http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 23:01
BY
PATIENCE NYANGOVE AND RUTENDO MAWERE
THE government has ruled out any
salary increment for civil servants this
month as promised by Zanu PF
officials with the Minister of Public Service
Eliphas Mukonoweshuro only
expected to make an announcement on the emotive
issue two weeks from
now.
State media reported that government workers would get an
increment this
month after President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara reportedly ordered
Finance minister
Tendai Biti to release the money for the
review.
But Mukonoweshuro told The Standard on Friday that
government was broke and
could not sustain a higher wage bill at the
moment.
He said the political posturing by Zanu PF and Mugabe on
the salaries was
not helping matters. Mukonoweshuro also advised civil
servants to refrain
from politicising their fight for better working
conditions.
“People should not rely on speculation, if there is
an increment I will make
an announcement,” he
said.
“Government does not get money instantly, there are certain
procedures
followed. Inside a fortnight I will be announcing certain
processes, people
have to be patient, anxiety won’t increase their bank
balances.”
However, the minister hinted that when the salary
increment is decided, it
would be very significant.
“For
teachers it’s going to be some difference, though I can’t give you a
figure,” he said.
Masimba Kadzimu, the Public Service
Association vice-president accused
politicians from across the divide of
politicising their fight for better
pay.
“The two parties
(MDC-T and Zanu PF) are sacrificing us,” said Kadzimu, who
is also the
president of the Civil Service Employees Association. “No
ministry has the
power to defy a cabinet decision, if Biti had been given
money to increase
our salaries and defied cabinet why can’t they arrest him
then? People
should read between the lines.”
Civil servants earn between
US$150 and US$200 per month. Unions have been
demanding that their salaries
be raised to above the poverty datum line,
estimated at US$502.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 19 June 2011
02:32
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
CHIMANIMANI — Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa was yesterday confronted by
MPs who accused him
of inciting political violence after he told villagers
that those opposed to
Zanu PF’s controversial land reforms were enemies.
Chinamasa was
addressing a tension-filled Joint Monitoring and
Implementation Committee
(Jomic) meeting at Nhedziwa Business Centre meant
to find solutions to
political violence that rocked the area recently.
At least 12
MDC-T activists from the area have sought refuge at the party’s
provincial
offices after they fled their homes following attacks by alleged
Zanu PF
supporters.
Another 32 are living with friends and relatives
after fleeing their homes.
Chinamasa said people who promoted sanctions and
opposed the land reform
were enemies.
He fell short of telling the
victims of political violence that they were
lying and lambasted them for
“rushing” to Mutare instead of reporting their
cases to the
police.
As he was speaking, Zanu PF supporters ululated and
interjected, mocking the
visibly shaken MDC-T activists, who were bused from
Mutare for the meeting.
MDC-T representative in Jomic, Tabitha
Khumalo accused Chinamasa of turning
the meeting into a Zanu PF rally
instead of preaching tolerance.
“By your speech you activated the
structures of violence in this area,” the
clearly agitated MP openly told
Chinamasa soon after the meeting attended by
about 3 000
villagers.
“There is going to be terror here after we leave. This
is definitely
unacceptable.”
Chinamasa walked away as Khumalo
was speaking loudly. During his address
Chinamasa urged the villagers to
desist from any form of violence to promote
national
development.
However, his speech was punctuated with what members
of the MDC formations
regarded as inciting political violence and
inflicting more pain to victims
of violence who were present at the
meeting.
Khumalo also accused Chimanasa of sloganeering during
the meeting. MDC
representative Frank Chamunorwa and MDC-T MPs Pishai
Muchauraya and Lynnete
Karenyi also accused the minister of being
insincere.
Chinamasa denied inciting violence saying his
statements reflected what was
in the Global Political Agreement
(GPA).
“I was articulating the provisions of the GPA article IV,”
said Chinamasa.
After the meeting, MD-T activists who had high
hopes of returning to their
homes refused to remain behind as the political
temperature was unbearable
for them.
Mother of five, Violet
Mambondiyani, whose home was burnt to the ground
castigated Jomic saying it
had not helped to ease the tension in the area.
“The first time
we were left by Jomic in the hands of the police but after a
few days our
homes were burnt by people we know but nothing happened to them
despite
reporting to the police,” she said.
“If these guys leave us here
we will be killed.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 21:59
By Dusty
Miller
TRAGEDY struck at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge June 8, when
the head guide at
the award-winning Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, Tendekai
Madzivanzira was
killed by a bull elephant in full musth (ready for
breeding.)
Madzivanzira, who was armed with a rifle and had years of
experience, had
escorted an international guest from the hotel to the nearby
Siduli Hide at
4pm. The hide is close to a waterhole frequented by a variety
of game and
while the guest was inside the hide, a number of animals visited
the water
hole, including the bull elephant.
The bull chased
off another four elephants that were drinking and, after
some time, the bull
started to move off. It was about 6pm, while
Madzivanzira was escorting his
guest back to the lodge, that the bull
spotted them and began to
charge.
According to the unnamed guest, Madzivanzira grabbed her
arm and told her to
run but by this stage the elephant was too close.
