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Mugabe Parties While Zimbabwe Collapses
Despite a collapsed economy, food shortages and an out-of-control cholera
epidemic in his country of Zimbabwe, Marxist dictator Robert Mugabe
threw a lavish, US $250,000 party to
celebrate his 85th birthday that included an 85 kilo
(187 pound) cake.
The party, put together by Mugabe henchemn from his political party Zanu-PF,
was held in Mugabe’s hometown of Chinhoyi, about 120 kilometers (75 miles)
outside of the capital, Harare.
“The country might be having problems, but we need to have a day to honor the
sacrifices the president has made for this country,” said Patrick Zhuwawo,
Mugabe’s nephew.
100 animals were slaughtered for the birthday party, which included
shoolchildren and banners reading “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number”.
New Zimbabwe PM and Mugabe rival Morgan Tsvangirai was reportedly invited,
but opted instead to visit an intesive care clinic tending to cholera victims
that needs US $30,000 to continue operarting. Tsvangirai has appealed to the
international community for US $5 billion to stabalize the Zimbabwean
economy.
Prof. Mutambara: Mugabe's personal opinion does not constitute
govt.
policy
http://www.hararetribune.com
Written by Prof. Mutambara
Saturday, 28 February 2009
21:04
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe
Professor Arthur
G. O. Mutambara does not regret any statements that he has
made on the
current Monetary Policy and the National Budget.
He
stands by every word that he uttered on the above.
When President
Robert Mugabe made reference to Professor Mutambara on
ZTV, with regards to
the above issues, he was expressing his own personal
views.
The
deputy Prime Minister would want to put it on record that he
totally
disagrees with these personal views of Mugabe.
It is important that
Zimbabweans make a distinction between Mugabe's
personal views and public
policy.
The Deputy prime minister responding to Mugabe's statement
he made on
national TV Thursday.
President Robert Mugabe shot
down recent suggestions by Deputy Prime
Minister, Arthur Mutambara who said
last week that the just delivered
monetary policy statement and the national
budget would be revised.
Mutambara advised business to disregard
the fiscal and monetary
policies recently announced by the then Acting
Finance Minister, Patrick
Chinamasa and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor, Gideon Gono.
Mutambara contended the controversial
blueprints were produced without
the necessary consultations among
stakeholders and were thus fundamentally
flawed.
The statement
by the Deputy Prime Minister elicited an angry response
from Gono who
declared he was still in charge of the central bank and as
such, his
policies stood.
But in a development that has further exposed the
huge differences
among government leaders, President Mugabe made a scathing
dismissal of the
Deputy Prime Minister's comments.
"That's just
an utterance," he said in his first public comments on
recent developments
since the formation of the unity government.
In a televised
interview this week, that was made to coincide with his
85th birthday,
Mugabe said Mutambara's comments did not at all constitute
the correct
government policy.
"Those were emotional utterances. I am sure
Mutambara regrets where he
said the monetary policy must be
nullified.
"How do you nullify a budget that has gone through
Parliament? It's
the one that (Finance Minister Tendai) Biti is using,
including the monetary
policy. So you don't nullify it."
Mugabe
said Mutambara was still new and was thus still prone to making
mistakes.
"You must also grant that we have new people and they
would be making
a few mistakes," he said. "Well if mistakes are outrageous,
naturally they
put people off but we try to correct each other.
"I have not been making any statements myself. In fact I have avoided
making
statements.
"We should as much as possible keep quiet and talk to
ourselves in the
chambers that we have provided ourselves with and we have
those chambers.
We meet and I don't see why but of course there is
always the instinct
of 'let the people hear me and let my voice be heard',
but it may be a
croaking voice, you know. Not harmonious and it's not
everybody who can
sing. Very few people have nice voices, some will make you
deaf."
Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe in the same interview
rubbished
reports that he has secretly bought a £4m bolt-hole in the Far
East saying
the massive mansion was being rented for his daughter
Bona.
The London Sunday Times reports that Mugabes' house, in an
exclusive
residential complex in Hong Kong, was purchased on their behalf by
a
middleman through a shadowy company whose registered office is in a
run-down
tenement block.
When a reporter and a photographer
called at the house last week, they
were attacked by the Zimbabwean
occupants.
Mugabe last night said the mansion was not his but it
was where his
20-year-old daughter was staying while she was in university n
Hong Kong.
"There is a property in which our girl and a relative,
the two
students studying in Hong Kong, are staying," Mugabe
said.
"We pay rent. After they have finished, we will have nothing
to do
with that home at all."
Mugabe said a private company had
arranged real estate issues and
secured that property for Bona to
rent.
"Because we could not get any other property which we could
put them
in, we had this company which offered that house not on sale but
rental and
we pay rental because the girl staying there has got to have room
for our
security people also," Mugabe said. "What do I do with a house in
Hong Kong
really?"
The property came to light during a Sunday
Times investigation into
the Mugabes' financial interests in Asia, where a
web of associates has
helped them to spend lavishly on luxuries and stash
away millions in bank
accounts.
In Zimbabwe, meanwhile,
inflation has reached 89,7 sextillion percent,
unemployment stands at 94
percent and almost 4,000 people have died in
recent months from
cholera.
Mugabe said he was still building his mansion in Harare
and said he
had spent the last 12 years building the Borrowdale property and
why would
he need to another house.
"Every month we pay lots of
money to (Yugoslavian company) Energo
(Project), we pay Energo (for
completing the house)," he said. "Why would I
need a house in Hong Kong, for
what?"
Mugabe scoffed at reports that he had another house in
Malaysia given
to him by former President Mahathiar Mohammed, a friend to
Mugabe, for use
as bolt hole when he seek political asylum.
He
was adamant that he was going nowhere and that he would never
abandon his
country. He said: "Here l was born and here l fought and I will
die."
Seaway
touted as a bonanza for landlocked African states
http://www.thenational.ae/
Thulani Mpofu, Foreign
Correspondent
Last Updated: March 01. 2009 9:30AM UAE / March 1. 2009
5:30AM GMT
BULAWAYO // Landlocked Zimbabwe and three of its neighbours
could have a
direct link to the Indian Ocean, if an ambitious US$3 billion
(Dh11bn)
project to open up the Zambezi River to commercial traffic
materialises.
First mooted in the 1950s to reduce freight costs for
landlocked countries
in southern Africa, the Zambezi Seaway Project will
handle cargo for
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Botswana.
The seaway
would be 1,500km long from Victoria Falls in western Zimbabwe, to
the ocean
to the east. Promoters of the gigantic scheme, the Zambezi Seaway
Corporation, say it will offer a cheaper, faster and more efficient route to
the ocean, thus boosting economies in the hinterland.
John Holland,
the project engineer, said the venture would be implemented in
two phases
and two sites have been identified at which ports will be built.
He said
when complete, the route will mainly transport minerals and other
bulky
cargo.
"The benefits [will be] immense," said Mr Holland. "The current
cost of
transportation of all goods and minerals to the coast is prohibitive
to many
heavy minerals. Floating minerals to the coast will make all goods
and
minerals competitive on world markets leading to an industrial
boom.
"The current cost of a container sometimes filled with relatively
light
goods is around US$3,000 to Europe. Over half of that cost is to the
port of
Durban [in South Africa]. More competitive goods equals more
meaningful
investment and as a consequence, more economic growth to the
entire region."
He said jobs will also be created from building and
running the route.
The Zambezi is southern Africa's largest shared river
basin and Africa's
third biggest. It flows for 2,574km from north-western
Zambia, through
Angola, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the Indian Ocean
on the Mozambican
coast.
The river supports southern Africa's largest
hydro-electrical power
stations - Kariba on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border and
Cahora Bassa in
Mozambique. They provide electricity to seven southern
African countries -
Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Mozambique and Malawi.
Abundant wildlife thrives along its shores and in
its waters and it is the
centrepiece of the tourism sectors in the riparian
states.
Mr Holland said raising money to finance the venture will be
difficult.
However, he said there is already interest from investors who
have a
long-term view of benefits likely to accrue from the
seaway.
"One only has to look at the economic impact of say the St
Lawrence Seaway
to the USA and Canada constructed in the main for timber and
grain to see
the future and there are investors who prefer long-term solid
investment
with guaranteed growth. Again those investors involved in mining
in Zambia,
particularly the Copper Belt, may feel the only way to survive is
to cut the
costs of transport of the copper making copper sales both
competitive and
secure," said Mr Holland.
He added that the
developers will dredge some sections, while canals and
locks will be used to
circumvent rapids.
The Cahora Bassa gorge and dam wall will also have to
be circumvented for,
"If it were feasible to construct the St Lawrence
Seaway to the Great Lakes
of Canada and the USA, circumventing the Niagara
Falls for essentially the
transportation of grain and timber, then all the
rich mineral deposits in
Central Africa make a seaway," said the Zambezi
Seaway Corporation on its
website.
"We will seek government
assistance so that we sign a memorandum of
understanding with the
participating countries," said Aguy Georgias, the
managing director of
Trinity Engineering and Zimbabwe's deputy minister of
economic development
and main mover of the scheme. "We will then set up a
public company which
will be floated internationally to raise funds."
Environmentalists are
uneasy at the prospect of a new, large-scale
infrastructural development
project on the Zambezi. They hope that in
addition to environmental
concerns, prohibitive costs and rapids will
frustrate
progress.
"However, before we can worry about disruption of the
environment, they need
large sums of money to finance environmental impact
assessments and to
dredge sand on the river, which is heavily silted in
places," said Johnny
Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation
Trust. "The plan is a
joke, considering the huge costs involved. Regional
countries are generally
financially unsound, so at the moment and in the
foreseeable future, the
project is not feasible."
Apart from
plentiful wildlife, the Zambezi also hosts Victoria Falls, one of
the
globe's most spectacular waterfall and designated as one of the Seven
Wonders of the World.
Innocent Hodzonge, the director of Environment
Africa, said Malawi could
refuse to participate in the venture because it is
already developing the
$6bn Zambezi-Shire Waterways project which will link
it to the Indian Ocean.
In May 2007, Malawi signed an agreement with
Zambia and Mozambique to reopen
the waterway, which will help them save more
than $250m on transport costs,
according to South Africa-based TradeInvest
Africa, an online portal on
business, trade and investment in
Africa.
"I look at the floods on the Zambezi destroying millions of acres
of
foliage, wildlife because insufficient funds are donated to dredge and
keep
the water course clear," Mr Holland said. "I see automatic conservation
that
these environmentalists are not seized with, building up river banks
preventing soil erosion."
Tsvangirai Snubs Mugabe Party
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009 21:38
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, despite being invited, on Saturday
did not
attend President Robert Mugabe's lavish 85th birthday celebrations
noting
that it was a Zanu PF party event.
Instead, Tsvangirai spent the
day, hard at work, with Deputy Prime
Minister Thokozani Khupe and the
Minister of Health, Dr Henry Madzorera
exploring ways to raise funds for
Harare Central hospital.
The Prime Minister was reportedly
moved by the dire state of the
referral hospital he visited on Friday and
pledged to raise US$1.5 million
for it to resume normal
operations.
