
the eventual signing of the GPA.
This position argues that the
inclusive government is a transitional
one that must seek amongst other
things to stabilise Zimbabwe's economy,
free the media as well as deliver a
people-driven constitution from the
onset.
This understanding
of the current political setup in Zimbabwe is
premised on a view that the
struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe was
established on certain fundamental
and binding principles that should not be
abandoned solely because the
labour-backed MDC is in an inclusive
government.
Those
persuaded by this argument regularly juxtapose the resolutions
of the
National Working People's Convention (NWPC) of 1999 that led to the
formation of the MDC with the contents of the GPA and cite the differences
between the two as one of the main reasons the inclusive government must be
closely watched, criticised and even challenged.
Civil
society groups or individuals within this framework are not
opposed to the
MDC. They argue that they differ in terms of the nature and
manner of
compromises that have been made in the MDC's arrival at an
inclusive
government, as well as the seemingly continuing lack of
deliverables in
relation to previously agreed to principles within the
context of the
struggle for democracy.
It is however not as if the civil
society groups herein do not see
the inclusive government as an opportunity
of some sort of incremental
change.
They do see a chance for
reprieve in relation to political repression,
even though they argue that
this remains tentative, and they do see the MDC
in government as being part
of a potential change of governmental culture.
They are however not
willing to throw all into it, neither are they
willing to witness key tenets
of Zimbabwe's struggle for democracy as
outlined in the NWPC and the
Zimbabwe People's Charter severely undermined
or compromised in the name of
keeping the inclusive government afloat.
Having outlined these
two divergent views of how civil society has
been and shall probably
continue handling the inclusive government, it is
also important to explain
four key issues that activists from civil society,
the political parties as
well as ordinary citizens of the country must
continuously consider in
understanding the current political context.
First is the need
for political party leaders and civil society to be
continuously cognisant
of the key establishing principles and founding
declarations of the struggle
for a truly democratic Zimbabwe.
These are to be found in
collective declarations such as the NWPC of
1999, the first People's
Constitutional Convention of 1999, the Zimbabwe
People's Charter of 2008 as
well as any relevant party manifestos that
concurred with the need to
enhance democracy in Zimbabwe. Such a practice
allows for leaders and those
that support them to be consistent in their
quest to deliver a democratic
Zimbabwe.
Secondly, there must be an understanding that there
is consistent need
to measure whatever "opportunities" the inclusive
government presents to
civil society or the people of Zimbabwe against
aforementioned principles
for the pursuit of a democratic
Zimbabwe.
This is because where people have found opportunities
they must be
cautious that assumed changes to media laws, the constitution,
the
judiciary, youth policies, education and gender policies, imperfect as
they
shall be, can easily become permanent.
And in this, there
must be a broader perspective that accepts the fact
that not attending a
conference organised by the inclusive government is not
in itself a
"dis-engagement" from the inclusive government. It is an act
that seeks to
negotiate with the same government to first meet key
requirements which,
though it may disagree with, it has to be made
consistently conscious
of.
Thirdly, it is imperative that we all do not easily mimic
the
political culture engendered by Zanu PF since Independence. This
includes
taking on the characteristics of the trappings of power that Zanu
PF has
continually shown to the people of Zimbabwe.
Especially
so fighting to demonstrate political loyalty to one party
or person beyond
democratic reason as has been the case with Zanu PF and its
interactions
with war veterans, women's organisations, peasant
organisations, farmer's
unions or youth movements.
Fourthly, emphasis must continually
be placed on the imperative need
for civil society to remain conscious of
the fact that all the principled
and people-centred work that has been
undertaken since our country's
national independence is not lost to the next
generations of Zimbabweans.
It is not the opportunities of the
present that pass on the torch of
the struggle for democracy from one
generation to the next. Instead it is
the continued public placement and
consciousness-raising of the founding
democratic principles, goals and
beliefs of the struggle for democracy in
Zimbabwe that ensure it is not lost
to a historical pursuance of a better
Zimbabwe for all.
Zhangazha is National Director of Misa Zimbabwe. He writes here in his
personal capacity.
BY TAKURA ZHANGAZHA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 09
July 2009 20:11
Morgan Tsvangirai's one-man campaign to mollify
President Mugabe by
extolling his spell-binding virtues and charm is running
into difficulties
within the prime minister's own party where these views
are not shared.
We have already witnessed the outburst of dissent
in Southwark
Cathedral when Tsvangirai attempted to sell the current
dispensation as one
of amicable concord at a time when members of Woza were
being assaulted and
well-connected hoodlums were grabbing
farms.
Then this week we were told that Tsvangirai had apologised
to Mugabe
for his party's boycott of cabinet last week after MDC leaders had
been
prevented from chairing it. Given the constant obstruction of GPA
objectives, it deserves to be boycotted.
It tells us all we need to
know about the president's overweening
self-regard that he should describe
the stayaway as "insolent".
Létat c'est moi it seems! We are only
surprised that MDC ministers
have not been charged with lèse majesté. If we
had a Bastille it would soon
be filling up as July 14 approaches.
Tsvangirai actually declared his support for the boycott after his
return.
Then privately he apologised to Mugabe and the president wasted no
time in
releasing the apology to the state media.
This attests to a
dysfunctional party whose leader is formulating
policy on the hoof. It is
supremely unimpressive and likely to serve the
needs of Mugabe's clique more
than anybody else.
Did you see that incorrigible gang on the front
page of the Herald on
Monday lining up to say goodbye to a frail-looking
president as he departed
for Malawi? How extraordinary that all these
powerful individuals need to be
present on the tarmac even when the
president is departing from the country
for a single day. These are the
people who have blocked the launch of the
National Security Council (because
Tsvangirai will sit on it), preferring to
run the country through JOC. Would
you entrust this country's future to this
bunch?
And then Zanu PF
complains when the government has problems with
international
recognition!
In another glimpse of how others see us, we were
interested to note
that upon his arrival in Sirte Mugabe was met by Libya's
Justice minister.
And just the other day Col Gadaffi was making a scene
in Pretoria
because the lowly Pallo Jordan was dispatched to welcome him.
The whole
ceremony had to be repeated with Jacob Zuma doing the welcoming to
propitiate the prickly Libyan leader who looked like something out of a
Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.
We were also intrigued by the
Johnnie Carson story. Firstly, the
meeting in Sirte was presented as an
important recognition for Mugabe,
equivalent to Tsvangirai's meeting with
President Barack Obama. Carson was
"briefed on the process that led to the
formation of the exclusive
government" - as if the State Department needed
any explanation of this
"process" when their ambassador had been present in
Pretoria at its genesis.
Then, a few days later, in a torrent of abuse,
Mugabe described Carson
as "an idiotic little fellow".