Madzivanzira then told her
to climb a nearby tree and stumbled as he turned
to face the elephant as he
fired his weapon. The elephant hit the guide
tossing him to the ground.
Efforts by observers and staff
whistling and shouting from the lodge’s
balcony to try to distract the
charging bull were fruitless. The elephant
eventually ran off and staff
members and a medical team were on site to
rescue the guest from the tree
and attend to Madzivanzira, who was fatally
wounded.
Senior
management from Victoria Falls Safari Lodge and experienced wildlife
experts, in co-ordination with National Parks and Wildlife and ZRP, were
called to secure the area and conduct further
investigations.
“This is the first time in the 17 years of the
lodge being open that
something like this has happened and as much as we
train our staff for a
worst case scenario when living in the bush with wild
animals, you still
never think an incident like this is ever going to take
place.
“Tendekai was a skilled professional who had the respect
of his wildlife
peers and conservation colleagues, along with all clients,
staff, and the
community as a whole” Ross Kennedy, Africa Albida Tourism’s
chief executive
said.
Counselling for guide’s family
Once news
of the incident had reached the hotel owners, Africa Albida
Tourism’s head
office by 6:30pm, various management staff were deployed to
assist with
contacting family and immediate grief counselling of the guide’s
family and
shocked guests.
While in transit to Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, Ross
Kennedy, Africa Albida
Tourism’s chief executive, said: “It is a very sad
and shocking thing to
have happened and we will do everything we can do to
provide support for
Tendekai’s family. I’ve been told the staff at Victoria
Falls Safari Lodge
have been amazing in dealing with the situation and I
have to say a big
thank you to all of them.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 22:18
BY NQABA
MATSHAZI
WHILE the Sadc summit was taking place in Sandton, South
Africa last week, a
comical sideshow was also on exhibition, with Zanu PF
aligned organisations
featuring in starring roles.
Goodson Nguni
surfaced from nowhere with his outfit called the Federation of
Non-Governmental Organisations, a Zanu PF aligned movement. Never heard of
before, the organisation was parroting the usual Zanu PF line: sanctions are
hurting the country and the MDC-T was to blame for
violence.
Nguni, also fronting the All Africa Non-Governmental
Organisations, a
coalition of supposed Pan-African civil society
organisations, held a press
briefing where he demanded that elections be
held so political normalcy
could be restored in Zimbabwe.
The
Zanu PF activist was not alone in this charade, in tow was the
Affirmative
Action Group (AAG), which also was singing from the same hymn
book. Once
considered an independent black empowerment group, the AAG has
found itself
firmly tucked in Zanu PF’s back pocket and its independence
totally
eroded.
A trend has developed in Zimbabwe, whereby previously
unknown NGOs and
political parties spring out of the blue to champion Zanu
PF propaganda
ahead of elections, major summits and
events.
Party-aligned NGOs not a new phenomenon
Not long
ago, Zimbabweans had become accustomed to hearing of Obadiah Msindo
and his
Destiny of Afrika Network.
With more than generous state media
coverage, Msindo was soon all over the
place, predictably singing praises of
the former liberation movement and
denouncing the west.
Just as
he appeared from nowhere, Msindo vanished into thin air, with
criminal
accusations accompanying him into oblivion.
More recently a militant
outfit has emerged, seeking to empower the youth.
While denying their
links to Zanu PF, the group, Upfumi Kuvadiki’s message
has dovetailed rather
conveniently with the former liberation party’s
indigenisation
theme.
Upfumi Kuvadiki has approached the City of Harare and various
companies in a
barbed manner, demanding to be awarded tenders and
contracts.
Not to be outdone, the obscure Millionaires Cash Flow
Club, was also
launched recently amid pomp, fanfare and generous coverage
from the state
media.
This all but gave out the secret of the
foundations of the club. Only last
week another previously unknown outfit,
the Anti-Sanctions Trust marched to
Finance minister Tendai Biti’s office
demanding that he sign the so-called
anti-sanctions
petition.
Zanu PF is behind the petition where it calls for Western
governments to
lift travel restrictions on President Robert Mugabe and his
inner circle.
Analysts said this had become a trend in Zimbabwe and
these organisations
could be meant to confuse the electorate ahead of major
regional summits and
elections.
They pointed out that this developed
with the formation of unknown parties
ahead of elections.
In 2008
various parties surfaced ahead of the elections, only to disappear
after the
polls.
Among these parties was William Gata’s Christian Democratic
Party and the
Zimbabwe People’s Party, fronted by Justine
Chiota.
These two parties surfaced ahead of the elections and once
they failed to
register the candidacy for the presidential poll, they tucked
their tails in
between their feet and disappeared into thin air.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 22:03
BY
NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has
failed to find a partner to
rehabilitate collapsing infrastructure at the
Ncema Dam treatment plants to
improve the holding capacity of the
dam.
The council requires over US$1 million to rehabilitate collapsing
infrastructure at Ncema water treatment plants, a figure that officials say
is beyond the reach of the cash-strapped local
authority.