Tsvangirai, who had considered attending Mugabe's
celebrations in an
effort to show his commitment to the inclusive
government, is said to have
been alarmed by the programme which showed the
event would basically remain
a Zanu PF event, though the political landscape
in Zimbabwe has changed.
The Prime Minister received the official
invitation at 3pm but in 90
minutes he had already notified Mugabe that he
would not want to be part of
it.
James Maridadi, the PM's
spokesperson said Saturday: "The PM received
the invite, acknowledged it and
sent his congratulations. He, however,
regretted that he would not attend
because he felt it was a Zanu PF
function."
Maridadi said
Tsvangirai did not want to intrude at what was clearly a
party
event.
Also, Tsvangirai had serious reservations about the event
because he
is said to be against turning "individual birthdays" into
national events.
Tsvangirai turns 57 on March 10 but has told aides
he wants a private
function at his Strathaven home.
A cake bought
from a local supermarket and a cup of tea with his wife
and children is all
he has planned, The Standard was told.
In contrast Mugabe's
birthday celebrations attracted thousands of
people and were criticised as
a "sheer waste of taxpayers' money" at a time
seven million Zimbabweans
required food aid because they face starvation.
Mugabe's spokesman,
George Charamba tried to put a brave face Saturday
saying the 21st February
Movement celebrations were a party event and
"therefore Tsvangirai did not
snub them".
The invitation to Mugabe's lavish birthday came at a
time when the
shaky political relationship between the two had become
increasingly
strained following Mugabe's unilateral appointment of permanent
secretaries.
Tsvangirai said the appointments were unconstitutional and
would not
be recognized.
Mugabe also worsened matters by
digging in on the issue of Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono and
Attorney General Johannes Tomana insisting
their appointments, which violate
the Global Political Agreement (GPA) were
legal.
Donors have
been clear to MDC fundraisers that they cannot be in a
position to help as
long as Gono is in charge of the central bank.
Mugabe's behaviour
left Tsvangirai facing pressure from members of his
formation to be wary of
the President's commitment to the new government.
Sources said
members of the MDC- T national executive who met on
Friday called for the
review of the party's participation in government in
view of Zanu PF's
apparent reluctance to see the full implementation of the
deal.
The national executive members did not want their
leader to have
anything to do with Mugabe's birthday celebrations at a time
when deputy
minister-designate Roy Bennett, Jestina Mukoko and Gandhi
Mudzingwa
continued to languish in jail.
There were also
concerns that Tsvangirai's attendance would be in bad
taste at a time when 3
900 people have succumbed to cholera and the
inclusive government was
battling to convince donors to fund the country's
reconstruction.
The organisers of the so-called 21st
February Movement event had
budgeted up to US$250 000 for expensive cuisine
and drinks that included
imported whiskies.
MDC- T
spokesman, Nelson Chamisa said Mugabe's birthday was a party
event and
Tsvangirai was not obliged to attend. He would do so at any
national
events.
But party sources said MDC -T hardliners were growing
impatient with
Mugabe's intransigence as shown by the renewed invasion of
white owned
farms.
Among the diplomatic community, there was
also growing concern over
failure by the inclusive government to fulfill
commitments made under the
GPA.
US Ambassador James McGee
said in Mutare last week it was time the new
government released all
political prisoners, who included Bennett, restored
the rule of law and
proved that it was committed to respect for human
rights.
He
said "doing so would be an important sign that the unity government
is
taking its pledges seriously and honestly to have the country move
forward".
Other discordant voices in the inclusive government
came from Deputy
Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara.
In
a three-paragraph statement said he did not regret any statements
that he
made on the current Monetary Policy and the National Budget and
stands by
every word that he uttered on the matter.
"When President Robert
Mugabe made reference to Professor Mutambara on
ZTV, with regards to the
above issues, he was expressing his own personal
views as a Citizen of
Zimbabwe," Mutambara shot back.
"The deputy Prime Minister would
want to put it on record that he
totally disagrees with these personal views
of Mugabe.
"It is important that Zimbabweans make a distinction
between Mugabe's
personal views and public policy."
Mutambara
told business people at a meeting in Harare not to base
their planning on
RBZ Governor, Dr Gideon Gono's recent monetary measures or
the budget that
was presented to Parliament before the new government was
sworn in as these
would be reversed.
To which Mugabe told the state broadcaster:
"Those were emotional
utterances. I am sure Mutambara regrets where he said
the monetary policy
must be nullified. How do you nullify a budget that has
gone through
Parliament? It's the one that (Finance Minister Tendai) Biti is
using,
including the monetary policy."
BY KHOLWANI NYATHI AND
WALTER MARWIZI
PM Sees the Decay First Hand
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009 21:09
THE paralysis in the health sector that has seen thousands succumbing
to
treatable diseases such as cholera is a result of poor prioritisation by
the
previous government, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on
Friday.
Tsvangirai made the observation after witnessing first hand
the
collapse of Harare Central Hospital during a two-hour tour that exposed
how
neglect had halted operations at the institution.
He heard
that the institution needs US$1,5 million to restore
operations, an amount
the Prime Minister felt was affordable.
"I was advised that with
US$1,5 million dollars, we should be able to
spruce up this place and get
the services running again," Tsvangirai said.
"We have to
prioritise our level of national investments. "
He
said a new mortuary has not been completed for the past 10 years.
Last year the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr Gideon
Gono,
splashed millions of United States dollars on luxury vehicles that
were
donated to members of the judiciary, parastatals and other
organisations.
Millions of dollars in scarce foreign currency
were also spent on the
Farm Mechanisation Programme that involved the
purchasing of farming
equipment such as generators, tractors, combine
harvesters and scotch carts.
The central bank through the so-called
Medical Skills Retention
programme bought cars for top medical staff running
into thousands of US
dollars while ignoring problems in the health
sector.
"I think we need to appreciate that a healthy nation is
a productive
nation and without the health facilities and a health delivery
system there
is no way you can have a productive nation," Tsvangirai
said.
As he moved through the casualty wards, maternity wing,
paediatric
section, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), kitchen and up to the
mortuary,
Tsvangirai constantly shook his head in disbelief as he came face
to face
with the extent of the decay at the institution.
Some of problems facing the hospital, Tsvangirai heard, were that the
ICU
has not been functioning for the past six years and the children's ward,
closed in October last year because of the work boycott by health workers,
has not reopened.
In the children's ICU life-saving
equipment and machinery is not
working and needs repairing.
The radiography department was also in a shambles, with X-ray
equipment that
has not been working for years, while there is no
radiographer at the
institution.
In addition, Tsvangirai heard that the hospital
faced an acute
shortage of essential life-saving drugs and other vital
medicines.
After the tour Tsvangirai said he had a full
appreciation of the
problems facing the health delivery system and committed
the inclusive
government to revamping the country's health
sector.
"I think I have an appreciation of the level of needs
and challenges
the chief executive and management team is facing and I think
it's wide-
ranging from infrastructure to staff conditions.
"All I can say is that this inclusive transitional government has put
health
delivery as one of its key priorities," Tsvangirai said.
During
Tsvangirai's tour health workers who recently returned to work
after the
inclusive government promised to tackle their long running
grievances broke
into song and dance.
The secretary-general of the Zimbabwe
Health Workers' Association, Dr
Malcolm Masikati said Tsvangirai's visit had
given workers hope that their
working conditions would soon
improve.
"The arrival of the Prime Minister is a good thing
indeed as far as
the development of the hospital's infrastructure is
concerned. Harare
hospital is one of the largest hospitals in Zimbabwe since
we treat most
people here," Masikati said.
"We also have
the largest number of workers here and for him to come
here it is a good
starting point. At least he can get a reflection of how
much the rest of the
country's health sector must be suffering in Zimbabwe."
Masikati suggested the Prime Minister and the new Minister of Health
and
Child Welfare, Dr Henry Madzorera consult representatives of the health
workers in order to find ways of reviving the sector.
Zimbabwe's health sector collapsed as a result of neglect and under
funding.
Under president Robert Mugabe's administration
ministries such as
Defence and Home Affairs were allocated the bulk of the
funds in the
national budget at the expense of critical sectors like health
and
education.
Unable to cope with poor salaries and
sub-standard working conditions
health workers walked out of their jobs in
October last year, forcing
authorities to close down the
institutions.
For the first time in the history of independent
Zimbabwe all health
workers -doctors, nurses and support staff - united and
staged a protest
march to protest against the decline of service delivery
and conditions of
service.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
8 Abductees Granted Bail at Last
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
20:58
A Harare Magistrate on Friday granted bail to eight MDC-T
supporters
and human rights activists who were abducted by state agents last
year on
accusations they were involved in the recruitment of alleged
bandits.
Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe ordered the release of
Concelia
Chinanzavana, Fidelis Chinanzvavana, Fidelis Chiramba, Violet
Mupfuranhewe,
Colin Mutemagawu, Manuel Chinanzvavana, Pieta Kaseke, Audrice
Mbudzana and
Broderick Takawira on US$600 bail each.
The
activists, some of them still battling to recover from injuries
caused by
weeks of torture by state agents, were also ordered to report to
their
nearest police stations on Mondays and Fridays.
They were abducted
between October and November last year on what the
MDC-T insists were
"trumped up charges" of banditry, sabotage and terrorism.
Takawira is an employee of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) whose
director
Jestina Mukoko remains in custody on the same charges.
Takawira
failed to attend his father's funeral on Thursday. Guvamombe
set March 4 as
the trial date for the activists.
However, the activists had not
been released by yesterday morning as
the defence team, led by Alec
Muchadehama, was still battling to raise the
amount required for the bail
which he said was "too much".
He described the conditions of most of
the activists as grave since
they had no access to adequate
treatment.
"Their conditions are very severe and they need urgent
medical
attention," Muchadehama said.
During the first week
of last month, the Zimbabwe Association of
Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)
reported that Chiramba, the MDC-T district
chairperson for Zvimba South
showed signs of cardiac failure caused by
severe hypertension.
The defence team is also alleging that most of the activists were
subjected
to various forms of torture and inhuman treatment from their day
of
disappearance and during the incarceration period.
Muchadehama
said that they were seeking urgent medical treatment for
the activists most
of whom he said might need to be hospitalized, once
released from
jail.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has demanded the
unconditional
release of all political detainees in the spirit of the
power-sharing
agreement that ushered in the new inclusive
government.
On Wednesday he said: "With respect to detainees,
the Principals to
the Global Political Agreement, namely myself, President
Mugabe and Deputy
Prime Minister Mutambara, last week agreed that all
political detainees who
have been formally charged with a crime should be
released on bail and those
that have not been charged should be released
unconditionally. This has not
yet happened.
"Indeed, rather
than allowing the judicial process to take its course
with regard to the
granting of bail, the Attorney General's office is
willfully obstructing the
release of all detainees by abusing the appeal
process and this must stop
forthwith."
But President Robert Mugabe who has been accused of
acting in bad
faith insists the courts should be allowed to determine the
cases on merit
and at their own pace.
BY EDGAR GWESHE
Pandemonium
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
20:58
CHINHOYI - Hungry Zanu PF supporters fell over each other as they
scrambled for food at President Robert Mugabe's much hyped 85th birthday
celebrations yesterday, where ordinary people were served boiled meat and
sadza.
