http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011 08:03
Faith
Zaba
ZANU PF is in a state of confusion over election timelines after its
politburo insisted on Wednesday that general polls would be held this year
contrary to the agreement of the coalition government’s tripartite
negotiators.
The three political parties’ negotiators had agreed on polls
being held
sometime in 2012 after full implementation of the election
roadmap.
The politburo’s latest stance could jeopardise ongoing GPA
negotiations and
undermine Sadc’s mediation role.
Zanu PF
negotiators Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche were instructed by
the
politburo to revise the agreed GPA timelines and ensure that the roadmap
was
fast-tracked to allow for holding of elections this year.
Agreed
issues on the roadmap include lifting of sanctions, completion of the
constitution-making process, media reforms, rule of law and amendments to
electoral laws, among others. Timelines for security sector reforms remain
in dispute since Zanu PF insists that Zimbabwe’s security sector is highly
professional and respected worldwide.
Politburo insiders told the
Zimbabwe Independent that President Robert
Mugabe set the tone of the
meeting by stating that he wanted elections held
this year triggering a
flurry of endorsements from his followers.
“The president spoke first
and said elections should be held this year and
everyone else agreed. There
were no opposing views,” said one source.
This is not the first time Zanu PF
has come up with a position contrary to
that taken by its negotiators
together with their counterparts from the two
MDC formations.
In
August 2010 the negotiating teams came up with an implementation matrix
with
timelines on 23 agreed issues which were rejected by the politburo. The
Zanu
PF bigwigs insisted that they were no longer going to make any more
concessions until sanctions were removed.
They were adamant that
implementation of agreed issues should all be done
simultaneously with the
lifting of sanctions.
Asked why the politburo differed with its
mandated negotiators, Zanu PF
spokesman Rugare Gumbo said there were no
contradictions, divisions or
confusion within the party over
elections.
“We appealed to our negotiators to try and cut down the
timelines. There is
no contradiction at all. The timelines are too long and
we want them
shortened,” said Gumbo.
On the negotiators’ response
to the party’s push for elections this year,
Gumbo said: “There was no
response. The decision was unanimous. I don’t know
how they are going to go
about it, but the party is concerned that the
timelines are too
long.”
The constitution-making process has been stalling due to
funding problems
and bickering between the political parties, but Gumbo said
it was possible
to craft a draft if timelines were shortened.
“We
stand by our party position that elections will be held this year. That
position has not changed,” insisted Gumbo.
However, two senior
Zanu PF officials have already publicly declared that
elections could not
realistically be held this year.
Chief negotiator Chinamasa said
three months ago: “It’s my opinion that it
is not possible to hold elections
this year.”
The party’s legal guru Emmerson Mnangagwa told the UK’s
Sunday Telegraph
that if a referendum was held in October, elections could
only be possible
in February next year.
Mugabe has been pushing
for elections this year saying he was fed-up with
the inclusive government
and the GPA. His position is strongly backed by the
country’s security
chiefs and party hawks whose views are widely articulated
by politburo
member Jonathan Moyo.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011 07:59
Dumisani
Muleya
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s simmering succession power struggle is
intensifying amid clear indications that for the first time a new group
involving military strategists and politicians within the party is seriously
gathering ground, sensing leadership change on the horizon.
The emergence
of this group straddling Zanu PF and state structures could
change the
succession dynamics and possibly the outcome as Mugabe nears the
end of his
long political career due to old age and health problems.
Zanu PF
insiders say there are serious manoeuvres on succesion because those
with
information now know very well that the party is on its last legs and
Mugabe
is inching towards the exit even though the new group wants him to
first win
a term of office before he retires and goes by natural
causes.
Extensive briefings of the Zimbabwe Independent by Mugabe’s
advisors and
Zanu PF insiders show the new group is gathering around
Zimbabwe Defence
Forces (ZDF) commander General Constantine Chiwenga and
Zanu PF politburo
members who have lost confidence in the two main
traditional party factions
to provide a potential successor to
Mugabe.
Zanu PF is dominated by two main factions led by retired army
commander
Solomon Mujuru and heavyweight Emmerson Mnangagwa. These camps are
however
fluid and members keep shifting and changing depending on the
situation and
circumstances. Zanu PF has resultantly become a study of
confusion due to
these factions and factions within
factions.
“The situation is moving and changing fast,” a senior Zanu
PF official said.
“Those strategically positioned in Zanu PF know
that Mugabe is on his way
out due to old age, health issues and internal
pressure. As a result they
are fighting everywhere you find them. Clashes
are now to be found at the
politburo, central committee, and other lower
levels of the party. In
government, there are divisions in cabinet and
parliament, as well as in key
state institutions. The fights around the
succession issue are going on.”
Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gombo
yesterday said there were no factions in Zanu
PF.
“We will see it
(third faction) when it emerges. There are no factions in
Zanu PF. Mnangagwa
himself said it when he said that he was number 12 in the
party. The general
line I can give you is that it is the party that leads
the country and not
the other way round (he was referring to the military
producing a
candidate),” Gumbo said.
In recent years those touted as potential
successors to Mugabe include
Mujuru, Mnangagwa, Sydney Sekeramayi, and more
remotely John Nkomo, Simon
Khaya Moyo, Gideon Gono and Saviour Kasukuwere.
However, Chiwenga’s mention
has become a dramatic and stunning proposal in
the growing list of potential
successors.
Sources said
influential political and state institutional players warming
towards
Chiwenga include Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, Zanu PF politburo
member
Jonathan Moyo, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, and
Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, among others. Moyo reportedly has
open doors to all these people.
Chiwenga enjoys support of the
Joint Operations Command (JOC) – which brings
together the army, police and
intelligence service chiefs, although internal
rivalries are rife.
Indications are that JOC is the main body behind Zanu
PF, something which
gives Chiwenga a springboard if he later chooses to join
the Mugabe
succession race.
Nyikayaramba recently told the Independent that the
military would want to
see Mugabe die in office. However, when it comes to
who will succeed him the
army would first of all weigh the candidates before
deciding to support one
of them or fielding its own. Chiwenga is being
bandied about as the
potential candidate for the new
group.