Ncema Dam only pumps out 39 000 cubic metres per day
against its normal
capacity of 81 000 cubic metres due to the dilapidated
filter beds and
calorifiers.
The dam is also fast-depleting due to
collapsing infrastructure.
Latest council minutes say the local
authority is scouting for “suitable”
partners to rehabilitate the water
treatment plants amid indications that
bids received so far did not meet
council requirements.
“The proposals submitted were not
comparable to the original submission
hence we could not come up with a
reasonable and workable system,” reads
latest council minutes. “We will
re-tender when funds are made available for
the filters at Ncema Water
Works.”
The BCC blamed water shortages faced by the city to
dilapidated
infrastructure at the water treatment plants resulting in
machinery failing
to pump adequate water to residents.
“… the
treatment works continued to struggle to produce enough water to meet
the
city’s water demands,” the council minutes read in part.
“For
example, Ncema waterworks can only produce 39 000 cubic metres per day
against a design capacity of 81 000 cubic metres per
day.”
Under normal circumstances, the city consumes 150,000 cubic
metres of water
daily but has been receiving just under 70,000 cubic
metres.
The region’s consistently low rainfall in the last few
years has led to
dwindling water levels in the city’s dams.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 19 June 2011 00:59
BY
OUR STAFF
A legislator from Matabeleland South faces a double rap
after a female
journalist accused him of deliberately infecting her with HIV
and insulting
her using text messages.
The case was reported
at Bulawayo Central Police Station yesterday and the
Initial Report number
is 49941/11.
The journalist from the state media and the
legislator, from the MDC party
led by Welshman Ncube, were reportedly in a
relationship from August 2009,
though it was not clear when it
ended.
Asked on the case, the journalist confirmed making a
report to the police.
She accused the legislator of not revealing
that his wife had passed away
due to HIV.
Insiders in the MDC
claimed that the legislator had also infected one of the
female employees
working for the party.
The journalist said at the onset of the
relationship she had tested for the
virus and her results were negative, but
had later learnt that she had been
infected after which she approached the
MP but he refused to co-operate.
“I tried talking to him but he
was evasive and would insult me using text
messages,” the journalist said
yesterday.
She added that the MP had insulted her calling her a
woman of loose morals,
who was bitter because the relationship had
ended.
Efforts to get a comment from the named legislator were
fruitless as his
mobile phone was off. However, it has been revealed that he
accused the
journalist of being a member of the Central Intelligence
Organisation and
her aim being to tarnish his image.
Police
spokesman Andrew Phiri said he had not got wind of the case, while
his
Bulawayo counterpart’s mobile phone was off for most of the day.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 23:57
BY KUDZAI
CHIMHANGWA
THE contractual wrangle between Namibian-based mobile
operator, Trustco
Mobile and Econet Wireless, has taken a new twist as the
former has applied
for an urgent interdict in Zimbabwe’s courts against
Econet Wireless.
The interdict seeks to enforce Econet’s compliance with
its contractual
obligations and to prohibit it from infringing in any way on
Trustco Mobile’s
intellectual property rights, which are protected by
Zimbabwean and
international laws.
The development has
occurred after Econet recently severed its 18-month
contract with the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed company, which
provided a software
platform for the delivery of messages on life cover
status for
subscribers.
“Following the continuous delay by Econet of payment
of the royalty fees to
Trustco and more importantly, the insurance premium
to FML (First Mutual
Life), Trustco served Econet with a notice of default,
pursuant to the terms
of the agreement,” said Trustco group managing
director Quinton van Rooyen.
“Upon receipt of the notice of
default Econet unilaterally and immediately
terminated the contract, severed
Trustco and FML’s access to the Trustco
Mobile system, and denied that
payment was outstanding to Trustco.”
He also said that as a
result of the contractual wrangle, millions of people
were sitting on large
amounts of inactive life cover while customer details
and status are not up
to date.
However, Econet, in an earlier statement, said it had
set up a contingent
fund, underwritten by FML to cover all policy holders
who were entitled to
the life cover.
Rooyen said Econet owed
Trustco US$4,8 million adding that the agreement
between both operators
stipulated that the contract could only be terminated
upon giving six months
notice to either side.
Econet Wireless public relations manager
Ranga Mberi said that he was not in
a position to comment on the development
as it had legal implications.
However, its chairman Tawanda Nyambira was
recently quoted as saying Trustco
had misled the investing public by
announcing on the JSE that they had
insured 1, 7 million customers, yet the
figure stood at 1, 2 million.
But Rooyen dismissed the claims as
spurious saying the information disclosed
to the JSE was in strict
compliance with the bourse’s regulations. He added
that as at May 31 this
year, 1,8 million subscribers had subscribed to the
Ecolife
package.
“Similar information was disclosed by Econet to its
shareholders and its
analysts as is required by the disclosure regulations
as both entities are
public listed companies,” said
Rooyen.
Since the inception of Ecolife in November last year,
policy holders in FML
increased from less than one hundred thousand to close
to two million.
Econet has during the last few weeks increased
its holdings in Afre
Corporation, the holding company of First Mutual Life,
and now controls the
contracted insurance
underwriter.