This
confirms reports we had received that the meeting broke up in
acrimony. In a
revelation of just how disconnected he is from the real
world, Mugabe had
clearly expected Carson to agree with his version of
events because he was
an African American -- "an Afro-American for that
matter", although we are
not sure what the distinction is!
It must be galling for the president
to have his warped ideas of
racial solidarity shot down by America's most
senior officials.
A black president, black assistant secretaries of
state, black
ambassadors, and not a single taker among them for Zanu PF's
discredited
mantras.
Meanwhile, newspaper col-
umnist
Bornwell Chakaodza had some useful advice for Tsvangirai after
his policy
somersaults.
"Attempts by the prime minister to downplay issues of the
rule of law,
abductions of MDC members and farm invasions, which we all know
remain
outside his sphere of control, only dented his credibility among his
hosts.
"All Tsvangirai needed to do was to state the truth of what is
happening in Zimbabwe, explaining his own party's position, his limitations
and the efforts he is making to correct the situation. Where he has met with
little cooperation from his GNU partners, his supporters needed to hear him
say so.
"Telling it like it is does not and will not threaten the
existence of
the inclusive government. Only by confronting the truth of our
circumstances
can we hope to exorcise the demons of self-interest that stand
in the way of
our quest for true democracy."
Couldn't have said it
better ourselves.
We noted with interest President Mugabe's refusal
to say farewell to
US Ambassador James McGee. Taken together with his
undiplomatic remarks
about Carson, it is clear Mugabe wants to keep stoking
the fires of
hostility with the US. So while the PM is busy trying to
rebuild bridges to
the West, Mugabe wants to knock them down.
Is
this a sensible policy? Do Zimbabweans share his hostility to the
US?
Obviously not. Ask around. Zanu PF is not only pursuing
unpopular
policies, it is pursuing damaging ones.
Wasn't the whole
point of the Sadc-guided GPA to stop Zimbabwe's
rulers inflicting further
damage on the country? Quite clearly that hasn't
been successful.
This is what the Financial Mail's editor Barney Mthombothi had to say
of
Tsvangirai's predicament: "Tsvangirai may be prime minister but he
remains
largely powerless. He cannot stop farm invasions. He cannot even
come to the
rescue of his own supporters who are being brutalised by Mugabe's
henchmen.
By sweetening the pill a bit Tsvangirai runs the risk of being
seen as
Mugabe's useful idiot. The West is keen to help, but it will have to
be a
Zimbabwe sans Mugabe. He's very much the fly in the ointment."
Meanwhile, ANC president Jacob Zuma has warned party leaders in
KwaZulu-Natal not to become "power-drunk" because of the party's recent
overwhelming election victory in the province.
"Victory
intoxicates, and don't get drunk over it. Be modest and
respect your victory
because if you don't, it could lead to your downfall,"
Zuma told delegates
to the ANC provincial general council.
"Don't ridicule those you have
defeated and you must deliver things
that you promised during
campaigns."
Zuma also warned leaders that taking for granted the loss
suffered by
the IFP was akin to Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe taking its victory for
granted.
"Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe got drunk by victory and we all know what
happened thereafter," Zuma said. He also sounded a warning against those who
believe that the ANC's overwhelming victory in the province signified the
demise of the IFP.
"There is an impression that the IFP is dead. I
warn you against that.
This is politics and not a football match. You don't
have to create
unnecessary formidable opposition by taking the parties you
have defeated
for granted. Treat them with respect."
How many
people know that when Michael Jackson visited Zimbabwe in
1998 he was a
guest of Zimbabwe Defence Industries? He came here to explore
business
opportunities and ZDI boss Col Tshinga Dube asked Phillip Chiyangwa
to drive
him around.
Chiyangwa recalls in an article in the Sunday Mail,
"Remembering MJ",
Jackson being mesmerised by Chiyangwa's new BMW
750i.
But he wasn't so mesmerised about meeting the president,
Chiyangwa
says. Jackson feigned a toothache to avoid the appointment.
Chiyangwa had to
rush to Jackson's hotel room and coax the star into meeting
Mugabe.
"But what am I going to say, Phillip?" Jackson wanted to know.
Just
wait for the president to say something, was the advice. And so they
duly
met.
Chiyangwa says that international hostility following
Zimbabwe's entry
in the Congo war put the kibosh on any investment Jackson
planned. But they
remained in touch until 2004.
It was of course
Nelson Mandela who Jackson really wanted to meet. On
that occasion his
toothache cleared up very quickly we gather!
We were amused by
President Rupiah Banda's remarks about Mugabe's
hectic schedule
demonstrating that he was "a dedicated African leader".
"He was in
Libya attending a summit recently, in Malawi (on Monday)
and today in Zambia
and is rushing home for a cabinet meeting tomorrow."
What he could have
added was ". . . to make damn sure nobody else slipped
into that seat while
he was away".
Finally, we were intrigued by an advert in
yesterday's Herald by
Premier Finance Group stating that Temba Mliswa, who
is claiming to have
acquired an 8% stake in the bank, has in fact "no space
in Premier Finance
Group, and will not be allowed any".
But then on
Page B3 of the same day's Business Herald is a puff piece
on Mliswa saying
he owns an 8% stake in the bank and that his success can be
attributed to
his "local network" that includes "Bishop" Noel Pashapa,
Airforce Commander
Perence Shiri, retired prisons chief Paradzayi Zimondi,
TA chief Shingi
Mutasa - and God!
Shingi: How did you get in there?
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 09 July 2009
20:09
ONLY cynics and sceptics can dispute that the long oppressed and
distressed Zimbabwean economy has begun to recover.
But only
naive optimists, succumbing to wishful thinking, can believe
that that
recovery will be completed rapidly. Thanks to gross economic
mismanagement,
fuelled by placing political objectives ahead of the nation's
needs, the
economy had progressively contracted over the last 11 years,
reduced to a
shrivelled and shrunken shell of its former self.
Inflation soared
endlessly upwards, employed numbers plunged
continuously downwards, the
poverty-stricken increased constantly to more
than seven million, government
became bankrupt - these were but a few
characteristics of the decimated
economy. But, despite the fact that there
are many who scoff at suggestions
of positive economic transformation, the
reality is that upturn has
begun.
That this is so is irrefutably proven by the transition from the
world's
highest ever hyperinflation in 2008 to monthly deflation from
January to May
2009 (June inflation data is currently awaited, but will
undoubtedly either
reflect further deflation, or very minimal inflation).
The slow restoration
of economic wellbeing is evidenced by the absence of
the immense scarcities
of basic commodities that prevailed in 2008, by the
growing interest being
demonstrated by potential investors in Zimbabwe's
vast investment
opportunities, by the near total disappearance of unlawful
money-changing
traders, and by a slow but growing inflow of international
funding, as well
as positive assessments emanating from the International
Monetary Fund.