Another credible source said the view that Chiwenga must be
fielded as an
alternative candidate was “growing and gathering
momentum”.
This has riled mainly members of the Mujuru faction who do
not want to
entertain the idea. Senior members of the Mujuru faction, which
has
Sekeramayi and Kasukuwere as potential candidates, say they would block
Chiwenga if he dares join the succession race.
Mnangagwa, who
recently said he has no ambitions to become president, is
said to be close
to army commanders now as Defence minister, although they
do share the same
vision of the way forward.
Sources said whereas army commanders want
elections this year to ensure
Mugabe secures a new term for Zanu PF while
still relatively fit and are
hostile to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as
alternative future leader of
the country, Mnangagwa is not totally opposed
to him.
While army top commanders were fiercely anti-Tsvangirai, Mnangagwa
recently
said since he was Defence minister in 2009 he found the prime
minister “a
very sound, sober person and have no problem with
him”.
A few years ago Mnangagwa was linked to a soft landing plan for
Mugabe
involving Tsvangirai and a retired army colonel. The Mujuru faction
also
largely has no problems with Tsvangirai. Zanu PF factions need an
alliance
with MDC-T to elect a successor in parliament in the event that
Mugabe goes
before his tenure is finished.
Sources said people
who want Chiwenga, who has been improving his education
at the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ) studying political science, are pulling
out all the stops to
prepare the ground for him. Chiwenga’s supporters are
said to be trying to
build a political and social base for him using
military and party
structures.
Chiwenga, who is reportedly 55, has strong liberation
struggle credentials,
hence moves to make him an alternative successor to
Mugabe. He joined Zanu’s
armed wing Zanla in 1973 and became a member of the
general staff the
following year before joining the high command and
operating as deputy
commissar in 1978 until Independence in
1980.
After Independence, he became 1 Brigade commander in Bulawayo,
commander of
5 Brigade in 1984, Brigadier-General at army headquarters,
Major General and
Chief of Staff and then Lieutenant-General and Zimbabwe
National Army
commander in 1994 and ZDF commander in 2003.
A
number of ZDF officers are also studying at UZ, while key state
institutions
are managed by retired soldiers who may provide a soft landing
for Chiwenga
if he enters the race. Although Chiwenga has a solid military
base to launch
a political career from, he does not have a social base.
Sources said
behind the scenes various succession permutations are being
discussed. While
all sorts of scenarios are being painted, it has always
been feared someone
could emerge to take power, claiming that he expresses
the will of the
people, pays whatever price is necessary to obtain the
loyalty of the
security forces and sets about eliminating rivals to
consolidate
himself.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011
08:10
Faith Zaba
THE army is now running private
joint-venture companies in the agricultural
and mining sectors with Chinese
businesses which will be run on a commercial
basis.
In a recent interview
with the Zimbabwe Independent, Commander of 3 Infantry
Brigade in
Manicaland, Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, who chairs
the
agricultural production companies, said the Zimbabwe Defence Forces
would
soon officially launch the private military companies.
“We can’t just
be crybabies. We need to find innovative ways of overcoming
the challenges
the country is facing,” he said.
Nyikayaramba added that: “Besides
empowering our farmers, besides ensuring
that there is productivity and
coming up with mitigatory measures that can
avert conflict in our country,
we are also ensuring that the country is
liquid because there is a lot of
money that is coming in to fund these
projects from our strategic partners.
We are contributing in a very big
way.”
He, however, refused to
delve into the mining companies, saying there is
another top general
responsible for that operation.
Nyikayaramba said the agricultural
production companies would be operating
on a commercial basis and would
export their produce to the region.
“We are putting on the table in
terms of the joint ventures our land and our
skills — that is human
resources. Our friends are coming in with the money
and equipment. The joint
venture is a 50% share ratio,” Nyikayaramba said.
He said they would
then pay a dividend to the state, which is the main
shareholder.
“We decided that we were not just going to sit and
watch from a distance. To
us it was just going to be a recipe for disaster
in future. We wanted
sufficient food to be produced in the country and a
solution to ensure that
we are able to feed the whole population,”
Nyikayaramba said.
“As you are aware — a hungry nation is an angry
nation — and that can become
a precursor for any potential conflict, be it
intra conflict or whatever
conflict that you might have. The commanders sat
down and decided that we
needed to put some intervention so that we can be
able to assist our farmers
to increase their productivity on their farms and
by so doing enhance
production and thereby avert possible
conflicts.”
He said their objective in setting up the companies was
to win a war without
having to fight one by making such economic
interventions.
Nyikayaramba said they would target idle land which
was given to farmers,
who due to lack of funding were unable to fully
utilise their land. In turn,
the resettled families would have a stake in
the joint ventures.
He said the farmers would provide labour and be
given a share of the
profits, calculated on the basis of the value of their
pieces of land.
Nyikayaramba said they were targeting areas which
concentrated mainly on
maize production and turning them into cotton growing
farms.
“The critical intervention that we had to come up with, seeing
to it that
government had no capacity after forming the inclusive
government, was to
look East by way of creating joint ventures, private
companies that go into
the business of carrying out farming activities but
using idle land which
our farmers have. Our farmers then become part owners
of that joint
venture,” he said.
Nyikayaramba said currently
there were several companies operating in
Midlands, Manicaland and
Mashonaland West provinces.
He said one of the companies was running
a pilot project in Mashonaland West
and another in
Midlands.
Nyikayaramba said in the coming season, they were going to
increase the
hectarage under cotton to 100 000 ha and then to 200 000 ha
next year.
“We are also responsible for marketing that cotton and exporting
it so that
we get revenue. We also want to ensure that we break that cotton
monopoly,
to give our farmers the correct price for their quality of
cotton,” said
Nyikayaramba.
He said the other agricultural
production company is based at Arda Assisi
farm in Zvimba, which is a
demonstration project, assisting farmers within a
radius of 150
kilometres.