Trustco Mobile management said that contrary to
media reports, they pleaded
with Econet to fulfil its payment obligations
under the agreement in order
to continue providing free life insurance to
qualified Ecolife subscribers.
It said Econet and First Mutual
Life reacted to the success of Ecolife by
seeking an equity stake in Trustco
Mobile in December 2010, an offer that
Trustco Group Holdings subsequently
turned down.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 23:15
BY
NDAMU SANDU
GOVERNMENT is expected to launch another blueprint to
chart the way forward
for the economy during the medium term amid fears that
the document, like
its predecessors, would be consigned to
desk-drawers.
The five-year Medium Term Plan (MTP) is a successor to the
Short Term
Emergency Recovery Programme (Sterp) and runs up to
2015.
The plan is set to articulate government’s intentions in
the medium term and
calm the nerves of investors eager to see how the
environment would be
improved for investments.
Dr Desire
Sibanda, Economic Planning and Investment Promotions permanent
secretary
told Standardbusiness last week that the new plan was homegrown
unlike
other previous documents such as the Economic Structural Adjustment
Programme (Esap) which was foisted on the country.
He said
the plan was also coming hard on the heels of Sterp which had
stabilised the
economy. Sterp was introduced in 2009 as an emergency
programme to revive an
economy that was emerging from a decade of recession.
“It’s not
like Sterp; here we are talking of an economy with an average
growth of 7,5%
for the next five years above Africa’s average of 6%,” he
said.
Sterp stabilised the economy and increased capacity
utilisation to the
current 53% from a measly 10% in 2008. Since the
introduction of Sterp, the
economy has been on a growth trajectory, from
5,5% in 2009 to 8,1% last
year. This year, the economy is projected to grow
by 9,3%.
Sibanda said the plan would act as an investment
handbook for investors
directing them where to put their money. MTP
envisages raising investments
up to 25% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Currently investments account for
less than 10% of GDP.Analysts say the
absence of a medium term plan was
holding back prospective investors who
were interested in the destination.
“All investors want to know
is your plan in the next three to five years. If
you don’t have a plan, you
cannot convince people to invest,” an analyst
said.
Another
analyst said the medium term plan would be a roadmap translated into
actualisation by budget.
He said the first thing was to
unveil it and then let people criticise it so
that some revisions could be
made. But there are fears that the document
would suffer the same fate as
its predecessors that were consigned to the
drawers with zero
implementation.
“In Botswana, they write a document and implement
it. In Zimbabwe they write
a quality document and zero implementation,” an
economic consultant said on
Thursday.
Sibanda said unlike
other previous programmes which were coming during
difficult times, Sterp
had prepared a good foundation for economic growth.
“It’s better
to implement 25% of the document than not implementing anything
at all,” an
economist said.
Government development plans since
independence
Since independence, government has come up with various
blueprints to grow
the economy.
The Transitional National
Development Plan (1986-90), according priority to
poverty reduction, was
launched with the objective that government would
invest money towards
increased social sector development, expansion of rural
infrastructure and
redressing social and economic inequalities such as those
created by skewed
land tenure systems inherited from the colonial past.
The programme
was dumped in the 1990s for the Bretton Woods-inspired Esap
which undertook
to reform public enterprises and the civil service.
Esap promised to
reduce central government deficit from 10% of GDP to 5% by
the fiscal year
1994-95. This did not happen, and the programme was
subsequently
abandoned.
The Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social
Transformation (Zimprest),
touted as a homegrown panacea to the country’s
mounting economic problems,
was launched in February 1998 to stem inflation
from over 200% at the start
of the programme to single digit level by the
year 2000.
It also promised continuous growth in exports and
envisaged a real annual
GDP growth of 6% until 2000, creating 44 000 new
jobs per year.
To achieve these targets, savings and investments were
expected to reach at
least 23% of the GDP and the budget deficit reduced to
less than 5%.
Besides seeking to advance the unfinished work of Esap,
Zimprest also added
socio-political goals such as improvements in the
quality of democratic
institutions, the pursuit of good governance and the
elimination of
corruption.
Zimprest, however, did not live to
celebrate its fourth anniversary as it
was abandoned for another programme:
the Millennium Economic Recovery
Programme (Merp) launched in August
2001.
Merp was touted as a short-term economic programme to restore
economic
vibrancy and address the underlying macroeconomic fundamentals. But
it was
rendered ineffective, largely due to the withdrawal of international
donor
support in February 2003.
Then the National Economic
Development Programme (NEDPP) was crafted in 2006
promising heaven-on-earth
with forecasts that US$2, 5 billion would be
raised within three months.
Like previous programmes it died a natural
death.
Then in 2008,
government announced that it was coming up with a long-term
economic
recovery programme under the Zimbabwe Economic Development
Strategy, which
was billed to run from 2009 up to 2013. Again it died before
it started.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 23:30
BY
KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
A tripartite free trade area (T-FTA) roadmap
agreed upon last week by Sadc,
Comesa and EAC countries in South Africa,
heralds the onset of major
progress in regional trade among the three trade
blocs.
