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HOT SEAT: Kimberley Process monitor Chikane defends ‘shopping’ Zim activist to police
Two separate guests on today’s Hot Seat programme ; the Kimberley Process monitor to Zimbabwe Abbey Chikane , and Bernard Taylor , Executive Director of Partnership Africa Canada, an organisation in the Kimberley Process Working Group on Monitoring. Chikane vigorously defends the fact that he ‘shopped’ diamonds researcher Farai Maguwu to the authorities, while Taylor explains why his organisation will not give a blessing to Chikane’s internal report which recommends the certification of Zimbabwe ’s diamonds .
BROADCAST: 11 June 2010
VIOLET GONDA: My guest on the Hot Seat programme is the Kimberley Process monitor to Zimbabwe , Mr Abbey Chikane. The KP is an international diamond trade watchdog set up to curb the trade in blood diamonds. Mr Chikane is a South African businessman who was in Zimbabwe recently on a fact finding mission to assess Zimbabwe ’s diamond fields and also to find out if Zimbabwe has met the minimum required standards to trade in rough diamonds. Welcome on the programme Mr Chikane.
ABBEY CHIKANE: Thank you.
GONDA: Let me start with recent developments in Zimbabwe – I wonder if you are aware that Farai Maguwu, the director of the Centre for Research and Development was arrested two weeks ago and I talked to him before he handed himself in to police and he made a connection between a meeting you had with him and the State agents’ invasion of his offices and home and his subsequent detention. First of all, what is your reaction to this?
CHIKANE: Well I have in the past few days urged the Zimbabwean government to do everything possible to treat Mr Maguwu in terms of their national laws and I think the due process should be respected and basically that’s how far I can go, and secondly I also have tried so hard not to make comment on this matter because it is a legal matter, I don’t want to prejudice Mr Maguwu. I don’t want to provide any additional information that may, just make his situation worse than it is now and I look forward to his release at an appropriate time and of course I look forward to meeting him as soon as possible.
GONDA: Now Mr Maguwu actually accuses you of setting him up in that you revealed some of the confidential issues you discussed with him to Zimbabwean authorities. Did you do this?
CHIKANE: I’m not sure what he is talking about unless he is admitting, which is a contradiction in terms, that he did give me a fraudulently obtained document which for legal reasons I had to submit it to the authorities because if I had not done that I would have become an accessory to this criminal act. But I have avoided even confirming that I did receive this document because in his statement, I think even given to the courts of Zimbabwe, he has denied that he has given me any document - so he seems to be contradicting himself because he says one thing to the court and he says something to the media which is going to make his case very difficult to defend.
GONDA: He actually denied giving you the document - and I presume the document that you are talking about is the one that was compiled by the security forces on the situation in Chiadzwa. Now Mr Maguwu said you were the one who actually showed him the document during your discussions and you said that you had received it from ZANU-PF sources and that obviously in the meeting you did discuss some confidential issues to do with the CRD’s findings in Chiadzwa.
CHIKANE : That is why I’m saying if I were him I wouldn’t be saying all these things because they are going to be used against him in court apart from whether or not I would have given the authorities this document that I am referring to which is true and I didn’t want to say that publicly because I’m interested in his case. But over and above that, there are other sources of information including his laptop that was confiscated that can prove to that effect but I’m just saying it’s not really in his interest to be talking to the media when he’s facing a legal case. I would advise him not to do that. I don’t think it’s a good idea for him, not for me – it’s got nothing to do with me, it’s got nothing to do with the Kimberley Process, I’m just worried about the manner in which he is handling this matter because he is actually making his situation very difficult.
GONDA: So what is it that you handed to the authorities and why did you feel that it was necessary for you to pass on this information?
CHIKANE: You know I think it’s because I live in a normal world and I don’t do stolen goods, whether they are in the form of a document or clothes or anything and if someone tells me he has stolen a document from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) of any country – imagine if that happened to the United States, or in Israel, or in Russia, you know what the implications are. And for him to present me with a document that was stolen from the Joint Operations Command, I didn’t think that my job includes among other things dealing with fraudulently obtained information. If he needed to share any information he would have done so without handing me, handing over a document that he had stolen. In fact for a minute I didn’t even trust him because I thought he operates in a very unscrupulous manner - but in retrospect obviously it does look like that’s how documents are obtained by people that are fighting in these kind of situations such as Zimbabwe, but I don’t live in that world so I cannot relate to handling any fraudulent material of any sort.
GONDA: But how does one check authenticity in a country like Zimbabwe where those under suspicion of wrongdoing include elements of the security agents? Could you not have gone to the KP for example? Could you not have at least gone to the people who had given you the mandate to go on a fact-finding mission in Zimbabwe ? Could you not have gone to them instead of going to the people who are implicated in that document?
CHIKANE: Ma’am, this is not a domestic matter or a night club matter, it’s a serious matter, you go to prison for 25 years in Zimbabwe if you are found in possession of a document of that nature. Having said that, I have actually incorporated this matter in my report which means I have informed the Kimberley Process - but at that particular moment there was no Kimberley Process to be thinking about, I was more concerned about periods of more than 25 years in prison in Zimbabwe if in possession of a fraudulently obtained document.
I think the whole matter should be seen from the perspective that I was in possession of a stolen material and I did not want to be in possession of a stolen material. And secondly, it took me four days to assess and analyse the document and even went to the extent of establishing if there is an author of that document that I could meet. I even met the author of the document so I was able to confirm that it is an authentic document - but you see at the end of the day, the issue for me is actually more about the fact that, you know when people are involved in intelligence operations, I think they should go to those schools so they understand how these things are dealt with. You don’t walk around with a stolen document when you know that you are being followed, when you know that you are fighting with the regime but you walk around with a laptop that has got all those documents. I mean I don’t want to go to that extent but I’m just saying the manner in which he handled this sensitive matter was very unprofessional, very dangerous and at least I didn’t want to be associated with it in any way.
