http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 20:02
PRESSURE is piling on Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to act decisively on
President Robert Mugabe's
unwillingness to fulfill their power-sharing
agreement after
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana's decision to appeal
against the acquittal
of MDC-T treasurer-general Roy Bennett on treason
charges.
The
issue dominated meetings of the MDC-T's Standing Committee on Friday
evening
and that of the national executive yesterday.
A national council indaba today
is expected to come up with a resolution
instructing Tsvangirai not to
accept any more "dilly-dallying" by Mugabe on
the issue of Bennett when the
two meet tomorrow.
The national executive also resolved to press
Mugabe to swear-in Bennett as
the deputy Minister of Agriculture with
immediate effect following his
acquittal by the High Court on
Monday.
Mugabe had promised to swear-in Bennett once he had been
cleared by the
courts of the banditry and terrorism charges he was
facing.
"It was unanimous that we will not move an inch on the issue
of Bennett,"
said a source close to the meetings. "Mugabe has no choice now
and we are
not going to compromise again."
In the past Mugabe has
said the only thing stopping him from swearing-in
Bennett was the court
case.
But Zanu PF has now indicated that it would appeal against the
acquittal of
Bennett further setting the stage for confrontation with the
MDC-T.
Sources in the former opposition party said despite the appeal
Tsvangirai
was set to meet Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara
tomorrow
at which Bennett's appointment would be top on the
agenda.
The party's national executive also resolved to approach
South African
President Jacob Zuma, the facilitator in the interparty talks
so that he can
rein in the increasingly intransigent Mugabe and Zanu
PF.
"It was felt during the meetings that Mugabe and Zanu PF are not
willing to
fulfil and implement the outstanding issues," said a
source.
"So they recommended that the party approach Zuma again so
that he can rein
in Mugabe and Zanu PF."
The MDC national executive
meeting came after Zanu PF ministers boycotted a
Council of Ministers
meeting that was to be chaired by Tsvangirai last
Wednesday.
Yesterday's meeting also received a report from the
party's negotiating team
which briefed them about the lack of progress in
the talks.
A report about the violence that occurred at Harvest House
recently was also
presented to the meeting.
"It was shocking that
the report concluded that there was no factionalism in
the party and yet
everyone knows that was the issue that caused the
violence," said another
source.
The meeting recommended stern action against all those who
were involved in
the violence against senior members at the party's
headquarters.
Reports say violence was a result of a power struggle
between Biti and
permanent secretary in the Prime Minister's office Ian
Makone, who is
Tsvangirai's right-hand man.
Also discussed at the
meeting was the indigenisation law, the looting of
diamonds from Chiadzwa in
Marange by suspected senior Zanu PF members, some
of whom are in the
inclusive government.
It was agreed that the party find a way of
ensuring that diamond proceeds
flow into national coffers to boost the
economy.
The meeting also received reports from provinces which
indicate an increase
in political violence and intimidation against MDC
members.
"It was clear from the reports that there is no free
political activity in
the rural areas and this will certainly affect the
proposed outreach
programme," said the source.
Party spokesperson
Nelson Chamisa said the MDC-T deliberated on a number of
issues including
the state of the party and that of the unity government as
well as the
constitution-making process.
He however declined to reveal the
recommendations made to the national
council which is meeting
today.
"As a party of excellence, we are going to make our
resolutions public after
our national council meeting tomorrow (today),"
said Chamisa.
"These matters are still in the oven for baking and
once they are ready we
will dish them out."
The principals'
meeting tomorrow is going to be the first in almost a month
after earlier
negotiations were finalised by the party's respective teams.
The
principals have failed to meet since April, allegedly due to other
commitments, but political analysts see it as one of Mugabe's delaying
tactics.
This has delayed the implementation of some of the
remaining issues in the
GPA.
Zuma's facilitation team is
reportedly waiting for Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
Mutambara to meet first and
deliberate on the negotiators' report before the
South Africans can resume
their mediation process.
The team's next mediation effort is dependent on
the principals'
recommendations to Zuma on the way
forward.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 19:54
BULAWAYO
— Owen Maseko, the prominent visual artist whose exhibition on the
Gukuruhundi atrocities was forcibly closed down by the police in March on
accusations it insulted President Robert Mugabe is now seeking recourse from
the High Court.
Maseko, a resident artist at the Bulawayo Art Gallery was
arrested after
police stormed the exhibition and took down the
paintings.
He is out of custody on US$100 bail.
High Court
judge Nicholas Ndou ruled recently that Maseko’s application to
force police
commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri and the two Home Affairs
co-ministers
Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mutsekwa to allow the exhibition to go
ahead was not
urgent.
His lawyers said the case would now be treated as any other
matter before
the court.
Maseko had argued that he was losing a
lot of revenue following the
suspension of the exhibition.
In a
certificate of urgency signed by Bulawayo lawyer, Esther Sarimana, on
behalf
of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), the artist said the
closure
of the showcase was unlawful because the police did not have a court
order.
Sarimana said police had also ordered the gallery to cover the
paintings
without following the proper channels and this had deprived Maseko
of income
since he had a contract for the exhibition.
“Applicant
is entitled to immediately resume his display of artistic works/
paintings
and the continued covering of the artistic works by the police is
illegal
and prejudicial beyond repair for the applicant,” the lawyers
said.
But responding to the application, Detective Chief Inspector
Augustine
Kubvorino of the Bulawayo Central Police Station’s Law and Order
Section
said the exhibition could not be re-opened as it contained
“statements and
pictures derogatory to the person of the
president.”
“I ordered the closure of the Bulawayo Art Gallery so
that the public would
not continue reading such derogatory statements on the
President and that
the windows (to the gallery) be covered by some
material,” he said.
“Inscriptions covered at the Bulawayo Art Gallery
depicted events that
happened during Gukurahundi.
“Some of the
inscriptions read: ‘Mugabe must go. Gono must go. Who cannot
forgive and
forget about Gukurahundi?
“We can still be eliminated anytime. This
wound is huge and deep, it is the
darkest hour in Zimbabwe’s
history.”
He said police still wanted to lay charges against Vote
Thebe, the gallery
manager for allowing the exhibition to go
ahead.
Maseko was charged with undermining or insulting the president
and “causing
offence to persons of a particular race or
religion.”
His paintings depicted the army crackdown in Matabeleland
and Midlands in
the 1980s, which killed over 20 000
civilians.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 19:49
The
Zimbabwean national who was among the 103 people killed in a plane crash
in
Libya last week has been identified as Jacob Mwela from Redcliff.
Mwela died
as the Afriqiyah Airbus A330 he was a passenger in broke up after
coming
down short of the runway in Tripoli.
"He worked and was based in
London. He was at home on holiday and to
facilitate the clearance of his car
that he purchased in Japan," the
official said.
"Information at
hand shows that he boarded the plane to connect from South
Africa to London
where he worked."
His father Jacob Mwela also confirmed the death
yesterday. He said six
family members were already in Libya to facilitate
the repatriation of the
body.
"Yes it is true. My son Jacob has
passed away," he said in a telephone
interview.
"He is one of the
people who perished in the plane crash in Libya. We do not
have much detail
for now.
We wait to hear from those that have gone there, they will give
us more
information, probably tomorrow.
The plane was en route from
Johannesburg, in South Africa, to the Libyan
capital when it crashed at
around 6am on Wednesday.
British papers have also reported that
Zimbabwean-born Senzeni Moyo who had
since acquired UK citizenship had also
died in the crash.
Moyo, thought to be in her late 40s, was
originally from Zimbabwe. She
worked as a nursing assistant at the Brandon
Mental Health Unit, in
Evington, according to the Leicester
Mercury.
The sole survivor of the disaster was Ruben Van Assouw - a
nine-year-old
Dutch boy, whose parents and 11-year-old brother were also
among the
victims.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
Authorities have ruled out a
terrorist attack. - Additional reporting by
Leicester Mercury.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 18:32
GOVERNMENT has banned public
protests until after the Fifa soccer World Cup,
which kicks off in
neighbouring South Africa next month in a desperate bid
to market the
country as a safe tourist destination.
South Africa expects close to 450 000
foreign fans during the month-long
extravaganza and Zimbabwe is one of the
countries in the region praying for
spinoffs.
Co-Minister of Home
Affairs, Giles Mutsekwa said the ban on demonstrations
was part of efforts
to rebrand the country's image after almost a decade of
chaos.
"That is true (banning of protests). . . it's an
arrangement to present
Zimbabwe and the region as a whole as a safe
destination," he said on
Friday.
"It's also a strategy to rebrand
the country's image."
Police have always come hard on protestors
especially those targeting the
country's rulers.
The formation of
the inclusive government has done little to reverse the old
regime's dislike
for an environment where freedom of speech and assembly is
guaranteed.
The revelation that MDC-T was part of the decision to
ban demonstrations has
however unsettled the party's partners in the civil
society.
Despite being in the inclusive government, the MDC-T cannot
organise
protests without interference from the police. Zanu PF supporters
have
always been free to demonstrate wherever they like.
"We
don't want the country to have an image of an unsafe destination long
after
the World Cup," said Mutsekwa of MDC-T.
"It might be construed that
the country is unsafe for anything be it sports,
business or
anything."
Zimbabwe says it is targeting 30% of the tourists expected
at the global
soccer showcase but with less than a month left, indications
are that the
target was too ambitious.
Meanwhile, some Bulawayo
based civil society activists say the ban is a non-
event.
Qhubekani Dube, whose Ibhetshu Likazulu group plans to
hold protests against
the North Korean team at the World Cup over the
Gukurahundi atrocities, said
it would be time to show that Zimbabwe's police
force needs urgent reform.
