The Sunday Times, UK March 05, 2006
Christina Lamb
A ZIMBABWEAN
rocket scientist has swept back into his country
after 15 years abroad and
launched himself as a radical opposition leader,
vowing to bring down
President Robert Mugabe and end the misrule that has
left millions on the
edge of starvation.
"We can't expect the outside world to bring
about change," said
Arthur Mutambara, 39, in his first newspaper interview
since being named
leader of a breakaway faction of the opposition Movement
for Democratic
Change (MDC).
"As a Zimbabwean,
I've had enough of seeing my fellow citizens
suffering. The game's up. I'm
going to remove Robert Mugabe, I promise you,
with every tool at my
disposal."
Zimbabweans have been astonished by the sudden
arrival on the
political scene of one of the country's most eminent
expatriate academics.
His last involvement in politics was in leading the
first student protests
against Mugabe in 1989. Since then he has completed a
doctorate in robotics
and mechatronics at Merton College, Oxford, and worked
on the American space
programme. He has been a professor of robotics at the
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and other American universities and a
management
consultant for McKinsey & Company.
He
recently moved to South Africa, from where he has been
travelling to
Zimbabwe as a consultant, and says he has been horrified by
its
deterioration.
Violent "redistribution" of farms to Mugabe's
cronies has caused
food production to plummet so low that people have been
fighting with dogs
over scraps in rubbish dumps.
Inflation is more than 600%. Teachers send pupils out to sell
sweets to
supplement their salaries and students are on strike after a 700%
increase
in fees.
"I felt ashamed that my country, which has so much
potential,
has become the basket case of Africa," said
Mutambara.
His decision to intervene was prompted by a crisis
in the
opposition. After contesting three rigged elections the MDC split in
November when its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, decided not to fight for seats
in a new senate, even though the party's national executive had voted to
participate in the poll.
"I felt we were going
backwards," Mutambara said. "It's all very
well to keep analysing the
situation but I decided to walk the talk and
actually get
involved."
Last week the so-called "pro-senate MDC" held a
congress in
Bulawayo at which the split was formalised and Mutambara emerged
as leader.
His backers include the MDC's secretary-general, Welshman Ncube.
He claims
the support of 24 of the party's 40 MPs.
The
so-called "anti-senate" faction led by Tsvangirai will hold
its own congress
next week and a legal battle is underway over the use of
the party's name
and funds.
The division seems to be playing into the hands of
Mugabe, who
celebrated his 82nd birthday last weekend with a lavish party
while many of
his countrymen went hungry.
But Mutambara
insists that the MDC needed to be overhauled. "How
do you talk about a
regime which is criminal and violent when you yourselves
are carrying out
violent acts and violating your own party rules?" he asked.
"We won't be
qualified to fight Mugabe if we are little Mugabes."
Mutambara, the father of two boys under the age of two, says he
is well
aware of the risks of taking on the president. As a student activist
he
jumped out of a window in a vain attempt to escape from the police during
the unrest that brought Tsvangirai to prominence as a union
leader.
Tsvangirai was the target of three assassination
attempts after
he founded the MDC in 1999.
"I'm not worried
about me," said Mutambara. "I'm worried about
where Zimbabwe will be in 50
years or 30 years from now. It's about making a
difference and leaving a
legacy. My wife, Jacqueline, understands that."
Although Zimbabweans are desperate for change, it is not
surprising that
this fresh-faced figure promising to "rebrand" the
opposition has aroused
suspicion. One of his professors at Zimbabwe
University was Jonathan Moyo,
who became Mugabe's spin doctor before being
elected as an independent MP.
One Tsvangirai loyalist suggested that
Mutambara might be a Mugabe
"plant".
Mutambara said: "I respect that some people think
that I have
come from nowhere, but I represent the opportunity to have fresh
ideas and
fresh strategies to change the regime. I am the opportunity for
change that's
untainted."
But Nelson Chamisa, the MDC's
youth chairman and spokesman for
Tsvangirai, said: "That's absolute rubbish.
The struggle is not for the
untainted, it's for the tainted - those of us
who have been tainted by
Mugabe's handcuffs, by his killings, by his
destruction of houses."
Mutambara says his aim is not just to
oust Mugabe. "After 26
years the Zanu-PF system has become a culture and
Mugabe is just a symbol of
that," he said. "It's not just a political party,
it's a way of doing things
that has corrupted and destroyed every sector of
society."
Mutambara, whose parents were teachers, has three
sisters, all
with doctorates. "I'm coming from a tradition of academic
excellence where
if you came second in the class you were seen as a
failure," he said. "I don't
accept defeat."
With no
elections due until 2008, Mutambara said his first aim
was a new
constitution. "Even if we have to fight elections under the
current
constitution, we will build an opposition so strong and formidable
that if
Mugabe tries to rig elections, it will be impossible for him to get
away
with it."
Mutambara, who hopes some of the 3.4m Zimbabweans
believed to
have left their country will return to join him, is eager to be
seen as a
revolutionary. He offers no reassurances to white farmers who have
lost
their land and believes any expressions of support from western leaders
such
as Tony Blair would be counter-productive.
Asked if
his plans might include a Ukrainian-style mass
mobilisation of opponents of
Mugabe's regime, he replied: "We're going to
use every tool we can get to
dislodge this regime. We're not going to rule
out or in anything - the sky's
the limit."
Zim Standard
By
Gibbs Dube
BULAWAYO - The High Court has issued an order for
the attachment
of Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa's property worth $112 billion
after Gweru
business mogul, Patrick Kombayi, successfully sued him for US$20
million.
Kombayi says Mnangagwa made false claims about him on his role
during the
liberation struggle.