With the creation of the T-FTA, member countries
anticipated opening-up of
markets, free movement of business people, the
elimination of trade barriers
in the form of restrictive tariffs and quotas
that are seen as constraints
to regional trade.
The envisaged
T-FTA will cover 26 countries with a collective gross domestic
product of
US$860 billion and a population of about 590 million people.
Leaders from
the three regional economic blocs hope to establish the T-FTA
by 2013 in a
bid to boost the regions’ economies. Smaller member states will
benefit
through identifying and developing key sectors where they have
competitive
advantage.
Regional Integration and International Co-operation
minister Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga explained that the envisaged T-FTA
was not just
another trade commitment similar to those made in the
past.
“In principle, the number of member states who attended and
endorsed the
negotiation process towards the adoption of a FTA roadmap is a
strong
reflection of political will among member states,” she
said.
She pointed out that industrialisation of member states was
a key pillar of
the institutional framework so that those with smaller
economies would not
need to worry about facing stiff
competition.
She said, “It means we will not have a free trade
area outside of the
industrialisation policy. Our local industry certainly
stands to benefit
from the T-FTA as it aims to increase productive capacity
of member
countries, contribute to value addition and strengthen productive
bases.”
The summit also adopted negotiating principles for
establishing the T-FTA
and directed that a programme of work be developed on
the industrialisation
pillar.
However, sticking points that
have not been decisively resolved are those of
overlapping membership,
political will among member states, and
protectionist measures for
“sensitive” products likely to compromise the
integration
initiative.
Economist Witness Chinyama contended that different
levels of economic power
and levels of economic development were likely to
have a significant effect
on the trajectory that regional trade would take
under the T-FTA.
He also noted the case of Zimbabwe, which is
still recovering from a decade
of economic stagnation, saying opening up of
markets would likely compromise
local industry
operations.
“Only when complementary measures are provided by
stronger economies through
the provision of lines of credit to local
industry will the situation be
beneficial,” said
Chinyama.
Self-imposed trade barriers must go
Economist
John Robertson described the T-FTA’s endeavour to erode member
states’
reliance on “volatile” customs duty for revenue as a positive
step.
“However, Zimbabwe’s limitations stem from reduced levels of
production
capacity as most member countries produce commodities of the same
kind,” he
said, adding that the country needed to invest huge amounts of
capital to
retool the manufacturing sector.
“We have done more
damage to ourselves through pursuing indigenisation which
has deterred the
much needed investment, so we need to remove those self-
imposed barriers in
order to fully benefit from the regional integration
initiative,” said
Robertson.
Trade analysts say that the issue of sensitive products is
likely to reflect
protectionist interests or rent-seeking behaviour, both of
which will
perpetuate inefficiencies in the regional group.
One
of the biggest problems surrounding the T-FTA centres is dual
membership.
For example, Zimbabwe, is a member of Comesa and Sadc, while
South Africa
belongs to both Sadc and the Southern African Customs Union
(Sacu).
Under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, member
countries in regional
trade groups cannot belong to more than one customs
union.
It remains to be seen how expeditiously these sticking issues
will be
resolved in order to enhance regional trade and competitiveness for
the
Comesa-EAC-Sadc group.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 23:37
BY OUR
STAFF
A new professional association, the Development Management
Institute of
Africa (DMIA) was launched last week with the aim of promoting
the
professionalism of development management in sub-Saharan
Africa.
DMIA acting chairperson Noel Muzondo said the organisation, a
registered
professional membership trust, was formed by a consortium of
academics from
different universities and members of the National
Association of
Non-Governmental Association (Nango).
“The
mission of DMIA is to advance knowledge and research for stakeholder
benefit
in the science of development management,” he said. “The institute
believes
that the discipline has now ripened enough to turn into a
profession.”
The institute encompasses academics from
different disciplines ranging from
economics, engineering, law, and social
work among others, hence the need to
form an amalgamated profe-ssional
association.
“The fact that professionals are already working
together in development
organisations shows that they have a common interest
— development,” said
Muzondo in a statement.
He said
development, as a discipline had accumulated a substantial body of
knowledge
and there was now recognition at global level that practitioners
in this
field required specialised management skills.
The DMIA has
developed foundation and higher certificate professional
qualifications in
development management, approved by the Ministry of Higher
and Tertiary
Education.
Accreditation of the institute’s professional diploma
and higher diplomas
are in the pipeline. This will enable students who
successfully complete
certificate studies to proceed to relevant diploma
qualifications with full
exemptions, said Muzondo.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011
23:40
BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA
THE uncertainty surrounding
elections and the volatile political situation
in the country could hamper
the anticipated economic growth, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
said.
In a recently published Article IV report, the Bretton Woods
institution
said the country’s medium term outlook was clouded by political
uncertainties.
“An unchanged policies scenario projects a
gradual decline of real gross
domestic product (GDP) growth rates to about
3%, because investment most
likely would remain subdued on account of
significant structural
impediments, the acceleration of indigenisation in
mining and lingering
uncertainties about ownership requirements in other
sectors,” said the IMF.
Analysts said policy inconsistency and
incessant conflicts over key aspects
of the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
are negatively affecting economic
growth and investment
prospects.