Nevertheless, many positive measures and actions by
government and the
private sector alike is absolutely necessary if the
economic recovery is to
progress. One of the most critical keys (of many) is
the revitalisation of
Zimbabwe's manufacturing sector. In the so-called
"good old days", that
sector was the second greatest employer of labour, and
generator of foreign
exchange, its performance only exceeded by that of
agriculture. Agricultural
rehabilitation and recovery is possible, but only
over an extended period of
time, whilst restoration of wellbeing for the
manufacturing segment of the
economy can be achieved far more rapidly.
Regrettably, however, the industry
is confronted by innumerable challenges
which must be (and can be!)
overcome if its recovery is to be rapid and
substantial, and it needs
constructive actions by government, parastatals,
labour and others,
complementary to those of the industrialists. Foremost
amongst the
challenges are:
lRecurrent demands by labour for wage
increase far beyond the means of
the manufacturers. Admittedly, Zimbabwe's
workers have been grievously
afflicted by the intense escalation of Cost of
Living in 2008, and almost
all earn a relative pittance as compared to the
poverty datum line.
Notwithstanding, employers can neither pay that which
prices their products
beyond market-related competitiveness, nor that which
they do not have. The
industrial labour force needs to recognise realities,
including that it is
better to earn too little, than to earn nothing, and
that unrealistic wage
demands can only lead to business downsizing or
closure, with concomitant
unemployment. Labour must also appreciate that
enhanced efficiency and
productivity fuels employer viability and
progressively improved worker
earnings.
lAlmost all industries are
now highly under-capitalised, as a
consequence of last year's extreme
hyperinflation and resultant operating
losses, and as a result of the recent
"dollarisation" of the economy. That
currency-change policy was absolutely
essential as an element of enabling
economic recovery, but a negative
consequence was that the working capital
base of most enterprises was
suddenly severely eroded. The tragedy was that
not only commerce and
industry were so affected, but the financial sector
suffered similarly. The
decimation of its capital base, concurrently with a
near-total
discontinuance of deposits of funds by customers, deprived the
banking and
allied institutions of the ability to advance to manufacturers
the funds
necessary to restore their working capital limitations.
lA major
challenge impacting upon virtually all manufacturers is the
extremely
erratic services of many parastatals, concurrently with
extraordinarily
great charges for those services, being at levels very
markedly greater than
prevailing in neighbouring territories. Endless
electricity load-shedding
(often inconsistently with pre-published
schedules), compounded by recurrent
faults, massively reduces manufacturing
sector productivity, whilst the
excessively high charges impact adversely
upon the manufacturers' ability to
be regionally price competitive.
Similarly, in some Zimbabwean industrial
areas, water supplies are extremely
unreliable, and throughout the country
telecommunications are horrendously
unsatisfactory and especially so in
respect of national, regional and
international calls and telefax
transmissions. And those appalling services
are subject to unjustifiably
high charges, emulating the exceedingly high
charges of Zesa, other
parastatals, and local authorities.
lMost of the manufacturing sector
is also gravely affected by the
magnitude of skills losses in recent years,
as Zimbabweans' "brain drain" to
various countries in Southern Africa and
further afield intensified. That
loss of skills has been exacerbated by most
of industry having been unable
to upgrade, modernise and rehabilitate very
ageing plant and machinery.
Capital availability constraints, intensified by
immense foreign currency
scarcities, precluded manufacturers fully
maintaining and developing their
production infrastructures. This has
curbed volume production necessary
for market competitiveness, and
increased operating costs significantly.
lSome manufacturers have also
been very adversely affected by very
extensive importation, from the Far
East in general, and China in
particular, of vast quantities of factory
"seconds" and reject goods,
blatantly imported by techniques circumventing
the payment of customs duties
and other import imposts, and as a result
marketed (usually in the flea
markets) at prices which sharply reduce market
demand for Zimbabwean
products, irrespective of major disparities in product
quality and
durability. This applies to a very wide range of goods, but
especially
impacts severely upon clothing and footwear manufacturers, the
country being
flooded by imported substandard, second-hand and
factory-reject goods.
lAnother great challenge impacting negatively
upon the industrialists
has been government's demand of payment of value
added tax by the fifth day
of the month, and further provisional payments
thereof mid-month. The effect
of this is to further erode the decimated
working capital base for, as a
general rule, the industrialists are having
to fund the payments to the
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority before having
received payment from customers,
for most sales by the manufacturers can
only be achieved by an extension of
credit facilities to the customers, as
they too are subject to inadequate
working capital circumstances.
Concerted and dynamic interactions between government and the
manufacturers,
and upgrading of parastatal services concurrently with their
applying
rational pricing policies, and access to international lines of
credit -
directly or via local banks - are prerequisites to a rapid
manufacturing
sector recovery.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 09 July 2009
19:58
VIRTUALLY abandoned and discarded by a bankrupt government she
has
worked for almost 30 years, my sister Zanele Ngwenya, 55, languishes in
a
dilapidated hospital ward after a bone-crunching automobile
accident.
To term the United Bulawayo Hospital (UBH) a "hospital"
is an
overstatement. Almost 30 years under the clutches of a senseless,
abusive
dictatorship, Zimbabwe's once fine medical system has turned into a
hellhole. A "hospital" with no blankets, no food, no drugs, blocked
plumbing, and two solitary tungsten bulbs dangling from the cracked ceiling
is a good setting for a horror movie.
Zanele is one of many
women in the ward that attends to fractures, but
due to an astronomical
flight of doctors out of the country, she has to make
do with a North Korean
practitioner whose knowledge of English does not
extend much beyond one
word: "bones".
The early morning visiting hour greets you with an
overwhelming stench
of cheap medicine, human odour and stale food.
Ironically, a few blocks down
the road, a state-of-the-art health investment
worth several millions of US
dollars lies idle almost 10 years after its
completion. Ekusileni Medical
Centre was the brainchild of Zimbabwe
political icon, former vice-president
Joshua Nkomo.
July, another
irony, is commemoration month of the death of Nkomo.
State media is
currently engrossed in an orgy of primitive egotistic
hypocrisy, praising
Nkomo as "Father Zimbabwe" and yet, his party and
properties either remain
expropriated or, like Ekusileni Medical Centre, lie
idle.
While
Zanele is gasping for life at UBH, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and
Mugabe brandish swords at each other on issues a far cry from
life-saving
reality. Of course Zimbabweans want a new constitution - at
least they can
guarantee a quick exit of the forgettable Zanu PF machinery
of deceit,
repression, corruption and violence. But Mugabe is not giving up
without a
fight. The agreement that brought about the inclusive government
was
succinct in that Zimbabweans have to debate and reach a consensus on a
new
constitution within 18 months from September 2008.
Article 6 of this
agreement created an all party Select Committee of
Parliament to supervise
constitutional debates in communities. But other
members of civil society,
particularly the National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA), argue that a
process driven by MPs is not only prone to partisan
contamination, but also
subverts the will of the people. Their definition of
"popular" excludes
politicians, who on the other hand claim they were
themselves elected by
"the people".
