STEPHANIE NOLEN reports from Zimbabwe on a voice of reason in
an increasingly co-opted court system
By STEPHANIE
NOLEN Tuesday, March 8, 2005 -
HARARE -- The woman who is arguably Zimbabwe's best lawyer hasn't won an
important case in recent memory. Sure, she wins the divorces and the
commercial cases -- but few of the crucial ones, the battles to protect
freedom of expression and the democratic process in her imploding country.
Even when the rulings go her way, the judgments are ignored and the
victories are empty.
Some might wonder why Beatrice Mtetwa
keeps going back to court.
"People always ask me why I go to court
if I don't believe it is possible to get justice," Ms. Mtetwa said in her
law office in the capital last week. "But I am one of those who wants to
record every little thing. So I take most cases to court, not because I
expect I will win but so we can learn -- 10 or 20 years from now, we can
look at these records and say, 'You, you were the judge who made this
ruling.' "
Ms. Mtetwa, 46, has been back in Zimbabwe's supreme and
constitutional courts again and again in recent weeks, in the run-up to the
parliamentary election on March 31. She has fought spying charges against
three of the past four international correspondents in the country, who have
fled out of fear for their safety; argued to get popular opposition
parliamentarian Roy Bennett out of jail; appealed to reopen newspapers
closed by the government; and tried to get four million exiled Zimbabweans
the right to vote.
The lawyer has a brisk and steely manner, at
odds with her funky 1970s-style eyeglasses and the bubble gum she likes to
snap, and an unmistakable fearlessness. Although she has represented the
defence in nearly every prominent human-rights case in Zimbabwe since the
country's political crisis began in the late 1990s, she has remained mostly
unscathed. (One exception: She was badly beaten by a police officer,
presumably because of her human-rights work, in October of 2003, when she
was attempting to get help with a carjacking.)
She won't say as
much herself, but one simple thing appears to protect her: She is one of the
best lawyers in town, and even her most bitter opponents in the ZANU-PF
party come to her for their private legal matters. She refuses to violate
their confidentiality, but it is well-known in Harare that Ms. Mtetwa
handled the police commissioner's divorce, even while suing him in more than
a dozen rights cases.
Ms. Mtetwa, who was born and raised in
Swaziland, moved to Zimbabwe in 1983, when she married a local math
professor.
In the 1980s, after the country's long struggle for
independence, she worked as a government prosecutor, and so she is
well-acquainted with the circle of ministers around President Robert Mugabe,
who have drafted a series of increasingly repressive laws. The country's new
Public Order and Security Act, for example, outlaws any political meeting of
more than five people. The state broadcaster is not allowed to accept
advertisements from opposition parties.
Despite the repression,
this year's campaign period has been comparatively peaceful, to the surprise
of many international observers. Mr. Mugabe's youth paramilitary has been
deployed around the country but there have been few of the vicious attacks
on opposition supporters that characterized the 2000 parliamentary election
and the 2002 presidential vote. For the first time, the Movement for
Democratic Change was invited to air its platform on the national
broadcaster.
Ms. Mtetwa, however, finds little comfort in
this.
"One shouldn't say I'm happy with this little window when the
whole door should be open. We must disabuse people of this idea that half
the loaf is better than nothing when you are entitled to the whole loaf,"
she said.
The best voice for political pluralism in Zimbabwe was
the fearless Daily News, an independent newspaper that was shut down in
2003. Ms. Mtetwa fought the paper's legal battles; she last appeared in the
supreme court to argue for it a year ago. But the court has refused to
release a judgment "despite the fact of [its] huge importance to
Zimbabwe."
This constant battle with an increasingly co-opted
judiciary is taking a toll on Ms. Mtetwa.
"It is emotionally
draining," she said. "It particularly affects me when I know I cannot help
my client in any way, when we have a heap of court orders and no one is
going to enforce them, and so my client is deported or loses his property.
You feel you are a fake or masquerading as a lawyer."
Yet she has
no intention of stopping.
"It would be pointless to do this in the
first place if you were going to stop at some stage," she said.
