Rutland Herald
Perspective
May 28, 2006
Having just returned from Zimbabwe on a
mission with the human rights group Amnesty International, I can testify
personally to the economic freefall described in a May 14 article that appeared
in the Sunday Rutland Herald and Times Argus.
However, the article
ignored the root cause of the humanitarian disaster engulfing the nation's 12
million citizens: the ruthless violations of civil, political and economic
rights by the government. Last year's destruction of homes that displaced
700,000 people, the endemic corruption fostered by a pliant judiciary and
one-party rule, and the denial of food aid to perceived anti-government areas
are just a few examples.
Zimbabwe will recover: Its people's history of
perseverance in struggle is inspiring. It is an honor to support the work of
courageous Zimbabweans who seek true democracy, the rule of law, and legal and
medical assistance for those jailed and tortured by the current
regime.
Rowly Brucken
Barre
The Standard
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
THE government will in the next few weeks doll out more than $500 billion
for the purchase of luxurious 4x4 twin cab vehicles for Members of Parliament
and Senators at a time when most Zimbabweans are wallowing in abject poverty,
The Standard has established.
Over 80% of Zimbabweans are poor and cannot
afford even one single proper meal every day.
Despite this glaring poverty,
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has already released about US$350 000 (about
Z$36,4 billion) for the purchase of top-of-the range Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Nissan
and Toyota vehicles for the legislators. A total of 191 MPs and Senators are
eligible under the Member of Parliament Vehicle Revolving Fund
(MPVRF).
Impeccable sources said the central bank has pledged to release
about US$150 000 (about Z$15, 6 billion) every week for the purchase of the
vehicles.
"They have agreed to release about US$150 000 on a weekly basis
until all of them (legislators) get the vehicles," a source at Parliament
said.
Already, Parliament has made orders to several car dealers in
Harare.
An official with Haddon Motors last week confirmed receiving an order
for 24 Isuzu Twin Cabs from Parliament.
The official said: "I can confirm an
order of 24 vehicles but cannot for now act on it because we are still waiting
for payment."
The official said each Isuzu vehicle costs US$25 500 (about
Z$2,652 billion) plus VAT of $3, 3 billion, which will add up to $5,952 billion.
The Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma, on Friday confirmed that the central
bank had released part of the money for the purchase of vehicles for
legislators.
"The Reserve Bank has so far released US$350 000 and has assured
the board (MPVRF board) that it will release about US$150 000 every week
depending on the availability of the foreign currency," Zvoma said.
He said
each legislator had been awarded a ceiling figure of US$30 000 although most of
the vehicles had an average price of US$24 000.
"When value added tax is
added, the amount will be slightly more," he said. Zvoma said MPs who served in
the 2000 parliament would get first priority, followed by those elected in March
2005 while senators, who only got into office in last November, would also be
considered.
"The fund was unable to support all the MPs last year because
there was not enough allocation as some of the money was channeled to grain as
there was a drought," he said.
Zvoma said the government had a 100% loan
recovery rate on those who previously benefited.
"In terms of recovery rates,
we have about 100%. We don’t have problems on that," said Zvoma, who defended
the purchases saying the luxurious vehicles would enable the legislators to
navigate any terrain. Questions submitted to the central bank’s public relations
officer, Tonderayi Mukeredzi, had not been responded to by the time of going to
print.
Economists fear that the release of the money could send tremors into
the country’s precarious economy.
Bulawayo-based economist, Eric Bloch, said
the current state of Zimbabwe’s economy cannot sustain such a luxury.
"It is
in countries like Zimbabwe that you find MPs and senators being given loans to
buy cars. In other countries, Ministers are the only ones entitled to such
loans," Bloch said.
Economic commentator Jonathan Kadzura said it would be
better for the legislators to forgo the purchase of the vehicles until the
economy recovers. He said the money, which is in foreign currency, could have
been used in the manufacturing or farming sectors.
"The principle may be
correct but the timing is very wrong because every Zimbabwean is suffering. It
is not the time to extend such loans," Kadzura said.
Zimbabwe is undergoing
serious economic recession characterised by a four-digit inflation figure, high
unemployment and shortages of basic commodities. About 3,5 million people in the
country are surviving on food relief from international donor organisations.
The Standard
BY OUR STAFF
THE
anti-Senate faction of the MDC will allow President Robert Mugabe to be granted
immunity from prosecution as part of a broader initiative by the international
community to find a solution to the Zimbabwean crisis.
