Zim Independent
Dumisani
Muleya
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has not been endorsed by Zanu PF
as the party's
sole candidate in next year's critical presidential election
as repeatedly
claimed by his loyalists, the Zimbabwe Independent can
reveal.
The Independent can further disclose the decision to hold
joint
parliamentary and presidential polls in March 2008 instead of 2010 as
initially suggested in official circles was not made by party structures,
but by Mugabe and his hangers-on, including Emmerson Mnangagwa and Patrick
Chinamasa.
Zanu PF structures in March proposed 2010 as the
election year, which
Mugabe wanted before he was blocked by senior party
officials at the
ill-fated Goromonzi annual conference in December last
year, but Mugabe
unilaterally declared that the polls would be next
year.
Mugabe's backers - who for a while managed to mislead the
party and
the public over his candidacy - are currently on a campaign to
garner
support for him to be formally endorsed as the candidate at key
elections
ahead of the prospectively watershed extraordinary congress or
conference in
December.
Zanu PF officials in different factions
are skirmishing over whether
to hold a special congress or the annual
conference in December.
Traditional chiefs and Zanu PF MPs two
weeks ago reportedly endorsed
Mugabe as the party candidate. The Zanu PF
Youth League and Women's League
have also purportedly endorsed him. Zanu PF
officials have claimed Mugabe
has been approved to be the candidate by party
structures, taking their cue
from the central committee meeting held on
March 30.
After that controversial meeting, Zanu PF spokesman
Nathan Shumuyarira
was quoted in the Herald as saying the president had been
endorsed as the
candidate. "The candidate of the party is President Mugabe.
He was endorsed
by the central committee as the candidate of the party in
those elections.
That is the total sum of major decisions taken today,"
Shamuyarira said.
However, minutes of that March 30 central
committee meeting show that
there was no resolution to endorse Mugabe as the
party candidate. The
60-page original verbatim minutes of the meeting do not
contain a decision
to approve Mugabe's candidature, meaning the claim was
made-up by his
loyalists after they failed to push their agenda formally at
the meeting.
This explains the ongoing scramble by Mugabe loyalists to
secure endorsement
of his candidacy through an informal process ahead of the
party gathering in
December.
Sources said influential Zanu PF
officials, particularly those aligned
to the faction led by retired army
commander General Solomon Mujuru, do not
want Mugabe as the Zanu PF
candidate. They are said to be preparing for a
showdown with him in
December, especially after their recent bitter fallout.
Their
resolve has been strengthened by their ability to frustrate
Mugabe at the
Goromonzi conference last December and later in March at the
central
committee meeting. The experiences are said to have shaken Mugabe to
a point
where he is said to have contemplated giving up before or at the
forthcoming
December meeting.
The Mujuru faction is pushing for Mugabe to quit
at the expected
extraordinary congress, while some in the Mnangagwa camp and
a Third Way
group led by Elliot Manyika, a high-ranking politburo member,
are
campaigning for Mugabe to stay on.
The minutes, obtained
from a group of top Zanu PF officials opposed to
Mugabe's continued
leadership, show that Mugabe was not endorsed as the
candidate. In fact,
even in his closing remarks at the meeting, which
started at 1:00 pm and
ended 16:35 on March 30 at the Zanu PF HQ, Mugabe did
not once mention the
issue of him having been approved as the candidate.
Mugabe
summarised the main proceedings by declaring that elections
would be held
next year, even though Zanu PF party structures, including the
committee on
the state of the party which presented an important report to
the meeting
based on the Goromonzi conference and the Youth League, had said
they wanted
elections in 2010.
"The President and First Secretary, Cde RG
Mugabe, summed up the
discussion by noting that consensus had been reached
on the 2008
harmonisation option," the Zanu PF central committee meeting
minutes say.
To make matters worse, Mugabe expressed satisfaction
with the manner
in which the meeting had dealt with Goromonzi conference
"resolutions" that
had been left inconclusive after they were referred back
to provinces at the
end of the annual gathering. It means he had no basis on
which to declare
elections would be held next year since the Goromonzi
decisions opted for
2010 despite open hostility and resistance from the
Mujuru faction.
In fact, the report by the state of the party
committee compiled at
Goromonzi and later presented to the central committee
meeting on March 30,
suggested 2010.
"Desirous of reducing
costs and saving money for the important
demands, it was resolved that the
presidential, parliamentary and all local
government elections be harmonised
and held on a single day in 2010," the
committee, chaired by Manyika,
reported.
The Youth League also said in the meeting that they
wanted polls in
2010. "The youth of the party have resolved that the
presidential,
parliamentary, senatorial and local government elections be
held
simultaneously in 2010," the minutes say.
However, Mugabe
declared that the polls would be held in 2008 after
Chinamasa had presented
a report giving different scenarios, ranging from
2008, 2010 to 2020. He was
supported by Chinamasa and Mnangagwa - who had
been working on the issue
with him - and a few rent-a-crowd members,
including politburo members
Olivia Muchena, Naison Ndlovu, Sithembiso Nyoni
and central committee member
G Tungamirai.
During his presentation, Chinamasa recommended the
2008 option, saying
it went well with the "party's democratic principle and
traditions of
regularly presenting itself to the electorate". He later
claimed there was
consensus for elections to be held in 2008, laying the
ground for Mugabe to
declare elections next year, and later his loyalists to
claim that he had
been endorsed by the central committee as the presidential
candidate.
Zim Independent
Constantine
Chimakure/Loughty Dube
THE two formations of the MDC are now
engaged in open mudslinging,
with the Morgan Tsvangirai camp attacking
senior members of the Arthur
Mutambara camp at rallies.
This
follows last month's collapse of coalition talks between the two
formations
ahead of next year's harmonised presidential and parliamentary
elections.
Tsvangirai's group, which began nationwide rallies
last month to urge
its members to register as voters, recently denounced its
rival faction's
secretary-general, Welshman Ncube and his deputy Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, at rallies in Mabvuku and Glen Norah.
In
Mabvuku three weeks ago, Harare provincial chairman Morgan Femai
described
Ncube as an enemy of the MDC and the architect of the party's
split in
October 2005 over Senate elections.
"Femai described Ncube as the
enemy of the party and also accused him
of masterminding the MDC split
because of his dislike of Tsvangirai. This
happened before Tsvangirai,
Nelson Chamisa (MDC spokesperson) and Elias
Mudzuri (organising secretary)
arrived to address the rally," an MDC
official said this week.
At the weekend, the Tsvangirai camp held a rally in Glen Norah,
Misihairabwi-Mushonga's constituency, and its leaders took turns to verbally
attack the lawmaker.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga yesterday said she
was informed that Chamisa and
Hatfield legislator Tapiwa Mashakada denounced
her last Sunday through
sloganeering.
"I am aware that Chamisa
and Mashakada took turns to attack me through
slogans during a rally which
they advertised as Tsvangirai's. It appears to
me that the attack was done
with Tsvangirai's blessing and I do not
understand why an opposition party
goes into another opposition's
constituency and attacks the legislator. Our
common enemy as the opposition
is the Zanu PF government. We are in the same
trenches and we should not be
fighting each other," she said.
But Chamisa yesterday denied that his faction was on a verbal warpath
with
the Mutambara camp.
"I do not want to waste my time commenting on
such baseless
accusations," Chamisa said. "I am tired of accusations from
people who want
to have relevance by lying."
Efforts to get
comment from Mashakada and Femai were in vain
yesterday.
Talks
for the two factions to form a coalition ahead of next year's
polls
collapsed amid reports that both camps failed to agree on formulae to
select
parliamentary candidates.
They also differed on how they would
appoint a cabinet made up of
members of both camps in the event that they
win the parliamentary and
presidential polls next year.
Tsvangirai's camp, at a rally in Bulawayo at the weekend, openly
stated that
there were no talks taking place for a coalition.
In posters
advertising the rally, the camp indicated that Tsvangirai
was its
presidential candidate next year.
Provincial chairman Lovemore Moyo
told party supporters that there
were no talks taking place between the two
opposition party factions.
Moyo, however, said the Tsvangirai
faction was still consulting
grassroots members on the way
forward.
"The MDC is currently involved in a process of consulting
you as the
owners of the party on whether we go ahead with the talks and
that is
exactly what we are doing and we are taking the exercise
nationwide," Moyo
said.
He said there were people who were
spreading rumours that the factions
had already agreed to unite, but said
such statements were not true.
"There has been talk in some
quarters that we are going to re-unite
with our colleagues soon, but that is
not true as we have not reached an
agreement on that," Moyo
said.
Tsvangirai in his address did not touch on the talks issue,
but urged
party supporters to register to vote under the ongoing voter
registration
exercise.
"We might come to rallies in our
thousands, but it does not help when
you do not register to vote,"
Tsvangirai said.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has rejected business'
request for an
immediate end to the price blitz, one of 15 tabled at their
critical meeting
on Monday.
Sources privy to the meeting
between Mugabe and business executives
said four of the demands, including
the immediate stoppage of the current
crackdown which left shops empty, were
thrown out at the onset.
Instead Mugabe opted for a gradual process
whilst government closely
monitors compliance with other proposals to secure
economic recovery. The
executives are said to have used Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono to secure
a meeting with Mugabe. Gono is close to
Mugabe and has opposed the price
blitz as detrimental to
business.
"Gono was part of the business executives who came up
with the
proposals," one executive said. "The draft was actually done at the
RBZ with
the input from business representatives."
The
executive however said Mugabe promised to take on board most of
the
proposals but insisted that business must cooperate with government on
its
policies.
At least 3 000 executives and managers have been arrested
and fined in
the clampdown for flouting price control regulations. Most of
those arrested
were briefly detained in filthy police cells.
Mugabe this week said the price controls will remain in place because
there
was a lot of profiteering by business seeking regime
change.
Government last month directed businesses to slash prices
by 50%, a
development that has caused acute shortages of many basic goods.
Most
supermarkets and shops are now virtually empty and ordinary people are
worse
off because of the shortages.
Mugabe justified the
controversial Operation Dzikisa Mitengo
(Operation Reduce Prices) as a
response to attempts to topple his
government.
"The
inexplicable price and rent hikes which were apparently welcomed
and
encouraged by our regime-change proponents compounded the situation
further
and thus invited government intervention," Mugabe told MPs.
He said
the government was committed to its programme to restore price
stability.