“The idea is to retain the rural dimension of Arda, which
is to assist rural
farmers with agricultural development. This is why we
based it there as a
demonstration project in Mashonaland
West.
“We are also operating another joint venture at Chinhoyi
University. There
are 30 tractors, 10 combine harvesters which have just
arrived from China
and several planters. People think it is government
mechanisation programme,
but it is not. It is a private military company - a
joint-venture project,”
said Nyikayaramba.
He said they were also
looking at getting large farms of at least 3 000 ha,
which were allocated to
A1 farmers. They would build modern houses around
the farms, leaving each
household with one hectare each for personal use.
Again, the military
would use the farmers as labourers and pay them a
certain profit-sharing
ratio, according to the value of their
land.
He said they were
also planning on setting up another company that would
focus on sugarcane
production in the Zambezi valley and another to go into
fisheries and
livestock production.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011
08:25
Wongai Zhangazha
IF ordinary Zimbabweans were asked
to define the national youth service,
terms such as “green bombers” and
“Zanu PF militia” would come to mind.
In an ideal society the national youth
service is uniquely suited to
effectively address many of the social issues
facing young people in a
country, such as academic underachievement, the
lack of training
opportunities for young people and their escalating trend
toward anti-social
behaviour.
The programme is meant to
contribute quality personnel at the entry level to
public and private
organisations as well as to tertiary institutions.
This type of model
has worked in countries such as the US, Jamaica, Kenya,
Nigeria, Germany,
Denmark, Malaysia and Mexico, but in Zimbabwe youths are
trained on a
politically partisan basis.
Instead of being oriented with life
skills, youths enrolled at the Zanu PF
manned training camps are schooled in
intolerance and violence toward
opponents.
Graduates of the
programme have earned global notoriety and are widely
associated with all
afflictions Zimbabwe went through in last decade.
When the youth
service programme was initially suggested, Zimbabweans were
made to believe
that it was premised on five core values, which were to
promote national
identity, unity, oneness, patriotism, self-reliance,
discipline and
vigilance against crime.
The nation was told the programme would
impart the youths with productive
work culture through on-the-job experience
and meaningful exposure to the
world of work.
But Zimbabweans
were exposed to the brutality the 80 000 youths, who
graduated between 2001
and 2007, were trained in. The training centres were
officially closed in
2007 owing to financial constraints.
Youths have expressed interest
in participating in a national youth service
training programme that
seriously practises self-reliance, entrepreneurship
and imparts the true
history of Zimbabwe without disseminating Zanu PF’s
ideology and promoting
marginalisation as an ideal way to empower them.
This follows plans
by Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment
minister Saviour
Kasukuwere to reintroduce the national youth service this
year.
The proposal awaits cabinet approval.
In a
document titled “National Youth Service Training Programme in Zimbabwe”,
Kasukuwere proposes the immediate implementation of a massive training of
youths from pre-school to tertiary institutions.
The document
says the programme should be re-launched to reorient young
people so that
they learn about Zimbabwe’s “revolution, pre-colonial
political systems,
colonialism, Chimurenga wars and the post-colonial state”.
His aim is
to churn out 300 000 graduates annually.
Kasukuwere says the youths
would be recruited voluntarily and trained to
acquire survival skills and do
community service, while preaching “peace,
tolerance, justice, equality and
democracy”.
He says the ministry would “use its structures, district
and ward youth
officers, schools, churches, clubs and communities” to ensure
the programme
succeeded.
Social commentator David Takawira
supports the idea of national youth
service only if it embodies the true
virtues of patriotism and remains non
partisan.
Takawira said:
“An ideal national youth training is one that personifies
true virtues of
patriotism at the same time equipping young people with
essential knowledge,
skills and competencies for national development and
sustainable
livelihoods. But equally important, the training should not be a
para-militia hoax nor should it be exploited as machinery for propagating
hatred.”
According to the National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations
(Nango) report titled “A Critical Review of
The National Youth Service
Programme in Zimbabwe 2011”, the weakness of the
service was that language
used is subject to
manipulation.
Recruitment was done through Zanu PF district party
offices, the curriculum
discriminated against marginalised and other
interest groups, there was a
militarised style of running the programme,
widespread allegations of sexual
and drug abuse, lack of funding and the
absence of exit opportunities.
Innocent Katsande of Zimbabwe Youth
Council, which represents over 200
organisations, said politics should stay
out of the national youth service.
“Youths spoke extensively of
demilitarising the national youth service and
the need of some form of
liberty. They were totally against being treated
like a military academy.
Most importantly, they want it to focus seriously
more on capacity building
skills and sexual reproductive health. They want
real survival skills that
are current to real life issues and to enable them
to participate, and for
it to incorporate Zimbabweans from all backgrounds,”
Katsande said. Nango
recommends that an independent commission to facilitate
the delivery of the
curriculum with guidance from the two education
ministries should be set
up.
“Experts are supposed to be identified by the commission to
design and
deliver the publicly accepted curriculum with input coming from
young people
and other stakeholders. There is also need to introduce
productive
activities such as agriculture at training centres which will
ensure supply
of produce as well as income for the camp.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011
08:17
Paidamoyo Muzulu
WHEN negotiators dutifully
announced that the coalition government partners
had struck a deal on the
timeframe leading to fresh elections as agreed
under the GPA, the nation
must have reacted with general scepticism.
In the 30 months that Zanu PF and
the two MDC formations have been working
together, the only part of the GPA
the three parties have fully implemented
is legalising their stay in
office.
None of the 21 out of the 27 outstanding issues has seen the
light of day.
Among the outstanding issues are the constitutional reforms,
media reforms,
electoral reforms, security sector reforms, land audit, and
repeal or
amendment of Aippa and Posa.
Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara wrote a letter to the Sadc-appointed
facilitator and South
African President Jacob Zuma on August 5, 2010
appraising him on the GPA
process, which included implementation timeframes
for outstanding issues
that had supposedly been thrashed out.
According to Mutambara’s
correspondence, the three principals reviewed the
implementation matrix for
agreed GPA issues at a meeting on June 8, 2010.