The conflict of constitutionalism is not new in this
southern African
country. Ian Douglas Smith, the last colonial ruler of
Rhodesia, also had
his brand of constitution that was rejected by the
British who eventually
brought him kicking and screaming to Lancaster House,
London, in 1979 where
technically, Zimbabwe was born. Both Mugabe and his
late revolutionary
colleague, Nkomo, resented the British-brokered document
that guaranteed
property rights of the white minority for 10 years.
By 2008, Mugabe had amended the Lancaster House constitution a record
19
times, hence the ire of the NCA and their constituents. In fact, 1999 was
another battlefield because the NCA, at the time fronted by the then
Secretary General for the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) Morgan
Tsvangirai, dismissed Chief Justice Chidyausiku's Mugabe-appointed
Constitutional Commission as a sham. Almost every protagonist ran a parallel
process, so that by the time Mugabe's propaganda hit man Professor Jonathan
Moyo took his version of the draft constitution to a referendum, the NCA and
Tsvangirai had galvanised enough Zimbabweans to vote "No!"
Since
then, the NCA, through its never-say-die chairperson Dr Lovemore
Madhuku,
has waged a campaign against using Mugabe's amended constitution to
drive
the electoral process. His argument is that as long as Mugabe is
afforded
unlimited executive authority he will, as he has, manipulate all
electoral
outcomes, even if he appointed what he terms an "independent"'
electoral
authority.
Some neutral commentators have however put a damper on
Madhuku's
crusade. At one time, the NCA was meant to have changed guard, but
Madhuku
is alleged to have manipulated the organisation's constitution to
enable him
to resume another term as chairman. Thus, the critics argue, the
good doctor
has lost the moral (high) ground to wage a democracy war against
fellow
constitution abuser Mugabe!
The bulk of civil society is
also divided. Recent stakeholder
consultations have not produced hard and
fast resolutions on desisting from
participating in the government brokered
process. Some argue that the select
committee of parliament co-chaired by
lawyers Douglas Mwonzora of MDC and
Paul Mangwana of Zanu PF is not
representative enough, since there are other
parties that did not make it to
parliament but have a following, like Dr
Simba Makoni's Mavambo Kusile
Dawn.
However, others say that MDC and Zanu PF are THE political
parties
that represent THE people, so their legitimacy is unquestionable.
The second
group urges its constituents to participate to ensure content
reflects
sectoral interests, while the last groups claim to be "observers"
to the
process.
On July 3, both the NCA and ZCTU stayed out of
another stakeholder
people's convention running under the "Our Country Too"
brand attended by
two thousand civil society representatives. This group
divided
constitutionalism into eight thematic entities who took common
resolutions
on issues like enshrining fundamental liberties in the Bill of
Rights,
devolution of power and proportional representation. Enshrining
local
governance in the national constitution and infusing powers of recall
was
said to be key in progressive constitutions.
The people's
convention was resolute in trashing the GNU Kariba draft,
while arguing that
if the select committee of parliament so much as
manipulates the process,
they will campaign, like they did in February 1999,
for a "No" vote at the
next constitutional referendum in 2010. Taken
whichever way, until there is
a system of governance that allows for
democratically elected representation
guaranteeing of individual liberties
and good governance, the likes of
Zanele and her brother Rejoice will have
to make do with a dilapidated
public health delivery system.
*Ngwenya is president of the
Coalition for Liberal Market Solutions, a
think tank based in Harare and
affiliated with www.AfricanLiberty.org.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 09 July 2009 20:37
THE
two formations of the MDC appear to be in competition to see which
can
appear the most delusional about our national situation.
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Industry minister Welshman Ncube
both think
the farm invasions and accompanying violence are a product of the
media's
fevered imagination.
Wearing his Jomic hat, Ncube denied any form
of farm invasions but
said there were "a number of anomalies" on the farms,
which the media has
wrongfully interpreted as invasions.
It was
useful therefore to have Ben Freeth's well-documented account
this week of
the extensive looting and destruction on commercial farms in
the Chegutu
area.
Six thousand tonnes of citrus ready for the export market was
pillaged
on Stockdale Farm before the evicted owners could reap a single
orange,
having made a huge investment in production.
Their
state-of-the-art equipment was "acquired" by the new owner, a
prominent
senator.
On Northleigh Farm, a once productive dairy farm, there is no
longer a
single cow being milked. Invaders, allegedly assisted by
law-enforcement
officers, broke into the main house and took possession of
the house and
farm.
This story is repeated throughout the district,
Freeth notes. Some of
the invaders can produce offer letters. Most don't
bother.
Many of the commercial farmers who tried to remain on the land
have
been charged with what Freeth calls the unique Zimbabwean crime of
farming.
These are not isolated episodes as Tsvangirai and Ncube would
have us
believe. They are systematic, from Mashonaland West to the
sugar-cane
estates and conservancies of the lowveld and the coffee
plantations of the
Eastern Highlands.
The story is one of a lawless
elite helping themselves and a
law-enforcement system that is
partisan.
Ironically, some of the victims of land-grabs were able to
hold out
with the support of their workers until this year. But with the
formation of
the inclusive government they have surrendered to the new wave
of
occupations that are, the CFU says, as bad as, if not worse than those of
2000. Ncube appears to think it's okay so long as the new arrivals carry
offer letters. It's not okay. This is institutional racism.
On some
of the most productive farms producing seed maize, seed wheat,
and soya
beans, farmers have received orders from the Ministry of Lands to
"cease
cropping".
Tsvangirai has failed lamentably to use his powers in
government to
halt this anarchy or to deal with the looters. But this is
precisely what he
should be doing.
The whole purpose of the
inclusive-government project was to restore
order and productivity on the
land so the country could become
self-sufficient once again. But as it
stands, the MDC prefers a policy of
propitiation towards President Mugabe
which requires it to do nothing in the
face of criminal activity. What has
happened to the land audit the party
touted last year? And what use is Giles
Mutseyekwa at Home Affairs?
Nobody seems to care about the farm workers
rendered destitute in all
this. They are the silent victims of Zanu PF's
misrule and the MDC's
indolence. It is sufficient that he saw it, Arthur
Mutambara said of farm
invasions after his whistle-stop tour of Mashonaland
West. Actually doing
something appears not to be on his list of
priorities!
Donor governments gave Tsvangirai an unambiguous message
during his
tour of Europe and North America two weeks ago. Curb political
crime, stop
the detentions and prosecutions under repressive laws like the
Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act, and open up the media.
To date he is focusing on the media. This is welcome, but he should be
active on a broad front.
Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Ncube should
understand there will be no
assistance to Zimbabwe beyond humanitarian needs
so long as misrule is
countenanced. Their constant attempts to gloss over
what is so evidently
repression, land seizures, and political prosecutions
will not escape those
from whom they seek sustenance.
