The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
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In what could only be described as
a series of startling events in the bizarre goings-on in the scandal-prone
mining industry, two haulage trucks carrying the commodity were simultaneously
hijacked in South Africa in circumstances similar to those surrounding the
recent disappearance in that country of a multi-billion dollar platinum
consignment belonging to Zimbabwe Platinum Mines.
Officials at the
leading nickel producer BNC and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe
(MMCZ), which is responsible for the marketing of most minerals, confirmed that
nickel worth US$600 000 vanished without trace early this month.
They
could however only give scant information on the mystery, which police spokesman
Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said he was not aware of.
This,
one of the biggest heists in the mining industry, which makes one of the single
largest sectoral contributions to the country's foreign currency earnings, is
the second robbery of Zimbabwean mineral exports to South Africa inside five
months.
A similar case involving the hijacking of Makwiro Platinum
Mines' 56 tonnes of platinum converter matte happened in Rustenburg, South
Africa, on October 15 2003. The platinum matte was en route to Impala Platinum
Holdings' refining facilities.
BNC chief executive officer Leonard
Chimimba told The Financial Gazette yesterday that two containers, each carrying
20 tonnes of the metal, were hijacked in South Africa last week.
He,
however, refused to comment further on the likely implications of this loss on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-quoted mining concern and instead referred all
questions to Onesimo Moyo, general manager and chief executive officer of the
MMCZ.
"All I can say to you is that I have heard the reports, but I am
waiting for a report from the producer (BNC). The corporation only negotiates
for the contracts and the producer organises the transportation to the buyers,
so I cannot say much before I get a detailed report," Moyo said.
Impeccable sources said one of the companies contracted to transport the
nickel was Chris Freight and sources at the company also confirmed the
development, but company officials remained tight-lipped on the issue.
It could not be established if the cargo was insured by the time of
going to press. It had been however suggested by industry sources but not denied
by both BNC and MMCZ, who did not seem to want to take responsibility for the
missing nickel, that the consignment was at worst uninsured and at best
under-insured.
The Financial Gazette also understands that two truck
drivers whose names could not be established at the time of going to print were
initially believed to be held at Alberton Police Station in Durban, South
Africa. The South Africa Police however asked for the identity of the
individuals before they could confirm whether they were in custody.
BNC
was previously owned by global resource giant Anglo American Corporation (AAC)
before it was sold off to Mwana Africa, a consortium of African businessmen that
took Anglo's 53 percent interest in a US$8 million deal in 2002.
The
nickel miner operates three mines, a smelter and refinery facilities. The Trojan
mine in Bindura has an expected life of 14 years, while the Shangani and Madziwa
mines have lives of five years and two years respectively. The fourth mine,
Epoch, closed down in 1998.
Meanwhile, the latest development has
brought to the fore questions over the MMCZ's capacity to handle the marketing
of most precious minerals in the country as it emerged that some companies'
rights to market their own minerals have been revoked and given up to MMCZ.
It is understood that the country's leading asbestos mining house,
Shabanie Mashava Mines was advised by the MMCZ that the corporation would be
resuming marketing asbestos.
SMM was given the exception to market its
own asbestos in 1998 but former Mines and Minerals Development Minister Edward
Chindori-Chininga is reported to have written to the mining company in January
announcing that the waiver would be removed with effect from April 1 2004.
Questions have been raised over the capacity of MMCZ to market asbestos,
which has been the subject of a concerted hostile lobby in South Africa and
Australia, to up to 55 countries worldwide.
Municipal officials told this
newspaper this week that both the President's Office and the Ministry of Local
Government, Public Works and National Housing were yet to issue a communiqué on
the role of Mathema, the former Zimbabwean ambassador to Zambia.
Those
privy to the goings-on at City Hall said Mathema paid a courtesy call at the
council offices last week but never stated his full role as the first ever
governor for Bulawayo since independence in 1980, except to say: "I was
appointed by the President."
Ndabeni-Ncube, confirming that his office
had not received a directive from the government on the role and operations of
Mathema, told The Financial Gazette in an interview yesterday that clashes were
imminent if the governor strayed into the civic operations of the office of the
executive mayor.
"I welcome his appointment if it is to add value to the
citizenry of Bulawayo and as long as he sticks to state provincial issues such
as the problems being experienced by people in trying to acquire birth
certificates, passports and other government documents," said Ndabeni-Ncube.
"My role is clearly stated in the Urban Councils Act - to deal with
civic issues of the city. I am not aware of the role of the new governor, but I
will be happy as the elected executive mayor of the city of Bulawayo if he is
going to ensure that the government pays us the nearly $3 billion owed to us by
various government departments," he said. "It is my hope and belief that his
terms of reference will not interfere with my civic references."
The
main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and political analysts view
the arrival of Mathema, who is housed at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex
together with Matabeleland North Governor Obert Mpofu, as a "desperate"
political gimmick by President Robert Mugabe to revive his party's political
fortunes in the city. Since 2000, the ruling ZANU PF has fared dismally in polls
against the MDC.
In the mayoral elections in September 2001,
Ndabeni-Ncube polled over 60 000 votes on an MDC ticket against 4 000 by George
Mlilo of ZANU PF.
The same trend emerged in the disputed presidential
elections in March 2002.
Mathema was unreachable on his mobile phone.
His secretary said he was visiting Umguza district to attend meetings.
MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai
said his party would not participate in any future elections unless the ruling
ZANU PF made genuine efforts to ensure that the polls meet internationally
accepted standards.
"The MDC, through its national executive, has
resolved to reserve the party's right to take part in the 2005 parliamentary
election unless there is genuine commitment from the Mugabe regime to run the
polls in accordance with universally accepted norms and standards," Tsvangirai
said this week.
The party's national executive met on Monday, when it
set 15 conditions which it says the government has to fulfil before the
opposition party can reconsider its decision to boycott future polls.
Demands from the MDC include the setting up of an independent electoral
body, the supply of electronic copies of the voters' roll to all interested
parties, the repeal of draconian laws such as the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act and the Public Order and Security Act as well as the
disbanding of the youth militia.
The party is also demanding that voting
should take place in one day, that counting should take place at polling
stations and that transparent ballot boxes and visible, indelible ink should be
used in all polls.
In addition, the MDC wants an amendment of the
Electoral Act to conform with the Southern African Development Community
Parliamentary Forum's electoral standards and norms as well as the re-opening of
the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai said the decision to
boycott future elections coincided with his party's plans, together with a
number of civic groups, to roll out massive mass action to force the government
to accept its demands.
"A broad-based alliance of democratic forces is
putting final touches to a comprehensive programme of rolling mass action
designed to push the regime to the long-awaited negotiated settlement . . .
details of the intensive programme of democratic activity will be made public in
due course," the MDC leader said.
The decision by the opposition party
to set conditions for its future participation in elections is a culmination of
years of accusations that the country's electoral process was designed to ensure
a ruling party victory in almost every election.
The MDC is currently
challenging President Robert Mugabe's re-election in the 2002 presidential
election, which it says was rigged and marred with untold violence.
It
is also contesting the results of the 2000 parliamentary poll in more than a
dozen constituencies.
The Member of Parliament for
Bulilimamangwe North and the opposition party's shadow minister for foreign
affairs, Moses Mzila-Ndlovu and Sekai Holland, were dismissed from the portfolio
of international relations following reports of an attack on MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's confidante Eliphas Mukonoweshuro.
The incident reportedly
took place at the party's headquarters in Harare during an international
relations committee meeting chaired by Holland.
Last month, the media
reported that Mzila-Ndlovu charged at and fought Mukonoweshuro, a lecturer at
the University of Zimbabwe, for allegedly interfering with his portfolio after
the latter advised on how the opposition party could spruce up its foreign
affairs front. However, Holland immediately scoffed at press inquiries when news
of the scuffle broke out and blatantly denied it ever occurred.