A fortnight ago Bulawayo police rejected
an application by MDC's Bulawayo
province to demonstrate against the slow
pace in reforms promised by the
inclusive government.
The youths
had to seek Mutsekwa's intervention to continue with their
peaceful
demonstration.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 18:31
Zanu PF official denied
bail
A senior Zanu PF official implicated in the ZB Bank Nyanga armed robbery
case had his bail application thrown out by the High Court on Friday.
Justice Tedious Karwi said there were fears that Nathaniel Mhiripiri might
interfere with witnesses if he was granted bail. He said chances were also
high that he would abscond.
In his application last week, Mhiripiri said
he holds an "important
position" in Zanu PF and would not abscond if given
bail. However, the
state opposed the application saying Mhiripiri might
interfere with
witnesses if granted bail.
"The applicant has stated in
his application that he is a prominent
politician and businessman in the
small town of Rusape.
"He has a lot of influence amongst the youths in that
area," read the
application.
"He is well known by virtue of his position
and he is in a position to
interfere with witnesses."
The state also said
evidence showed that Mhiripiri supplied his accomplices
with a
firearm.
The robbers got away with US$110 378 and R14 332.
Police
officers to appear in court
A bail application by two police officers accused
of killing a Chikombedzi
man following a misunderstanding while drinking
beer will be heard at the
High Court tomorrow.
Brian Magama and Isaac
Kachena were arrested for beating Luckson Muringani
to death.
The court
heard that on April 17 the two officers who are based at ZRP
Support Unit
Buchwa were drinking beer at Chibvadziva business centre when
they had a
misunderstanding with Muringani, a fellow patron.
They dragged him to
Chibwedziva base where they took turns to assault him
all over the body with
Mopani sticks and a rubber sjambok.
Muringani died the following day and his
brother reported the matter to the
police leading to the arrest of the two
officers.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010
18:29
WOMEN'S groups want the constitution-making process delayed until
the
political climate is conducive for outreach teams to carry out their
work in
yet another potential stumbling block for the process.
This
demand was made at a recent civil society cluster meeting organised by
the
National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) ahead of
the
crucial phase of the process.
The Constitutional Parliamentary Select
Committee (Copac) is likely to set
the dates for the outreach programme when
it meets tomorrow, its
co-chairperson, Paul Mangwana said
yesterday.
But the women activists say the outreach would be a waste
of time as long as
the rule of law is still applied selectively and
legislation such as the
Public Order and Security Act as well as the Access
to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act are in the statute
books.
"The operational environment is currently not conducive for
the outreach
teams to conduct their work," Nango said.
Activists
are also lobbying for more women to be included in subcommittees
that would
lead the revision of the country's supreme law to promote gender
parity.
But Mangwana (Zanu PF) said Copac could not get women
representatives for
such clusters as priests and that could influence
results from the religious
sector.
"But we are doing our best to
address some of the anomalies," he said. "For
example, out of 70
rapporteurs, my party Zanu PF has 34 women and 36 men."
"We are very
much supportive of women empowerment but the mistake that women
make is
demanding instead of asking."
Meanwhile, Mangwana said Copac last
Friday failed to set dates for the
outreach as it was still waiting for the
procurement of materials to be used
in the exercise.
He said the
dates would most likely be set tomorrow after a meeting with the
procurement
team which is being supervised by the United Nations Development
Programme.
The materials to be bought include audio and video
equipment.
BY JENNIFER DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 18:22
THE Zimbabwe
Media Commission last week postponed a crucial workshop to
expedite the
licensing of new newspapers because of financial problems amid
reports that
commissioners were also in disagreement on who to hire as
resource
persons.
ZMC sources said the postponement would result in further delays in
licensing new newspapers.
The three-day workshop that was
scheduled to begin on Thursday is now
expected to take place at the end of
the month.
During the workshop, the sources said, the commission had
intended to hold a
board meeting to look into applications by mass media
houses wishing to
start new papers.
"The workshop has been
postponed to end of May because of financial
constraints," a commissioner
told The Standard. "Besides the issue of money,
we are yet to finalise the
selection of resource persons for the workshop."
ZMC is yet to
receive US$47 000 it was allocated by Finance minister Tendai
Biti in the
2010 national budget and this has affected its operations.
The
sources said the commissioners were "deeply divided" on who to hire as
resources persons, with commissioners linked to Zanu PF reportedly pushing
to have Media, Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu, his
permanent secretary George Charamba and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana as
some of the facilitators.
This move, the sources added, was being
opposed by other commissioners who
argued that Shamu and Charamba should not
be involved if ZMC was to maintain
its independence.
"We are
saying we must not be seen to be controlled by the ministry,"
another source
said.
"We need to maintain our independence and integrity. There are
signs that
the ministry intends to influence our operations, hence the
resistance."
Other commissioners wanted University of Zimbabwe law
professor Geoff Feltoe
to be one of the leading resource persons but the
Zanu PF-linked
commissioners "vehemently and adamantly" opposed the
move.
Feltoe has written a lot of literature on the media in Zimbabwe and
is
regarded as an authority on press laws.
As a result of the
disagreements on facilitators, the sources said, the ZMC
set up a committee
headed by its chairperson Godfrey Majonga and deputised
by Matthew Takaona
to look into the matter.
The postponement of the workshop, the
sources said, would delay the
processing of applications.
The
sources said the commission had agreed unanimously to first grant the
banned
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), the publishers of The Daily
News
and The Daily News on Sunday, an operating licence.
"The Daily News
is deemed licensed after a special committee led by the late
Chinondidyachii
Mararike adjudged that they met legal requirements," the
source
said.
"After that we were going to look into the applications of the
media houses
like Alpha Media."
The Mararike committee was set up
in 2007 after a High Court judgement which
compelled government to deal with
the ANZ case once and for all.
On Thursday, Majonga declined to
comment on the postponement of the workshop
and the alleged division on
resource persons.
"At the moment we have nothing to communicate to
stakeholders," Majonga
said.
The ZMC is under pressure from media
houses and proponents of press freedom
to speed up the licensing of
newspapers in line with provisions of the
global political agreement, which
gave birth to the formation of the
inclusive government in February last
year.
One of the principals in the unity government, Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai last week said he expected the commission to license new
media
players within the next month.
"Within the next month,
Zimbabweans will once again have access to
independent daily newspapers
thanks to work of the newly formed Zimbabwe
Media Commission," Tsvangirai
said after receiving the Averell Harriman
Democracy and Human Rights Award
in Washington DC on Monday.
Own Staff
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 18:15
THE
power struggles in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have re-ignited debate on who really pulls the
strings in the former opposition party.
Party president Tsvangirai and
Tendai Biti, the secretary-general, were
always seen as the main
protagonists. But Ian Makone's name continues to pop
up in the
fray.
In political circles he has always been touted as a financier,
king-maker
and eminence grise behind the MDC-T but he has not been popular
among the
rank and file of the party.
Makone, a permanent
secretary and adviser to Tsvangirai, is widely
considered a
"Johnny-come-lately" in the party who landed the top post from
"nowhere" and
is accused of destabilising MDC-T.
His close relationship with
Tsvangirai has also become a source of
discomfort among some senior members
of the party.
Senior MDC officials say their advice and even access
to the PM has been
curtailed by Makone.
"Makone has ring-fenced
Tsvangirai and it is now difficult to have access to
him,'" said one MDC-T
official who requested anonymity.
"This is why there is factionalism
as some members feel Makone is getting
too powerful and yet he only came in
much later."
They claimed that Makone came close to Tsvangirai at a
time when the party
was facing serious financial problems.
Makone
and his wife Theresa, the sources said, bailed out the party by
paying
salaries for MDC-T staff as well as pumping out money for the
day-to-day
operations.
"He came in as a donor because he has good connections in
the white
community and the corporate world where he worked for a long
time," said
another a senior MDC-T official who requested
anonymity.
"So this is now pay-back time for Tsvangirai."
The
current factionalism and violence has been linked to a power struggle
between Biti and Makone. The two are reportedly jostling for the position of
secretary-general which Biti holds, ahead of the party's national congress
next year.
When the MDC split into two factions in 2005, Makone
was outvoted by Biti
but sources said the permanent secretary, an astute
businessman and
political schemer, is still determined to take up that post
to consolidate
his position in the popular movement.
Makone
joined the party a few years after its formation through Professor
Welshman
Ncube's office.
Ncube was then secretary-general but Makone managed to
manoeuvre his way
into Tsvangirai's inner circle.
But he rose to
prominence when he was appointed as one of the first
political negotiators
between MDC and Zanu PF after the disputed 2002
Presidential
elections.
He was later appointed director of
elections.
It was during this tenure that he was arrested, detained
and tortured by
security forces in the aftermath of the March 2007 police
brutalities.
He was accused of training MDC activists to bomb police
stations across the
country.
Before joining politics, Makone ran
several businesses and sat on many
boards of parastatals.
He was
also a chairman of First Mutual Life Society (FMLS), the country's
second
largest life assurance company, where he worked with Norman
Sachikonye, who
is now a principal director in the Prime Minister's Office.
In 2002,
there was a campaign to have Makone placed on the European Union
sanctions
list imposed on President Robert Mugabe and his cronies because
FMLS relied
heavily on companies with government links such as Olivine and
Zisco.
"Some have wondered why he has not been included on the
list of persons
barred from visiting America if his company benefits from
government-owned
company pensions," wrote The Herald
then.