There has
been some talk, most notably from Mutambara, of a national
rebranding to
attract investment and tourists.
Sadly this won't do the trick. Former
CFU head Colin Cloete in Selous
is currently incurring huge costs protecting
his farming business from a
predatory state.
So long as Jomic is
ducking its responsibilities, getting bogged down
over offer letters, and
the Prime Minister is looking the other way,
Zimbabwe will be stuck with its
rogue image.
That's not good for business.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 09 July 2009
20:11
POLITICIANS have an uncanny propensity for opening their mouths
and
putting both feet in them. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, called
this
sort of thing dontopedology. And he should know!
We had a
classic example of it last week from Finance minister Tendai
Biti.
For the record, we have a good professional working
relationship with
Biti.
However, we hold no brief for him. The
Zimbabwe Independent does not
at all hold a brief for any politician or
anyone else for that matter. We
don't even hold a brief for our publisher
and paymaster on his personal
political views!
Following a news
report in the Independent last week that Biti had
signed a US$5 billion deal
with China, the minister hastily called a press
conference to deny the
story. The US$5 billion is part of complex
calculations that Biti should
know.
The Independent had reported Biti had signed a cautioned MoU with
China's Eximbank on condition of explicit legal documentation and
declaration of the obligations of the Chinese to sort out the platinum
deal.
The story was based on documents, including minutes of a meeting
that
was held in Biti's office on June 8, which mentioned US$5
billion.
The meeting was attended by Biti himself, his advisor Conrad
Nyamurova, and an official in his ministry, Mary Takavarasha, Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono, his deputy Edward Mashiringwani and Gono's advisor
Munyaradzi Kereke.
Our story was that Zimbabwe and China are
negotiating a US$5 billion
deal involving the mortgaging of the country's
platinum resources worth
US$40 billion which will benefit Beijing more than
Harare.
The background to the deal dates back to events starting in
2006.
It involved the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and a
Chinese
company Wanbao Mining for the mining of platinum in a concession
known as
the Selous and Northfields reserves covering 110 square
kilometres.
The agreements to the deal were initially dodgy. Biti has
been trying
to sort out the mess, at least legally. He has signed an MoU
with Eximbank
to pave way for the platinum deal that is estimated up to
US$40 billion.
However, Biti last Friday called a press conference to
deny our story.
Using his characteristically intemperate language, the
minister claimed that
our story constituted "gutter journalism" or "sad
journalism", whatever that
means.
"That is a story without any
foundation, without any credibility,
without any legitimacy," he claimed.
"It is sad journalism."
Biti however acknowledged that there was a deal
that was signed in
2006.
"That is the only, only, only agreement
between a Zimbabwean interest
and a Chinese interest over platinum in
Zimbabwe," Biti said. "That resource
is still to be developed. So where US$5
billion arises eludes my wisdom. It's
gutter journalism." The US$5 billion
figure was an estimate floated at the
June 8 meeting in Biti's
office.
Now let's closely examine Biti's remarks. Is Biti trying to
deny
Zimbabwe and China are negotiating a platinum deal which he himself is
very
uncomfortable with? Is he denying that he has signed a cautioned MoU
with
Eximbank deal? Did the June 8 meeting take place or not and was the
Zimbabwe-China deal discussed?
We wanted to ask Biti all these
questions since last week, but we
could not meet him. Last week I spent
almost one and half hours in his
office waiting to interview him -- in vain.
On Wednesday our appointment
failed due to other engagements. We have an
appointment for today.
If all Biti's answers to these queries are in
the negative, does it
mean then that the minutes of the June 8 meeting were
fabricated? If his
responses are in the affirmative, what exactly was he
denying?
Trying to make cheap political capital, President Robert
Mugabe
confirmed the Chinese deal this week, saying it was negotiated by his
previous regime, not the MDC, and funds would come in tranches. What is
Biti's
comment on this?
Biti has also denied Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's announcement
that Zimbabwe had obtained US$950 million from
China. "While I was away, the
government, through Finance minister Tendai
Biti, also secured lines of
credit from China totalling US$950 million,"
Tsvangirai said last week.
Mugabe also confirmed the US$950
million.
But Biti dismissed this, saying: "There is no foundation at
all in the
press reports that we have received a loan of US$950 million from
China."
In other words, Biti is simply saying Tsvangirai lied. Is he
also
implying Mugabe lied as well? But who here is really spinning a yarn?
The
US$950 million deal is on the table.
Initially, I was tempted
to ignore Biti's denials simply because they
came across as surreal. I
believe that as a journalist never chase a denial
from a politician because
if you let it race along, it will run itself to
death!
But in the
public interest as a newspaper that first wrote the story
we had to respond.
And this is our honest response. Frankly speaking, we
think the minister's
remarks were political gibberish of Jabberwocky
proportions.
We
certainly think that by denying everything, Biti was being
economical with
the truth. If our story, which we believe is true based on
the evidence we
have, is "gutter journalism", then the minister's
intemperate reaction was
"gutter politics".
To be fair, if we are off base and off message, we
would really love
Biti to prove us wrong.
BY DUMISANI
MULEYA
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
July
10, 2009
Jan Raath in Harare
There was rare public questioning for President
Mugabe over his land-grab
programme yesterday during an investment
conference - and his answer did not
exactly reassure visiting foreign
businessmen.
He told the conference, which was convened to raise finance
to rebuild the
economy after the past ten years of misrule, that "not
necessarily" every
white farm would be seized.
Mr Mugabe also
asserted, to much incredulity, that Zimbabwe had paid white
farmers
"compensation for developments and improvements", adding that
compensation
should be paid by the British Government.
The false assertion came in
answer to an unexpected question from Trevor
Gifford, the president of the
predominantly white Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU). Mr Gifford wanted to
know who was going to compensate white farmers
and why they were denied the
right to own and farm land.
About 12,000 farms have been seized, most of
them violently, since the land
grab began, the CFU says. No one has received
full compensation. By
eliminating nearly all white commercial farming, Mr
Mugabe set off the
collapse of one of the most prosperous African nations.
Zimbabwe was
classified last month as the most aid-dependent country in the
world.
Mr Mugabe's last encounter with the CFU was in April 2000, soon
after his
"revolutionary land reform" began. Union officials pleaded with
him to
assert the rule of law after the first white farmer was murdered. The
delegation of farmers was threatened with violence and the next day Mr
Mugabe declared on state radio that "white farmers are enemies of the
state".
Arthur Mutambara, the Deputy Prime Minister and head of the
lesser faction
of the Movement for Democratic Change, contradicted Mr Mugabe
yesterday. He
told the would-be investors that Zimbabwe needed property
rights and
security of tenure to be restored. He said Zimbabwe "can't keep
pushing the
blame" for its failures on to former colonial powers.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Patricia
Mpofu Friday 10 July 2009
HARARE - Amnesty International has
urged Zimbabwe's power-sharing government
to set up an independent body to
probe complaints of human rights violations
by members of the country's
police force.