MDC Secretary General,
Tendai Biti who is on a two-week tour in Europe with leader Morgan Tsvangirai
was yesterday quoted by Reuters saying Mugabe could be allowed to escape
prosecution if that would help to bring Zimbabwe back to the road to
recovery.
Mugabe stands accused of widespread human rights violations. He has
refused to leave power amid speculation that he wants to hang on until 2010.
Addressing a press conference in the UK on Friday, Tsvangirai said a plan
was already in place that would ensure a smooth transition of
power.
Tsvangirai said: "In this plan we demand negotiations by key
institutions on the establishment of a Transitional Authority and the convening
of a Constitutional Conference to draft this new people-driven Constitution,
subject to a referendum, and a window for healing will be provided through the
repeal of repressive laws such as POSA and AIPPA, and the liberalisation of
airwaves."
He added: "At the same time Zanu PF must dismantle its informal
arms of violence in the shape of the youth militias or Green Bombers.
Thereafter, free and fair elections must be held."
Tsvangirai said he
welcomed reports that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan wanted to intervene as a
part of fresh international involvement in the crisis.
He said: "The people
of Zimbabwe welcome and support any genuine attempt to resolve the crisis.
However, we now await fuller and clearer details of this new intervention."
The Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe should die in office, a grovelling senator told
the Upper House of Parliament recently.
Making a belated birthday message to
Mugabe, Senator Chief Musarurwa from Mashonaland East told fellow senators that
Mugabe should be allowed to be a life President.
"Madam President (Edna
Madzongwe), all the words that I have said about the President of this country
have to do with wishing him to live until the Almighty decides to call him
because we wish that he becomes a life President of this country.
"We know
that from African tradition, chiefs are not removed from power. It is only
through death that they are removed," Chief Musarurwa said.
Mugabe, who
turned 82 on 21 February, this year has remained in power despite widespread
criticism of his 26-year rule. There is mounting speculation that he wants to
hang onto power until 2010. He has however not quashed those rumours. Chief
Musarurwa said he wished Mugabe many more years in office.
"The President was
anointed to be a leader of this country and we wish that he should grow old to
the extent that his back is rubbed with cow dung and until the followers know
that his duty is to take care of this country, until there are no such things as
corruption and until there is peace and equal distribution of land in this
country."
The Standard
By Foster
Dongozi
IN desperate attempts to halt the country’s continued descent to
economic ruin government is reportedly courting church leaders to approach
European and US leaders to reverse crippling travel sanctions imposed on the
Zanu PF leadership, The Standard understands.
In addition, the church leaders
have been tasked with coming up with suggestions on how the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank could be influenced so that lines of credit to
Zimbabwe can be re-opened.
On Thursday, President Robert Mugabe hosted a
group of church leaders in a move that has been blasted by other church
leaders.
There is a perception that some of the members of the clergy who met
Mugabe are Zanu PF apologists.
Church insiders said one of the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches leaders a relative of a Zanu PF former government minister
suppressed a damaging report on last year’s March Parliamentary
elections.
ZCC was one of the accredited election observers.
After meeting
Mugabe, the head of the ZCC, Bishop Peter Nemapare addressed journalists and was
quoted as saying: "We know we have a government that we must support, interact
with and draw attention (to concerns).
"Those of us who have different ideas
about this country surely must know that we have a government which
listens."
Reports that Harare wants the churches to broker a peace pact with
Europe and the US come amid media speculation that Mugabe has roped in long time
ally, Tanzania to help him secure a meeting with British Premier, Tony
Blair.
However, church leaders who spoke to The Standard said they were
surprised that nothing appeared to have been said by the government’s praise
singers about last year’s "Operation Murambatsvina" which was launched at the
onset of winter.
Bishop Levee Kadenge, the convenor of the Zimbabwe Christian
Alliance, a grouping of churches countrywide, said church organisations were
shocked that some leaders were singing praises of a regime that had brought
suffering on its own people.
He said: "We refer to such people who praise
political leaders as court prophets. But then I suppose after being given a lot
of sadza at State House, our colleagues were obliged to sing praises of the
government. Right now I am in Bulawayo and there are money shortages. People are
suffering because of the government sanctioned ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ and I
feel that is what the church leaders should have told President
Mugabe."
Jonah Gokova, the director of the Ecumenical Support Services, was
equally critical of the delegation.