"What I'm doing is not politics, it's legal. I know African politics and
African leaders and what they say today is not what they do when they come
in to power. . . . The constitution I am seeking to rely on is not an
opposition constitution. It's a constitution passed by this government. And
I'm not fighting for the opposition as it is, but for the rights as a
whole."
This story is the second of two parts on women making a
difference ahead of the country's March 31 election.
Secret benefactor offers to fly SA men home
March 8, 2005
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare: A secret
benefactor has offered R130 000 to fly the 62 suspected South African
mercenaries in Zimbabwe back home as soon as possible after their expected
release today from Harare's Chikurubi maximum security prison.
The Zimbabwean government - apparently too cash-strapped to fly them home -
had offered to bus them back to the border post at Beit Bridge today, their
lawyer, Alwyn Griebenow, said yesterday.
But he said that he had
made the Zimbabwean government a counter proposal to pay for them to fly
back today. He said he was still waiting for a response from the Central
Intelligence Organisation.
Griebenow said a benefactor had offered
the R130 000 needed to fly all of the men to SA. He declined to name the
benefactor.
SA Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie
Mamoepa was quoted yesterday as saying that South Africa's ambassador to
Harare, Jerry Ndou, had confirmed that the men would be freed
today.
"This follows a meeting between the Zimbabwean Foreign
Ministry and immigration officials, who have now concluded everything
required for their deportation," Mamoepa said.
The men, all
arrested in connection with a botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea a
year ago, should have been free by now given that four months was lopped off
their sentences last week.
According to local media, the problem
was that the Zimbabwean government regarded many of the men as citizens of
non-South African countries such as Angola and Namibia. This had created
confusion as the government said it had to deport them to their home
countries.
Though several of the men were born outside SA, all were
carrying SA passports at the time of their arrest a year ago yesterday when
they flew to Harare International Airport in a chartered Boeing 727
aircraft.
The Zimbabwean government alleged they had stopped in
Zimbabwe en route to Equatorial Guinea to participate in a plot to overthrow
the government.
When the 62 men are released, two South
Africans will be left behind - Jaap Steyl and Hendrick Hamman, the pilots of
the Boeing 727.
They are expected to be released on May
14.
The men all denied the coup plot in court, saying they were
hired to guard a mine in the DRC.
The New York Times said in an editorial
yesterday:
For more than 40 years, the epitome of wasted
potential and squandered opportunity in Africa has been Nigeria. From the
time it gained independence from Britain in 1960, that behemoth of 137
million people has seemed to do its level best to fritter away every natural
advantage. Given the second-highest proven oil reserves in Africa, Nigerian
officials spent oil income on lavish estates in Europe instead of decent
schools and water systems back home. The country that produced the Nobel
laureate Wole Soyinka and arguably Africa's best author, Chinua Achebe, was
better known for the cruel, thieving dictator Sani Abacha.
Now,
"Nigeria is changing," says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the country's finance
minister. She suggested thinking of America and the West as the parent and
Nigeria as the child: "If your child has been doing bad things - drug abuse
or alcohol - and they come to you and say, 'My mother, I want to change;
please help me,' would you say no? Would you say, 'You are hopeless; you
can't change'?"
It's a tough question for anyone who has ever been
assaulted at the airport in Lagos just trying to enter Nigeria, or hit up
for a bribe by Nigerian government officials, or struck dumb at the sight of
orphaned children drinking dirty water on the street. But if America and the
developed world are serious about their stated intent to tackle poverty,
most of which is in Africa, then they cannot ignore the home of 20 percent
of sub-Saharan Africa's people.
Hard as it is to believe, there
are hopeful signs in Nigeria. The Nigerians, through two, albeit flawed,
democratic elections, have given themselves a reformist government with the
right intentions. President Olusegun Obasanjo has taken up the mantle of
anti-corruption - or at least slightly reduced corruption. He established an
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, whose chairman, Alhaji Nuhu
Ribadu, at risk to his life, has been terrifying current and former
officials with his investigations. Already, two rear admirals have been
convicted of helping to steal 11,000 barrels of oil. Some 130 customs
officials have been fired.