MDC
national spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi told The Financial Gazette that Holland
and Mzila-Ndlovu had to be reassigned in order to strengthen the international
relations desk.
"At this juncture, because of the importance of the
portfolio, we need to upgrade the level of control of that portfolio," Nyathi
said.
"We are still looking where we can accommodate them since there is
so much work to be done in the MDC. This is part of our party building which
requires us to shift people around. Their skills are being deployed to better
use elsewhere in the party," he said.
But Sibanda seemed taken aback by
the decision and professed ignorance of the said development.
"I don't
know anything about that," Sibanda, chairman of the party's disciplinary
committee, said. "I am not aware. Ask Nyathi."
Contacted for comment on
the latest development, Mukonoweshuro only said: "I don't want to talk about
that. I am in a meeting at the UZ."
Efforts to get comments from Holland
and Mzila-Ndlovu proved fruitless at the time of going print.
Analysts said the same old
strategies regurgitated by opposition movements in Zimbabwe had lost direction,
and were now taking off pressure from ZANU PF, which has clung on to power for
the past 24 years despite simmering divisions within its ranks.
Since
last June, when the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) organised
the failed "final push" mass action to oust President Robert Mugabe from power,
there has been no serious challenge to the ruling ZANU PF party. The mass action
garnered very little support from the magnitudes of opposition urban supporters,
who are now slowly getting disillusioned that their efforts are yielding no
results.
Two weeks ago, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
called for a job stayaway to force the government to act on alleged
mismanagement and corruption at the National Social Security Authority (NSSA),
but the action flopped after workers ignored it.
For more than five
years, opposition groups in Zimbabwe have used mass actions and job stay-aways
as effective tools to scare the government into giving in to some of their
demands.
These strategies are no longer effective as the government has
developed effective methods of countering them.
Analysts said following
recent events in which the MDC and several other opposition groups have failed
to maintain pressure on the government, it was urgently necessary for the groups
to find new and effective ways of re-building pressure on ZANU PF.
Since
last year, one year after the controversial Presidential election, the only
serious pressure on President Mugabe's government has been coming from the
international community, with very little, if anything coming from opposition
parties and civic groups in the country.
"For the opposition groups, I
think it is time for soul-searching," said political analyst Heneri Dzinotyiwei.
"I think they (opposition movement) have relied more on protests against ZANU PF
for support than on the principles they stand for . . . what is their vision,
their immediate goals and what is of national interest that they have for the
people?"
Political commentator Alois Masepe said the main opposition
party, the MDC, came on the platform of change, but that change has not been
forthcoming, hence the disillusionment among the urban electorate.
Masepe said the frustration, which was now working in favour of the
ruling party, was mainly because people were urged to join mass action after
mass action so that there could be change, but no change came. They were even
promised that if they went and voted, there could be change, but after voting,
still no change came.
"The truth is that under the present electoral
system, voting alone cannot bring about change, so the promise of change is now
turning out to be a lie, which is beginning to haunt the opposition . . . people
are feeling politically short-changed."
Dzinotyiwei said the other
weakness in the opposition movements in Zimbabwe was that the idea of serious
opposition was still new so most of the people involved tended to focus more on
power games than working to endear themselves to the people through
contributions of national significance.
"Any organisation should think
in terms of national contributions in order to remain relevant to the people,"
Dzinotyiwei said.
He said the reason why the recent ZCTU job stay-away
had no effect at all was that workers had no appreciation of what the labour
body wanted to achieve.
"There are more pressing issues to worry about
yet the ZCTU calls for workers to go on a job stayaway just because they are not
happy with what is happening at NSSA. Do they think the ordinary person on the
street will understand them?" Dzinotyiwei asked.
Lovemore Madhuku, the
chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), one of the organisations
that have been at the forefront of fighting for a new constitution in Zimbabwe,
however denied that pressure on the government was relenting. "The pressure is
still the same (as before) only that we are changing tactics," Madhuku said. "We
are trying to strengthen our capacity to improve our ability to bring thousands
of people to the streets."
Madhuku said it was important for all
opposition groups to join forces in confronting President Mugabe's regime -
which is widely blamed to running down the country - than for them to do it
individually as this would allow the regime to crush the protests easily.
He said by mid-year, such a force should be there to put enough pressure
on the ZANU PF government to agree to constitutional reforms, without which no
elections could bring any meaningful change.
Although leading hawks in the
increasingly ostracised government have steadfastly maintained that Zimbabwe
does not need any support from the IMF and its sister Bretton Woods institution,
the World Bank, analysts have dismissed this as unrealistic political posturing.
"We need them as international development partners," trade consultant
and economic commentator Samuel Undenge said of the IMF, attacked the world over
for more-often-than-not taking a firm but wrong headed stance on fiscal issues.
"I regard it as a very timely visit. They will be able to see, first
hand, the result of our own monetary policy.
"It is a home-grown
economic policy which we crafted ourselves, so they will be able to appreciate
that locally devised programmes work and give us support," Undenge said.
Economic analyst Jonathan Kadzura concurred.
"The bottom line is
we need each other. They are not an island and we are not either.
"The
point is they can see changes, even from afar, in terms of the seriousness and
purpose as demonstrated by the implementation of the new monetary policy,"
Kadzura said.
However, Tony Hawkins of the University of Zimbabwe
Graduate School of Management, averred that the visit by the IMF, condemned in
some quarters for its missionary zeal for fiscal rectitude, was not likely to
yield anything unless there was a change in government policy.
"It is an
annual Article IV consultation . . . nothing special, although I cannot really
say, but I would be surprised if anything came out of it," Hawkins said.
He said there was no way Zimbabwe could avoid engaging the IMF.
"We owe them money and clearly we have to talk to them. At some stage we
ought to have a reconciliation, debts would have to be rescheduled and we need
to have an agreement with them but this would require government coming up with
economic policies that are not contradictory and address issues of human rights
and the rule of law," Hawkins said.
However, doubts remain about both
sides' commitment to the desired rapprochement.
The government's
position, repeated many times by President Robert Mugabe and some of his
ministers, was that Zimbabwe can totally eschew the Bretton Woods institutions
and "look East", in reference to the Asian markets and the country's emerging
economic partners in the form of China, Malaysia, Indonesia and other such
states.
The IMF, on the other hand, is not likely to budge on matters
they would want to see addressed as a precondition for the resumption of support
for Harare.
The institution suspended Harare's voting rights last
September and initiated the process of terminating the Southern African
country's membership of the multilateral body over non-payment of arrears,
reported to be around US$270 million.
These entrenched positions are
likely to scupper all efforts at re-engagement, the analysts noted.
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono has, however, made it clear
that the central bank would be actively engaging multilateral institutions, of
which the IMF and World Bank are key.
"The IMF will come here and do a
report, it will then be up to the government to do something about it or just
ignore it like they did last year, the year before and the one before that,"
Hawkins said.
Undenge said he hoped the IMF would change its approach of
imposing conditionalities before the resumption of balance-of-payments support.
"They should give us support, but they should not further impose
conditions. We are in this situation, not through our own doing, but through
their wrong advice during ESAP (the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme)
launched in 1990 at the behest of the Bretton Woods institutions. They should
not further make the mistake of imposing payment arrangements which may
forestall our economic programmes," Undenge said.
Zimbabwe suffers from
a chronic balance-of-payments deficit position as a result of plummeting exports
and a rapidly contracting economy, a situation analysts said clearly requires
external support.
A senior official from the AG's
Office told The Financial Gazette this week that there had indeed been a high
staff turnover in the department over the past few months. He attributed the
high staff mobility to poor conditions of service.