He said: "Those church leaders have
missed a big opportunity to be in solidarity with the poor and suffering people
of Zimbabwe. The suffering has been caused by the bad policies of the same
government that they were praising. I don’t know if the leaders were
representing the views of their church members."
"Murambatsvina" left nearly
one million people homeless and without livelihoods after the government
demolished market stalls from where vendors sold their wares.
Thousands of
school children were forced to abandon their education following displacement.
The Standard
BY OUR STAFF
A
CHINHOYI magistrate has ruled that bearer cheques cannot be regarded as currency
in a landmark ruling that could have major implications on people intending to
go out of the country with Zimbabwean money.
Mashonaland West magistrate
Evangelista Kabasa made the ruling last week in a case in which Richard Floyd
Mambo and Nigel Manhoko were facing charges of contravening a section of the
Exchange Control Regulations after police in Kariba found them in possession of
$575 million stashed in their Toyota Corona vehicle.
The two claimed they
were on their way to Zambia to buy photocopiers and that they wanted to use the
money to pay duty for them on their way back.
According to court records the
two wanted to deposit the money with Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials but
before they could make any declarations, police officers in plain clothes asked
them to accompany them to Kariba Police Station. Their car was searched and the
money found inside.
Their lawyers, Lewis Uriri of Honey and Blackenberg and
Tapiwa Muchineripi of Muchineripi and Associates, argued that the two could not
be charged as the $1 000 note was the highest currency denominator.
"This is
quite apart from the fact that the exhibits (bearer cheques) are not currency as
defined in the regulations under which the accused are being charged."
The
lawyers argued that the bearer cheques were not currency "but mere negotiating
instruments governed exclusively by the Bills of Exchange Act".
The
magistrate ruled that in any case, bearer cheques were of no value outside
Zimbabwe, as they were not regarded as currency.
In her ruling, the
magistrate ruled: "I find the defence’s argument appealing and with merit, if
the argument is correct, it follows that there was no exportation or attempt to
export currency as defined by law. It is a well-reasoned argument by the
defence, which I tend to agree with. I therefore am persuaded to rule in favour
of the accused."
The Standard
Market watch By Deborah-Fay
Ndlovu
STOCKBROKERS have warned that value added tax payments could lead
to a spate of company closures and loss of confidence in the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange.
Brokers boycotted the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange on Monday after the
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority insisted on value added tax payments backdated to
2004.
While Deputy Fina-nce minister David Chapfika said the issue had been
resolved with brokers agreeing to pay a 13% of the commission income they have
earned since the introduction of VAT in 2004, a stockbroker insisted to
Standardbusiness they had resolved not "to budge"’ as they feared the impact of
the VAT payments on the operations
"We had a meeting yesterday (Tuesday) as
brokers and resolved that we were not going to trade until the issue with ZIMRA
is resolved. ZIMRA has said they want their money but we cannot budge because we
could become insolvent," the stockbroker said.
He added: "People will lose
confidence in the stock market going forward. Now they are stuck with a piece of
paper and not able to sell shares."
While ZSE boss, Emmanuel Munyukwi could
not be reached for comment; this paper understands that the ZSE held meetings
with the Ministry of Finance lobbying for a reversal of the decision "in the
interest of the bourse".
The impasse left investors with minimal options of
where to place their money. Most turned to the money market resulting in funds
being awash.
That coupled with TB maturities saw short-tem interest rates
declining to 50 % for 7 to 14 days. The highlight of the week was the increase
in the bank rate to 850% for secured lending and 900% for unsecured
lending.
The move prompted by the Reserve Bank to quell speculation, resulted
in the increase of the 91-day TB rate to 401%. Monetary authorities had
decreased the rate to 350%.
A dealer with a local bank however
questioned the rationale of decreasing the 91-day TB rate in hyperinflationary
conditions.
"It just goes to show the confusion at the central bank. These
people are out of ideas. I cannot quantify its rationale. We cannot have the
rate coming down when there is inflation," said the dealer.
He said there
were hopes that interest rates will increase in the long run so investors can
get real returns on the money market. The RBZ also allotted one-year tenders,
which analysts said, raised considerable interest among investors.
"People
have realised that the one-year TB is an attractive instrument because its
performance is always above inflation," said Terrence Mazango of Highveld. The
one- year tender is linked to the Consumer Price Index with an additional margin
of 2%.
Mazango however said the paper could be liability to the central bank
in the long run if inflation continues on an upward trend.