Bunkering, the quaint term Nigerians use
to describe outright stealing of crude oil by members of the armed forces or
the government, has been reduced to a mere 20,000 barrels a day from 100,000
barrels a day, according to Okonjo-Iweala. And finally - this should please
all of us who have received e-mail supposedly from Idi Amin's son or Charles
Taylor's wife offering untold riches if we'd only provide our checking
account numbers - three purported e-mail crime leaders have been
arrested.
Beyond the fight against corruption, Nigeria has made
huge strides in promoting regional security. Nigerian peacekeepers are in
Liberia, Sudan and Sierra Leone. Last month, when Togo installed the son of
the country's longtime strongman as president, it was Nigeria's Obasanjo who
led the fight that ultimately forced Faure Gnassingbe to step down. We can't
help but notice the difference between Obasanjo and the leader of black
Africa's other regional power, South Africa. Thabo Mbeki has largely thrown
up his hands in the struggle to force Zimbabwe to hold honest elections that
could rid it of the odious despot Robert Mugabe.
What's missing
is for America to take Nigeria more seriously, to do much more than simply
treat the country as a gas station. The United States has made some strides
with HIV-AIDS treatment in Nigeria, but that should be expanded to include
prevention as well. The country isn't anywhere close to qualifying for aid
under President Bush's Millennium Challenge Account, which ties money to
good governance. But that approach, while worthy, condemns the 80 million
Nigerians who subsist on barely anything. America should supplement the
Challenge Account program with something that encourages countries like
Nigeria to press ahead with reforms, and find ways - perhaps through private
aid groups - to funnel money to the desperately poor. Nigeria is too big to
ignore. If it doesn't succeed, it's hard to imagine that the rest of Africa
has much of a chance.
Zimbabwe mercenaries due in S.Africa, may be
charged
Tue March 8, 2005 9:04 AM GMT+02:00 JOHANNESBURG
(Reuters) - Sixty-two men jailed in Zimbabwe last year in connection with a
coup plot in Equatorial Guinea will arrive home to South Africa on Tuesday,
where they may still face charges, their lawyer and officials
said.
"We are conducting an ongoing investigation into the plot in
Equatorial Guinea ... Where there are grounds for prosecution, prosecution
will take place," said National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) spokesman
Makhosini Nkosi.
Their lawyer Alwyn Griebenow told Reuters he
was awaiting their arrival at the South African border, where they would
arrive by land on Tuesday. He said he had no details about their departure
or when they could be expected home.
The men, who were
travelling on South African passports, were found guilty last year on
weapons and immigration charges related to the plot.
A Zimbabwe
court last week reduced their sentences by four months following an appeal
to the country's second highest court.
They are part of a group of
69 who were arrested in Harare last March, accused of being an advance
mission en route to Equatorial Guinea to topple the oil-rich nation's leader
Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
One died in prison and others were found not
guilty or freed on medical grounds after spending months in
prison.
Equatorial Guinea sentenced 11 foreigners in November to
between 14 and 34 years in jail for their role in the plot, and two of its
own citizens to 16 months in jail.
In South Africa, the son of
former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mark Thatcher, pleaded
guilty in January to a role in the foiled plot under a plea bargain to avoid
prison.
Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki has given up on ensuring a
free and fair election in Zimbabwe to get rid of the "odious" President
Robert Mugabe, The New York Times claimed in a main article on
Monday.
The South African presidency has objected to the article and said
The Times had it wrong.
In the main article on the newspaper's
website, a direct comparison was made between Mbeki and Nigerian president
Olusegun Obasanjo and the inference was made that Obasanjo plays a stronger
role in maintaining democracy in Africa.
Referring to the way Obasanjo
handled the coup in Togo, The New York Times pointed out that the difference
between Mbeki and Obsanjo was obvious.