The director for
public prosecution, Joseph Musakwa, said the situation was straining the
department, which he said had accumulated a huge backlog in criminal and civil
cases.
"At the moment there are 34 vacancies in my department," Musakwa
said. "We are strained. It puts us in a very difficult position especially now
when we have a very high number of new cases coming up. There is no personnel to
attend to matters
that need perusal or serious attention.
It's quite hectic."
"People are continuously leaving," he said.
"Inevitably, we have a huge backlog. The situation has scattered all our plans."
Asked about the reason for the mass exodus of judicial officers, Musakwa
retorted:
"People will always seek greener pastures."
Musakwa,
one of the senior prosecutors involved in efforts to put the MDC leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, behind bars for allegedly plotting to assassinate President Robert
Mugabe, said he was unable to give the exact number of cases currently on the
waiting list, but about two years ago the figure stood at 24 003.
Some
legal practitioners have bitterly complained about the continuous incarceration
of their clients arguing that it was unjust as they were being detained for up
to four years without trial.
Sources in the judicial system said the
movement out of the system was not only as a result of poor working conditions,
but the purge in the civil service declared by the government in 2002 soon after
President Mugabe controversially won the presidential poll.
"Those
perceived to hold divergent views from that of the system are being harassed,"
the source said. "Prosecutors and magistrates are being prosecuted for the
professional manner in which they handle cases. It's unfortunate that when one
tries to be impartial, they are deemed to be working against the goals of the
system."
Many prosecutors at Harare's Magistrates' Court have either
fled or resigned after being attacked by war veterans or the government
especially the police who accused the AG's office of being lenient on suspects.
At one time the police and the AG's office clashed over the manner in
which the courts and prosecutors were handling matters.
Some analysts contend that
Zimbabwe's economy, which is in its fifth year of recession typified by one of
the world's fastest shrinking economies and runaway inflation, has made it
imperative for businesses to innovate and stay afloat.
Of the embattled
business executives, the majority of them are in the financial sector, which,
until late last year, had appeared to buck the downward economic trend.
Small wonder then that financial sector executives have borne much of
the brunt of the sweeping changes in the economy - triggered by greater emphasis
on sound corporate governance, a tighter monetary policy and the attendant
changes in market conditions as well as, at least for now, apparent efforts by
the government to fight graft.
Nyasha Watyoka and Gilbert Muponda,
founders and executive directors of the wound-up ENG Asset Management, were the
first high profile casualties of the purge when they were arrested at the end of
2003 on fraud charges involving some $61 billion in investor funds.
The
ENG debacle, which was to suck in prominent businessman and legislator Philip
Chiyangwa, also resulted in the arrest of three executives from First Mutual
Asset Management (FMAM), including the managing director Godfrey Jowah, for
alleged underhand and fraudulent dealings with ENG.
The latest twist to
the unfolding drama saw four executive directors at NMB Bank, one of the
country's foremost locally owned banks, taking flight leaving the police, keen
to press foreign currency externa-lisation charges, hot on their trail.
The pioneering banking executives - Julius Makoni, James Mushore, Otto
Chekeche and Francis Zimuto - are all now believed to be in the United Kingdom.
Nicholas Vingirai, controlling shareholder and former chief executive
officer of the Intermarket group, has also been reported to have taken flight as
it increasingly became clear that problems at the diversified financial
institution would now attract the attention of regulatory authorities.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Vingirai was the recipient of a
whopping $90 billion insider loan from Intermarket.
Foreign currency
externalisation charges have also been preferred against Telecel chairman and
prominent businessman James Makamba, while Jane Mutasa of the ZANU PF-aligned
Indigenous Businesswomen's Organisation (IBWO) has been convicted on the same
charges.
Only last week, Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) chief
executive officer Bright Matonga had a case before the courts arising from what
the police say were irregularities surrounding payment for 48 buses purchased
from Scania South Africa.
With every indication pointing to this list
growing longer, it is inevitable, in polarised Zimbabwe, for political
connotations to arise from the developments.
Indeed whispers of alleged
victimisation have been heard in connection with virtually every arrest or
investigation that has been made in the anti-graft crusade.
Questions
have been raised, particularly over the emerging trend where founders of
locally-owned banks which took off when the financial sector was liberalised in
the early 1990s, have either been forced out of the institutions they founded,
are under police scrutiny - or both.
Economic commentator Samuel Undenge
disputes this claim, saying the issue was largely over sound corporate
governance ethics, a standard which most institutions had failed to meet.
"Our banks were let loose and issues of corporate governance had been
thrown out of the window.
"You will find, though, that corporate
governance has emerged as a big issue, even in the United Kingdom after the
Cadbury Report of 1992 and in South Africa, where the King Reports are the
guidelines.
"Some banks had become general traders. What we need to
foster is good corporate governance and ethical practices through tight
regulation.
"Tight regulation does not stifle market forces but we made
the mistake that we thought liberalisation meant minimal regulation.
"I
think our financial sector is going to emerge stronger and healthier after this
clean-up," Undenge said.
However, other analysts contend that while
there has been abuse, the financial sector executives had become hapless fall
guys in the face of changes in the economic landscape.
"It is difficult
to find anyone, for instance, who has not dealt in the foreign currency parallel
market and as far as these banks are concerned, they were responsible for energy
procurement at a time when the official reserves were virtually empty.
"I find it strange that not too long ago banks, which were being held up
as examples of innovation in the face of adversity, have turned into villains
overnight.
"I also wonder where it is all going to end - I think a more
realistic way of dealing with this would be to give those found on the wrong
side the opportunity and time to right their wrongs . . . an amnesty of some
sort," an industry player said.
Less charitable observers maintain that
what was happening now was the unearthing of the terrible unethical conduct
employed to make super profits, which had been concealed under a veneer of
innovation.
In that regard, normalcy and stability can only return to
the sector after a near surgical removal of the cancerous parts.
That is now the question given the
goings-on at the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-quoted Zimpapers stable, where the axe
has fallen on a number of scribes over the past couple of weeks.
A
meeting was recently held at a Harare hotel between editors from the stable, in
which the government has a controlling 51 percent stake, and the Department of
Information and Publicity in the President's Office.
The department is
said to have indicated that the new thrust in the war against government
detractors led by the United Kingdom, the former colonial master who the
government claims has refused to atone for colonial sins, was, according to one
of the editors who attended the meeting, to "deal with the enemy in the media,
the Justice Gubbay factor in the judiciary and the internal economic enemy".
And the ongoing crackdown at Zimpapers, the biggest newspaper company in
the country where heads have started rolling, dovetails with that new thrust.
While media observers were unanimous that the move at Zimpapers could be
a veiled attempt to cow media practitioners and force journalists to toe a
certain political line ahead of the watershed 2005 parliamentary election, the
government is adamant that the concerned journalists' conduct was inconsistent
with the terms of their contracts.
First to be shown the door were
Herald sports editor Robson Sharuko, Tendai Ndemera and Rex Mphisa. They were
fired mid last month for filing stories for the Voice of America (VOA).
The American broadcaster is accused of peddling lies about Zimbabwe as
part of a plot by the United States government to effect regime change.
The Media and Information Commission (MIC) defended the sacking of the
journalists on the grounds that their behaviour posed a threat to national
security.
"The other serious problem is that of national interest and
national security. The VOA is an arm of the US State Department, which is on
record as seeking to overthrow the government of Zimbabwe through
unconstitutional means and (that are also) illegal under the United Nations
Charter," the MIC, headed by former journalism trainer Tafataona Mahoso, said.
Next to face the dreaded axe was the acting news editor of The Sunday
Mail and president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), Matthew Takaona,
who was allegedly fired last week for addressing journalists facing retrenchment
at the troubled Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ).