There was pandemonium as elderly people and youths
rushed to the
serving points soon after a combative Mugabe finished his
winding speech.
Bouncers worked over time trying to control
queues as people fought
their way to get their portions of the ordinary meal
served on plastic paper
plates and old newspapers because of a shortage of
plates.
For the people, there was no sign of the classy cuisine
and expensive
drinks budgeted for by the organisers of the North
Korean-style event.
Top government officials, including Mugabe, had
their lunch at a hotel
where entry was restricted.
In his
speech, Mugabe vowed the violent land seizures from white
commercial farmers
would continue despite the inauguration of the unity
government.
He said there would be no letting up on the land
redistribution
despite concerns it was poisoning the political environment
and worsening
the economic collapse.
"Once a farm is designated
the original owner must be prepared to
vacate that farm within a time frame
that is acceptable," he said.
Mugabe dismissed the ruling by the
South African Development Community
(Sadc) Tribunal that gave beleaguered
farmers a reprieve, describing it as a
non-event.
"That's
nonsense, absolutely nonsense," he said. "We have courts here
in the country
which can determine the rights of our people."
He assured his
supporters that Zanu PF was still in charge despite
losing its parliamentary
majority to the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) formations in last
year's elections.
"In the hierarchy I am on top as the President,
followed by Vice-
President Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru then (Prime
Minister Morgan)
Tsvangirai and his deputies, it has come to this because we
lost the March
elections," he said.
About 4 000 people,
including Zanu PF ministers and those who were
dropped from the cabinet,
attended the event.
Ordinary people said they attended because they
thought Tsvangirai
would be part of the proceedings.
Mugabe's rectangular cake weighed 85kg and it was written 85 on all
sides
with different decorative colours.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
Exodus of Key Staff Worries Bulawayo Council
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
20:55
BULAWAYO - The City Council lost more than half of its workforce
last
year alone and fears persist of more losses of critical staff this
year.
Middleton Nyoni, the city treasurer, told a Zimbabwe National
Chamber
of Commerce (ZNCC) meeting that council was left with 3 125 workers
following massive resignations.
He blamed the unusually
high staff turnover on the uncertainty caused
by the government's order for
the Zimbabwe National Water Authority to take
over water and sewer
reticulation from all local authorities.
But the MDC-controlled
council resisted the takeover, which the
government has since
reversed.
"Sadly, we have had challenges in our efforts to
deliver services that
would satisfy you and the other consumers," Nyoni
said.
"We have various challenges that relate to service
delivery and one of
them is that of labour. As council, we lost quite a
number of workers last
year."
From an initial workforce of
about 6 200, the council is left with
only 3 125 workers.
"This, however, puts a strain on the effectiveness and efficiency of
council's service delivery."
He said council had no
capacity to fill the vacant posts because of
cash flow problems that have
been worsened by the dollarisation of the
economy.
Last
month, council workers went on strike for more than two weeks
demanding
salaries in foreign currency.
"Our major challenge at the
moment, given that salaries are now paid
in foreign currency, is to raise
the capital to meet the salary bill," Nyoni
said.
"I am
sure if the situation does not improve, we are likely to have
more job
losses because people are being offered jobs in South Africa and
elsewhere."
Council had proposed a US$189 million budget
for this year but it is
being reviewed downwards following an outcry by
residents.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
US Dollar Knocks out Flashy 'dealers'
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
20:49
FOREIGN currency dealers who were leading flashy lives courtesy
of
Zimbabwe's economic collapse, have become the biggest victims of the
dollarisation of the economy.
The dealers had become well known
for leading charmed lives, which
included dining and wining at expensive
five-star hotels.
But some of them are now broke and battling for
survival. They are
among the millions of Zimbabweans who cannot find
jobs.
As the worthless Zimbabwe dollar gave way to multiple
currencies, the
black market began to collapse.
Familiar faces at
Bulawayo's notorious "World Bank" along Fort Street
turned to selling
imported beer.
And as the market got flooded some began selling
recharge cards and
biscuits but were quickly knocked out of business by the
modest profits they
were getting.
"Some of my friends have
gone back to prostitution," said Sikhangele
Ncube, who now sells mobile
phone recharge cards at a popular food court
near the Tredgold Magistrates'
courts.
"But there are some who made a lot of money and they have
resettled in
Botswana or South Africa."
Unsure of where their
next income will come from, some of the dealers
who had left their
high-density homes to rent flats in the Avenues area in
Harare and other
posh suburbs are retracing their footsteps.
Some have put their
luxury cars on the market, where they are fetching
far less than what they
were worth only a few months ago because the market
is now
flooded.
Shelton Namusi, a former dealer in Harare, said he had
abandoned his
trade because of the fast changing economic environment and
was set to leave
for South Africa.
"Some of my friends left for
South Africa last year when it became
obvious currency dealing was no longer
a lucrative business with people
increasingly sidelining the local
currency," Namusi said.
"They managed to get jobs in South Africa
and they are organising
something for me so I will be joining them
soon."
Namusi said he would be forced to move his family from the
suburb of
Avonlea to his parents' home in Glen Norah.
"I have
enough money to pay the rent in the short term but when I move
to SA, they
will have to stay with my parents until I settle down and we see
what we can
do," he said.
"God gave us a good life in the past days, we enjoyed
it but now is
the time to make some compromises. . . but that does not mean
the end of
good things, we just need to explore other avenues and I am
certain my move
to SA is one such avenue."
Advertisements for
properties to let in the country's elite suburbs
and the Avenues area, which
had been invaded by the dealers who could afford
the exorbitant rentals, are
increasing in the daily papers and email forums
as dealers seek cheaper
housing.
There has also been an increase in the number of vehicles
on sale and
it is understood some dealers are selling off these together
with some
household goods including furniture.
Nkosinathi
Sinini, a car dealer with Leopard Transport, said for most
dealers business
started dwindling at the introduction of foreign currency
licensed shops in
August last year.
"Another speculation is that most of the foreign
currency came from
diamond dealing in Chiadzwa," Sinini said. "With the
crackdown on that
source, people are not that liquid anymore."
Sinini said the car dealing business has also been hit hard as most of
their
customers were foreign currency dealers.
"Whereas we would import
vehicles and they would quickly sell out in
the past, we are now buying more
cars locally as most dealers are selling
off to get money to cover various
expenses," he said.
"Most of these people invested their money in
cars but the painful
thing is that they are now selling at give away prices
and contrary to the
past, we as car dealers now have very few customers for
these vehicles."
An economic consultant said the price of a 2003
model Mercedes Benz
E240 declined from between US$50 000 and US$55 000 to
between US$25 000 and
US$35 000 while that of a 2002 model BMWX5 dropped
from between US$40 000
and US$45 000 to between US$20 000 and US$25
000.
But other dealers are still on the streets despite dwindling
business.
"People are still changing money for such things as bus
fare and other
small transactions," Adamson Shumba, a dealer from Harare's
Dzivarasekwa
said.
He said other dealers like him were waiting
for the new government to
create jobs so they can go back to the formal
sector .
BY JENNIFER DUBE AND NQOBANI NDLOVU
War Veterans Demand Dues in Forex
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
15:44
BULAWAYO - War veterans are demanding monthly pensions in foreign
currency arguing the Zimbabwe dollar has become worthless.
Velaphi Ncube, the Bulawayo war veterans' association spokesperson,
said
deepening poverty had forced the ex-combatants to ask government to
consider
converting their allowances to more stable foreign currencies.
"War veterans made a lot of sacrifice during the liberation war,"
Ncube
said. "The government should keep its promises of taking care of war
veterans who are suffering because of dollarisation."
Government last month started paying civil servants in foreign
currency and
most of them were paid an average of US$100 in vouchers
redeemable at
banks.
The former fighters, who at the height of the violent land
invasions
called on the Zanu PF government to rename the local currency,
saying the
dollar was an unwanted colonial vestige, began receiving monthly
pensions in
1997 for the role they played in liberating the
country.
They are entitled to free treatment at state
hospitals, free education
for their children at government schools and most
of them are owners of
prime farms grabbed from former commercial
farmers.
But runaway inflation has meant that the value of the
monthly stipends
they earn in local currency has been eroded, pushing most
of them deeper
into poverty.
However, President Robert
Mugabe who is the patron of the Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans
Association last week said he was opposed
to the payment of salaries in
foreign currency.
He said the country did not have adequate
foreign currency to sustain
the salaries and was in favour of the
resuscitation of the Zimbabwean dollar
now shunned by most
traders.
"The monthly allowances we earn in local currency are
now worthless
since the local currency is being discarded," Ncube
said.
"After consultations with colleagues, we feel that the
government
should pay us at least US$80 a month in
pensions."
Ncube threatened that the war veterans, notorious
for leading violent
demonstrations in support of Mugabe and Zanu PF, would
take to the streets
if the government failed to meet their demands or
discontinued the pensions.
"Yes we have a new government, but
it should continue with the
programmes started by the previous government
that used to assist us," he
added.
"There is no reason why
the new government should not pay us
allowances in foreign currency and we
are prepared for street protests to
press for the consideration of our
demands.
Public Service Minister, Professor Elphas
Mukonoweshuro referred
inquiries about the veterans' pensions to Defence
Minister, Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
"The Defence Ministry is the one
that administers the War Veterans'
Pensions Act and it would be best placed
to comment about the monthly
allowances for war veterans," Mukonoweshuro
said.
Mnangagwa could not be reached for comment. Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has on several occasions reiterated that the
country is broke and
cannot afford lavish spending especially in foreign
currency.
Economic analysts trace the root of Zimbabwe's
current economic
problems to November 1997 when the war veterans, then
numbering about 50
000, arm-twisted Mugabe to award them a lump sum of $50
000 each in
unbudgeted funds.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Report 'without fear or favour' Journos Told
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
15:40
JOHANNESBURG - A leading South African media expert has urged the
Zimbabwean media to play a crucial role in the country's reconstruction by
reporting without "fear or favour" following the formation of an inclusive
government.
Witwatersrand University head of Journalism and
Media Studies,
Professor Antony Harber, urged the polarised media to promote
transparency
by exposing corruption.
"Media always has a
difficult balancing act to perform in times of
transformation but it is
worth remembering that they serve the cause best by
fearless reporting, by
questioning, by being sceptical, by asking all the
tough questions and
fighting for the right answers," he said.
"This is a time to serve
the people, to serve the truth, and not to
serve narrow
interests."
Zimbabwe's media has been polarised over the years
mirroring the
hostilities between President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) formations, which became part of an
inclusive
government two weeks ago.
Harber doubted the
dispensation would result in instant change in the
way various media in
Zimbabwe approached issues. "I hope the Zimbabwe media
would stop the kind
of polarised reporting," he said.
"I doubt their agendas will
change, but one would hope that some media
at least can rise above this and
see their job as reporting what is going
on, pushing and probing, without
fear or favour."
According to the September 15 power-sharing
agreement, the media is
expected to provide balanced and fair coverage to
all parties.