GONDA: But how would you have known that the authorities would have found out that you and Mr Maguwu discussed this document and also are you aware that there have been allegations of torture – human rights violations against the same institutions to which you gave the documents to?
CHIKANE: Well first of all, let’s not mix the manner in which the document was presented to me and the manner in which I presented it to the authorities - let’s separate that from subsequent actions because I think I have already expressed my feelings about it, that I really wished the Zimbabwean government could treat him well in accordance with their laws. And having said that, I’m coming back to the fact that, it took me some time to determine what to do next, but it also strikes me that when I thought I was meeting an official of an NGO, I was actually meeting an intelligence operator and I did not want to be part and parcel of any intelligence operation. This is the point I’m trying to make. I had no interest, it was not part of my mandate to be involved any intelligence operation in Zimbabwe .
GONDA: What was the reason for you meeting Mr Maguwu if it wasn’t to find out his investigations in the Marange area?
CHIKANE: No had I known that he was involved in an intelligence operation I wouldn’t have met him. I was looking at meeting someone who represented an NGO which is concerned about human rights issues but not about intelligence operations. I just didn’t want to be associated with him and neither do I want to do that now and not in the future. I’ve had no interest in the intelligence world. My job requires me to monitor what is happening in Zimbabwe . The manner in which you obtain information should have nothing to do with me, he should have just come to me and said so many people were tortured, so many people were relocated, so many people have been involved in this activity or the other and especially if it is written by you it’s even better. What made it worse is that when I asked him if I could quote him he said he doesn’t want to be associated with that document. Now this is a very complicated matter, it’s like someone bringing a complaint to you but he says don’t quote me – now who then is to be quoted? Who is the source of the information? So I end up being the source of that information and if there’s one thing I was trying to avoid was to deal with the document that the owner did not want to own it and he did not want to be associated with it and I had to keep it in my bag.
Now I have to say one last thing because as I said I am working on something else, the one other thing that I need to say which is equally very important - is that I think it has to be understood that I was more interested in the activities of NGOs because of the association Mr Maguwu has with that global NGO and they had given me a particular report about the situation there and I was more than happy to verify what had been presented to me, whether verbally or otherwise and that had nothing to do with intelligence information. It was a straightforward human rights concern by NGOs within the Kimberley Process - and remember that NGOs are members, I mean observers within the Kimberley Process. So I had an idea I would meet them and I had declared this to everybody, the whole world knew that I was going to meet them in the same manner that I was going to meet representatives of the industry and representatives of government, and I was not looking forward to any intelligence operation, neither did I expect them to have anything of any intelligence nature with the government.
The one thing that lastly I should say is that I have always known that if I were to be in Zimbabwe, I wouldn’t be surprised that someone would want to know what’s happening at the hotel where I am, in my bag, in my suitcase and every movement - who I communicate with on my phone and so on, I’ve always known that and for me to be given a document that has to go into my bag, I knew that someone was going to find it. And had it been found in my briefcase - exactly the same way that my other emails were found in my suitcase , can you imagine what that would have meant to the Zimbabwean government and to me in particular?
GONDA: So Mr Chikane…
CHIKANE: I did not want to be associated with anything of an intelligence nature.
GONDA: So how do you feel though now that you have found out that one of your informers, Mr Maguwu, was arrested soon after you met with him and that his family members were beaten up and arrested as a result of your meeting with him?
CHIKANE Well I’ve already expressed my views about that but I do want to separate what he is going through now and the fact that what he did to me was equally very wrong and very illegal.
GONDA: But do you understand the problems that you have now created by sending out this information to the police because your mandate requires cooperation of more than just government but also of local communities including human rights organisations - so if you go around handing over documents no matter how confidential or sensitive they are, who will give you anything if your real job is to find out what is really going on in Zimbabwe?
CHIKANE I have done this job for almost ten years and one lesson that has to be learned is that the KP monitor does not deal with stolen material. It is as simple as all that. I think this is a lesson that anybody, whether it’s in NGOs, industry or government, the KP monitor does not deal with fraudulent material. Stolen material, I don’t deal with stolen material. I think that is one lesson that not only Mr Maguwu, anyone else who has to submit any information to me, any documentation to me, it should not be a stolen document. There are many options of using a stolen document, you rephrase, you rewrite, you put it in your own words, you find other ways of presenting such information – you don’t present to me the original document that has been stolen from the Joint Operation Command of the police force. You don’t do that and that’s one lesson that anyone who deals with me will have to know.
GONDA: I spoke to Maguwu’s lawyers who said that they were surprised to see that while their client was initially arrested for the recent communications about the controversial Chiadzwa diamonds with you, that these details were not actually placed before the courts, so if Mr Maguwu violated the Official Secrets Act, which is the reason why you felt that you had to notify the authorities about that, why wasn’t he charged with that offence?
CHIKANE: I don’t know Ma’am, I’m not a Zimbabwean court, I’m not Mr Maguwu, I’m not Mr Maguwu’s lawyer. I’m accounting for an incident that happened between me and Mr Maguwu and I wouldn’t like to extend this discussion beyond just that incident which took place in less than 30 minutes.
GONDA: This was the second time that you went to Zimbabwe and I understand that you have released a report about the situation in the Chiadzwa area, what were your findings?
CHIKANE I think Ma’am, you are a professional journalist, you and I have an agreement that I’m not going to talk about that report and I’m surprised you are raising it in public.
GONDA: No the reason I am raising it now is because I have seen the interview that you did with the State controlled Herald newspaper, so if you can talk to the State controlled Herald newspaper about your findings, why can you not talk to us?