Kombayi also obtained the
same writ of execution against the
property of former cabinet minister and
Zanu PF director, Frederick Shava,
who was cited as the third respondent in
the matter while Professor Ngwabi
Bhebhe and Mambo Press are the first and
second respondents respectively.
The former Gweru mayor filed
a US$80 million dollar lawsuit in
November 2004 claiming US$20 million from
each of the four respondents
following the publication of a book - Simon
Vengayi Muzenda and the Struggle
for and Liberation of Zimbabwe - with
sections which Kombayi believed were
defamatory.
Justice
Maphios Cheda last August ordered Mnangagwa, the
Minister of Rural Housing
and Social Amenities and former Speaker of
Parliament, to pay Kombayi US$20
million or Z$112 billion with interest and
cost of the suit for defaming the
Gweru businessman.
A writ of execution against Mnangagwa's
property was
subsequently issued by the High Court in November last year
directing the
Sheriff of Zimbabwe or his lawful deputy to "take into
execution the
immovable goods of E D Mnangagwa" in order to cover the sum of
$112 billion.
The Sheriff was also ordered to recover all the
costs and
charges of the plaintiff in the suit incurred, together with
interest at the
rate of 30% from the date of summons of January
2004.
The writ, witnessed by Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku, reads
in part: "You are further required and directed that you
attach and take
possession of the defendant's property executable for the
sum of $112
billion together with interest at the rate of 30 percent per
annum from the
5th of August 2005 to date of full payment together with
costs of the suit."
Last November Justice Cheda also ordered
Shava of Tropicana
Lodge in Gweru to pay Kombayi US$S20 million or $112
billion for having been
the source of defamatory statements in the same book
which cast negative
aspersions on the plaintiff.
A writ
of execution against his property was then issued by the
High Court on 23
January this year ordering the deputy sheriff or his deputy
to attach
Shava's property.
According to court papers filed by
Kombayi's legal
representatives, Mnangagwa and Shava were quoted in the book
as the sources
of "wrongful, deliberately false, fictitious and concocted
lies which were
meant to undermine the role he played in the liberation
struggle".
Shava allegedly stated in the book that Kombayi
was part of a
coup plot in 1977 and 1978 in which Henry Hamadziripi and
others attempted
to derail the liberation struggle.
Kombayi claimed in his founding affidavits that the statements
were designed
to expose him as a sell-out during the liberation struggle.
On the other hand, he claimed that Mnangagwa provided distorted
information
about his role in the 1970s war of liberation with statements
calculated at
assassinating his character and good standing in the eyes of
the
public.
The Minister allegedly stated in the book that
Kombayi was among
top Zanu PF cadres who were totally opposed to the late
Vice President Simon
Muzenda's powerful role in the party and government as
President Robert
Mugabe's right hand man.
Kombayi, in his
court papers, was of the view that Bhebhe, who
is the author of the book and
currently Vice Chancellor of the Midlands
State University, "without
verifying the truthfulness of these statements
failed and neglected to hear
or seek" his side of the story.
Mambo Press, dragged into the
matter as the publishers of the
book, is being sued for printing, publishing
and distributing the book with
the alleged defamatory statements without
verifying the truthfulness of the
information derived from all the
sources.
Bhebhe and Mambo Press - represented by Dzimba,
Jaravaza and
Associates through Coghlan and Welsh and Mabhikwa, Hikwa and
Nyati
instructed by Danziger and Partners respectively - have filed a notice
of
appearance to defend against the lawsuits.
Zim Standard
By our staff
CHEGUTU - At least three MDC supporters were
arrested in
Chegutu yesterday after they confronted Zanu PF agents taking
down the names
of voters at polling stations.
Incumbent
mayor Francis Dhlakama of MDC was facing Martin Zimani
of Zanu
PF.
The Standard understands Zanu PF agents were promising
voters
maize meal after the mayoral election, which was marked by a low
voter
turnout.
At the polling stations visited by The
Standard news crew, there
were virtually no queues. But streets in the town
were full of people going
about their daily business. Others were drinking
beer at shopping complexes.
However, Officer Commanding
Chegutu, Superintendent Charangwa,
denied that skirmishes had occurred
between Zanu PF and MDC youths.
He said: "The incident was
just a misunderstanding between Zanu
PF and MDC supporters. It is of no
consequence."
There was heavy Zanu PF presence at many
polling stations, in
what locals said showed the determination of the ruling
party to wrestle the
seat from the MDC.
At a polling
station at Hartley, some Zanu PF supporters were
partying less than 100
metres away from the school gate. Some wore party
T-shirts.
Only 388 people had cast their votes by 1PM at
the polling
station while 109 had been turned away for a variety of reasons.
These
included voting in the wrong wards and having no identity documents.
Results
were expected late last night.
Zim Standard
By
Nqobani Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - The Department of National Parks
and Wildlife has
reportedly blocked the distribution of equipment and engine
spare parts
worth more than US$60 000 destined for Hwange National Park
where dozens of
elephants died of thirst last year.
The
equipment has been lying idle due to differences between
National Parks and
the Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce (ZCFT), singled out
by the donors for
the implementation of the project.
The equipment includes
spares for the repair of diesel engines,
broken down water pumps, upgrading
of water troughs, repair of National
Parks motor vehicles and cash for the
purchase of fuel for the engines.
There is also an
undisclosed amount of cash to be used in
repairing roads to make all
corners of the park more accessible.
Johnny Rodriguez, ZCFT
chairman, last week confirmed that the
donated equipment was still lying
idle while cash to implement some of the
projects still remained unused due
to differences with National Parks. These
centre over who should implement
the project.