Makone, the first black general manager of the Grain Marketing
Board (GMB),
also worked for Manica Freight Services, where he was
responsible for the
southern Africa region including countries such as
Tanzania and Kenya.
Sources said Makone is close to the Minister of
Economic Planning and
Investment Promotion Elton Mangoma after they worked
together at the
Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) now Agribank. Then he
was the
chairman of the corporation.
Those close to Makone said
he accumulated his vast wealth as a consultant
for Mugabe's administration
through his businesses and the several companies
he chaired before venturing
into politics.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from Makone were
fruitless last week.
His office said he was in meetings for the
greater part of the week. On
Saturday, he refused to talk to The Standard on
party spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa's mobile phone. Chamisa however denied
that Makone was preventing
party officials and supporters from accessing
Tsvangirai.
"The president is accessible at all levels," said
Chamisa. "Our challenge is
actually that he is too much accessible which
however is not even a problem
considering that we are a broad-based
party."
He also refuted allegations that Makone at one point financed
the party
saying the allegations are malicious.
"There is no
basis for such kind of malicious and dishonest allegations,"
Chamisa
said.
"Makone is a loyal and dedicated cadre of the party and his
credentials are
beyond scrutinising and questioning."
Chamisa
could not confirm whether Makone was once a government
consultant.
Apart from owning several properties in Harare, his
towering two-storey
house in rural Domboshava, just outside Harare, is a
spectacle. The house is
guarded by armed state security
details.
However, in politics the name Makone has become synonymous
with factionalism
in the MDC-T over the past few years. His wife, Theresa,
has also been
entangled in factionalism after she allegedly elbowed Lucia
Matibenga out of
the race to lead the MDC-T's women's assembly in 2007,
nearly splitting the
party again into two camps.
In that conflict
Tsvangirai supported Theresa to the chagrin of many of his
supporters.
But what further baffles those in the MDC-T is that
while Makone appears to
be very close to Tsvangirai, Theresa is a confidante
of Jocelyn Chiwenga,
the wife of Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander
Constantine Chiwenga.The
Public Works minister confirmed to the Zimbabwe
Independent in 2007 that
Jocelyn was her "long-standing
friend".
Ironically, Jocelyn's husband is one of the service chiefs
who have vowed
not to salute Tsvangirai even if he wins an election to
become the president
of the country.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010
18:01
MASVINGO - Two journalists from the privately owned Mirror
newspaper have
been summoned by the police after Tourism minister Walter
Mzembi pressed
criminal defamation charges against them.
David Masunda,
the publisher and the editor of the paper, Golden Maunganidze
have been told
to present themselves to the police in Harare.
This follows the
publication of a story on the paper's April 9 edition
claiming that several
Zanu PF bigwigs in the province had been implicated in
the theft of hundreds
of tonnes of sugar and fuel donated towards President
Robert Mugabe's 86th
birthday celebrations in February.
Although Mzembi's name is not
mentioned in the story, he is said to have
made a police report a fortnight
ago.
Maunganidze was interrogated by the police last week. Arthur
Marara of
Matsikidze and Mucheche law firm confirmed that Maunganidze and
Masunda had
been summoned.
"Police called me on Thursday and
asked me to report to their offices with
the publishers' representatives as
well as the editor who has since been
charged," Marara
said.
"They are facing criminal defamation charges for publishing a
story that the
minister felt he was implicated."
He said the two
were likely to appear in court on Monday.
Maunganidze's whereabouts
could not be established on Friday as he was not
reachable on his mobile
phone.
Masunda who was out of the country said he had not seen the
summons but was
aware that his editor had been charged.
But their
lawyer, has since written to the officer commanding the police's
Harare
Central Criminal Investigations Department Chief Superintendent
Ngirishi
threatening legal action over the way the case is being
handled.
Marara queried why the case was being investigated by police
in Harare when
the paper is based in Masvingo.
Five journalists
from The Standard and one from South Africa's Sunday Times
newspaper were
last month subpoenaed by the state to testify in the case
where Harare mayor
Muchadei Masunda and eight councillors are accused of
criminally defaming
controversial businessman Phillip Chiyangwa.
This was after the
papers broke the story that Chiyangwa had been implicated
in a massive theft
of pieces of land around Harare following a council
probe.
BY GODFREY
MUTIMBA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 17:58
SHAMVA - Around
this time two years ago, it was difficult to even imagine
that Bernard
Gandanhamo, Kennedy Chasakara and Tozivepi Mutsvangwa would sit
anywhere
near a Zanu PF supporter, let alone engage them in a discussion, a
meaningful one for that matter.
At the time, the three Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) activists spent
most of their time hiding from Zanu
PF militias who were on the rampage in
the area.
When The
Standard visited the area on May 21 2008, at the height of Zanu PF's
violent
campaign for the presidential run-off election, tensions were
palpably high
all over the community.
Scores of other MDC supporters had sought
refuge at the nearby Madziwa
shopping centre.
But it was a
different story on Monday last week -exactly two years since
that eventful
visit in 2008.
A group of villagers from across the district and the
political divide
gathered at the homestead of Simon
Musiiwa.
Ironically, Musiiwa's son passed away a few years ago from
causes that are
related to political violence.
This time they were not
discussing party politics, but how the villagers
could drive their own
development.
While the government-led national healing project
continues to stagger, the
villagers have managed to reconcile with each
other.
Although they have not really forgotten the gruesome
experiences of 2008,
they have forgiven each other and are working together
towards rebuilding
the community.
With support from a
community-based organisation, Chengaose Foundation Trust
and the United
Nations Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme
(GEF/SGP), the
villagers have grouped themselves into farmers' groups, with
membership
drawn from Zanu PF and the MDC formations.
One of the leaders of the
farmers' club, Solomon Kudyawuta said they have
since organised themselves
to commercialise some of their operations.
"We have realised that the
reason why we usually starve is because we are
disorganised," said
Kudyawuta.
"We have since set up a management committee to ensure
there is coordination
of the activities we carry out as a
group.
"We are also in the process of setting up a reserve fund which
we will use
for emergency purposes.
"After this, we will also set up an
insurance scheme. With enough resources,
particularly water, we are geared
to perform at the same level as commercial
farmers."
Lack of
food, noted some of the villagers, was also a contributing factor to
the
violence that rocked the area in 2008.
The national coordinator of
the GEF/SGP, Khethiwe Mhlanga challenged the
villagers to work hard, saying
that was the best way they could get out of
poverty.
"The most
important thing is to work hard, as a team," said Mhlanga.
"We have
to take stock of how this is transforming our lives. It requires
hard work,
but if you commit yourselves it's possible. We should be happy,
together
with our trees and animals."
Many of the villagers who attended the
gathering had all sorts of horrific
experiences at the height of political
violence, but they want all that to
be left in the past.
They
have also vowed to resist attempts by some senior politicians from the
area
to politicise their developmental projects.
"It's unfortunate that
there are some people who would want to label as bad
those people
spearheading such a noble process," said Leonard Kaseke, the
chairperson of
the farmers' club.
He was referring to Chengaose founder and
director, Isaac Chidavaenzi who is
now being seen as a threat to Zanu PF's
diminishing grip in the area.
Chidavaenzi says he is not a politician
and is not eyeing any political
office.
In an earlier interview,
Chidavaenzi told The Standard that he had realised
that people usually
resort to violence when they are idle, and would never
have time for petty
fights if they have something productive to keep them
busy.
"In
our project, we do not look at which political party one comes
from.
"All we are doing is to build the capacity of the villagers so
that they are
able to do things for themselves and spearhead their own
development," said
Chidavaenzi.
So far, five boreholes and six
deep wells have been drilled.
The villagers have however not started
accessing the water, as they are
still awaiting funds for the purchase of
tanks and pipes to draw water to
their homesteads.
They said once
the project was complete, they would be able to boost
agricultural
production, and parachute themselves out of poverty, and
unnecessary
strife.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 17:51
MANY
people were used to hearing the name Johannes Tomana only when
so-called
"outstanding issues" were mentioned.
But when Tomana, the
Attorney-General abandoned all other business and
prosecuted in the Roy
Bennett (pictured right) case, most people needed not
be told that it was a
matter of life and death.
The MDC-T's treasurer-general and
deputy agriculture minister designate was
arrested in February last year on
charges of terrorism, banditry, insurgency
and trying to depose a
constitutionally-elected government.
Bennett was arrested while other
members of his party were being sworn in as
ministers in the government of
national unity.
He was incarcerated for over two weeks but later
released on bail.
President Robert Mugabe steadfastly refused to
swear him into office,
insisting that the court's process must be allowed to
take its course.
High Court Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu on Monday
acquitted the former
Chimanimani legislator, ruling that the State had
failed dismally to prove
that there was a reasonable ground to place Bennett
on his defence.
The former commercial farmer could have faced
execution had he been found
guilty.
Political analysts last week
said Bennett's case was the weakest of all
similar cases of treason
witnessed by the country since independence.
"This was the weakest of
all cases ever thought of by the State," University
of Zimbabwe political
science lecturer Professor John Makumbe said.
"Compare for example
with a similar case against Morgan Tsvangirai and
Welshman Ncube and you
will realise that Bennett's was a joker's case.
"In the Tsvangirai
and Ncube case for example, we were shown videos which
actually made us
wonder at some point if indeed they had not committed the
crime.
"In this one, there was no such thing; it was a funny case
of somebody
masquerading as an AG providing shoddy evidence and expecting a
judge to buy
it."