In both cases,
well-placed sources said this week, the journalists were not given an
opportunity to respond to the charges, raising fears that a political hand could
be meddling in the affairs of Zimpapers, the Zimbabwe Newspapers Group (1980)
Limited which owns The Herald, The Sunday Mail, The Chronicle, The Manica Post,
The Sunday News and a commercial printing division.
These developments
come at the worst possible time when over 250 workers at the ANZ, which owns The
Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday, face retrenchment after the MIC, which
is appointed by the Minister of Information and Publicity in the President's
Office, Jonathan Moyo, refused to register the two titles.
The ANZ has
been fighting the MIC and the government ever since the Supreme Court issued a
ruling compelling it to register with the commission last year. The ANZ had
initially refused to register and instead chosen to challenge the
constitutionality of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
that makes it mandatory for media houses to register with the MIC.
Mahoso this week said Takaona was known to be the president of the union
and had been addressing meetings without any problems from his employers.
He said Takaona was the only one who knew the other reasons why he had
been fired by his employers.
"There is more to the story than is being
published in the media. We can only get the truth from an affidavit he has
written challenging his dismissal because he was under oath."
Funny
Mushava, the editor of The Tribune, said: "We are now beginning to see that
there is more to the dismissal of journalists than meets the eye.
"I
have walked down that path and I know how it feels. Whoever made the decision to
fire Takaona must remember that ZUJ stands for all journalists regardless of
which media organisation one works for."
Mushava, who once worked with
Takaona at The Sunday Mail, where he had a brief stint as editor, has been a
victim of the editorial reshuffle at Zimpapers. He was elbowed out at The Sunday
Mail before finding a new lease of life at The Tribune.
"Takaona was
merely doing his job. When I started journalism about 20 years ago, I could
speak to any other journalist regardless of which paper he or she worked for.
"But now the situation has changed. Journalists fear being victimised if
they are seen talking to their colleagues," said Mushava.
"You see
reports personalising issues and disregarding the facts. Journalists should not
be used by politicians or businessmen.
"Let this be a lesson to all
practising journalists who applaud the dismissal of their colleagues that today
it will be me, tomorrow it may be you."
Political commentator Lovemore
Madhuku said the manoeuvres were part of a political process being orchestrated
by the government against the media, which is an important component in a
democratic society.
"The media can influence public thinking so those
who are against democracy will obviously want to destroy it," Madhuku said. "The
government believes anything divergent to them should be thoroughly punished and
that is what is happening. The media is an avenue to divergent views and by
allowing them to let the people speak and be heard, it creates big problems for
them."
Heneri Dzinotyiwei, another political analyst, said of the
current state of the media: "There is an unhealthy atmosphere of job insecurity.
It's totally unnecessary. You can't prevent people from associating and talking
to each other.
"What is happening in the media is a purge and is really
unnecessary. Journalists should get together and chart a way forward. The
profession must be respected."
The acting editor of The Zimbabwe
Independent, Joram Nyathi, said the situation was sad and regrettable.
"What harm are the journalists causing really when addressing union
business?" Nyathi said. "This situation has been going on for some time and it's
unhealthy. The industry is so thin that it is easy to victimise people. Those
responsible are creating artificial acrimony among journalists to divide the
media."
The central bank moved in the nick
of time. It goes without saying that rampant corruption in the financial sector
had produced poison-tipped arrows aimed right at the heart of the economy.
Although creditors had not started scrambling for their assets, some of these
banks faced imminent bankruptcy. Zimbabwe was threatened with probably its
biggest banking failure in living memory. Someone had to put paid to the rot and
madness where banks were speculating even in empty bottles! Otherwise posterity
would spit on our graves not only for nurturing but bequeathing to them the
Mafia-style business culture.
Lest we are misunderstood, it is important
to stress that we are not for a moment suggesting that the monetary policy,
which has opened up the proverbial Pandora’s box in the financial sector, is the
panacea to the country’s economic ills. Admittedly, the monetary policy is not
the best thing since sliced bread but it will however form an integral part of
that all-elusive well-filled pot of ingredients to be stirred in order to revive
the stricken economy.
The move, mainly on banks whose liquidity has been
brought under heavy pressure by imprudent financial deals, although currently
localised within the financial sector, also offers prospects for a major
breakthrough in the broader war against deep-seated corruption in the wide
cross-section of the economy, which in the past has provoked heated but sterile
debate, centred mainly on the government’s sincerity and commitment to deal with
graft.
That is why we are outraged though not surprised — since we knew
that the current anti-graft crusade would lead to crossed lines — that certain
politicians want the central bank stopped dead in its tracks. Instead of
provoking a collective sigh of relief among all and sundry and invoking the
rationale that this is a God-sent opportunity to usher in a new and acceptable
corporate culture, restore the ever-shrinking corporate integrity,
accountability and transparency, the anti-graft crusade in the financial sector
has had influential and powerful politicians’ knickers in a twist. This is
mainly so with a coterie of corrupt politicians bent on protecting their
business and financial interests — which businesses were born of sickening
political patronage and corruption.
The politicians, who say one thing
in private and the very opposite in public, want the governor’s head on a stick.
They loathe and resent what has turned out to be the double-edged sword of
Gideon. They started off by circulating what they think could be highly damaging
and incriminating documents on the governor as soon as they felt that their
trail was being hounded under the corruption blitz. Of late there has been
threats and intimidation against the central bank governor by the politicians.
This is not an isolated case because we have for years had systematic bullying
perpetrated against media houses to force them to tone down on official
corruption exposes. And to imagine that these are the same politicians who
reportedly threw their weight behind the central bank’s new monetary policy when
Governor Gideon Gono met ZANU PF officials at a Parliamentary caucus recently.
The nauseating attitude and arrogance by the politicians, whose whole
life though based on feigning altruism is about self-aggrandisement, shows us
that sometimes we learn more from watching politicians than listening to them.
As it turns out, they claimed that they supported Gono in his endeavours to
clean up the banking sector only as a window-dressing gimmick for the public’s
benefit. But it would however require an incredible leap of faith to believe
that Zimbabwe’s corrupt politicians and their henchmen would support such a
noble cause. Havangafarire n’anga inobata mai.
This sad reflection on
the politicians raises a lot of questions. First, the extent to which Zimbabwean
politics meshes with business where, for instance, political interference in
some banks has led to less-than-wise lending etc. Secondly, we are currently
fighting for a new political dispensation characterised by transparency and
democracy. The question obviously is, shouldn’t economic institutions such a
banks which sit at the centre of the economy and have spawned stinking affluence
among a chosen few, in stark contrast to a sea of social deprivation, stagnation
and misery among the generality of the people, be measured by the same gauge of
transparency and democracy as political institutions? Or are these politicians
saying that the law should be applied like a spider’s web, which catches only
the smallest of the small insects, leaving the larger ones to filter through?
This is unacceptable.
These people are not above the law and should face
the music. If they did not want to go through all this "hell" they should have
listened, not only to the voice of reason — conscience if they have any — but
that of consequence too! The central bank governor should not be intimidated by
the political backlash against the anti-graft crusade because failure is not an
option. Instead, he should be more assertive and overcome the adversity at all
costs because, as we have said before, Zimbabwe’s interests take precedence
above everything else.
This is not about ZANU PF, the Movement for
Democratic Change, or any other political grouping for that matter. Zimbabwe
needs to be rid of the all-pervading corruption. If this is what is going to
split ZANU PF or any other interest group, then so be it. Indeed it would be a
tragedy if the twisty anti-corruption blitz fails to reach its full expression.
Or if Gono will be crucified for implementing a national policy because while he
is credited for knitting it together, the monetary policy was a result of
broad-based consultations.