However, there are concerns, the State media has
been slow in adapting
as witnessed by its constant use of hate language. -
CAJ News
Starving Villagers Look to NGOs for Salvation
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February
2009 15:40
FEARING that roots and wild fruits that saved them from
starvation for
the better part of last year are fast running out, villagers
in rural
Masvingo have made an urgent appeal to aid agencies for increased
food
rations.
The villagers in Gutu in Masvingo have written to
Christian Care
requesting emergency food aid, highlighting the desperation
in most parts of
the country.
Most of the villagers did not
harvest anything during the 2007/8 year
because of drought and have been
surviving on wild fruits as donors battled
to meet rising
demand.
Christian Care national director Reverend Forbes
Matonga confirmed the
villagers had appealed for more aid because of
pervasive hunger in the rural
areas across the country.
"They wrote appealing for food. They said now that hacha (a wild
fruit) is
no longer available people will starve to death," Matonga told
delegates at
a recent Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa (CPIA)
conference. "We are
in a serious humanitarian crisis."
The situation in Gutu is a
reflection of most rural areas,
particularly those lying in regions that
receive poor rains.
The most affected provinces are Manicaland,
Masvingo, Matabeleland
South and Mashonaland Central.
According to an assessment by the government and United Nations (UN)
agencies, the number of Zimbabwean households consuming three meals a day
declined from 54% in 2006 to 23% this year.
The Zimbabwe
Vulnerability Assessment Committee's January 2009 report
notes that hunger
had deepened in the country during the past three years
forcing many
families to cut back on daily meals.
The World Food Programme
(WFP), which fed over five million people in
February, said the food
situation in the country has deteriorated more
drastically than
expected.
"In the worst affected communities, people are
surviving on reduced
food aid rations and wild foods - as well as resorting
to other desperate
measures such as selling remaining household assets or
using tree bark or
soil as a cereal supplement," WFP said.
"Soon people may be forced to start consuming "green maize" (picking
it far
too early)."
January and February are usually the peak of the
hunger season before
the main harvest in April.
Amon Gutukutu (56)
of Mt Darwin in Mashonaland Central said many
villagers were exchanging
their livestock for food to save their families
from
starvation.
Villagers, he said, were exchanging a goat for a
bucket of maize or a
beast for 200kg of maize meal.
"These days we
are boiling fresh tree leaves to survive," he said. "A
month ago we used to
boil unripe mangoes but they are no longer available.
It's a
catastrophe."
A recent WFP survey found that nearly one in five
households -
including those receiving food assistance - had sold assets
during the past
three months and that more than 70% had done so in order to
buy food.
Up to 12% of households had not eaten the previous
day.
The demand for food assistance in Matabeleland also
remains high
despite interventions by aid agencies.
Recently released statistics by international aid agencies operating
in the
region show that over 1,3 million people require food assistance due
to the
poor agricultural yields.
World Vision regional director
responsible for humanitarian emergency
affairs, Daniel Muchena, said the
organisation was spending more than US$70
million on food procurement alone
for Matabeleland.
He said the organisation bought more than 100
000 tones of food aid
for distribution to needy and vulnerable groups
throughout the region,
adding the need for more aid still remained
high.
Matonga said the dollarisation of the economy had
worsened the problem
of food insecurity in the country. All basic
commodities are now priced in
foreign currency.
"Even
vegetable vendors in the rural communities now demand payment of
their
commodities in foreign currency," Matonga said.
"While
dollarisation might have benefits for local industry, for now
it has made
life difficult for the poor."
Matabeleland North governor Sithokozile
Mathuthu said hundreds of
people in parts of the province were in need of
assistance.
The high demand for food assistance comes at a time
when food aid
agencies are cutting on rations they have been giving to the
vulnerable
because they are also running out of food.
The WFP
and other aid agencies have not been able to secure enough
food aid for the
country.
Christian Care said it reduced rations from the
standard 10kg a person
a month to 5kg last month and yet February "is the
hardest month in terms of
food insecurity levels".
Reduced
rations, said Christian Care, will help millions of hungry
people to survive
until the April harvest but "they will be more vulnerable
and more
susceptible to diseases. That food pipeline is drying up."
BY
CAIPHAS CHIMHETE AND NKULULEKO SIBANDA
Firms Threaten ZITF Boycott Over US$ fees
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
16:51
BULAWAYO - A dispute over exhibition fees is threatening to
derail
this year's edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF)
with
most businesses in the city threatening to boycott the event if the
foreign
currency dominated charges are not revised downwards.
The Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Bulawayo chapter
wrote to
the ZITF protesting against a schedule of tariffs released by the
company.
According to the schedule, exhibitors would be
expected to part with
between US$80 and US$130 per square
metre.
But the ZNCC said the tariffs were beyond the reach of
most companies
still battling to find their feet following the introduction
of multiple
currencies and the virtual collapse of the Zimbabwe
dollar.
In correspondence to the ZITF, ZNCC Bulawayo chamber
chairperson,
Sheila Sidambe said if the tariffs were not reviewed
significantly,
companies would find it difficult to participate at the trade
showcase.
"Most of our members who are regular participants at
this top event
annually have indicated they are unable to meet the cost of
space rentals,"
reads part of the letter.
"They sincerely
believe this year's charges are without doubt beyond
their
means."
She said they realised the ZITF was an international
event but the
organisers should recognise that most companies were
struggling for survival
as a result of the economic challenges.
"It is our submission that members have recognised that ZITF is an
international event which needs to be handled on those standards and
therefore should be matched with regional and international standards,"
Sidambe said.
"But our position is that our economy for the
past 10 years has been
performing below regional standards. Therefore any
charges to a local
company based on international or regional standards
would be excessive and
unaffordable to local companies."
ZITF general manager, Daniel Chigaru told journalists recently that
the
company would first observe the situation before making any decisions on
the
tariffs.
"We will be meeting soon with the minister (of
industry) to see what
we can do about this issue of tariffs," Chigaru said.
"This needs us all to
put heads together so that we can have a fruitful 50th
Anniversary of ZITF."
The 50th edition of the ZITF runs from
April 28 to May 2 and there is
optimism this year the event would be bigger
following renewed interest by
investors after the formation of the inclusive
government.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
ZSE Levies to Protect Investors
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
16:45
THE Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) will introduce two levies to
fund
the operations of the Securities Commission as well as protecting
investors
from stockbrokers' fraudulent activities as it moves to align its
activities
to international trends.
According to information
obtained on Friday the Securities Commission
Levy would fund the operations
of the Securities Commission, which was set
up last year.
The Commission regulates the activities of the ZSE.
The
Investors' Protection Levy will be an insurance against
stockbrokers'
fraudulent activities.
Information obtained last week showed
that the two levies would be
implemented this year and officials from both
the Securities Commission and
ZSE were already working on the
percentages.
Emmanuel Munyukwi, the ZSE chief executive
officer, confirmed the
introduction of the new levies.
Asked
whether the two levies would not affect trade on the ZSE,
Munyukwi said they
were necessary "as long as they charge reasonable
amounts".
The new levies come at a time ZSE stakeholders
were resisting the
introduction of the 1.5% Financial Sector Stabilization
Levy in which the
ZSE and stockbrokers were supposed to pay 1.5% of their
earnings to RBZ.
In addition, the stakeholders scrapped
provisions whereby sellers were
supposed to liquidate 3.5% of the proceeds
at the going interbank market
rate.
The new "taxes" will
join the 2% brokerage fee, 0.5% stamp duty and
15% Value Added
Tax.
Meanwhile, there are moves to transfer the licensing and
supervision
of asset managers from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to the
Securities
Commission.
The RBZ took over the registration
and supervision of asset managers
in 2004 accusing some players of engaging
in illegal activities.
Industry players told Standardbusiness
the transfer of asset firms'
licensing and supervision will be in line with
regional and international
trends.
But RBZ is adamant that
they are still in charge of the country's 17
asset
managers.
"It remains a rumour but what we can say is that the
Asset Management
Act explicitly spells out the Reserve Bank as the
legitimate licensing
authority of those entities," said Munyaradzi Kereke,
an advisor to RBZ
governor Gideon Gono.
The transfer in
licensing and supervision, if effected, will be good
news to the country's
asset firms who had a frosty relationship with
monetary
authorities.
Asset firms are also battling to raise the US$2.5
million as minimum
capital ahead of the March 1 deadline.
The
RBZ accuses some firms in the sector, especially those in group
structures
incorporating banking institutions, pension funds and or
insurance
companies, of being used as willing conduits to facilitate the
diversion of
money into illegal activities.
Justifying RBZ takeover of asset
managers' licensing, Gono, in his
2003 maiden monetary policy said many
firms represented an "accident
awaiting" that would threaten the financial
services sector.
BY NDAMU SANDU
What Future for Zim Monetary Policy?
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
16:38
ZIMBABWE is much in the news again with its newly minted unity
government.
It remains to be seen whether it will cohere and
drive a concerted
reconstruction process.
Within this, Zimbabwe's
future monetary policy is of enormous
importance owing to the country's
infamous inflation rate.
Three monetary reform scenarios are
being discussed: an ordinary or
crawling peg to a basket of currencies;
"Randization" (adopting the Rand);
and a currency board, ie a do-mestic
currency with the money base one
hundred percent backed by foreign
reserves.
The latter two would entail Zimbabwe surrendering
monetary po-licy
sovereignty - an issue attracting considerable
controversy.
The currency board or "dollarization" option is
closely associated
with US scholar Steve Hanke.
In
Zimbabwe's case he refers approvingly to the currency board
Southern
Rhodesia operated in the
1940s. However, the preconditions were very
dis-similar to Zimbabwe
today.
Regardless of Rho-desian
governments' other failings, their
administrative cap-acity, and therefore
the credibility of any new
institutions, was far more developed whilst trade
and capital markets were
far less integrated than today.
President Robert Mugabe not only destroyed the economy thereby
creating
hyperinflation, poverty and starvation, but he also eradicated a
workable
administration.
The latest manifestation is the cholera crisis,
now reportedly
affecting 80 000 people and spreading rapidly into
neighbouring countries.
Critically, all kinds of economic
institutions necessary for a country
to develop are now
lacking.
This does not imply that monetary reforms cannot take
place. It can,
however, make clear that a currency board or dollarization
may be difficult
to implement.
Both regimes necessit-ate
meeting a number of institutional
pre-condi-tions, particularly fiscal
stability, openness to trade and
capital flows, and market
flexibility.
Another basic condition is trust in markets and in
state agencies. If
the central bank is not to be trusted, why should the
ordinary Zimbabwean
citizen trust a currency board (unless it is located out
of the country)?
Furthermore, a currency board would require
the Zimbabwean government
to possess sufficient foreign exchange to finance
the monetary base.
In January 2008, the latest data available, the
Zimbabwean central
bank's foreign assets accounted for approximately 0.1
percent of the
monetary base.
Clearly reserves are too small to
finance the monetary base in a
currency board without recourse to massive
foreign capital injections from
the donor community.
But those
are only likely to be forthcoming once Mugabe and his
securocrats have
decisively left the scene - a prospect we find rather
bullish under current
political circumstances.
Over time a currency board system
requires the ability to earn the
necessary money growth on global
markets.