In 2002, just a few years after the formation
of the MDC, the world woke up
to a grainy television footage of an alleged
meeting between Tsvangirai and
notorious former Israeli spy Ari Ben-Menashe
of Canada's infamous political
consultancy firm, Dickens &
Madson.
Using the footage, the state built a treason case against
Tsvangirai, Ncube
the then secretary-general of a united MDC and the party's
former shadow
agriculture minister, the late Renson Gasela.
The
trio was acquitted of the charges two years later after the state failed
to
prove its case.
Bennett joined the growing list of who-is-who in
Zimbabwean politics who
have tried to challenge President Mugabe and ended
up facing treason charges
that never were sustained by the Zanu PF
regime.
They include the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, Zanu
Ndonga leader the
late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, former Zanu PF politburo
member and now
leader of Zapu, Dumiso Dabengwa and human rights activist
Jestina Mukoko.
"All what this (Bennett) case did was demonstrate
that Tomana is a lousy
prosecutor," Makumbe said.
"Just look at his
pedestrian approach to the whole thing. . .trying to use
emails to prove a
serious case that can cost somebody his life.
"Even an amateur lawyer
would not use that evidence taking into
consideration that any average
thinking person would know how easy it is to
fake these
things.
Bennett's lawyer Trust Maanda said the defence team knew from
the onset that
their client was innocent.
"As far as the legal
side was concerned, we were sure we were going to win
but what kept us
afraid was the political persecution," Maanda said.
"At one time
Tomana threatened us saying we were interfering with the state
witness Peter
Hitschmann and we were afraid we could be arrested.
"We were also
scared of their potential to pull shockers on us, for example
they could
have brought new witnesses without our knowledge."
Maanda said the
defence knew the state's case was crumbling when the latter
insisted on
using an unwilling person as their key witness.
Hitschmann had to be
impeached by the State after being declared a hostile
witness.
"It was bizarre for them to force a witness who had
clearly indicated from
the onset that he did not want to testify," Maanda
said.
"I think the impeachment was one of the major highlights of the
case as we
have recorded very few such cases in this
country.
"What makes this one even more interesting is that usually
impeachment is
done on someone who would be on your side and suddenly turns
against you but
in this case, Hitschmann was never on the state's
side."
The state alleged that Bennett in 2006 paid weapons dealer
Hitschmann to buy
grenades, rifles and other weapons to attack cellphone
towers, carry out
attacks against the police and to topple President
Mugabe.
It also alleged that Hitschmann implicated Bennett when he
was arrested in
2006 after being found in possession of firearms. But
Hitschmann denied the
claims saying he was tortured by drunken agents into
making confessions
during interrogation at military barracks near
Mutare.
"It was actually one of the misnomers that the police never
recorded a
statement from Hitschmann," Maanda said.
"In fact, for
three years, they did not record a statement from any of the
witnesses and
were now asking people to remember what they claimed happened
back
then."
The state mainly based its case on email exhibits, allegedly
sent by Bennett
to Hitschmann.
However one of the witnesses,
Perekayi Denchard Mutsetse, who claimed to be
a computer expert, added to
the humour when he displayed "appalling"
ignorance before the
court.
Justice Bhunu dismissed him as an unreliable and appalling
witness after he
testified that the e-mails were
genuine.
"Perekayi Denchard Mutsetse professed to be a computer
expert.
"Under cross examination, it however turned out that he
merely scrapped
through his O'Levels before obtaining a few relevant
certificates which he
was at pains to elevate to the status of diplomas,"
Justice Bhunu ruled.
"The defence disputed his qualifications and
challenged him to produce the
relevant certificates. He was, however, unable
to produce the relevant
certificates by closure of the state case. He
professed ignorance of any
other technical or scientific methods which may
be used to verify the
authenticity of emails.
"He had never heard
of computer fraudsters called hackers or computer
forensic experts who use
scientific methods to determine the authenticity of
documents generated from
computers."
Bhunu added that Mutsetse made a fatal error when he
passed a fake e-mail
that had been created in court as
genuine.
Despite all these glaring weaknesses which saw the state's
case crumbling,
it is not yet uhuru for the troubled MDC-T
official.
The state has since appealed against Bhunu's ruling at the
Supreme Court
barely three days after Tomana said it was
binding.
"Court misdirected itself by assessing evidence in that
matter to an extent
that the court ultimately assessed pieces of evidence in
isolation thereby
failing to adopt a holistic analysis of circumstantial
evidence adduced by
the state," a senior officer with the AG's Chris
Mutangadura said in the
appeal.
The AG wants the highest court in
the land to set aside Bhunu's ruling and
also to order Bennett to be placed
on his defence on the treason charges.
High Profile
Treason Trials Since Independence
JOSHUA MQABUKO NKOMO
n Charges arose
in 1983 but he skipped the country to avoid arrest. Nkomo
went into exile in
Botswana and later the UK before becoming Vice-President
in 1987 after his
PF Zapu and Zanu PF merged. He died in July 1999.
NDABANINGI SITHOLE
n
Tried and convicted of conspiring to assassinate Mugabe in 1997. The Zanu
Ndonga leader filed an appeal but the case was never heard by the Supreme
Court. He died in 2000.
DUMISO DABENGWA, LOOKOUT MASUKU
n Dabengwa
was charged in 1982 together with the late Zimbabwe People's
Revolutionary
Army (ZIPRA) commander Lookout Masuku and four others. They
were acquitted,
for lack of evidence in 1983. On release they were
redetained under
emergency regulations and Dabengwa was only released four
years later.
Masuku died on April 5 1986 after he fell ill while in
detention.
MORGAN
TSVANGIRAI, WELSHMAN
NCUBE AND RENSON GASELA
n Charged in 2001 and
acquitted in October 2004 after the state failed to
prove its
case.
JESTINA MUKOKO AND NINE OTHERS
n Charged in December 2008 and
acquitted in September 2009. The human rights
and MDC-T activists were
abducted from their homes and severely tortured by
state agents before they
were brought to the courts.
TENDAI BITI
n Was arrested in June 2008 for
allegedly authoring an MDC document about
changing the government. He was
acquitted in February 2009.
ALBERT MATAPO AND FIVE OTHERS
n Charged in
June 2007 and continue to languish in remand prison to date for
allegedly
plotting to replace Mugabe with Zanu PF secretary for legal
affairs,
Emmerson Mnangagwa.
PENALTY - DEATH
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010
17:41
BUHERA - Drama is unfolding in Buhera where avenging spirits have
left Zanu
PF activists who murdered people in acts of political violence
quaking in
their boots.
According to detailed accounts from
villagers, traditional and political
leaders, the spirits are targeting in
broad day light, the Zanu PF militia
which terrorised supporters of the then
opposition party, MDC-T during the
past violent
elections.
Buhera particularly became a flashpoint since
Morgan Tsvangirai, who was
challenging President Robert Mugabe for the
presidency, hails from the
volatile district.
The inhabitants of
the drought stricken district gave The Standard news crew
that undertook a
bone-jarring journey to Muzokomba last week first-hand
harrowing tales of
how the killers are now being haunted by their victims.
This was not
just the usual bar talk about invisible spirits causing trouble
in
communities: but real stories about the militia themselves coming out of
their shells to confess their crimes.
One of these people is the
late Patrick Basopo, a police constabulary who
operated in Buhera during the
2002 presidential elections.
Basopo stunned the Buhera community
early this year when he made a public
confession about his role in the
murder of a former headmaster at Murove
School, Tedious Chokuda whose death
had remained unsolved for almost a
decade.
Chokuda was found
hanging from a tree at Chiurwi School where he was a
presiding officer
during the 2002 presidential elections.
Police told Chokuda's family
that the school head had committed suicide for
an unknown
reason.
Eight years on, a bizarre turn of events than can confound
people who do not
believe in the existence of avenging spirits occurred in
Buhera that
prompted Basopo to make a public confession.
A woman
from the Basopo family residing in neighbouring Mutiusinazita
communal area
became possessed with Chokuda's avenging spirit sometime in
September last
year and spilled the beans.
The woman is alleged to have confronted
his brother, Patrick and asked him
why he killed him
(Chokuda).
She also informed Basopo's relatives how, in the dead of
the night, members
of a Zanu PF militia allegedly led by Patrick dragged
Chokuda out of the
house where he was sleeping and brutally murdered
him.
To cover up for the crime, they faked a suicide: tying him with
shoelaces
and leaving him hanging from a tree.
The possessed
woman warned they would not rest until they paid full
restitution to the
Chokuda family.
Unable to stop the woman (name withheld) from being
further possessed by the
spirit, and determined to pay restitution (kuripa
ngozi) the Basopo family
took the matter to Headman Mushumba for arbitration
late last year.
Grey-haired Cuthias Mahachi Chapanduka, the reigning
Headman Mushumba
confirmed that the matter was officially brought to his
attention.
He told The Standard that he convened a traditional court
in a bush heavily
guarded by his aides (indunas) fearing that angry
villagers could assault
the alleged killer.
"At the Dare, the
young woman (Patrick's sister) became possessed by Chokuda's
spirit and in
front of everyone started to narrate how Patrick and four
other people
murdered him," said Headman Mushumba who has since reported the
matter to
Chief Nyashanu, the paramount chief in Buhera.
"The possessed woman
explained the gory details of the murder and Patrick
confessed in front of
everyone that he took part in the murder.
"Chokuda's spirit ordered
Patrick to pay 65 herd of cattle. All this
happened in broad day light with
ordinary villagers being witnesses."
Realising that paying
compensation would be too much for him alone, Patrick
tried to disclose the
names of the other killers but was stopped by the
spirit which said, with a
vengeance, it wanted to visit the killers one by
one and force them to pay
for their crimes.