CHIKANE No I’ve not spoken to the Herald. I don’t know where they’ve got information from. I’m told that my report is in the market, I’m surprised that you still don’t have it but it has not been circulated officially. From a corporate government point of view, I report to the Working Group on Monitoring. They are only meeting on Monday to study the report and they’ll give me a feedback and then they will release it to the public.
GONDA: Can you at least tell us the minimum conditions required by the Kimberley Process to certify diamonds in Zimbabwe because many people would want to know it?
CHIKANE Ma’am…
GONDA: This is not to do with what your report is saying but what you’d require from Zimbabwe so that people can at least know what it is that you would want to see. Is that unreasonable?
CHIKANE Violet you are being naughty Ma’am, please don’t do that. I’ve already offered you a one-on-one and please don’t do that, it’s not correct.
GONDA: OK…I’ll call you next week then. Thank you very much.
CHIKANE It’s a pleasure.
GONDA: In Chikane’s leaked internal report to the Kimberly Process, the South African monitor says Zimbabwe has met the minimum requirements to legally trade in diamonds and recommends the resumption of exports from the controversial Chiadzwa diamond fields. Mr. Chikane declined to comment about these recommendations until the Kimberley Process Working Group on Monitoring has met to discuss his report. So I spoke with Bernard Taylor, the Executive Director of Partnership Africa Canada – one of the organisations in the Kimberley Process monitoring group - and asked him to provide an insight into the work of the KP and the implications of Chikane’s decision not to maintain the confidentiality of his meeting with Farai Maguwu. I started by asking Mr Taylor to explain how his organisation is associated with the KP.
BERNARD TAYLOR: My organisation Partnership Africa Canada which is a Canadian NGO began work on the issue of natural resources and conflict more than ten years ago by looking into the war in Sierra Leone and we published a report in the year 2000 on the Sierra Leone diamond trade and how it was fuelling the war there and as a result of that report in 2000, we were invited by the government of South Africa and others to take part in an initial meeting in the town of Kimberley to discuss the issue of conflict diamonds. Now we have been part of that process ever since and we are one of the organisations that actively participate in the management of the Kimberley Process - we’re part of the Civil Society Coalition that participates in the Kimberley Process.
GONDA: What is your reaction to the events that took place in Zimbabwe after KP monitor Abbey Chikane met with a Zimbabwean diamond rights researcher Farai Maguwu and shortly after his meeting, about a fortnight ago, the researcher was arrested by the authorities?
TAYLOR : Well we were obviously shocked and angry about what happened. Obviously we realise that many things happen in Zimbabwe and human rights are frequently not respected, there are gross human rights abuses in Zimbabwe , but we did not expect what happened to happen and certainly not in the circumstances. First of all Farai Maguwu and his organisation, the Centre for Research and Development is a well respected organisation which a member of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition and we and other organisations and governments, know its work and respect it. So it was perfectly normal for the Kimberly Process monitor to make contact with this organisation and seek their ideas and input into his monitoring work in Zimbabwe . This is his second visit that he was making. He actually did not meet with the Centre for Research and Development during the first visit, which was a mistake I believe.
But for him to have held that meeting with Mr Maguwu in a very public place, whatever the reasons he may have to explain that, we think it was a gross mistake and it has, I would say that it’s actually broken a very important trust that existed between civil society in Zimbabwe and the Kimberley Process monitor.
If I could explain that further – I think the Kimberley Process has actually placed the KP monitor in a very difficult situation that’s to say that the joint Work Plan which was agreed between the Kimberley Process and the authorities in Zimbabwe at the Kimberly Process plenary meeting last November in Namibia – it laid out a piece of work which the authorities in Zimbabwe were to achieve but given the reality of what’s been happening in Zimbabwe, the attitude of the different players, the Minister of Mines, the police, the military, those in political power – given those realities, I think there’s a great contradiction there. What Mr Chikane, the KP monitor was asked to do clearly would be extremely difficult, if not impossible given the real realities of what is happening in Zimbabwe and that’s why civil society, including ourselves, we were not happy with the proposed Work Plan, we opposed it but we accepted it in the circumstances hoping that it could work and this is now of course what has happened. Mr Chikane found himself in quite difficult circumstances and he has taken some very bad decisions and now we have, if you like, the chief witness of civil society in Zimbabwe that’s been working on these issues, arrested and facing possibly serious charges. So it’s a very, very unhappy and serious situation. What has happened is putting someone’s life at risk and I believe also it is also putting the work in question at great risk, in fact I, we question whether this work can continue, we question whether any civil society person in Zimbabwe will ever be able to give evidence to the KP monitor Mr Chikane again.
GONDA: Now Mr Chikane actually defended his actions saying that he felt that he had been given classified documents or that he thought that he was in possession of a ‘stolen document’. Is it really appropriate to describe it as a ‘stolen document’? We now know that is was a leaked internal document compiled by the security forces exposing violations by the military especially, and although we don’t know who actually gave who this document in terms of between the two of them, at the end of the day, Mr Maguwu’s organisation has been gathering evidence on what is happening in the Chiadzwa area, surely the army wouldn’t have passed on this information about itself, about the crimes that are taking place in these diamond fields?
TAYLOR : I couldn’t agree with you more. You know if you compare this to a situation where let’s say, a reporter is reporting on a crime that has been committed, or crimes, this is tantamount to the reporter being imprisoned for reporting on crimes because that is what Mr Maguwu has been doing. He is a witness to some of the things that have been happening in Zimbabwe , he’s reported on it and now he’s been arrested for all this. And of course, the KP monitor is partly responsible for that situation. So, yes, it all adds up to a very unfortunate and very sad and very dangerous situation and I’m not sure how this will end but I think everyone involved really needs to consider their position and do the right thing.