Zimbabwe does not have the production structure (even
before the
meltdown) to generate the exports required; the human resource
capacity to
sustain such a high rate of exchange (ie the US dollar) through
rapid
productivity growth; and the high rate of exchange would encourage
imports
(no bad thing if you have the foreign exchange which Zimbabwe won't)
whilst
discouraging exports. Hence Hanke's advice could penalize Zimbabwe's
recovery for a long time.
Finally, it is not obvious that
the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank should lose
its competencies, as the currency
board solution would require.
Those advocating this path argue that
the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank has
become so politicised (correct) that it is
beyond redemption (debatable).
However, the same argument applies to other
State Institutions used as Zanu
PF's piggy bank.
Overall, a
currency board may be the least attractive alternative.
What
about the second one, namely adopting the Rand, as recently
suggested by
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe? For each South
African citizen 1
000 Rands are circulating; adopting the same ratio in
Zimbabwe means 11
billion Rands would be needed.
Currently the total cash circulation
in South Africa is about 73
billion Rand - an increase of 11 billion Rand
would add at most 15% - a
substantial increase.
This
solution requires dismantling the central bank's money issuing
function.
Politically this may be easier than having a crippled central
bank.
Political pressure would be less than that upon a currency board as
money
issuance would require South African approval. Politically this would
be
very tricky.
On the other hand, Zimbabwe would gain the reputation
of the Rand
without requiring the backup of foreign
reserves.
However, South Africa's partners in the Common
Monetary Area (Namibia,
Lesotho, and Swaziland) may not support this
path.
Also, unless South Africa imposes stringent conditionalities
on the
reconstruction loans it undoubtedly will extend to Zimbabwe, the
latter's
temptation to deviate from the CMA's strictures using fiscal
policy, thereby
destabilising regional currency arrangements, will be huge -
especially in
the likely absence of major donor funding.
What
about the third alternative put forward by the new Minister of
Finance,
Tendai Biti, a simple (or crawling) peg to a basket of currencies
including
the rand?
This scenario, coupled with a Zimbabwe Reserve Bank and
Finance
Ministry with new leadership seems possible and politically most
feasible.
It requires less ambitious policy reforms in other policy
areas and
does not require huge foreign reserves to sustain it.
The question is whether Zimbabwean institutions would have the
confidence of
their people and foreign investors to sustain the peg.
As with the
other two scenarios it is unthinkable without a ban on
government borrowing
at the central bank.
This condition must be highlighted as it is
the sine qua non of any
sensible monetary reform.
If the
government can keep away from the money press, both the peg and
the
circulation of the Rand are sustainable.
Overall, it is not clear
to us which is more desirable. On political
grounds the peg is more
feasible, but if the economy is to be brought back
on track, inflation has
to be reduced quickly and Randization proffers that
possibility.
The really interesting question to ask, if
Zimbabwe did opt for the
randization route, is whether South Africa will
step up to the plate?
It has the institutions to do so: a mostly
independent central bank;
strong development finance institutions; and
Zimbabwe could join a reformed
Southern African Customs Union to gain access
to revenue - although we would
worry about the impact on Zimbabwe's trade
policy.
Unfortunately South Africa's track record on Zimbabwe
policy to date
is not encouraging, and with its rising budget deficit,
pressing social
problems, and escalating debate over the future of domestic
monetary policy
Zimbabwean policy makers should exercise
caution.
* Peter Draper and Andreas Freytag, respectively Trade
Project Head,
South African Institute of International Affairs, and
Professor of
Economics, Friederich-Schiller-University, Jena,
Germany.
BY PETER DRAPER & ANDREAS FREYTAG
Alex Magaisa: Revisiting 'dead'capital on Zimbabwe's Farms
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28
February 2009 16:29
TWO weeks ago, Interfresh Limited, a Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange (ZSE)
listed food and agricultural business issued a cautionary
statement to its
shareholders stating that on February 7th 2009, a group of
people in the
assured company of law enforcement agents claimed ownership of
plots on one
of its properties, called Yarrowdale Farm.
It
reported that the uninvited guests also claimed title to the crops
section
of Mazoe Citrus Estates, a successful large-scale commercial farming
enterprise. In the same week, the Commercial Farmers' Union reported that
scores of the remaining commercial farms had come under a new wave of
invasions.
All this at a time when the new Inclusive
Government is supposed to be
designing a way forward and mobilising
financial support across the globe!
You begin to see that this is a
country that is at war with itself; a
country torn apart by internal
contradictions.
This crazy behaviour is at the centre of the
country's unprecedented
economic decline in the last decade. Agriculture was
and can still be the
mainstay of our economy but through sheer lack of
planning we assaulted the
goose that laid the golden eggs.
Even
now when it lies helplessly comatose, we continue to pummel it,
instead of
exploring ways of resuscitation.
The sustained assault against
the property rights system has dented
Zimbabwe's image and reputation across
the world.
Six years ago, I alluded to this problem in an article
published in
The Zimbabwe Independent. It was entitled Turning Land into
'Live Capital'.
The central thesis then was that whilst the need
for land reform could
not be contested, the wanton destruction of the
property rights system had
nevertheless been unnecessary and
counterproductive.
It had caused, from an economic perspective, the
negative
transformation of land from 'live' capital into a form of 'dead'
capital.
The simple truth is that we have failed, in the last
decade of land
reform, to produce enough for the country and for the export
market.
However much we blame natural disasters, the fact remains
that vast
tracts of land remain fallow and unused.
One of the
major contributors to this decline is that the architecture
of successful
commercial agriculture has been disrupted.
The chief aspect of this
architecture is the property rights system.
It was the property
rights system that enabled the old commercial
farmers to participate and
compete in the formal credit markets, a facility
that is essential to any
commercial enterprise.
It is very easy to overlook the fact that
part of the success of the
old farmers rested on their ability to access and
use the credit market - to
secure loans, to lease sophisticated equipment
from specialist finance and
leasing businesses such as Scotfin, UDC,
etc.
All this was supported by the property rights system, which
enabled
them to trade their rights for financial support.
The
incentive for efficiency on the land was the desire to avoid the
risk of
losing one's property in the event of failure to meet the debt
obligations.
In addition, using the property rights system,
they participated in
the basic derivatives markets to hedge against losses
arising from natural
disasters such as drought and disease.
What has happened over the years however is that the country has
regressed
into the old and archaic system whereby the farmers have become
perennial
dependants of the state - relying in recent years on the reckless,
if
well-intentioned, activities of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
The trouble with these RBZ programmes is that they lacked the key
incentives
to facilitate agricultural efficiency.
Yanga iri mari isina munhu
(There was no accountability). No wonder
that those who got access to the
RBZ facilities simply regarded it as 'mari
yehurumende' (government money)
for which no one was accountable.
Unsurprisingly, these practices fuelled
complacency, corruption and lack of
accountability.
Things
could have been different if the RBZ had not usurped the role
of commercial
banks which, for years, had been the chief providers of credit
to commercial
farmers.
Yet you also understand that the RBZ waded into these
murky waters
only because the commercial banks where no longer in a position
to lend to
farmers simply because it did not make business sense to lend
without
obtaining security.
But that's because the farmers did
not have secure property rights
that could be used as collateral to obtain
credit facilities from the banks.
So, whilst the rest of the world
screams about the credit crunch, for
Zimbabweans, especially the farmers,
the credit crunch arrived many years
ago.
Yet in the case of
Zimbabwe's farmers it was mainly because of the
destruction of the property
rights system.
Going forward, it is important that the new
administration firmly
recognises that commercial farming is a business, not
just another hobby
that can be attended to occasionally.
For a
business to succeed, it needs to be steered by those who have a
stake in
it.
That stake must be secure and capable of bringing returns. Like
any
business, ownership of or, at the very least, secure rights to property
that
are tradable on the market form critical elements of the agricultural
enterprise.
In the last decade, long term investment in the
land has been severely
limited, partly because of insecurity over property
rights.
A farmer does not know whether he will still be on the land
the next
day and in such a case the farmer will resort to very short term
farming
practices.
For example, he will only grow
quick-yielding crops to earn quick
returns, he farms mainly for subsistence,
utilising only small fractions of
the land to avoid huge losses in case
someone comes to takeover by force.
There will be little, if any,
capital investment in key areas such as
reservoirs, irrigation equipment,
buildings, etc just in case it goes to
waste if a big man or woman decides
that he or she wants the land.
The new farmer who lives in fear of
losing the land is more likely to
build a shack than spend large sums
building a mansion that could be easily
taken over.
All
this is counterproductive as it leads to underutilisation of land.
The
peasant farmers do well for this is the only life they know.
The
real culprits are the urban-based farmers who want to do too many
things at
once.
They want to be fuel barons, cash barons, retailers and
farmers whilst
at the same time holding an office job.
The
result is that even some of the credit facilities are often
diverted to
other high-yielding projects than farming which requires time
and large
amounts of patience.
The trouble is that not only have we locked up
assets in this dead
zone but the government-brokered credit facilities have
become vast
platforms for corruption.
This perpetuates an
unhealthy dependency syndrome and Zimbabwe has
easily descended into a
nation of permanent freeloaders.
In conclusion, the new wave of
farm invasions perpetuates the
destruction of the property rights system.
The effects have reverberated
across the whole economy.
No
reasonable investor will invest large sums in an environment where
property
rights are insecure. As it is, Zimbabwe must rely on international
handouts
- this may be an unavoidable necessity at this stage but we should
not fix a
permanent begging bowl on our front gate.
We must believe that we
have our own resources which we can use to
create our own capital. We have
to believe that we can revive the 'dead
capital' that we have created on the
farms.
The property rights system is a necessary part of that
revival, as is
the rule of law, more generally.
*Alex
Magaisa < wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
Sunday View: Youth Must Play Active in Shaping Zim Democracy
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday,
28 February 2009 16:14
I have been in the civic society for the past 10
years, and can write
a thesis on events that I saw unfolding within the
struggle for democracy in
Zimbabwe.
As a young person I saw
potential for this nation and never imagined
that at some point within the
same struggle I would witness death, torture,
hunger and abuse of basic
human rights as the political game began to heat
up.
However
during this long walk one could easily see the ship swinging
and almost
sinking, but the people on that boat fought hard to safeguard the
democracy
ship.
Many people have different stories to tell about the
democratization
agenda for Zimbabwe. This process has different heroes and
heroines across
the political divide, and as such no one wants their best to
be called
lesser patriots to the struggle.
The organised
politically motivated violence that engulfed Zimbabwe
for the past decade
resulted in many people opting out of the political
processes.
Nevertheless, in that struggle the young people remained resolute
regardless
of the national youth service carrot dangling in front of them.
The
pro-democratic movements had over the years built a vision for
Zimbabwe that
resonated with many young people.
A lot of political mistakes
occurred resulting in internal conflicts
within the opposition resulting in
the October 12, 2005 split. A
people-driven and centred formation won the
national support and managed to
continue fighting the "free Zimbabwe" battle
to a bitter end.
In that battle Morgan Tsvangirai needed the
legitimacy of the people
to continue captaining the ship.