"We received the donations three months ago,
mainly from
America, but we reached a stalemate over disbursement because
the
department of parks wanted to take charge but the donor wanted ZCFT to
be in
control and since then, the department of national parks is no longer
interested in dealing with us. The donation is still with us," Rodriguez
said.
He said his organisation had written a letter to
National Parks
director, Morris Mtsambiwa, and Environment and Tourism
Minister, Francis
Nhema, seeking clarification on the way forward. There
however has been no
response.
Contacted for comment,
Nhema confessed ignorance of the ZCFT
letter and the stalemate with the
national parks authority.
"As far as I am concerned there are
no problems because I met
with some of the donors and they were happy. What
I hear from you is news
and the issue of the letter from ZCFT is also news
to me," Nhema said.
The donated cash and equipment was
sourced by the ZCFT after
realisation that the government lacked the
capacity to save elephants in the
Hwange National that were dying due to
drought.
Rodriguez warned that last year's events were likely
to be
repeated if the watering points at the national park Park were not
attended
to urgently.
"The best time to repair the
boreholes and the water pumps is
now when we still have the rains because
later the situation will be
catastrophic when there are few watering holes
left," Rodriguez said.
Zim Standard
By
Godfrey Mutimba
MASVINGO - War veterans and senior police
official, Assistant
Commissioner Loveness Ndanga have finally started
complying with High Court
and Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri's orders
to return illegally
seized farm equipment worth trillions of dollars, The
Standard has learnt.
However, there are reports that some
Zanu PF politicians are
determined to hold on to their loot, in a move that
could prejudice
commercial farmers of billions of dollars. Some of the
equipment is on sale
through the black market and police are yet to recover
it.
Ndanga, war veterans and senior politicians had defied
high
court orders to return farm equipment looted from remaining white
commercial
farmers, prompting Chihuri to intervene.
The
equipment looted included tractors, harrows, ploughs,
harvesters, trailers,
planters and irrigation machines.
When The Standard visited
Phoenix hall, a police recreation
centre in the city, last week, it saw
piles of farm equipment that had been
returned. It appeared more equipment
was being ferried to the place.
Some of the farming equipment
came from as far as Rusape, where
politicians own farms.
A white commercial farmer from Mwenezi, who also preferred
anonymity for
fear of jeopardising the on-going process, confirmed to The
Standard that
the equipment was being returned.
"We have received reports
that the processing of and returning
the equipment in line with the High
Court order has started and we are
looking forward to repossessing our
equipment,'' he said.
However, the move did not please
provincial war veterans'
leader, Isaiah Muzenda, The Standard was told.
Muzenda allegedly called for
a meeting last Sunday where he unsuccessfully
tried to incite demonstrations
against the return of the illegally seized
property.
A war veteran who spoke to The Standard said
Muzenda who chaired
the meeting pleaded with his colleagues to stage
demonstrations in the city.
"Muzenda wanted us to demonstrate
against the order to return
the property but we refused.We can't be seen
fighting for the gains of
individuals who do not think of us when they will
be benefiting," said the
war veteran who declined to be
named.
Muzenda declined to comment. "I can not comment on
that one now.
Call after two to three weeks, may be I will be able to
comment," he said.
Zim Standard
By
Godfrey Mutimba
THE Deputy Minister of Education and Culture
and Mwenezi MP,
Isaiah Shumba is battling to take over a shop left behind by
a commercial
farmer at the height of the chaotic land seizures that began in
2000.
Shumba is embroiled in an ownership wrangle with a
Rutenga man,
Tarisai Mare, who was left in charge of the supermarket by the
commercial
farmer identified only as Patel.
The deputy
minister has since approached the Mwenezi magistrate's
court seeking the
eviction of Mare who says Patel left the shop to him after
having worked
well for him for a long time.
Mare of 4 Rutenga Growth Point
told the court that Shumba was
using his political muscle in order to evict
him from the property.
He said Shumba initially approached him
and persuaded him to
sell him the property but Mare
declined.
This, he said, angered Shumba who sought the help
of Mwenezi
Rural District Council where he obtained a lease agreement with
an option to
buy the shop from the council.
The deputy
minister then rushed to the courts where he is
seeking the eviction of
Mare.
In the summons, Shumba claims that he is entitled to
take the
occupation of the shop. Part of the summons reads:
"On 3 July 2004, Plaintiff entered into a valid lease agreement
with
Mwenezi Rural District Council in terms of which Plaintiff hired from
the
Rural Council stand number 4 situated in the district of Mwenezi at
Rutenga
Growth Point for a period of 4 years with effective from 1 July
2004.''
Shumba prays for an order, with costs for the
eviction of Mare
from the stand.
Mare told the court that
the wrangle has been raging from the
time his former boss fled the country.
He also claimed that Shumba ordered
his relatives, including his children,
to assault him and at one time he was
beaten up and left for dead.
Zim Standard
By our
staff
THREE senior security officers, who were allegedly
selling maize
meal at exorbitant prices to residents at Hopley Camp in
Harare, are now
under investigation by the army's special investigation
branch, The Standard
has established.
Officers from the
army's special branch recently visited the
camp and ordered the three, who
were allegedly buying maize from the Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) cheaply and
reselling it at exorbitant prices, to stop
the practice
forthwith.
"They came and held interviews with residents here
but the
outcome of the inquiry will depend on the recommendations of
investigations
team," said a senior official at the camp.
Army captain, Douglas Mhlanga; the Principal Prison Officer,
James Manganya;
and a prison officer, Godfrey Jonyera, were allegedly buying
maize meal from
the GMB Aspindale depot on the pretext of assisting
residents at the camp
but were reselling it at a higher price.