Among the issues the
principals agreed to implement within a month from
August 4, 2010 are media
reforms which call for regularisation of the
Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe board, appointment of a new ZBC board and
constituting the Media
Trust.
It was also agreed that Jomic and a Cabinet Re-engagement
Committee would
deal with the external radio stations issue by appealing to
foreign
governments hosting them to shut them down.
A Land Audit
Commission should have been set up within a month while a land
Tenure System
guaranteeing security of tenure and collateral value of land
should have
been done within two months.
The issue of ministerial mandates
dealing with the assignment of Acts,
establishment of the National Economic
Council and national heroes should
all have been resolved by the end of
September 2010.
Constitutional commissions to expedite the
regularisation of the Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission and appointment of
the Anti-Corruption Commission
were to have been implemented immediately
according to the letter Mutambara
wrote to Zuma.
Amendments to
the Electoral Act should also have been completed as their
timeframe was
agreed as immediate.
However, not a single agreed issue and
timeframes forwarded to Zuma has been
implemented.
The
Livingstone Sadc Troika in March gave the negotiators a fresh impetus to
return to the negotiating table and thrash out GPA implementation
timeframes.
With the assistance of Zuma’s facilitation team, the
negotiators resumed
their talks and cobbled up a timeframe leading to fresh
elections.
However, the tired negotiators’ roadmap still has to be
endorsed by the
three principals, further eroding any hopes of it being done
this year.
Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe chairman Jonah Gokova was
sceptical of the
coalition partners’ sincerity in implementing the
agreement.
“Our experience with the GPA negotiations has shown that
Zanu PF has no
qualms with giving in to certain concessions but dithers on
implementation,”
said Gokova. “We can celebrate the agreement, but we should
expect problems
in the implementation. We should find ways to manage Zanu PF
from dragging
its feet to make sure things happen.”
Gokova warned
that there were elements “against full implementation of the
GPA” and it was
incumbent upon Zimbabweans to find ways to manage them.
Gokova’s comments
come in the wake of recent statements by senior security
officers
denigrating leaders from the MDC formations. Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai challenged the officers to retire and join
politics.
Such pronounced tensions between the army and the MDC may
spell doom for
free and fair elections after the orgy of state-sponsored
violence that
accompanied the 2008 presidential
runoff.
Constitutional Law expert and National Constitutional
Assembly chairman
Lovemore Madhuku said there was nothing to celebrate as
the negotiators were
continuing on their merry-go-round.
“There
is nothing new in what they said,” said Madhuku.
“They did not
produce any timetable leading to fresh elections. It’s only
timeframes and
we know they will not implement anything when one examines
what has happened
in the past. They simply said everything hinged on the
constitutional review
process which in itself is not clear when it will be
brought to an end,” he
said.
Media Centre director Earnest Mudzengi believes the negotiators
have only
agreed on peripheral issues and skirted around the core issues
such as
security sector reforms.
“I think they will implement the
minimal reforms they agreed on but without
security sector reforms and
re-composition of the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission, the changes will not
produce an undisputed election result,”
Mudzengi said.
South
Africa and Sadc have played a crucial role in keeping the partners on
the
long and arduous road to reforms meant to pave the way for fresh
elections.
Relations between the coalition partners reached their
lowest ebb in March
when the two MDC formations complained to Sadc about the
resurgence of
state-sponsored violence against their supporters and
selective application
of the law by police following the arrest of
opposition leaders.
This was in the aftermath of the incarceration of
leading opposition
negotiators Moses Mzila Ndlovu and Elton Mangoma on
trumped up charges. The
Sadc Troika on Politics, Defence and Security took
the extraordinary
decision to save the wobbling coalition from collapsing by
calling for the
immediate cessation of violence and political harassment,
use of hate speech
and any other action that contradicted the letter and
spirit of the GPA.
The dithering in implementing the GPA in full
affirms statements by senior
officials in the coalition government that the
status quo would continue
until 2013.
Deputy Premier Arthur
Mutambara has on several occasions told parliament
that the GPA and
coalition agreement has no expiration date but would
continue until the next
election.
His argument is that politicians should give the economy
time to recover and
the full implementation of the GPA to create a conducive
environment for
holding a credible election.
For now the country
looks resigned to its fate, ululating and waiting for
the politicians to
deliver. The wait is getting longer and the patience is
wearing off to the
extent that the populace is “normalising” the abnormal.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011 08:16
Nqobile
Bhebhe
TRANSPORT, Communications and Infrastructural Development
minister Nicholas
Goche has defended the awarding of the multi-million
dollar Plumtree-Mutare
highway modernisation deal to a South African firm
without going to tender.
Goche told the Zimbabwe Independent last week that
there was no need for the
State Procurement Board to float a tender for the
mega project because the
contracted firm was a highly reputable
company.
South Africa’s construction and engineering entity Group
Five was awarded
the contract to refurbish the Plumtree-Mutare road at an
estimated cost of
US$206,6 million without going to tender and raising
eyebrows within
government.
The project entails the upgrading of
three artery roads: the
Plumtree-Bulawayo, Bulawayo-Harare and Harare-Mutare
trunks along with new
tolling points which would also be constructed to
replace existing toll
gates which Goche described as
“shells”.
“Why tender? If someone brings his own money to do
something, do you take
them to tender and include people with no money in
the process?” asked
Goche.
Goche said the highway is not
undergoing dualisation but modernisation,
rehabilitation and expansion of
the Harare-Plumtree and Harare –Mutare
routes.
He confirmed that the
Zimbabwe National Road Authority( Zinara) and Group
Five were finalising
terms of a joint venture saying “all the documents are
in order after which
the actual work will start”.
The project, set to cover about 800 km
of road, involves the rehabilitation
of some road sections, resealing, road
markings and road furniture.