However, the blitz has created a more serious situation of
widespread
shortages compared to what was happening prior to the campaign
where goods
were available but very expensive. Now they are cheap, but
unavailable.
Zim Independent
Lucia Makamure
AT least 150 National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) activists were
hospitalised after they were severely beaten while in
police custody on
Wednesday night for demonstrating against Constitutional
Amendment (No18)
Bill.
Police arrested 243 NCA activists in
Harare while 15 people were
arrested in Mutare, 12 in Masvingo and six in
Gweru.
The demonstrations were held after President Robert Mugabe
officially
opened the third session of the sixth parliament on
Tuesday.
The demonstrators were later released. Police spokesman
Andrew Phiri
could not be reached for comment on the issue.
In
his address, the president said the current session will see the
tabling of
Constitutional Amendment (No 18) Bill that seeks to harmonise
presidential
and parliamentary elections, among other things.
NCA national
chairperson Lovemore Madhuku in a telephone interview
yesterday, said the
protestors were picked up in the city centre and forced
onto police trucks
before being driven to Harare Central Police station
where they were beaten
continuously for more than two hours.
"Some of the activists were
arrested while demonstrating while others
were picked up at our offices and
were taken to the police station where
policemen took turns to beat them
up," said Madhuku.
Madhuku said the arrested people included old
women. He said the
assaults on Wednesday night were worse than the March 11
beatings of
political and civil society leaders. "I was part of the group
that was
beaten up in March but what happened that day cannot be compared to
what
happened on Wednesday. Avenues Hospital is in a sorry state," he
said.
The NCA leader said his pressure group was not going to give
up in the
fight for a new constitution as the South African-led mediation
talks had
collapsed.
"We need a new constitution as our future
does not lie in some
meaningless mediation talks. It is time that the
international community and
Zimbabweans in general know that nothing has
changed in Zimbabwe. Repression
is actually going up considering the number
of people who were beaten up on
Wednesday night," said Madhuku.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's bid to win Zanu
PF endorsement as candidate
for next year's presidential polls at either the
annual people's conference
or an extraordinary congress will be a Herculean
task amid reports that
infighting in the party is escalating.
Zanu PF is currently split into three factions - one backing Mugabe,
the
other rooting for Vice-President Joice Mujuru and another one supporting
Rural Housing minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Sources said the
pro-Mugabe faction, which includes Youth Development
minister Saviour
Kasukuwere and minister without portfolio Elliot Manyika,
was pushing for an
extraordinary congress to endorse Mugabe as the party's
candidate and at the
same time restructure the Zanu PF presidium.
In May, Manyika, who
is also Zanu PF's national political commissar,
said the party would hold a
congress to endorse Mugabe. This came after the
party had allegedly endorsed
Mugabe at its central committee meeting in
March.
On the one
hand, the sources said, Manyika and his group want a
special congress to
endorse Mugabe and also make changes in the Zanu PF
leadership. Only
congresses in Zanu PF can make changes to the party
leadership.
The sources said Manyika and his allies now want Women's League boss
Oppah
Muchinguri to take over from Mujuru who has apparently fallen out with
Mugabe. To achieve this, congress is needed because a conference has no
mandate to change leaders.
The Mujuru camp, the sources said,
was pushing for congress to be
convened with the sole agenda of electing a
successor to Mugabe. The faction
wants Mujuru elevated to the position of
party president and first secretary
and thus presidential
candidate.
The Mnangagwa camp reportedly wants Mugabe to stay for
the purpose of
blocking the ascendancy of Mujuru, and hopes to eventually
wrest control of
the Zanu PF leadership when Mugabe finally leaves office by
choice or in
whatever circumstances.
The drama about congress
is playing out amid revelations that Mugabe
was actually not nominated and
endorsed by the central committee on March 30
as the party's presidential
candidate. Zanu PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira
has publicly claimed that
Mugabe was endorsed by the central committee,
although the Zimbabwe
Independent now has evidence that he was not.
Shamuyarira this week
said the party was yet to decide on whether or
not to hold the extraordinary
congress, giving credence to reports that
there are deep divisions in the
party over the issue. Manyika has said the
congress is definitely coming,
while Zanu PF secretary for administration
Didymus Mutasa has said no
congress is scheduled.
Apart from the central committee, the Zanu
PF Youth League, Women's
League and party parliamentary caucus have
purportedly endorsed Mugabe;
allegedly taking their cue from the central
committee meeting.
However, sources described the moves by the
party organs and the
chiefs as desperate measures to mobilise support for
Mugabe ahead of either
the people's conference or the extraordinary
congress.
The party's presidential candidate would have to be
endorsed by a
people's conference in terms of the party's constitution.
Section 30 (3) of
the ruling party's constitution says the people's
conference's functions
include the right "to declare the president of the
party elected at congress
as the state presidential candidate of the
party".
The sources said at last year's people's conference, Mugabe
lost his
bid to have his term extended by two years to 2010 under the guise
of trying
to harmonise the presidential and parliamentary
polls.
No resolution was adopted at the Goromonzi conference and
when the
central committee met on March 30, Mugabe, supported by a few
officials,
including Mnangagwa and Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa,
unilaterally
declared that elections would be next year. Party structures
had suggested
2010 as the year for elections, although the Mujuru camp had
succeeded in
blocking this at the Goromonzi meeting.
"After
losing the 2010 bid, Mugabe then used his backers to try and
twist the
central committee to endorse his candidature. Since then, a number
of organs
have come out in the open to support the president, but the truth
is that he
is yet to be confirmed the party's candidate," a source said.
Zanu
PF insiders say Mugabe has now stumbled twice inside four months
on his
agenda to remain in power - first during the Goromonzi conference
last
December and secondly in March - raising doubts about his ability to
win
formal endorsement for his election candidacy in December. The panic
currently displayed by his loyalists reveals fear that he may not be
endorsed and probably forced to quit.
The sources said if the
Mujuru camp prevails and the conference fails,
a special congress would be
called to elect a new party presidium.
According to the Zanu PF
constitution, an extraordinary congress may
be convened whenever it is
deemed necessary and at the instance of the
majority of the members of the
central committee. The president and first
secretary, at the instance of not
less than one third of members of the
central committee, can also convene
the congress. The president and first
secretary, at the instance of at least
five provincial executive councils by
resolutions to that effect, can also
call for the special indaba.
The Zanu PF constitution says the
president and first secretary, on
receipt of a resolution requesting an
extraordinary session of congress,
shall forward the same to the secretary
for administration.
"The secretary for administration shall, on
receipt of the said
resolution, give at least six weeks notice convening an
extraordinary
session of the congress," reads the constitution. "The central
committee
shall formulate the necessary procedures for the execution of the
business
of the extraordinary session of the congress. The congress shall
deliberate
only on those matters for which it would have been specifically
convened."
Given the Zanu PF infighting and growing resistance to
the current
party leadership, the potentially explosive congress or
conference will be a
test of character for Mugabe.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
THE Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) says its
recent calculations
for the monthly expenditure for an urban family of six
shows that inflation
for the month of June was more than 13 000%. The
Central Statistical Office
(CSO), the official source of Consumer Price
Index numbers, has not released
its figures since February when it reported
annual inflation at 1 729%.
Two months ago businessdigest revealed
that Finance minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi, had directed the CSO to stop
releasing the figures. The March
figures were kept under wraps until central
bank governor Gideon Gono
revealed them during his interim monetary policy
review.
The market has come to accept 4 530% as the inflation
figure for May
although the numbers were never confirmed by the CSO.
According CCZ's bread
basket for June, a family of six now requires $8,2
million to live an
average life.
Families that live below this
amount are regarded as poor. The figure
shows an increase of 13 445% in
year-on-year inflation from $61 097
(revalued) which was required by the
same size of family last June.
The basic salaries have however
failed to keep up with inflation.
The CCZ attributed the rising
breadline to increases in non-food items
such as rent and household
maintenance and a rise in basic commodities such
as cooking oil, sugar,
mealie- meal, rice and bread.
According to the figures, a packet of
2kg rice recorded the highest
jump of 34 714% up on last year's figure while
fresh milk (500ml) went up by
32 643%. Transport cost was up 27 172% while
bread weighed in with 20 226%.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
THE ruling Zanu PF Women's League
wants President Robert Mugabe to be
president for life as the party tries to
revive its totalitarian project to
reassert its octopus grip on all facets
of society to remain in power.
The Women's League, headed by senior
Zanu PF member politburo Oppah
Muchinguri, is now frantically campaigning
for Mugabe to stay on for life as
leader of the party and head of state. The
league made a formal presentation
to a crucial Zanu PF central committee
gathering in March for Mugabe to be
president for life, minutes of that
meeting reveal.
"The President should be president for life. There
are no vacancies
within the presidium," minutes of the meeting say. No one
in the party,
according to the records, opposed the proposal, which was also
adopted as
part of the resolutions carried over from last December's annual
conference.
The only official to comment on the proposal was Zanu
PF
co-Vice-President Joseph Msika who said people must be careful not to
make
emotional decisions in politics. Msika said "people should not think
with
emotions" on the issue and must also remember that whatever
constitutional
amendments the party would make to facilitate joint elections
they "should
be able to apply to all incumbents in future", showing
resistance to Mugabe
being made president for life.
The minutes
of the March 30 meeting demonstrate that Zanu PF wants to
revive
totalitarian control over state affairs and society. The minutes say
Zanu PF
must ensure that its cadres are deployed in all public institutions,
including parastatals and utility companies, private firms, sports,
especially football, banks, media, schools, colleges and universities and
civil society organisations.
They say Zanu PF must reinforce
supremacy over government to ensure
its policies are wholly implemented by
the state bureaucracy without
defiance or resistance.
The
minutes also clearly show that the current price reduction blitz
has its
genesis at that meeting where a lot of party members complained
about the
escalating prices of goods and services. The party resolved to do
something
about it, particularly ahead of elections because it was feared
that
inflation and other general economic problems could cause Mugabe and
Zanu
PF's defeat.
The crackdown on the private sector and businessmen
was conceived at
that meeting for electoral purposes and is linked to
attempts by the party
to gain hegemonic control in the country to save
Mugabe and his regime. This
objective, the minutes suggest, would be
achieved through a scorched earth
policy campaign and patronage, which are
the hallmarks of the Zanu PF
political philosophy.