"We can't help but notice the
difference between Mr Obasanjo and the leader of black Africa's other
regional power, South Africa," the article stated. "Thabo Mbeki has largely
thrown up his hands in the struggle to force Zimbabwe to hold honest
elections that could rid it of the odious despot Robert
Mugabe."
Mbeki's handling of the crisis in Zimbabwe was contrasted
against Obasanjo's downright condemnation of the undemocratic change of
power in Togo.
After the death of President Gnassingbe Eyadema, the
defence force of Togo executed a bloodless coup and opened up the way for
one of Eyadema's sons, Faure Gnassingbe.
After condemnations from
Obasanjo and the ensuing pressure of the Economic Community of West African
States (Ecowas) and the African Union, Gnassingbe stepped down.
Free
and fair
The New York Times' criticism comes after Mbeki maintained last
week that he had no reason to believe that the elections in Zimbabwe would
not be free and fair.
This position was reiterated by deputy minister
of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad, on Monday despite reports that the American
ambassador to South Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has warned that Mbeki's handling
of the Zimbabwe issue was causing her to "fear" for the future of Nepad (New
Partnership for Africa's Development).
Bheki Khumalo, spokesperson
for Mbeki, said the The New York Times' article was a "false
impression".
He said Obasanjo's handling of Togo and Mbeki's of Zimbabwe
could not be compared since Mugabe did not come to power in an undemocratic
coup.
"If there is an undemocratic coup in one of our neighbouring
states, we would act exactly like President Obasanjo did in the case of
Togo," Khumalo said.
"Even if you do not agree with the Zimbabwean
government's policy, it is a fact that Zimbabwe is holding elections soon.
Everything must now be done to ensure that these elections are democratic,
free and fair."
Khumalo said Mbeki had therefore not given
up.
When asked why there was a perception that Mbeki had given up on
Zimbabwe, Khumalo said those who made this allegation do not understand the
situation in Zimbabwe and were trying to portray that government as "a
military regime".
"This is not the case. Whether you like the outcome
or not, the Zimbabwean government is an elected one."
THE National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) has fired from its Political Parties Liaison Committee five
opposition parties, including the MDC, for their acquiescence to participate
in the parliamentary polls slated for March 31. The NCA, chaired by
Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku, has of late been on the warpath with
the MDC over its decision to participate in the general polls. In a press
statement released by the NCA subcommittee yesterday, the civic grouping
expelled en masse five political parties from its Political Party Liaison
Committee with effect from February 18 2005. The other expelled political
parties are: the National Alliance for Good Governance (Nagg), Zimbabwe
African National Union (Zanu), Zimbabwe African People's Union-Federal Party
(Zapu-FP) and the Multiracial Open Party Christian Democrats
(MOP-CD). The move immediately attracted scorn from the affected parties,
with MDC's secretary general Welshman Ncube describing it as
foolish. "The person who told you that (the expulsion) should know that April
1 (Fools Day) is four weeks away. Those interested in fooling people should
wait for that day," said Ncube, whose party decided to take part in the 2005
general elections "under protest". Ncube, the legislator for Bulawayo North
East, said the opposition would not be dragged into petty squabbles with
individuals bent on confusing the citizenry. Part of the statement
written by the NCA's chairperson of the Political Parties Liaison Committee,
Wurarayi Zembe, read: "Five political parties have been expelled from the
NCA Political Liaison Committee with effect from Friday, 18 February 2005.