GONDA: Now Mr Chikane’s internal report to the Kimberley Process has already been leaked to the press and in the leaked report I understand that the South African monitor is actually recommending that Zimbabwe be allowed to resume diamond exports. Your thoughts on this?
TAYLOR : Well you know that the Kimberley Process monitor, Mr Chikane, after his visit to Zimbabwe had to write a report to the committee in the KP that oversees his work. Now that is an internal report that he has sent to the committee, which is meeting on Monday June the 14 th. It appears that that report has been leaked and extracts from it were published for example in the Herald newspaper in Harare . We, organisations that are members of this committee which also has many governments, African governments and other governments that are members of the committee are not supposed to comment on a document, an internal document like that before it is discussed but clearly, given as this has been released and extracts have appeared in the paper, I can comment on those extracts - and if you like my broadest comment would be that I don’t think that that report and its conclusion reflects the reality in Zimbabwe. The report’s conclusion which seems to be that all is sufficiently well for certification of diamonds from Chiadzwa to happen. I question how that matches up with the reality that we know of where diamond smuggling continues apace across the border from Chiadzwa into Mozambique, where the military still controls most of the area, where military syndicates are operating in mining, where you have the head of police, police commissioner Augustine Chihuri has written to the ministry asking for mining concessions for the police, where you have different levels of illegality that we are aware of in how these companies, the two companies that have been operating. There are so many different aspects to this that are far from clear and seem to go against the normal operating of a diamond industry, that it’s a report which says that everything seems to be fine seems like a whitewash. So we are really unhappy about the current situation.
GONDA: So has the monitor got the authority to decide on this by himself, or to certify Zimbabwe ’s diamonds he’d need the committees approval?
TAYLOR: Yes the committee itself will look at the report and if there is full agreement, consensus agreement within the committee, then if they agreed with a recommendation to certify or to go forward and be prepared to certify diamonds, saying that Zimbabwe had met the minimum requirements, then the KP monitor would be able to go forward and do that, but he himself doesn’t have the decision making power – it’s the committee that decides if and how he can go forward. If there’s no consensus, if no decision can be taken, then the committee will have to deliberate further. If you look back to six months ago when the plenary of the KP met in Namibia, there was no consensus there, some were arguing that Zimbabwe, because of its serious non-compliance with the KP should be expelled from the KP, others were defending Zimbabwe’s position and in the end a sort of compromise position was agreed and this Work Plan that Mr Chikane has been monitoring was this compromise position. So if there’s no consensus next week then further discussions will occur and logically at some stage there will be some sort of compromise decision taken, but what that will be and when it will occur I just couldn’t say.
GONDA: What is the general feeling right now or rather, which parties are in favour of certification?
TAYLOR : Well I wish I knew the answer, the complete answer to that. I really am not able to say with any certainty, you can imagine that in a compromise programme of work such as this is, that you get a variety of opinions and I’m aware of some opinions that are very, very angry about what has happened and are really unhappy and some that are probably far more conciliatory, so I would expect there to be mixed opinions on Monday. But I can’t say for certain.
GONDA: You said earlier on it’s by consensus, so does this means it only needs one person to say they are not agreeing with the recommendations and the recommendations won’t be passed?
TAYLOR : That is the normal way of working in the Kimberley Process. Up to now there is no sort of voting system, I think that’s public knowledge, everyone knows that and in a way it’s a strength but also a weakness of the Kimberley Process. It’s a strength because it brings everyone with you when decisions are taken, that is consensus. It’s a weakness because it may mean that decisions take longer to reach because there is more negotiation, more discussion. So you are correct to say that if there is opposition from one or more people or organisations, then the decision is, normally speaking, not able to be taken.
GONDA: As the Partnership Africa Canada, do you think that the time has come for Zimbabwe ’s diamonds to be certified?
TAYLOR : That’s not our impression, no. And independent research that we have carried out indicates there are some very serious things occurring in Zimbabwe which we do not feel are normal and which we feel should be radically changed and so to give a sort of blessing to a situation which we feel to be highly corrupt I think would be entirely wrong for the Kimberley Process to do.
GONDA: There are of course serious allegations that have been raised about Mr Chikane’s impartiality and also integrity. You even have Mr Maguwu accusing him of setting him up and that some rights groups in Zimbabwe are wondering how Mr Chikane came to such a conclusion about Zimbabwe’s diamonds when facts on the ground speak a different story and you also said this earlier on, so the question is - has the KP monitor been compromised here?
TAYLOR : I think your question is very pertinent. As I said earlier, I think at the very beginning he was in a very, very difficult situation in terms of the nature of the work which is extremely difficult if not impossible given the realities of the diamond sector in Chiadzwa in our opinion and of course what has happened over the last couple of weeks where I believe that he has lost the ability to dialogue with civil society in Zimbabwe. I say I don’t think people will be able to give him information in the future because of the fear of arrest. So is he able to undertake his work? I think that is a very serious question that should be posed and is posed and we’ll have to see what the answer to that is.
GONDA: Is this a question that your organisation will pose at this meeting?
TAYLOR : I’m sure it will come up from several participants at the meeting and we will certainly raise the feasibility of him being able to continue in this role given all that has happened.
GONDA: And one of your coalition partners, Global Witness, has rejected Mr Chikane’s claims and is actually calling for the immediate suspension of the monitoring arrangement for Chiadzwa. What is your organisation’s position on this?
TAYLOR : Well given the events that occurred when we issued a joint communiqué statement last week, along with the civil society groups, we asked for a suspension of the current Work Plan so we are together on that and that is what we would still ask for in such a meeting, so let us see what happens on Monday.
GONDA: And a final word Mr Taylor.