A few weeks ago, after reports of a
grisly gang-rape case, the police and the Harare City Council made a show of
attending to the growing street kid menace by rounding up dozens of them and
dumping them at some farm in Shamva but before residents had noticed any change,
the urchins were back!
Since then, life has been as "normal" as before.
They continue doing whatever they feel like: from robbing people of their food,
money and other valuables, sniffing glue in broad daylight, defecating on clean
pavements and indulging in group sex in sanitary lanes! No one seems to care any
more . . . at least until another woman gets gang-raped by these misfits!
If the police and the City of Harare can mobilise a whole battalion of
"Blue Bombers" daily to raid vendors trying to eke out an honest living in these
trying times, surely they can not fail to mobilise the same thugs to sweep clean
the city of these children. We mean clearing the streets for good!
LAST week the Great Uncle bade farewell to more than 200
Zimbos who are this year’s beneficiaries of his generous scholarship programme.
These students, whom we are made to believe come from very poor
backgrounds and include one or two war veterans, will pursue Catholic degree
programmes at South Africa’s Fort Hare University. We wish them all the best . .
. considering their backgrounds!
When the chairman of the scholarship
fund, Minister Chris Mushowe, was asked why the fund continues to send students
abroad when Zimbabwe has so many universities, he had to say the truth: The
entry requirements for most universities are just too high! In fact, he said,
these universities require much higher points at "A" level.
So in short,
beneficiaries of the scholarship programme come from a poor and dunderhead
background!
IT was quite interesting to see the Professor
making a donation of satellite equipment to a school in Goromonzi.
But
CZ feels the Professor would have done the nation a great service had he
converted the $8 million equipment into hundreds of small radios and donated
them to various schools, mainly in Tsholotsho, because Zimbabweans do not
necessarily have to be exposed to the corrupting effects of viewing and
listening to junk TV and radio programmes from abroad. They get all they need
from a regular dose of Sendekera, Rambai Makashinga and Hondo Yeminda! And this
is precisely why they will not get alternative TV and radio stations!
IT is quite interesting to know that after spending a few
days at Harare Remand Prison, Cde Phillip is now reportedly a born-anew
Christian. Has he, by any chance, realised that he is a sinner? We wonder.
Someone is suggesting that God should set up a panel of senior angels to
investigate the conduct of gospel singer and ZBC’s gospel show host Amos
Mahendere. There are serious allegations of conflict of interest, favouritism
and kickbacks. We hope the panel will be appointed this week and the young man
will be found clean . . . ask pastors Remmi-ngton Mbeya, Lawrence Haisa and
Admire Kasi!
It is also good to know that Sister Fungisai Zvakavapano is
now the official State House singer, thanks to the First Lady’s talent spotting
gift!
cznotebook@yahoo.co.uk
This is a fact and a principle of human and organisational dynamics.
In my last contribution a few weeks ago I promised to interpret the alleged attempt on Lovemore Madhuku’s life from a historical perspective. In the past few days I have been inundated with calls from many of my readers who could not wait for the article.
But the unfortunate thing is that I lost my young brother Garikai (may his soul rest in peace) on February 16 and so I have been spending most of my time at my rural home in Birchenough Bridge.
In this rather lengthy contribution (my contributions are always lengthy anyway) I wish to draw parallels between our contemporary political situation in Zimbabwe and the situation that obtained during the liberation struggle from round about 1974.
The intention is to highlight the dynamics that were at play and try to draw lessons therefrom so that, as we wage our contemporary struggles, we don’t repeat our past mistakes as a people.
Instead, we should draw greater inspiration, courage and strength to do good from our past mistakes and achievements. Our history should be our mwalimu.
By the middle of 1974, it had become clear that nationalist guerrilla pressure against the Ian Smith regime could neither be contained nor wished away indefinitely.
Further, the sudden collapse of the Portuguese empire in Africa came as a nightmare to the Smith and John Vorster regimes, for the Mozambique border with Rhodesia and Angola’s border with Namibia were now open to nationalist guerrillas. The balance of power was changing at a very fast pace.
Smith and Vorster realised that, under these changed political paradigms, it would enhance their fortune if they devised a formula that would yield a ceasefire.
So it was that Vorster set in motion a policy of détente, aimed at good neighbourliness with some independent African states to the north.
The intention was to arrest the revolution, " . . . at best, to silence guerrilla guns in Zimbabwe without Smith’s yielding much to African demands . . . A major objective would be to forestall the possible use of Zimbabwe as a near base for liberation movements in Azania (South Africa)" [Rukudzo Murapa, The leadership struggle in Zimbabwe; background in first world, Jan/ Feb, 1977,pg 12]
It may enhance your understanding of this article if you take President Robert Mugabe to represent Smith, President Thabo Mbeki to represent Vorster and Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy to represent Vorster’s version of détente.
You may go further to equate the opposition and civil society to the nationalists in the period in question (that is if you are not charged with heresy by the minister of information) and the contemporary international community to the frontline states then.
Détente is a French word which means "relaxation of strained relations". In the southern African context it meant the relaxation of strained relations between white minority regimes in Rhodesia and South Africa and their African neighbours which came to be known as the frontline states because they were the ones closest to the spot of conflict.
These were countries which, because of geographical proximity, and for psychological and political reasons, were involved in efforts — diplomatic and / or military — to achieve majority rule in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.
After the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)’s "final push", some of us argued that it demonstrated that there is now a condominium or dual authority/ presidency in this country, one wielding the power of coercion, while the other wields the power of moral and popular support. It was clear by June last year that the MDC could neither be contained nor wished away indefinitely.
It was at this time that we began to see the Mbeki taking serious steps to ensure that there was a negotiated settlement to the Zimbabwe crisis along the lines of his promise of quiet diplomacy which I have already said resembles Vorster’s détente.
Kenneth Kaunda, then president of Zambia, responded positively to Vorster’s feelers on détente. On October 26 1974, in a veiled invitation to Vorster, Kaunda offered his "good offices to anyone who wished to use them to pursue peaceful change in southern Africa".
This was a very dangerous time for Zimbabwean nationalists because a lot of hypocrisy and double-dealing characterised the whole détente policy, just like the Mbeki-style quiet diplomacy.
It was a time when the Zimbabwe liberation movements were divided and there was inter-party and intra- party rivalry. Efforts at unity were also underway.
Ken Flower, the director of the Rhodesian spy organisation, in his book Serving Secretly, notes that Kaunda was not sincere to the détente policy, just as he was to his philosophy of humanism.
You may want to say Mbeki is not sincere to his policy of quiet diplomacy as he is to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the African Renaissance.
President Mugabe, in a digression from his written speech at the burial of Vice President Simon Muzenda late last year, described the détente policy as "a dangerous and treacherous scheme. At least we read it as such because we knew that what was meant to be détente was not believed to be such by the regime here . . . which continued to be oppressive, repressive and suppressive . . . detaining people, kidnapping them, some of whom we are still looking for to this day".
What is ironic is that, in spite of all domestic and international efforts to forge a negotiated settlement, ZANU PF, like the Rhodesian Front at that time, has shown itself to be averse to any such suggestions. The preconditions the party attaches for the resumption of dialogue amounts to a refusal, and if Mbeki’s version of quite diplomacy seeks to bring the two parties to the table with the political legal and constitutional framework unchanged then it is not different in focus from Vorster’s version of détente and we necessarily reject it. While I personally believe that the international community should now pursue quite diplomacy. I am not referring to president Mbeki’s version of it because it lacks the basic and elementary tenets of natural justice.
