Third MP arrested for abusing development fund

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
02 March 2012

The MDC-T MP for Pumula was on Thursday arrested by Anti-Corruption
Commission officials, on allegations of abusing the Community Development
Fund (CDF). Albert Mhlanga was detained at the Donning Police Station in
Bulawayo and becomes the third MP accused of plundering the parliamentary
fund.

Mhlanga is accused of failing to account for US$7,000 from the US$50,000
initially given to him. He has also failed to explain three other dubious
transactions. In one instance he transferred US$32,000 to Bulawayo Plumbers,
a company which he owns and which he claims supplied goods, when it had not.

In another transaction he transferred US$9,000 into a bank account in the
name of Alex Company. A further US$2,000 was transferred to his friend’s
company, Silver Sharp.

On Monday Franco Ndambakuwa, the ZANU PF MP for Magunje, was arrested on
allegations of abusing the same fund after failing to account for US$39,000
from the US$50,000 he received to develop his constituency. The week before
the MDC-T MP for St Mary’s, Marvelous Khumalo, was also arrested on the same
charges.

Khumalo is accused of having bought himself a lorry and pocketing part of
the money. He claimed to have used part of the funds to sink a borehole in
his constituency, but in fact it had been done by an NGO. Both Ndambakuwa
and Khumalo are out on bail.

Although Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga
initially said 10 MPs (6 from ZANU PF and 4 from the MDC-T) had failed to
submit returns proving how they had used the US$50,000, it appears several
have since provided evidence of how they used the money for developmental
projects.

Zimbabweans have taken to social networking forums to vent their anger at
the corruption shown by their elected representatives. “This is what happens
when you put hungry people in parliament,” one SW Radio Africa listener
wrote. Another said “they should be locked up in jail and the keys thrown
away.”

“Hopefully, all this is not like the window-dressing of an empty shop! Many
such cases were conveniently filed away never to be heard of again. Such is
the state of our police force and the judiciary,” Chimbi Manwa wrote on our
website.

Zanu PF Youths Detain Town Clerk

http://www.radiovop.com/

Masvingo, March 02, 2012 – Known Zanu PF supporters who sell second-hand
clothes and some kitchen wares at Mucheke Bus Terminus ambushed Masvingo
City Town Clerk Adolf Gusha on Thursday afternoon and locked him in his
office.

Gusha was detained  for nearly an hour the Zanu PF youths demanding that he
abolishes some bus terminus dotted around the city and redirect buses to
Mucheke in order for them to boost their business.

Led by self-styled "man of the cloth" Reverend Gashia Mundondo, Zanu PF
supporters who were singing and dancing claimed that the MDC-T dominated
council was giving them a raw deal by not facilitating in directing buses to
the main terminus so that they get a lot of clients.

The Town Clerk pleaded with them to calm down so that he calls the mayor to
jointly address the angry crowd.

RadioVOP was informed that Masvingo mayor Alderman Femias Chakabuda had to
dump some council business that he was attending in Harare so that he would
rush to rescue the Town Clerk.

“We are frustrated by the way in which this council is being run. We are now
making loses at our flea markets at the Mucheke terminus because they
(Council officials) created other terminuses in town thereby reducing the
number of our potential clients.

“We had to confront the Clerk because the mayor was not around. However,
after a couple of hours Chakabuda came and tried to down play our issue but
we just gave him up to Monday to solve our problems,” said Mundondo.

However, soon after a meeting with the Zanu PF supporters, Chakabuda said it
was surprising that they just ganged up to cause havoc at the council.

“I was shocked by the level of ignorance from those guys – they just held
the town clerk at ransom. We however, tried to explain to them so that they
would understand why their demands were to difficult to meet.

“I hope in the long run they will be able to understand council operations,”
said Chakabuda.

Lack of funding stalls hospital project

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Own Correspondent
Friday, 02 March 2012 12:55

HARARE - A multi-million dollar hospital project in Chiweshe at Howard
Hospital hangs in the balance after it failed to meet the ministry of Health
and Child Welfare requirements for use by the public, a situation which will
worsen the already dire overcrowding problem at the hospital.

Howard Mission Hospital which is one of the largest referral hospitals in
Mashonaland Central has been facing problems of overcrowded wards and the
project involving the construction of new wards would have eased the
problem.

The new structures were completed in 2006 but remained closed after the
ministries of Health and Child Welfare and Public Works deemed the
structures unfit for use citing some structural defects in construction
work.

The Salvation Army’s Lieutenant Colonel Langton Kazimpingani who is the
secretary for business administration at Howard Hospital told the Daily News
that the existing hospital complex is failing to cope with the number of
patients from around the country who travel to Chiweshe to seek medical
attention.

“The ministries said that the hospital had defects and recommended that we
make new structures especially in the sewerage system and also the
 theatres,” said Kazimpingani.

The church-run hospital is famous for admitting patients for free as well as
its dedicated expatriate doctors.

It also played a crucial role in assisting victims of political violence
from Mashonaland Central areas during the 2008 madness.

The Salvation Army church which runs the hospital is however, struggling to
raise the required money to make the necessary adjustments and open the
facility to patients.

“We were told not to open the facility until we have addressed all the
structural defects but our major constraint is a lack of funding because as
a church we do not have any other source of funding.

“In order to make the required renovations, we would need something between
$3 and $5 million but as a church we do not have the money,” said
Kazimpingani.

Patients interviewed said the institution is overwhelmed by the influx of
patients from around the country seeking medical attention. They also said
some of the hospital structures are now too old to cope with the demand.

Kazimpingani admitted that the hospital structures are failing.

“We are not coping with the number of patients that we receive daily, that
is why we are chasing funding but it is hard to come by,” said Kazimpingani.

With the public health sector still under stress, the sick in Zimbabwe have
turned to mission hospitals that are funded by churches. However, the
increased volumes of patients has not been commensurate with infrastructural
developments at this institutions most of which were set up by missionaries
well before attainment of independence.

Govt set to acquire River Ranch mine

http://www.theindependent.co.zw

Friday, 02 March 2012 10:50

Chris Muronzi

RANI Investment, the majority shareholder in Limpopo Mining Resources, a
company that owns the River Ranch diamond mine in which the late general
Solomon Mujuru held a minority stake, announced yesterday it is negotiating
with government for the sale of its stake in the mine at a yet to be
disclosed price. Should the deal be concluded, government will consolidate
its position as the leading player in the country’s diamond industry.

Government, through the Zimbabwe Minerals Development Corporation, has
various joint ventures in the contested Marange diamond concessions such as
Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Pure Diam and Anjin Investments. Only
Murowa Diamonds, owned by Rio Tinto, will remain the diamond company in
which government does not have direct involvement.

Rani Investment said the decision to sell its stake in River Ranch diamond
mine was part of its efforts to realign the group’s financial and management
resources to its core business — hospitality and tourism — in Zimbabwe and
the region.

In a statement, Rani Investment said it believed government was best placed
to develop and expand the mine’s operations.

“The decision to sell its stake to the appropriate government entities came
about as efforts to recapitalise the mine, including from the minority
shareholders, have failed in the past few months,” said the company in a
statement.

Rani Investment is a Dubai-based Investment Holding firm for the Aujan Group
with more than US$300 million of committed investments in the Middle East
and Africa.

Its mission is to ensure superior returns to its shareholders through
pioneering investments that are guided by its philosophy of long term
horizon and tolerance for measured risks.

According to the company’s website, Aujan Group is a Saudi group founded in
1905 as a trading company in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

The company has subsidiaries in manufacturing, real estate, hospitality,
mining, trading, and distribution sectors.

Rani Investment is owned by Adele Aujun, a Saudi billionaire.

Corruption rocks NSSA

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/

Friday, 02 March 2012 10:55

Herbert Moyo

THE National Social Security Authority (NSSA), which holds sway across the
Zimbabwean economy in terms of investments in equities, the money market,
and property portfolios, is a haven for corruption gnawing away at the
fabric of the organisation, a recent investigation by the National Economic
Conduct Inspectorate (NECI) has revealed.
A detailed report by NECI, seen by the Zimbabwe Independent, which probes
white-collar crimes, shows NSSA is rotten to the core due to an extended
period of sleaze and fraudulent activities.

NSSA, constituted and established in terms of the NSSA Act of 1989, is a
statutory body tasked by government to provide social security to workers so
that they have an income to look forward to upon retirement.