TAYLOR : I think, well thank you for your continuing interest and your hard work at exploring the difficulties in Zimbabwe and particularly in Chiadzwa. This is really, really a very, very serious situation because not only does it affect a corner of Zimbabwe and one particular economic sector, but I think it has the potential to affect the future political course of Zimbabwe. You know that people are critical of how the political authorities in Zimbabwe seem to be closely connected, personally connected with the diamond trade there and if you’ll allow me I would like to read just one sentence that CRD, the organisation of Mr Farai Maguwu has written and the organisation has written that – “It is immoral and obscene for a few individuals, how be it well connected and powerful, to swim in an ocean of affluence while a population is marooned on a no-man’s land between starvation and malnutrition. The CRD invites Zimbabwe civil society to take a firm and united position against the looting of natural, of national resources,” And so we concur with that sort of statement and we thank you for your continuing enquiries.
GONDA: Thank you for talking to us on the programme Hot Seat.
TAYLOR : Thank you, it’s been my pleasure.
Feedback can be sent to violet@swradioafrica.com
Business Week
Bloomberg
June 15, 2010, 3:25 AM EDT
June 14
(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe needs to improve its economic policies and data
reporting to make progress toward approval for a loan from the International
Monetary Fund, according to the institution’s mission chief to the country.
“Improving
the timeliness and quality of data reporting and making further progress in
economic policies would help to move toward a staff monitored program, which is
the stepping stone to an IMF financial arrangement and debt relief,” Vitaliy
Kramarenko said in an e-mailed statement after a June 2-10 mission to Harare.
Kramarenko
also said the country’s economy is benefitting from higher export prices and a
good agriculture season, the IMF said. He recommended that the authorities
complete a current government payroll audit, focus more on social policies and
improve the business climate.
Wages in
both the public and private sector should be restrained as inflation has
recently picked-up, he said.
Zimbabwe,
which has outstanding arrears of about $1.3 billion to the International Monetary
Fund, African Development Bank and World Bank, is struggling to attract foreign
investment and aid.
--Editors:
James Tyson, Lily Nonomiya
To contact
the reporter on this story: Sandrine Rastello in Washington at
srastello@bloomberg.net;
To contact
the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at
cwellisz@bloomberg.net
The Herald
Published by the government of
Zimbabwe
15 June 2010
________________________________________
Harare —
Congestion returned to the streets of Harare yesterday, just five days after
the Zimbabwe Republic and municipal police launched a blitz to bring sanity to
the capital city's roads.
The blitz
is targeting unroadworthy commuter omnibuses, public transporters using
undesignated pick-up and dropping points and unlicensed drivers.
Yesterday,
police said they had impounded 345 commuter omnibuses and arrested 1 118
drivers.
However,
many of those arrested were fined and relea-sed and by yesterday, kombis were
once again snarling traffic in the city centre.
The fines
range from US$5 to US$20 depending on the magnitude of the offence.
However,
the fines have been described by some as insufficiently deterrent to put a
permanent stop to illegal practices by kombi drivers - who police admitted had
become a law unto themselves and hence the blitz.
Many
public transporters withdrew their buses when the clampdown started, leaving
many commuters stranded.
The kombis
have since come back onto the roads with touting still going on and the use of
undesignated ranking points unabated.
ZRP
spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri yesterday said the operation would continue
until sanity prevailed.
"The
operation is ongoing until we achieve our aims and you will notice that some of
the vehicles have been removed from where they were. This is because they have
gone to the VID for checking.
"All
the basic requirements will be checked and if any is missing, the owner will
face the legal consequences. Those kombis with adequate papers were returned to
the owners," said Supt Phiri.
The police
spokesman said some of the arrested drivers would appear in court.
He added:
"We were considering even the age limit for driving public transport.
"A
driver of public transport should be over the age of 25 years and should have a
medical fitness certificate."
Despite
the return of congestion, Supt Mandipaka insisted the situation was better than
in previous weeks.
"If
you go into town, you will notice that there is a change. It is better than
what was experienced weeks and months ago."
City
spokesperson Mr Leslie Gwindi said they were committed to cleaning up the
streets.
"We
are still carrying on with our blitz and putting more pressure on the commuter
omnibus operators.
"Though
we have seen an improvement, we will make sure there is no more chaos in the
CBD," he said.
Previous
such operations have met little success and periodic blitzes have been staged
over the years.
Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:16am GMT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Public and private sector
employers in Zimbabwe should exercise wage restraint to avoid pushing the
southern African nation back into an inflation spiral, the International
Monetary Fund said on Monday.
In a statement at the end of a
mission visit last week, the IMF also urged swift action by the government to
weed out ghost workers from its payroll.
The plea comes in the wake of data
last month showing Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate accelerated to 4.8 percent
in April from 3.5 percent in March.
Hyper-inflation was the hallmark of
the country's economic collapse, before a power-sharing government set up last
year by bitter rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai stabilized the economy.
The unity government, among other
measures, scrapped the worthless Zimbabwe dollar and replaced it with multiple
currencies.
"The authorities are advised
to complete the on-going government payroll audit and start eliminating ghost
workers, while attaching greater priority to social and development
programs," mission chief Vitaliy Kramarenko said.
"Against the background of a
recent pickup in inflation and rising concerns about competitiveness, wage
restraint is needed in both the private and public sectors."
Kramarenko also said in order to
sustain the recovery, the cash budget deficit needed to be limited to about 2.5
percent of gross domestic product in 2010.
He said the IMF would continue to
work with Zimbabwean authorities on key economic policy issues and provide
targeted technical assistance.
"Improving the timeliness and
quality of data reporting and making further progress in economic policies
would help to move toward a staff monitored program, which is the stepping
stone to an IMF financial arrangement and debt relief," said Kramarenko.