“Some officials thought restrictive measures imposed
on some Zimbabwean
officials and their companies by several countries
hindered the recovery and
constituted the major obstacle to medium term
growth,” said the IMF in its
report.
The report said
inefficient expenditure composition; rising vulnerabilities
in the financial
system and the recent announcement of fast-track
indigenisation of the
mining sector would be a drag on the recovery. This
would cause growth to
decelerate to 5,5% this year, it said.
Economic planning
authorities anticipate a growth rate of 9,3% spurred by
favorable
performance in the agricultural, mining, tourism and manufacturing
sectors.
However, the country has not witnessed substantial foreign
direct investment
(FDI) inflows needed to resuscitate the four
sectors.
The IMF noted the importance of the mining sector, which
is contributing 20%
to the country’s GDP but urged restraint in the
indigenisation overtures
being made as higher commodity prices and increased
diamond exports could
underpin massive growth in
Zimbabwe.
“Empowerment of indigenous Zimbabweans through
indigenisation of business
remains a key objective of government although
reasonable flexibility is
expected in its implementation, particularly in
the mining sector,” said the
institution.
The IMF said that
FDI in mining and portfolio investment are projected to
decline in 2011
should policies fail to change adding that these inflows
would remain at a
projected US$100 million up to the year 2016.
It also recommended
improving governance of public enterprises active in the
diamond sector,
which would be complemented by IMF and World Bank technical
assistance.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18
June 2011 21:49
Zimbabwe’s service chiefs have recently made remarks that
are unfortunate
and constitute a brutal and vicious assault on democratic
tenets and
beliefs, but these are also predictable and understandable given
our
political background.
The history of our country is such that the
security directorate is made up
of nationalists (not career soldiers) who
find themselves in the security
establishment by virtue of the accident of
having joined a nationalist
(political) movement which was forced to
militarise in order to solve a
political problem.
It has to
be pointed out that the political umbilical cord between the
current
security leadership and Zanu PF stretches back to the early
1970s.
The relationship is so interlocked and intertwined that
the career path of
the security top brass naturally leads to joining the
political leadership
of Zanu PF upon retirement from the security
establishment. This is evident
from past elevations of retired army officers
like retired General Solomon
Mujuru, the late Air Marshall Josiah
Tungamirai, the late retired general
Vitalis Zvinavashe and Nyambuya, among
others.
The above scenario replicates itself in all strategic
organs of government,
signifying Zanu PF’s omnipresence in all key levels
and levers of
government.
Accordingly, this is why some of us
shout from the mountain top that we have
an institutionalised de facto
one-party state in Zimbabwe. When the
security chiefs go public on their
support for Zanu PF, they do so on the
basis that they are an integral part
of the current ruling elite and also
Zanu PF political leaders-in-waiting.
They are merely defending their
political self-interests and post-retirement
careers. In short, the
security chiefs see themselves not only as
guarantors of Zanu PF tenure in
government but also as constituting the next
generation of the national
political leadership.
The reality
of the current political structure is that the people’s struggle
for
independence has been devalued to mean the Zanu PF struggle, the people’s
victory over colonialism to mean the Zanu PF victory. The children of
Zimbabwe who constituted the armed wing of the struggle are classified as
the children of Zanu PF. In this process, Zanu PF, the political party, is
made synonymous with and equated to the state — the people are Zanu PF and
Zanu PF is the people! This is a dangerous philosophy in a country
striving for multi-party democracy.
The deliberate
devaluation of Zimbabwe struggle for independence into a Zanu
PF affair and
the consequential enhancement of Zanu PF to the level of state
breeds the
mindset that an attack on Zanu PF is an attack on the state, and
that if
Zanu PF loses power, that becomes tantamount to the country sliding
back to
colonial rule. Accordingly, any opposition party that threatens the
political hegemony of Zanu PF, ipso facto, challenges the state machinery,
which instinctively goes into defensive mode against the intruding political
party.
The above stance is wrong. It distorts and rubbishes
the real objective of
the nationalist struggle against colonial rule. The
struggle was for the
establishment of a free Zimbabwe on the basis of “adult
suffrage” (we used
to refer to it as “one man, one vote”). We have other
similar struggles in
the world such as the French Revolution and the
American War of Independence
founded on the same noble cause. The
difference is that liberation wars in
other parts of the world have remained
national affairs unlike in our
situation where Zanu PF claims the glory and
the ownership.
Democracy allows people to ventilate their views
openly and freely and
prevents pushing opposing and dissenting voices
underground. Thus democracy
guarantees national stability and
security.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 21:46
Last month a very interesting
article was published in South Africa’s
BusinessDay newspaper headlined, How
Zanu PF plans to steal the Zimbabwe
elections. It was written by RW Johnson,
a writer and journalist. The
article was based on an analysis he had done of
Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll as
it looked in October last year and published the
analysis under the auspices
of the South African Institute of Race
Relations. The document is entitled
Preventing Electoral Fraud in Zimbabwe:
A Report on the Voters’ Roll in
Zimbabwe.