The
committee on production and labour recommended in the process of
trying to
reassert control, Zanu PF must investigate the political
allegiance of a lot
of public institutions officials.
"The party must set up committees
to investigate the leadership within
parastatals and their political
allegiance. People appointed to boards of
parastatals should be party
cadres. Party security should be involved in the
vetting of members to be
appointed to boards and to head government
departments," the minutes
say.
"Boards of private companies and parastatals to have members
from the
party who will influence decision making and profit making of the
companies," reads one of the resolutions. "Party members must be included in
price controlling urgently."
Official secrecy should be heavily
guided by leaders at all levels
especially in the awarding of civil
servants' salaries."
Zanu PF also showed its hostility to displaced
farm workers which it
says must be dealt with. "Urgent action should be
effected against ex-farm
workers who are disrupting farm production by
either refusing to work for
newly resettled farmers or are still under the
command of their
ex-employers," the minutes note.
"A committee
should be set-up to audit government houses and all
retired, dismissed,
transferred and non-civil servants should be evicted.
SMEs funds should
benefit party members. Interest rates by banks need to be
reviewed whilst
some bank charges need to be justified."
The committee on sports
and recreation also said Zanu PF must take
over control of sport. "The party
should use sport as a tool to mobilise
support towards government and party
initiatives through a greater
participation of all people in sports,"
minutes say.
"The government should revive and financially support
the organisation
of sporting events to commemorate: Independence Day, Africa
Day, Heroes Day,
Unity Day and the Presidential tournament. Government
should be involved in
the promotion of all recreational activities including
traditional games,
music, art and dance."
The committee on
infrastructure development said: "Since the party
enjoys overwhelming
support in rural areas, infrastructural development
should shift from urban
to rural areas and newly resettled areas."
Zanu PF also said it
needs to intensify propaganda to promote its
policies.
"Strategic units to fight the demonisation of the party and country
such as
the film school and websites should be established. There has to be
harmonisation and standardisation of party slogans," the information and
publicity committee said.
"Party symbols should be more visible
by including them on all party
properties such as vehicles and buildings,
including the headquarters and as
part of the re-branding, souvenirs like
pens; rulers must have the party
symbols.
"National Strategic
Studies must be incorporated as part of the
curriculum of journalism
students in universities as is the case with
colleges. Information on and
about the party must be appropriately packaged
targeting the youth in
schools and youth organisations."
The minutes say people like Media
and Information Commission Tafataona
Mahoso should be seconded by the party
to head universities.
Concerted efforts between government and the
state media have to be
made to spread Zanu PF propaganda. "Party and
government will instruct
ambassadors, envoys and the media to mount an
anti-sanctions campaign,
making it clear that Zimbabwe's quarrel is
bilateral and with Britain
alone," the record says.
"The party
and the government will produce a precise dossier of
British lies against
Zimbabwe, which should be circulated widely inside and
outside
Zimbabwe."
Zim Independent
CIVIC
society organisations and human rights groups in Bulawayo this
week joined
hands with political parties to launch a coalition that will
mobilise
resources for Archbishop Pius Ncube who has been sued for adultery.
The civic groups convened a meeting in Bulawayo on Monday and
committed
themselves to defending and standing in solidarity with the
archbishop until
the conclusion of his $20 billion adultery case in the
courts.
On Tuesday over 200 people who included leaders of 30 civic
organisations
thronged the City Hall in Bulawayo to launch the Archbishop
Pius Ncube
Solidarity Coalition.
The launch of the solidarity coalition comes
barely days after South
Africa-based churches launched similar support for
Ncube.
The coalition brings together organisations such as the
National
Constitutional Assembly, the factions of the MDC, Zapu, Bulawayo
Agenda,
Christian Alliance, Churches in Bulawayo and Zimbabwe Liberators
Peace
Initiative.
Civic society leaders addressed a press
conference and took turns to
give solidarity messages to
Ncube.
Zapu leader Paul Siwela told journalists that an
individual's right
should not be left to a kangaroo circuit of journalists
to decide whether he
goes to jail or does not.
"An individual's
right should be respected and should not be left to a
kangaroo circuit of
journalists to decide who goes to jail and who does
not," Siwela
said.
Human rights activists Effie Ncube was nominated to chair the
coalition.
Effie Ncube said the coalition will help to mobilise
resources and run
public awareness programmes in the alleged $20 billion
adultery case. He
also said the coalition will run programmes to counter
propaganda from the
state media.
Ncube is being sued by
Onesimus Sibanda for adultery. Sibanda alleges
that the archbishop was
involved in the adultery affair with his wife
Rosemary Sibanda. - Staff
Writer.
Zim Independent
STAKEHOLDERS in the
health sector have formed the Zimbabwe Health
Access Trust (ZiHAT) which
will provide health assistance through
co-coordinating capacity to develop,
maintain and enhance the health
delivery system in the country.
ZiHAT comprises business, local authorities, medical practitioners,
private
industrial institutions and private hospitals.
"Zimbabwe's public
health system requires a united and urgent input to
continue to provide
basic services to those in greatest need. As a people we
each have a
responsibility to safeguard the health of our nation," ZiHAT
said in a
statement yesterday.
"We are individually and collectively
responsible for developing and
maintaining a health system to serve our
needs," the trust added.
The trust will be officially launched in
Harare next Thursday.
Zimbabwe public health system has over the
past decade been unable to
maintain and sustain the universal access and
coverage of health care which
it rapidly achieved in the 1980s and early
1990s.
The major challenges have been a devastating HIV/Aids
epidemic,
intermittent drought, economic reform and severe economic
deterioration.
The impact has been a rapidly declining internal and
external
financing for health in both public and private
sectors.
It was against this background that the trust which was
led and
managed by district, provincial and national health teams in
collaboration
with universities, research institutes and professional
associations was
formed.
ZiHAT current Board of Trustees is
composed of Dr Paul Chimedza
(chairman), Susan Mutangadura
(vice-chairperson), Eugene Mlambo (secretary),
Chipo Mtasa
(treasurer).
The board is made up of Jocelyn Chaibva, Vuyelwa
Chitimbira, Marah
Hativagone, Daniel Makuto, Douglas Mamvura, Supa
Mandiwanzira, Patson
Mapanda, Michael Mbizvo, Godfrey Sikipa and Chad
Tarumbwa.
Initiatives by the Zimbabwe Medical Association, groups
of Zimbabweans
in the USA, Switzerland, UK and Canada also culminated in the
establishment
of ZiHAT. - Staff Writer.
Zim Independent
Pindai Dube
A HIGH Court Judge has ordered a reporter with the
state broadcaster,
the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), to stop
interfering with
operations at a Matabeleland South farm where the scribe
has been
threatening a fellow resettled farmer.
Bulawayo High
Court Judge, Francis Bere, issued an interim relief
interdicting ZBC
Matabeleland South bureau chief, Sifiso Sibanda from
disrupting operations
at Inyoni Farm in the same region.
Inyoni Farm was allocated to
Sibanda and six other Zanu PF supporters
at the height of the land reform
programme. The six share the farm which has
been divided into
plots.
According to court papers lodged with the High Court by
Jasper Nare,
one of the six farmers, the ZBC reporter ordered them to vacate
the farm or
face "unspecified action".
Nare in his affidavit
says Sibanda has disrupted water supplies to his
cattle and destroyed cattle
pens while also threatening unspecified action
against his livestock and his
employees if he did not vacate the farmhouse
and his plot.
In
his interim relief order of June 27, Justice Bere interdicted
Sibanda from
"interfering with the applicant's peaceful occupation at the
farm...interfering with applicant's full usage of all the facilities within
the farm".
Meanwhile, one of the last remaining white
commercial farmers in
Matabeleland North who was evicted last week from
Portwe farm in Bubi/Mguza
has filed an urgent High Court application for the
release of her property
which was confiscated by the police.
Margaret Jourbet wants the court to order police to release her three
vehicles, computers and three elephant tusks which were confiscated by the
police during her eviction.
Joubert is represented by Josephat
Tshuma of Webb, Law and Barry Legal
Practitioners in Bulawayo. She could not
be immediately reached for comment
yesterday as she was said to be attending
a court case.
Police evicted the Jouberts in contempt of a High
Court order by
Justice Bere in May ordering police, who had invaded Portwe
Estate in April,
to vacate and stop interfering with operations.
Zim Independent
Shakeman
Mugari
THE trial of the two OK Zimbabwe bosses charged for
disregarding a
directive to reduce prices is likely to be a major test of
the legality of
the regulations that government is using in the ongoing
crackdown on
businesses.
More than 3 000 business people have
been arrested for contravening
Statutory Instrument (SI) 141 and 142 which
government issued four weeks ago
to legalise its blitz on businesses. OK
chief executive Willard Zireva and
Mbare branch manager Peter Sayenda are
facing trial for allegedly
contravening 51 141 and 142.
The
validity of the two regulations came under scrutiny this week from
prominent
lawyer, Edwin Manikai, who is representing the OK executives.
In
his defence outline which was presented to the court during a
hearing
Tuesday, Manikai argues that the state did not follow the Control of
Goods
Act (Chapter 14:05) which is the parent law for the SI 141 and 142.
Any
regulation regarding price controls must conform to the act, says
Manikai.
He argues that the government had not issued an order
specifying the
products, quantity and prices of the goods that are to be
covered by the
controls as stipulated in the act.
"The detailed
reading of the law as juxtaposed to the charges
preferred show that there is
no order that is in existence," says Manikai in
his defence
outline.
"Until the Minister has made an order specifying goods and
services to
be controlled and the prices for which those goods are to be
sold, there is
no Order currently in existence." This according to Manikai
makes the
arrests of the two executives illegal.
Manikai adds
that SI 142, the basis of government's action against
businesses, is in its
"substance void for vagueness". He argues that while
subsection 2 of section
seven of the SI "deals with the mark up or the
profit that on the sale of
such commodity above the mark up or profit
obtained by him on the specified
date which must be approved by the minister
in writing" the section does not
empower him to prohibit any person from
selling at any particular
prices.
"Section 7 (1) of the Current Order refers to the fixing of
the basic
price of any commodity after consultation between the minister and
the
manufacturer. However, it does not state who is to fix the price and
this is
still to be done."
Manikai argues that it is not clear
in the section who the minister
should consult before deciding on the price
of a commodity.