The
basis of my analysis is the Youth Assembly and its failure to have
anyone in
the inclusive government.
As much as I would understand their anger
and maybe disappointment,
one should take a minute and think the difficult
position that Tsvangirai
found himself in, as he tried not only to form a
cabinet for the first time
in his life but also to accommodate everyone, so
that the "cabinet reflects
the set up of MDC".
Tsvangirai
looked at strategic positioning and merit of those MPs
rather than covert
lobbying and sympathy seeking.
Life is not based on popular
politics, but most importantly on
personal achievements shared by
everyone.
This is the new dispensation we want to see Zimbabwe
moving towards.
Very few if any of the Youth Assembly members took a
deliberate route to
capacity building simply because they were comfortable
with being in
"structures".
Zanu PF taught us that there are no
permanent friends in politics; one
has to assure themselves of
survival.
Understood as it maybe, but all visionary leaders start
with an
objective in mind and the failure to realise that by my friends in
the
Assembly resulted in them being mere spectators.
While many
young people might stand in solidarity with my fellow
comrades, we should be
clear, and be frank with ourselves and start to think
of other future
processes and opportunities lying ahead in the quest of
Zimbabwe becoming a
full and true democracy.
The new look politics in Zimbabwe
should begin to look at developing
cadres that have a clear vision of a
dynamic nation.
This is my realisation not only of the Youth
Assembly, but the youth
constituency as a whole.
For as long as
we fail to challenge those already in leadership
positions by widening our
capacity base so that we are not wide but
shallow, we will continue to be
crybabies in this dispensation.
The events of February 9, 2009 when
Tsvangirai announced his cabinet
nominees should open a new chapter which
sees young people taking the centre
stage in developing themselves and
transcend that knowledge to influence the
politics of the day especially
those who will rise from local government
leadership right up to the
cabinet.
The transitional phase that Zimbabwe finds itself in
will not stop
moving especially taking lessons learnt that a Zanu PF driven
type of
leadership has an abnormal definition of youth. As it becomes a
nation in
transition, we should also, as young people, be able to manage our
constituency's own dynamics and transition.
This process
should in fact be a learning curve for progressive young
people who want to
see Zimbabwe being led by people whose merit to lead
qualifies them to do
so.
* Sydney Chisi is Director, Youth Initiative for Democracy
In Zimbabwe
(YIDEZ).
Comment: Central bank should not probe itself
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February
2009 16:11
IT is imperative that a proper audit of all the agricultural
inputs
availed to "newly resettled farmers" is conducted. However, the
Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) should have no part in the
investigation.
There are several reasons for this. There is concern
over the central
bank's role over the past five years, especially its
involvement in
quasi-fiscal activities, which have drawn reproaches from
international
financial institutions, whose support is vital for the
country's recovery
process.
The Sadc communiqué of January 27,
2009 says among other things that
change of leadership at the RBZ is a
matter that should be dealt with and
resolved immediately by the
all-inclusive government soon after its
formation. Nothing, therefore,
should happen until the imminent changes have
taken place.
In
addition, the Farm Mechanisation programme is an initiative of the
Reserve
Bank.
It would be improper for the central bank to undertake an
audit of its
own activities.
Good transparent corporate
governance suggests that such an audit be
undertaken by independent external
investigators.
The government has conducted four audits on its farm
allocations and
utilization yet to this day the findings have not been
released. This is one
reason why the RBZ audit needs
outsiders.
Sadc, the regional grouping, would not have sent in
an investigating
team to establish what happened to the R300 million
agricultural support it
gave Zimbabwe if the RBZ is better positioned to
undertake the task.
It is our view that a parliamentary portfolio
committee or the
Anti-Corruption Commission would be better candidates for
the task, which
would focus on who got what, when, for how
long.
Also requiring investigation are those who received tractors,
fertilizer and seed beneficiaries, the hectarages they farmed and
consequently the crop harvests delivered to the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB).
Given the controversy that has surrounded the handling of
the farm
inputs by the RBZ, to allow it to conduct an audit of itself would
seem to
suggest a licence in covering up its own excesses.
We
strongly believe it would be in the interests of the central bank
for
outsiders to carry out the investigation and that the RBZ would only be
too
happy to allow such an exercise.
The GMB is one of main areas that
should be investigated in order to
verify claims of deliveries by the "newly
resettled farmers" because the
potential for manipulation and falsification
of records, leading to a
mega-whitewash is enormous.
One simple
but useful approach in conducting the audit is to encourage
people to phone
in, text messages and email information to a central point,
indicating which
farmer received what inputs, what happened and when.
Although farm
workers are likely to be threatened by the new owners,
neighbours should be
able to confirm whether or not there was abuse or even
corruption in the
distribution of the farm machinery and other inputs.
The challenge
will be finding people who have not themselves become
multiple beneficiaries
of the farm mechanisation and agricultural input
schemes.
The
danger that must be avoided is having a few sacrificial lambs
while
heavyweight multiple owners are protected. That would be yet another
great
betrayal.
An audit of the agricultural equipment is overdue, but
the RBZ should
not be the one investigating itself. An external audit can
only strengthen
the RBZ's commitment to transparency and vindicate its role
in the
disbursement of equipment under the programme.
Revived Zapu Provides Clean Break
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Saturday, 28 February 2009
11:24
THE resurgence of the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Union
(ZAPU) is
a credible idea that could explicitly execute the dual agenda of
recognition
and justice for all those Zimbabweans who have been
misrecognised since
President Mugabe took office in 1980.
While
many have offered the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) the
same blind
loyalty that moulded Robert Mugabe 29 years ago, I have chosen to
divert
from this popular view by posing some critical questions, which by
Zimbabwean standards could be viewed as taboo.
I am
particularly concerned with the MDC's failure to develop clear
policies of
attaining recognition and justice for traumatised Zimbabweans
who have
experienced gross human rights abuses ranging from what I would
term
socio-economic genocides to mass murders.
Having analysed the MDC
as a potential successor to Zanu PF I find
its policies a duplication of
the later.
There seem to be no message of change, instead it has
become an issue
of replacing man by man. The hypothetical question I have
used in analysing
the MDC as our potential future rulers was - how does the
MDC seek to attain
justice for the mis-recognised Zimbabweans who are living
in poverty, who
still bear scars of torture, who were murdered, massacres
and prevailing
hate.
My conclusion was that there was a need
for the MDC to have adopted
the concept of recognition and justice.
Unfortunately, its too late.
Tsvangirai's appointment of Tendai
Biti as a finance minister has
revealed his weaknesses, which have long been
highlighted by those close to
him.
With a tattered economy such
as that of Zimbabwe, how is a man trained
as a lawyer be expected to turn
around the economy?
If Tsvangirai was really concerned with
Zimbabwe's collapsed economy,
he should have appointed Prof Mthuli Ncube
who is a professor of Finance at
Wits Business School, University of
Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa.
He has extensive
experience as an investment Banker. Prof Ncube has
been Assistant professor
of Finance at the London School of Economics , UK.
He has written
over 20 research papers in the area of finance and
economics some of which
have won awards.
Some of his pieces have been published in
international journals such
as Journal of econometrics. He is a visiting
professor in the research
department of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). He has also published a
book on "Lesson from Zimbabwe".
What does Biti know about finance and economics? Well, the cabinet
posts
smacks of political rewards than ability to save Zimbabwe from
collapse.
Zimbabwe's state of economy is in shambles. Perennial
wisdom dictates
that it would take an expert to resuscitate the troubled
economy, which so
far has been rated by the IMF as the world's fastest
shrieking economy.
This weakness of the MDC and its apparent
desperation to join Mugabe's
unity government in which he reserves powers to
expel Tsvangirai, provokes
debate about whether the MDC really can
contribute to change, progress,
healing and reconciliation in a country
struggling with a history of human
rights abuses.
In a
transitional society, recognition is a concept focussed on
attaining justice
and is resonant with debates on the provision of justice
in troubled nations
such Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur etc.
Until a
new political age such as the one we see in revived Zapu
emerges, struggles
for justice in Zimbabwe will not achieve any results at
all.
How can a brutalised nation such as Zimbabwe be expected to move on
and
forget the past when justice has not been done?
How can a society
be expected to forget the horrors of their plight
under the hands of their
tormentors? Justice offers a glimmer of hope and
progress.
Justice is the most fundamental element of peace and in its most
general
sense as it implies order and morality. Justice implies basic rules
governing right and wrong behaviour.
Justice and reconciliation
share a dynamic interdependent
relationship, mutually informing and
benefiting each other.
The brutal impact of 29 years of Mugabe's
systematic plunder, social
and economic degradation, and more specifically
the direct impact of a
plethora of gross violations of human rights requires
someone more mature
and more honest than Tsvangirai.
It will be
argued here that in terms of its policy of inclusiveness
and experience,
Zapu is strategically equipped to highlight the
long-prevailing
injustices.
There are present and historic indicators that Zapu
will be able to
address the legacy of President Mugabe's injustices not only
against people
of Matabeleland but everyone who has been excluded from the
socio-economic
politics that has dominated Zimbabwe in the last 29
years.
Analytical indicators I have employed here show that Zapu
will be able
to promote reconciliation, outline necessary reforms, allow
victims to air
their pain, provide acknowledgement of a long-suppressed
past, and keep
abuses from being repeated.
Because Mugabe can
no longer afford to unleash another 5 Brigade to
suppress dissenting voices
in Matabeleland, there is absolute no reason why
Zapu should remain in the
womb of Zanu PF.
Any such move by Mr Mugabe, could have serious
international
consequences this time around.
Moreso, Zapu can
authentically lobby for victims to gain justice
contrary to a popular view
that Tsvangirai's MDC is the right institution
for the job.
To
be polite, the MDC has surrendered the struggle. As a result, MDC
supporters
in the UK feel the pilot of the airbus has committed suicide
before
landing.
With Zapu, 20 000 people had to be murdered and over 1 000
senior Zapu
cadres and officials imprisoned. Dumiso Dabengwa the interim
Zapu chairman
was only released from Mugabe's prisons on condition that he
accepted the
Unity Accord.
These people who became early
victims of state crime in Zimbabwe
suffered long-term harms that resulted
from being culturally devalued or
mis-recognised.
Such harms
can inflict a grievous wound, saddling its victims with a
crippling
self-hatred. In fact, the ZIPRA commander Lockout Masuku, died in
Mugabe's
prison as a result of torture.
Moreso, we all agree that Zapu did
not join Zanu PF, instead it was
brutalised into joining, hence Zapu became
an unwilling partner.
On one hand, the MDC, had to plead with
Mugabe to accept negotiations
leading up to a unity government that we are
about to witness. Sharing is
for losers.
What puzzles me is why
is it that Tsvangirai was sworn-in by Mugabe.
If this was a real
honest power-sharing deal, Tsvangirai was supposed
to have been sworn-in by
the Chief-Justice, yet it was Mugabe who
"recruited"
Tsvangirai.
The whole process is flawed. It smacks of Tsvangirai's
betrayal of the
people's struggle against Mugabe's injustices, hence today
Today Tsvangirai
is quoted in the Press ordering the West to "get over"
Mugabe.