The document’s
foreword penned by prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice
Mtetwa partly
reads:
“Currently negotiators from all three of Zimbabwe’s main
political parties
are engaged in trying to devise a roadmap to free and fair
elections under a
new and democratic constitution. This is, for all
Zimbabweans, the Holy
Grail … we have always known that we would not achieve
the democratic future
we want until there could be truly free and fair
elections in Zimbabwe. The
first and foremost essential ingredient for that
is a properly drawn up
voters’ roll — and this should be a document in the
public domain, easily
accessible not only to political parties but to
members of the general
public.”
The BusinessDay article received wide
publicity both locally and
internationally and many people now believe that
a flawed voters’ roll is at
the heart of Zimbabwe’s failure to hold “truly
free and fair elections”.
But that is far from the
truth.
Johnson’s research has unearthed serious irregularities in
the voters’ roll,
such as the presence of thousands of new voters over 100
years old,
thousands of 100-year-olds registered with the same date of
birth, thousands
of nonagenarian voters and even more thousands of underage
voters on the
roll as at October last year.
But according to election
analysts, whereas a clean voters’ roll is one of
the prerequisites of a free
and fair election, on its own it doesn’t
guarantee such a poll. A clean
voters’ roll only assists in the conduct of
elections; it has no relevance
on the way those who actually do vote
exercise their right to vote. It only
prevents multiple voting by voters on
their own account and also prevents
cheats voting for registered persons no
longer entitled to vote due to death
or emigration.
What is of paramount importance to the Zimbabwean
electoral process is not
that those who wish to cheat by voting several
times or cast ballots for
those who are dead or ineligible to vote are
prevented from doing so —
although this is important — but that those who do
vote do so in absolute
secrecy. The cleanest voters’ roll cannot guarantee
this.
This whole hype surrounding the flawed voters’ roll,
electoral violence,
ballot stuffing, the postal vote and multiple voting has
become a red
herring, diverting observers’ attention from the real crux of
the matter
which is that the majority of our people, especially those in the
communal
lands, susceptible to intimidation, are not voting in
secrecy.
There has been a lot of hearsay that the postal vote has been
abused,
especially by the uniformed forces who have been made to vote more
than
once, but that vote, if it has happened at all, is not significant
enough to
determine the outcome of a national election. The elections of
March 2008
support this fact. Ballot stuffing has also been dismissed
because there is
ballot paper reconciliation after voting and the system
being used can
easily unearth any incidents of vote stuffing. Material used
during voting
has been disclosed and examined in courts and nothing of
significance has
come out. Electoral violence is a common feature in many
elections all over
the world and since 2000 opposition parties, particularly
the MDC, have won
many constituencies in spite of it and in 2008 upstaged
Zanu PF.
In this column a fortnight ago I averred that the proposed
amendment to the
Electoral Act which stipulates that the next elections be
held on
poll-station-based voters’ rolls will deprive voters of their right
to
voting in secrecy. It is common knowledge that villagers will be
manipulated
and forced to vote in a particular way. The voters will be
subjected to
retribution if they vote otherwise. In the past village heads
have herded
their subjects into polling stations and monitored the way they
voted. Those
deemed untrustworthy, such as the more literate ones, were
forced to declare
illiteracy so that partisan polling officers did the
voting for them. All
along the villagers would have been exposed to
intimidation to the extent
that there was no security for them before,
during and after voting. If they
voted the way they wanted they could still
be fished out and punished. The
polling-station-based voters’ rolls, no
matter how clean the rolls may be,
will aggravate this scenario. RW
Johnson’s research dismally misses this
point.
The Electoral
Act itself is gravely flawed, especially regarding the method
of voting set
out in section 57 which provides for the manner of voting.
Section 57 (e)
(iii) describes the last stage of the method of voting as
follows:
“Then fold the paper so that the official mark is
visible and the names of
the candidates and cross made are not visible and
having held up the ballot
paper so that the presiding officer can recognise
the official mark, drop
the ballot in the ballot box placed in front of the
presiding officer …?”
For the rural voter who has been continually told
that a certain political
party has a way of telling how he or she has voted,
this requirement of
holding up the ballot paper to the presiding officer
becomes detrimental to
secrecy. The voter is not assured beyond a shadow of
doubt that the
presiding officer or any other person in the polling station
cannot see how
he or she has voted.
The Electoral Act must
instill confidence in the voter that there is
absolutely no way available of
telling how he or she has voted.
Section 57 has literally reduced
a secret ballot system into a vote by show
of hands. In the initial stages
of the use of the ballot paper in political
elections, it was noted that the
fear of possible discovery of how one voted
was intimidating and did not
facilitate the secrecy and security essential
to have the true and genuine
wish of the voter.
Voting in secrecy is the true Holy Grail, a
clean voters’ roll is helpful to
this but is hardly “the first and foremost
essential ingredient” for a truly
free and fair election.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011
21:33
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana’s utterances in an interview with
a local
daily newspaper last week must have shocked even the most
indifferent
observer of Zimbabwe’s criminal justice system.
He
defended the selective application of the law by saying that there was
nothing wrong with him prosecuting violent MDC supporters while letting the
even more vicious Zanu PF thugs roam free.