"The view from the
RBZ is that inflation will come down and if it does then the one-year tender
will be a cheap source of funding. If inflation does go up it will be an
expensive instrument to maintain in the long run. The RBZ will end up paying a
lot for interests," he said.
A dealer said investors were flocking for the
tenders because they had nowhere to place their money.
The Standard
Charge less for Garikai, firms told
BY NDAMU SANDU
GOVERNMENT has commandeered cement manufacturers to extend the 15% discount
on all sales to "Operation Garikai" by another four months.
Standardbusiness
heard last week that an offer made by the companies last year to help the
government housing reconstruction operation was due to expire in August.
Under the agreement, cement sold to "Operation Garikai" contractors would
attract a 15% discount uo to August 31. A meeting held on Monday, however,
extended the window period to 31 December.
Industry and International Trade
Minister Obert Mpofu, his deputy Phineas Chihota and Christian Katsande —the
ministry’s Permanent Secretary — and other officials attended the meeting with
the cement manufacturing industry.
Gavin Stephens, chairman of the Cement
and ConcreteInstitute confirmed to Standardbusiness on the extension of the
window period saying it was a culmination of discussions between the two
parties.
Stephens said the industry had offered a 15% discount on all sales
"as a contribution to the reconstruction programme".
The extension of the
window period is likely to impact negatively on the cement-manufacturing sector
currently operating at 40% capacity. The industry has over the years been
affected by the price controls effected on the product.
There are three
cement manufacturing companies — Portland Holdings, Circle Cement and Sino
Zimbabwe — operating in the country.
"Operation Garikai" was embarked last
year to build houses for people who had been affected by the internationally
vilified "Operation Murambatsvina" that is said to have made more than 750 000
families homeless, according to the United Nations.
Efforts to get comment
from the Industry and International Trade ministry were unsuccessful last week.
Mpofu was said to be away while Katsande was attending a meeting when
Standardbusiness called the ministry Friday.
The Standard
By Deborah-Fay
Ndhlovu
IT is pay week but for Sam Kurerwa that is a non-event. His salary
and payslip are something to laugh about.
As soon as he has read that little
piece of paper, he picks up his cell phone — obviously not bought from his
salary — calls an unidentified receiver and makes an appointment to sell
something far removed from his regular job as a clerk before dashing out of the
door.
Sam’s life is something that many Zimbabweans identify with. With
salaries pegged below the poverty datum line of $41 million per month, many
locals have found other ways to supplement their income, leading to a new breed
of office workers-cum-businesspeople.
Analysts are however at quandary over
what to call them. There are even some who make outrageous accusations that
these "office workers" are holding the nation at ransom.
The general feeling
though is that hardly what these workers make out of their "businesses"
contributes to the gross domestic product. With Zimbabwe’s GDP projected to
decline by 4.7 % by year-end, expectations in some quarters are that these new
breed of "entrepreneurs" should at least contribute to the growth of the
economy.
But many of them are not registered with any business organisation
and it will be hard for the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to follow up on them. A
local economist says this cannot be expected of them because most are
speculators, out to survive at whatever cost in the face of the current economic
hardships.
"There is really a thin line between entrepreneurs and
speculators. For example an entrepreneur in a viable economic environment would
re-invest profits into improving infrastructure because business is sustainable
and demand is high. At current level most lack the critical mass, the greenfield
investments that make up an entrepreneurs," said a local economic analyst who
declined to be named.
Interfin analyst, Farai Dyirakumunda, however prefers
to call them "entrepreneurs" by virtue of the fact that they are fulfilling a
demand for products in short supply.
"They are responsive to opportunities
that have arisen in the market," Dyirakumunda said. He however agrees that some
of them are mere speculators.
"When you have a shrinking economy then it is
inevitable that people will try to adapt to an informal setting because the
incomes from the formal sector are inadequate. People do profiteer with some
selling controlled commodities and selling them on the black market,"
Dyirakumunda said.
The analyst however contends that the new breed of
entrepreneurs has helped to the keep economy "standing".
"There should be
some money trickling in and that is how the economy is still standing. GDP
declined by 40 % over the past five years but somehow the economy has been
prevented from total collapse by these informal activities and Diaspora money,"
he said.
Another analyst said he would have called them "independent
contractors" save for that most are making abnormal profits by exploiting
anomalies in the market.
"I will call them independent contractors because
they seek to satisfy shortages in the market. But some are speculating by making
abnormal profits through spotting anomalies in the market," he said. David
Mupamhadzi of ZABG calls them "moonlighters".