The unanimous decision was taken by the committee at its 13th ordinary
meeting held on 2 March 2005. Zembe said the parties had been expelled for
violating common positions and principles within the NCA effective February
18 2005. The nomination court sat on February 18 and Zembe said by
participating in that process, the parties had automatically expelled
themselves from the committee. "The political parties were found guilty
of wilful and/or reckless abandonment of agreed common positions,
resolutions, principles and policies of collective strategic action within
the NCA constitutional movement in its struggle for a new democratic
constitution in Zimbabwe. "The opportunistic behaviour exhibited by the
parties ended up with them contesting in bogus elections currently being
held under an undemocratic constitution that the Political Parties Liaison
Committee rejected as illegitimate and the entire NCA constitutional
movement is fighting to remove." Zembe said by agreeing to participate in
the general elections, the expelled parties had adopted a contrary position
to that of the NCA. He said specific positions breached by the parties are:
"The October 24 2002 resolutions that Zimbabwe had an illegitimate
Constitution and government; Political Parties convention resolutions of 5-7
March 2004 that without a new democratic home-grown constitution, elections
will be boycotted by all political parties in the NCA; April 7 2004
Political Parties Petition.demanding a new democratic constitution before
the March 2005 elections and NCA AGM resolution of 11 October 2003 that 'No
elections without a new Constitution'." The Political Parties Liaison
Committee has since recommended to the NCA National Taskforce to deal with
the from page 1 membership status of the dismissed political parties in terms
of the NCA constitution, including that of its national vice-chairperson,
Douglas Mwonzora, who is also contesting the Nyanga seat on an MDC
ticket. NCA spokesperson Jessie Majome said: "The taskforce hasn't been
briefed on the matter yet and so no action has been taken. The committee is
just a subcommittee of the NCA and just makes recommendations to the
taskforce." Reacting to the expulsion, Nagg President Lloyd Chihambakwe said:
"No one from Nagg is participating in the elections. He (Zembe) is just
another.(unprintable word) trying to make money." ZANU spokesperson
Reketayi Semwayo said: "It's wrong for him to wake up and write letters
without consulting members. We are still members of the committee and there
was no reason for him to give you the letter first before we had even seen
it." Zapu-FP leader Paul Siwela was unavailable for comment, while Godwin
Murambiwa, leader of MOP-CD said of the dismissal: "It makes no difference.
We are not controlled by Madhuku, we are a party with its own structures and
executive. We joined the NCA for constitutional reform, but it now appears
that they are an auxiliary party of another party." Although MOP-CD did
not field candidates for the polls, its aspiring candidate for Harare
Central, Matthias Guchutu, protested in the nomination court in Harare over
the $2 million nomination fee which they argued was exorbitant. Zembe
said the only parties remaining in the committee were the Zapu, Democratic
Party (DP) and the Zimbabwe National Congress (ZINC). DP and ZINC pulled out
of the elections before the nomination court sat.
ABOUT 50 creditors of the closed
Royal Bank walked out of a meeting convened by curator Robert Mclndoe in
Harare yesterday to persuade them to endorse proposals by the Zimbabwe
Allied Banking Group (ZABG) to acquire the financial institution's assets.
Royal Bank was placed under curatorship last year due to liquidity
crunch. In January this year it was incorporated into ZABG by the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe, but the financial institution had since gone to court
challenging the move. The creditors yesterday argued that the information
provided by the curator was inadequate and demanded that he revises the
bank's financial statements produced yesterday. The creditors wanted to
know how much the curator was paid by the central bank, and if he had been
paid, why he received preferential treatment ahead of them. They also
demanded to know why in the document that Mclndoe sent them, he did not
include the income statement - a critical component of the information that
would show how much the central bank had pumped into Royal Bank. The
curator, through his officials, tried to convince the creditors to accept a
debt swap, saying the liquidation route they wanted would take a long time
and was expensive and unviable. "The purchase of the bank's assets by the
ZABG would protect depositors and creditors from further loss of value and
this was considered a better option than liquidating Royal Bank. "The
bank's assets are at 50 percent of its liabilities and debts would be
difficult to recover. "The other advantage of taking up shareholding
would be that the shares would soon be traded at the stock exchange thereby
growing value for shareholders," said Mandla Moyo, an official with the
curators. However, the creditors ordered that Royal Bank's books be audited
first in accordance with the Banking Act before a public offer is made for
interested investors to acquire the commercial bank in its current
state. The creditors further demanded a proper valuation of the bank's assets
by an independent valuer, not the curator who, they said, was taking orders
from the central bank, an interested party by virtue of its 96 percent
shareholding in ZABG. Creditors also queried why ZABG had started
offering loans to directors in its infancy. "You have told us that part
of the reasons why Royal was closed was huge loan payments, but the ZABG has
already advanced a $634 million loan to one of the directors; how do you
expect us to approve your proposals?" said a creditor. Mclndoe remained
silent throughout the grilling, not answering most of the questions, before
turning around and saying the document was not his but had been drawn by
ZABG. "Why do you present to us a document that you cannot explain? Go back
and make a thorough job before coming back because as it stands, most vital
facts are missing," one of the creditors shouted as they made a beeline out
of the meeting. In an interview with The Daily Mirror, Mclndoe said he
would not call another meeting but would communicate with the creditors
through individual correspondence. "This was the best option, but I will
not call another meeting, nobody benefited from this meeting," a visibly
shaken Mclndoe said.
