http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 18:10
By Our
Staff
Civic society and media journalists yesterday condemned the
harassment of
journalists at parliament yesterday, where a Zanu PF mob
disrupted a public
hearing on the Human Rights Commission
Bill.
Secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ),
Foster Dongozi
said the union strongly condemned the violence and called
upon the
government to ensure the safety of media
workers.
“We call upon the inclusive government and the
parties to rein in on their
wayward supporters and advise them not to abuse
and harass journalists,” he
said.
Dongozi said they had tried to
engage the principals in the inclusive
government and the harassment of
journalists yesterday was a sign that
either they were not listening or they
were not taking advice.
He said the Federation of African Journalists
had engaged with heads of
state across the continent and both President
Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai agreed that journalists should
not be abused.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) also
condemned the attacks,
calling on parliament to investigate and deal with
the alleged assaults.
“ZLHR unreservedly condemns the conduct of the
rowdy mob, the disruptions of
the public hearing not only in Harare, but
also in Chinhoyi and Mutare, and
the assaults on a legislator and
journalists.
“These disruptions, which constitute contempt of
Parliament in terms of the
law, are criminal offences,” the lawyers said in
a statement.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011
18:01
By Ed Cropley
LILONGWE (Reuters) - Unlike the Internet-based
popular protests that have
swept North Africa and the Middle East, the
biggest threat to embattled
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika may be
from Christian churches.
With two-thirds of the
impoverished southern African nation's 13 million
people living in villages
and only now having basic mobile phones, let alone
Internet-enabled ones,
the power of technology to mobilise mass opposition
is
limited.
However, in the former British colony where more than 80
percent of the
population is Christian, the words of the church carry
enormous weight --
and the death of 18 anti-government protesters in
clashes with police this
week has spurred the institution into
action.
In a statement, the head of the Catholic church, Bishop
Joseph Zuza,
lamented the loss of life and called on Mutharika to "listen
attentively and
honestly to the cry of Malawians".
Protest
organisers have given Mutharika until August 16 to sit down to
discuss their
grievances, in particular the chronic lack of foreign exchange
and fuel that
is making official projections of 6.6 economic growth this
year look
fanciful.
The self-styled "Economist-in-Chief", first elected in
2004, has shown no
sign of bowing to the demands, but history suggests the
moral authority of
the church, and its ability to sway rural voters ahead of
a 2014 election,
may cause him to relent.
The clergy played a
crucial role in the early 1990s in the downfall of
Hastings Banda, the
UK-trained medical doctor who ruled Malawi with an iron
fist for its first
three decades after independence in 1964.
"When the people are
being afflicted, the church needs to come out," Father
Symon Matumbo, pastor
of St. Peter's Church in Lilongwe, told Reuters after
Saturday morning
mass.
"We should not wait for things to come to the worst. The
government needs to
listen to the voice of the people, understand the issues
over foreign
exchange and fuel."
AFRICA'S NERO?
In the
cities, where cars queue round the block for scare fuel, Mutharika's
reputation has taken a major knock.
As well as open
expressions of dissent on the streets, Malawi's private
media are in full
cry, reflecting the police beating dished out to six
journalists during this
week's crackdown, and the temporary closure of
several radio
stations.
"This government has simply lost it," Nation newspaper
columnist George
Kasakula wrote in a scathing editorial that compared
Mutharika to the Roman
emperor Nero, who, according to legend, merrily
played the violin while his
capital burned.
"As hundreds of
Malawians took to the streets -… he decided to give us a
public lecture,"
Kasakula wrote.
"If that was his way of solving the problems
Malawians have been living with
for the past several months, it was way off
the mark."
Emboldened by this week's bloodshed, young men talk
freely of their desire
to "fight for democracy", but even in the capital it
is clear Malawi is far
from fertile ground for a sub-Saharan Facebook
revolution.
"Most people come here just to use Skype to chat to
their friends outside
the country," said Shafqat Kathia, a Pakistani
Internet cafe owner.
"Phone calls are just too expensive."
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:57
BY NUNURAYI
JENA
CHINHOYI — Town clerk Ezekiel Muringani has refused to be
suspended by
council for alleged fraud after he received support from Local
Government,
Rural and Urban Development minister Ignatius Chombo.
The
standoff has sparked another clash between Chombo and his deputy Sessel
Zvidzai who are defending different camps.
Zvidzai is backing
mayor Claudius Nyamhondoro who suspended Muringani for
allegedly stealing an
unspecified amount of money from council.
Nyamhondoro told The
Standard that the underfire council chief would not be
allowed to report for
work tomorrow.
He said he had written the suspension letter last week
but Muringani had
refused to accept it.
“Muringani is refusing
the letter of suspension because he is aware of the
letter’s contents as I
told him sometime last month before he went on
leave,” Nyamhondoro
said.
Nyamhondoro copied the letter to Chombo and the Chinhoyi
district
administrator, a W Tembo.
Chombo responded in writing
saying a committee had been set up to help
Chinhoyi get back on its knees
once again.
But Zvidzai shot back saying the appointment of the team
that is set to
start work tomorrow was a clear sign that “the
administration’s leg is weak”.
Zvidzai added that the town clerk
“should just pack his bags and go home and
not to jump from one office to
another trying to cling to the post”.
Nyamhondoro said Muringani
seems to be getting backing from Chombo after a
woman who claimed to be the
clerk’s wife told him over the phone that they
would not succeed because the
minister was on their side.
Muringani also vowed that he would not
throw in the towel claiming that he
was a fighter.
The suspension
follows recommendations by the audit team which recommended
that Muringani
be investigated together with the Finance Director William
Mandinde who has
since been fired, as well as council secretary Abel
Gotora.