Kurerwa, a part-time fuel
merchant prefers to call himself "a commodity broker".
"I definitely cannot
live on my salary. I am not married and things are so tough for me. Once I have
paid my rent I have nothing left from my salary and yet I have to eat. So what
else can I do but to sell fuel. Things are slow now because a lot of garages are
selling the commodity but a few months ago I was really making a good buck,"
Kurerwa said.
From Kurerwa who sells fuel, to the upcoming lawyer who waylays
clients bound for his law firm or the clerk-cum-cross-border trader who is
selling wares from outside the country, it has become obvious that the majority
of Zimbabweans can now not live on their salaries alone.
The gap between
managerial and non-managerial salaries continues to grow with latest findings
showing that a low level employee earned $2 million per month in 2005 against
$250 million for a senior company executive.
Kurerwa says people like him
will continue to find ways of "bridging the gap" but to many analysts, most of
these extra incomes could be unsustainable should the Zimbabwean economy
recover.
"We did not see too many people going into business in the past. If
things change, the economy will refomalise and I do not know if these people
will be able to adapt," said Dyirakumunda.
However, even the most optimistic
economists say Zimbabwe’s recovery is not pegged for recovery any time in the
near future and for Kurerwa and many like him, it means continuing to jiggle
between formal employment and the big bucks that come from "speculating".
The Standard
I was
one of the people who attended the meeting which was organised at the Small City
Hall by Bulawayo Agenda on Wednesday 17 May 2006. The meeting had been called
specifically to address the topic: The Split in the Opposition, Any Hope for a
Rainbow Coalition.
It is very unfortunate that the speakers who included
Tendai Biti, Paul Siwela and David Coltart, failed to address the question. They
acted in typical political fashion. They came to advertise their different
organisations.
They stole from us, the participants, an opportunity to
listen to a fruitful discussion. I would like to urge Bulawayo Agenda to address
this issue. When we go to meetings we do not go there to have speakers brag to
us. We go because we are concerned citizens who want to see a better
Zimbabwe.
I think that the need for a rainbow coalition is very urgent. I
am afraid, though, that there are men like Siwela who say that they would only
go into a coalition with only those who advocate for a federal state. That, I
think is misguided.
We need a rainbow coalition so that we can have the
power to unseat the government of Robert Mugabe. It is Mugabe’s government that
started and managed a warped land redistribution programme. It is because of
Mugabe’s government that now we can not afford to have three decent meals a day.
It is because of Mugabe’s government that we no longer have any health workers.
Most of the problems we have today are a direct response to the government’s
corrupt tendencies where respectable government ministers loot productive farms
like Kondozi and still go unpunished.
My plea to the politicians is that
they must, for a minute, throw away their egos. I want them to start thinking
about forming a rainbow coalition in order to save the children of Zimbabwe from
a tyranny that threatens their lives. I know all the politicians who addressed
the Bulawayo Agenda meeting are always assured of a meal. They will always sleep
under a roof and they will never spend more than 10 minutes waiting to buy
sugar.
These politicians can afford to set conditions for a rainbow
coalition. We, the people out here can no longer afford that. We want a new
dispensation. We want the opposition politicians to come to the round table
together with civic society so that we can draw up a road map that will help us
to remove Mugabe and his corrupt government so that we can save the children of
Zimbabwe.
The need for a rainbow coalition is very urgent and we urge all
opposition politicians to start working towards making this a reality. If they
do, we the children of Zimbabwe will thank them forever. But if they do not,
then the court of history must surely judge them.
Busani Moyo
Magwegwe
Bulawayo
The Standard
Demystifying Mutambara's political delusions
Sunday view By
Pedzisai Ruhanya
WHEN Arthur Mutambara, the leader of the pro-senate
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) entered Zimbabwe’s political powder keg,
there was some sense of optimism that the robotics professor would champion the
re-unification of the two feuding sides of Zimbabwe’s biggest parliamentary and
local government opposition party although it was clear to some critics that he
had "tainted" himself by taking a position and then seeking to be the arbiter in
a crisis in which he was an interested party.
However, as this opinion seeks
to argue, Mutambara has failed to live up to those expectations because he
dismally could not locate and elucidate to the MDC supporters in particular and
Zimbabweans in general the root causes of crisis obtaining in Zimbabwe and what
needs to be done.