The possessed woman also told Patrick that he had
been paid for the murder
and had used the proceeds to build a house for
himself.
The spirit demanded that he remove asbestos sheets, nails
and windows from
the "bloody house" and surrender them to the Chokuda
family.
Under cross examination, Patrick admitted he did not spend
the entire amount
paid to him on the house: he also bought
groceries.
For that, the spirit demanded an additional cow from
him.
Headman Mushumba expressed regret that word officially reached
his court
that Patrick has just died in unclear
circumstances.
According to family reports, Basopo died a miserable
death last month in
Marondera town where he had gone to avoid trouble back
home.
The Standard could not establish the real cause of his death
but villagers
said he was very stressed by the turn of events. He had
reportedly converted
to religion, now becoming a Madzibaba (elder) of the
Mwazha Apostolic sect.
From Chapanduka, we headed to Murairwa village
to meet Chokuda's family. We
first met a young man identified as Jonah,
Chokuda's cousin who showed us
some of the cattle that Patrick brought to
their family as part of the
restitution.
After navigating through
the fields, we found Chokuda's mother, Sosana
Mhongoyo harvesting round nuts
in the scotching heat.
"I used to think that when a person dies, he
or she has gone forever," said
Mhongoyo. "But what is happening here has
completely changed my view about
death. You don't just kill a person. It
will come back to you."
Mhongoyo said all along she had been praying
for the killers to be exposed.
From the conversation, we got the
feeling that Mhongoyo felt that justice
had been done to a matter that our
once-famed criminal justice system had
failed to deliver for the past eight
years.
It is not just Chokuda's avenging spirit that has become a
subject of
animated interest in this area.
The Councillor for
Ward 24 in Buhera, Bodias Nendanga said there are several
other MDC-T
supporters killed in the political violence in 2008 whose
spirits have also
started haunting their killers' families.
Among those tormenting
their killers are Nyoka Chookuse and a Mr Sibamba
both murdered by suspected
Zanu PF militia led by a known war veterans
leader and an army colonel, said
Nendanga.
"Although they have not come to confess to traditional
leaders yet, it is
now common knowledge that the killers are no longer
enjoying the comfort of
their homes," said Nendanga.
"Their
victims knock on their homes during the night and they actually see
them."
Because of the poor road network, The Standard could not
reach Chookuse and
Sibamba's families.
However villagers said
Zanu PF youths went on the rampage killing people in
June 2008 after being
assured by war veterans that avenging spirits would
not haunt
them.
"They were being told that the spirits of the liberation
fighters who died
at Chimoio and Nyadzonya would 'durawall' them from any
avenging spirits of
their victims," said Davison Gwara, a villager who is
closely following the
Chokuda case.
War veterans' leader Joseph
Chinotimba, who represented Zanu PF in Buhera
was defeated by Naison
Nemadziwa, now MDC-T MP in the violent March 2008
elections.
BY WALTER MARWIZI & CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010
16:37
BULAWAYO - Over a thousand villagers in Umzingwane district last
week
received free treatment for various ailments at an outreach programme
meant
to alleviate the lack of health centres in rural areas.
The
villagers from Nsazwi, Munkula, Bezha and surrounding areas were treated
by
doctors and nurses under the Hope for Mtshabezi (HFM) initiative at
Nswazi
Secondary School on Saturday.
HFM is made up of volunteers who have been
providing assistance to Mtshabezi
Mission Hospital, one of the biggest
health centres serving Umzingwane and
Gwanda districts.
Mbongeni Ndlovu
who led the volunteers said the outreach was meant to ease
pressure on the
mission hospital, which was being overwhelmed by the number
of patients
seeking treatment every day.
He said 1 102 villagers received treatment and
several patients were advised
to go to referral hospitals in Gwanda and
Bulawayo for specialist treatment.
"We are doing some smaller cases although
we also have eye specialists from
the Council for the Blind who have
volunteered their time to be part of this
programme," Ndlovu
said.
Usually the villagers walk more than five kilomteres to receive
treatment at
the Brethren In Christ Church run Mtshabezi Hospital.
The
outreach programmes began in 2008 and so far several villages have been
visited by nurses and doctors offering free treatment.
HFM has also
helped secure doctors for Mtshabezi Hospital by providing a
vehicle and
refurbishing dilapidated residencies.
Former broadcaster, Abbie Dube who is
overseeing the project attributed its
success to the support it has received
from Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
However, she said they were still short of
funds to run more outreach
programmes.
Zimbabwe's health delivery system
has been weighed down by a decade of
economic collapse.
Rural hospitals
have been the hardest hit by the brain drain caused by
deteriorating
conditions of service and poor salaries. But mission hospitals
throughout
the country have come to the rescue of desperate villagers as
they have
fared better than government institutions during the crisis.
BY
NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 16:35
MANZINI -
Grandmothers from all over Africa have joined hands with
grandmothers in
Canada to call for greater support and recognition of their
role in caring
for grandchildren orphaned by Aids.
"We are the backbone of our communities;
with our love and commitment we
protect and nurture our orphaned children.
Africa cannot survive without
us," declared the grannies'
manifesto.
Eunice Simelane, who has supported and cared for five
grandchildren since
her son and daughter-in-law succumbed to Aids-related
illnesses, read the
manifesto at the meeting attended by 200 grandmothers
from Swaziland, 232
from African nations, and 42 Canadian grandmothers
representing 7 000 others
who have formed groups in Canada to raise funds
and awareness to help
elderly African women struggling to raise Aids
orphans.
The first Grandmothers' Gathering took place in Toronto, Canada, in
2006,
and was the brainchild of former United Nations Special Envoy for Aids
in
Africa, Stephen Lewis, whose foundation has been channelling funds to
community-led Aids organisations that support grandmothers in 15 sub-Saharan
African countries.
Swaziland's Aids epidemic is among the worst in the
world - around 160 000
children are classified as orphans and vulnerable
children (OVC) in a
population of less than one million - and was a natural
choice to host the
first Grandmothers' Gathering held in
Africa.
Traditionally the extended family has looked after its own, so there
are few
orphanages. Grandmothers have become the primary caregivers, but
their vital
role has been largely overlooked, and their need for help to
feed, clothe,
house and educate their grandchildren ignored, said Ilana
Landsberg-Lewis,
Executive Director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
"I
was reviewing funding proposals, and many of them dealt with orphan
funding,
but they seemed written in code. They always referred to 'guardians
and
caregivers', but didn't say who these persons were. We found the
caregivers
were the grandmothers of Africa," she said.
People have given generously to
support the Foundation's programmes, so
Landsberg-Lewis wanted her fellow
Canadians to meet African grandmothers
personally. "They came to Swaziland,
paying their own way. . . I knew they
would be moved by the heroic
grandmothers," she told said.
The three-day conference in Swaziland's central
commercial hub, Manzini, was
an emotional meeting, often joyous but
sometimes harrowing, with many of the
grandmothers giving accounts of abuse
and poverty.
"A lot of violence is perpetrated against unprotected people
like
grandmothers - robbery and even rape. In our manifesto we call upon the
authorities to recognize this and protect us grannies as we raise the
children," said Cynthia Khumalo, a Swazi grandmother.
The delegates
compiled a list of demands from their governments, including
financial
assistance and sustainable projects, created with their
involvement.
Swaziland's prime minister and several cabinet officials
attended the
gathering.
"The grannies had hoped to be retired now, and to be taken care of
by their
children, and to play with their grandchildren, instead of having
to raise
them. This has to be acknowledged and assisted," said Siphiwe
Hlope,
executive director of Swazis for Positive Living (SWAPOL), a support
group
for HIV-positive women which organised the event with the Stephen
Lewis
Foundation.
Hlope led a march in 2009 to protest lavish spending by
the royal family, in
contrast to the meagre resources for those affected by
HIV and Aids, yet she
was embraced by the Swazi Queen Mother, who attended
the gathering. "We are
all grandmothers, and what brings us together is our
love for children," she
said.
The grandmothers shared their stories at
workshops in Swahili, SiSwati and
English. "It was difficult for me to tell
my granddaughter that she was
HIV-positive, and because of that she was told
by the people in the
neighbourhood, who made fun of her," said Esther Mango
from Kenya. "She was
very hurt. She said, 'Why didn't you tell me?'"
They
described their battles with discrimination because of their age,
gender and
HIV status. "When my husband was very sick, his family refused
that I visit
him in the hospital. He told my eldest son that when he died,
no one should
marry me because he knew what was ailing him, and he knew that
I had it too
and would make another ill," said one woman.
"I went to the hospital after he
died and I took a test; I learned I was HIV
positive. His family wouldn't
let me see my husband, but it is me who takes
care of the
grandchildren."
Staff from the Stephen Lewis Foundation showed African
grandmothers how to
apply for grants to run community projects. One
Foundation project in Kenya
employs 300 women who make jewellery that is
sold in Canada, and a third of
profits used to fund programmes in Africa. -
PlusNews
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 16:32
BULAWAYO - Almost the
entire National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) equipment
is obsolete.
NRZ
bosses made the stunning revelations at a briefing they held for a
government delegation led by Gorden Moyo, the Minister of State in the Prime
Minister's Office that assessed operations at the troubled parastatal last
week.
Moyo was told at the meeting that was closed to the media that 99%
of the
NRZ equipment had outlived its lifespan.
The track also needed an
urgent overhaul.
Officials said they had since applied for a US$150 million
bail-out from the
government.
"Out of a total of 168 locomotives, only 61
or 36% are in service," read the
briefing notes leaked to
Standardbusiness.