Despite the formation of the unity
government, Zimbabwe has struggled to win donor support. Private capital
inflows have declined over worries about a government scheme to force
foreign-owned firms to sell majority stakes to local people.
Mugabe's chaotic land reform
program, which forced many farmers off their land and destroyed Zimbabwe's once
vibrant agricultural sector, is still fresh in investors' mind.
"It is also important to step
up efforts in containing risks in the banking system, and to improve the
business climate, in particular with respect to property rights," said
Kramarenko.
© Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights
reserved
The Zimbabwean
Written by ZimOnline
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
09:16
HARARE
– South African President Jacob Zuma will not send officials to Harare this
week to help revive talks to end a political deadlock threatening Zimbabwe’s
unity government, his international relations adviser Lindiwe Zulu said on Monday. (Pictured:
MEDIATOR . . . South African President Jacob Zuma)
Contradicting
a report by Zimbabwe’s official Sunday Mail newspaper quoting President Robert
Mugabe as having said that the South African leader would send a team of
mediators to Harare this week, Zulu said Zuma still has to go through a report
handed him by the Harare coalition partners before deciding what action to
take.
Zulu,
who is one of the senior officials who have been facilitating the Zimbabwe
dialogue on behalf of Zuma, said: "The President will have to go through
the report if he is not happy he will inform President Guebuza (Armando of
Mozambique and head of SADC’s special security organ).
"We
also have to go through the report. We are not coming to Harare and we were not
scheduled to come to Harare."
In
its report, the Zimbabwean state paper quoted Mugabe as saying upon his arrival
from South Africa where he had gone to attend the opening of the FIFA World Cup
that the talks facilitator would arrive in Harare on Monday (yesterday).
No
South African arrived in Harare on Monday for the talks to break a
power-sharing dispute between Mugabe and former opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, who is now Prime Minister in a unity government formed last year.
Zulu
declined to discuss the contents of the report handed to Zuma by Zimbabwe’s
three main political leaders or what could have led Mugabe to believe South
African facilitators would return to Harare yesterday.
Mugabe’s
spokesman George Charamba was not immediately available for comment on the
matter.
Zimbabwe’s
coalition government ran into problems almost immediately after the day it was
formed after Mugabe unilaterally appointed two top allies to the posts of
attorney general and central bank governor without consulting his partners,
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
Mugabe
has refused to reverse the appointments while he has also refused to swear in
top Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister .
The
Zimbabwe leader has also blocked reform or restructuring of the armed forces
that have backed his three-decade rule and last month opened a new front of
conflict when he appointed new judges to the country’s High and Supreme Courts
without Tsvangirai or Mutambara.
Mugabe,
who accuses Tsvangirai of campaigning for imposition by Western countries of
visa and financial sanctions against him and top officials of his ZANU PF party,
says he will not shift position until the Premier calls for lifting of the
punitive measures.
Tsvangirai
denies responsibility for calling for lifting of sanctions and says instead
Mugabe should allow democratic reforms in the country to persuade Western
governments to scrap sanctions.
The Zimbabwean
Written by Staff Reporter
Monday, 14 June 2010 09:59
CHINHOYI-The
food for work programme being initiated by NGOs such as Mercy Corps and Cadec
in the town has brought relief to cash strapped residents who are failing to
access elusive foreign currency.
A survey
by this paper revealed that most residents were taking part in the
food for
programme and getting assistance from NGOs in form of vouchers to
purchase
food.
In an
interview, residents, mostly from high-density suburbs such as
Hunyani.Mupata
and Chikonohono hailed the NGOs saying the programme has
given them
hope as they can now afford to access some basic commodities such
as soap,
salt and cooking oil.
Mike Mukuwapasi
(33) said apart from benefiting from the programme, the food
for work
programme has changed the face of the town.
"We
really thank the NGOs for coming to our rescue. We are now able to meet
some of
our basic needs such as food," he said, adding that the programme
has also
changed the face of the town.
The food
for work is being carried out in Chinhoyi urban wards two and three
and five,
as well as satellite town of Alaska and Shekleton.
The
residents, mostly widows and unemployed youths receive a US$25 voucher
from the
NGOs.The programme has also been hailed by many environmentalists
for giving
the town a new facelift and protecting environment from
pollution.
"The
food for work programme is a good initiative as it does not benefit
residents
financially but also improve the face of the town,"
said a
local environmentalist Ronald Zhangazha.
Residents
have joined hands to clean areas such as libraries, bus terminus
and
clinics while the NGOs have supplied equipment. Mercy Corps and CADEC
are some
of the NGOs involved in the programme.
Ends.
SW Radio Africa news stories for 15 June 2010
By Violet Gonda
14 June 2010
An international rights group, Partnership Africa Canada, issued a damning report Monday which exposes some of the players who have been at the forefront of the plunder of diamonds in Chiadzwa, Marange. Titled: Diamonds and Clubs: The Militarized Control of Diamonds and Power in Zimbabwe, the report shows how the Chiadzwa diamonds are sustaining the ZANU PF regime and also fuelling the ongoing political conflict.
The report highlights individuals like former army general Solomon Mujuru, who is heavily involved in illegal diamond deals and also uses his diamond mine ‘River Ranch’ to launder the family’s ongoing plunder of resources from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The report goes on to say that the same personalities who orchestrated the invasion and seizure of white-owned farms and manipulated forex exchange rates have perfected their illicit behaviour and are now battling for control of Zimbabwe’s diamonds.
Those named in the report include ZANU PF Minister of Defence Emmerson Mnangagwa, his longtime political foe and husband of one of the Vice Presidents, General Mujuru and the true ‘power brokers’ of Zimbabwean politics, the Joint Operations Command (JOC). “The military chiefs are the high priests of Zimbabwean politics, the final arbiters of tough decisions, and the architects of every single government sponsored act of repression from the 1985 massacres in Matabeleland, to the farm invasions, to successive episodes of election-related violence.”