A 10 kg of maize
meal cost about $50 000 at the GMB but the
security officials at the camp
would sell it for between $220 000 and $250
000. The security officers would
also sell opaque beer (scuds) at the
canteen.
Most of the
residents at the camp are poor since they lost their
belongings during
"Operation Murambatsvina", which rendered nearly one
million families
homeless countrywide.
Mhlanga last week refused to comment,
referring all questions to
Chief Superintendent Gabriel Dube, who is in
charge of Hopley housing
construction project.
Contacted
for comment on Thursday, Dube said he would not
discuss the matter over the
phone. He then switched off his mobile phone.
Army
spokesperson Major Alphios Makotore, however, confirmed
that investigations
had already begun.
Zim Standard
BY
NDAMU SANDU
CENTRAL Bank chief Gideon Gono flew out of the
country last week
for Washington to face the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) executive board
on Wednesday.
Standardbusiness can
reveal that Gono flew out of the country on
Thursday and was accompanied by
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa for the
crucial meeting. The IMF executive
board is scheduled to conduct its next
regular review of Zimbabwe's arrears
to the Fund on Wednesday.
At the meeting executive directors
will have an opportunity to
consider Zimbabwe's co-operation with the Fund
on policies and payments, as
well as the remaining sanctions and remedial
measures relating to Zimbabwe's
arrears. The sanctions include the
suspension of Zimbabwe's voting and
related rights in the Fund;
ineligibility to use Fund resources under the
GRA; declaration of
non-co-operation; and suspension of technical
assistance.
Zimbabwe all but survived the IMF's axe last month after
settling the US$9
million arrears under the critical General Resources
Account (GRA). The
settlement removes the basis for the Managing Director's
complaint with
respect to Zimbabwe's compulsory withdrawal from the Fund.
However, despite Zimbabwe settling its arrears under GRA, the
southern
African nation owes the lending institution overdue obligations to
the
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)-Exogenous Shocks Facility
Trust
(ESF) amounting to SDR 83 million (US$119 million). This means
Zimbabwe
remains excluded from the list of PRGF-eligible countries.
The IMF Executive Board declared Zimbabwe ineligible to use the
general
resources of the IMF on 24 September 2001.
Zimbabwe was
edited out from the list of countries eligible to
borrow resources under the
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) of
the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) on September 24, 2001 reviewed
Zimbabwe's overdue financial
obligations to the IMF, declared Zimbabwe
ineligible.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
A MANAGEMENT shake up looms at
the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel
Company (ZISCO) after Indian firm Global Steel
Holdings Limited (GSHL) was
awarded a 20-year management contract of the
ailing parastatal. GSHL entered
into a management contract with ZISCO on
Wednesday for the rehabilitation
and operation of the struggling State
enterprise.
The transaction, dubbed Rehabilitation-Operate
and Transfer
(ROT), will see GSHL injecting US$400 million for the
rehabilitation of
ZISCO plant components particularly blast furnace, coke
oven batteries, LD
furnace and rolling mills. But GSHL will not be receiving
an equity stake in
ZISCO. The investment would be in tranches and disbursed
within 18 months.
Sources said last week that there would be
a re-organisation of
top management at the loss-making parastatal in line
with a proposed turn
around strategy. However, other sources warned that the
proposed shake up
faces a stern test on how it would deal with MD Gabriel
Masanga, at the helm
of the company for over a decade.
Zim Standard
Comment
IT is difficult to believe there is common
consensus binding
government officials on how to run this country, apart
from their naked
greed to prosper at the expense of people they purport to
represent.
Several weeks ago, the Deputy Minister of Industry
and
International Trade, Phineas Chihota, appeared before the Senate hotly
disputing opinion from senators to amend Clause 36 on the proposed merger of
the Zimbabwe Investment Centre and the Export Processing Zones
Authority.
Chihota described as "improper and unreasonable"
to consider
amending the clause. It was not until he was reminded that his
Minister,
Obert Mpofu, had agreed with their opinion that he somersaulted.
All of a
sudden he was prince charming!
Didymus Mutasa,
the Minister of State [National Security]
Responsible for Overseeing Lands,
Land Reform and Resettlement Programme,
recently stopped the invasion of
Kent Estates, in Norton, by three
officials - two from government and a
third from the ruling party.
However, two weeks ago the same
Mutasa declared he wanted an
audit to establish what business the few
remaining white commercial farmers
still on land had.
The
pronouncement unleashed a fresh wave of disruptions to
farming. Ruling party
militias spearheaded the purge, especially in
Mashonaland West. We have not
heard anyone calling them to heel.
In yet another act that
muddies his stance on Kent Estates he
then travelled to Chegutu, where he
ordered a farmer's crop be shared with a
deputy minister, giving a new
meaning to naked greed repackaged as land
hunger.
Governor of the Reserve Bank, Dr Gideon Gono, has described any
disruptions
to farming as sabotaging economic turnaround efforts. The
government
mandated him to reverse the unprecedented economic decline.
But it will not help him act against those subverting efforts
to put
Zimbabwe on the path to recovery. Instead the government and the
ruling
party are promoting what amounts to open defiance.
Last week
Vice President Joseph Msika, while addressing guests
to a field day at
Seed-Co's Kadoma Research Centre castigated those who were
allocated farms
but remained unproductive. Some of the new farmers
proceeded to evict white
commercial farmers without the permission of the
government, Msika said in
his attack.
"We cannot remove any white farmer because it is
stupidity. Some
of you when you take these farms don't make use of them.
Don't evict a
farmer simply because of his/her colour. That is shooting
yourself in the
foot. you should make productive use of the
land."