How willTsvangirai face people of Matabeleland who voted
for him in
large numbers when he is now defending a leader who sent the 5
Brigade
leading to the massacres of over 20 000 people.
The
travesty is that Tsvangirai has always spoken of the people's
mandate he
has, did he have the people's mandate to join Zanu PF? What a
broken
promise!
Zapu promises a genuine new era. Yet, despite such a
potential, the
ability of Zapu seems to be hindered by insignificant
operational, social
and political factors such as fear of being mis-labelled
by agents of
certain political actors.
To start with, Zapu
itself, cannot afford to be a tribal political
party for one simple reason
that it was founded on the principles of
inclusion and
egalitarianism.
This shows how important any foundation is. It is
imperative to
correct the prevailing misconception that Zapu is a Ndebele
political party.
Joshua Nkomo, the Zapu legend was not Ndebele, he was
Kalanga. Nkomo
explicitly and implicitly refused to be identified as a
Ndebele leader.
And, ZAPU's famous number two, was Josiah Chinamano
- who was shona.
Therefore, this raises questions on the agenda of
those who continue
labelling Zapu as a tribal party.
The only
thing about Zapu is that it offers opportunities to all
tribes, an issue
which angers selfish people. Other high ranking Zapu
officials were Ariston
Chambati, Willie Musarurwa and Muchinguri (Oppa
Muchinguri's
father).
And one of the most influential Zapu officials was
Garfield Todd, a
whiteman who is of European extract. Earlier Todd was Prime
Minister of the
federation of Rhodesian and Nyasaland. Nkomo considered
himself a national
leader.
His nickname was never in Kalanga
nor in Ndebele, instead it was in
Shona - chimbwechitedza (Slippery
man).
For my readers to clearly understand my argument on
mis-recognition, I
will define justice from questions of economic and
resource inequalities to
questions about acknowledgement of difference, that
is, those involved in
social struggles such as equal distribution of wealth,
feminist and gay
liberation movements.
While the MDC has in the
last 10 years under Mr Tsvangirai, has
attempted to preach the gospel of
justice, it has not listed or put down a
programme on how it will achieve
its election promises. Zapu is clear in
its objectives.
Zapu,
with its non-tribal and inclusive policy is critical of the
insistence to
only deal with harms through unplanned or false promises.
The MDC's
policy of addressing harms inflicted by Mugabe's government
on the
marginalised Zimbabweans is flawed because it tends to simplify the
victims'
experience and puts moral pressure on individuals to conform to a
category
or group identity.
For example, on his campaign trail in Gwanda,
Matabeleland South
sometime in 2000, Tsvangirai promised villagers that he
would not go into
government without bringing perpetrators of the
Matabeleland massacres to
justice.
That was the last time
Tsvangirai ever mentioned this burning issue.
Some have speculated
that it is not in Mr Tsvangirai's interest to see
perpetrators of the
Matabeleland massacres brought to justice because he,
himself was a ZANU-PF
youth leader singing Mugabe's praise songs when the
ZANU-PF killing machine
was unleashed to Matabeleland.
Hence prosecuting those who
committed massacres in Matabeleland can be
suicidal for him.
It
can be argued that if Tsvangirai was a leader of the Zanu PF youth
wing
which has now transformed to green bombers, what will make him
different
from Mugabe.
This makes Zapu unique. Zapu's focus on attaining
justice for all
Zimbabwean citizens regardless of colour, tribe, and ethnic
origins is
resonant with debates on the provision of justice in transitional
states.
Zapu understands that equal representation is a central
issue in
thinking about justice.
Such a policy offers a better
understanding in addressing state crimes
perpetrated by previous
regimes.
This policy is ideal in any new perceived democracy. A new
leadership
must seek to counter forms of identity and socio-economic
injustice
simultaneously because to decouple representation from
redistribution will
ultimately lead to further injustice.
Because allowing misrepresentation does not annihilate President
Mugabe's
legacy.
This we saw during the transformation of the Zimbabwe Trade
Union
(ZCTU) to a political party now called MDC.
The President
of the ZCTU Gibson Sibanda was asked to step down
because he belonged to an
"inferior" tribe while Tsvangirai who was
secretary-general of the ZCTU was
promoted to President of MDC.
A party formed under such a cloud of
suspicions is not equipped enough
to handle a transitional country such as
Zimbabwe.
Because such a party has chosen to perpetuate some
notions that have
led to mis-recognition of other tribes.
Tribal politics does not always succeed, instead it is always
characterised
by discontent and mayhem.
This is so because by viewing others not
to be full-blooded to lead a
Zimbabwean political party despite being
capable reveals some
institutionalised patterns of cultural value that have
relegated other
actors as inferior, excluded or simply
invisible.
Moreso, we all know that the current MDC chairman also
elected Speaker
of Parliament, Lovemore Moyo had to fight for his dear life
to remain
chairman as many plotted for his downfall.
The only
reason was that he was not full-fledged to hold such a
powerful post on the
bases of being Ndebele.
However, the MDC was quick to realise that
any plot against Moyo would
damage the party's power-base support in
Matabeleland.
People who have gone through Gibson Sibanda's
experience suffer a
distorted public identity as they are also prevented
from participating at
par with others such as Tsvangirai.
Subsequently, we can conclude that the MDC has been founded on the
same
principles as ZANU-PF. For we all know that all Shona freedom fighters
who
were in Zapu camps in Zambia came back alive, while many, if not all
Ndebeles who tried to join Zanu freedom fighters in Mozambique were
slaughtered.
This is a story that has not been told to this
day.
I wish to argue that the idea of the formation of the MDC was
a good
one, however, because others have been misrecognised, that beautiful
idea is
now flawed and problematic.
As long as some MDC actors
now feel excluded, misidentified or ignored
completely, the MDC has
prevented them from participating as a peer in
socio-political life. It is
at this point that Zapu, with its inclusive
policy becomes a
remedy.
With such policies, the MDC idea is inadequate. It is
problematic
because it offers the same designs that have seen the
international
community imposing sanctions against this southern African
nation.
Many new democracies are confronted with the need to unite
deeply
divided societies. How will the MDC execute such a huge task when it
ideological resembles Zanu PF.
How do people come to terms with
a legacy of past injustices,
atrocities, abuses and criminal acts? How can
the wounds caused by division,
socio-economic injustices and conflict be
healed?
How can society recover from collective
trauma?
These perennial questions represent a dilemma for many new
governments. On the same note, while the governments are still young and
often weak, they must find a ways to root out causes of the initial tension
so that former enemies live together in harmony.
Reconciliation
can not be achieved without justice, and reconciliation
is a product of
justice and redress.
*Admore Tshuma is a research fellow on
Transitional justice and can be
contacted on atshuma@hotmail.com In his PhD research,
Tshuma is specialising
on troubled nations, poverty and social justice. He
has also been a
Chronicle chief reporter.
BY ADMORE
TSHUMA
Zim Standard Letters
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com
Bloated Government, a Betrayal of the Masses
Saturday, 28 February 2009
14:24
THE recently sworn in 61 Ministers and Deputy Ministers
demonstrate
the insatiable appetite of our leaders to reward friends and
cronies through
ministerial accommodation.
It shows total
disregard for the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans by the
powers that
be.
One commentator, remarking on this bloated government said: "If
it was
only Zanu PF, we would understand but not the MDC
formations."
This sounds like a fair comment and I am sure most
level-headed
Zimbabweans would share the same view. However, is this an
accurate
assessment?
The leader of one of the MDC
formations, Professor Arthur Mutambara,
who is now one of the two Deputy
Prime Ministers once commented at a rally
and said: "Zimbabweans are all cut
from the same cloth; we all share the
same Zanu PF culture"- Is this not
true?
If not, how then do we explain the recent developments, which
have
left the nation saddled with a monumental government created,
ostensibly by
President Robert Mugabe, but with the tacit approval of those
the nation
looks up to for salvation? If this is not downright duplicity on
the part of
the MDC leaders one wonders what is.
Does this
suggest that all along we have been fighting to be like
Mugabe and not to be
different? What justification is there for increasing
the total number of
ministerial posts from the initially agreed 56, to 61
and invariably, in
total disregard to provisions of the agreement?
What assurance
does this nation have that those that are representing
the country in the
inclusive government will not further alter the
provisions of the agreement
to suit their own parochial interests, in the
same flagrant manner they have
done to accommodate friends and relatives
through ministerial
allocations?
Nelson Chamisa, the spokesperson of one of the
MDC-T formations missed
the point when he justified the bloated government.
He argued that they had
no option but to accept the appointments of such a
huge cabinet because this
was not an MDC government.
If we go
by his logic, things should continue to be done the Zanu PF
way until an MDC
government is ushered in.
Surely, with leaders who are prepared to
exhibit such lopsided logic,
who needs to be told that Zanu PF is still in
total control?
Perhaps, Chamisa and others who share the same
logic need to be
reminded that the reason why Zimbabweans allowed them to
get into an
all-inclusive government is to enable the two MDC formations to
stop Zanu PF
from running the country the way they have been doing, which
has brought
this nation to its knees.
I am certain that most
Zimbabweans would have rejected participation
in the inclusive government if
they were not certain, that change was
possible under the
arrangement.
This brings me to another important point; Could
this bloated
government have been avoided? - certainly yes! Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai and Professor Mutambara should have stood their ground and
refused to budge.
However, because of the "shared Zanu PF
culture" that seems to
dominate our lives as Zimbabweans, the two leaders
also saw an opportunity
to appease friends and colleagues through
ministerial allocations. This is a
sad development.
From a
commonsensical view point, I am inclined to sympathise with
Mugabe, because
his justification for pacifying friends and colleagues is
now a known
historical phenomenon that has for a long time defined life
under his
rule.
Mugabe, unlike Tsvangirai and Mutambara, has shared with
friends and
cronies, ill-gotten wealth which they collectively, must defend
to the
death.
They share the legacy of a historical war of
liberation that
"entitles" them to certain privileges and rights, which
they would lose if
they did not defend the liberation identity.
The question that remains unanswered is: what reasons did Tsvangirai
and
Mutambara have for agreeing to be part of such a gigantic
government?
One can only hope that whatever reasons motivated
their decision to
accept an increased cabinet, it had nothing to do with a
rumour doing the
rounds that one female MP threatened to commit suicide
unless she was
guaranteed a ministerial position?
I am told the
woman finally landed a post. Sadly, such characters
would have captured the
sympathy of the powers that be and motivated them to
accept this huge
government.
I must remind the MDC leaders that Zimbabweans are
dying everyday
because of hunger, starvation, heartaches and
hopelessness.
They look forward to the MDC leaders to start doing
things
differently, to bring about socio-economic and political changes and
stop
the Zanu PF madness.
Andile Nyoni
Harare.
--------------
Need for Immediate Truth and
Reconciliation Commission
Saturday, 28 February 2009 14:24
AN
inclusive government which some choose to refer as a Government of
National
Unity (GNU) has been formed. Its consummation, we were told, became
complete
with the swearing in firstly, of the Prime Minister and his
deputies and
later, the ministers and their deputies in government.