The corruption unearthed by NECI spans a wide range of areas, including
tender processes, real estate projects that include building of houses and
hotels, structured finance in all sorts of areas, even buying wheat,
investing in shares, banking, including the money market, among various
sectors of the economy.

NSSA directors and management also splashed money in buying mansions and
luxury cars for themselves, while contributors struggle to lead decent lives
after retirement.

At one time NSSA directors and management bought themselves vehicles worth
between $100 000 and $230 000. The cars included a Mercedes Benz S350 and
Jeep Cherokees. NSSA general manager James Matiza brought a house in
Borrowdale for US$330 120 after securing himself a loan from the
institution.

Some of the top NSSA officials negotiated deals for personal gain, including
bribes and kickbacks. Former NSSA chairman Albert Nhau, for instance, got
$100 000 after negotiating the sale of Ballantyne Park with property owner
Dennis Green to NSSA.

“Nhau was the one who initiated the offer of the property to NSSA, arranged
the initial meeting between Matiza and Green, and was even present when the
meeting occurred,” the report says.

“The signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between NSSA and Green in the
absence of guarantees by the latter on the issue of shares to be later
converted and ceded to NSSA was at the instigation of Nhau. The events
leading to the payment for the property was so frantic and hurried and at
the instigation of Nhau”.

“Nhau directly benefited from the sale of Ballantyne Park to the
organisation of which he was the chairman by receiving US$100 000 from the
proceeds of the sale, to cover monies that he was owed by the sellers. There
was undue influence and conflict of interest by the former chairman of NSSA
on the purchase of properties, especially the Ballantyne Park property owned
by one of his friends,  Green.”

Nhau was replaced as NSSA chairman by top lawyer Innocent Chagonda in 2010.

The report says NSSA officials also had a big influence in the purchase of
non-performing equities from Star Africa. When NSSA technocrats would advise
not to purchase such shares, the chairman and the general manager would use
their positions to coerce the investment committees and senior management to
agree to investments they had interests in.

“Evaluation by these committees on whether to buy or not will be a
formality. The chairman was very influential in driving NSSA into purchasing
overvalued shares off loaded by these companies,” the report says.

“In some instances the general manager and the chairman are accountable for
misdirecting the authority into the purchasing of shares at a premium yet
the trend was that the share value was actually declining. Among the shares
bought it is only OK shares that are better performing counters to date and
the investment by NSSA stands out to have been a prudent one here, though
shares bought from CFX are questionable.”

There was a conflict of interest in allocation of structured deal loans for
David Govere, a board member, who chairs the board investment committee.
“He managed to access these soft loans for his two companies Tacoola
Beverages and Harambe Holdings, while window had limited funds for a few
companies, country-wide,” the report says.

It also says monies advanced to ReNaissance Merchant Bank (RMB) under
structured loan deals could have been better placed with reputable
institutions involved in grains commodity broking like parastatals and
corporates in the agro-commodities sector. About $10 million was sunk in a
botched wheat deal involving ReNaissance.

“The direct involvement of RMB in the importation of wheat was wrong, since
funds disbursed for strategic national interest should be applied for such
purposes. To further complicate issues, RMB did not deliver wheat, and the
money was used for other purposes.”

There were also serious problems involving the organisation’s project to
build a NSSA PARK, which would have resulted in the acquisition of
properties around NSSA Building. Chibuku House, Dominion Building and Survey
House, for instance, were purchased at suspiciously exorbitant prices amid
charges of bribes and kick-backs.

“Woodlands and St Tropez apartments are also not generating any revenues as
NSSA is locked in legal wrangles which have been going on for more than a
year now,” the report says. “Revenue generation from rentals is very low as
most tenants are not paying especially at Compensation House which house
government departments.”

NSSA was failing to collect rentals, cars and fuel owed to it, in some
cases, the report says. There were also problems with recruitment of top
managers which were characterised by complaints of nepotism and regionalism.

“The recruitment of the current executives is very questionable, and it is
not clear whether there was favouritism or not. Though normal procedures
were followed, most of the executives come from the same area where the
general manager comes from. The general manager being the ex-officio member
of the board could have had much influence on appointments,” it says.

The NSSA probe was completed last year after it was established the year
before to investigate the following allegations:

•    Recruitment was based on tribal or regional grounds; the General
Manager was involved in recruitment of the Directors of NSSA who came from
the same province as him, Manicaland Province
•    Other serious irregularities and allegations of corruption on the part
of managers at the authority involved implementation of projects

•    Buying directors’ houses – loans at zero percent (%)
•    Directors got USD$200 000 as loans
•    General manager and directors’ vehicles were purchased at US$175 000
each and salaries were at an average of US$10 000 per month
•    Directors companies supplying materials on all NSSA projects, e.g. 2000
bags of cement to Bindura projects was supplied by NSSA director of
investments ShadreckVera’s company supplying wrong type of cement and was
rejected by the contractor only to be disposed at loss.
•    Marondera housing project is not being completed in order to keep on
pumping money from NSSA for their selfish needs
•    Glaudina housing project, the directors are allocating themselves
several stands and are using NSSA funds to build their own houses in the
name of housing loans.
•    They have removed the finance manager`s signature from all banks to
conceal fraud. They now sign themselves. All junior staff do not sign.
•    US$10 million loaned to Shepherd Shara of RMB for him to import wheat
which never arrived in Zimbabwe. Loan repaid by advancing him more funds as
the loan was about to be redeemed.
•    US$9 million used to buy shares from Green’s company called the
Ballantyne Park PL. Shares bought at an over price of $220 per share. One
can imagine at that time the ZSE`s most expensive shares were going for $5.
Green`s neighbourVera  approved the transaction.
•    US$2 million loaned to Africom without collateral security and the loan
is for 20 years at 5%.
•    US$3 million given to CFX Bank for worthless shares without going to
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
•    The biggest fraud of US$15 million used to buy ZSR/Star Africa shares
without going to ZSE stock market.  Deal was negotiated at home. Shares
bought from Nhau`s friends. The price was pegged at 12.5 cents (US) instead
of the average 10 cents from ZSE. NSSA lost US$2,5 million from the scam.
They fraudulently used a broker to conceal the evidence.

10 days left of media reform ultimatum

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
02 March 2012

There are now 10 days left of an alleged ultimatum set by the principals in
government for the Media and Information Minister to implement key media
reforms.

The three week ultimatum was set last week Monday, according to Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who said that he and his government partners had
agreed on these reforms.

ZANU PF Minister Webster Shamu now has until Monday March 12 to reconstitute
the boards of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe and the Mass Media Trust.

However these is no sign yet that Shamu is carrying out these ‘orders’ and
there is doubt that this latest ultimatum will be honoured.

Misa-Zimbabwe Community Radio Initiatives Come Under Fire

http://allafrica.com/

3 March 2012

press release

The Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA-Zimbabwe) has dismissed allegations made by state media that it is
clandestinely collecting signatures from people 'bused-in' from various
communities in its bid to 'create' community radio stations.

The allegations were published in the state-controlled The Herald and
featured in the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's news bulletins of 1
March 2012. Further allegations are that the signatories would become
trustees that would run the radio stations.

In a statement, MISA-Zimbabwe Chairperson, Njabulo Ncube reaffirmed that
MISA-Zimbabwe "has no intention of establishing community radio stations
that operate outside the ambit of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA)" as
was being alleged by the state-controlled media.

The statement added: "MISA-Zimbabwe is very aware of the fact that the sole
licensing authority is the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe and is
conversant and fully aware of the legal position pertaining to the licensing
and setting up of radio stations."

The BSA itself recognises the provision of community broadcasting as part of
the three-tier broadcasting system. It is in line with the spirit of this
provision that MISA-Zimbabwe sought to raise awareness through community
radio initiatives that will prepare various communities to apply for
community radio licenses in the event of BAZ eventually calling for
applications for community radio stations.

This is not inappropriate as The Herald and the ZBC claim. Similar
initiatives already exist in Zimbabwe's urban areas and are known and
recognised by the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity through the
umbrella Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS), which
has in the past been granted audience by the same ministry.

Against this background, there clearly is nothing unlawful about communities
preparing themselves for the envisaged eventual call for rural community
radio licences. In fact, the process of registering these initiatives
followed open consultative meetings that were held in the various
communities themselves. And, the it is well-known that the final decision as
to which community or communities will be duly granted the envisaged
licences is the sole prerogative of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe
(BAZ).