Not surprisingly, this open rebuke was tucked
somewhere in a
corner inside the pages of the State-run media suggesting
these were
pronouncements of an old man only fit to be
ignored.
We are reminded of the invasion of the horticultural
concern,
Kondozi, in Manicaland that was taken over prejudicing the country
of huge
foreign currency earnings. Msika was unambiguous in his
condemnation of the
invasion. However, a pattern seems to be emerging.
Unfortunately it appears
to say the government's view is that Msika's
pronouncements should not be
taken too seriously.
Gono
would have been heartened by Msika's remarks ahead of the
IMF Board meeting
in Washington this week.
There are numerous other
inconsistencies and contradictions that
scuttle efforts at bringing Zimbabwe
back into the international fold. It is
difficult to assure the world that
we mean what we say, and above all prove
it with our actions.
Zim Standard
sunday opinion by Webster Zambara
THE last week of January
2006 will be remembered for bad
developments on the economic and social
front. Urban and rural transport
went up by fifty and eighty percent,
respectively. Beverages went up forty
percent. The black-market fuel prices
went up significantly too.
These events preceded the
announcement in the previous week by
the Reserve Bank governor Dr Gideon
Gono that a new fifty thousand dollar
bearer's cheque would be in
circulation from 1 February, to be followed by
the introduction of a new
currency later in the year.
It is the introduction of a new
currency that I am writing on,
not because price increases are irrelevant
but we are so much used to them
now that we accept them as the norm. The
introduction of a new currency, on
the other hand, is a far more complex
issue. Of interest is also the fact
that the IMF team was in the country
during that period.
The price increases and introduction of a
higher denomination
bearers' cheque may be attributed to a number of factors
but I will focus on
two aspects, the global geo-politics and a weak economy.
While these two are
so much related, I would like to interrogate the second
one first simply
because it is the nearest to us.
Our
economy is so weak that the central bank governor and the
Ministry of
Finance failed to handle the extra-yearly wages to our
hard-working but
poverty threatened civil servants in a manner that is not
financially
explosive.
Gono even predicted a rise in inflation, which he
once declared
the nation's "enemy number one", to rise further before
receding.
Much has not been said about what exactly will lead
to the
decline. The end of hyperinflation does not mean the end of suffering
or
extreme poverty.
Far from it! I should ruefully say to
the government's economic
team that if they are brave, heroic, steadfast,
earnest and honest, they
could turn our impoverished, hyperinflationary
country into an impoverished
country but at least with stable prices. I know
I irk some people by saying
it so candidly that we are a very poor
country.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs (2005:20) distinguishes
between three
degrees of poverty; extreme (or absolute) poverty, moderate
poverty and
relative poverty. To him, extreme poverty means that households
cannot meet
basic needs for survival.
They are
chronically hungry, unable to access healthcare, lack
the amenities of safe
drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education
for some or all of
the children, and perhaps lack rudimentary shelter and
basic articles of
clothing such as shoes.
Is this not what we are seeing in
Zimbabwe today?
Our municipalities are at pains to tell us
that the water they
pump is safe for drinking, on a day that it comes.
Uncollected stinking
garbage is with us everyday. In any case, do you know
that in our country
there are some people who spend the whole year without
making or receiving a
phone call?
Do you accept that in
Zimbabwe there are people who spend the
whole year without boarding a bus or
a car? In my rural home, Chiguhune in
Gutu, more than half of the children
attending primary school go to school
bare feet, even in
winter.
In any case, having four buns and a freezit is not
having lunch.
It is keeping the body and soul together! What of our health
delivery
system?
These are the very basic needs for
survival, so I am simply
saying the truth. Zimbabweans are the only people
in the world who wish the
past would be the future, simply because the
levels of poverty have been
deepening over the years.
Let
me go back to my point of departure that we are eagerly
looking forward to a
new currency in a weak economy. To make our currency a
convertible currency
the Zimbabwe dollar should be pegged at a stable value
from the start of any
reforms. To do that Zimbabwe will need foreign
currency reserves, which
could be put in a highly visible stabilisation
fund.
This
means reviving our foreign currency-earning agro-commercial
production,
which is the mainstay of our economy. Let me take tobacco for
example,
simply because I used to teach that Zimbabwe's highest foreign
currency
earner is the golden leaf.
Then it earned us more than 30% of
our foreign exchange.
In the year 2000 we produced 262
million tonnes of the crop. I
can't recall exactly how much we grossed, but
last year we only sold 69
million tonnes of the same crop. Indications are
that this year we are going
to produce even less than what we produced last
year. This is the same with
maize production and other agricultural
products. We wait to hear why we
will not produce enough now that the rains
have come in abundance.
Our other foreign exchange earnings
came from mining and
tourism, and these sectors are in shambles as well.
These three sectors
could provide our currency with the foreign currency
stability we need. At
the moment the economy is so weak that introducing a
new currency makes
little sense.
Gono risks making
nothing more than a ceremonial posture of
fighting inflation, which will
rise again because of the earlier, given
reason. When Poland returned to
Europe, the Bush administration (Father) and
other governments set up a US$
1Billion Zloty Stabilisation Fund in order to
inject convertibility and
stability to the polish currency.
Unfortunately at the moment
we do not have anything to stabilise
our currency on because our main
productive sectors are asleep. The fact is
economic success requires not
only bold reforms at home but also financial
help from
abroad.
Much as our budget deficit which resulted in our
hyperinflation
is just a symptom of much deeper ills, I find serious
disparities in having
a "Look East" policy and at the same time trying to
please the very "West"
that we are giving our backs to.
The geopolitics of the world has changed drastically since the
time of the
Cold War. It's now a question of fundamentals in a globalised
world rather
than simply the direction one looks to.