"All locomotive classes are beyond the design life with
only 13 DE11A
locomotives commissioned in 1992 still having seven more years
to reach
their design life."
Lack of regular maintenance has also seen
wagons that are still operational
going down from 8 682 a few years ago to 5
411.
Only 131 passenger coaches are still usable down from 311, the notes
revealed.
"Failure to carry out scheduled resource maintenance,
rehabilitation and
replacement over the years has resulted in the
availability of locomotives,
wagons, and coaches dropping from 62% to 42%
and now to 32% respectively,"
added the notes.
"As demonstrated by the
statistics, 99% of NRZ's resources have outlived
their design
lives.
"This means that while rehabilitation exercises can and are being
carried
out, there are limits.
"New equipment is now needed and this is
more so under the technologically
dynamic era we are now living
in."
Management blamed the sorry state of affairs on the dollarisation of the
economy.
However for decades, the NRZ had been weighed down by cash flow
problems
blamed on government's insistence that the parastatal must charge
below
market rates.
The NRZ has also been forced to run the unprofitable
"freedom trains"
introduced by the previous Zanu PF government at a time
when it was
desperate to shore up its waning support in urban areas.
Mike
Karakadzai, the NRZ general manager said the parastatal needed the
US$150
million for short-term projects that would set it on track for a
turnaround.
He said the projects would include reclaiming the locomotive
fleet, wagons
for freight traffic and also passenger coaches for intercity;
and commuter
trains.
The NRZ was allocated US$12,8 million in this year's
budget of which the
parastatal has already received US$5 million from the
national fiscus.
"The low incomes have made it difficult to operate,"
Karakadzai told
journalists after the briefing.
"We have had to stagger
salaries for workers in order to cope with the
situation at hand.
"We are
a month behind in terms of payments of salaries."
Moyo said the NRZ faced
imminent collapse if it did not find a strategic
partner immediately.
He
said government was considering proposals by Chinese companies who were
interested in providing money for the immediate recapitalisation of the NRZ
and the rehabilitation of the country's rail
infrastructure.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010
16:31
SOLENTA Aviation Zimbabwe has announced the introduction of two new
routes,
between Victoria Falls, Hwange National Park, Bumi Hills, and
Harare,
Kariba, Bumi Hills.
Solenta is the local partner of South
African-registered air carrier Federal
Aviation.
Solenta Aviation
Zimbabwe will base a Cessna Grand Caravan at Bumi Hills
from next month,
operating three times a week between Bumi Hills, Victoria
Falls and Harare,
reports the influential online trade daily SA Tourism
Update.
"We are
thrilled to have additional access from Victoria Falls and Harare to
Bumi
Hills. This will allow us to grow both our regional and international
markets to this area and we look forward to marketing the various route
options into Bumi, together with Solenta Aviation," says Glenn Stutchbury,
managing director of Africa Albida Tourism.
The Cessna 208 Caravan is a
single turbo-prop fixed-gear, short-haul
regional airliner first launched in
1982.
More than 1 500 are in service worldwide, with international mail and
parcel
distribution specialists Fedex owning and operating 253 of
them.
They are said to be hugely reliable and dependable and are most
commonly
seen locally running the 10 minute hop from Vilankulos Airport in
Mozambique
to the rich-and-famous five-star resort, Indigo Bay on Bazaruto
Island and
other picture postcard destinations in the Indian Ocean and
Mozambique
Channel.
There is a crew of one. Seating can be configured to
accommodate nine to a
maximum of 14, although the manufacturers claim it can
make a profit
carrying four passengers.
Cessna also manufacture a freight
version and there is a military model (the
Combat Caravan), usually armed
with Hellfire Missiles, flown by several air
forces throughout the
world.
The versatile plane can also be fitted with skis or floats for
freshwater
and marine landings and air-sea rescue. There is a wheeled/float
equipped
totally amphibian version.
by Dusty Miller
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 16:27
DELTA Beverages
has blamed the persistent shortages of some of its beer
brands on the
intermittent power and water cuts that have severely reduced
capacity at its
plants.
The limited supply of lager beers such as Bohlingers, Castle and
Pilsner had
put the rumour mill on a spin, with some imbibers even
speculating that the
country's biggest brewer was in the process of phasing
out some brands.
According to the speculation, Pilsner was being taken off
the market or
repackaged because it had overtaken Delta's flagship brand,
Castle lager in
popularity.
But Alex Makamure, Delta's acting corporate
affairs executive said the
rumours were far-fetched.
"There have been
some intermittent shortages of particular brands of lager
beers in the last
few weeks," he said on the sidelines of an analysts
briefing on Delta's
financial results on Wednesday.
"These have been occasioned by supplies and
utility outages that disrupted
production schedules.
"There are no plans
to phase out any existing beer brands.
"Normal supplies of most brands have
been restored; of particular note is
the improved supply of Castle lager as
we support the Castle Perfect Soccer
Moments Promotion which kicked off on
April 24."
The promotion coincides with the Fifa soccer World Cup that kicks
off in
neighbouring South Africa on June 11. The country's biggest brewer
expects
an upsurge in demand spurred by tourist arrivals and the over
excitement of
local soccer fans.
In a commentary accompanying the audited
results for the year ended March
31, Delta said it had regained its market
share that was threatened by cheap
beer imports at the height of the
country's long-running economic problems.
It said capacity had been improved
by the new 42 000 bottles per hour
packaging line for lagers in Harare,
which became fully operational in
October last year.
Makamure also
justified the recent increase in beer prices saying the
adjustments were
forced by increasing cost of importing raw materials from
South
Africa
"Delta took a modest price increase of 10 cents per pint, which is the
first
one since September 2008," he said.
"The increase was in response
to the obtaining costs structures particularly
for raw materials imported
from South Africa where the rand has been firming
against the US
dollar."
Some of the materials Delta imports include bottle tops, cans and
hops.
He allayed fears of a beer shortage during the World Cup in
neighbouring
South Africa owing to the influx of tourists into the
region.
Delta said sales of lager beer rose 78% in April compared with the
same
month last year while soft drink sales were up 90% during the same
period.
The company's profits surged more than sixfold to US$33,5 million
during the
period under review.
BY SANDRA MANDIZVIDZA
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 16:25
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe has
been ranked among the top five countries in the
world where computer
software piracy is rife with Information Technology
minister, Nelson Chamisa
blaming the lack of a legislative framework to stop
the
practice.
According to a report released last week by the Business Software
Alliance
(BSA), Zimbabwe is ranked second with a score of 92% after Georgia
(95%).
BSA is a United States- based IT monitoring agency created to advance
the
goals of the software industry and its hardware partners.
Bangladesh
is third with 91% followed by Moldova (90%) and Ukraine (84%).
Reacting to
the report, Chamisa said such statistics showed the urgent need
for the ICT
Bill that has been on the cards for some time to be speeded up.
"There are
legislative loopholes and that is why we are saying we need an
ICT Bill to
try to eradicate piracy," he said.
"Piracy is a major concern for the
government and the ministry and infact it
is also hitting hard on
profitability and the general industry."
Chamisa also blamed economic
challenges, which he said forced locals to
resort to cheap illegal
products.
"Part of it is that because of the economic challenges, people are
not
buying from official sources," he added.
Chamisa has been lobbying
for the ICT Bill that will address issues of
licencing, cyber security,
number portability, infrastructure, mobile phone
security, digital security,
e-governance, e-education and e-health, as well
as the overall growth of the
ICT sector to "catch up" with other countries.
The law also aims to bridge
the technology gap between Zimbabwe and its
African neighbours by providing
modern technology, becoming a hub for
software and hardware
development.
It will establish a consultative body to advise the ICT minister
on the
available policies.
Since the formation of a unity government last
year, Zimbabwe has seen
notable progress in the accessibility of mobile
phones and internet service,
now estimated at 24% of the population up from
10%.
Fixed telecommunication accessibility is still a challenge, with the
sole
network operator, Tel-One, overwhelmed by demand.
By
NQOBANI NDLOVU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 16:24
THE Textiles
Workers Union is approaching the High Court to force nine
companies to pay
employees salaries according to the law as problems in the
sector show no
signs of abating.
Silas Kuveya, the Zimbabwe Textiles Workers' Union general
secretary told
Standardbusiness the union was taking action against
companies that had
reneged in paying salaries according to Statutory
Instrument 30 of 2010. The
instrument stipulates monthly salaries of US$150
for both last year and this
year.
Players in the industry are struggling
to stay afloat because of an influx
of cheap but poor quality goods that
have rendered local products
uncompetitive.
In addition, the economic
crisis of the last decade left companies with
obsolete equipment thus
pushing the cost of production up; and ultimately
the prices too.
"In the
whole textile industry we have problems of companies failing to pay
wages
and this is different from company to company," he said.
He said there were
companies in both Harare and Bulawayo that had failed to
pay salaries and
the union had filed a number of cases with the High Court
"to recover what
is owed to members".
In Bulawayo, Kuveya cited Merlin, Allied Printing,
Dryton, Textile Mills and
Gloweave while in Harare he said Paramount Elastic
and Tape, Kudhinda
Fabrics, Highfield Bag and Totche Investments had failed
to pay salaries in
terms of the law.
Standardbusiness heard that David
Whitehead Textiles was also struggling to
pay employees and had salary
arrears amounting to more than six months.
This year alone, employees got
US$40 and US$50 for January and March
respectively.
Kuveya said the
problem was not unique to DWT alone as a number of companies
had not paid
full salaries.