"It is not clear whether the minister is supposed
to consult a body of
manufacturers or individual manufacturers. Once the
consultation has been
done it is unclear who is supposed to fix the price,
and with what effect."
Manikai says section 7 (2) is vague in that it does
not take into account
products which were not stock for a particular
manufacturer or retailer as
at the set base date.
"Nor does it
cater for products which have been in stock for long
periods." He says the
section is not clear who and what factors will be
considered when price
reviews are made in future.
"It is difficult to see how the formula
set out therein will lead to
the determination of a price."
Zim Independent
Shakeman
Mugari
THE ongoing trial of two OK Zimbabwe bosses who are
charged for
allegedly failing to comply with a government directive to
reduce prices
took a major twist this week after the prosecution's star
witness gave
evidence that the defence claims to be exonerating their
clients.
The lawyers representing OK chief executive, Willard
Zireva and Mbare
branch manager, Peter Sayenda are now planning to apply for
discharge basing
on the evidence supplied by the state's main
witness.
Zireva and Sayenda are on trial for contravening section 3
(1) of the
Control of Good Act (Chapter 14:05) as read with section 39 (1)
(b) and 39
(3) of the Control of Goods (Price Control) Regulation, 2001
(Statutory
Instrument 334 of 2001) as read with section 7 (2) (a) of
Statutory
instrument mumber 142.
The defence team led by Edwin
Manikai of Dube Manikai and Hwacha Legal
Practitioners will base its
application for discharge on the evidence by
Superintendent Joel Tenderere
who was the leader of the team that carried
out inspections at OK's
headquarters a few hours before the Zireva and
Sayenda were
arrested.
Tenderere is the officer in charge of Operation Dzikisai
Mutengo which
government says is meant to stabilise prices.
In
his statement which was confirmed by his evidence in court on
Tuesday,
Tenderere said he was part of the team that visited OK Zimbabwe
headquarters
on July 9 to check on compliance with Statutory Instruments 141
and
142.
"The accused and his team accompanied us during the tour and
we
discovered that there was compliance as staff was busy putting new prices
on
the shelves and already the customers who were buying the new prices were
reflecting in the computers," said Tenderere in his statement which is part
of state's evidence. Tenderere is the star witness for the
state.
"Though I admit that another team of the taskforce arrested
Mbare
manager (Sayenda) I think this was done before everything was
implemented
since pricing at OK Zimbabwe is centred at one place, which is
the HQ."
Tenderere said he did not believe that Zireva and Sayenda
had an
intention to defy government directive.
"The accused
during our visit produced memos with directives to comply
with the
government's directive as at 18th June 2007, which was a true
reflection
that accused, had no intention of defying directives."
Tenderere
said at the time of the arrests his team was in the process
of clarifying
with OK some of the 'grey areas on the interpretation of the
statutory
instrument 141 and 142'.
The defence has until August 7 to submit
their appeal. The state is
supposed to respond on August 8 and a ruling will
be made on August 10.
Zim Independent
Pindai Dube
ZIMBABWE'S mining sector is
"wandering in policy wilderness" owing to
government's unfavorable mining
policies which have seen investors shying
away from the industry, a top
mining executive has said.
How Mine manager Allan Mashingaidze said
the future of the mining
sector remains bleak due to government's policy
flip-flop.
How Mine is owned by Metallon Zimbabwe which produces
close to 50% of
the country's gold. Mines under Metallon include Arcturus,
Mazowe and
Penhalonga.
"The mining sector is wandering through
policy wilderness and there is
no sight of the promised land and there is no
roadmap to stimulate existing
operations and attract new foreign direct
investment in the sector,"
Mashingaidze said.
Mashingaidze was
presenting a paper titled "The Impact of Current
Fiscal and Monetary
Policies on the Minerals Sector" at the Mine Entra 2007
Interaction
Conference which ran concurrently with Mine Entra 2007 in
Bulawayo this
week.
His statement came as the central bank increased the gold
support
price to $3 million from $350 00 per gramme.
Mining
experts say while the review might help the sector in the short
term, the
industry will still fail to attract new investment because of
government
policy flip-flops.
Government is currently drafting a law to force
foreign-owned mines to
surrender 51% stakes to indigenous consortia or the
state. The proposed law
has triggered uncertainty in the sector which is
already troubled by the low
exchange rate and the lack of foreign
currency.
The central bank has also worsened the sector's woes
after it failed
to pay for gold deliveries.
Gold production has
plunged over the past five months and there are
fears that Zimbabwe could
lose its accreditation with the London Bullion
Market Association (LBMA) if
it fails to produce 10 tonnes of gold this
year. Being a member allows the
country to sell gold directly to the
international market.
"As
I speak right now all foreign-owned mining companies are not
certain about
their future in Zimbabwe as to whether there will be still
holding to their
companies due to some mooted unfavorable mining laws," he
said.
Mashingaidze said key fiscal policy issues like corporate tax and
import
duty for capital items were impacting negatively on the sector.
Speaking at the same occasion, Zimbabwe Miners Federation president
George
Kawonza said bad mining policies coupled with lack of consultation
among
stakeholders was destroying the sector.
"As small scale miners we
were not consulted before the start of the
Operation Chikorokoza Chapera. We
were ambushed and this has left the mining
industry in a sorry state," said
Kawonza.
The three day annual Mine Entra 2007 exhibition which was
organised by
Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and Mines and Mining
Development Ministry
ends today.
There were a total of 85
exhibitors, an increase from last year's 70.
The theme for the 2007 Mine
Entra was "Sustain the Environment and Restore
Productivity".
Zim Independent
Last week the Zimbabwe
Independent published an article in which
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor
Gideon Gono argued that "sanctions were
ruining" the economy. Harare-based
PETER BAILEY responds:
THE only international sanctions are
personal sanctions against
individuals. There are no official sanctions by
multilateral institutions as
far as I am aware. They refuse to assist
Zimbabwe for many reasons including
the manner in which the land reform
programme was instituted.
No one has said that land reform was not
necessary but the manner of
its implementation was bound to destroy the
agricultural base which was the
mainstay of the economy of the
country.
Perhaps Gono would like to look at the history of this
country and
appreciate that under full economic sanctions with blockades on
oil products
this country, without the support of the international monetary
institutions, had the strongest economy in its history.
In the
1970s the Rhodesian dollar was more than equal to the pound
sterling and
effectively worth US$2. There was electricity and water,
traffic lights that
worked and roads and general infrastructure that was
properly maintained.
The health and educations services were very good, and
one might add that
some sectors were favoured by politics but capable of
expansion.
Perhaps Gono could revise his thoughts and look at
laying the blame
for this country's economic problems on some other
source.
One of the major contributory factors could be the fixed
exchange
rates that have now been in existence for some years when the
economy has
progressed further and further into recession.
When
there had to be an adjustment to $15 000 to US$1 to help tobacco
farmers and
exporters, now we have a government price of $60 000 per litre
of fuel in
the knowledge that the fuel is approximately US$1 per litre.
The
parallel market rate is around $150 000 to US$1. There is a reason
why this
rate is so set, which is neither good nor sensible, and I am quite
sure that
this rate would not be acceptable to any international financial
institution
considering loans to this country. It has allowed the enrichment
of favoured
persons.
By his own admission, the balance of payments position has
deteriorated from US$830 million representing three months' cover to a
deficit of US$2,5 billion by the end of 2006. This reflects an excess of
imports over exports of over US$3 billion over a 10-year period and it is
small wonder that international financiers would not consider Zimbabwe
creditworthy.
This situation is not the result of international
sanctions but the
direct result of internal policies. Internal policies have
resulted in the
huge reduction in exports from this country including
agricultural, mining,
industrial and commercial products.
Perhaps Gono should look at all the controls applied by the Reserve
Bank as
well as the government to examine why many companies cannot export,
why they
cannot access international credit and why many companies have
closed and
gone to neighbouring countries. Look at why so many products that
were made
here are now imported.
In regard to gifts, donations and services
offered by non-governmental
organisations, these have so often been
subjected to controls and
interference by the state that they have great
difficulty operating under
the conditions to which they are
subjected.
Many of the problems centre around the control policies
of a
Marxist-Leninist oriented government. Marxism has not been successfully
implemented anywhere in the world.
It was a system geared to
making everyone equal with everyone
contributing and taking what they needed
to live. It envisaged that there
would be no money in the system and thereby
the means of accumulating wealth
would be destroyed. It was a dream and was
never capable of successful
implementation.
However, the
command type economy did allow the politicians to become
wealthy instead of
the entrepreneurs. It took away the freedom of the people
which was not what
Marx envisaged.
Gono must share in the responsibility for the
inefficiency of
operation of the country. He has introduced many regulations
that are
wasteful and create inefficiency. The controls on bank withdrawals
have
resulted in businessmen being unable to write a cheques to discharge a
debt
but making constant trips to the bank to make transfers or obtain
money.
Even paying tax is inefficient in that the businessman has
to go the
bank to transfer money and then go to the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority to
obtain a receipt when he could just write a cheque and send it
to the tax
office.
Every process becomes more and more of a
problem and the country is
extremely inefficient and wasteful of
resources.
The introduction of a state fuel supplier has made the
acquisition of
fuel both erratic and inefficient. There are queues for many
products and
services.
The failure to provide electricity and
water has created vast
inefficiency with many people and businesses needing
generators and using
vast amount of fuel in the process. The failure to
maintain the
infrastructure results in the import of far more spares than is
necessary.
The importation of products by the Reserve Bank reflects
the state of
the nation. It is the job of business to import and distribute
products and
instead of creating work in the private sector the private
sector operates
inefficiently and below capacity.
Gono
highlights many of the facilities that do not work or are
inefficient
because he says it is due to sanctions. He should look at the
efficiency and
use of the foreign currency available, the number and type of
motor cars
that are imported vis-à-vis the need for equipment and
production.
How many and what decisions are being made for
political and not
economic reasons?
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
STRIKING a balance between the cost of
production, retail prices and
salaries is proving to be a major challenge as
prices of goods and services
continue to accelerate while salaries lag
behind or are stagnant.
Producers of controlled goods such as
bread, cooking oil and mealie
meal say they are being disadvantaged as their
inputs are not controlled.
Manufacturers and service providers have
been accused of inducing
inflationary pressures in the economy because of
unwarranted price
adjustments.