The international rights watchdog said on Wednesday that
such a body should
be accessible to the members of the public.
"The
Zimbabwean authorities should set up an independent complaints body
accessible to the public which investigates all allegations against the
police," said Amnesty International secretary general Irene Khan in a
statement.
Amnesty made the call following a ruling by a Harare
magistrate on Tuesday
ordering the government to investigate alleged assault
of four women human
rights activists by police while in
custody.
Police, arbitrarily arrested and assaulted the four activists
from the Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) pressure group, on June 18 after
they took part in
a peaceful demonstration to commemorate World Refugee
Day.
"While the court's decision is welcome, the Zimbabwean authorities
must now
get to the bottom of these allegations and bring those responsible
to
account," said Khan, who was in Harare at the time of the women's
arrest.
The four women were arrested about 50 metres outside a hotel in
Harare where
Khan was holding a press conference on June 18. Police
assaulted the
activists and are reported to have accused them of
embarrassing the
government in front of international
visitors.
Prominent human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, who is
representing the
activists, told the court that the women were also denied
access to
treatment for their injuries as a punishment for their
activism.
The state was ordered to present its report on the women's
allegations by
July 13.
"This is one of the many cases documented by
Amnesty International that show
Zimbabwean police's poor record of policing
peaceful demonstrations and
ill-treatment of perceived political opponents
while in custody," said
Amnesty about the arrest and assault of the women
activists.
Backing its calls for an independent authority to monitor the
police on
human rights, the international rights watchdog said: "We do not
trust that
police are capable of investigating themselves.
"Lack of
accountability within the ZRP appears to be more of an
institutional culture
as opposed to lack of a legal framework or knowledge
of how to bring those
responsible to book. The ZRP has been instrumental in
silencing government
critics since 2000 and continues to do so with total
impunity."
Amnesty also voiced concern over delays in implementing
reforms and
retraining of the police, five months since the creation of an
inclusive
government.
A power-sharing agreement signed by President
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur
Mutambara that led to formation
of the unity government commits the new
administration to undertake training
programmes to assist the police and
other security agencies appreciate the
rights of freedom of assembly,
association and other basic rights.
"Despite the political agreement,
police continue to categorise as criminal
all legitimate activities of human
rights defenders," said Amnesty.
Amnesty International specifically
called for urgent reforms of the police's
law and order department and the
anti-riot unit both of which have been
identified by victims as the most
notorious for using torture, excessive
force, arbitrary arrest and unlawful
detention as tools of repression
against perceived political opponents since
2000.
Khan led a high level mission to Zimbabwe from June 13 to 18. She
met with
senior government officials including Vice President Joice Mujuru
and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Among other senior government
ministers, Khan also met with the co-Ministers
of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi
and Giles Mutsekwa and discussed the urgent
need for police
reforms.
Since 2000, Amnesty International has documented numerous cases
involving
thousands of human rights activists who were victims of arbitrary
arrest,
unlawful detention, use of excessive force and torture while in
police
custody. In addition, detainees have been denied bail, medical care,
water,
food and access to lawyers and family as a form of punishment for
their
activism. - ZimOnline
http://www.voanews.com
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
09 July
2009
A member of parliament for Zimbabwe's former Movement for
Democratic Change
was sentenced to 18 months in prison - six of them
suspended - on Thursday
after conviction on charges that he committed
violence in the turbulent
post-election period of 2008.
Magistrate
Samuel Zuze pronounced the sentence against Meki Makuyana, 44,
member for
the Chipinge South constituency of Manicaland province in the
House of
Assembly.
Makuyana was the fourth MDC lawmaker to be convicted and
sentenced this
year.
Mutare West MP Shuah Mudiwa was recently handed
a seven year sentence for
kidnapping.
Chipinge East member Mathias
Mlambo got 10 months for committing public
violence, and lawmaker Lynette
Karenyi of Chimanimani West was found guilty
of electoral
fraud.
Karenyi, Mudiwa and Mlambo have appealed their convictions, and
lawyers for
Makuyana are also filing an appeal. The MDC issued a statement
calling all
the charges "trumped up."
MDC Manicaland spokesman Pishai
Muchauraya told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that such convictions reflect an attempt by the
former ruling ZANU-PF party
and loyalists in the judiciary to whittle down
the MDC's House majority.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent
Friday 10 July 2009
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's unity
government has been urged to immediately
repeal all repressive laws and lift
all restrictions on the media to enhance
the political transition in that
country.
The call was made at a three-day Commonwealth Organisations'
Roundtable
conference which ended in Sandton yesterday.
Lifting media
restrictions and repealing all repressive laws was a priceless
exercise
which could be done immediately to enhance free expression and free
flow of
information, particularly in the current process of re-writing a new
constitution for Zimbabwe.
The Roundtable brought together about 80
Commonwealth associations and
organisations as well as Zimbabwean civic
society groups and others from the
southern African region to review the
needs of Zimbabwe during its current
transition, identify priorities for
practical help and support and develop
new programmes of action to enhance
the transition.
Mark Collins, head of the Commonwealth Foundation, said
the 53-member club
of former British colonies had a wealth of experience
drawn from former
trouble spots like Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Northern Ireland
and other
countries which can be valuable to Zimbabwe as its people seek to
achieve
reconciliation and healing after a period of
turmoil.
Although President Robert Mugabe had pulled Zimbabwe out of the
Commonwealth
in 2003, its people had always remained part of the
Commonwealth and the
club's associations had thought it prudent to continue
re-engaging with
civic society in Zimbabwe and offer assistance wherever
possible to enhance
the transitional process.
"There is no
competition going on between SADC, the African Union and now
the
Commonwealth to see who can engage (in Zimbabwe) better," said Collins,
in
response to a question at a press conference about whether the
Commonwealth
could do anything that SADC had failed to achieve in Zimbabwe.
"Our idea
is to help the transitional process. We want to use every tool in
the tool
bag to ensure that this process is a success."
Carl Right, the
Commonwealth local government forum's secretary-general,
said his
organisation had the technical skills that Zimbabwe's local
authorities
could draw from as they battled to restore services and
infrastructure
destroyed during the country's 10-year crisis.
Some participants had been
unhappy that instead of pushing for the repeal of
all draconian laws which
impinge on basic rights and press freedoms, the new
unity government was
still setting up commissions to regulate the media.
There was no guarantee
that these commissions would fair any better than the
previous ones which
had destroyed the independent press.
The pre-2000 environment in Zimbabwe
in which the media was not regulated
and citizens were allowed to set up
their newspapers without hindrance is
what Zimbabwe desperately needed
now.