The
trio is being accused of defrauding the council of some thousands of
dollars.
According to the audit report, Muringani took US$4 150
from the main
collection points without signing for it.
It is
further alleged that despite the fact that he was on full medical aid
he
claimed a sum of US$12 535 in hospital fees.
Last year, Muringani was
suspended only for Chombo to intervene and
reinstate him against the wishes
of Chinhoyi residents.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:56
BY
NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Zanu PF militants are allegedly trying to
evict the chairperson
of an organisation representing Zipra ex-fighters from
his ranch in
Matabeleland North province saying he must go back to
Mashonaland.
Retired Colonel Baster Magwizi, the Zipra Veterans Trust
chairperson on
Friday said the threats to chase him away from Sothani Ranch
in Gwayi were
revenge for the trust’s role in stopping the exhumation of
bodies in Mt
Darwin Zanu PF claims were of people killed during the
liberation war.
The Zipra ex-fighters obtained a High Court interdict
ordering the Zanu PF
aligned war veterans to stop the exhumations until
government put in place
systems to identify the victims.
“It’s
both tribal and political,” Magwizi said.
“The Zanu PF people are
telling the villagers here that they should evict me
and they would be
assisted by Zanu PF because I took their land.
“It is said that I should go
back to Mashonaland and leave the land to
Matabeleland
people.
“Attempts to evict me started after our trust stopped Zanu PF
from exhuming
bodies in Mt Darwin.”
Ex- Zipra fighters said they
suspected that some of the bodies at the
Chibondo mineshaft could be of
their fellow comrades killed during clashes
with Zanla combatants after
Independence.
Magwizi claimed there were also attempts to frame him
after a report was
made to the police that he had stolen scrap metal from a
neighbouring
white-owned farm.
But he vowed to fight legally to
maintain control of his farm, which he said
was his only source of
livelihood.
Chaotic land evictions, mainly on political grounds,
continue across the
country despite calls for farm disturbances to
end.
Deputy Labour and Social Services minister Tracy Mutinhiri is
also fighting
for control of her Marondera farm after land invaders
allegedly sent by her
political rival tried to take over the property.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:55
BLANTYRE —
Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika has appointed a new army
chief two
days after a deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters,
raising
speculation about the loyalty of the impoverished southern African
nation’s
military.
In an announcement on state radio late on Friday, Mutharika
promoted Henry
Odillo, a junior officer, to replace Marko Chiziko, whose
contract had
officially expired last year but whose departure was
nonetheless unexpected.
Although Odillo had been in the frame as a
possible successor, the timing —
two days after 18 people were killed in a
crackdown on political riots — is
likely to fuel speculation about simmering
anti-Mutharika feelings in the
military.
Calm has returned after
last week’s demonstrations demanding the
resignation of Mutharika, a former
World Bank economist first elected in
2004, but protest organisers have set
an August 16 deadline for him to sit
down and listen to their
grievances.
The mood on both sides is uncompromising, suggesting
further confrontation
is likely in a country of 13 million people that bills
itself as the
peace-loving “Warm Heart of Africa”.
At a police
graduation ceremony on Friday, Mutharika struck a combative
note, saying he
would “smoke out” protesters if they returned to the
streets.
Ordinary
Malawians, frustrated by a chronic lack of foreign exchange and
fuel that
they say belies the economy’s stellar growth statistics, are not
heeding the
threats.
“The protests this week gave them a lesson,” said William
Sanudi, a
37-year-old curio-seller in the capital,
Lilongwe.
“August 17 — people are waiting for that day. They will go
back on the
streets and things will get worse. People want to fight for
truth and
democracy.”
Condemnation from Washington and Europe
over this week’s crackdown suggests
the aid squeeze — and thereby Malawi’s
overall economic plight — could well
intensify.
The US Millennium
Challenge Corporation, which approved a US$350 million
overhaul of the
decrepit national power grid early this year, said it was
“deeply concerned”
at the crackdown and would be reviewing its operations.
— Reuters
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:50
BY
NQABA MATSHAZI
The tottering inclusive government is headed for a
fresh crisis following
the unprecedented move by the Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation to
deposit US$40 million into the civil service
salaries account towards a pay
hike repeatedly promised by President Robert
Mugabe in recent months.
While at the birth of the inclusive
government, Zanu PF accused MDC-T of
running a parallel government, analysts
say the former liberation movement
seems to be doing exactly that by running
a parallel structure to rival the
operations of the Finance
ministry.
Many were surprised last week, including Finance
minister Tendai Biti, by
revelations that the money to increase civil
servants’ salaries came
directly from the Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation (ZMDC) and not
through the normal established channels of his
ministry.
The Ministry of Finance reportedly deposited the usual
US$120 million for
normal remuneration of civil servants, with the ZMDC
setting an unusual
precedent by adding US$40 million to cover the promised
salary increase.
Finance minister, Tendai Biti had previously stated
that the government did
not have money to fund a wage increase, but Zanu PF
demanded that a salary
review be effected.
This, analysts said,
was highly irregular and questioned the motive of a
parastatal paying
salaries of the civil service.
“This is not standard procedure,” John
Robertson, an economist said. “It is
very irregular and it might not
work.”
The renowned economist said in normal circumstances, the
government should
pay salaries through tax receipts, with the Finance
ministry being
accountable for these adding that the new arrangement created
complications
for the future.
Robertson said as it is, there was
a wrangle over the sale of Marange
diamonds and questioned what would happen
in the event that Zimbabwe was
barred from selling its diamonds by the
Kimberly Process Certification
Scheme (KPCS).