Defense Force Commander General Constantine Chiwenga, Air Force Commander Perence Shiri and police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri are among the elite members of the formidable JOC.
In March Finance Minister Tendai Biti was quoted as saying that almost four years after the military took control of Marange, not one cent had gone into the national treasury.
River Ranch, which General Mujuru controversially grabbed at gunpoint in 2004, is another contested diamond area that the international rights group says is inextricably linked to the pursuit of political power and defiance of Kimberley Process protocols. PAC says: “The mine goes to the very heart of Mujuru’s struggle for control of ZANU”
“Mujuru has also controversially obtained technical assistance after the takeover (of the mine) from the African Management Service Company, a joint entity managed by the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation,” said the report.
PAC noted that the story of Zimbabwe’s contested diamond fields is about many things including ‘smuggling’, ‘a scramble fuelled by raw economic desperation and unfathomable greed’ and heart-wrenching cases of government-sponsored repression and human rights violations.
“These political elites are intimately tied to Zimbabwe’s military establishment, the Joint Operation Command, and as such constitute a “rebel movement” opposed to the democratic governance of Zimbabwe.”
The report also notes that it is often incorrectly assumed that the only fight for power in Zimbabwe is between the two parties, ZANU PF and the MDC, but in reality the main turf war is within ZANU PF. “While Mnangagwa’s support base within the JOC places him closer to Marange’s riches, River Ranch affords Mujuru unfettered access to his own diamond resource, one that he has protected with no less ruthlessness.”
Mujuru is also said to have shares in African Consolidated Resources (ACR), the company in the middle of a legal battle with the government over mining rights in Chiadzwa. ACR CEO Andrew Cranswick is described in the report as having aligned himself with the wrong faction in ZANU PF.
“Mujuru was to provide Cranswick political coverage, as the latter comes from a family with the wrong political pedigree. (His family was known to be big supporters of Ian Smith’s Rhodesian Front). Instead, Cranswick is now paying the price for backing the wrong horse in the ZANU succession race.”
SW Radio Africa news stories for 15 June 2010
By Alex Bell
15 June 2010
A commercial farmer forcibly evicted from his Chipinge property over the weekend is to seek the intervention of the High Court, to allow him back on his farm.
Trevor Gifford, the former president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) was forced off his property on Sunday evening and is still being prevented from returning. Gifford was hosting a lunch with friends when a mob of land invaders arrived on his property Sunday afternoon. The mob became very threatening, eventually invading the property and barricading Gifford, his wife and their guests in the house. Gifford recounted his ordeal to SW Radio Africa on Tuesday and explained that the situation became volatile and abusive.
“The mob was very threatening and abusive but I was reluctant to leave my property,” Gifford said. “Eventually some friends convinced me to pack my belongings and get out, before things turned violent.”
Gifford explained that he and two other people were “held hostage” until late in the evening, and he was forced to sign a letter saying that the house had been emptied. He also wrote a note to accompany the letter, saying that he was under duress and had been forced to sign the document. But he explained that with no help from the police, there was very little else he could do.
“The police have been instructed not to help any white farmer or they will be locked up as punishment, so there’s no help there,” Gifford said. “I will be making an application to the High Court to get back on my land.”
Gifford is one of over 16 farmers who have faced attacks by land invaders in recent weeks, in an offensive that appears to deliberately target farmers with court orders meant to protect them on their properties. Current CFU Vice President Charles Taffs has told SW Radio Africa that the attacks are a direct result of orders by Didymus Mutasa to ignore court orders protecting land. Mutasa recently ordered a group of people occupying a coffee plantation in Chipinge to remain on the property, despite a court order demanding they vacate the land.
Gifford meanwhile explained that the current onslaught against coffee farmers in Chipinge was threatening the entire coffee industry in Zimbabwe. He said that at least four coffee farmers have been evicted from their farms in the last ten days. He said more than 6,000 coffee growers stand to lose international support as a result of the current land invasions, saying that “these land invasions are clearly not in the best interest of thousands of people dependent on the industry.”
“There is programme developed with the European Union to support coffee growers in Zimbabwe, but the current land invasions are putting the entire programme in jeopardy,” Gifford said.
Gifford meanwhile was in court on Tuesday where he is being prosecuted for remaining on his property ‘illegally’. That case has been remanded until later in the month.
SW Radio Africa news stories for 15 June 2010
By Alex Bell
15 June 2010
The South African government is to appeal a court order to release a hidden report on the 2002 election in Zimbabwe, further raising suspicions of the report’s contents.
The government was ordered to release the document last week after a successful court bid by the Mail & Guardian newspaper. The paper has been trying to have the report released since 2008, amid widespread speculation that it contained evidence showing that Zimbabwe’s 2002 disputed election was not free or fair. Judge Sisi Khampepe and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke were at the time commissioned by then president Thabo Mbeki to visit Zimbabwe and report back on the state of the election. The report was handed over to Mbeki but never made public, although the former President insisted the electoral process in Zimbabwe was completely democratic.
The newspaper’s efforts to access the details of the report were repeatedly denied, leaving it little choice but to seek the intervention of the High Court. The government, now under President Jacob Zuma’s leadership, was given seven days to release the report to the Mail & Guardian, after the High Court ruled in the newspaper’s favour.
But Mail & Guardian editor Nic Dawes told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that the government has applied for leave to appeal the High Court’s decision, calling the process “frustrating.”
The government has argued that the report was ‘confidential’ and contained information “supplied in confidence by or on behalf of another state, for the purpose of assessing or formulating a policy.” The government has also argued that the report would lead to a deterioration of relations between the two countries, as South Africa is the facilitator in Zimbabwe's ongoing political crisis.