Economic analysts say government
should have first dealt with the
manufacturers' concerns before imposing
price limits.
Forcing prices down when production costs are going
up only results in
shortages.
As confusion continues as to how
government came up with prices for
basic commodies under "Operation Dzisa
Mitengo" (Operation Reduce Prices)
analysts who spoke to the Zimbabwe
Independent this week said a pricing
formula which was yet to be released to
manufacturers, wholesalers and
retailers should take into account factors
such as location of shops,
transport and packaging costs, and cost of
inputs.
Government argues that it is duty bound to cushion
low-income earners
against "unscrupulous business practices" while working
on an acceptable
pricing formula.
The business community says
it might comply with price reductions "but
who is going to shield us against
rising input costs?" questioned a manager
with a leading supermarket chain
this week.
Chairman of the Cabinet Taskforce on Price Monitoring
and
Stabilisation, Obert Mpofu, said the National Incomes and Pricing
Commission
was still working on the formula. "We are still working on it and
as soon as
it is finalised we will forward it to the various stakeholders,"
Mpofu said
recently.
He said submissions from stakeholders were
still trickling in and
would be considered in coming up with the pricing
formula for goods and
services.
The business community said
with elections scheduled for March next
year, the pricing formula was not
going to reflect their views as "political
decisions will prevail over
economic and scientific factors".
Government has, however, set the
price mark-up from producers to
wholesalers at 5% and at 10% from
wholesalers to retailers.
The ministerial taskforce on price
stabilisation has received mixed
reactions from the public with some
applauding the move while others say it
is a duplication of duties with the
National Incomes and Pricing Commission.
The taskforce, chaired by
Mpofu, was last Friday expected to come up
with measures to enforce by-laws
which govern the sale of goods in
undesignated areas and ensure that
violators are brought to book.
It would also engage manufacturers,
wholesalers and retailers,
transporters, real estate agencies and local
authorities on the need to
restrain speculative price hikes in line with the
recently signed Incomes
and Pricing Stabilisation Protocol.
The
confusion over the pricing structure has forced Reserve Bank
governor Gideon
Gono to indefinitely postpone his mid-year monetary policy
statement.
He said he needed time to analyse the implications
of government price
controls and the expected supplementary
budget.
Gono was tasked by President Robert Mugabe's government to
lead
efforts to turn around an economy battered by eight years of
recession.
Bakers who spoke to the Independent last week said the
price
reductions were being done haphazardly as there was no transparent
pricing
structure which takes into consideration the cost of
production.
"The price of bread has always been four or five months
behind the
cost of production, the ministry of Industry (and International
trade) is
aware of that," said a director of a leading bakery.
"As of June 18, the cost of producing one loaf of bread was between
$55 000
and $65 000, but we were forced to sell bread at $23 000. A review
has been
made to $44 000 but how are we going to recover losses incurred
over the two
weeks?" said the director who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He
said it did not make economic sense to control the price of bread
when
inputs were going up.
The National Bakers Association said it had
agreed to reduce the price
of bread by half as long as millers reduced the
cost of flour, enabling
bakers to stay in business.
Analysts
said a new pricing structure should take into consideration
the location of
shops as their overheads and expenses were significantly
different.
For example, prices of shoes at Bata along First
Street or in Eastgate
in Harare are higher than those at Bata along Mbuya
Nehanda.
Government has deployed state security agencies to enforce
the reduced
prices, resulting in the arrest of shops and business
executives. Some shops
say they were raided by armed police and others by
plain clothes
intelligence or prison officers.
More than 3 000
shop owners have reportedly been arrested since the
price blitz started
three weeks ago. Some of the outlets were charged with
hoarding,
overcharging and failing to display prices.
Those who have already
appeared in court have paid fines of between
$10 million and $100
million.
Police have also raised more than $560 million in revenue
from fines
since the blitz was launched last month.
Government
has warned those who fail to comply that they risk losing
their trading
licences and businesses as the state was prepared to take them
over.
Reports say thousands of workers have been laid off as
businesses shut
down around the country.
After being forced by
the authorities to reduce their prices by 50%,
many businesses ran out of
stock after two weeks. They have not restocked
fearing further losses and
this has left workers redundant.
"We are being told to sell a
product for less than what we paid for
it. It means we will not be able to
replace it when existing stocks have
gone. It makes no sense. Ask any school
arithmetic class," a retail shop
owner said.
Zim Independent
By Obert Gutu
RECENT events in Zimbabwe have put into focus the
police's powers of
arrest, detention, search and seizure.
More
than 2 000 businesspersons, including some top-notch executives
and
politicians, have recently been arrested and detained for allegedly
flouting
the recently gazetted laws pertaining to price controls.
It is my
considered view that members of the public should be made
aware of their
fundamental constitutional rights vis-à-vis the police's
powers of arrest,
detention, search and seizure.
It is not in dispute that these
businesspersons have been arrested and
detained by the police in very
curious and, in some cases, totally unlawful
and unjustifiable
circumstances.
An arrest involves the deprivation of an
individual's liberty and thus
it should not be lightly resorted
to.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe states that the right to liberty
is a
fundamental human right, solidly enshrined in the justifiable Bill of
Rights.
It therefore goes without saying that a police officer
should only
arrest a person when it is reasonable and necessary in the
circumstances.
Recent events in Zimbabwe have lent credibility to
the generally held
perception that the Zimbabwe Republic Police force is
partisan, biased,
unprofessional and insensitive to basic and fundamental
human rights. We
have come across cases where the police have promptly
arrested people and
placed them in custody in clearly unreasonable,
unjustifiable and malicious
circumstances.
The writer perceives
this type of shameful conduct as a gross abuse of
the powers of arrest by
the police. Such a blatant and reprehensible abuse
of the powers of arrest
should never be condoned in a democratic state.
The police should
always desist from the habit of playing to the
gallery and proceeding to
arrest a person first, detain him and then
investigate him later. Wherever
possible, the police should endeavour to
obtain a warrant before arresting a
person.
However, it is conceded that in very many circumstances it
may be
reasonable and justifiable for a police officer to arrest a person
without a
warrant of arrest.
The recent spate of arrests in the
so-called war against unjustifiably
high prices is in more ways than one
regrettable. Surely, was there any
reason to arrest and promptly detain
businesspeople instead of summoning
them to appear in court on a particular
day?
This should have been the case particularly because the
majority of
the people arrested are otherwise law-abiding and useful members
of society
with fixed places of abode and chances are they were most
unlikely going to
abscond had they been summoned to appear in
court.
A properly constituted and professional police force should
never
allow itself to be manipulated and used by certain powerful
individuals and
politicians to push their own sinister and nefarious
agendas.
Indeed, members of the police force should always be
acutely aware
that they can be sued for damages by persons who might have
been wrongfully,
maliciously and unlawfully arrested and
detained.
The Police Act (Chapter 11:10) and the State Liabilities
Act (Chapter
8:14) provide the relevant legislative procedures in terms of
which members
of the police can be sued.
Recent events in our
country have left the reputation and
professionalism of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police severely dented and
compromised. This will inevitably lead
to members of society generally
viewing the police force as an object of
contempt, hate and ridicule.
Police officers should not simply
proceed to seize items of property
from arrested people without following
proper legal channels.
In general, a police officer who arrests a
person may search such a
person but the police officer is required to place
in safe custody all items
taken. It is improper and unlawful for police
officers to take away seized
items of property and thereafter proceed to
deal with the same as they deem
fit.
In accordance with the
laws of Zimbabwe, unless made by a medical
officer, the search of a woman
must be made by a woman and must be done with
strict regard to
decency.
A female police officer may require a female suspect to
remove any
clothing she is wearing if the removal of the suspected clothing
is
necessary and reasonable for an effective search.
However,
the suspect's body cavities may not be searched. At any rate,
the search of
any person, male or female, must be conducted with strict
regard to
decency.
There is a difference between seizing articles and placing
articles in
safe custody. Articles that have been seized may not be returned
to a
suspect at a later occasion whereas items that have been placed in safe
custody would have to be returned to the arrested person at all
times.
The police can only seize property that is concerned in or
on
reasonable grounds believed to be concerned in the commission and
suspected
commission of an offence in Zimbabwe or elsewhere; property which
on
reasonable grounds is believed to afford evidence of the commission or
suspected commission of an offence in Zimbabwe or elsewhere and property
which, on reasonable grounds, is believed to be intended to be used in the
commission of an offence.
In other words, the police cannot
just seize people's goods with
reckless abandon.
The police
should always ensure that people are arrested when
necessary and also that
detention should be the exception and not the norm.
The Zimbabwe
Republic Police should strenuously fight against the
perception that it has
degenerated into a partisan and corrupt police force
that is frequently used
and abused by powerful and influential citizens to
harass, torment and
humiliate businesspeople as well as people who are
deemed to be politically
hostile to the status quo.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police should play
a central role in the
promotion of the respect for the rule of law and
individual rights of
people.
The police should help to foster a
culture of democracy and should go
out of its way to protect the weak and
the vulnerable. A police force should
be the people's friend instead of
being the people's number one enemy.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police
should be a catalyst in the fight against
rampant human rights abuses and
political intolerance.
As an essential and powerful tool of the
state, the Zimbabwe Republic
Police should not allow itself to degenerate
into a power-drunk machine
ready to crush and suppress innocent and
law-abiding people's peaceful
demonstrations at the slightest of an
excuse.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This
reminds
the writer of a moving speech made by President Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa
at the annual general meeting of the Sadc Electoral
Commissions forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on September 27 1999.
In his address, Mbeki said: "Inevitably, therefore, the state will
remain a
powerful, venerated and awe-inspiring social institution.
Necessarily, those
who manage this institution have themselves to be seen to
be powerful and
therefore awe-inspiring. Inherent in this is the imperative
that these
powerful persons should remain powerful until death deprives them
of the
capacity to exercise power."
For us in Zimbabwe, it's still a very
long walk to freedom!
Gutu is a Zimbabwean lawyer writing from
Harare and can be contacted
on gutulaw@mweb.co.zw
Zim Independent
TWO years after the reintroduction
of the bicameral parliament through
Constitutional Amendment No17, MPs and
senators are still not clear about
their roles in the legislative
process.
Members of the lower and upper houses of parliament have
been
wrangling over who is more important than the other, a quarrel that
demonstrates that the decision to reintroduce the Senate was not
well-thoughtout in the first place. It was not done out of
necessity.