There are a lot of dirty things that happened in our struggle for
independence especially between 1974 and 1977. The struggle had reached its
height and it was clear to both the nationalists and the Rhodesian Front that
majority rule was imminent. It was a time when the Rhodesian Front was becoming
progressively brutal using murderous tactic against political opponents,
especially those nationalist leaders who were perceived as militant,
obstructive, radical and/ or ‘troublesome’ and therefore an obstacle to the
policy of détente.
At the same time nationalist leaders were also positioning themselves for positions in the post-independence Zimbabwe and as such there were also struggles among themselves which the enemy exploited along tribal and regional lines and every ideological and personal lines. There was also a temptation to nationalists to real clandestine political deals amongst themselves and with the enemy and thus endangering the life of and sometimes eliminating those who disagreed. This was a war and killing wasn’t that much of a feat. President Mugabe, in the speech quoted above added that, ‘the trajectory of our guns was political. We would not just shoot in vain, we would shoot to kill in order to achieve that objective and whoever stood in the way had to go.
So as it were the dynamics that were at play made life very dangerous for
many nationalists such that when one ‘went’ you would never know precisely
whether he was a victim of the struggle - within the struggle. The détente
policy crystallised the situation and made it more complex. This the time when
the code ‘Sinjonjo tamba wakachenjera’ became popular in ZANU.
It was a period so fraught dangers and contradictions. With president Mbeki and ZANU PF insisting that there are informal talks between the latter and the opposition, and the opposition itself denying it, there are various inferences is that there could be some leaders within the opposition who are making clandestine groupies/ factions and engaging in clandestine negotiations with ZANU PF. Those who are being sidelined because of their known view and convictions and by virtue of their marginalization from these deals they are left exposed to attacks from any angle, that is, they can be a victim of the struggle or of the struggle within the struggle( internal contraditions0.
This must be looked at in the context that ZANUPY is becoming more
oppressive, repressive and suppressive and it is targeting all those who are
likely to obstruct an easy settlement with the opposition. It is against this
background that the alleged attempt at DR Lovemore Madhuku’s life should be
understood. In 1975 the Rhodesian front was moving swiftly against those
militant nationalists in the Zimbabwe liberation movements at a time when there
was supposed to be détente and that is what made the situation dangerous.
Likewise a time when everyone is focusing on promoting talks, the
Zimbabwean government is moving swiftly against political opponents perceived to
be militant and therefore, obstacles, like Lovemore Madhuku and also in the
manner that they are judiciary harassing Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai’s position is made even ore precarious and dangerous by internal contradictions within his party. He may be convicted for high treason and some of his colleagues may call it ‘good riddance’. But then is this how we hope to achieve the objectives of the struggle? What with ‘Nyarota’ beans’ reported on the front page of this paper’s edition of January 29- February 2004, if its anything to go by ? And the acquittal of Tsvangirai’s co-accused?
On 18th march 1975, Herbert Wiltshire Hamandishe Chicopee, the revolutionary chairperson of Dare reChimurenga, the ZANU ‘politburo’ at the time, was assassinated in Lusaka, Zambia and there are various theories explaining his death. He was in a situation in which Tsvangirai finds himself at the moment, that is, when the colonial regime had targeted him as a militant in order to pave the way for détente and at the same time some of his colleagues in the High command and dare wanted his head on a platter over the controversial surroundings the Nhari rebellion.
According to Ken Flower, in is book referred to above, a few days after
Chitepo’s death my uncle, Dr Edison Furatidzayi Chisingaitwi Sithole, a ZANU
central committee member but then working as the information and publicity
secretary for the enlarged ANC, and as legal and constitutional adviser for the
then ANC President, Bishop Abel Muzorewa during the Smith- Muzorewa talks,
declared in Salisbury that Chitepo’s assassination had shattered all hopes of a
negotiated settlement.
Ken flower specifically states that the Rhodesian Front did not like and
was be coming impatient with Dr Sithole’s militant and obstructive tactics and
his general veteran leadership, which qualities particularly manifested
themselves during the NO vote campaign against the constitutional proposals on
the Pearce Commission in 1972. Inside the struggle he also hold his enemies.
Finally on 15 |October 1975, in a more similar to what happened to Dr Madhuku,
Dr Edison Sithole was abducted and bundled up into vehicle. That was the last
that was seen of him and up to now his fate is still a mystery, perhaps the
biggest political mystery in Zimbabwe in the past thirty years.
What is worrisome to us a s a family is that it took his colleagues in
government fourteen years after independence to declare him a national hero, and
further six years to install a representative grave at the national shrine. What
is even more worrisome is that there are some among his colleagues who have
decided to embark on a deliberate and systematic operation to suppress his
achievements and what he stood for, but for us the bones that legacy and
heritage continue.
I shall not dwell on the ascendancy of Robert Mugabe to the presidency of
ZANU in 1975 in succession to Nbabaningi Sithole except that it was part of the
struggle within the struggle, without of course being blind to the merits and
demerits of both men. What is of interest to me for present purposes is the
information of the Patriotic Front by the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo’s
ZANU and the President Mugabe led faction of ZANU in 1976.
In his book, ‘Struggles- within- the Struggle’ the late brilliant
professor Masipula Sithole notes that after 1974 ZAPU was clearly divided
ideologically between militants’ and ‘centrists’ or moderates as they were
called. (could this be the situation in the MDC at the moment?). The militant
wing consisted of those who had led ZAPU in exile like Jason Ziyapapa Moyo,
Edward Ndlovu and George T. Silundika. The centrists were mainly those ZAPU
leaders who had been restricted at Gonakudzingwa like Josiah Chinamano, Joseph
Msika, Willie Musarurwa and Mr Joshua Nkomo himself.
The former group was largely responsible for building up ZIPRA, the
military wing of ZAPU and giving it a soviet orientation under the direction and
leadership of Mr Jason Moyo. This group was well known for its persistent
resistance to a united front with ZANU. For that reason they had formed a very
troublesome group within ZAPU called Dengezi- the clay that fights unity’.
The later group was largely responsible for maintaining PCC/ ZAPU structures within Zimbabwe and it is this wing that was involved in the aborted controversial Smith- Nkomo talks 1976 against protestations from the ZAPU external wine which felt that unlimited talks with Smith were ill-advised and would further compromise the party’s precarious image within the African population, which was responding more and more to militant political symbols.
After failure of the smith- Nkomo the external wing of ZAPU gained more
relevance, while the internal wing become irrelevant because its mass support
had dwindled. Mr Joshua Nkomo then left the country assume ZAPU leadership in
exile from Jason Moyo. In light of the October – December 1976 Geneva Conference
on Rhodesia Mugabe of ZANU formed what became known as the Zimbabwe patriotic
Front. About a month after adjournment of the Geneva conference, Mr Jason Moyo
was assassinated when a latter bomb exploded in his Lusaka office while Nkomo
was away accompanying President Kaunda on a trip to West Africa.
Jason Mayo’s death was attributed to what was described by both ZAPU and Patriotic Front as, ‘enemy agents’. And in 1978 Mr Alfred Nikita Mangena, the ZAPU veteran Commander believed to have been very close to Mr JZ Moyo was killed in a landmine outside Lusaka. For both Moyo and Mangena some put it on struggles within the struggle (internal contradictions). You are free to arrive at your own informed conclusions.
In like manner, in contemporary Zimbabwean politics some of us are
advocating for a popular front of the opposition civil society and other
progressive elements in order to exert collaborative effort to pressure the
ruling party and government to come to negotiating table.
This is a process and the temptation is to coerce those who resist without understanding why they have reservations and where possible addressing their pertinent concerns.
About a month ago, in a very commendable move, Mr Tsvangirai announced
that his party had now forged an alliance with the NCA and the ZCTU and that
future political action would not be carried out under single organisations.