Therefore, MISA calls on The Herald and the ZBC to desist from misinforming
Zimbabweans, especially on issues encouraging and preparing them to embrace
media diversity. Our vision is of a Southern African region where members of
society, individually or collectively are able to freely access information
without hindrance and community media such as community radio stations
satisfy that role.

Issued by the Media Institute of Southern Africa.

Its Time to Invest in Zimbabwe:Chamisa

http://www.radiovop.com

Trust Matsilele-Johannesburg, March 02, 2012- Zimbabwe's minister of
Information, Communication and Technologies Nelson Chamisa invited possible
investors attending a Zimbabwe Trade and Investment Conference in Fourways
Johannesburg to consider investing in Zimbabwe.

With his flowery language Chamisa kept the audience informed about the
developments in Zimbabwe and pointing investors to fields that need
investments.

"Zimbabweans are peace loving people, they are  hardworking, very literate
and also fluent in english"  and joked saying "the level of fluency impress
even the queen" to a rapturous applause from over five-hundred strong
audience.

"This is the time to come and invest in Zimbabwe, our country is a ready
market for investment especially in the ICTs" added Chamisa.

Chamisa who is Zimbabwe's youngest Minister said his age was of paramount
importance as ICTs are most utilised by the young generation.

"The Minister is young which is an assurance that as you come to invest you
will be assisted with speed" said Chamisa in a statement that sounded
sacarstic if viewed in contrast with President Mugabe who just turned 88.

"Our citizens remain marginalised and at the periphery of development. As
the ICT minister i have helped set up e-government platforms and soon will
be introducing at ICT bill that will address among others issues like
cybersecurity and national roaming" added Chamisa.

Chamisa also jokingly suggested that he was also considering setting up an
e-lobola platform.

Chihuri sucked in underwear fight

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Staff Writer
Friday, 02 March 2012 12:44

HARARE - Police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri is involved in a
nasty fight with women activists who claim police are forcing them to remove
their underwear in dirty police holding cells, while withholding sanitary
wear for menstruating women.

Lawyers for the women are now targeting Chihuri for legal action after he
admitted to holding female suspects in male prison cells and vowed not to
provide sanitary wear for the inmates.

So appalling are the conditions at Harare Central Police Station holding
cells that one of the women taking Chihuri to court says she was advised by
a male police officer to use bare hands to clean herself after using the
toilet because there was no toilet paper, according to court papers.

From being forced to walk barefoot on dirty floors, being surrounded by
human waste, flowing urine of “various colours”, chocking smell of human
excreta to being denied sanitary wear for menstruation, the women activists
describe their ordeal as “dehumanising.”

Jenni Williams, leader of activist group Women FROM P1
of Zimbabwe Arise is leading the court action to force Chihuri to ensure
conditions at Harare Central Police Station meet basic standards.

Williams was arrested together with 21 other women activists and detained at
Harare Central Police Station for demonstrating against electricity cuts
affecting the country in 2010. Chihuri and co-Home Affairs ministers Theresa
Makone and Kembo Mohadi are cited as respondents.

In his response, Chihuri denies that women are forced to remove their under
garments when they are in detention but defended police refusal to provide
sanitary wear on the basis that inmates are held for only 48 hours.

Lawyers have now queried whether Chihuri knows what it means to be
menstruating for 48 hours and the serious health implications that come with
it.

“He does not know what it means to be menstruating for 48 hours. As a matter
of fact, depending on the circumstances, the environment and the density of
the flow, the 48 hours may be all it takes to complete the menstrual
process.

“In short, sanitary wear for menstruating women in police custody is an
absolute necessity,” said Advocate Lewis Uriri, in his head of arguments to
the Supreme Court. Uriri is representing the Woza activists.

“The contention (by Chihuri) appears to be that sanitation for detained
menstruating women is not necessary in any period less than 48 hours,” Uriri
added.
Williams claims that the toilets in the holding cells were flashed from
outside, and were thus flushed at the pleasure of the officers, leaving
human waste to flow into the cells.

“During the night, I intended to relieve myself and discovered that the
toilets were inside the holding cells. In order to use it, I had to wade
through a pool of urine. Further, the toilets had no running water and were
already full with human waste,” Williams said.

She added that it was dehumanising to use the toilet in full view of all
detained persons because the toilet bowls were not partitioned from the rest
of the cells.

“It is common knowledge that women have specific health hygiene needs
related to their reproductive health, and these include sanitary and washing
facilities, safe disposal arrangements for the blood strained articles, as
well as provision of hygiene items, such as sanitary towels,” she said.

Williams said the holding cells did not provide soap for detainees to wash
their hands after using the toilet.

“During the night, I requested some blankets for warmth in the night and was
given blankets which were reeking of urine. The police availed three
blankets, despite the fact there was now a total of 16 detainees. The
blankets were clearly inadequate given the number of people in the cell and
their usefulness was further negated by the strong urine stench,” said
Williams.

She claims she was never given food and drinking water in the cells and had
to rely on hand-outs from friends and relatives. Moreso, the food was
provided in the same cells with flowing human waste.

Williams also lamented the lack of gender-sensitive amenities which she said
was in favour of men without taking into account to women’s specific needs.

Advocate Uriri, said by admitting that the police do not provide sanitary
wear to arrested women, a specific provision for women, Chihuri was
admitting to gender discrimination.

“This amounts to discrimination on the basis of sex. In short, the second
respondent contends that the cells were made for men and that, women, their
biological differences notwithstanding, must make do with that which is
specific for men,” Uriri argued.

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides, inter alia, that the
law shall guarantee to all persons protection against discrimination on any
ground including race, colour and sex,” he added.

Chihuri, however says providing sanitary wear and providing bedding
facilities to detained women was an administrative issue that the police
force could do nothing about. He maintained that the police was doing all it
could within its mandate.

He urged the Supreme Court to visit the holding cells and make an assessment
of the facilities before ruling on this matter.

Chihuri dismissed most of Williams’ claims as false, saying inmates could
have died of various diseases if the conditions were that bad.

“The officer-in-charge arranges for cells to be inspected daily after
scrubbing out daily. Exercise yards and surroundings are swept out daily by
the general hands and are inspected simultaneously with the cells,” wrote
Chihuri.

But Advocate Uriri said even if the holding cells were cleaned before the
Supreme Court visit, no amount of cleaning would remove all the dirt in the
holding cells.

Glen View residents taken back into custody

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Tendai Kamhungira, Court Writer
Friday, 02 March 2012 12:51

HARARE - Twenty-nine Glen View residents accused of murdering a police
officer were yesterday taken back into custody after the state indicted them
for their trial which is to kick-off at the High Court on March 12.

Relatives and friends of the residents yesterday came in full support of the
murder suspects who initially appeared before the courts in June last year.

Anti-riot police could be seen milling around the court in anticipation of
an explosive situation, as some of the supporters of the residents were
singing and dancing outside court.

Lawyers representing the residents had to wait for the whole day before the
state finally managed to convene the court.

Charles Kwaramba, one of the lawyers representing the Glen View residents
told the court about his displeasure over the state’s conduct.

“I am astounded by the behaviour of the state. We have been here all day,
why should we wait for the papers to be processed while we are at court.

“The state’s conduct is shocking, unethical and unprofessional,” said
Kwaramba.

Only a fortnight ago, seven of the residents were granted bail by deputy
chief Justice Luke Malaba.

On their initial remand, the suspects appeared in court with visible marks
of having been brutally assaulted by police, which prompted magistrate Shane
Kubonera to give an order that the residents be given immediate medical
attention.

Govt ‘contradictions’ damaging Zim investment future

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
02 March 2012

A leading economic analyst in Zimbabwe has warned that the government’s
contradictory statements on politics, the economy and other issues are
seriously damaging the country’s investment future.

These contradictions were clear this week when, at the same time that
Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere was threatening the takeover of a
top South African investment in Zimbabwe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
and Finance Minister Tendai Biti were attempting to woo more investment from
the South Africans.

Kasukuwere has threatened mining giant Implats with “enforcement mechanisms”
unless it transfers a significant portion of its shareholding of its
Zimbabwe based Zimplats and Mimosa firms. Kasukuwere this week also lashed
out at Implats CEO David Brown, accusing him of ‘delaying tactics’ for not
adhering to Zimbabwe’s indigenisation laws that require a share handover of
up to 51%.