It is becoming clear by the day that President Mugabe's
statement in
Hurungwe two years ago - that the Senate would accommodate
those who had
failed to win seats in the 2005 general election - is being
fulfilled.
The Senate today is part and parcel of an embellished
legislature that
owes its allegiance to the incumbent. It has not improved
the quality of
legislation being passed by parliament, nor has it made
noteworthy
interventions on behalf of the electorate. When it has made
noises - the
case in point being its disapproval of Zinwa taking over water
supply
systems in towns - it has been generally ignored. It is not taken
seriously
at all and members have contributed to the lowering of their
status by
waging a turf war with the lower house.
Since its
introduction, the Senate's contribution to law-making has
been
insignificant. This is because of senators who believe that they are
more
important than MPs by virtue of sitting in the "upper house". They
believe
that they are there to lord it over the lower house.
Lack of
separate identities and functions between the Senate and the
House of
Assembly has resulted in duplication of roles between members of
the two
chambers, which in turn fuels tension between lawmakers.
At a
Parliamentary Liaison Coordinating Committee retreat in Victoria
Falls
recently, it emerged that there was urgent need for parliament's
Standing
Rules and Orders Committee to delineate the roles and
responsibilities of
each house to avoid tension.
Senators have claimed that they are
superior to members of the House
of Assembly because of the size of their
constituencies. They have
complained about their remuneration which they
believe should be more
substantial compared to what MPs are being
paid.
Contributions from certain senators have bordered on the
comical. One
complained about being searched at the airport. He can't be
searched because
he is a senator. But that is not to say he understands his
senatorial role
in law-making.
Last year, Clerk of Parliament
Austin Zvoma had to intervene at a
parliamentary retreat in Nyanga after
senators and members of the House of
Assembly clashed.
Zvoma
categorically told the legislators that Constitutional Amendment
No 17 was
silent on the distinction of Upper and Lower Houses, thus making
the two
chambers equal in duties and responsibilities.
But the Senate and
House of Assembly cannot have equal roles in a
properly functioning
parliamentary system. There is no need to have two
chambers performing the
same role. At Independence in 1980, the country's
legislative arm had a
Senate and a National Assembly, which were products of
the Lancaster House
constitution.
For 10 years, the country worked with both chambers
until it was felt
that such an arrangement for a "young nation emerging from
a colonial past
was burdensome and protracted, and would be better served by
a faster
law-making parliamentary process with one house".
The
reintroduction of the Senate through Constitutional Amendment No17
failed to
create two chambers with distinct roles. It created two chambers
constantly
at each other's throats because members are ignorant of their
roles.
A proper bicameral system should be moulded along the
Westminster
style of governance where the House of Commons is more powerful
than the
House of Lords, made up of mainly old and mature people. That is to
say the
Upper House should exercise an oversight role over the Lower House
in
lawmaking; a feature that has been missing here.
The
recently gazetted Constitutional Amendment Bill (No18) intends to
make the
Senate more powerful than the House of Assembly in some instances.
The Bill
gives senators a greater role in the appointment of government
commissions,
among other functions. But still, the calibre of senators
remains
problematic. They should be men and women with a thorough
understanding of
parliamentary processes and not greenhorns just seeking
political
accommodation.
Zim Independent
MuckRaker
IN what amounts to attempts to manipulate information
and deliberately
mislead the public, the Sunday Mail claimed in its Comment
this week that
there were sections of the Zimbabwean population who want
America and
Britain to "preside over the drafting of a new constitution for
Zimbabwe"
during the current efforts at dialogue between the MDC and Zanu PF
in South
Africa.
It claimed this was an idea being nursed by
the MDC and "other
insignificant civic groups".
Having made
claim, it proceeded to declare: "This is tantamount to
surrendering the
sovereign legislative powers of our parliament to the wrong
people."
It said those charged with the negotiation process in
both the MDC
factions and Zanu PF "should never be a substitute for
parliament of
Zimbabwe while in SA".
No doubt, there is some
senior government hack at work here. President
Robert Mugabe has already
said he is not interested in a new constitution
and that information is
being subtly relayed to his South African
counterpart, Thabo
Mbeki.
Secondly, why would the negotiators usurp the powers of
parliament
when everybody knows that there was a constitutional draft done
here in
Zimbabwe from around 2003 between Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa
and
Welshman Ncube when he still represented the united MDC?
That document had nothing to do with either Mbeki, Tony Blair or
George Bush
unless it is insinuated that Chinamasa is a sellout.
Thirdly, we
hope the MDC can see through Zanu PF's subterfuge of
divide-and-rule by
calling its partners in the Save Zimbabwe Campaign
"insignificant". A number
of state columnists have in the recent past been
deployed to push this
clever line - that no other group, political or
otherwise, is more important
than the MDC.
The idea is to make the MDC get bigheaded before it
can be swallowed
up.
This is why National Constitutional
Assembly chair Lovemore Madhuku
warned from the start that there was need
for broader involvement of other
stakeholders in the negotiation process as
politicians were prone to make
"compromises" to fast-track their way to
State House.
Quite plainly, since when has Zanu PF had such high
regard for the
"puppet" MDC? It is a sobering thought.
The
Sunday Mail and its Zanu PF party leaders are still in Chinhoyi.
The paper reports that some poor rural woman, Rotina Mavhunga, who
claimed
to have discovered fossil oil in Chinhoyi, is on the run because
police want
to arrest her.
Her crime is that she "misled" a desperate
government by claiming to
have discovered oil oozing from a stone, a miracle
discovery that would save
the country lots of foreign currency in fuel
imports.
The country's state fuel procurement agency, the National
Oil Company
of Zimbabwe, is said to have sent its engineers who duly
reported that the
whole thing was a fib.
The party was
undaunted. It quickly dispatched a team of government
security ministers,
all politburo members, to go and talk to this rural
oracle about the
fuel.
Naturally, they found nothing. What we don't understand is
why police
now want to arrest this poor villager. If a whole government can
be fooled
by a poor, hungry 35-year-old woman trying to survive through
magical
tricks, can anybody take it seriously?
Speaking of
Noczim, it has once again been given the mandate to be the
sole fuel
importer in the country. Industry and International Trade minister
Obert
Mpofu disclosed this as he tried to dispel fears and allay panic that
fuel
coupons had been banned.
He said the real target of the ban were
fly-by-night dealers who "were
prejudicing the government of revenue running
into billions of dollars".
Mpofu is right. There will always be
people seeking to profit from
bungling by government. Unfortunately the
crisis is far from over. The
reason criminals are prejudicing government is
because it doesn't have
foreign currency, and banning coupons on its own is
not a solution.
Industry also has every reason to be sceptical
about Noczim's capacity
to meet national requirements.
The fuel
sector was liberalised a few years ago after it was realised
that Noczim was
not able to import enough fuel on time. This created
bottlenecks at service
stations and nearly crippled industry.
Add to this inefficiency and
corruption of which the late Enos
Chikowore said he had only seen at Noczim
and we will tell you Mpofu doesn't
know what he is talking about when he
says: "Let us have faith in our own
institutions."
Once
liberalised, the fuel sector operated fairly efficiently, that is
until
government intervened to impose unrealistic prices on petrol and
diesel.
That was the beginning and the root cause of what is now famously
called the
black market. Since then the disease has infected all sectors of
the
economy, including commodities as basic as bread and sugar.
The
Herald on Monday led with a bold "Boost for mechanisation"
headline. The
"boost" was a Bill gazetted for the "establishment and
registration of
warehouses for agricultural equipment".
The Bill was found
necessary because the Reserve Bank had
"intensified" the procurement of
agricultural equipment, the paper told
readers.
Aha! So the
whole mechanisation process is about acquiring and storing
equipment and not
about production? Why is the equipment not being
distributed in
time?
Muckraker gives the Herald the top prize for the biggest
fraud on
readers. Perhaps the reporters are still trying to catch their
breath after
a frenzied week pursuing Archbishop Pius Ncube.
Speaking of whom, the Herald had what it claimed was a prayer
delivered by
Information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu at Njube Assemblies of
God Church on
Sunday: "God gave us leaders and kings and these were anointed
by God
himself. Pastors and church leaders should pray for them so that they
rule
justly and in peace and not for them to die, like one church leader
here in
Bulawayo does."
It is called calling "my name in vain" and the
Bible is clear on the
consequences.
Zanu PF national
chairman John Nkomo has for the first time
acknowledged the factionalism in
the ruling party. He accused senior party
leaders in Bulawayo of pursuing
"personal agendas".
"Every now and again we hear of factionalism,"
he said. "I want to
tell you now it is not the ordinary supporter on the
ground who is leading
that. My colleagues from the politburo, central
committee and the leadership
structures are the people who are fuelling
these divisions."
He then contradicted himself, saying: "There is
only one Zanu PF that
is led by President Mugabe."
He should in
fact say that is the faction he supports.
Last time he was
confronted by the media about factionalism in the
ruling party, Nkomo said
differences between party leaders only reflected
"democracy" in practice.
When did this metamorphose into "personal agendas"
we
wonder?
The Chronicle reported on Friday that parliament wants
to adopt a Code
of Ethics under which MPs will be required to disclose their
assets and
business interests once they are elected into
parliament.
Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma said the idea of a
Code of Ethics was
accepted as early as 1999 and a draft produced although
there has been no
movement until now. He said the idea of a Code of Ethics
was meant to give
the legislature the moral authority to demand
"transparency and
accountability by the executive".
We hope
this noble idea will not die a natural death like Zanu PF's
Maoist-inspired
Leadership Code of the 1980s. As soon as Zanu PF leaders
tasted the
sweetness of money, the Leadership Code was quietly buried
without an
epitaph.
The same issue of the Chronicle carried a heartrending
story of a city
in the throes of death. Bulawayo is almost dry. The paper
said most suburbs
were going for up to two days "without a drop of water".
We have no reason
to doubt the authenticity of the report, given the owners
of the
publication.
The lead headline told it all: "Bulawayo
water problems reach
catastrophe". Most of the city's water supply dams have
been decommissioned
because water levels are too low.
The
little water there is comes from the remaining dams which are
half-full or
from boreholes. The city authorities have been forced to
institute stringent
water rationing, punishing both residents and industry.
Interestingly, government was unmoved by this impending catastrophe.