When Mutambara came from South Africa to lead the
break-away faction of the MDC he sought to identify what he called re-branding
of the MDC as his priority. He also argued that the MDC did not have an
ideological underpinning and needed one and then started to preach and coin the
nationalism mantra as his faction’s rallying ideology.
I want to argue that
Mutambara missed the point and hence the beginning of his political misfortunes.
This is so because in my view the MDC is a social democratic party which tries
to rally the workers, students, peasants and the poor to attain political,
economic and social justice in the country after years of political and economic
plunder associated with President Robert Mugabe’s administration for more than
two decades now.
It seems clear the MDC is seeking for people power based on
the rule of law and the restoration of the country’s international membership by
removing its pariah status currently haunting the regime in Harare. Therefore I
refuse to accept this as a matter that Mutambara would wish to convince
Zimbabweans as an issue of substance worth rallying the starving people of
Zimbabwe and the restoration of law and order which is urgently needed in the
country.
Further on that issue, I want to posit that Mutambara wanted to
mislead Zimbabweans into believing that the crisis in Zimbabwe is a crisis about
an opposition party which does not have an ideology. I want to falsify that
theory by arguing that the crisis in Zimbabwe is a crisis of legitimacy and
governance not an ideological crisis as Mutambara would want us believe. It is a
crisis of legitimacy and governance emanating from allegations of election
rigging and the use of violence against political opponents in the 2000
Parliamentary elections, 2002 Presidential election and the 2005 Parliamentary
elections.
For the record, Mutambara should find time to peruse some High
Court rulings pertaining to the MDC election petitions in which more than six
parliamentary election outcomes including the Buhera North result where Morgan
Tsvangirai stood against Kenneth Manyonda were nullified on the basis violence,
arson and in the case of Tsvangirai the burning to death of Talent Mabika and
Tichaona Chiminya at Murambinda Growth point on 14 April 2000.
The
legitimacy of the regime in Zimbabwe has been a result of the generality of
Zimbabweans and the international community refusing to accept past election
results on the basis electoral manipulation and the use of state-sponsored
violence against political opponents. This is the reason why legal and political
science scholars have rightly argued that the Harare regime is a de facto but
not de jure administration.
Also of note is the creation of an
infrastructure of violence by the Zanu PF government through the establishment
of youth militia and its use in political violence against opponents of Zanu PF.
It should also be noted that accompanying this was the militarisation of
fundamental state institutions such as the Electoral Supervisory Commission
whose chief executive officer during the 2002 presidential election was
Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba.
The government also made it a point that its
wishes would prevail in the courts by purging the High Court and Supreme Court
of senior and most independent judges while appointing its allies who were going
to deliver favourable rulings. This could be seen in that five years after the
High Court made rulings in election petitions in 2001 and appeals were made to
the Supreme Court, until today, the Supreme Court has not heard those cases and
they have since been overtaken by events because the life of that Parliament is
over.
This brings me to the next argument where Mutambara told journalists
in the Midlands that Tsvangirai lost in 2000, 2002 and 2005. It remains
mysterious where he got this kind of information and has the guts to tell
Zimbabweans some of them victims of murder, abductions and arson that they lost
the elections.
Most unfortunate for Mutambara, he was speaking in the
Midlands province where one Biggy Chitoro the leader of the war veterans in
Mberengwa created torture camps leading to the brutal murder of one Fainos
Kufazvinei Zhou prior to the June 2000 Parliamentary elections. This kind of
terrorism like the murder of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans in the Midlands
and Matebeleland provinces are still fresh among survivors of that state terror.
It is mind-boggling that Mutambara fails or refuses to acknowledge these
issues as the reasons behind Zimbabwe’s pariah status and want to make
unfortunate and misplaced political scores by saying Tsvangirai lost those
elections. This kind of political naiveté will further alienate Mutambara from
the generality of victims of state violence each time there is an election in
the country.
It seems clear that given the above, the MDC is not in power not
because they lacked an ideological crisis but because the incumbent regime used
extra-legal means to hang on to power. More so, the incumbent refuses to play by
the democratic rules of the game in its conduct of the electoral process in the
past elections.
It is therefore critical for Mutambara to appreciate the
nature of the crisis in Zimbabwe before he starts showing off through parading
his professorship as if he is the first Zimbabwean to attain that status.
Mutambara could take time to consult his colleagues in his faction before he
makes public pronouncements that are at variance with the history of the country
during the years he was out especially as it relates to how Zimbabwe is where it
is today.