At the same time, in an effort to attract foreign investment to Zimbabwe,
Prime Minister Tsvangirai led a ministerial delegation to South Africa this
week for an investment conference. Tsvangirai told that conference that
Zimbabwe was “open for business”.

“We’ve had three years of inclusive government, this country is going
through a transition and through this transition we have established the
necessary environment. There is no better moment than now to lay the
groundwork for inviting people to come. We attach great importance to
foreign direct investment that’s why we are saying come,” Tsvangirai said.

Analysts have warned that the fight with Implats, which is the largest South
African investment in Zimbabwe, was damaging investor confidence, which has
already been shaken by the general political crisis in the country. But on
the dispute with Implats, Tsvangirai tried to allay fears.

“The issue is work in progress. No one in the indigenisation law says that
you shall grab people’s property or you shall nationalise. In fact you buy
equity at value so it is a discussion that we are very clear about…however I
want to underline the principle of local participation by Zimbabweans, it is
what we will encourage and through dialogue I’m sure that major
participation by locals will be arrived at but certainly there is no
grabbing, there is no nationalisation,” he said.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who also spoke at the conference, was less
subtle, asking: “How do we make sure that in Zimbabwe the resources do in
fact sweat for the Zimbabwean people which is not the case at the present
moment. Shareholders in London, Joburg and Cape Town are primarily
benefiting.” said Biti.

Professor Tony Hawkins told SW Radio Africa on Friday that the
‘contradictions’ from government, especially about the indigenisation plan
were due to “economic illiteracy.”

“The problem is that investors want certainty and all they get from this
government are contradictions. People want to know the rules and if they don’t
like them they won’t invest. But these contradictions just make the investor
environment unstable,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins meanwhile said that ideally, the indigenisation scheme as it stands
should be scrapped, calling it a “divisive” strategy that only empowers a
minority. He said that with only one in 12 Zimbabweans currently in work the
empowerment scheme, said to help working indigenous Zimbabweans, would only
help a small portion of the public.

“What about the other 11? This is a not a program designed to help them,”
Hawkins said.

Finance Minister Biti meanwhile has again acknowledged the missing millions
from the Chiadzwa diamond fields, stating: “There is a gap between what is
happening in (Chiadzwa) and what we are receiving and what we expect to
receive. We have received US$174m in 2010 and we received US$80m in 2011. I
have been very clear that we are expecting to receive US$600m in the year
2012 and this is in our budget.”

Local assets in Zimbabwe ‘are secure’

http://www.iol.co.za/

March 2 2012 at 05:00am

Donwald Pressly and Shanti Aboobaker

The South African government was adamant that investments in Zimbabwe “are
secure”, Trade and Industry director-general Lionel October said yesterday.

He said this after being pressed on whether Impala Platinum (Implats)
subsidiary Zimplats – required by the Zimbabwean government to transfer 29.5
percent of its shares to a state fund by the middle of this month – would
also be protected by an investment protection agreement between South Africa
and Zimbabwe.

When asked why Zimbabwean Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment
Minister Savior Kasukuwere had demanded the handover and why he had accused
them of delaying tactics, October suggested that matters were not dire. The
minister had also threatened to cancel mining licences held by firms that
did not carry out the indigenisation policy.

“They can come up with various forms (of indigenisation) such as
restructuring the companies. It does not mean that you lose any assets or
investments,” he insisted.

“For instance, (it could involve) setting up joint ventures or different
shareholder arrangements.”

It could even mean setting up new mines to expand the existing asset base.

“There are many ways to skin a cat but it won’t be a reduction in assets and
investments,” he said.

October acknowledged that the Implats investment in Zimbabwe was South
Africa’s biggest investment in that country. That is why the bilateral
agreement between the two countries was hurried along last year.

“There is a bilateral agreement (between South Africa and Zimbabwe). Last
year our director-general of international relations did visit his
counterpart there. But we are aware of the issues there,” he said, noting
that whatever investments and assets were in the country would “be
 protected”.

The bilateral agreement was law, he said, noting that there was a process of
negotiation over the matter. “It is sacrosanct.”

Message -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to the Situation in Zimbabwe

http://www.whitehouse.gov

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 02, 2012

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides
for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days
prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in
the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the
emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In
accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for
publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with
respect to the actions and policies of certain members of the Government of
Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine Zimbabwe's democratic processes or
institutions is to continue in effect beyond March 6, 2012.

The crisis constituted by the actions and policies of certain members of the
Government of Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine Zimbabwe's democratic
processes or institutions has not been resolved. These actions and policies
continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy
of the United States. For these reasons, I have determined that it is
necessary to continue this national emergency and to maintain in force the
sanctions to respond to this threat.

The United States welcomes the opportunity to modify the targeted sanctions
regime when blocked persons demonstrate a clear commitment to respect the
rule of law, democracy, and human rights. The United States has committed to
continue its review of the targeted sanctions list for Zimbabwe to ensure it
remains current and addresses the concerns for which it was created. We hope
that events on the ground will allow us to take additional action to
recognize progress in Zimbabwe in the future. The goal of a peaceful,
democratic Zimbabwe remains foremost in our consideration of any action.

BARACK OBAMA

Banks to return US$200m in offshore funds

http://www.theindependent.co.zw

Friday, 02 March 2012 10:53

Owen Gagare

LOCAL banks have committed themselves to repatriating US$200 million of
depositors’ funds held abroad in  nostro accounts, availing the money
locally for on-lending to the productive sector and simultaneously easing
domestic liquidity challenges, it emerged last night.

The maintenance of a large portion of banks’ deposits in nostro accounts has
been partly blamed for the liquidity problems the country is facing and the
subsequent stifling of the productive sectors of the economy.

As a counter measure, Finance minister Tendai Biti and Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono a fortnight ago directed that banks only be allowed to maintain
25% of their total deposits in the nostro accounts, while the balance 75%
had to be held locally.

A nostro account is an account operated by a bank outside its borders for
the purposes of making settlements for its clients abroad.

The directive on nostro accounts is among a raft of measures announced by
Biti and Gono in a bid to improve liquidity and stability in the banking
sector. Attempts to improve liquidity include restoration of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe’s lender of last resort function, which will see banks able
to make overnight borrowings from the central bank in order to square their
books.

The central bank has also introduced short to medium term paper in order to
stimulate interbank trading. This allows banks that have excess cash to hold
onto the paper, which bears interest, while their excess cash is availed to
those in cash deficits.

The directive for banks to hold only 25% of their balances in offshore
accounts took effect from yesterday.

Official sources in the financial sector revealed some institutions had not
fully complied with the directive although they had made a commitment to
repatriate about $200 million.

“There is a commitment to repatriate about US$200 million,” said an
authoritative source in the banking sector. Banks with the bulk of deposits
in nostro accounts include Standard Chartered, Stanbic, Barclays and FBC.

The sources also indicated that as at the beginning of this month, 22 of the
country’s 25 financial institutions had now complied with the regulatory
minimum capital requirements which stand at US$12,5 million for commercial
banks and US$10 million for merchant banks and building societies.

These requirements, along with the directive that shareholders should be
hands off in the day to day running of banks, are part of measures
instituted by the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank to stabilise the
banking sector.

ZABG Bank, Royal Bank and Genesis Investment Bank are however still not
compliant, ahead of the March 31 deadline. All the banks had however
submitted their recapitalisation plans by February 14, in line with a
directive given by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono when he gave his
Monetary Policy Statement on January 31.

ZABG Bank, saddled with a negative capital of US$15,35 million, is
finalising negotiations with three  potential investors, Unicapital Finance
of Mauritius, Swiss-based company AFG Global and a local company Trebo &
Khays (Pvt) Ltd. The deal is expected to be concluded by the end of March.

Genesis Investment Bank (GIB) is undercapitalised, having only about US$3,2
million.

“The bank is negotiating with SwissCharge of Zambia and some local investors
who could pour in US$20 million,” said the source.

Royal Bank has capital amounting to US$3,42 million. Royal is trying to
merge with two local banks with a combined capital of US$34 million while
also finalising an agreement with a local pension fund for equity
participation of US$5 million. The deals are expected to be sealed by the
end of the month.