In
fact, it is seen as an opportunity to bring the council and the residents
to
heel. Government wants council to surrender its functions to the Zimbabwe
National Water Authority before anything can be done to alleviate the
situation.
Bulawayo Resident minister Cain Mathema was blunt to
the point of
being callous. "The solution that is there for us is the
immediate takeover
of the water and reticulation system by Zinwa," he said.
He said it was
unfortunate that the city council was not
cooperative.
The reality is as blunt as you can have it. This is
not a natural
tragedy. The people of Bulawayo are being punished for
rejecting the seizure
of their assets by a government agency that has
demonstrated in Harare and
Chitungwiza that it is a blundering monster.
Whether they eventually pay the
ransom or not, the taps will remain dry
given Zinwa's record in other
cities.
While this imminent
catastrophe was unfolding last week, government
was eager to draw people's
attention towards the so-called Pius Ncube saga.
It is called fiddling while
Rome burns.
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch column
THERE is a long-standing maxim that "the truth will come out".
As the
weeks go by since government embarked upon its destructive policies
of price
reductions and controls, the realities of its misbegotten motives
are
progressively emerging. Those motives are blatantly at variance with
those
that were officially stated, or where the claimed reasons for the
actions
had some substance, they were overridden by others of far greater
import to
government.
When, in late June, the Minister of
Industry and International Trade,
Obert Mpofu, peremptorily imposed
draconian price controls, he claimed that
the reason for doing so was, first
and foremost, to protect the populace
from allegedly evil machinations of
profiteering and exploitation by
commerce and industry. Without any visible
attempt to verify that such
profiteering and exploitation was occurring,
government unilaterally assumed
that to be the case. They sought to justify
that assumption by citing the
supposedly "huge" profits being made by
companies, as evidenced in their
published results. However, they completely
disregarded that the so-called
immense profits were in fast depreciating,
value-eroding, Zimbabwe dollar
terms.
In real terms, as
evidenced in inflation-adjusted accounts, most
companies were sustaining
falling profits. Moreover, those
inflation-adjusted accounts use Central
Statistical Office (CSO) inflation
rates as a base, whereas it is common
knowledge that actual inflation has
been considerably greater. Therefore,
the decline in profits was, in
reality, markedly more than reflected in
those accounts.
However, it suited government to disregard these
fundamental facts,
just as it suited it to ignore that (because of
hyperinflation) most
businesses need very considerably more operating
capital than a year ago. If
there is to be a fair return on capital, which
is a prerequisite for
investment, then increased profits are essential to
service increased
capital.
But it did not meet government's
Machiavellian needs to acknowledge
this. Its first need was to appease a
distressed population, which was
becoming increasingly restless as the
battle to survive intensified. Many
attributed government's actions to being
an election gimmick, but with still
nine months to go until the elections,
that was unlikely. In all
probability, of greater and more immediate concern
was to survive unscathed
until the election.
In addition,
recognising that only the most gullible would believe
that each and every
manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, and other traders
was guilty of
excessive profiteering, government needed to give other
justifications for
its mainly unfounded allegations of overpricing, and it
needed to dispel any
perception that it was government itself which had
almost totally destroyed
the economy.
Its endlessly false attribution of economic ills to
almost wholly
non-existent internationally imposed economic sanctions,
speciously
described as "illegal") had lost credibility. It could no longer
blame Tony
Blair, as he had retired, and it could not yet blame Gordon
Brown, as he had
not yet said anything about, or done anything to
Zimbabwe.
So another victim for blame was needed, and government
conjured up an
extremely farcical, completely unbelievable, myth that
commerce and industry
was conniving with Zimbabwe's political opposition,
and with Zimbabwe's
alleged international enemies, to destroy the economy,
so as to bring about
a regime change.
Effectively, government
was contending that all of the business
community were of the same
disposition as the Iraqi, Hamas, Fatah and Al
Quada suicide bombers, being
willing to destroy themselves in order to
achieve their objective. Only
extreme paranoia could make it possible for
government to believe such
absolute nonsense, let alone for it to believe
that the masses would be so
naïve as to believe it.
But last Friday, when Minister Mpofu, in
his capacity as chairman of
the Cabinet Taskforce on Price Monitoring and
Stabilisation, addressed
Bulawayo's business community, the truth came out
(even though undoubtedly
unintentionally ) as to the other motives behind
government's recent
actions.
The minister informed his audience
that government was resuscitating
the defunct Zimbabwe State Trading
Corporation, and the Zimbabwe Development
Corporation, as vehicles to
acquire companies that government "might want to
take over", and especially
trading and manufacturing companies. He pretended
that the focus for take
over would be upon companies engaging in economic
sabotage.
However, as almost all companies have already been accused of doing
so, the
actuality is that government's intent is to take over which ever
companies
it desires. Clearly, it is planning to do to commerce and industry
the same
as it did to agriculture, being to displace those with viable,
successful
operations. The tragedy thereof is compounded by the clear-cut
evidence that
the ruination that government afflicted upon agriculture will
almost
definitely be repeated upon the business sector.
This was
irrefutably demonstrated by the minister's proud announcement
that $30
billion has been set aside by government for the distressed
companies that
it will acquire. Bearing in mind that the aggregate losses
sustained by
businesses in the last month, as a result of forced sales at
below cost, and
as a result of continuing operational costs without
commensurate production
and sales, are estimated to be several trillion
dollars, the sum of $30
billion is a drop in the ocean as against the needs
created by government's
destructive actions, and by the abuses of law by
many of the "crack units"
of law enforcement.
Government is renowned for under-capitalising
its parastatals, which
has been one of the key factors for the failures of
most of them, and now it
unhesitatingly will "steal" the business from their
owners (without any law
empowering it to do so), and will seek to operate
them with like gross
under-capitalisation.
In addition, the
minister stated that the workers of companies to be
taken over will not be
affected. He said: "Once we take over a company, we
will retain all the
staff and will bring in a manager. All we will get rid
of is the owner of
the company." He is apparently unaware that in a very
great number of
instances, the key specialist skills necessary for the
successful operations
of the business vest in the owner!
Furthermore, with the magnitude
of the Zimbabwean brain drain in the
last seven years, the remaining
available skills resource is very depleted,
and now he intends to reduce it
further. It is also difficult to have any
confidence that managers of
calibre will be employed. After all, the
performance track record of
parastatals such as Zeas, Zinwa, Arda, Noczim
and, until recently (in the
last 18 months) NRZ, Air Zimbabwe and TelOne
does not inspire an expectation
of quality management.
So, the truth is out! Having failed to
achieve total economic
destruction through its agricultural land
acquisition, redistribution and
resettlement polices, and having also failed
to bring about the final
demolition of the economy through Operation
Murambatsvina, and having again
not completed its drive towards absolute
economic ruination by fiscal and
economic mismanagement which caused the
world-record levels of
hyperinflation, and turned Zimbabwe into an
international investment pariah,
government is trying yet again to do so,
with diabolically negative price
controls, barbaric law enforcement and
abuse of law, and intended
expropriation of business.
Zim Independent
Editor's memo
by Vincent Kahiya
ZIMBABWEAN politicians pride
themselves on being highly educated and
sophisticated. Their chain of
university degrees, demeanour, apparel and
posh vehicles they drive combine
to give the illusion of a group of men and
women in charge of ultra-modern
processes of governance and leadership. The
sophistry is a pretense. Deep
inside our rulers, there is a very thin line
that separates reality from
magic.
Sometimes they strike me as no more advanced than medieval
characters
whose lives were controlled by fear of the unknown.
To see this, just witness much of what passes for common sense.
Government
still sponsors rain dances and at the same time does
cloud-seeding to ensure
there is a wet season. The same men and women then
take part in Christian
prayers for rain.
At government functions, n'angas and local spirit
mediums sit among
the VIPs. Senior government officials kneel before oracles
(which are
deified mainly out of fear of their supposed mystic powers and
not their
ability to deliver positive change to society. Did I see one VP
doing this
somewhere in Mashonaland Central recently?
It is
this kind of fear that drove a whole Zanu PF politburo, staffed
with
professors, doctors, economists, scientists and educationists to set up
a
select committee to probe the feasibility of diesel oozing from a rock in
Chinhoyi.
Just the act of setting up a high level committee to
investigate
mysticism should speak volumes about our government. The team is
indicative
of a group of people who regard power and magic as
inseparable.
Throughout Africa, dictators not only have power and
money, they are
also said to possess the best fetishists and sorcerers. The
dictator is
supposedly invincible and his power is limitless. Because their
magic should
be unchallenged, they will want to know any individuals with
bigger magical
accomplishments so that they control these as
well.
It was not surprising therefore that a ministerial team was
set up to
probe the new centre of mythical power in Chinhoyi. I also recall
statements
which have put our president in the ream of a
messiah.
This had to be controlled lest it begin to challenge the
magical
powers under the stewardship of politicians. To our rulers, it was
also very
important to be identified with the paranormal to help ease the
country's
fuel problems. They believed that the same supernatural powers
which had
deposited diamonds in Marange was also responsible for the diesel
which CMED
managing director, Davison Mhaka, claimed he had tested and found
it to be "
purer than the diesel currently being used in motor
vehicles".
"We suspect that it is coming from the dolomite and lime
caves
underneath the hill. Petroleum could have sipped into these caves and
right
now it is
overflowing.," Mhaka was quoted as saying at the
time of the
"discovery". This whole diesel saga is comical and a serious
indictment of
our rulers. Do they expect to be taken seriously when they
behave like
characters from the comic book?
It is also
significant in that these are a group of adults that
believe there is need
for supernatural intervention to help extricate them
from the impoverishment
they have brought on this nation. It is no wonder
that policies which have
been formulated by the Zanu PF government border on
the ridiculous; like
banning fuel coupons, the lifeblood of industry and key
service providers
such as ambulances and hospitals, without coming up with
an alternative
source of petrol and diesel.
Government immediately reversed the
decision but left everyone
wondering what inspires such crazy policies.
Perhaps the belief that the
paranormal will provide where these guys have
failed?
In an interview, prominent author Ivorian author Ahmadou
Kourouma
speaks of African leaders' fascination with mystical powers. He
said: "I don't
believe in magic. And when Africans ask me why I don't, I say
that if magic
really existed, we wouldn't have allowed the abduction of 100
million
people, of whom perhaps 40 million reached the Americas and 60
million died
on the way. If magic really worked, the slaves would have
turned into birds,
say, and would have flown back home. I don't believe in
magic because when I
was a boy, I saw forced labour. If magic existed, the
victims of forced
labour would have been able to escape."