MDC legislator for Gweru Rural Renson
Gasela is suing headman Chisadza for allegedly violating the Traditional
Leaders Act . Chisadza successfully submitted his nomination papers to
stand as the Zanu PF candidate in the constituency for the March 31
parliamentary polls. Gasela has applied to the Electoral Court seeking the
disqualification of the headman from contesting the poll and that he be
declared the winner. He argues that Chisadza's nomination was in
contravention of provisions of Section 45 of the Traditional Leaders
Act. In papers filed with the Electoral Court in Bulawayo on March 4 2005
(Case No EP 2/05), Gasela is the sole applicant while Desiree Gambura and
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) are the first and second respondents
respectively. Josphat Madubeko, who is headman Chisadza, is the third
respondent. The first respondent is cited in his capacity as the election
officer who accepted the headman's papers when the Nomination Court sat on
February 18. In his founding affidavit, Gasela, the MDC shadow minister of
agriculture, argued that headman Chisadza, as a traditional leader, must not
have sought nomination to contest in the general elections. In the
affidavit, Gasela said: "I have reason to believe that the third respondent
did not qualify to stand as a candidate for the parliamentary election and
for this reason his nomination should have been rejected by the first
respondent and I should have been nominated unopposed and therefore duly
elected member of parliament for the constituency. This obtains from the
fact that the third respondent is a traditional leader as he is a headman
under Chief Bunina of Lower Gweru and carries his function as such as
headman Chisadza." Gasela added that the ruling party's candidate did not
relinquish his traditional post prior or after the nomination court's
seating. Part of the final order the MDC shadow minister is seeking
reads: "In the event that the third respondent documents do not meet the
requirements of the law, his nomination be and hereby nullified and he is
disqualified from contesting the parliamentary seat." Gasela also wants
the court to declare him the winner of the poll and all the respondents to
pay the costs of the suit. Headman Chisadza was yet to respond to Gasela's
lawsuit. Gasela's petition is the second to be lodged with the court, after
another one by jailed MDC Chimanimani legislator Roy Bennett challenging the
Nomination Court's decision to bar him from contesting in the polls. The
Nomination Court declared Bennett's wife Heather and Samuel Undenge eligible
to contest the seat on the MDC and Zanu PF tickets respectively. The court
is yet to make a ruling in this matter. Nicholas Mathonsi, of Bulawayo law
firm Coglan and Welsh, is representing Gasela.
THE return of the Agricultural
Marketing Authority (AMA) will give government unlimited power over
agricultural produce, according to Basilio Sandamu, Horticultural Promotion
Council (HPC) director. "As you know we had AMA in the 1980s. Virtually all
products were controlled by the authority at that time," Sandamu said at an
Interfresh analyst's briefing held recently in Harare. HPC is a
producer-based organisation whose primary role is creating and sustaining
an enabling environment for the maintenance and expansion of the
horticulture industry in Zimbabwe "However, today only maize and wheat
are controlled. AMA will give the Minister of Agriculture the right to
intervene in every agricultural product except pork and tobacco." The AMA
Bill was speedily passed through Parliament late last year but only got
presidential assent late last month, meaning that AMA now exists as a
recognised corporate entity just like the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Working structures of the new institution are yet to be put in place but
analysts said the next step following the president's approval of AMA would
be the rationalisation of an initial budget to bankroll it's
operations. "We are still waiting on how it is going to work but what we have
been made to understand at the moment is that they won't interfere with the
private sector activities. But if private sector activities are not helpful
to new farmers, government will intervene and take control. In other words
it gives government unlimited power." From 1986 to 1999, horticultural
exports recorded an average annual growth of 15 percent, with the value of
gross export realisations increasing considerably. According to the central
bank, in 1996 horticulture, encompassing cut flowers, fruits and vegetables,
as well as citrus fruits, accounted for US$53.5 million or 24 percent of
agricultural exports, excluding tobacco. In 2004, total horticulture
shipments totalled around US92 million, or 28 percent of total agricultural
exports, excluding tobacco. For the current year, the central bank
anticipates that horticulture will contribute US$166 million, or 37 percent
of agricultural exports, excluding tobacco.