Robertson said,
because of this contestation, it was highly unlikely that
the ZMDC would be
able to sustain subsidising civil servants’ salaries.
Former Finance
minister, Simba Makoni described the intervention of the
ZMDC as a rather
curious arrangement, also questioning whether this was
sustainable.
“It’s an abnormal payment,” he remarked. “It raises
more questions than
answers.”
Makoni, who now leads
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD), narrated how money was
supposed to be channelled
through to government, saying it was unusual for
money from a parastatal to
be channelled for a specific purpose.
He said there was no evidence
of the ZMDC board sitting to discuss paying a
royalty of such magnitude to
the government.
“This shows that someone is playing cheap high stakes
politics with the
citizens of Zimbabwe, particularly civil servants,” Makoni
continued.
Zapu spokesman, Methuseli Moyo said this was a worrying
development as it
showed that one arm of the three-part coalition government
had access to
money that was not known by the others.
“This is in
actual fact a parallel Finance ministry,” Moyo said. “This shows
that there
are a lot of funds which are outside Treasury and only Zanu PF
people know
about them.”
The Zapu spokesman said since no one knew how much was
in the fund, it
begged the question on what other activities Zanu PF was
willing to use the
money outside the confines of
government.
“This alone should scare anyone, if there are some people
with so much money
outside Treasury and the Ministry of Finance,” he
said.
Moyo said Zanu PF wanted a review of the salaries because it
thought they
were a critical constituency, but warned that this move could
backfire, if
they failed to sustain it.
With the instability in
global commodity prices, questions were asked what
would happen if diamond
prices slumped and the country did not receive the
money it had
projected.
Civil servants’ salaries have of late been a highly
emotive subject, with
Mugabe all the while maintaining that their salaries
be reviewed at a time
when the Finance ministry had said it could not afford
to.
It is believed that public workers’ salaries chew almost 70% of
government
revenue and Treasury could not afford a review.
The
country is staring at a budget deficit of US$500 million and if Treasury
were to bankroll civil servants salaries, the deficit would balloon.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011
17:48
University of Zimbabwe political scientist John Makumbe said there
was need
to put a minimum educational threshold for aspiring legislators to
enable
quality and constructive debate in parliament.
He said the grading
must be done at party level.
“We need people who can read a policy
paper and be able to comprehend it,”
said Makumbe, who added “the quality of
debate in the august House is an
indication of the general collapse of
debate in the country.”
Political analyst Charles Mangongera said the
quality of debate underscores
the level of mediocrity within the governance
structure of the legislature.
He said most of those that joined politics
after 2000 were driven by bravery
rather than skill and sound academic
background.
“Some of them joined politics without any grounding in
academia to enable
them to grasp issues let alone comprehend them,”
Mangongera said.
“This is why we have such archaic and weird proposals coming
from our
legislators.”
He said both Zanu PF and the two MDC
formations needed to embark on a
comprehensive talent and skills search to
groom leaders of tomorrow.
Mlotshwa’s proposal also ignited debate on social
network, Facebook.
Another political analyst Alex Magaisa on Facebook
said the power to
govern-based on popularity alone was flawed and can be
recipe for
mediocrity.
He said he adored the US system where the
president chooses his cabinet from
across the board, whether or not one is a
parliamentarian.
“They recognised the flaw that democracy does not
always give you the best
candidates who merit the role of exercising
executive powers,” he said.
One Tawanda Muchinguri said the problem rests
with the people who vote such
people into office.
“Even if one
was to have sex once a month without protection but with 12
people in a year
what will we solve?” he said.
Magaisa said Mlotshwa made the
presumption that the so-called “appetite” is
held exclusively by the male,
which is not necessarily correct and has no
scientific basis.
One
Bright Mushure commented, “It’s unfortunate the lawmaker has decided to
take
such a long holiday from common sense. I will only take her seriously
when
she comes back from the vacation.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:46
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
ASPIRING legislators must have a minimum level of education
to qualify for
election into the House of Assembly or Senate to enable them
to comprehend
and debate crucial policy issues, political analysts have
said.
Although human rights proponents would view the suggestion as
discriminatory, the analysts insisted that it was the best way to promote
good governance and national development.
This suggestion follows
recent remarks by Senator for Matobo Sithembile
Mlotshwa (MDC-T) that men
should be injected with “immobilisers” to reduce
their sexual desire to curb
the spread of HIV and Aids.
Contributing to a debate on HIV and Aids
in the Senate recently, Mlotshwa
stunned other legislators when she said it
was important to reduce men’s
appetite for sex.
“If the
scientists that we have here look into the issue of trying to inject
men
with a substance that will make them lose appetite and use that chance
once
a month at home, I think that might help,” she said.
In 2009,
Mlotshwa set tongues wagging after she complained during debate on
the same
topic that a condom advert was “too explicit and could encourage
women to
lust for well-endowed men”.
“Those kinds of adverts affect the
womenfolk. In a quest to find out whether
there is such a man, the women end
up contracting HIV,” Mlotshwa said.
The Standard could not independently
ascertain Mlotshwa’s educational
background.
However, her CV,
which she deposited with Parliament, shows that she
attended a string of
primary schools in Matabeleland South before going to
Ekusileni Secondary
school in Filabusi.
She went to a polytechnic and New Vision College,
a private institution.
Born in 1965 in Matobo, she joined Zapu in
1976 and then the MDC in 2000.
Mlotshwa claims to be an entrepreneur with
interests in women’s affairs,
sports and culture.
She however is
not alone as several other legislators have also made equally
outrageous
proposals in the past few years.