A lot was
said, and rightly so, with respect to the sheer insensivity
of the size of
the government given the utter state of penury that this
nation finds itself
in at present.
The purpose of this contribution is not to repeat
what has already
been said but to refocus attention on a matter that has the
potential at
some time in future to come back and haunt us all with dire
consequences.
Following the inconclusive March 2008
Presidential elections, an
election run-off was, in terms of Zimbabwe's
electoral law, mandatory.
The period from the announcement of the
results in respect of
municipal, parliamentary and senatorial elections to
the holding, in June
2008, of the Presidential run-off, and even thereafter,
was one of the
bloodiest in this country's history.
More than
200 people perished in the needless violence that flared up
shortly after
the announcement of the results.
Scores of women and girls were
raped, hundreds of homes were gutted by
fire, property running into zillions
of dollars was destroyed, thousands
were displaced, hundreds were abducted
from their homes, and many more were
viciously assaulted, all in the vain
attempt to protect and prolong Zanu PF's
hold on power.
The
victims of this needless and wanton savagery will bear the scars
of this
episode for the rest of their lives.
Children, who were forced
to watch as their parents and relatives were
being humiliated and beaten,
still carry the trauma of the experience.
But the scale of the
brutality witnessed after the elections in March
2008 pales into
insignificance compared to the barbarity of the 1980s
witnessed in the
Midlands and Matabeleland Provinces.
Then, more than 20 000 people
were butchered in cold blood, many in
ways so gruesome that one is left
gasping and grasping for appropriate words
to aptly describe the
heartlessness of it all.
The scars inflicted then, by the same
said Zanu PF, are still visible
today. Men were thrown into disused
mineshafts alive, pregnant women had
their tummies ripped open with bayonets
on allegations that they were
carrying dissidents, people were herded into
huts that were then set alight
with the doors fastened from outside to make
escape impossible.
If by some miracle one managed to escape from
the raging inferno, one
was met by a hail of bullets from those supervising
the massacres, and those
executed by gunfire were left by the roadside with
orders that they not be
buried.
It was awful. It was against
the order of nature.
The thing with violence is that it is not
only the victim who suffers.
Whilst the victim bears the visible
scars, and some develop phobias,
the perpetrator has to battle his
conscience many years after the violence.
It is a battle that very
few individuals are able to win. Many
perpetrators of violence have been
known to turn alcoholic.
Others develop mental, physiological and
social disorders. To some,
sleep becomes impossible.
Shunned by the society they brutalized, others turn to drugs. After
the
violence they realise that they have to return and live with and among
those
they savaged.
They are always afraid of possible reprisals from
their victims. They
are always nervously looking back over their shoulders.
The pressures on
them are enormous.
I raise these issues
not to whip up negative sentiments at this time
in our history. I raise them
so that the new GNU does not lose sight of
them.
This is part
of our history after all. Now, more than at any time in
the past, is the
time to focus on these matters and deal with them.
We have a
government that wants to be seen to be people-oriented,
although it started
badly by being so bloated.
That government must not only start
afresh, but must be seen to be
starting afresh. And one of the ways to be
seen to be starting afresh is to
deal with the issues arising from the two
episodes described above.
I opine, like others before, that a
Truth and Reconciliation
Commission along the lines of the one that was set
up in South Africa
following the demise of apartheid will go a long way in
atoning for some of
the wrongs committed against a substantial portion of
the populace.
The Commission will have the dual role of cleansing
the hearts and
souls of the victims and the families of the victims, and act
as some sort
of therapy for some of the perpetrators who want to atone for
their deeds
but have to date not been afforded a platform or opportunity to
do so.
We cannot move forward as a country if we continue to
carry baggage
from the past.
As long as our hearts and minds
continue to be pre-occupied with the
need for justice for past wrongs, as
long as those who committed atrocities
continue to fear reprisals, as long
as we fail to deal with and confront our
dark past, we shall not be able to
make any progress.
We need to break from the past. We need a break
from it.
Whilst Zanu PF, in the interest of self-preservation,
could not
initiate the Commission when it held the reigns of power, it is
now possible
for the new order to start turning the wheel.
Zanu
PF is no longer the majority party in the lower house where
issues are
initiated. It is no longer the fearsome and all-powerful machine
that it
once was.
If by some misfortune it thinks it still is, let us make
it clear to
it that the time it did things with impunity is over, never to
come back.
Job Sibanda
Bulawayo.
-------------
RBZ out of Tune with the
Law
Saturday, 28 February 2009 14:13
ABOUT half of the Reserve
Bank's exchange control directive reference
RK:39 has no legal effect,
because yet again the Reserve Bank has exceeded
its authority.
Section 35 (1) of the exchange control regulations enables directives
only
to authorized dealers and foreign exchange bureaux, not to the general
public, gold producers, tobacco merchants or cotton merchants. In addition,
the scope of directives in terms of section 35 (1) is
limited.
The extra-legal parts of the exchange control
directive will only
become law if published in a statutory
instrument.
N Woolpsmurch
Highlands,
Harare.
-----------
Questionable Priorities
Saturday, 28 February 2009 14:11
US$250 000 to celebrate President
Robert Mugabe's 85th birthday at a
time when the country is reeling from a
cholera epidemic that has needlessly
killed more than 4 000 people, no drugs
in hospitals and millions facing
starvation! On top of that, we need help
from others to revive the economy.
This speaks volumes about our
priorities.
Disturbed
Harare.
-------------
The Standard SMS
Saturday, 28
February 2009 14:34
Forces of evil
THERE are forces of
resistance fiercely working to wreck the
government of national
unity.
For the first time we can begin to understand why countries
such as
Britain have decided on evacuating their elderly
nationals.
I was angry at the British move, but I am the wiser
after events of
recent weeks, when there was a sudden spate of new farm
invasions, beginning
with Interfresh farm in Mazowe, in Mashonaland
Central.
But ever since the swearing in of the Prime Minister, his
deputies and
the other ministers, the state media has been at pains how to
report the new
order.
But over the past few days they have gone
over the top, focusing on
President Robert Mugabe's birthday, which shows
clips of celebrations during
last year's event and not this
year's.
They are in a quandary over how to begin news reports
without the
first item being on Mugabe. So we have the ridiculous situation
where Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai goes to South Africa to meet
President Kgalema
Motlanthe and every attempt is made by the public media to
underplay the
significance of such a meeting and its implications on
Zimbabwe's currency
crisis.
Zimbabweans with satellite
television are able to watch and listen to
what is happening in the country
while the national broadcasters imposes a
black out on covering the Prime
Minister and government ministers from his
party or those from the smaller
formation of the MDC.
We should be very afraid that there are such
forces in our midst who
are prepared to wreck the unity government. -Ides of
March, Harare.
******
LOCAL mobile phone service providers
are overcharging. One hundred
rand buys 30 (50 off peak) minutes of airtime.
In South Africa, it buys 100
minutes airtime plus 116 sms (free handset
included on a monthly contract!)
Back home this would cost R549. The only
local competition is who charges
the most.- S G, Kadoma.
Salute
or quit
IF Constantine Chiwenga and company do not want to salute Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, we patriotic Zimbabweans will not shed a tear
over that.
The people who voted for him will always salute him
for the courage
and determination to guide Zimbabwe towards democracy and
good governance.
The failure of the security chiefs to respect the
people's will shows
lack of pragmatism on their part.
It also
demonstrates that their master's degrees have done nothing to
their
wisdom.
The only honourable thing for them is to resign for they
have outlived
their usefulness. The people's army they head is not their
personal
property.
So they represent no one's interests. The
soldiers are happy to get
meaningful salaries. To Tsvangirai, my advice is:
continue to serve the
people well and you will win their hearts ultimately
for the people hunger
for the good life that you have started to
deliver.
We are behind our good leader. The guys in Zanu PF belong
to the past.
Ignore them. - Morgan Ndizvo, Harare.
******
THE government of national unity is a paradox. Either that or
the
police are being vindictive in their actions against Roy
Bennett.
Yet under the terms of the 1987 Unity Accord, detainees
were freed
while more than 100 armed men were granted amnesty. Which one
could be a
better deal? The September 15 accord is a catalogue of deceit,
arrests and
disappearances. - H D, Zvishavane.
Webbing
lost
THE spider's habit had been to invite flies into its parlour, but
no
fly ever emerged from the parlour once it went in. Over the years, it
forgot
to spin fresh webbing.
The flies are no longer being
caught. They fly in and out freely. The
spider is no longer agile enough.
This time the game plan has backfired. -
Clerka, Mbare.
******
COULD someone tell me where Bright Matonga is, especially given
his
theatrics before the all-inclusive government? - Curious,
Harare.
Kuwadzana power woes
A section of Kuwadzana 5 has
had no electricity since September 2008
despite promises from the
parastatal's officials, Mutandwa and King Dube.
In December
residents were asked to pay US$30 a household. Only a few
could afford this.
Surprisingly surrounding areas that had a similar
transformer problem had
their power restored within two months.
Some residents have
resorted to paying Zesa staff in order to be
illegally connected to the
nearest transformer to them. - Powerless
consumer, Kuwadzana,
Harare.
******
THE local currency is now redundant thanks
to massive printing by the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Is the governor's job
now that of managing other
countries' currencies? - Tanatswa,
Harare.
******
It is always a wonder how businesses continue
to operate under Gideon
Gono's watch. In my book, he is the worst governor
of the central bank ever
because he failed on every function assigned to him
under the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe Act.
Now he wants to audit
his own mess. Can somebody stop this
tragicomedy? -Chad,
Harare.
Skewed priorities
WE spend billions of dollars
which would feed millions of people in
Zimbabwe on an individual person's
birthday party. Where are our priorities?
God help us. - Disgusted.
******
WE sympathise with civil servants for their plight,
especially on
salaries.
But at the same time we disagree with
their demand for US$2 500, which
is about R25 000. Are other teachers in the
region getting that much?
We urge them to do their homework first
and then demand realistic
amounts or else people will ignore them and leave
them on their own.
We should not put ourselves in a position where
we might have to
recall all the retired teachers and those who are willing
to serve Zimbabwe
during its hour of need.
The teachers cannot
receive pay and refuse to work. - Parent.
******
I wondered
why Patrick Chinamasa was insisting on paying civil
servants using
vouchers.
The main issue was: which shops were going to accept
these vouchers
and who owns them?
Aren't they Zanu PF bigwigs
dipping their fingers into the government's
little foreign currency
reserves? - H D, Zvishavane.
******
Kudos to
the new Minister of Energy and Power Development, Engineer
Elias Mudzuri,
who ordered the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority to stop
disconnecting
consumers who have not paid their bills.
In my view he should
demand two things: that Zesa delivers; and
secondly that heads roll at the
parastatal. Most staff members are good
people who mean well but they are
really frustrated by a leadership that
believes they should deprive
operations of all resources to carry out their
work.
Zesa or
all the other parastatals should not have such leadership.
Maybe
the new minister can find it in himself to enlist the services
of Engineer
Simbarashe Mangwengwende, the former Zesa CEO, whose departure
coincides
with the collapse in the power utility's service delivery. - Still
in
darkness, Mount Pleasant Heights, Harare.