The creditor
governments that control the IMF set debt policies
according to the wishes
of major international banks rather than the
dictates of good macro-economic
policy and international commitments to the
needs of extremely poor
countries like us.
From a humanitarian point of view, renewed
debt servicing is
completely inappropriate. Renewed debt servicing will
crush the living
standards of already impoverished people, and has potential
to politically
destabilise the country.
It is ironic that
we can afford to pay back the IMF when our
hospitals are without equipment
and drugs. I wish we would revise our
foreign policy so as to be able to
deal with anyone economically for the
benefit of
everyone.
Successful change requires a combination of
technocratic
knowledge, bold political leadership on fundamental economic
realities and a
broad social participation. We will not go it
alone.
I look forward to a day when, as Zimbabweans, we will
have
stopped spending our daily lives searching for goods on the black
market, or
queuing up for goods in front of empty shops. On that day, we
will not be
poor millionaires.
Zim Standard
sundayopinion by Louise Arbour
IN the coming days the
international community will have the
chance to start putting in place a
reinvigorated system for the protection
of human rights around the
world.
This unique opportunity comes in the form of a
blueprint for a
new global rights watchdog now awaiting approval by the UN
General Assembly.
The initiative deserves our support.
The world body is being asked to act on the establishment of a
Human Rights
Council to replace the contested UN Commission on Human Rights.
The Council
has taken shape over months of often heated and difficult
negotiations in
the wake of the World Summit held last September in New
York. All the
international leaders at that gathering reaffirmed the place
of human rights
as a central pillar of the UN's work and decided that the
Commission should
give way to a stronger institution.
The proposal submitted
to the Assembly by its President has the
features to be that stronger
institution. The draft will allow the future
Council to deal more
objectively, and credibly, with human rights violations
worldwide. It sets
standards for new member countries, who will be asked
to make an explicit
commitment to promote and protect human rights. It also
provides for the
suspension of members who commit gross and systematic
abuses.
Unlike the Commission, the Council will be
required to review
on a periodic basis the human rights records of all
countries, beginning
with its members. No country will be beyond scrutiny,
and no longer will
countries be able to use membership of the UN's premier
human rights body to
shield themselves or allies from criticism or censure
for rights breaches.
The Council will also meet for longer
periods throughout the
year and be able to respond quickly to developing
human rights crises.
Potential violators would be on notice that the world
was watching
permanently, not just for six weeks in the spring, when the
Commission
traditionally comes together.
The Commission
gave the international community the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights
and a number of core treaties to protect
fundamental freedoms. During its
annual sessions, the Commission drew
attention to many human rights issues
and debates. It allowed civil society
groups to bring the grievances of
individuals to the international stage,
and as such was the only global
forum where abusers could be directly
confronted.
It also
established a unique system of independent human rights
investigators. One
of those experts was among the first to warn of
impending genocide in
Rwanda, while another expert drew attention to the
situation in Darfur
before it hit the headlines.
There is no escaping that the
Commission has lost much of its
credibility. Some States wanted to become
members not to strengthen human
rights but to protect themselves against
criticism or to criticise others.
And the Commission was slow to act to stem
grave abuses on a number of
occasions. This credibility deficit undermines
the United Nations human
rights system as a whole. The Council goes a long
way to addressing the
reasons for these shortcomings.
Let us be clear: the proposal now before the General Assembly
is the result
of compromise. It cannot be an ideal blueprint. And there is
no reason to
believe that more negotiating time will yield a better
result.
But even an institution that is perfect on paper
cannot succeed
if the international community does not make the necessary
change in the
culture of defending human rights.
It was
in large part its failure to make this change - its
inability to reinvent
itself after laying down the framework for the
international human rights
system -- that hobbled the Commission.
The case of Rwanda is
sadly instructive. There, the Commission's
procedures worked, yet the
investigator's warnings went unheeded. The
political will and commitment of
the international community will be as
important to making the new Council
work as any changes in structure or
working methods.
*
Louise Arbour is UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her
Office works
with the Commission and would be called upon to support the
work of the
Council.
Government abdicates its responsibilities to nation
THE shortage
of basic commodities has reached alarming
proportions and there appears to
be no short or medium term solution to the
crisis. The national leadership
seems to have run out of ideas and
strategies to resolve the
crisis.
Maize meal, sugar, fuel and fertiliser are not readily
available
on the open market. However, they are sometimes found on the
parallel
market. Mbare Musika, for instance, stocks maize meal and
fertilizer which
are in short supply while supermarkets desperately look for
them.
Fuel is hardly found at service stations. But the black
market
never runs out. Most Zimbabweans spend their meagre resources and
valuable
time hunting for those basic commodities with little success. When
they are
eventually found, the scarce commodities are very expensive and
beyond the
reach of the ordinary citizens.
The impact of the
shortages on the family, workforce, business
and the economy is
multi-faceted. The shortage of food commodities affects
the health of the
family and the workforce, leading to lower productivity,
profits and
government revenue.
When fertiliser is in short supply,
agricultural yields are
substantially reduced. Consequently, the nation
faces food and foreign
currency shortages despite the abundance of land and
rains. Foreign currency
is desperately needed to procure fuel and a host of
other essential imports.
Without fuel, the whole economy will
eventually grind to a halt.
Currently, reduced economic activity affects
business growth and expansion,
government revenue as well as employment
creation.
Soaring prices of commodities are fuelling
hyper-inflation which
peaked in January and is expected to rise beyond 800%
by mid 2006.
Among all stakeholders, the shortages are causing
stress,
frustration, despair and despondency. The consequences are poor
health, more
suicides, anger, crime and migration.