Equally so, our rulers should understand that there is no rich nation
that
owes its success to magic. But rationality will gain ground at the same
time
as democracy. Accountability, rule of law and good governance
oftentimes see
rulers' almighty power waning. The leader ceases to be a
superman. He no
longer has everything going for him. He has to shoulder
duties and
responsibilities. He is becoming like everyone else. And
consequently the
magical part of his power is disappearing. He stops
practicing voodoo
economics.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
by Joram Nthathi
FOR nations to prosper, like
private companies, I believe they need a
vision; a sense of a common
destiny. Zimbabwe's apparently intractable
problems are more to do with lack
of a common vision among Zimbabweans than
anything Zanu PF or the MDC can
conjure up. The vision, like all
institutions of the state, should vest in
the nation, not a mortal
individual. I have a vision of a prosperous,
self-sufficient and equitable
Zimbabwe underpinned by the values of honesty,
industry and compassion.
I believe a national vision gives people a
sense of collective
responsibility for the wellbeing of their nation. Both
our major political
parties don't have a clear national vision. Zanu PF
believes it has the
policies and the political mandate to rule as it likes.
The MDC believes it
has the right policies to rule. None of them wants to
share with the other
its vision.
With a common vision vested in
the people, it doesn't matter in the
end which political party is in power.
People elect into office the party
they believe better articulates that
vision. Events since independence amply
demonstrate that without a clear
national vision underwritten by strong
enforcement mechanisms, a
"sacrosanct" constitution is just an ordinary
piece of paper. History also
shows us how monsters like Mussolini and Hitler
rose to power through a
perverted so-called popular mandate and would have
ruled their countries for
long periods had their rotten ambitions not driven
them to try and dominate
the world.
When a nation has no common vision, political parties
rule for their
own sake. Witness how we are often fooled that Party A wants
another term in
office to complete its programmes. With a common vision, it
is the people
who pursue development programmes. Party B knows what the
national vision is
and what needs to be done. All the national exertion is
towards that ideal
and parties lose power so far as they are seen to deviate
too far left or
right of the national vision.
Some naively
believe talks between Zanu PF and the MDC will solve our
problems. They will
not, they cannot and can never, because none of them
embodies a national
vision. The talks are simply and purely about political
power. The MDC wants
them because it has no other means of getting into
power. Zanu PF is just
going along not to be the spoiler, not to alienate
President Mugabe's
regional friends. A national vision demands far broader
engagement of
society than the parties vying for power.
A national vision helps
us choose political leaders who can best guide
us on the journey to the
Promised Land. A political party is elected into
power because it indicates
to us the shortest route towards the national
vision. With a clear national
vision, politics, like private business,
becomes serious business, not just
a road to self-enrichment. National
institutions are fashioned with a view
to attaining that vision in the
shortest and least painful way.
The current political paralysis is due to lack of a common vision and
mutually-destructive political rivalry. It is not about political
legitimacy.
The second post-Independence election in 1985 was
held under a state
of emergency when the whole of Matabeleland and the
Midlands were under a
red terror which claimed the lives of nearly 20 000
and displaced thousands
more. There was further violence soon after the
results were announced.
Nobody talked of a crisis of legitimacy. Nobody
talked about political
violence, intimidation or rigging of the ballot. Even
today we are told with
a straight face that rigging of elections began seven
years ago. Which
really sums up the nature of the crisis: it is a crisis of
economic
interests and political power.
The crisis in Zimbabwe
started well before the land seizures of 2000.
That madness deepened it. We
failed to assume collective responsibility as a
nation to set things right.
Others saw the chaotic land graps as an
opportunity to gain power by
apportioning blame. We all have seen, we all
know what is wrong and we have
blamed. None has proposed a national vision
to bring the people together as
Zimbabweans to tackle the crisis. Instead,
we are seeking legitimacy from
outsiders because we lack a national vision
and a sense of collective
responsibility.
African politics is such a messy affair because
accidents of history,
opportunistic political leaders want to project
themselves as men of destiny
even as the nation lurches from one policy
blind alley to another. Without a
common vision, we lose values that move
nations forward. People vote for
individuals, not the national vision.
People discuss personalities, not
national destiny. People discuss tribes,
not national goals. People dream
vengeance, not nation-building. People
think about themselves first, the
nation last. People want positions of
power to get rich, not to enrich the
nation.
Without a national
vision, opposition politics is a death fight. It is
about being negative,
relishing the nation's suffering as an opportunity to
attain power. You hear
inane arguments like "it is not the duty of the MDC
to save Zanu PF from its
mess". The opposition has a duty to serve and save
the nation, not the
government of the day.
In Kuwadzana where I stay, before he died
tragically, in his short
stint as MP for the area, Learnmore Jongwe had
erected a number of
footbridges and other infrastructure. He didn't say this
would save Zanu PF.
He didn't wait for his party to come into power. If he
were alive today,
people would vote for him because of his positive deeds,
not for railing
against Zanu PF.
There is a lot of negativism
everywhere about anything initiated by
government because we lack a national
vision. Political rivals are the first
to tell us why a policy will fail,
but never about how the nation could be
better served. They gloat over every
misfortune that befalls a Zanu PF
initiative, from the ill-planned land
reform to Reserve Bank governor Gideon
Gono's missed inflation
targets.
Everything Zimbabwean is derided for who initiates it, not
for what it
can do for national wellbeing. Politics has become the most
fertile ground
to sow seeds of hatred across social strata. Daily we are
forced to behave
as if there is no meeting point between MDC and Zanu PF
supporters and must
accentuate the dichotomy.
This negative
disposition has infected companies, creating ambivalence
about where they
stand. Anyone who contributes to nation-building invites
rebuke as a
collaborator. Instead of business doing business, it is engaged
in
politics.
What is not fully-grasped is that once the opposition is
in power,
there will be an opposition to it too, with its tentacles in all
facets of
national life, from business to culture. Should it also adopt the
same
negativism? Where would that lead us to?
There is
something to be learnt from the British and American
opposition when it
comes to the national interest and national vision. The
duty to serve and
save Zimbabwe is everyone's burden. This can only be
evident to all when we
have a national vision informed by humane Christian
values.
It's a leadership problem
I WANT to respond to what the Reserve
Bank governor cited as the cause
of our economic downfall (Independent, July
20).
As true as it might be that the sanctions on our country are
affecting
mostly the ordinary people, Gideon Gono did not get to the root
cause of it
all. The governor worked as the CEO of a commercial bank and I
am sure he
knows the importance of setting conditions before giving out
money.
If Western countries are out to support democratic
principles such as
respect of property rights as well as human rights, then
it makes sense for
them to use whatever is in their hands to further their
agenda.
Let's just cut through all this crap Mr Governor and get to
the root
cause and get solutions for our country. Whether we like it or not,
we have
a president who is not popular in the global community and who has
no idea
about dealing with contemporary issues of a global economy as well
as
governance.
Our biggest liability as a country is our
leadership which thinks
everything has to be millitant. Thank God they
fought for our liberation but
please lets be real, we need a new leadership
that is in tune with the world
that we are living in. If we are going to
solve our problems, let's start by
having a new leadership that can bring
people together and knows how to
engage effectively with the international
community. We are suffering
because of our leadership.
In my
estimation the true measure of a good leader is the quality of
life that
that his/her people are living. Our country is bigger than one
person and if
Gono understands that, he could do us a big favour by trying
to convince the
president that it's time for him to go. We cannot allow him
to drag the
whole country with him into the grave.
I am so convinced that if we
were to get good leaders tomorrow, we
will be on our way back to a better
economy.
I am tired of the same old rhetoric, let's deal with the
root cause.
Without a good shephered the sheep get scattered, that is why we
are all
over the world.
Mike Manongi,
maco_guyana@hotmail.com
----------------
Leo the cameleon
WHAT are we to understand by Leo Mugabe's attempt
to shift the blame
for the eviction of white farmers onto his compatriots;
Natahn Shamuyarira
and Ignatious Chombo (Independent, July 20)?
Is he proclaiming to be a "dove" amongst hawks? Or is it simply in
search of
absolution? One thing is for certain, Mugabe comes across as one
who chose
to be elected under the ruling party ticket, beneffited from its
gravy train
but now wishes to be remembered differently.
Such declaration as
might be trumpeted at this eleventh hour, does
little to distract from the
fact that Leo Mugabe remains negligent and
responsible for failing to ensure
the well-being of all his constituents.
His previous silence
confirmed his stance. He remains classified with
others as having acted with
premeditation to the detriment of the nation. No
new songs, however sweet
they might be to our ears, will obliterate the
truth. Instead Leo needs to
prepare himself to face what in time will come
to him. In the interim we are
left to assess whether we are witnessing a
case of the genuine "prodigal
son" or that of "panic"?
Forget me not,
By
e-mail.
----------------
Its not sanctions Gono
THE article that appeared in the Independent, July 20 issue by Gideon
Gono
charging that many of Zimbabwe's woes come from international sanctions
is
facinating stuff!
However, he needs to answer the question, what
came first the chicken
or the egg? In this instance the chicken is real
democracy and freedom of
speech, the egg being international
sanctions.
It is clear that international sanctions were imposed in
recognition
of a lack of democracy and freedom of speech.
It
follows that the leaders of Zimbabwe need to recognise this and
straighten
up their act.
Now is the moment, tomorrow could be too
late.
MM,
Diaspora.
--------------
MDC must mobilise people to
register
ELECTIONS despite being a lot of other things (rigging,
violence etc)
are primarily a numbers game.
I am disappointed
that the MDC is not mobilising its supporters to
register to vote in next
year's election.
Don't they realise that on average three in four
Zimbabweans is not
registed to vote? Three out four of these voters is
pro-change. All youths
previously not eligible at last elections can now
vote as they have come of
age. Who will these youths vote for? Zanu PF which
was trying to close their
schools or for change? Come on MDC, wake up and
smell the coffee.
Whether Sadc likes it or not elections will be
held next year in March
as things currently stand. What will Sadc do to a
"democratically" elected
government?
Get up, stand up and get
the people to register now.
CKM.