Kingdom Bank and Renaissance Merchant Bank (RMB), which were
undercapitalised, are now in compliance with the minimum capital
requirements.

Kingdom has now fully complied after US$9,5 million was injected in mid last
month by AfrAsia Holdings Ltd.

RMB has capital amounting to US$24 million after NSSA injected US$9,83
million. NSSA also converted its deposit of $8,5 million with RMB into
equity, and assumed a debt of US$5,7 million owed to Econet Wireless (Pvt)
Ltd and Renaissance Financial Holdings Ltd by RMB.

President Urge MPs to Reveal HIV Status to Fight Stigma

http://www.voanews.com

March 01, 2012

Sebastian Mhofu | Harare

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has urged politicians to reveal their HIV
status - in order to fight the stigma associated with the virus that causes
AIDS. Mugabe made the appeal in Harare Thursday at the launch of Zimbabwe
Parliamentarians Against HIV and AIDS - or ZIPAH.

Even though the HIV/AIDS rate has been declining, Zimbabwe still has one of
the highest percentages of people infected with the virus.

So President Robert Mugabe is urging Zimbabwean politicians to fight the
spread of HIV and the stigma associated with it by going public with their
status.

“It is disappointing to notice that there are some leaders whose behavior is
at odds with an HIV/AIDS-infested social environment," said Mugabe. "Let
therefore ZIPAH be the domain and medium through which we address such
issues as we demand of each other positive and exemplary behavior."

In a public event in Harare Thursday, many lawmakers did submit to public
blood tests. The president recalled sadly how he has lost political
colleagues to the deadly infection.

“Not just in my family… in extended family, also in my political family,
which is a large family as you are able to imagine," said Mugabe. "Comrades
I have worked perished, sat with in cabinet perished. I have not announced
it but I can tell you that quite a number of them have died of HIV/AIDS. Not
everybody but quite a number.”

Mugabe says African leaders needed to unite to fight AIDS which is a
particular scourge in southern Africa.

Analysts say fighting the spread of HIV in Zimbabwe has been hampered by
lack of funds despite the nation being the first in Africa to introduce, in
1999, a special three percent tax to boost funds to combat the disease.

I can’t amend Section 121: Tomana

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Bridget Mananavire, Staff Writer
Friday, 02 March 2012 13:00

HARARE - Attorney General (AG) Johannes Tomana has dismissed calls by the
coalition government to work on amending Section 121 of the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA) as misdirected.

The three government principals President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara met last month
and directed that Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, Tomana and police
commissioner general Augustine Chihuri meet to find ways of amending Section
121.

But Tomana said the directive was outside his leverage and should be
channelled to the legislature, which has powers to making authority.

“I do not have such power in lawmaking. I am only there to enforce it. It is
amended by Parliament,” Tomana said.

Section 121 of the CPEA gives prosecutors power to keep accused persons who
would have been granted bail in remand prison for a further seven days to
allow the state time to lodge an appeal against bail.

Politicians, civil society groups and human rights lawyers have in the past
accused prosecutors of abusing the law to punish people who would have been
granted bail.

Briefing journalists after the principals’ meeting, Mutambara said those
falling foul to the use of the law had been victims of injustice.

“Many people have fallen victim to this section. Some serve jail terms
before they are released because of this section,” he said.

Recently, officers of an independent media monitoring body, Media Monitoring
Project Zimbabwe, Fadzai December and Molly Chimhanda and another official
Gilbert Mabusa fell victim to Section 121 after being charged with
“knowingly failing to give notice of a gathering” in terms of Section 25 of
the Public Order and Security Act (Posa).

After being granted bail with no conditions, the state prosecutor invoked
Section 121 of the CPEA to suspend the bail order.

A human rights lobby group, Amnesty International, early this year raised
concern over the failure by prosecution authorities in Zimbabwe to respect
the right of accused persons to a fair trial in politically motivated
prosecutions.

“In particular, the organisation is concerned about the unjustified
invocation of Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to
prolong the detention of activists who have been granted bail by the
 courts,” the organisation said.

Tomana defended the use of the law by his officers, saying it was meant to
protect the public from perpetrators of violence who had the capacity to
commit more crimes if released on bail.

“It will be misguided to remove an appeal that is there for civil
protection. There are certain things which should not be politicised,” he
said.

Transcript of Harare Mayor on Question Time: Part 1

http://www.swradioafrica.com

 

 

 

The Mayor of Harare Muchadeyi Masunda

Despite the formation of the coalition government in 2009, Harare and several other cities still face serious water problems. The Mayor of Harare, Muchadeyi Masunda, joins Lance Guma on Question Time and answers questions from SW Radio Africa listeners on this emotive issue. Does he agree the current typhoid outbreak is a symptom of failure? Why are residents receiving charges for services they are not getting?

Interview broadcast 22 February 2012

Lance Guma: Good evening Zimbabwe and thank you for joining me on another exciting edition of Question Time. My guest tonight is the Mayor of Harare, Mr Muchadeyi Masunda and the basis for this interview as has been pointed out in our promos is that despite the formation of a coalition government in 2009, Harare and several other cities still face serious water problems.

So we’ve got the Mayor onto the programme to try and tackle questions around this and many other issues. Let’s start off with the water problems, why do we still have them?

Muchadeyi Masunda: Good evening listeners.

The water situation boils down to simply the inadequate capacity in terms of the water treatment facilities, to treat the raw water and make it available to the consumers.

Now just to give you an example to bring things into sharp focus, the demand for water within Greater Harare and including Chitungwiza, Norton, Ruwa and Epworth, during the winter months it’s 1200 mega litres a day.

During summer months like now, it goes up to 1400 mega litres a day and the installed capacity at the main water treatment plant which is Morton Jaffrey, that is the plant that abstracts water from Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame, the installed capacity and I think you will need to understand this, the raw water is there in those two large reservoirs namely Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame.

What is not there is the capacity to treat that water because the capacities out there now at Morton Jaffrey is 614 mega litres a day.

Guma: So what’s needed to increase this capacity? What’s needed?

Masunda: Well what ought to have happened in the past, say around the mid-seventies was for the capacity that I’m talking about to have been enhanced for that water treatment facility to be able to treat more than it does at the moment.

And the second water treatment facility is a replica of Morton Jaffrey and that is the Prince Edward Water Treatment Plant which is more popularly known but its acronym, PE and that plant abstracts water from Harava and Seke dam and the installed capacity there is 90 mega litres.

So we have the combined installed capacity of 614 plus 90 which makes it a total of 704 mega litres. So on a good day, ZESA permitting, we produce between 620 and 640 mega litres which is a far cry from the 1200 that is required during the winter months and the 1400 which is required in summer.

Guma: When you came in as Mayor, you came in on the back of a promise to use your vast experience in business and your contacts in business to be able to source these things and take care of the problems. What has happened?

Masunda: Well I can proudly say that since I came into office the production of potable water has increased from around 300 to the 620, 640 that I’m talking about. So that’s a considerable improvement and what must be borne in mind, is that when we came into office in July 2008, the systems were kaput in more ways than one.

Not only were the systems kaput because of some serious neglect that borders perilously close to criminal negligence but there were huge sums of money which were owed and that situation got worse with the advent of dollarization because at the end of January 2009, we wrote off as a City, all the Zim dollar denominated balances and started from scratch like everyone else and as we speak, we are owed in excess of 200 million dollars by various consumers ranging from individual consumers, corporate consumers and government ministries and government agencies.

Guma: So are you saying if that money was to be paid, you would be able to develop the capacity and supply enough uninterrupted water?

Masunda: Yes it would make a huge difference, a huge difference and I’m pleased to say that there’s been an appreciable reduction of the amount that had been owed by government.

For instance, as at the end of January the amount owed by government has come down to around 48 million and yet a couple of months ago it was creeping closer and closer to 100 million; But the amounts owed by the corporate sector and individual consumers are nearer 100 million in this instance and close to 200 million.

Guma: What are the figures here in terms of what you need to supply water uninterruptedly? What’s the figure because a lot of questions from listeners, we have one question from Mina Yetu on Face Book for example, who wants to know who is to blame for this water crisis – the central government or the local government?

Masunda: No I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interest to, for us to play the ‘blame game’ because that’s not going to put water on the table. What I think we need to do is to all of us to put our shoulders onto the wheel and honour our obligations and pay the bills as and when they fall due in spite of the fact that in certain instances, many of us would not be receiving the service.