There is
also increased criminal activity as people search for
ways of
surviving.
Throughout the world, it is the duty and
responsibility of the
national governments to create a good environment for
business, work,
innovation, inventions and tourism. It is also their duty to
provide enough
fuel and food for the nation. They are also supposed to
foster international
relations, which attract foreign investment and
tourism.
Unfortunately, the government of Zimbabwe has abdicated
its
responsibility to provide enough food and fuel for the nation. The
people
have looked up to national leaders but have been forced to scrounge
around
inside the country and across its borders to fend for
themselves.
As in the time of Ian Smith's days, Zimbabweans are
leaving
their homeland to become economic and political refugees. It's time,
not for
arrogance, but for introspection and facing up to the
reality.
Zimbabwe Liberators Platform
Harare
------
Right move on MRDC by
Chombo
FOR the first time, the Minister of Local
Government, Ignatious Chombo, has done the right thing in appointing an
investigating team to look into the affairs of Masvingo Rural District
Council.
Before delving into some of the many
corrupt
activities of the Masvingo Rural District Council (MRDC), plaudits
should go
to Kennedy Tachiona Chiminya for his integrity and courage in
revealing what
has always been swept under the carpet by the spineless full
council of the
MRDC.
If MRDC had two or more
council members of the
calibre and integrity of Chiminya, the MRDC would be
a force to reckon with.
The assumption that people under the MRDC area of
jurisdiction do not know
what is going in their council is misplaced. We are
fully aware of what has
been going on in our council offices but it seems we
have been powerless to
do anything about it.
Our
chief executive officer wielded so much power
and enjoyed the protection of
powerful government ministers that is why he
enjoyed such immunity, despite
allegations of multiple land ownership
especially at Nemanwa Growth
Point.
It is common cause here that three of the
stands
have buildings at window level, while there is a night club at
Mapanzure
Business centre and a business complex at Mazari, which is quite
considerable by rural standards.
The question to
pose to the minister is: Will the
investigating team be able to identify all
these ill-gotten properties
without the involvement of the ordinary citizens
living under MRDC? If the
team is after the truth and nothing else, it
should listen to the ordinary
citizens of the area, or provide a mechanism
where ordinary citizens can
forward written
submission/evidence.
But council members of the MRDC
should also be
investigated because a good number of them have benefited
financially from
the extra legal activities at the council. Chombo should
have the courage to
publicise the findings of the probe team into the
MRDC.
Anti- Corruption
Masvingo
---------
Commercialisation of education
deplorable
I learnt with shock the recent
announcement
by the Ministry of Higher Education and the university
authorities that the
tuition and all costs incidental thereto have been
upped and students are
expected to pay out of their pockets, assuming they
have any.
What is interesting however is that
the
purported increase in student payouts is not commensurate with the
increase
in fees, despite the efforts by the Secretary of Higher Education
to fool
the world that students allowances have been increased to cushion
them from
spiralling costs.
The news,
which has sent shockwaves
reverberating across the country, came a few days
before opening. Assuming
the issue of notice arises this does not constitute
reasonable notice at all
having regard to the amounts the students are being
asked to raise.
I say assuming because the
issue of notice
doesn't even arise because whether or not the most
reasonable of all notices
was given students are not going to pay anything
out of their pockets. This
is not because they don't want nor do they want
to be stubborn but they won't
because they
can't.
It doesn't require any fertile
imagination
for anyone let alone the University authorities to realise that
99.99% of
the students are indigent. What they have are the brains and not
the money
but they have the fundamental and inalienable right to education
recognised
the world over by any government that wants to be taken
seriously.
In fact, the very existence of
state
universities as opposed to private universities is to cater for the
country's
populace irrespective of one's financial
standing.
I shudder to imagine what will
become of
the thousands of students across the country who can not comply
with this
utterly ridiculous and outrageous
decision.
To speak in their language, such
commercialisation of education as we are witnessing is tantamount "to
reversing the gains of our hard-won
independence".
Let me hasten to remind those
in authority
that they went through the same University of Zimbabwe and were
never asked
to pay anything out of their pockets. If anything they were
actually given
grants and not loans for being
students.
If I may pose the question: what
then is the
whole point of setting up the so-called provincial state
universities like
Lupane when the government is failing to fund such
universities of
longstanding as the University of Zimbabwe among others?
It is not about
quantity but quality.
I
therefore call for cool heads and rational
thinking on the part of the
powers that be starting from the Chancellor, His
Excellency, and the
Minister of Higher Education right down to the last man
in this hierarchy. I
implore them to urgently and seriously consider
continuing with the loan
system of funding tertiary education.
If this
does not happen they should not be
surprised if the majority of students
fail to pay. The most honourable thing
to do in those circumstances would be
to shut down the institution.
We won't pay
not because we don't want to
but because we
can't.
Hazviiti F
Chawatama
Mt
Pleasant
Harare
---------
Oh, it's so easy for the whizz-kid
Gono
PERMIT me sir, to express my admiration
for
our central bank. Its team's
enterprise, innovation and quick
thinking continue to set new
standards of
excellence.
Most recently, the IMF thought
they had us
in a tight corner
but with
the wizardry of a Thierry Henry, we
are away and
laughing.
Inspired, I have become determined
to
emulate their exploits.
Never
impressed with my personal academic
achievements, I chose
to
extrapolate the principles of their recent
success to this area first. A
brief
visit to the office photocopier later,
I am now the proud owner
of
nine
degrees.
I am open to offers to lead any of
the
opposition political parties that are presently in contention in seeking
new
perspectives.
I am next focusing my
attention on feeding
the hungry within our borders. With the wizadry
demonstrated elsewhere,
there is no reason why this should not be
possible.