Zanu PF MP for Uzumba Simbaneuta
Mudarikwa once stunned the House during a
question-and-answer session when
he suggested that marijuana be legalised.
Mudarikwa asked
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development
minister Joseph Made
why government prohibited the cultivation of marijuana.
“I would like
to know from the minister the national policy with regards to
creating
export processing zones (EPZ) in remote areas,” said Mudarikwa.
“The reason
for creating the EPZs in those remote areas is so that we can
grow
marijuana.”
His CV says he did ‘O’ level at Murehwa High School
before enrolling at
Highfield High School for ‘A’ level as an external
student.
Mudarikwa, who boasts having several children, also attended
Bo Ben Botac
Military Academy in Yugoslavia.
Mubhawu
suggested isolation of those living with HIV and Aids
Former
Tafara-Mabvuku MP Timothy Mubhawu (MDC) once courted the ire of HIV
and Aids
activists when he said Zimbabwe should quarantine all people with
HIV and
Aids and fast-track their demise by denying them anti-retroviral
drugs.
This, he said, would curb further spread of the virus.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:44
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
EDITH Goredema was happy when her life policy with a local
insurer matured
last month.
She and her husband were excited as they
remembered how they managed to buy
all roofing material for their house and
some beasts from a previous policy.
But that was in the early
1990s.
“We rushed to the company’s offices and completed the
paperwork,” she said.
“We could not wait to go to the bank and asked
them to tell us how much
there was and they said we needed to be patient as
the money would be in our
account soon.
“But our excitement was
punctured when we found only US$100 in the account.
They had deposited
US$106 and the US$6 had gone to bank charges.”
Goredema said they
could not understand how they ended up getting so little
money for a 1994
policy which they had serviced religiously throughout the
period of
economic hardships.
They also paid their premiums after
dollarisation.
“What it means is that we only got a re-imbursement of
the money we paid
since dollarisation and nothing for all the other years
yet these companies
used our money to buy properties and also bought foreign
currency during the
days of ‘burning’,” she said.
“This is so
unfair.
“We have always known that insurance is an investment and if
you have failed
to do something meaningful, at least a beast (cow) would be
fine but US$100
can only buy three goats.”
A survey showed that
some companies were paying as little as US$20 for
policies maturing this
year while other payments stood at US$50.
Policy holders said they
felt robbed and were discouraged from entertaining
insurance company
representatives currently visiting their workplaces
persuading them to take
up policies.
“They are daylight robbers,” another disappointed client
raved.
“When they are selling their policies, they behave like a man
courting a
woman. They are persuasive and paint a rosy picture of their
services but
when they give you US$20 and you try to get an explanation,
nobody
entertains you.”
“We feel for our clients who are exiting
now because they are getting very
little,” Fidelity Life Assurance of
Zimbabwe’s operations director Paul
Razunguzwa, who also sits in the
Zimbabwe Association of Pension Funds
board, said.
“Yes, most
companies invested in property but the values of these are
currently very
low due to low occupation, low rentals and a very high
defaulting rate in
rent payments.
“A property which brings zero income is
worthless.
“But we are seeing signs of good times ahead so much that
if the economy
fully recovers, if the macro environment improves, policy
holders will
enjoy increased benefits.”
How removal of zeros
impacted on policies
The removal of three zeros in August 2006 also meant
that those with
premiums of less than Z$1 000 lost everything as they
deposited it and the
losses continued with further removal of
zeros.
Some companies said they advised policy holders to adjust
their sum assured
and premiums as hyper-inflation continued to gallop but
very few did that
and those few are enjoying the benefits
now.
Why we are paying peanuts: Insurers
insurance
companies confirmed they were paying paltry sums insisting this
was the
total worth of the policies.
They claimed some clients actually
deserved “nothing” but some companies
came up with “thank you” schemes
whereby they paid policy holders a little
token of appreciation for being
clients over the years.
“A lot of people stopped paying their
premiums around 2005 and throughout
the hyperinflationary period,” an
official with an insurance company said.
“These are the people who are giving
us problems now but each policy clearly
states a period within which an
unserviced policy lapses.
“A lot of them came back after
dollarisation asking for their dollars but
even if we were to remove the
period within which an unserviced policy
lapses, you will still find that a
lot of factors rendered their accounts
worthless.”
They explained
that from 2005, they were paying more money to banks to
access deposited
premiums and in some cases, they had to pay seven times the
deposited
amount.
“Insurance companies buy equity on the stock exchange, they
also buy
property and pay what is called the prescribed assets ratio
requirement
which was 45% at the time and also invest in the money market,”
Razunguzwa
said.
“A systemic failure which cannot be blamed on
any one company resulted in
the loss of everything except for residual
assets in the equity and property
sectors and that is what is being shared
at the moment although the values
are subdued.”
Equity, which
relates to shares on the stock exchange, was affected when the
Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange closed in November 2008.
When it re-opened in February
2009, companies, which had been rendered
worthless by the closure, were
valued at one cent.
They said the bulk of the prescribed assets were
government treasury bills
which were never paid while all the money
companies put in the banks was
also rendered worthless.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:14
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
THE National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has suspended
its equities
manager, James Chiwera, for allegedly manipulating the fund’s
equity deals
in a scam that could have prejudiced the authority of thousands
of dollars.
The issue was brought to the fore by Southern Trust Securities
(Pvt) Limited
who wrote to NSSA general manager James Matiza on May 31,
expressing their
displeasure on how Chiwera was conducting the authority’s
business
transactions.
Documents in our possession show that
Chiwera would sell his shares and
those of his children and wife to NSSA
without declaring his interests.