Tomana’s careless
utterances have helped explain why the police are behaving
the way they are
in dealing with political conflict. Police officers have
become openly
partisan; now it is clear this is with the blessing of no less
a person than
the AG himself.
Here is a man who fails to understand that his
job is to act in the national
interest, not to abuse his office by pursuing
a narrow political agenda. He
has refused to investigate recent allegations
of the torturing of people in
police custody simply because they belong to
the MDC, which he loathes.
Such a blatant demonstration of
partisanship deserves censure from the
executive. But because his actions
are meant to prop up President Mugabe’s
disintegrating hegemony, his
behaviour is seen as par for the course.
Perhaps Tomana imagines
himself as the next Justice minister as happened
with Patrick
Chinamasa.
Tomana’s shameless conduct brings to the fore the need
to have a
professional lawyer, rather than a political party cadre,
occupying the
important office of the AG. Such an occupant would not aspire
for political
office and would not pander to certain political whims. He
would apply the
law according to the letter and spirit of the national
constitution.
Tomana has demonstrated himself to be a political
stooge who is unaware of
the extent to which he has undermined the
credibility and integrity of the
AG’s office. The MDC parties are right in
saying Tomana must go before the
country can start reforming its criminal
justice system which has been
compromised by his lack of
professionalism.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 18 June 2011 21:25
By
Jameson Timba
attended the Sadc Troika meeting held at Livingstone on
March 31 2011. I
attended the Extra-ordinary Summit of Sadc held at Sandton
in South Africa
on June 11 2011. The distortions of the outcome of the
extraordinary summit
being peddled by some in Zanu-PF and the public media
have reached dishonest
proportions which border on insanity.
Before
the summit the MDC-T made its expectations clear. We expected the
summit to
embrace the spirit and recommendations from the Sadc Troika summit
of March
31 held at Livingstone, Zambia. MDC-T also expected the summit to
embrace
the concept of a time-bound and task-based roadmap to free, fair and
credible elections where violence plays no part.
Zanu-PF on
the other hand sought the setting aside of the Livingstone
resolutions and a
declaration that the lifespan of the inclusive government
had expired and as
such the country should go for elections this year. They
also sought the
abandonment of the process of coming up with a roadmap
claiming that the GPA
was a sufficient document to act as the roadmap.
The above two
positions became the lobbying platforms of the two political
parties in the
region. The results of the endevours of the two parties are
out there in
record time for all to see.
Sadc refused to dance to the Zanu PF
tune; it refused to commit political
infanticide by killing its own baby
called Livingstone.
The summit — guided by the report from
President Jacob Zuma, which included
his Livingstone summit submission and
its resolutions as annexures and the
report of the Sadc committee on
re-engagement with the West — embraced the
letter and spirit of Livingstone
by noting the two reports and proceeded to
implement the recommendations of
these reports.
The script of the summit reads as
follows:
Zuma in his report to the summit stated that “the report
takes off from
where the last one, at the Summit of the Organ Troika on
Politics, Defence
and Security Cooperation, held at Livingstone in Zambia
left off on March
31. That report is attached as Annexure F and also carries
the Troika Summit
Communiqué.”
President Zuma went further to
say, “While Jomic has done its work well
under the circumstances, the Organ
Troika resolution is still relevant that;
there must be an immediate end of
violence, intimidation, hate speech,
harassment and any other form of action
that contradicts the letter and
spirit of the GPA.”
Taking
into account that Zuma said his report was supplementary to the
Livingstone
one and was made up of his Livingstone report and the
communiqué as
annexures, he went further to say, “The extraordinary summit
should remember
and accept that all the annexures hereto are building blocks
of the overall
report that we are presenting and, therefore, should be read
at all times as
a single entity.”
Finally President Zuma made the following
recommendations to the summit
verbatim quoted below:
“Sadc,
through the Organ Troika, continues to assist Zimbabwe in the full
implementation of the GPA;
“The Organ Troika countries appoint their
representatives as soon as
possible to participate in the
Jomic;
“Sadc helps the Zimbabwe parties to mobilise resources for Jomic
for the
committee to better discharge its functions;
“The
extraordinary summit encourages the GPA parties to move faster in the
implementation of the GPA and the creation of an atmosphere conducive to the
holding of an election that will be free and fair, under conditions of a
level playing field; and “The inter-party dialogue negotiators should
complete, as a matter of urgency, the drawing up of timelines for the
implementation of the roadmap as part of the programme of action going
forward.”
The second report submitted to the summit was the
Sadc senior officials
mission to the UK, EU and US. This report was
presented by Ambassador
Tuliameni Kalomoh, senior advisor to the Namibian
president who led the
team.
Kalomoh concluded that, “The
mission was somehow encouraged that all those
they met indicated that their
countries and organisations were not
inflexible in considering the lifting
of sanctions. However, they have
linked such decisions to progress by
Zimbabwe parties to implement all
provisions of the Global Political
Agreement.”
Both reports of the facilitator and the reengagement
mission were noted by
the summit. But most importantly, the resolutions of
the summit were based
on the recommendations of these two
reports.