Group Five entered into an agreement
with Zinara and set up a special
purpose vehicle called Infralink, which is
owned 70% by the principal
contractor and 30% by Zimbabwe’s road authority,
to implement the road
construction and modernisation projects.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011
08:15
Paidamoyo Muzulu
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
should recover the US$2 million it gave
AMG Global to acquire a 100% stake
in T&N (UK), which holds the Shabanie
Mashaba Mines Holdings share
warrants registered in the UK after its failed
acquisition bid in the
English courts, parliament heard on Wednesday.
SMMH is owned by embattled
South African based businessman Mutumwa Mawere.
The company was put under
administration by Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa in 2004 after Mawere
was accused of corruption and externalisation
in relation to mining receipts
from the two mines.
Chinamasa used the contentious Reconstruction of
State Indebted and
Insolvent Act to wrestle control of Mawere’s sprawling
empire whose flagship
was the Shabanie and Mashaba Mines.
The
minister had a flopped bid to gain possession of SMMH share warrants in
the
UK after securing US$2million from the central bank to purchase SMMH
share
warrants from T&N which holds them as surety against Mawere’s
debt.
Mines and Energy Portfolio Committee chairman Edward
Chindori-Chininga
recommended that the “RBZ should collect the funds (US$2
million) advanced
to AMG to acquire T&N rights in respect of SMMH as AMG
lost its bid to gain
control of SMM Holding in the UK Courts and surrendered
the Bearer Share
Warrants in accordance with the UK court
decision”.
The committee has asked Chinamasa on three occasions to
avail the share
warrants proving the purchase of the said shares, but he has
failed to do so
despite repeated assurances to the
committee.
“Three letters signed by the clerk of parliament were
delivered to the
minister and signed for but there has not been any response
to date,” the
report said.
Chindori-Chininga’s committee also recommended
that the executive does a due
diligence audit of SMM and its associated
companies after it was placed
under reconstruction since the administrator
seems to have stripped the
companies of assets in an opaque
manner.
“The executive should carry out an audit specifically looking
at: disposal
and sale of assets claims, mining equipment and material from
AA mines,
disposal and sale of associated companies, legal and professional
fee costs
that relate to payments made to the administrator and legal
advisor under
Reconstruction of SMM.”
State-appointed
administrator Arafas Mutausi Gwaradzimba is alleged to have
disposed of
mining claims, houses and other mining equipment belonging to
SMM and
illegally paid himself substantial amounts.
“The administrator had
disposed some company assets such as mining claims
(gold claims) and several
subsidiary companies of SMM whilst Mawere was
still under specification.
During the enquiry, the committee came across
information relating to the
application of the payments that were made in
Zambia to the administrator
Gwaradzimba by TAP Building Products, a company
registered in Zambia that
was placed erroneously under reconstruction only
to be removed after a court
challenge by African Resources Ltd, the
shareholder of the company,” the
report said.
Gwaradzimba was paid US$345 000 and made payments of
about US$700 000 to
(Edwin) Manikai and other TAP board
members.
Shabanie and Mashaba mines have since collapsed under the
administration of
Gwaradzimba and the mines are flooded. Employees have gone
for years without
pay and no investor seems interested in investing in the
contested mines.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011 08:12
Brian
Chitemba
BULAWAYO MPs have failed to produce reports on the use
of the Constituency
Development Fund (CDF) amid a storm over use of the fund
by legislators and
councillors.
Only one of the province’s 12
lawmakers could account for the public funds
as calls for investigations
into the abuse of the fund grow louder.
Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary
Affairs Virginia Mabiza and a
team of accountants descended on Bulawayo this
week to follow up on the use
of the fund following widespread complaints
that some MPs abused the
money.
All MPs were asked to produce reports showing detailed use of
the money, but
only Makokoba MP and Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe
submitted a
report. The other MPs failed to submit reports and have been
given a week to
comply.
The reports would pave way for an audit
on the use of the CDF in Bulawayo
where development has remained a pipe
dream.
Finance minister Tendai Biti set up a CDF for developmental
projects whereby
each constituency would receive US$50 000. MPs were
reluctant to apply for
the fund, with some taking up to six months,
resulting in Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs minister Eric
Matinenga begging them to apply so they
could sponsor community
developmental initiatives.
According to sources who attended the
meeting, Mpopoma MP Samuel Sandla
Khumalo, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo (Lobengula),
Reginald Moyo (Luveve), Seiso Moyo
(Nketa), Senator Gladys Moloi and Felix
Mafa Sibanda (Magwegwe) — all of
MDC-T, had no proof of how they used the
CDF. Thabitha Khumalo of Bulawayo
East did not attend the
meeting.
Sipepa Nkomo is one of the MPs who was sucked into a bitter
wrangle with
residents’ associations and councillors, who accused the
legislator of
abusing the fund. He denied the allegations saying he bought
chairs and
books for schools in his constituency.
The Bulawayo
Progressive Residents Association has called on the
Anti-Corruption
Commission to investigate the alleged misuse of the
CDF.
Matinenga said some MPs had not submitted returns because
they were ignorant
on how to account for the money but the Bulawayo meeting
was part of efforts
to conscientise the lawmakers on public funds
accountability.
The CDF is administered by a committee of
councillors, chiefs and senators
who are ex-officio members.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011 08:11
Wongai
Zhangazha
ZANU PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo has threatened
to take legal action
to gag the Zimbabwe Independent from republishing
articles he penned for the
newspaper attacking President Robert Mugabe and
his party.
In a letter to this newspaper through his lawyers Hussein Ranchhod
& Co on
Wednesday, Moyo said republication of his articles was
unlawful.
“We refer to the article by our client titled “Mugabe puts
nation’s survival
at great risk” published in your newspaper dated 8 July
2011,” the letter
read. “The copyright in this work vests with our client
and reproduction
thereof can only be done with express
permission.
“This permission to publish as you have done was not
sought nor granted and
as such the republication is unlawful. We hereby
require an apology for your
action together with an understanding not to
further infringe his copyright
within five days of this letter,” wrote
Moyo’s lawyer Terrence Hussein.
“Should we not hear from you, we will
institute proceedings for damages
without further notice.”
The
threat follows republication of an article Moyo wrote for the Zimbabwe
Independent in 2006 attacking Mugabe as a national security
threat.