LONDON-based
Original Black Entertainment Television (OBE TV) chairman, Bernard Ampaw,
has dismissed local media reports that he retracted all damaging allegations
against Miss Tourism World president John Singh He says a document to that
effect purportedly signed by him was forged. Speaking to The Daily Mirror by
telephone from the British capital yesterday, Ampaw also denied ever
exonerating Singh. He said never at any one time did he say Singh had settled
the debt he owed his company in England. In yesterday's issue of The
Herald, OBE TV was said to have received US$200 000 and another 6 980
British pounds as consultancy fees in accordance with the contract signed in
Harare on January 3 this year. Ampaw vehemently denied signing any documents
that formed the basis of The Herald story, which implied that the issue had
been resolved, and that he had apologised to Singh. "I never signed any
document and do not retract any allegations against Singh. If anything, I
would lay criminal charges against him for forging my signature. What he did
is fraudulent," Ampaw said. He said Singh had only paid him US$61 538
instead of the US$200 000. The balance was meant to be paid to conclude the
deal. Ampaw warned that if Singh did not pay the balance he was even
prepared to come down to Zimbabwe to address the matter once and for all. He
said he would hold a news conference to clarify the issue. A writ of
arrest was issued against Singh by the High Court last Wednesday after OBE
TV filed an urgent application to stop him leaving the country before he met
his financial obligation. But Singh sneaked out of the country hardly three
hours after the order was granted. OBE TV's director of strategic
business, Michael Orji, also expressed utter disappointment over Singh's
latest move. "I am very disappointed that Singh is approaching this issue
from a very naďve perspective. He should realise that what he is doing is
criminal," Orji lamented. OBE TV's lawyer, Aston Musunga, of Musunga and
Associates, confirmed Ampaw and Orji's concerns. Musunga said he was
surprised that despite knowing fully well that he represented OBE TV in its
High Court case, the newspaper never bothered to verify facts with him
before going to print. "I don't want to believe that Singh is after using the
local press to clear his name. He was invited by a judge of our country to
come and defend himself in court before 7 pm last Wednesday, but he chose
not to abide by that," Musunga said. "Instead he left the country. If he
had nothing to hide, why didn't he come and clear his name before leaving
the country?" According to the agreement signed by OBE TV and Singh dated
January 3 2005, Singh agreed to pay OBE TV Limited 10 percent of the fees
charged and received from the host country (Zimbabwe) within 24 hours of
receiving the total licence fee.
From Our
Correspondent in Bulawayo issue date :2005-Mar-08
THE Bulawayo City
Council has come under fire from residents for allegedly billing them
astronomical water charges . The residents yesterday complained about what
they described as 'shocking'water bills from the municipality. Howard
Court residents, whose monthly water bills often range from $800 000 to $1,8
million, this month received a bill of $10 million. "This is really shocking.