If I can, somehow, convince the
Minister of
Agriculture, Dr Joseph Made, to conduct, not one this time, but
three aerial
surveys with adequate photography, I am convinced that there is
a way to
treble our national agriculltural output in just one
season.
I am nearly
feverish
with excitement at the potential for
success
with this and future
projects.
Speechless
Borrowdale
Harare
-------------
Mugabe the
problem
I refer to the interview on President
Robert
Mugabe's birthday with Chris Chivinge. Chivinge forgot to ask the
President
if after retiring he sees himself reverting to an ordinary citizen
going
about shopping, mingling with the ordinary people and moving around
without
any escort just like Nelson Mandela, Bakili Muluzi, Bill Clinton and
the
late Julius Nyerere.
On the issue of
blaming ministers and ZIFA
for non-performance, what can he say about his
own performance when the
economy and virtually everything has collapsed
right under his nose. He
(Mugabe) is the problem and as such must just
disappear.
Mudhara
weNorton
Norton
-----------
Yearning for
success
THINGS are beginning to take shape up
as
Zimbabweans come home to take their role in the circle of life ( Simba
the
Lion King).
Okay, the equation is now
balancing out. The
Mutambara's, pro-Senate Senators and the other faction
that cooks sadza and
has it as well, are now in a race for the vacuum as it
becomes more glaring
that indeed power will be relinquished
soon.
It is not yester-years' success that
the
people are after. Put it this way; we want not just change but
transformation of Zimbabwe into a competent and competitive country. So as
excitement peaks we wait to hear he that preaches
transformation.
Zimbabwe yearns for the touch
of excellence.
Owen
Mandisodza
Harare
---------
Zaka West is now the worst in
the country
WHEN I think of my home area, my
heart
starts to bleed. Zaka West has become Zaka worst, the worst
constituency in
the country.
The roads
are in their worst-ever state that
they should no longer be called roads but
gulleys and animal-tracks. No
buses, no even Scotch
carts.
Marbel Mawere is so quiet since she
took
over from equally ineffective Jefta Chindanya. I always see the likes
of Ray
Kaukonde talking about developments in his area, but Mawere is
virtually
non-existent.
ZBC's Nathaniel
Mlambo is all over in
Masvingo but nowhere have we ever seen him chronicling
the achievements
Mawere has brought to the
area.
To the people of Zaka West, I say don't
just
vote for people you will only see during elections. Vote for someone
who is
from within.
The idea of saying
Mawere is married to
business people does not guarantee us her interest in
the people of Zaka.
Zanu PF should drop all
useless members
because they pose a serious threat to the future of its
survival.
Finally I want to commend the
Governor of
the Reserve Bank, Dr Gideon Gono for finally hitting the nail on
the head
when he said politicians were the worst enemies of the country's
economic
turnaround strategy. Down with corruption! We want those involved
in corrupt
activities behind bars.
Mockeans Mageza
Bulawayo
----------
Poor fiscal, monetary policies
'killing us'
I was stunned when I heard that
Zimbabwe had
used foreign currency belonging to individuals to pay off its
IMF debt, and
has now printed more than $20 trillion to recompense the
victims.
The Reserve Bank should be trying to
attract
more investors and creating a stronger investor buoyancy level,
instead of
these desperate measures that can only prolong the suffering
among
Zimbabweans.
After this latest
move by the RBZ our
foreign currency shortages must have
deteriorated.
Only a retard would deposit
his/her foreign
currency in Zimbabwe right now. Zimbabwe's foreign exchange
control
regulations are preposterous, tyrannical and are not doing the
economy any
good.
How are you supposed to
attract deposits
when you are taking away what belongs to depositors? I
guess the parallel
market will just get more lucrative thanks to you Dr
Gideon Gono, the
Reserve Bank Governor.
It won't be long before the IMF and any
other foreign investor or donor
agency want nothing to do with us. So does
Gono think what he has done is
really worth it?
Our capital account is
wretched just like
the current account and this move of his is definitely
not going to do us
any good.
President
Mugabe's reckless statements about
not following time-tested
"bookish"economic rules such as not flooding the
money market with useless
paper money is not going to help either.
Trevor T Chatikobo
Washington
DC
US
---------
Earning peanuts at Power
FM
I am at present with Power FM, a
subsidiary
of financially troubled ZBH. Things are not working out at this
radio
station. Our salaries must surely be the lowest in the media
industry.
An average DJ is earning something
like
$7.5million a month. What can one buy with such
peanuts?
You can also tell that things are
not
working out at the station by the down-loaded international music we
play.
The station does not have foreign currency to import music. Power FM
is in
trouble.
Advertisers are not coming
to the station
because of the listeners we cater for. Who would want to
advertise to
school-going children?
The
room we operate from is so small so much
that at the end of the day it is
stuffy and sweaty. It is very uncomfortable
to work in such an
environment.
Worse still, with the peanuts we
earn, who
can afford to buy deodorants to fight the bad odour that results
from
working in such a a stuffy room.
I
wonder why Jonathan Moyo removed us from
Pockets' Hill. We are lost here in
Gweru. I urge the relevant authorities to
rethink and disband these useless
subsidiaries so that we can go back to
Pockets'
Hill.
Other radio stations such as SF and
Radio
Zimbabwe enjoy the support of advertisers because of the listeners
they
cater for. Just look at SFM and you can tell Tinashe Chikuse enjoys his
breakfast show by the quality of presentation as well as type of music, be
it local or international, that he plays.
By letting us go back to Pockets' Hill, the
poor DJs could be celebrating
an early Christmas. For most of us, remaining
in Gweru is now pure
torture.
Fed
up
Gweru