And for instance, there’s work that we are doing to reclaim water for instance from the (inaudible) plant that had been installed a couple of years ago but had been abandoned because there weren’t enough funds and what that we’re doing there is going yield a considerable amount of water, this is reclamation system whilst we work on the longer term projects.

And the other thing that needs to be done and done very quickly like yesterday is for us to replace the piping system which had rotted over the years. You will recall no doubt that around I think 2009 we managed to get 17.1 million dollars, courtesy of the multi-donor trust fund and we used all that money to replace the piping system within the CBD and certain industrial areas. So we need to do more of that so that there’s less water lost, treated water lost and make that water available.

Guma: The issue of people receiving bills when they haven’t received a service – that’s a sore point for a lot of residents and we’ve received several emails on that; people are not happy with that. Why should they pay for something they are not receiving?

Masunda: And what is the alternative? Only two weeks ago I paid a total of one thousand nine hundred dollars to ZESA; I’d not received a ZESA bill for quite a while and I’d been dutifully paying round about a hundred dollars, two hundred dollars every month waiting for the statement to come and when that statement eventually came it was one thousand, eight hundred and sixty five dollars and I paid it in good faith because it’s a chicken and egg situation.

You know we are in a deep, deep hole as a country and a city and I think what we need to do is to stop looking backwards as to what got us into that deep hole and all look for solutions on the way forward.

Guma: But people will say it’s just impunity on your side as people in authority, you’ll just demand whatever you want, even including making people pay for services they are not receiving. Why not provide the service and then expect money in return for it?

Masunda: There’s no, I’ve no qualms at all with that argument but people need to realize that all the services that are, need to be offered have a cost in terms of real money and that money’s got to come from somewhere and a lot of people are labouring under the mistaken belief that the City of Harare and other urban local authorities get something from cabinet. We don‘t.

We have to generate our own revenue and that has been the case even long before independence and that money has got to come from somewhere. Money doesn’t grow on trees, we all know that.

Guma: I’ve been sifting through the 2012 national budget and in terms of resource allocation it seems pretty clear that and it’s feeding a lot of resentment from a lot of people that some things like foreign trips are being prioritized by government, luxury cars being prioritized by government and when people hear you say there’s no money to do A, B, C, D it makes them angry.

Masunda: Yes, understandably angry but it’s not for me to speak on behalf of these expensive chariots that are procured for government but what I can do is to speak on behalf of what happens in the City. To give you an idea – if we were to commission this large disposal and water reclamation plant at Morton Jaffrey Waterworks and that’s at a cost of seven million dollars that will immediately avail an additional 40 mega litres of potable water a day.

And if we were to rehabilitate the, some of the clarifiers at Morton Jaffrey and the total cost we estimated will be around eight million, that will increase the water production by another 57 mega litres a day. And then of course, we’ve got to start working on the distribution network and we’re looking at another 60 million dollars and that will make another 100 mega litres of water available because a lot of water, as much as 50, around, over 40%, closer to 50% is being lost through leakages and theft, vandalism and pilferage.

Guma: My next question comes from Mike Davis, I’m sure you know him – a former chairperson of the Combined Harare Residents Association – he says “when he (Masunda) was mayor, we lost 4000 plus citizens to cholera, yet two years later we are facing typhoid. What has he done to address these symptoms of failure?”

Masunda: Well the 4000 poor souls who lost their lives, it wasn’t all in Harare, it was throughout the country and as far as typhoid is concerned, I’ll be the first to admit that the principal drivers of the typhoid outbreak were inadequate supply of potable water, sewerage overflows due to overload, high water table caused by the ongoing wet season and of course the erratic refuse collection which has resulted in a number of illegal dumps.

But touch wood, out of all the suspected cases of typhoid that have gone through our clinics and the two hospitals, we talk as at the 16^th of February, we had about 2816 and out of those suspected cases of 2816, there were only 16, one six of confirmed cases and the suspected typhoid deaths are only two; one 15 year old girl who had been treated at the Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital and was discharged and if the parents had religiously followed the treatment regime that had been given and not decided to, that they belong to some religious sect that did not permit medication that poor 15 year old kid should still be alive.

And the only other death was an eight month old baby and then there was another lady, an elderly lady who came in on the verge of death and subsequently died but we established that her death was attributable to other causes that were not remotely connected to typhoid.

Guma: It seems to me pretty much some of these problems are also stemming from the water problems the city is facing. Hearing you giving answers to what the problem is – what’s the long term solution because it seems to be a chicken and egg dilemma?

What starts first – money from the residents paying for a service they’re not getting? Do you need a bail out from government? Does government need to change its priorities and get something going because year after year the same problem remains and nothing is changing?

Masunda: Well we’ve never seen a typhoid outbreak on the scale that we’ve seen now but I’m pleased to say that we’ve contained the situation. The average number of suspected typhoid cases has come down from about 72 to 30 a day and we need to keep a beady eye on all these things.

But we also need to get the cooperation of the stakeholders themselves. People must refrain from patronizing all these joints like Kwa Mereki, Kwa Zindoga, Pennywise Liquor Centre, Ku Huku in Hillside, Braeside because those are the epi-centres of water-borne diseases.

And due to chronic unemployment we’ve seen a proliferation of food vending in the city and surrounding areas and I’m very concerned about what may happen now that the Tobacco Auction Floors have opened because some of our new tobacco growers will come in from outside Harare and they’re going to camp either at Boka Tobacco Auction Floors or the other two new ones that have been established, until they get paid.

Guma: But is the solution closing places like Kwa Mereki and others or providing proper facilities for such informal kind of businesses to thrive?

Masunda: That’s a good point. It’s a combination of both. For instance, one of my very, very strong beliefs when I came into office was to work very closely with those enterprising ladies at Kwa Mereki and convert that into some serious cottage industry.

But when I went there and spoke to Mai George and others and I said ladies how do you dispose of the litter that is generated here, they took me to the back of where they were operating – a pit where they were mixing up all sorts of garbage, biodegradable stuff and bottles and cans and plastics.

And courtesy of Delta Beverages we provided them with compartmentalized wire mesh cages, so that they put the bio degradable stuff in the pit and the cans on their own, the plastic bottles and their own and the glass on their own so that the reclamation companies can cart that  away.

And I’m pleased with the efforts that have been made following the closure of Mereki in the last week and first week of, last week of January and first week of February, they’ve taken it upon themselves to address some of the issues that ought to have been addressed a long time ago.

Guma: And just quickly on that, several questions on that, maybe final question just for this week – when is Kwa Mereki opening?

Masunda: As soon as I get the nod from the City Health Department that all their concerns from the health perspective have been addressed.

Guma: Well Zimbabwe that’s the Mayor of Harare, Mr Muchadeyi Masunda, because of time constraints we’ll probably have to split it again in two and have him again next week so that I can finish all the questions that you the listeners sent in. Many thanks to Mayor Masunda for joining us on Part One.

Masunda: Thank you and I look forward to taking part in the next segment.

To listen to the programme:

http://www.swradioafrica.2bctnd.net/02_12/qt220212.mp3

 

Feedback can be sent to lance@swradioafrica.com  http://twitter.com/lanceguma or http://www.facebook.com/lance.guma

 

The demented defiance of a despot: Robert Mugabe at 88

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

 

By Andrew Malone

Last updated at 9:43 AM on 2nd March 2012

 

Deranged he may be, but in his dotage Robert Gabriel Mugabe still manages a good line in firebrand rhetoric.

After he arrives by helicopter at a football stadium in a remote corner of Zimbabwe for a ‘spectacular’ party to mark his 88th birthday, Mugabe walks slowly round the pitch punching the air while a public announcer exhorts people to cry out his name in joy. Few do.

His Excellency has come to Mutare — a city on the border with Mozambique and home of the biggest diamond find in decades — for a stage-managed celebration of what billboards tell us are ‘88 years of selfless service to the nation’.

After keeping the crowd waiting under a broiling sun for five hours, Mugabe is treated to a beauty pageant and presented with a cake weighing 88kg — 1kg for every year of his life — making him the oldest leader in the world.