Where do these people think we can get that hell of an amount? We need an
explanation as to why we are being charged like this," said Naison Moyo, a
resident at the court. A Pumula resident, Joice Choto, also claimed that she
received a water bill of $5 million. "I stay in the low-density suburb where
the average monthly charge is between $1, 6 million and $2 million. What is
more interesting is that this amount is even worth the value of the
property," she said. The local authority is reeling under serious financial
problems, which among others is a result of government's failure to pay its
debt to the council. The local authority is owed $12,4 billion by various
government departments in unpaid service charges. As of 31 December 2004,
residents also owed the city council over $71 billion. City treasurer
Middleton Nyoni yesterday said it was unprocedural for residents to complain
through the press. "These charges are astronomical according to you. Those
people have not approached us formally and I cannot comment on something I
have not seen or heard," said Nyoni.
The New York Times said in an editorial
yesterday:
For more than 40 years, the epitome of wasted
potential and squandered opportunity in Africa has been Nigeria. From the
time it gained independence from Britain in 1960, that behemoth of 137
million people has seemed to do its level best to fritter away every natural
advantage. Given the second-highest proven oil reserves in Africa, Nigerian
officials spent oil income on lavish estates in Europe instead of decent
schools and water systems back home. The country that produced the Nobel
laureate Wole Soyinka and arguably Africa's best author, Chinua Achebe, was
better known for the cruel, thieving dictator Sani Abacha.
Now,
"Nigeria is changing," says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the country's finance
minister. She suggested thinking of America and the West as the parent and
Nigeria as the child: "If your child has been doing bad things - drug abuse
or alcohol - and they come to you and say, 'My mother, I want to change;
please help me,' would you say no? Would you say, 'You are hopeless; you
can't change'?"
It's a tough question for anyone who has ever been
assaulted at the airport in Lagos just trying to enter Nigeria, or hit up
for a bribe by Nigerian government officials, or struck dumb at the sight of
orphaned children drinking dirty water on the street. But if America and the
developed world are serious about their stated intent to tackle poverty,
most of which is in Africa, then they cannot ignore the home of 20 percent
of sub-Saharan Africa's people.
Hard as it is to believe, there
are hopeful signs in Nigeria. The Nigerians, through two, albeit flawed,
democratic elections, have given themselves a reformist government with the
right intentions. President Olusegun Obasanjo has taken up the mantle of
anti-corruption - or at least slightly reduced corruption. He established an
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, whose chairman, Alhaji Nuhu
Ribadu, at risk to his life, has been terrifying current and former
officials with his investigations. Already, two rear admirals have been
convicted of helping to steal 11,000 barrels of oil. Some 130 customs
officials have been fired.
Bunkering, the quaint term Nigerians use
to describe outright stealing of crude oil by members of the armed forces or
the government, has been reduced to a mere 20,000 barrels a day from 100,000
barrels a day, according to Okonjo-Iweala. And finally - this should please
all of us who have received e-mail supposedly from Idi Amin's son or Charles
Taylor's wife offering untold riches if we'd only provide our checking
account numbers - three purported e-mail crime leaders have been
arrested.
Beyond the fight against corruption, Nigeria has made
huge strides in promoting regional security. Nigerian peacekeepers are in
Liberia, Sudan and Sierra Leone. Last month, when Togo installed the son of
the country's longtime strongman as president, it was Nigeria's Obasanjo who
led the fight that ultimately forced Faure Gnassingbe to step down. We can't
help but notice the difference between Obasanjo and the leader of black
Africa's other regional power, South Africa. Thabo Mbeki has largely thrown
up his hands in the struggle to force Zimbabwe to hold honest elections that
could rid it of the odious despot Robert Mugabe.
What's missing
is for America to take Nigeria more seriously, to do much more than simply
treat the country as a gas station. The United States has made some strides
with HIV-AIDS treatment in Nigeria, but that should be expanded to include
prevention as well. The country isn't anywhere close to qualifying for aid
under President Bush's Millennium Challenge Account, which ties money to
good governance. But that approach, while worthy, condemns the 80 million
Nigerians who subsist on barely anything. America should supplement the
Challenge Account program with something that encourages countries like
Nigeria to press ahead with reforms, and find ways - perhaps through private
aid groups - to funnel money to the desperately poor. Nigeria is too big to
ignore. If it doesn't succeed, it's hard to imagine that the rest of Africa
has much of a chance.