He said even Irazim, a joint project between Iran and
Zimbabwe, was failing
to pay workers and tension was high between management
and employees.
During his visit to Zimbabwe last month, Iranian President
Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad toured the textile company in Chitungwiza.
Kuveya
said the union had put in a proposal to turn the outstanding salaries
into
equity "so that workers don't lose out".
"It's high time that every company
owing workers should turn the salary
arrears into shares so that workers
will end up with shares in those
companies," he said.
Kuveya blamed the
Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) for the influx of
cheap but poor
quality goods that have flooded the market.
"We believe some of the goods
coming through are doing so through the back
door and we are questioning SAZ
because they are supposed to enforce
standards," he said.
He said it was
critical for the government to come up with measures that
ensure fair
competition where quality goods will compete.
Over the past two years 5 000
jobs have been lost in the textile industry.
At its peak the industry
employed 11 500.
BY OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 16:22
THE African
Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) will guarantee the raising of
US$50 million
from the diaspora to fund projects identified under a revival
plan launched
last year in Zimbabwe's last-ditch attempt to finance the
reconstruction
programme.
This comes at a time the country is still smarting from neglect by
cooperating partners who have only made available US$2, 9 million from the
US$810 million vote of credit earmarked for capital
expenditure.
Information obtained last week shows that a commercial bank,
likely to be
CBZ, will issue the diaspora bond before the end of the year
but work on
final aspects is still underway, according to Gift Simwaka,
Afreximbank's
regional manager for southern Africa.
A bond is a contract
to repay borrowed money with interest at fixed
intervals.
Simwaka said
the parties are working on the coupon (interest rate) by
undertaking
sufficient research and the bond would have a tenor of three
years.
"The
purpose is to strike the right coupon, all aspects considered, to
ensure
full subscription to the bond.
"This aspect of the issue will also constitute
the bond features that will
be announced to the broader public when the
issue is finally set," he said.
A policy series document by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
titled The Potential Contribution of
the Zimbabwe Diaspora to Economic
Recovery, advocates for the restoration of
confidence in the economy for the
successful issuance of a diaspora
bond.
"In addition, once such public confidence is restored, private
financial
institutions would also be in a position to introduce similar
financial
instruments for the diaspora," the report said.
Diaspora bonds
have historically been crucial for raising development
finance during times
of crisis particularly in India and Israel.
Israel has had yearly bond issues
since 1951 and had raised US$25 billion by
the end of 2007, while India has
had three separate bond issues since 1991
and had raised US$11, 7 billion by
the third issue in 2000.
Government bonds are affected by a number of
variables such as inflation and
the perceived country risk.
Countries
that are seen to be riskier than others have to offer a higher
coupon
(interest) in the first place to attract investors than those that
have
stable economies such as the United States.
The more risky the country, the
lower the price and therefore the higher the
yield and vice versa.
If a
bond's price falls, its yield rises and vice versa.
Falling yields are good
for an economy and are referred to by economists and
politicians as
"long-term interest rates" as they enable companies and
government to borrow
more cheaply next time they need to.
Over three million Zimbabweans are in
the diaspora in South Africa, UK and
the US having fled the political and
economic crisis of the last decade.
The majority of them are professionals
and plans to lure them back are
hitting a brick wall due to low salaries
being offered on the local market.
Every month, the non-resident Zimbabweans
send money to prop up struggling
relatives back home in the wake of low
salaries averaging US$200 per month.
Remittances from the diaspora topped
US$190 million last year, nearly a
fifth of the revenue collected in
2009.
The UNDP report says Zimbabwe has to put confidence-building measures
such
as dual citizenship and the introduction of postal votes to entice
diasporans to participate in economic development.
Statistics show that
remittances have become the salvation mainly for
developing
countries.
Hit by the dollarisation of the economy in the 1990s, at least 2,
5 million
Ecuadorians fled the country in search of greener
pastures.
Remittances which had totalled US$200 million (1% of GDP) in 1993
rose to
US$3,1 billion by 2006 (7,8% of GDP).
According to the Central
Bank of Ecuador figures, remittances had become the
second most important
source of foreign exchange after petroleum exports,
the UNDP report
said.
BY NDAMU SANDU
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010
16:54
ON October 20 2007, the Church of the Province of Central Africa
(CPCA)
wrote to Nolbert Kunonga pointing out that the CPCA laws do not
permit the
Diocese of Harare to sever its links with the Province in the way
he had
done. He had cited the alleged support for homosexuality in the
Anglican
Church at a provincial synod in Malawi as the reason for
withdrawal.
The approval of each diocese, as well as two thirds of the
Provincial Synod
and the endorsement of the Archbishop of Canterbury are
required to support
any withdrawal. The CPCA wrote that as Kunonga had
broken his vow of
obedience, and had caused a schism, he and his
accomplices, present and
future, were no longer regarded to be or recognised
as Anglicans.
Kunonga's personal withdrawal from the CPCA and therefore also
from the
Diocese of Harare was accepted but the Diocese of Harare itself
remained
within the CPCA. He was no longer the bishop of the Diocese of
Harare and
was told to hand over the property of the diocese to a
vicar-general about
to be appointed by the CPCA.
The term "church" in the
laws of the diocese means "the church of the
Province". These same diocesan
laws call on the diocesan trustees to deal
with "the property and funds of
the church" in the diocese which puts beyond
doubt that the CPCA owns the
diocesan property and funds.
Kunonga hotly disputed this and, against the
weight of the Anglican laws,
claimed he was still bishop of the diocese and
the church property belonged
to him even though he had withdrawn from the
CPCA. The CPCA, like any
company, club, organisation or institution has its
own rules and
regulations. Kunonga swore to obey those rules.
The church
decreed in 2007 that because Kunonga had voluntarily removed
himself from
and was no longer a member of the CPCA, he simultaneously
ceased to be the
bishop of the diocese of Harare which is a constituent
member of the
CPCA.
The Anglican worshippers, the diocesan assets and funds are not owned,
controlled by and do not in any way belong to Kunonga. That is the CPCA law
and its ruling.
It would be entirely unlawful, indeed would constitute
spoliation, theft,
trespass, invasion of privacy among other things, if the
managing director
of a subsidiary company resigned, walked out of the
company and said,
"Although I no longer work for the company and will not
recognise the
holding company, let me warn you I have claimed all the assets
and funds of
the company as my own. Not one of the workers nor the
subsidiary company's
customers will be allowed inside the premises or to
deal with company
matters unless they first pay allegiance to me and accept
me as the head of
the subsidiary company and owner of its property. I will
pay no attention to
any rules or laws."
This is sheer unsustainable
nonsense. In such as case, a court application
would urgently result in an
order evicting this ex-manager from the property
and restraining him from
trespassing, using or having access to the assets
and funds of the company
in any way, and from preventing the workers and
customers from entering the
premises. A court of law in these circumstances
would order the police or
other authority to prevent the ex-manager from
interfering with the business
of the company.
This is how the rule of law and justice would immediately be
applied and how
the courts would react in an impartial, independent, free
and fair judicial
system to ensure effective justice is seen to be done. And
the police would
immediately react where required to support the judicial
officers (judges,
sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, magistrates, messengers of
court and so on) to
make certain the court orders were swiftly, fully
enforced and the retired
managing director removed forthwith from the
company premises.
Yet to the amazement of the world, especially Anglicans,
almost the exact
opposite of expected court and police reaction, given
above, has happened.
Kunonga and his hangers-on, aided by the police, throw
innocent CPCA members
out of churches and unlawfully cling to CPCA
assets.
The courts in Zimbabwe are supposed to be independent. They are
subject to
the constitution and the laws of the land and are to apply these
without
fear or favour.
Albert Chama is the Dean and Acting
Archbishop of The Anglican Church, The
Province of Central Africa.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010
16:51
We were surprised when we didn't hear as much as a meow from the
MDC in the
face of the blatant undermining of the global political agreement
(GPA) by a
senior government minister recently.
Addressing a Zanu
PF gathering at Chikarudzo business centre in Masvingo on
May 6 Higher and
Tertiary Education minister Stan Mudenge is quoted by
RadioVOP as saying his
party Zanu PF was the one ruling while the inclusive
government was just
administrative.
The meeting, at which Mudenge was celebrating his victory in
the March 2008
elections, was also attended by Media Information and
Publicity minister
Webster Shamhu.
"The set-up of the inclusive
government does not mean that we (Zanu PF)
surrendered power to MDC-T. Other
political parties say they are now at the
helm, but I do not see that," said
Mudenge.
"Zanu PF is still in control, and will remain in control of the
country's
affairs," said Mudenge.
To buttress his point he averred that
the three most powerful people in the
land were still the president and the
two vice-presidents who all happen to
be Zanu PF.
President Mugabe's
deputies are Vice-Presidents Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo.
"The inclusive
government is mainly concerned with administration of
government duties than
power sharing," said Mudenge.
Mudenge said his party would never hand real
power to MDC-T leader and now
Prime Minister in the power sharing
government, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mudenge is the secretary for external affairs
in the Zanu PF politburo; and
because of that he is one of President
Mugabe's closest advisers.
Now that gets us worried, very worried. And it
should worry Mugabe too! It
undermines his credibility as a principal in the
inclusive government. Not
only do Mudenge's utterances betray what the
nation and the world at large
have always feared - that Mugabe is not and
never was sincere in this whole
thing.
As secretary for external affairs
in the Zanu politburo Mudenge is at the
heart of foreign policy formulation
not only in Zanu PF but, as a
consequence, in government itself. His words
cannot be dismissed as the
empty rantings of a politician. If they were,
Shamu would have intervened as
Minister of Media Information and Publicity
in the inclusive government;
since he didn't then Mudenge was enunciating
party policy.