The documents indicate that between February
and April this year, Chiwera
sold his shares in Ariston and Pioneer to
NSSA.
“We write to register our displeasure on how your equities
dealer is
conducting NSSA business,” says the letter.
“We wonder
whether you know what is happening ... this guy is selling to
NSSA his own
shares. The whole market is concerned with the manner of
business
conduct.”
“Please investigate and take corrective measures before all
his friends’
shares are sold to NSSA and also before it leaks to the press,”
the letter
says. All the share certificates bear the same Marlborough
address and also
have the Chiwera surname.
The letter says among
those on whose behalf Chiwera sold shares are
Mutsawaishe, Kudakwashe and
Kudzai. They all use Chiwera as their surname.
A senior NSSA official Tendai
Mafunda confirmed that Chiwera was on
suspension. He however referred
questions to Mike Hamilton, the authority’s
public relations
consultant.
Hamilton also confirmed that Chiwera has been suspended
pending
investigations into allegations of misconduct.
“Should
investigations con- firm that he has a case to answer, a
disciplinary
hearing is likely to be held before the end of July,” he said.
NSSA
has in the past years been under fire for paying low pensions which the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions described as “worthless”.
NSSA
runs a social protection programme that provides individuals with
income
security when faced with the contingencies of old age, survivorship,
incapacity, disability or unemployment.
However, the authority
has courted controversy for paying paltry packages to
injured workers or
retired people while investing massively in properties,
listed and unlisted
stocks. It also pays its senior managers handsomely.
NSSA has also
been accused of financing business projects owned by
politicians and their
cronies, as well as ill-conceived transactions that
have resulted in serious
prejudice to pensioners.
Interest ceiling on Nssa
cash
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on its behalf, NSSA said it had
told banks
that any money it provides them with for loans to businesses must
in future
be lent at an interest rate of no more than 15%, including
interest payable
to NSSA and any handling charges.
NSSA general
manager James Matiza told bankers, at a meeting he held with
them at NSSA
headquarters on Wednesday, that it would be a condition of any
finance
provided by NSSA to banks after August 1 that it was lent to
businesses at
an interest rate of no more than 15%.
“No matter what period the loan
was lent for, from 30 days up to 365 days,
the interest rate should be no
more than this amount. That might not make
economic sense normally but
Zimbabwe’s economy at present was not normal,”
he said.
NSSA
might review the position after a year.
Se tiam pra? quam nonsu in
nondam porem o Cast publiam sim opteri tabem
ocaest acentie ssederes caesse
orum nesse cuppliciptes vis, cis tam rei
sernius,
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011
17:13
BY NQOBILE BHEBHE
MDC-T Bulawayo province on Friday
launched an initiative aimed at reviving
industries in the city in what
observers said was a parallel project to
another one spearheaded by
government under the “Let Bulawayo Survive”
banner.
The conference,
attended by MDC-T Matabeleland- based cabinet ministers and
legislators,
were held under the theme “Working Together To Re-industrialise
Bulawayo”.
The province said it would forward the resolutions to
its National Executive
with a view of moving a motion in parliament and
tabling it in Cabinet for
action.
However, two months ago Cabinet
set a seven-member ministerial task force
committee chaired by Industry and
Commerce minister, Welshman Ncube to look
at possibilities of reviving
Bulawayo’s industrial sector that has virtually
collapsed.
Scores
of firms have closed shop in Bulawayo, which was once the country’s
industrial hub with around 75% of manufacturing activity centred in the
city, citing lack of access to capital and perennial water
shortages.
Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo said the closure of
industries was an
act of sabotage. “There has been no substantial policy
response from
government and the business sector.
“The response
to this challenge would be solved when financial decisions are
moved from
Harare and decentralised.
“It is highly possible that the
de-industrialisation in Bulawayo could be a
calculated act of sabotage by
some decision-makers in government and
business,” Moyo said.
He
demanded a clear government supported action plan with “unambiguous
strategies of how it intends to stop closure of
factories”.
Although Moyo acknowledged the setting up of a Cabinet
committee, he said
“there is no urgency to come up with concrete measures to
revive the
industries.”
Minister of State Enterprises and
Parastatals, Gorden Moyo, who is also
MDC -T Bulawayo provincial chairman
said the resolutions taken are pro-poor
as the party is not for
capitalists.
“We will present the document to the Cabinet task
force,” he said. “As we
control parliament we will force the house to
debate the issues of
Matabeleland.”
However, Bulawayo-based
economist Eric Bloch said although he was deeply
concerned about
de-industrialisation of Bulawayo, it is a misconception that
the city was
the only one affected.
“It’s not just a Bulawayo problem but a
national one. It’s a misconception
because Bulawayo has always been the
industrial hub but industries in Harare
are also struggling.
“The
solution is the recovery of the Zimbabwe economy as a whole” Bloch
said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:07
By Kudzai
Chimhangwa
A minister has blamed the collapse of the National
Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ) on the Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba-led
board alleging it
had folded its hands while the country’s rail network was
being destroyed by
vandals and criminals.
Tichaona Mudzingwa, the Deputy
Minister of Transport, Communications and
Infrastructure Development said
both the board and management must shoulder
the blame for NRZ’s
demise.
Nyikayaramba, the controversial commander of 3 Brigade has
been accused by
Mudzingwa of clinging to the top post on the NRZ board
despite its term of
office having expired three years
ago.
Government in June said a new board would be appointed soon to
replace
Nyikayaramba’s board. But Nyakayaramba has said he has not
participated in
NRZ activities since his term expired in
2008.
Another former soldier, Retired Air Force of Zimbabwe Air
Commodore Mike
Karakadzai is running the parastatal.