Cephas Zinhumwe, the CEO of the National Association of
Non-Governmental
Organisations (NANGO), said one major success of the unity
government had
been the ability of his members to move freely to distribute
humanitarian
aid in the country.
However, he also called for the
repeal of the repressive media and security
laws which had been used to
stifle NGOs in the past. As long as these laws
remained in the statute
books, the police could always resort to them
whenever it suited them,
Zinhumwe warned.
Former South African cabinet minister Jay Naidoo, who
chairs the Development
Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), said his institution
was prepared to help in
Zimbabwe's reconstruction but also called for
reforms particularly at the
central bank to ensure transparency in the use
of any resources extended for
the reconstruction process. - ZimOnline
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
July
10, 2009
Robert Lindsay:
The mining company
run by Phil Edmonds, the former England spin bowler, may
at last have found
its line and length in Zimbabwe.
Central African Mining & Exploration
(Camec) has released an independent
estimate for two platinum prospects in
Zimbabwe that it bought 15 months
ago, stating that there is enough metal
there to support a mine for 20
years.
Camec's £120 million purchase
of the prospects from a secretive company
called Lefever sparked accusations
from the then opposition party led by
Morgan Tsvangirai that it was funding
Robert Mugabe's regime. Now that Mr
Tsvangirai is Prime Minister in a
power-sharing deal with the dictator, he
may change his view. He scrapped a
punitive tax on foreign companies last
week. Brock Salier, an analyst with
Ambrian, who visited the site last month
said: "Tenure is always a sensitive
issue in Zimbabwe." However, he added
that he was confident that Mr
Tsvangirai was unlikely to jeopardise foreign
investment by nationalising
mining assets. Mr Salier gives "buy" advice and
has an 18p target
price.
Camec aims to start building the mine this autumn, with production
by 2012.
Its shares rose 0.79p to 10.75p, but are far off the 60p they
reached last
year before the collapse of metal prices.
http://www.voanews.com
By Sandra Nyaira
Washington
08 July
2009
Shortly after the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian
Affairs warned that Zimbabwe must prepare for the threat of
swine flu,
reports emerged in Harare this week of the country's first two
cases on the
heels of occurrences in South Africa.
Reuters reported
that state media said a man of Asian origin recently
arrived from London had
tested positively for the virus and was quarantined
in Harare.
The
agency quoted Health Minister Henry Madzorera as saying he could only
confirm the case of an 18-year-old squash player who was being treated in
South Africa.
In its latest monthly report, OCHA said Zimbabwe has
had a respite from its
humanitarian emergency as cholera cases have
dwindled, but is now at risk
from the H1N1 flu.
When the U.N. agency
issued the report two cases had just been reported in
South Africa. It said
South Africa's proximity raises the need for plans to
deal with an
outbreak.
Responding to the OCHA warning, Health Minister Henry Madzorera
said
Zimbabwe is on high alert and has plans to deal with any such outbreak,
adding that the country has received sophisticated equipment and drugs from
the World Health Organization.
But Dr. Douglas Gwatidzo of the
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human
Rights said he does not believe
Zimbabwe is ready to deal with a major
outbreak of H1N1 flu, pointing to the
need for effective border controls.
Cholera has claimed more than 4,000
lives in the country since August of
last year, though the epidemic has
subsided significantly from its peak in
February.
http://www.businessday.co.za
WILSON JOHWA Published:
2009/07/10 06:56:56 AM
A NETWORK of regional and international civic
organisations affiliated to
the Commonwealth is developing a special
programme to assist Zimbabwe with
training, along with technical and other
humanitarian support.
This is despite Zimbabwe having left the
Commonwealth in 2003, ahead of its
likely expulsion over human rights
abuses.
Yesterday, the head of the Commonwealth Foundation,
Mark Collins, said in
Johannesburg that Zimbabweans could apply for
Commonwealth scholarships
again.
Zimbabwe left the
Commonwealth when the government was angered by the
country's continued
suspension from the organisation. Political contact was
severed, but some
civil society links survived.
Collins said engagement with
Zimbabwe by the Commonwealth network had been
growing since civil society
bodies petitioned for such support at the 2007
Commonwealth heads of state
and government meeting in Kampala, Uganda.
This week, at a
three-day round table of Commonwealth associations and
regional civic bodies
held in Johannesburg, representatives committed
themselves to press freedom
and the rule of law.
Ironically these were the principles adopted by
the Commonwealth's Harare
Declaration of 1991.
"This
meeting has been the first step and a programme for the future has
been
developed," Collins said.
The roundtable had acknowledged that aid
money would not make any difference
to the dire situation in Zimbabwe if
conditions there were not conducive to
reform. While non-governmental
organisations were now able to travel to much
of the country freely, the
concern was that repressive legislation was still
in
place.
Formal political ties between Zimbabwe and the
Commonwealth are yet to be
restored, although Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai met Commonwealth
officials during his recent visit to Europe and
the US.
Chairman of the Commonwealth committee on Zimbabwe Carl
Wright said
Tsvangirai's meeting had encouraged the roundtable to invite a
Zimbabwe
cabinet minister to attend.
Regional Integration and
International Co-operation Minister Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a
Movement for Democratic Change member, had been
invited. She had not
attended, but had sent a representative
Commonwealth heads of
state and government were due to meet in Trinidad and
Tobago later this
year, with the thought that the body ought to re-engage
with Zimbabwe. But
Wright said the organisation was now concerned with
reconstruction and
development.
Earlier this year a mission by the Commonwealth
Local Government Forum to
Zimbabwe found a shortage of skills, including
manual workers.
Wright said it was envisaged that cities twinned with
Zimbabwean towns -
such as Durban which had such an arrangement with
Bulawayo - would provide
technical skills for their partner cities.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
July
10, 2009
Fans travelling to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year
will find
that the host nation is so pushed for accommodation that they may
be
encouraged to base themselves in neighbouring countries. Zimbabwe is
being
promoted as one of the most likely options.
South Africa's lack of
hotels means that a system will also be incorporated
whereby fans are
billeted in local family homes. A further plan is to push
for use of hotels
in tourist areas that are not near World Cup venues and
bus in supporters
from afar. An example given by Fifa, the sport's world
governing body, is to
base fans on the picturesque Garden Route and
transport them by bus to
Durban, 750 miles away.
With only a year and a day until the World Cup
final, these are just some of
the headlines if you want to be daunted by
what lies ahead. At a press
conference last week, after South Africa's
hosting of the Confederations
Cup, Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, said
that accommodation and transport
were "now a big challenge".
It is
quite something for Blatter to acknowledge such blatantly inherent
problems.
He also said that, because of the chill of the South African
winter, camping
was not an option for visitors. This may come as a surprise
to Polokwane,
formerly known as Pietersburg, the northernmost host city,
which is planning
a campsite for 2,000 people in local school grounds.
Again, the solution
could lie over the Zimbabwe border, 130 miles away.