The Editor-In-Chief of Alpha Media Holdings (AMH), the
publishers of the
Independent, NewsDay and The Standard, Vincent Kahiya,
yesterday said: “I
was editor of the Zimbabwe Independent when Moyo
submitted articles to me
for publication. The publication of the op/ed was
by mutual consent and
there were no special provisos around copyright. It is
curious that Moyo now
seeks to stop us from republishing articles which he
personally delivered to
the newsroom or sent by courier.
“As a
newspaper, one of our major tasks is to record history. Moyo’s
articles are
an important part of our history and attempts to use the law to
block us
from publishing them is tantamount to airbrushing that part of
history. Moyo
has often defended his sharp political commentary over the
years and should
continue to do so even in changed political circumstances.
“The quest
therefore to gag the Independent is akin to disowning a part of
himself. We
will not lend ourselves to his self-serving project by yielding
to his
demands.”
The Independent becomes the second newspaper to be
threatened by Moyo to
stop republishing his articles on Mugabe and Zanu
PF.
The former Information minister is claiming US$60 000 in damages from the
Daily News for reproducing his articles.
Moyo is arguing that the
Daily News immediately stop publishing his archived
content because the
paper does not have his authorisation.
In its defence, the Daily News says
the articles are publicly available on
Moyo’s blog,
prof-jonathan-moyo.com.
Constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku
yesterday said the issue did not
need a magician to understand the Copyright
Act
Madhuku said: “It’s a political line not a legal line. What he
wants to do
is to silence newspapers, which is what he is good at
threatening. You
should understand that copyright of books is different to
copyright of
newspapers.
“The moment he agreed that his work be
published by a newspaper he gave up
his rights, unless he had earlier done a
special negotiation with the
publisher. If it was surely a copyright
breached then why is he demanding an
apology? Once your copyright has been
violated there is no time for an
apology but just dealing with the
law.”
Senior Associate Editor at AMH and Zimbabwe National Editors
Forum chairman
Iden Wetherell said newspapers should be free to publish
material that is
already in the public domain, particularly when it was
originally published
in one of their own publications.
“Under the
terms of the GPA we are currently campaigning to open up the
media, not
muzzle it,” he said. “Newspapers need to stand up to threats of
any
sort.”
Media activist Ernest Mudzengi said Moyo’s letter to stop the
republication
of his articles was a sign of desperation.
“I think
this man Jonathan Moyo has become desperate and his letter is part
of the
desperation. These articles have been published before in the
Zimbabwe
Independent and there is nothing wrong with republishing them. He
is simply
showing his cowardice and threatening newspapers.”
Media Institute of
Southern Africa director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said Moyo’s
letter was another
attempt to stifle the freedom of the press.
“It is a clear attempt to
block information that he dims distasteful and an
indirect way to intimidate
the media into self-censorship,” he said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011
08:13
Reginald Sherekete
TIME Bank of Zimbabwe Ltd has
submitted an innovative proposal for a US$5
billion syndicate loan facility
to government to pay restive civil servants
and settle Zimbabwe dollar
deposits trapped in the financial system.
The bank, which has re-invented
itself from being a commercial bank to an
investment bank, submitted the
proposal to the Ministry of Finance last week
on the strength that the
facility would resolve some of the country’s
multifaceted economic
challenges arising as a result of the introduction of
a multi-currency
system in February 2009.
The 25-page proposal in the possession of
the Zimbabwe Independent was sent
to Finance minister Tendai Biti’s office
and copied to Nelson Sambureni, the
chairperson of the National Joint
Negotiating Council. The council comprises
of government proxies and
representatives from all the civil servants’
unions.
The proposed
syndicate loan is based on the creation of what Time Bank
called the 4th
money (near money), which is part of the proposed M4 category
of money. The
4th money created by the bank will be additional money supply
from intended
time deposits and will be linked to gilt-edged bonds offered
by government
on the back of the loan. Technically, 4th money is the
securitised credit to
government which is converted into time deposits with
banks.
Currently, Zimbabwe has three distinct categories of money
— M1 (liquid
money comprising notes, coins plus all demand deposits), M2
(comprising all
the elements in M1 plus all other short-term and medium-term
deposits with
banks with a tenor of less than 90 days) and M3 (combination
of Ml, M2 plus
all long-term deposits with banks with tenors less than six
months).
M4 will utilise the function of money as a store of value
and standard of
deferred payments much more than its function as a medium of
exchange.
The syndicate loan targets payment of better salary
increases across the
board to the country’s over 220 000 civil servants over
a two-year period as
well as the settlement of Zimbabwe dollars deposits
that were trapped in the
financial system when the country’s economy
migrated into a multi-currency
regime.
According to the bank, the
objective is to competitively remunerate the
civil servants without recourse
to the risk-averse multilateral lenders and
the facility would go a long way
in lessening the government’s burden.
Civil servants have since
dollarisation been threatening to strike over poor
salaries, averaging about
US$150 per month, US$350 less than the poverty
datum line. Government has
been pleading bankruptcy, saying its revenues
were inadequate to meet the
workers’ otherwise genuine demands.
The proposed syndicate loan, if accepted,
would rope in government, a
syndicate of banks led by Time Bank, Zimbabwe
dollar depositors and civil
servants.
Under the loan, the
supplier of goods or services becomes the creditor or
lender and the
resultant supplier credit is securitised. The supplier credit
loans are
mobilised from suppliers of goods and services, including
suppliers of
labour services and such loans are then advanced to government.
Time Bank
will act as a lead bank and mobilise participating banks to
securitise the
government debt and trade it on the inter-bank market,
thereby improving
liquidity on the inter-bank market, which is currently
depressed.
To activate the process, according to Time Bank, the
civil servants or the
Zimbabwe dollar depositors would be required to open a
time deposit account
with any of the participating banks.
After a
syndicate loan has been signed, the Zimbabwe dollar depositor or the
civil
servant would have his/her account credited as part of the settlement
plan.
The said credit would constitute disbursements to which the government
will
acknowledge its indebtedness by issuing Promissory Notes (Treasury
Bonds)
physically or electronically to Time Bank.