Mudzingwa
specifically referred to the electrified Gweru-Harare railway
line, which
has been vandalised.
“The board and management could have averted the
massive damage that has
left the line completely destroyed.
“They
could have requested for military assistance for deployment of troops
to
secure the line, after all it is less than 300km,” said Mudzingwa adding
that the current NRZ board should be dismissed.
“This is what we
are discussing and we hope to reach an agreement soon as a
ministry.
“When the lifespan of a board expires they are changed
altogether or
alternatively, instructed to run the institution for six
months in the
interim, we are looking for suitable
candidates.”
There have been numerous reports of maladministration
and incompetence at
the NRZ, once regarded as one of the region’s biggest
railway transport
companies.
Mudzingwa said the new board, once
appointed, will have to work hard to turn
around NRZ’s
fortunes.
He said government expected the rail transporter to move
nine million tonnes
of cargo annually up from between 6,4 million and 6,5
million tonnes it is
currently moving.
NRZ public relations
manager Fanuel Masikati said management and the board
were currently
revamping the rail transporter.
Masikati said the NRZ had beefed up
security on the railway network with the
assistance of the police and other
security institutions.
“We are currently engaged in a study to
introduce an alternative cabling
system that is vandal-proof,” he
said.
“We are rehabilitating the entire railway infrastructure, not
only in terms
of the telecommunications system but the track itself,” he
said, adding that
the NRZ has acquired 12 000 tonnes of rail from China to
facilitate the
process.
iNDIGENISATION
FACTOR...
Tichaona Mudzingwa, however says efforts to rehabilitate the
loss-making
National Railways of Zimbabwe were being hampered by the
uncertainty caused
by the indigenisation laws.
He said there were
investors from Algeria, South Africa, India, Canada and
Australia that had
expressed interest in revamping the country’s railway
network but were put
off by inconsistent government policies.
“It is quite saddening,”
Mudzingwa said. “One can easily tell from the
questions that they
(investors) ask that they are worried about the security
of their
investments and the implications of indigenisation.”
NRZ’s long
struggle to secure rolling stock
NRZ has over the years battled a chronic
shortage of locomotives with just
65 out of 185 said to be functional. About
3 400 out of 8 300 wagons are
also said to be
serviceable.
Government has so far been rehabilitating 10 wagons per
month at a cost of
US$500 each while a single locomotive has been serviced
at a cost of US$300
every three months.
But the NRZ has benefited
from the government bankrolled modernisation of
signaling equipment to make
use of global positioning system (GPS)
technology.
The system
currently operational on less than 500km of the rail network, is
being used
on the Gweru-Bulawayo and Bulawayo-Hwange routes.
Paul Mavima, the
principal director in Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara’s office said
the revival of NRZ was crucial if Zimbabwe’s economy
was to be
resuscitated.
“Rail transport costs are less than half the cost of
road transportation so
the railway system is certainly of strategic
importance to the country,”
said Mavima, whose office is tasked with
spearheading private-public
partnerships (PPPs.)
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:07
BY
NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — A number of Indian businesspeople have been
putting their
properties and businesses up for sale since Zanu PF youths
stepped up their
campaign to seize unoccupied buildings in the city.
The
youths are targeting buildings owned by businesspeople of Indian origin
and
white Zimbabweans saying its part of the government’s empowerment
programme.
A long list of companies, including some of the city’s
well-known brands are
up for sale, investigations by Standardbusiness have
revealed.
But Hindu Society chairperson, Vijay Mehta whose
organisation represents a
number of businesspeople of Indian origin could
not confirm nor deny that
the rush to sell properties was sparked by the
invasions.
“It is true that of late, there are businesspeople from
our society who have
put up their businesses for sale but I cannot say that
this is because of
what is happening,” Mehta said.
Buildings
owned by Indians that have been invaded by Zanu PF youths include
Zambesia
and Canberra flats located between Leopold Takawira Street and
Sixth
Avenue.
The militant Zanu PF youths have also grabbed Capri building
which houses
the Pizzaghetti owned by the Di Palma family who are of Italian
origin.
Recently, the youths blocked Khalil Gaibie, from evicting
tenants from his
Elons Court building over late payment of rentals, adding
that they have
taken over the building.
Absolom Sikhosana, the
Zanu-PF national youth chairman told Standardbusiness
that the party
leadership had not sanctioned the invasions.
Zanu PF provincial
chairman, Isaac Dakamela has also on numerous occasions
voiced concern over
the grabbing of businesses.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011
17:05
BY KUDZAI KUWAZA
VICTORIA FALLS — Kingdom Financial
Holdings group chief executive officer
Lynn Mukonoweshuro has said calls for
increased wages and salaries should be
linked to levels of
productivity.
Speaking at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe
Winter School
in Victoria Falls recently, Mukonoweshuro said there is no
relationship
between wage demands and current levels of
productivity.
She noted that the low levels of productivity was
demonstrated by Zimbabwe’s
136th position out of 139 on the World Economic
Forum Global Competitive
Index.
Mukonoweshuro said the need to
resolve the disparity between wage
expectations and productivity levels
needed to be addressed on a long-term
national level and not on sectoral
basis.
She expressed concern that there was neither information nor
statistics in
the post-dollarisation era to support the levels of wage
demands by
employees.
Mukonoweshuro emphasised the need to address the
issue of the counrty’s
politics to spur economic growth.
“Unless
our political issues are resolved we will continue to have problems
with
foreign direct investment inflow and sovereignty risk,” she
warned.