I would advise him to appreciate the history of the country from
February 2000, the Constitutional Referendum month, the farm invasions and the
murders associated with it and the subsequent electoral disputes to date so that
his public outbursts are in line with Zimbabweans’ views on the electoral
history of the country to date.
It is clear that from a political science
point of view, Mutambara has failed to appreciate the issues at hand I would
recommend him to seek free lessons from Professor Jonathan Moyo, who I think
despite his mistakes during his flirtation with the Harare regime has the proper
attributes of a political scientist. It is my view that instead of spending his
time showing Zimbabweans how educated he is, the robotics professor should
address economic and political issues that resonate with the struggling majority
of Zimbabweans.
He should do so by working with others in civil society and
opposition to find a common strategy and democratic resistance front to confront
the regime and establish a democratic culture in Zimbabwe. This would not be
achieved by pouring vitriolic attacks against political opponents and civic
society organisations who do not agree with his views especially the shocking
ones relating to Tsvangirai having lost elections in 200, 2002 and 2005. If he
differs with other opposition and pro-democracy forces, Mutambara should seek
audience with them and appreciate where they are coming from before he sinks
into political doldrums.
The Standard
By Frank Phiri
TOKYO, Japan – one of the richest countries in the world and a member of the
G8 – says it is not pleased with President Bingu wa Mutharika’s soft treatment
of Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.
The Tokyo government has also expressed
disapproval of the political and financial support that China and the Southern
African Development Community (Sadc) is rendering to Mugabe’s regime.
But
Malawi’s Minister of Information Patricia Kaliati said on Thursday gover1nment
does not regret honouring Mugabe.
"By morally and materially supporting
Mugabe and his regime, Malawi and anyone else, will be setting a bad precedent.
It is a tragic reflection of governance in your country and all those that are
worshipping this dictator," Dr Sadaharu Kataoka, advisor to Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said in Tokyo.
Kataoka, who advises Koizumi on
African affairs and is also associate professor of the School of International
Liberal Studies at Waseda University, was addressing African journalists on a
tour of duty of Japan.
He said Japan and other members of the world’s eight
most industrialised nations would maintain a hard line policy against Mugabe by
sustaining travel and economic sanctions on the Harare administration.
"Japan and other members of the G8 maintain a travel ban policy on Mugabe.
We stopped economic ties with his government because he and his family are
practising personalised politics. This has sunk Zimbabwe, which was a big
exporter hitherto, into serious economic and governance problems," Kataoka said.
The foreign affairs expert said Japan and the developed world was surprised
to learn of Mutharika’s hero-worshipping of Mugabe during his recent state visit
to the country.
But Kaliati described Kataoka as a bad advisor to Koizumi
"if his statement were meant to discredit our government. We do not regret
honouring Mugabe and people from other countries should not interfere with
issues that do not concern them. Malawi is not going to follow whatever they
say. He (Kataoka) is not a good advisor," said Kaliati.
Kataoka said equally
disturbing was the laxity of South African President Thabo Mbeki to whip his
northern neighbour in line with expectations of the donor community and the
cash-strapped people of Zimbabwe. "If it was Nelson Mandela, Mugabe would have
started to listen. The venerable Mandela would have put the necessary pressure
on him, but Mbeki appears lax," he said.
Kataoka said Japan was also
protesting China’s sweeping policy and financial aid to Mugabe and other African
countries as this could undermine democracy on the continent and reinforce
dictatorship. He said China was a communist dictatorship which looked bent on
pampering other African dictators.
"China is building roads, stadiums and
other infrastructure in Africa using its prisoners. It is also supporting a
number of African countries militarily. This is not by the will of the people of
China but communist dictatorship. Japan as a democracy protests such
ideologies," said Kataoka.
China has recently been pumping a lot of money to
Zimbabwe, which sources say has helped Mugabe’s administration clear outstanding
debts with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and top up salaries in the
civil service to cushion a bludgeoning inflation of about 1000 percent.
The
government of Hu Jintao is also making in roads in West Africa where it has
staked more than US$100 million for rehabilitating and building football stadia
in Ghana, which is preparing to host the African Cup of Nations in 2008.
This month, President Bingu wa Mutharika went ahead to name a road in
Blantyre after Mugabe despite advice from civil society that doing so would set
a bad precedent. Diplomats were also reported to be angry with wa Mutharika’s
kid gloves over Mugabe. Malawi’s exports to Japan were pegged at K3.6 billion as
of last year according to figures at Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro).
The country sells tobacco, tea, coffee, and fish to Japan.