Inadvertently, the
syndicate loan becomes the financiers while the
government becomes the
debtor. In other words, the government would have
fully honoured its
obligations to the civil servants and Zimbabwe dollar
depositors once this
has been done and will now be indebted to the
syndicate.
The
terms of the syndicated loans include a tenor period of 10 years with
interest payable half-yearly at an interest rate of 8% per annum. The loan
is subject to an arrangement fee of 2% and an annual syndicate management
fee of 0,5%.
A sinking fund will be set up by government with the
lead bank where
deposits will be made into the account over a 10 year period
in preparation
for settlement of the 10 year treasury bills/ bonds. The fund
will earn
interest of 5% per annum and can be used to redeem TBs should a
holder opt
for early payment.
Civil servants or the Zimbabwe
dollar depositor would be able to withdraw
from the facility as and when
cash becomes available at each bank. But
pending such withdrawal, the
beneficiaries would earn a 5% interest per
annum on their
balances.
The bank said the syndicate loan is the only practical
solution towards
rewarding civil servants as well as restoring property
rights of people who
have not been paid their Zimbabwe dollar deposits in
banks.
“In other words, the solution restores the property rights of
big and small
investors, including ordinary people who may be vulnerable
during the
implementation of various economic measures. Hence the solution
improves
confidence in the banking sector and the country in general,” the
bank said
in its executive summary.
“In the final analysis, it
may result in more cash circulating in the formal
economic sectors as
ordinary people deposit more money in banks instead of
keeping it in the
informal sector.”
The bank described the syndicate loan as feasible,
affordable and
appropriate innovation that can stimulate the country’s
economy.
“People who can supply their goods and services on credit,
in an illiquid
environment are the source of economic turnaround, and the
syndicate loan
harnesses such efforts by ordinary people, ordinary
creditors, into a big
positive economic force,” said the bank as part of its
recommendation.
In order to avoid the emergence of a parallel market,
Time Bank proposed
that the resultant treasury bonds should be issued to
banks only and they
should not be issued to non-banks or members of the
public.
Time Bank said the loan will enable growth with equity. Civil
servants, the
bank said, could use their time deposits as security for
personal loans.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011
08:24
THE Mystery of the Vanishing Diamonds Money sounds like a title
that
Franklin W Dixon, author of The Hardy Boys investigative series, would
pen
were he alive to come to Zimbabwe. This will become clearer as we
progress
with our article, if it isn’t already.
The Zimbabwe Medium Term
Plan launched last week will be a talking point for
quite some time to come
for the obvious reason that much of the future of
Zimbabwe’s economy hinges
on its implementation. We draw your attention once
more to the keyword,
implementation. As we have mentioned before, Zimbabwe,
in spite of the
substantial brain drain it has suffered over the last
decade, is still not
short of a critical mass of intellectuals and academics
that can come up
with sound strategies to carry the country forward. But
crafting strategy
and formulating policy is one thing, and implementing the
policy or
stratagems quite another.
The acid test of the unity government, in
case its actors don’t realise it,
is the successful turnaround of this
economy. Here’s an opportunity for the
current government to transform from
being a government of national
disunity. Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara pointed out that there was
need for political will, if this policy
is not to join its colleagues in the
garbage cans of this country. However,
one sees the policy as looking at too
many relatively farfetched
preconditions being mentioned as the pillars of
its success, while
underplaying one of the most obvious ones, the mineral
resources,
particularly diamonds.
There is much talk about attracting
foreign direct investment, which in my
view has always been a trickle, and
about attracting lines of credit. As for
lines of credit, we should remember
that we are somewhat robbing Peter to
pay Paul. By this I mean the country
is already saddled with a US$9,3
billion plus debt and if our politics come
in the way again, we may not have
the opportunity to value add to repay
Peter. Thus we may end up in deeper
debt.
Enough of the
scepticism. Nevertheless, this brings us to the more important
point of our
resources coming to our aid. Is it a good coincidence that at
the time we’re
supposed to be getting out of our worst economic downturn,
suddenly there is
a solution in the form of alluvial diamonds? For some of
us lesser mortals
this is a God-given incidence, and we should take
advantage of it. The MTP
says we may produce more than 121 million carats by
2015, from a base of
eight million currently. Sources in the Chiadzwa
diamond fields say this can
translate into US$100 000 - US$200 000 a month
in the current year, from the
six companies that currently operate in that
area. We shall not work out
the mathematics of monetary output of these but
suffice it to say, our debt
can have been wiped out easily by the end of the
MTP.
But this
all appears to be wishful thinking as there appears to be no real
step
towards resolving the diamond issue. The KP process will keep going
backwards and forwards for as long as there is no uniform statement on this
resource from the GNU. The mere fact that Zanu PF and the MDCs are fighting
over the diamonds already suggests that there is already conflict over the
diamonds. In our analogy we still need Frank and Joe Hardy to solve the
mystery of the proceeds of the diamonds that have already been mined. And
yes, Zimbabwe’s enemies in the KP process, real or imagined, can easily
point to this fact.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011
08:21
DONTOPEDALOGY is a term which was coined by Britain’s Prince Philip
meaning
a “talent for putting one’s foot into one’s mouth”.
We had a
classical demonstration of it last week by former Information
minister
Jonathan Moyo. He is gifted with putting his foot into his mouth!
In
a long, intellectually bankrupt article in the publicly-owned Sunday
Mail,
Moyo went ballistic accusing Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) and myself in
particular of being Western-funded and corrupt after we dared challenge his
unsubstantiated assertion that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was a
“national security threat”.
Moyo was also angry because we had
exposed his duplicity by reproducing an
article he wrote in the Zimbabwe
Independent in 2006 accusing President
Robert Mugabe of putting the
“nation’s survival at great risk”.
Clearly motivated by anger and
malice, Moyo made scurrilous accusations
against me, AMH and other private
media players without good reason.