The country, she said, would continue to access short-term
funding from
international institutions as long as there was inconsistencies
in
government policy
She said that policy changes have to be sensitive to
the economy and urged
delegates to “start preaching, influencing and
lobbying for policy changes”.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011
17:28
Civil servants received an upward alteration of their salaries last
week but
the manner in which it was handled stinks.
Under Zimbabwe’s
laws, it is the Ministry of Finance which is responsible
for the management
of public funds but it was sidelined, as was the key
Ministry of Public
Service when President Robert Mugabe turned to the
Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC) for the US$40 million needed
for the
increments.
The way the money, raised through the sale of diamonds
mined at Chiadzwa,
was deposited into the government salaries account
without the involvement
of the Ministry of Finance is a serious cause for
concern.
Among other things, it shows that Mugabe, after being
snubbed by the
Ministry of Finance, now has a parallel source of money in
the form of
Chiadzwa diamonds.
As shown last week, these funds
are available to Mugabe without either the
consent of the Finance ministry
or the scrutiny of other partners in the
inclusive
government.
Over the past few months Mugabe has had headaches dealing
with Finance
minister Tendai Biti who has stopped the looting of the
Treasury by Zanu PF
chefs.
Biti is known for insisting that the
government has to “eat what it has
gathered”.
So stopping Biti
from laying his hands on diamond funds was Mugabe’s best
way of going ahead
with his populist promises to civil servants.
But this move, which
should be condemned in the strongest terms, is a
reflection of the
lawlessness that has become synonymous with Zanu PF rule.
This usurpation of
the Finance ministry’s powers demonstrates how diamond
revenues can easily
be used to fuel conflict if not used wisely and
accountably.
What
next are the diamond revenues illegally held in ZMDC coffers going to
be
used for? To arm Zanu PF militias during election times, perhaps? Or, in
the
case of electoral loss, to destabilise the country?
Last week’s
action is the beginning of warlordism. The Kimberley Process
should take
note and act accordingly so that the money raised from Chiadzwa
diamonds is
not abused in this manner.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 23 July 2011
17:26
By Wifred Mhanda
There is a raging public debate on
security sector reform that has been
triggered by controversial remarks by
senior military officers.
Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, commander
of 3 Infantry Brigade
based in Mutare recently declared in an interview with
the Zimbabwe
Independent, that Mugabe and Zanu PF should rule forever, and
poured scorn
on the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. He declared that Zanu
PF would win
the next election and that he was prepared to fight and die for
Mugabe. In
further utterances, he designated the PM to be a national
security threat
and not a political one, in response to a challenge by
Tsvangirai for the
pro-Zanu PF generals to take off their uniforms and enter
the political
fray.
The remarks by Nyikayaramba are patently
political and partisan and
disrespectful of the PM’s office and not expected
of a serving military
officer of such a senior rank. The remarks follow on
similar utterances by
the so-called securocrats who include among their rank
Police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, that they would never salute
Tsvangirai if he won an election to become president. Indeed, they
spearheaded the bloody campaign for Mugabe’s re-election in June
2008.
The country’s service chiefs, in a joint statement at a
press conference
ahead of the March 2002 presidential election, declared
that the office of a
head of state was a straight jacket that could not be
occupied by anyone
without liberation war credentials. The reaction to the
remarks by
Nyikayaramba have to be seen in the context of the trend by
senior military
officers to identify themselves with Mugabe and Zanu PF in
violation of the
standards of a professional defence force that should place
the national
interest above partisan sectional
considerations.
The remarks by Nyikayaramba have thus rekindled the
debate on the
appropriateness of political and partisan utterances by
serving senior
military officers. It is clear that their remarks are in
contravention of
the provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the Defence
Act, the Police
Act and the Prisons Act for the establishment of
professional and
non-partisan security forces. The disparaging remarks by
the commanders of
the security forces directed at Mugabe’s opponents should
be contrasted with
the conduct of the Rhodesian security forces in 1980
following Mugabe’s and
Zanu PF’s victory in the 1980 Independence elections.
The overwhelming
majority of the former Rhodesian security forces and their
commanders
respected the outcome of the election and accepted the new
political order.
Admittedly, there were some recalcitrant elements
that resisted the new
order as evidenced by the destruction of some aircraft
at Thornhill Airbase
in Gweru in the early 1980s. That notwithstanding, the
majority of the
former Rhodesian security forces remained loyal to the new
government of
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe with some still in service to
date. That is
what is expected of professional security forces; respecting
the outcome of
an election as an expression of the will of the majority of
the people.
During the liberation struggle, the liberation forces
were considered to be
the people’s forces that fought for the people’s
liberation and their
protection from the Rhodesian security forces. The
present record of the
country’s security forces is now the exact opposite of
this expectation with
the security forces visiting abuse and atrocities on
defenceless civilians;
the very people they are supposed to serve and
protect. They have
orchestrated Zanu PF’s violent election campaigns since
2000 that saw
thousands of people killed, tortured and women raped and their
homes and
property destroyed for no crime than their constitutional support
for the
opposition.
Such forces can never be considered to be
people’s forces on account of
their acts of terror against the people.
Zimbabweans have been left
wondering what has gone wrong with the country’s
security forces that have
reduced themselves to become Zanu PF militia. This
was not their expectation
when they supported the fight for freedom,
democracy, social justice,
respect for human dignity and
peace.
During the war, Zanla forces operated according to the dictum:
“The party
commands the gun and the gun must never be allowed to command the
party”.
After independence the maxim translated to: “The nation commands the
gun and
the gun must never be allowed to command the nation”.
(To be
continued next week.)