The newspaper has in turn argued that the report is of enormous public interest, as the 2002 elections were marred by vote-rigging, intimidation, violence and fraud by Robert Mugabe’s government, despite South Africa’s contention that the election was free and fair.
SW Radio Africa news stories for 15 June 2010
By Lance Guma
15 June 2010
South African President Jacob Zuma’s International Relations Advisor has expressed concern at the level of misinformation being peddled around about their mediation efforts. Lindiwe Zulu who is one of the mediators to the endless talk’s saga in Zimbabwe was responding to media reports sparked by comments from Mugabe, who claimed the team of facilitators from South Africa would fly into Harare on Monday.
Mugabe came back from South Africa on Saturday where he had gone to attend the FIFA World Cup and immediately told journalists at the Harare International Airport that the three party leaders had finalized a report on their position in the talks. He went on to say the South African facilitation team, that includes cabinet ministers Charles Nqakula, Mac Maharaj and Zulu was due to fly in on Monday and deliberate on that report.
Zulu however says she was surprised to hear they were expected in Zimbabwe as their team had made no such plans. She claimed President Zuma still had to read through the report given to him over the weekend by Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara, after what she called their ‘lengthy’ meetings on the deadlock. Only then will Zuma decide what course of action to take.
According to Mugabe the party negotiators submitted their report to the principals two months ago. The principals finally went through it last week, after the long delay, and then came up with their own report. This report details what they have agreed on and what is still in disagreement. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is due to hold a summit in August and it’s not clear yet whether Zimbabwe’s deadlocked power sharing arrangement will be an item on the agenda.
While Zuma’s team complains about the level of misinformation, critics point to the secrecy shrouding the talks as the main problem. Journalists continue to struggle to get comment from officials taking part in the negotiations and this has seen speculative pieces dominating news headlines. Many observers say Zimbabweans, who have endured many years of hardship under the tyranny of Mugabe’s regime, deserve to know when their problems might finally be overcome.
NB: This week Thursday on Behind the Headlines don’t miss the full interview between Lance Guma and President Jacob Zuma’s International Relations Adviser, Lindiwe Zulu.
SW Radio Africa news stories for 15 June 2010
By Tichaona Sibanda
15 June 2010
The MDC-T on Tuesday urged all Zimbabweans to participate in the constitutional outreach programme, despite reports of massive intimidation in the rural areas.
The constitution-making process kicks off on Wednesday, with a launch in Harare by the three principals to the Global Political Agreement. All three are expected to speak at the launch. The public meetings are expected to start on Saturday.
MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai said he was anxious that the process start in earnest, adding that the outreach programme will lead to the drafting of an important document that should guarantee people’s basic rights.
In his weekly message to the MDC Changing Times online newsletter, Tsvangirai urged people to participate despite facing threats of violence and intimidation. Villagers in many parts of the country are living in deep fear as violence escalates ahead of the constitutional programme this weekend.
In most parts of the country villagers have reported that they have been ordered to remain silent when the constitutional team comes to their areas. ZANU PF has codenamed this practice ‘Operation Chimumumu’ (remain silent). They have also been prevented from attending civic society meetings aimed at educating them about how they should participate in the constitution making process.
The MDC said this final deployment of outreach teams to consult the people on a new constitution marks the penultimate stage of a 10-year struggle against Robert Mugabe’s tyranny and dictatorship.
An editorial in the Changing Times said the process offers Zimbabweans a chance to toss away the Lancaster House constitution. It described the current constitution as ‘a mere ceasefire document ZANU PF and Mugabe amended 18 times in a bid to entrench his despicable crimes.’
‘We are already on the home stretch; we have weakened the dictatorship to a spineless level; the few remnants of resistance are heavily divided and confused; our society is opening up fast and we continue to register new victories at every turn. The residual elements of resistance may roam the countryside under the so called Operation Chimumumu,’ the newsletter said.
The MDC youth chairman for Mashonaland central province, Tonderai Samhu, said it was a pity ZANU PF was denying so many people a chance to take part in this once in a lifetime project.
‘This is not an MDC project. This is a national project that was agreed to by all three parties in the inclusive government,’ Samhu said.
Some of the key topics to be discussed in the constitution process include the limiting of executive powers and the revoking of the death penalty. The outreach will run from Saturday to September 15th, after donors provided the money and resources.
Seventy teams of 10 members each will visit all the provinces. A total of 5 803 meetings are expected to be convened in the 1 937 wards throughout the 10 provinces of the country.
According to a revised timetable of the constitutional process, the draft should be ready by February next year, while a public vote on the draft should be held in May next year. In theory, this should pave the way for elections.
The process of drafting a new constitution has been delayed by almost a year. Under the original agreement in September 2008, which formed the basis for the formation of a coalition government in 2009, the country was supposed to have a new constitution by July 2010.
Callback
June 16th is the Day of the African Child, a day set aside to reflect on progress toward health, education, equality and protection for all the continent’s children. Claris Madhuku from the Platform for Youth Development Trust talks about their concerns, hopes and disappointments this year. And, Felix talks about the recent removal by Mugabe of the Prime Minister’s bilateral trade agreement with South Korea.
Diaspora Diaries
On Diaspora Diaries Alex looks at plans to establish a monitoring, recording and advocacy network to combat xenophobic crime and violence in South Africa. There have been numerous warnings of xenophobic violence after the World Cup ends next month. Amnesty International researcher Mary Rayner says there is an urgent need for a monitoring system to prevent violence. Bishop Paul Verryn from the Central Methodist Church explains how to develop such a system.
Different point of view
Today, Duane evaluates the ongoing Chiadzwa saga and the abuses emanating from it through the machinations of people in high places.