Let him eat cake: Robert Mugabe at his 88th birthday, attended by20,000 supporters

Crocodile cake: The dictator admires the cake at his £650,000 party - while thousands starve in his country and many fear another brutal round of killings in the upcoming election

Watched by starving, bemused locals, some of them drunks and vagrants forcibly rounded up and brought in trucks to the ‘party’, Mugabe — his hair still curiously jet-black — aims a bitter broadside at Britain, despite the fact we will give a staggering £80 million in aid this year to this tragic, broken country.

With typhoid sweeping the land and warnings of famine in a country once known as the breadbasket of Africa, Mugabe instead focuses his anger on Prime Minister David Cameron and his demands that African leaders respect gay rights in return for aid.

Nature is nature, he thunders. ‘It has created male and female. That’s how we were born, so we reject that outright and say: “To hell with you, Cameron.”

‘I have no words to describe gays — you can’t call them dogs because even  dogs themselves will not be happy to be associated with such acts of paganism.

‘What I have not heard is what vows they exchange with each other when they marry. Who do they say they have married and to bear what kind of fruits?’

Slumped in the stifling heat, with no food or water, many in the 20,000 crowd become angry and agitated as their leader prepares to tuck into his cake.

I have smuggled myself into the celebration, the only Western journalist to attend it. The man sitting next to me, in a suit bearing Mugabe’s face, mutters through gritted teeth: ‘I’ll celebrate — when the old fool dies.’

Mugabe inspects troops with Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri (L), the country's feared police chief. He has ordered officers across the country to vote for Zanu-PF

Indeed, rather than underline Mugabe’s hold over his country, the birthday party serves only to hasten the belief that finally the despot’s days may be numbered, so clearly on the wane are his powers. In a show of dissent unthinkable at the peak of his reign, hundreds of those forced to attend the ‘party’ scramble over barbed wire fences to escape before Mugabe makes his speech.

He is still parading round the stadium, with an ambulance trailing slowly behind him, when the exodus begins.

And there is also deep discord behind the scenes. So bad have relations become between the president and his wife Grace, 42, whom he married after spotting her in the presidential typing pool, that she refused to attend the celebration.

There have been ‘tensions’ between the couple since it was revealed she had been conducting a five-year affair with Gideon Gono, head of the country’s federal reserve bank and a supposed close friend of her octogenarian husband.

The man sitting next to me mutters through gritted teeth: ‘I’ll celebrate — when the old fool dies.’

Gono was the source of claims last year on the WikiLeaks website, supposedly gleaned from pillow talk with Mugabe’s wife, revealing that the President has prostate cancer, which had spread through his body, and the couple sleep in separate rooms. Perhaps wisely, Gono has also stayed away from Mugabe’s birthday bash. The state-run Herald newspaper has been suggesting he should be arrested on fraud charges.

So what of the self-described ‘party of the century’ that Grace and Gono have missed?

The celebrations, like the birthday boy, proves a pitiful affair, a picture of terrifying defiance in the face of inevitable decay.

Originally planned for five days earlier, on his official birthday, the party has been hastily rescheduled after Mugabe was confined to bed after apparently collapsing at his palace in Harare, the country’s capital — just hours after announcing he has more powers than Jesus when it comes to overcoming death.

In an interview on state TV, Mugabe, who claims to have been anointed as president by God, declares: ‘That’s where I have beaten Christ. I have died  and resurrected and I don’t  know how many times I will die and resurrect.’

A dictator running scared: Mugabe is terrified of meeting the same fate as his friend Muammar Gaddafi, who was murdered in Libya by a mob last year

On top of his ill-health and marital woes, he faces other problems: no one was prepared to stump up the cash for the party, underlining just how out of touch the ‘Old Man’ — as Mugabe is called here, without any affection — has become during his bloody 32-year rule.

While he is said to have salted away billions for himself in various offshore accounts, he has bankrupted the country during his term of office.

The nation no longer has its own currency after the Zimbabwe dollar became worthless and inflation hit three trillion per cent under his disastrous stewardship.  

Yet in the weeks running up to his birthday, Mugabe’s thugs went round trying to extort money from impoverished ordinary people.

Carrying clubs and machetes, they toured Zimbabwe’s slums and demanded that everyone hand over a dollar towards the one -million-dollar cost of the party.

Mugabe’s illness and advancing years are palpable, so inevitably there is a battle for succession.

One of his former cronies, Emmerson Mnangagwa — known as The Crocodile because of  his ruthlessness in dealing with his opponents — has already signalled his intention to succeed Mugabe and is believed to be behind the murder of a key figure inside the regime who could have stood in his way.

Birthday rest: Robert Mugabe sits in an arm chair wipes his eye on his birthday. In a rambling speech he told David Cameron to 'go to hell' as he attacked Western values, including homosexual rights

Party: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe views his birthday cake during the rally at the weekend. The crowd become hot and angry as they waited for the dictator to cut his cake

Solomon Mujuru died after a suspicious fire at his home, where neighbours heard gunshots before the flames broke out.

He was seen as a ‘kingmaker’ because of his influence over the military and wanted his wife Joice, the vice-president, to take over from Mugabe.

For his own part, Mugabe has no intention of stepping aside. At his birthday party, he announces there will be elections this year and he will run yet again.

The news causes tremors of fear to ripple through the crowd at the football stadium, for everyone remembers how thousands were killed in previous elections for failing to declare their fervent support for his party, Zanu-PF.

Mugabe's successor: Emmerson Mnangagwa is known as The Crocodile because of his ruthlessness in dealing with his opponents

This times he appears to strike a conciliatory tone. ‘We used to fight each other,’ he says. ‘Time has come for us to do our politics in a much more cultured way.  Though our differences are ideological and sometimes quite negative, we should not regard them as a source of hatred.

‘Those who are opposed to us are also part of our society.  We should recognise their  rights. So, no to violence! No, no, no to violence!’

Yet Mugabe is lying. He and  his ruling military junta have already drawn up chilling  plans to kill and destroy their political enemies.

The sad truth is that, for all Mugabe’s words about an end to violence in Zimbabwe, every indication is that he is planning another brutal round of murder and repression.

Leaked documents from the internal intelligence service appear to reveal horrific plans to allow Zanu-PF thugs to unleash violence at the elections.

They are typical of Mugabe’s typical modus operandi — one that led to hundreds of opposition supporters being murdered in elections in 2008, when he lost the vote and was forced to form a power-sharing deal with the opposition MDC.

This time, police have been instructed to impose an Orwellian new law called the Public Order and Security Act, which bans more than three people from gathering in the same place at the same time on pain of arrest and imprisonment.

They are instructed to apply the law only to Mugabe’s opponents — his supporters  are exempt.

‘Zanu-PF youth and war veterans are the main perpetrators [of the violence], but the police must not arrest them because they will be protecting the interests of the country,’ according to the documents.

Deranged: Mugabe, who has claimed to have more powers than Jesus and is behind many brutal attacks on his own people, used his 88th birthday party to announce there will be elections this year and he will run yet again

Mugabe is terrified of meeting the same fate as his friend Muammar Gaddafi, who was murdered in Libya by a mob  last year.

His survival strategy has been drawn up by Augustine Chihuri, the country’s feared police chief. He has ordered officers across the country to vote for Zanu-PF — and to make sure they do, they must cast their vote in front of a chief superintendent, chief inspector and inspector.

Junior officers fear ‘persecution, victimisation and even death if they do not comply’.

Meanwhile, at the party, just moments after railing at the West’s obsession with money, His Excellency is presented with diamonds as a birthday present.

He is also given an antique grandfather clock before being escorted to his helicopter and flown away, while the crowd goes hungry.

Charles, a 22-year-old graduate who was forced to attend the celebrations, tells me how he was beaten, plunged into freezing water and made to sing Zanu-PF songs at indoctrination sessions during the last elections, the bloodiest in the country’s history. He fears that worse is to come.

‘We’d all like to rise up and kill this man — I won’t even call him by his name,’ he says. ‘But we have no guns and his spies are everywhere. Instead, we must keep praying that he dies soon and the madness finally ends.’

 

Independent Comment: Let’s learn from our mistakes

http://www.theindependent.co.zw

Friday, 02 March 2012 13:03

AFTER years of hard negotiations which sapped so much energy and chewed
resources to secure critical political reforms to prepare for credible
elections to avoid a repeat of the horrors of June 2008, we are now being
told Zimbabwe will “definitely” go to the polls this year with or without a
new constitution.
Elections without necessary reforms? In whose interest would such elections
be? Zimbabweans or President Robert Mugabe and his loyalists? After the
experience of June 2008? Would that sort of a thing be acceptable to the
people, our neighbours and the international community?