What is puzzling is that within a month of Mr Tsvangirai’s announcement both the
NCA and the ZCTU embarked on separate political actions as separate
organisations. What is going on here? This seperatic and Fragmented approach has
proved to be futile and it is entrenching unnecessary struggles- within –the-
struggle, not to mention the wastage of resources. We must avoid a situation
where we will end up fighting amongst ourselves, as if that is the struggle.
The reality is that as the formation of a popular front against the establishment becomes increasingly inevitable, opposition and civic leaders and positioning themselves strategically for a higher bargain in the united front- the who is calling the shots thing. And that this time when the regime is using heavy- handed tactics against political opponents, one can be either a victim of the struggle or of the struggles within the struggle. Alternatively one can be a victim of the struggle and have no sympathy whatsoever from fellow comrades. These are things that we must avoid as a lesson drawn from inspirational history.
We have seen it before during our struggle for independence and if we
have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing from our past mistakes then we will
only have ourselves to blame for our ignorance. We must learn to persuade and
not to coerce and even physically eliminate those who may hold opinions that
differ from our own. Everything in the national interest must be done with a
consensus – seeking spirit and we must avoid sealing clandestine political deals
that will unnecessarily endanger the lives of fellow activists and analysts
alike. There are a lot of sinister things that happened in the struggle between
1974 and 9177, which we must avoid at all costs in our contemporary struggles.
Our history should be our rabbi.
Tanganda, which is one of the few
remaining blue-chip counters on the depressed Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, is
reported to have completed feasibility studies on the sites of the tea
plantations in Espungabeira, Mozambique as it moves to spread the risk and earn
the elusive foreign currency.
Mills said Tanganda would also expand the
out-grower scheme this year to consolidate its external market share.
Under the scheme, Tanganda provided technical and material support to
over 600 small-sale tea growers.
Financial results for the year ending
October 31, 2003 indicate that exports increased by 485 percent to $22 billion.
Labour shortages caused production of tea to fall by three percent to 10.700
tonnes.
Mozambicans, who provided labour to the estates, left Zimbabwe
when the political situation improved in their home country.
The group
said the area of land under tea continues to expand. Management decided to
replant marginal coffee areas to macadamias although the crop contributed
positively to the group profit.
The beverage division experienced
difficult trading conditions with the imposition of price controls.
International tea prices are expected to remain relatively stable over
the course of the year. Tanganda has resumed exporting to Zambia after a trade
war with that country was resolved in September last year. The group is eyeing
markets in Angola and other regional markets.
Most of the tea produced
in the country is exported to Europe, North Africa, Middle East and South
Africa.
The area planted to major cereal
crops (maize, sorghum, and millet) is estimated to be around 10 to 20 percent
higher than that of last year. The increase is also more than six percent above
the 1990s average area of 1.697 million hectares.
But despite this
increase, the dry spell experienced in November last year destroyed much of the
cereal crop in the southern part of Zimbabwe.
The total area under
cultivation had taken a dip following the chaotic land reform instituted by the
government in 2000.
"While the area planted to maize is now expected to
approximate that of the 2002/03 and the 1990s’ average of 1.318 million
hectares, the area planted to sorghum is estimated to reach more than double
that of last year and more than 70 percent of the 1990s’ average of 146 000
hectares," said FEWSNET.
"The area planted to finger millet in the
current season is also expected to surpass that of last season and the 1990s’
average of 76 500 hectares. Pearl millet is expected to cover an area around 60
percent higher than that planted to this crop in 2002/03 agricultural season."
The government will, however, need to step up efforts to increase
foreign currency earnings to finance maize imports in the 2004/05 marketing year
that begins in April and improve consumer access to food, according to the
agency.
This can be done through policies that stabilise food prices,
support revival of livelihoods in rural areas and create employment
opportunities in urban areas.
"Ensuring adequate food supplies to urban
areas presents a considerable challenge because the majority of rural farmers
will be reticent to sell their stocks given recent memories of three consecutive
poor seasons; thus, grain deliveries to the GMB are likely to be low," FEWSNET
warned.
The condition of the major cash crops is also reported to be
fair, while livestock are in a fair to good condition due to readily available
grazing and water supplies.
Freud, who was born in
Czechoslovakia, moved to Austria with his parents at the age of four years.
After graduating from the University of Vienna Freud founded the branch of
abnormal psychology known as psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysis is defined
as "a method of studying the mind and treating mental and emotional disorders
based on revealing and investigating the role of the unconscious mind".
Freud would be particularly well placed to diagnose what afflicts the
Harare government because he had close encounters with the aberrations of
another paranoid regime in Europe 70 years ago.
Despite the fact that by
this time, Freud had achieved international status, when the Nazis came to power
in Germany in 1933, they burned all his books, along with those of other
"enemies of the state".
Seeing imagined enemies where none exist is
something our government definitely shares with Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.
We are all familiar with the delusions of persecution that have
characterised the endless conspiracy theories our government has come up with in
reaction to perfectly normal phenomena.
One of the regime’s most
outlandish claims is that some western powers planning to remove it from power
have conspired to "mislead" the people of Zimbabwe into knowing that they are
tired of a quarter of a century of ZANU PF tyranny and corruption and want
change.
After reading 20th century clinical psychiatrist, A.
Krae-pelin’s definition of paranoid schizophrenia, one would be excused for
thinking he was describing our rulers. Kraepelin said: "In terms of continuity,
the delusions of the paranoid schizophrenic can range from a jumble of vague and
contradictory suspicions to an exquisitely worked out system of imagined
conspiracies."
Such aberrations were displayed last week when a story
that should have induced no more than a good chuckle provoked the government
into making the most extraordinary allegations against the United States, namely
that the American government was trying to achieve regime change in Zimbabwe
through the use of condoms! How ridiculous!
The US, as the only
superpower on the globe, can surely think of better modalities if it decides to
deal with Zimbabwe in that sense.
It is laughable that the government
chose to react in this disproportionate and outrageous manner to a story that
gave state television viewers and radio listeners a rare light moment and a
welcome break from the monotony of repetitive and agitative party dogma and
propaganda that masquerades as news most of the time.
The story was that
the evidently clever, innovative and creative activist group,
Zvakwana/Sokwa-nele, had attached its logo and the slogan "Get up, Stand up"
(the pun is hilarious) to about 700 000 condoms before distributing them.
Instead of frothing at the mouth as the government’ s propagandists did,
they should have enjoyed a good laugh, as many weary Zimbabweans must have done.
Two years ago, I reacted with rib-cracking laughter when I read a
similar story in an international magazine. That particular story was to the
effect that some Moslem women, at their wits’ end over how to make their calls
for peace heard during Sudan’s civil war, resorted to denying their husbands
their conjugal rights as a campaign strategy.
I have no idea how
successful these women were in driving their point home and neither do I know
what impact Zvakwana/Sokwa-nele’s "talking" condoms have had.
But I am
certain of one thing. After doing everything in its power to deny Zimbabweans
their civil liberties, the government should not cry foul when imaginative
citizens try to find loopholes in its draconian laws.
Over the last few
years, the state has made sustained and frenzied efforts to curtail and abridge
the freedoms of speech, the press, assembly, association and the right to
petition the government for the redress of grievances.
After the
misnamed Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the
apartheid-era style Public Order and Security Act (POSA) have closed all avenues
of communication and peaceful protest, the state should in fact, be ashamed that
the people now have to resort to sharing ideas via condoms. It should not blame
non-existent conspirators for a development that underscores its abusive and
iron-fisted misrule.
Moreover, the powers-that-be should ask themselves
why they alone in the whole wide world should have so many enemies supposedly
plotting against them all the time.