About the Author
l Mhanda is a veteran
of the liberation war. His nom de guerre was Dzinashe
Machingura.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday,
23 July 2011 17:25
By Nevanji Madanhire
On May 1 this
year, this column had an instalment entitled Wa Mutharika Cuts
His Nose To
Spite His Face. It turns out the article was prophetic. Malawi
was in chaos
last week as thousands of its citizens took to the streets in
three main
cities to demonstrate against his government.
He has just had his police
murder 18 people who were among the peaceful
demonstrators; hundreds more
were injured.
The people were demonstrating against his mismanagement
of the economy which
has resulted in a debilitating shortage of fuel
worsened by an equally
debilitating shortage of foreign
currency.
As they say, wa Mutharika now has blood on his hands; in
Zimbabwe we say on
his chest, meaning he will forever smell it and it will
haunt him throughout
his life.
Wa Mutharika on Friday tried to
shift the blame, fingering his estranged
former deputy Joyce Banda,
opposition leader John Tembo and civil society
leaders for the death of the
demonstrators.
He told them: “The blood of these people who have died
is on you. Let their
spirits haunt you at night.”
But this is
merely passing the buck. The truth of the matter is that wa
Mutharika is
personally responsible for each jot of blood spilled in the
state-sponsored
violence that he used to suppress the peaceful
demonstrations which had
initially been okayed by the police.
Wa Mutharika also tellingly
promised to go after leaders of future
demonstrations. He said his patience
had worn out. “This time I’ll go after
you! Even if you hide in holes I’ll
smoke you out!”
By these threats wa Mutharika has only confirmed what
the world already
feared. Expelled British High Commissioner to Malawi
Fergus Cochrane-Dyet
had put it succinctly in a leaked diplomatic cable when
he said wa Mutharika
was a “combative president” who was becoming “ever more
autocratic and
intolerant of criticism”.
Wa Mutharika has in
recent months moved to put in place restrictions on the
press and academic
freedom. He has had a law enacted that empowers his
minister of information
to shut down newspapers which he deems “contrary to
the public
interest”.
Three private radio stations have already been shut under
this law so they
would not report on the demonstrations. Another offending
law gives police
the power to carry out searches without a warrant. Yet
another law blocks
people or groups from taking out injunctions against the
government. Local
elections have been postponed for six years.
Wa
Mutharika has shut down news websites and social media networks such as
Twitter and Facebook to prevent users from coordinating the demonstrations
and he has ordered Internet service providers to shut down.
In
the previous column (Wa Mutharika Cuts His Nose To Spite His Face, The
Standard May 1 2011) it was averred that wa Mutharika had never really been
democratic but fate thrust democracy upon him. Historians say wa Mutharika
was actually a beneficiary of Banda’s development programmes. In 1964 —
shortly after what was dubbed Cabinet Crisis, wa Mutharika was one of the 32
Malawians, selected by Banda to travel to India on a scholarship for “fast
track” diplomas and possible posting into the then white-dominated civil
service. In other words, wa Mutharika did not go into exile in reaction to
the political crisis in Malawi but as a beneficiary of
it.
According to online publications wa Mutharika has upheld the
memory of Banda
as a national hero, saying that he would continue Banda’s
work. In September
2004, he restored Banda’s name to the national stadium,
the central
hospital, and the international airport; first post-Banda
president Bakili
Muluzi had removed Banda’s name from all three places. Wa
Mutharika was
present at the May 2006 unveiling of a mausoleum for Banda
that cost US$620
000.
He also has his own delusions of grandeur.
He has built a white marble
mausoleum for his late first wife
Zimbabwean-born Ethel Zvauya in imitation
of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who
built the Taj Mahal in memory of his third
wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
He
has in a short period of time taken Malawi back to the days of Kamuzu
Banda
and even beyond because, clearly, Malawi is going the Zimbabwe way.
President
Robert Mugabe has always been intolerant of criticism which he has
harshly
suppressed ever since he came to power in 1980. Not only did he wish
to
establish a centralist one-party state in which criticism of him and his
policies would be anathema but he was prepared to use the uniformed forces
to force his way. This was demonstrated early on in his reign when he tried
to violently suppress dissent in southwest Zimbabwe in a period now
notoriously known as Gukurahundi.
When credible opposition to his
rule was born around the turn of the
century, state-sponsored violence to
suppress dissent became the norm. The
new laws that wa Mutharika has
promulgated are an echo of those that Mugabe
put in place in Zimbabwe. The
powers that wa Mutharika has vested on the
police and the minister of
information are a replica of those that our own
police have been endowed
with.
Demonstrations are forcibly suppressed here and wa Mutharika
has taken a
leaf out of our own book.
The next developments in
Malawi are very predicatable. It is clear that
because he now has blood on
his chest wa Mutharika has lost the legitimacy
to rule Malawi and he and his
party will not win any future elections in
Malawi. Constitutionally he is
not allowed to stand in the next elections
but like most African presidents,
he has attempted to alter the country’s
constitution so he can stand for
another term. It is said because this was
going to be virtually impossible
wa Mutharika was working towards anointing
a brother of his to succeed
him.
But he may try other tricks; he has already postponed local
elections for
six years. He may do the same with national elections. This
might sound too
grotesque to contemplate but we will see how from now he
will have to depend
more and more on the uniformed forces to keep himself in
power. His police
force has already killed people; they will be willing to
continue. Wa
Mutharika’s threats reinforce this possibility.
To
his advantage he has a youth brigade that is willing to kill on his
behalf
and it won’t be surprising if in the next few days his generals come
to the
fore of Malawian politics as securocrats. He has already replaced the
army
commander.
Malawi’s hope lies in pushing him out as was done to the
leaders of Tunisia
and Egypt; not doing so will prolong the suffering of the
Malawians.