It should be
acknowledged that this is fertile media territory. Before most
leading world
sporting events, the hosts' flaws are rich pickings for the
press. Last
year's Olympic Games in Beijing, it was reported, were going to
be ruined by
smog and human rights atrocities and the venues for the Athens
Games four
years earlier were never going to be built on time.
Yet there may not
have been a top sporting event for which scepticism was
better founded than
South Africa 2010. A prediction here is that, by this
time next year,
hundreds, maybe thousands, will have missed kick-off times
or matches
because of transport problems. Another prediction is that South
Africa will
be unique, providing one of the best and richest sporting
experiences
imaginable. And also that there may never have been one where
global
goodwill has been stronger.
The World Cup is not only a landmark event
for world football, it is a
defining event for its host nation. And here's
hoping that, once the
football circus has been and gone, it will have
defined it for the better.
Until 70,000 workers went on strike on
Wednesday, it seemed that the one
certainty for 2010 was the construction of
the stadiums. They would be
finished and would be splendid.
But,
despite these recent problems, the evidence is persuasive. The Nelson
Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth is a beauty. The new stadium in
Nelspruit is built round 16 pylons made to look like giraffes. From the
south stand of the (nearly finished) 46,000-seat venue in Polokwane, which
backs on to a game reserve, there will be days when punters will be able to
see the real thing. And in Soweto's (almost) rebuilt Soccer City Stadium,
the players' tunnel has been designed like the inside of a goldmine, a
reflection of the industry that gave Johannesburg its wealth.
It does
not stop there. Only last November, the near-complete rebuild of
another
46,000-seat venue, the Orlando Stadium on the other side of Soweto,
was
finished. And next week, financiers hope to finalise funding for the new
50,000-seat Amakhozi Stadium in Johannesburg, for the Kaizer Chiefs football
club. Yet neither the Orlando nor the Amakhozi is needed as World Cup
venues.
It is as if a packet of stadium seeds has been sprinkled over
the Rainbow
Nation. The question is not whether there will be enough
world-class
facilities for South Africa's World Cup. It is: are there too
many? And when
the World Cup has been and gone, can they really all fund
themselves, as
they profess, on a diet of rock concerts, religious festivals
and the
occasional big sporting event?
In an interview with The
Times, Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the
World Cup organising
committee, scotched rumours that it was because of Fifa
pressure that
stadium hunger broke out. It was South Africa and its host
cities, he said,
that wanted to make a statement and post an advertisement
for the country.
An expensive advertisement it is, too. The World Cup "will
strengthen this
country's profile," Jordaan said. "The world will be
surprised."
Indeed, the surprise for a first-time visitor to Cape
Town next year will be
turning right out of the airport on to the main road
into the city and being
confronted with the Langa township, a 60,000 (some
say 250,000) tin-shack
community at the roadside. Then, farther down the
road, finding the new
Green Point Stadium in one of the wealthiest, most
attractive corners of the
city. By the way, there is no public transport
system between one and the
other.
Green Point, at the planning stage,
was to cost 1.2 billion rands (about £93
million) but is estimated now at
R4.5 billion. In fact, it was not even in
the original World Cup bid
document because Cape Town was to host matches at
Newlands, its historical
rugby ground. The same is the case in Durban (costs
climbing from R1.6
billion to R3.1 billion), where the magnificent ABSA
Stadium was billed as a
host until the city decided to build another stadium
next to
it.
There can be no starker picture of flawed planning than the Durban
skyline.
The city council agreed to the new Durban Stadium because it could
be
configured as an athletics stadium and therefore host the Olympics or
Commonwealth Games. However, to fund itself post-2010, it needs Natal
Sharks, the rugby team, to move from their ABSA Stadium home.
Yet the
Sharks have no intention of doing so, and as Brian van Zyl, their
chief
executive, said: "Why move into an athletics stadium where the seating
is
too far from the field of play? We could never understand why they
elected
to build in the first place. The decision was totally irresponsible
and, as
a city rate-payer, it was very annoying."
But this is no isolated case.
The Super 14 rugby union teams bring in the
cash, which is why Green Point
also needs the Stormers to move from
Newlands. Meanwhile, in Port Elizabeth,
for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium,
there is no Super 14 team and the
Premier Soccer League club have been
relegated.
And Polokwane has a
city population of 250,000, is building a 46,000-seat
stadium (with no roof
on the east stand because of overspend), has no host
team of note and not
even a stadium management company appointed to find
one.
It does not
take Lovers Sibanda, the editor of The Speaker, the Polokwane
newspaper, to
mention the words "white elephant" and say that "it is
supposed to be a
business that sustains itself, but I don't think it will".
Indeed, of the
ten stadiums to be used for the World Cup next year, five
have been built
from scratch (total cost about R12billion) and not one
appears to be a
sustainable post-2010 business. Furthermore, only one of the
five (in Port
Elizabeth) was in the original bid document.
There will be many wonderful
stories from next year's World Cup, but how and
why South Africa 2010 went
from its original, economically tight bid to its
present shape may be the
enduring one. And was it responsible of Fifa to let
it do so?
Staging
a World Cup is a huge investment and South Africa, of all host
nations,
needs a proper return - to have its reputation swelling, not its
overdraft.
The hope is that the World Cup will help the First and Third
worlds of South
Africa to edge closer. Let us hold that hope, but it is
becoming a slim
one.
Potential for lack of air-traffic control
There may be no
greater test of the logistics at South Africa 2010 than
those on match day
at the airport in Polokwane. It is an example of how the
country has
benefited from the World Cup: the main building has been
rebuilt, which
would not have happened otherwise, but the new building is
not remotely
large enough to cater for World Cup traffic.
Polokwane, formerly known as
Pietersburg, is the capital of Limpopo
province, a stop-off 230 miles north
of Johannesburg. The hope is that the
World Cup will advertise the city as
the gateway to Kruger Park. At present,
the airport's daily traffic involves
the arrival and departure of four
30-seat planes. Because airport traffic is
counted only one way, Polokwane
airport is used at most, therefore, by 120
people. The daily average is 100.
During the World Cup, however, this
could increase a hundred-fold. At its
peak, on match days, in Polokwane a
procession of 20 Boeing 737s will come
and go. At a minimum, 7,500 people
will disembark every day; at most it will
be 12,500.
The airport
authorities have also been informed that, on arrival, they are
expected to
shift their punters from plane to bus in ten minutes. "You can
plan for it,
but how do you deal with it?" Sipho Mthombeni, the airport
chief executive,
said. "It will be a big challenge. Sometimes I lose sleep
about it." The
ten-minute transfer? "I don't think it is possible," he said.
He is
charged with training 50 temporary staff and using a neighbouring
plane
hangar as a make-do arrivals lounge. "We have never experienced
anything
like this," he said. "It is probable that it will not go as
smoothly as we
would like."