This siege mentality and the
consistently unconventional reasoning patterns characterising it point to the
fact that, to paraphrase Freud in layman’s language, someone with an oversized
ego is holding the people of this country to ransom.
As Kraepelin,
quoted above, has said about the delusions of persecution of paranoid
characters: "Furthermore, they often involve a grandiose expansiveness of
personal worth and position. In order to have so many and such relentless
enemies, one must, after all, be someone very important."
According to Statutory Instrument
235A of 2001 published in the Extraordinary Government Gazette on 16 July 2001,
maize, maize-meal, wheat and wheat-flour became controlled products.
This means that these commodities are classified as strategic reserves
and only the GMB may buy them from commercial and communal farmers who hold them
either in storage or in the fields. This move closed down the operations of the
Zimbabwe Agriculture Commodity Exchange (ZIMACE), an alternative market for
crops, which offered higher prices, as maize and wheat were the two major crops
that were dominating trade on the exchange.
It should be noted that this
move by government was an emergency measure meant to minimise the impending food
crisis in that year on the back of drought and the effects of the initial stages
of the land reform and resettlement exercise.
However, as normality has
been restored on the farms with the finalisation of the land reform exercise and
the carrying out of post-resettlement audits so as to fine-tune the programme,
the control of the two cereals prices and marketing should also go. This is
because the current price controls on maize and wheat has long-run negative
effects on the welfare of the producers, resource allocation decisions by the
farmers and production of the crop.
The system of compulsory grain
delivery is akin to the one that existed in Ethiopia in the 1980s. Under this
system, households were required to sell a portion of their output to the
government at fixed prices. After meeting this obligation (commonly referred to
as the quota), these producers were allowed to buy and sell farm output on the
local open or free market.
Studies on the compulsory grain delivery
(CGD) system show that it caused a reduction in the long-run acreage share (and
the long-run supply) of the crops that were in the CGD system.
This is
likely to have happened directly and indirectly (through lower market prices)
reducing farm household’s returns from these crops. The CGD system also affected
crop supply in ways other than acreage reallocations.
For instance, the
lower crop profitability induced by CGD adversely affected the farm households’
efforts towards raising farm productivity, such as adoption of new cultivation
practices and crop varieties. Or it may even have forced some of these
households to reduce their dependence on crop cultivation and seek alternative
income sources, such as animal husbandry.
The foregoing shows that
controlling the marketing of agricultural commodities like maize and wheat does
not increase the supply or availability of the commodities in the country in the
long-run but results in a decline in the production of the crop as farmers shift
to uncontrolled products.
However, given that agriculture is a very
important sector in the political economy of Zimbabwe, just like any other
developing country, there is need for an efficient state intervention.
This means that agriculture should be "public" in terms of policy and
programme needs, but "private" in terms of production, marketing and consumption
decisions. Macro level interventions to address economic distortions should not
put undue pressure on micro level decisions but rather canvass them for broader
policy goals.
Governments should regulate and facilitate agricultural
marketing to ensure fair trade and protection of public interest, for example,
by providing market information and improving market infrastructure and
standardisation.
They should not monopolise in input supply, production,
marketing, transportation, storage, processing or trading. This is because
public enterprises pursue social objectives, which the free market would ignore.
They suffer from political pressures, bureaucratic failure and lack of financial
discipline, all of which result in poor performance in terms of output and
financial outlay.
On the other hand, privatisation tends to be more
conducive to competition and financial discipline, both leading to economic
efficiency.
A case in point is the adjustment of the cereal prices by
GMB, which greatly lags behind the changes in input costs.
An important
way of bringing in the private sector is through encouraging contract farming
whereby farmers would be given loans and inputs on the understanding that they
would sell their produce directly to the input financier to facilitate recovery
of outstanding debt and reliable supply of the crop. These developments should
in the long-run cause farmers to move away from maize production to cash crops
like tobacco and soya beans.
As a way of encouraging the farmers through
competitive prices, Government should look at other non-price factors like
education and credit facilities.
Education may have both cognitive and
non-cognitive effects upon labour productivity and therefore agriculture
production.
Cognitive outputs of schooling include the transmission of
specific information as well as the formation of general skills and
proficiencies.
Education also produces non-cognitive changes in
attitudes, beliefs and habits. Increasing literacy and numeracy may help farmers
to acquire and understand information and to calculate appropriate input
quantities in a modernising or rapidly changing environment.
Improved
attitudes, beliefs and habits may lead to greater willingness to accept risk,
adopt innovations, save for investment and generally to embrace productive
practices.
Education may either increase prior access to external
sources of information or enhance the ability to acquire information through
experience with new technology.
That is, it may be a substitute for or a
complement to farm experience in agriculture production. Schooling enables
farmers to learn on the job more efficiently.
Meanwhile, government
should continue with directed credit programmes that give loans on preferential
terms and conditions to the productive and export sectors, as it is an important
tool of development policy.
This did wonders in the Asian Tigers in the
1960s and 1970s but the realisation that most of these programmes had created
distorted economic incentives among both lenders and borrowers led to a
reconsideration of their rationale and effectiveness during the 1980s.
Among other factors, countries around the world found that the
programmes had provoked a decline in financial discipline that led to low
repayment rates and a swelling of budget deficits. Moreover, once introduced,
policy-based credit programmes proved difficult to eliminate.
Mercenaries in Africa's conflicts | ||||||
Since the start of the era of independence in the 1960s, former soldiers have been hired by foreign governments, rebel movements or even commercial companies to carry out operations that no-one else is capable of performing. Despite efforts by African governments to stamp out the practice, there seems to be no shortage of men prepared to use their training on behalf of anyone willing to pay the right price. South African role The end of apartheid 10 years ago meant a large number of well trained personnel were suddenly on the market, as many whites left the South African army.
Many belonged to the "32 battalion" - as they were known. Two years ago South Africa was investigating the use of its citizens in Sudan. Then there were reports of South Africans fighting for diamond companies in Sierra Leone. And then they were flying helicopters in Ivory Coast. The South African government has expressed its embarrassment over reports that South African mercenaries had been arrested in Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe. Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told reporters it was disturbing to hear that "every time" the world dealt with mercenaries, in Africa in particular, South Africans were among them. "We definitely do not like the idea that South Africa is a pool for mercenaries," she said. But South Africa is by no means the only source for mercenaries. Others have come from European or US specialist units.
Commercial companies In recent years the major development in freelance fighting for profit has been the appearance of private military companies which offer their services to governments and to commercial companies. The best known of these was Executive Outcomes (EO) - initially based in South Africa and involved in Angola and Sierra Leone.
It is estimated that EO was paid $40m for its services. The same company was later involved in supporting the Sierra Leone Government in its attempts to defeat rebels. Professionals The British-based company Sandline also helped Sierra Leone fight the Revolutionary United Front rebels. Michael Grunberg, a commercial adviser for Sandline, told BBC News Online that private military companies like Sandline see themselves as different from the old image of mercenaries. "We are established entities, have established sets of principles and employ professional people." He said Sandline operated as a commercial company and wanted to have a reputation that would enhance its business position. He emphasised that it would not accept contracts from groups or governments that would risk damaging its commercial reputation. The old guard But despite this new image, old-style mercenaries have not disappeared and the depressing cycle of wars in the continent means that there are plenty of places for them to fight and new wars that produce new generations of hired guns.
One military source who wanted to remain anonymous, told BBC News Online that mercenaries were still very active and could command $10-20,000 a month for their services.
In April 2003, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned a UK company against recruiting mercenaries to work in Ivory Coast. He said he was gravely concerned at reports that Northbridge Services Group - a security company - was recruiting ex-servicemen from Britain, South Africa and France. The company denied that it was involved in such activities. The BBC's Martin Plaut and Keith Somerville contributed to this report. |