Intensified battles over the timing of elections and renewed hostile
exchanges on the political landscape have exposed the limitations of the
reform process and threatens to derail the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
Mugabe’s call for early elections has increased fears of a return to 2008’s
violence.
Of course, eventually elections are inevitable, but without serious,
enforceable reforms, Zimbabwe faces another illegitimate vote and prospects
of entrenched polarisation and crisis.

Given Mugabe’s attitude and hostile remarks about Sadc facilitator, SA
President Jacob Zuma last week, GPA guarantors have an uphill battle to
secure reforms before polls.

The GPA was a direct result of the brutality and killings of the June 2008
presidential election run-off in which Mugabe stormed back to office via a
campaign of terror after he was defeated by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
in the first round of polls. Results of the presidential poll in March were
delayed by more than a month under the pretext of “meticulous verification”
as Mugabe and adherents tried to manage the situation.

Although the full story of what happened is yet to be told (and it must
hopefully before the next elections), many believe Mugabe was defeated
outright but his diehards cooked up the figures to justify a run-off.

However, African leaders, both at Sadc and AU level, rejected Mugabe’s
“victory” and forced him to enter negotiations for an inclusive government,
a transitional arrangement before free and fair elections are held.

AU leaders met in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt soon after the run-off and stated in
no uncertain terms that they rejected Mugabe’s alleged victory. That led to
serious negotiations and the signing of the GPA in September 2008. The
purpose of the GPA was to restore political and economic stability in the
country to create conditions for credible elections.

After getting a reprieve, Zanu PF is now increasingly confident again it can
intimidate opponents and frustrate reform, and there is waning faith,
internally and externally, in the GPA processes, largely because of Mugabe’s
refusal to uphold his commitments.

Mugabe’s health and Zanu PF succession turmoil are further fuelling problems
around the GPA as the cabal around him now wants to wriggle out of the
agreement to force elections with or without a new constitution.

It now clear without stronger internal and external pressure, mostly from
Sadc, on Mugabe, Zanu PF might end up withdrawing from the current tenuous
coalition, triggering renewed violence and grave consequences for the
region.

There are many suggestions how this could be avoided. Dr Ibbo Mandaza
recently came up with a proposal, which we tend to agree with. He said we
must as a nation focus less on election talk and more on creating conditions
for free and fair polls either through the current GNU or GNUII.

Mandaza proposed a reformed and restructured GNU with the following
objectives:

Delivery of service to the people, on the strength of a smaller and
technocratic cabinet and public service, and a realistic but well-designed
National Development Programme;

Restoration of the national institutions, at least to the level and status
they enjoyed in the early 1980’s; non-partisan, professional and truly
national;

Restore fiscal, monetary and macro-economic management systems, designed to
ensure capitalisation on the country’s mineral and agricultural resources,
towards industrialisation, job and wealth creation.

Mandaza said the process should begin with the principals and the need to
establish a consensus that it is possible to restructure, reform and improve
the content and direction of the GNU, as an efficient state machinery, while
proceeding with the constitution-making process and preparations for free
and fair elections. We can’t agree more.

Editor’s Memo: Elections: Road to reform or another dead end?

http://www.theindependent.co.zw

Friday, 02 March 2012 12:57

Dumisani Muleya

AFTER a period of relative stability following the advent of the inclusive
government in 2009 in the aftermath of the June 2008 presidential election
run-off bloodbath, Zimbabwe is gradually sliding back to a state of flux as
the hype about early polls this year intensifies.

Zanu PF’s politburo on Wednesday discussed the constitution-making process
in a bid to pile pressure on those involved to fast-track the exercise to
rush through the stakeholders’ conference, referendum and parliament towards
elections — all this in the next 10 months!

With the way things are going, we are facing tumultuous months ahead. If
President Robert Mugabe and the Fifth Column (a clique comprising
securocrats and Zanu PF political brutes clandestinely trying to subvert the
people’s will) surrounding him succeed in forcing early elections with or
without a new constitution, the country would be driven further into a
political standoff, with unpredictable consequences and outcomes.

The endgame of Mugabe’s disastrous rule is increasingly becoming
inscrutable, more so given his age and frailty. The situation is now more
convoluted and volatile than ever before. The more Mugabe continues to hang
onto power, becoming further erratic while making contentious and divisive
decisions, the more the situation becomes explosive.

Mugabe’s call for early elections has increased worries of a return to 2008’s
climate of fear and violence. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said he
wants polls but only after reforms, a position also held by other players
including Welshman Ncube.

Whereas it appeared last year, after Mugabe and his coterie failed to
railroad the country towards elections, the agreed roadmap would be
implemented to guide the country towards free and fair elections – credible
in process and outcome — now the situation is dramatically changing.

Given all this, there are important questions that need to be asked. If ever
there are going to be free and fair elections in this country there is an
urgent need for reforms covering electoral laws and institutions,
registration of voters, delimitation of constituencies, postal votes, the
role of security forces in elections, observation and monitoring and
coverage of parties and candidates by the public media.

It doesn’t really matter who wins in the end so long as the elections were
credible.

Although most relevant issues agreed under the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) and the subsequent supplementary roadmap have not been implemented,
the agreement provides a coherent framework for creating conditions for
convincing elections. That is perhaps why Mugabe and his cabal are panicking
and trying to wriggle out of the GPA.

The roadmap agreed on by all parties in the GPA last year and endorsed by
Sadc calls upon the political leadership to collectively establish clear
priorities, with a particular focus on how to secure conditions for free and
fair elections.

However, progress remains stymied largely because Zanu PF has not
demonstrated a serious commitment to democratic reforms, while the MDC
parties are weaker in power relations to force them through. The GPA
guarantors and South Africa, the facilitator, have indicated they are
prepared to take a much more hands-on approach, although it is unclear how
this is going to work and manifest itself in view of hardening positions.

Sadc and other stakeholders must continually engage Zimbabwe’s political
leaders to take their own commitments seriously and set clear benchmarks and
timelines towards elections. The timing and dates of elections must be
informed by the political and reform process.

Elections are important to democratic development and progress. They shape
the fate of any nation and determine what changes may be wrought in the
social order at a given time. Polls are an affirmation of the will of the
people, which is the foundation of democracy.

When elections are flawed and the outcome disputed as often happens here,
that not only threatens the survival of democracy but also puts the future
of the nation at risk.

In that connection, the most critical question to ask now: Is Zimbabwe on
the road to reform and change or another dead end? Put differently, is the
country about to see a resolution of the decade-long political stalemate
triggered by disputed election results or going around in circles?

dumisani@zimind.co.zw

Leadership without respect

http://www.kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=8000

On the big issues, just say for example, stimulating the manufacturing
industry, reducing the levels of unemployment in Zimbabwe, not to mention a
generally repressive human rights environment, the Unity Government, (those
fellows the MDC and Zanu PF cuddling together in the same bed), are also
right, royally, screwing things up on a local level too.

Where I live, in Greendale, there hasn’t been rubbish collection for three
weeks. In the hope of catching a City of Harare refuse collection vehicle (a
rare and uplifting sight) home owners have taken to leaving their rubbish,
and adding to it, out on the street. Rubbish is piling up. It smells. Its
ugly. Its a health hazard.

Then there’s the trickle of municipal water sporadically dripping out of our
taps. A common sight on our neighbourhood streets is men and women heaving
under the weight of water, being carried either on their heads, or pushed in
wheelbarrows. The water having come from friendly and helpful homes that
have boreholes.

Then there’s the issue of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)
and their inability to deliver power. During the past week we’ve had power
between 9pm and 5am. While we’re sleeping, ya dig.

Oh. And then there are the pot holes, or craters, as people like to call
them. They are  getting deeper, and deeper, and wider and wider.

Meanwhile along Borrowdale Road, the President’s drive-way, we have minions
cutting the grass on the island, with … wait for it: hand held grass
cutters. Whoa. Of course, why be surprised by both the inequity and the
stupidity of initiatives like this?

However, nothing would be more stupid than all of us voting in (again) or
letting our vote be stolen (again) these people who treat us like dirt.

This entry was posted on March 2nd, 2012 at 11:25 am by Bev Clark