Needless to say, all Moyo’s claims were
false and malicious, but we will not
sink to his level and subject readers
to a mudslinging contest. All we can
say is if Moyo wants to know whether we
are “A-Level school dropouts” or not
he must ask the editor of the Sunday
Mail who published his article. He
knows us better which is why it is
baffling that he could publish lies when
he knows the facts very
well.
In fact, it became clear during the course of the week what
Moyo’s problem
was. Reading our Editor’s Memo last week, it would have been
difficult to
understand what had provoked Moyo, not until his lawyers this
week sent a
letter to us demanding that we stop reproducing his articles
which we first
published to start with!
While lawyers are dealing
with the issue, we would like to state clearly and
categorically we won’t be
intimidated into silence by anyone.
For the record, as the
Independent we hold no brief for anyone, any
political party or organisation
for that matter. We don’t even hold a brief
for our publisher — our
paymaster — on his personal political views! We hold
ourselves accountable
only to our readers and people of this country. It is
refreshing that our
publisher agrees with this.
It has been and will remain our resolve
as a newspaper to be a platform of
good journalism where competing views
from all stakeholders are given space
to “inform, educate and entertain” —
to use that journalism cliché — our
various publics. We are a market place
for ideas. We will continue as we
have done in the past to publish all sorts
of stories and shades of opinions
guided by our professional ethics and
standards.
Moyo is one of the columnists who have written for the
Independent over many
years. Despite his vitriol, we gave him an opportunity
to write for us when
he had something useful to say. We will continue to
carry stories and
opinions across the political and social
divide.
At the Independent we have an open-door policy. Without fear
or favour, we
will continue to write the good, the bad and the ugly of the
Zimbabwe story
to deepen press freedom as well as political and civil rights
as part of our
contribution to building a democratic and prosperous
Zimbabwe.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 15 July 2011 08:19
SOMETIMES it’s not easy
for editors to write with feigned calm and
dispassion on stirring subjects
such as accidents, human rights abuses,
rape, war atrocities or even
political witchhunts against journalists.
However, journalism ethics demand a
professional approach no matter how
emotive the issue.
Last
Sunday Zanu PF political recidivist (he has learnt nothing and
forgotten
nothing from his ugly past) Jonathan Moyo, a notorious media
hangman, scaled
new heights of vituperation against the private press,
particularly the
Zimbabwe Independent, its editor and journalists.
Moyo’s abusive
piece — with a stream of consciousness narrative — was
pathetic. It claimed,
for instance, the Independent was part of “sponsored
regime change media”;
editors and journalists were “high school dropouts
without A-Level”; there
was a three-million pounds anti-Zimbabwe media
campaign; journalists were
“brown-envelope seekers”; and there was
unprofessional and unethical
journalism in the independent media funded by
the West.
The 2
827-word rambling tirade read like “a tale told by an idiot, full of
sound
and fury signifying nothing”.
Moyo’s gripe was thinly-disguised: He
was angered by the inconvenient
reproduction of his 2006 acerbic article in
the Independent lambasting
Mugabe. He was also furious his threadbare
opinions on “national security”
had been crushed.
In order to
justify his grotesque views and hate-mongering, Moyo resorted to
despicable
tired propaganda techniques including ad hominem (attacking one’s
opponent
personally instead of their argument), ad nauseam (tireless
repetition of a
line to get it accepted as truth), false dilemma (you’re
either with us or
against us), flag-waving (justifying awful actions on
grounds of
patriotism), name-calling, obfuscation, half-truths and even
outright
lying.
Moyo, who has an exaggerated sense of self-importance and
pretends to be the
most educated and omniscient Zimbabwean when it is clear
this is wishful
thinking, had the temerity to call journalists “A-Level
drops outs,
uneducated, ignorant, unqualified, inexperienced etc. Yet he
knows this is
cheap nonsense.
Editors and journalists are
employed on the basis of their education,
training and experience. The
editor of the Sunday Mail, where Moyo wrote his
appalling diatribes, knows
this very well. Moyo, who ruined the public
media, shouldn’t masquerade as a
media expert. He is not qualified to
lecture us simply because he is not an
authority or a professional. He must
talk about things he knows about and
not just waffle hysterically.
What is the bigger picture in all this?
Moyo wants a throw-back to the era
of political repression, newspaper
closures and hounding of journalists. He
is on a witch-hunt against
journalists exposing his shameless hypocrisy.
But journalists won’t
be intimidated by this raging political bully. That is
why at the
Independent we will continue, guided by professional and ethical
standards,
to expose political hypocrisy, state brutality and abuse of
power, among
other evils, no matter what Moyo says. He can rant and rave all
he wants but
we won’t be deterred.
Moyo wants the media shackled. He is coming up
with a reductionist and
simplistic comparison between what is happening at
News International
(closure of News of The World and the fallout) in the UK
due to the
phone-hacking scandal and the situation here to throw journalists
into a
chamber of horrors again.
Moyo, who has pathological
narcissism and delusions of grandeur, is in a
desperate bid for power and
trappings of office.
In that regard, he is now even prepared to
resort to revisionism and
bootlicking, claiming his criticism of Mugabe was
“affectionate”. Does Moyo
think saying Mugabe is a liability or could lose
an election to a donkey is
affectionate? Who is he trying to
fool?
Moyo is trying to advertise himself as a super nationalist and
patriot yet
he squandered by running away from the struggle an opportunity
to fight and
leave a positive — not fascist — legacy. He demonises NGOs but
worked for
the CIA-linked Ford Foundation where he left under a cloud of
corruption and
fraud allegations. What sort of hypocrisy is
this?
Unless he is a quack professor, Moyo should know there is a
world of
difference between a chameleon and cockroach. He must not be
intellectually
dishonest to settle scores. Doesn’t he know chameleon also
describes “a
person who changes their behaviour or opinions according to the
situation”?
(Oxford English dictionary). Who fits this
description?
And how does Moyo confuse the phrase facing “political
death” and a literal
death wish for someone when even those suffering from
arrested intellectual
development would know the difference. After all has
been said and done,
Moyo’s wicked agenda must be exposed and rejected.