Recently ANCYL president Julius Malema was censured by his
party, the ANC of
South Africa, after his visit to Zimbabwe where he
publicly said the ANC
supported President Mugabe and his party Zanu PF and
would campaign for them
in any coming election. He also strongly denigrated
the MDC using Zanu PF
mantras saying the MDC were "pop-corn" puppets of the
West.
Although the ANC disciplinary committee later exonerated him of the
charge
of undermining South African president Jacob Zuma's mediation
efforts, the
truth of the matter is that he did so because at the material
time he was
deemed to be speaking on behalf of the ANC of which the ANCYL is
a most
important cog.
Mudenge's utterances must have embarrassed quite a
number of people not
least the guarantors of the GPA, which saw the
formation of the government
of national unity - the African Union and
Southern African Development
Community. They ought to have stopped in their
stride to consider how Mugabe
is duping them into believing that he listens
to them when in fact he does
not. The Sadc troika, particularly, must have
been the most bewildered by
all this. Its chairman, Mozambique president
Amando Guebuza, is eagerly
awaiting Zuma's report on progress so far on the
outstanding issues but now
he must know that he and the others are wasting
their time.
Only last week Mudenge was speaking highly of the Conservatives
whom he
thinks are closer to Zanu PF than Labour. He was saying he hoped for
the
mending of fences between Harare and London. Fat chance!
The new
Conservative government will obviously wish to audit Mugabe's
behaviour,
particularly in the inclusive government which has been received
with
optimism all over the world as the only hope for beleaguered Zimbabwe.
There
isn't likely to be a major difference between how Gordon Brown treated
Zimbabwe and how David Cameron is going to. The reason is simply that the
ball is in Mugabe's court to fulfil the clauses of the GPA and thereby
manifest his sincerity. If he doesn't, it would be very odd for Cameron to
accommodate him. So, Harare and London are going to continue as uneasy
sparring partners for a while longer.
If Mugabe was serious about the GPA
he should have censured Mudenge publicly
or have him brought before a Zanu
PF disciplinary committee for bringing its
first secretary into disrepute;
but to think that Zanu PF has a disciplinary
committee is to say there is
the rule of law in a pack of wolves.
But the MDC did not see the beginnings
of a diplomatic coup!
As Mudenge was making those utterances the so-called
three principals (they're
not, are they?) were attending the World Economic
Forum in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania which ran from May 5-7. Across town Mugabe
was attending a trivial
and frivolous liberation movements' summit attended
about half of Sadc
leaders. Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara were in
Dar with him, the
latter reportedly frantically working to smuggle him into
the economic forum
instead of alerting him on what Mudenge was up to back
home.
From Dar Tsvangirai flew straight to the US to receive a democracy
award;
not once did he mention Mugabe's duplicity in the way he views the
GPA.
Instead he was waxing lyrical about the progress that the inclusive
government had made.
Can Zimbabwe's true leaders please stand
up!
BY NEVANJI MADANHIRE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 16:46
I
refer to the current debate on civil service salary increments, which
sections of the media and some analysts have misconstrued as reflective of
power struggles between MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai and
Secretary-General Tendai Biti.
Firstly, the issue under discussion is not
a party issue, so people who
comment should never link the perceived
differences to differences within
the MDC. This is a purely government issue
and any talk of divisions should
be in the context of division among leaders
in government, not in the MDC.
More importantly, there is no significant
contradiction in what the two
leaders have said. The Minister of Finance's
position is clear, that there
will be no salary increase for civil servants
if there is no improvement in
government income. He did not say that was
government policy, but he simply
said there is not enough revenue generated
to improve civil servants'
salaries at the moment. When the money becomes
available, civil servants
will get salary increments
The Prime Minister
said there was no policy to freeze civil servants
salaries, a position
supported by Minister of Public Service, Professor
Mukonoweshuro, who went
on to give details on the efforts being made by
government to find the money
to improve civil servants salaries.
What Professor Mukonoweshuro described is
work in progress. He did not state
that the money has been found to pay
civil servants, and that there will be
salary increments, nor did he give a
time frame of when salary increments
will be announced. It is only when all
efforts being pursued through the
cabinet committees, which Professor
Mukonoweshuro mentioned in his press
conference, that a policy on civil
service salary increments, if necessary,
will be announced.
So three
truths have been told:
l There will be no salary increments for civil
servants until there is
enough money in government coffers to do so.
l
There is no government policy to freeze civil servants salaries at the
moment.
l Efforts are being made to find money to increase civil service
salaries,
and when that money is found, there will be increments.
Members
of the public get valuable information to prepare themselves for the
eventuality through such debate. Those who were optimistic of salary
increments will have to prepare for zero increment in the event that current
efforts to mobilise resources fail to produce the desired results, while at
the same time the public will get to know of the efforts being made by
government, through the cabinet committees, to improve the welfare of
workers.
The other thing to admire about the whole debate is that the
MDC, unlike
Zanu PF, does not take a partisan position when it comes to
delivering
services to the people. In the old order, when one Zanu PF
official in
government issued a statement, whether the statement needed to
be refined or
clarified to reflect the correct state of affairs, no one ever
did. The Zanu
PF ministers were partners in crime, and supported each other
through and
through even when certain positions had to be clarified. There
were no
checks and balances to ensure that government did not divert from
its
programmes because of human error or due a deliberate effort to
misinform.
There is deafening silence from other Zanu PF ministers when a
Zanu PF
minister goes astray. No Zanu PF minister has ever commented on
Ignatious
Chombo's land grab spree from many urban councils. However,
Jonathan Moyo
saw an opportunity to attack the MDC President Morgan
Tsvangirai in this
salary freeze debate. He did not bother to check with
Professor
Mukonoweshuro what efforts were being made to address civil
servants'
salaries, nor did he, as a professor, bother to analyse the
statements made
to see there is no contradiction in the two
statements.
The MDC government, therefore, should be one that Zimbabweans
should learn
to trust, because the moment one minister makes an error,
another will be
quick to point that error out to the public.
Chitate
writes from New Zealand.
BY BENJAMIN CHITATE
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 15 May 2010 16:44
THE last
few days have been enlightening for the millions that observed the
democratic change of guard in Britain.
While the elections on Thursday
last week had been particularly bruising for
Gordon Brown and his New Labour
Party, there was evidently no blood on the
floor.
Labour battled to
second place with 258 seats while the Conservatives led by
the youthful
David Cameron (43) took pole position with 306 seats.
The Lib Dems under Nick
Clegg, who had flattered to deceive, managed to
garner 57 seats. The
remaining 28 seats were shared among the smaller
parties.
There have been
some misleading comparisons with Zimbabwe’s situation in
2008. None of the
British voters risked life and limb to decide whom they
wanted to lead them
for the next few years. The election may have ended in a
“hung” parliament,
but no one was hanged, hacked or harried for kicking
Labour out of
power.
In fact, a senior Labour official said soon after Brown threw in the
towel
that after 13 years of his party’s rule the British public was
understandably desperate for change.
With so many independent media
houses moving freely about the UK it was
still impossible to find reports
that voters had been intimidated, beaten up
or murdered for voting against
the ruling party.
We know this because television stations carried live
broadcasts. The BBC,
Sky and CNN were all there on the ground. Their
reporters were not hiding
from Bobbies on the beat.
The reporters were
there among the winners and the losers — asking all the
hard and often
irritating questions.
There was some dismay over the failure of some voters
to cast their ballots
after polling stations closed before they could do so.
But that was at 10pm.
On Tuesday night in front of flashing cameras Prime
Minister Brown ended his
short tenure and became just “Mr Brown”.
He
might have exercised that infamous temper the night he lost the election,
but that was all behind him on Tuesday when he handed over the baton to the
then “leader of the opposition”.
Brown said of his three years at the
helm: “Only those who have held the
office of prime minister can understand
the full weight of its
responsibilities and its great capacity for
good.”
“I have been privileged to learn much about the very best in human
nature,
and a fair amount, too, about its frailties, including my
own.
“Above all, it was a privilege to serve and, yes, I love the job, not
for
its prestige, its titles and ceremony, which I do not love at
all.”
In the end Brown did what he had to do — respect the will of the
majority.
With his wife Sarah at his side, Brown said he was done with his
“second
most important job” and would now focus on his most important job —
being a
father and a husband.
From No.10 Downing St, the most famous
address in the world, where Brown
made the public announcement that he was
quitting, it took him less than an
hour to go to Buckingham Palace to tender
his resignation to Queen Elizabeth
II and advise her to call upon his Tory
rival.
Within minutes Conservative leader Cameron was Britain’s youngest
premier in
200 years. The handover of power was all very smooth, civil and
swift. It
was so swift in fact that the removals company was in the next day
to cart
off Brown’s possessions.
Recognising the need for a broad-based
government in the absence of an
overall majority, Cameron appointed Lib Dems
leader Clegg (also 43) as his
deputy.
The UK’s coalition government — the
first since 1940 — was taking shape at
breakneck speed, in part to ward off
market predators.
The Brits didn’t need to call in the European Union to help
them agree on
the obvious. Without any party securing sufficient seats to
command a
majority in the Commons, some sort of arrangement had to be
engineered —and
quickly too.
The British change of guard offers a simple
lesson in the practice of
modern-day democracy — those who lose elections
(by whatever margin) should
accept the fact and move on to write their
memoirs, give their families some
of their time, and hope posterity will
look kindly upon them.