The Standard
AFRICA is known
to have fought against many injustices in the pre-colonial, colonial and
post-colonial eras but the struggle for women and men to disband and dismantle
patriarchy which for years has justified wife battering, rape, forced marriages
of girls, polygamy and domestic violence remains outstanding.
The many
arguments advanced by some writers as to why the Domestic Violence Bill should
not be enacted is a clear testimony that they are still bound by beliefs,
practices, myths and attitudes of patriarchy.
Patriarchy does not have a
space for women whether they are black or white. When a woman speaks out or
attempts to make a breakthrough into a male dominated field she is stereotyped,
harassed, jeered at, beaten up and replaced with an "African morally correct"
woman with a subdued voice.
Some of the recent contributions have come from
defenders, authors and architects of patriarchy. Rape of young girls is a daily
occurrence with the youngest rape victim in Zimbabwe aged three days.
Women
are battered, sexually enslaved, maimed and sometimes left for dead,
economically abused, murdered and in a recent tragedy in Buhera, four men
murdered a woman because she could not breast feed.
Violation of women’s
rights is now the order of the day and 60% of new infections are with married
women in Zimbabwe. There is need to consult widely on facts and figures on
Domestic Violence before downplaying ongoing efforts to have the Bill enacted
into law.
Zimbabwe may be the only country without a specific act of
parliament to protect children, women and men in the home from domestic
violence. I felt really depressed last week at a regional workshop in South
Africa to learn that most of the neighbouring countries enacted the Domestic
Violence Bill and all their women, children and men are living harmoniously in
the homes.
The Domestic Violence Bill is just but one of the million demands
from women in line with the Millennium Development Goals. The Domestic Violence
Bill is only the beginning as all marriage laws that allow men to have many
wives and forbid women to do the same are in the pipeline.
Betty
Makoni
Chairperson,
Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe
The Standard
New initiative to reposition tourism drive
BY OUR
STAFF
SEVERAL initiatives are expected to take off before the end of the year
in a new drive aimed at promoting Zimbabwe as a tourist destination, The
Standard can reveal.
Delegates to the just-ended Hospitality Association of
Zimbabwe congress held at the Great Zimbabwe monument in Masvingo have agreed on
rebranding of Zimbabwe as a tourist destination.
While the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority will run with the programme, it is expected to be informed by input
from the various players in the industry because now more than ever, there is
much more to rebranding a tourist destination than new advertisements and new
destinations.
A number of products that will inform the rebranding of
Zimbabwe as a tourist destination are the restaurants and hotels and the extent
to which recent renovations have been undertaken.
For example Cresta Jameson
Hotel and the Rainbow Towers, formerly The Sheraton, have undergone or are
undergoing major changes that will see them being repackaged products.
One of
the immediate initiatives agreed at the Great Zimbabwe congress is transforming
the Beitbridge border post into a tourist-friendly gateway.
Tourist
traffic
This initiative seeks to ensure that officers receive new orientation
that makes them ambassadors and promoters of tourism with the idea of increasing
the flow of tourist traffic into the country.
To this end the ZTA has
assembled a taskforce aimed at ensuring that when tourists arrive at Beitbridge
their documents are processed speedily, because when visitors are held up at the
border posts it creates the perception that perhaps they are not really
welcome.
Already the taskforce team last week was in Beitbridge to try and
drum the same message to both Immigration and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
officials that Zimbabwe is now ready to play a whole new ball game in its
efforts to attract more tourists to the country.
It is hoped that this new
interpersonal approach will produce dividends, demonstrating the critical role
that tourism plays in foreign currency generation.
The new initiatives
coincide with last week’s official launch of the national airline’s MA60
aircraft acquired from China.
Part of the initiatives include the launch of a
website for the hospitality sector and re-launch of the sector’s magazine with a
view to ensuring it is circulated more widely. In the past, the magazine,
Hospitality, was viewed as an internal document, purely for the consumption of
members. That is set to change with a more aggressive approach to marketing
tourism.
The Standard
A cholera
epidemic has flared sporadically in Zimbabwe since late last year, but shortages
of drugs, staff and serviceable vehicles have prevented the authorities from
stamping it out.The latest outbreak, reported over the weekend, has claimed 15
lives and infected 45 people in the northeastern town of Guruve, 150km from the
capital, Harare.
A senior disease control officer told IRIN the numbers
affected could be much higher, as health teams have been unable to cover the
more remote parts of the district.
"The problems we face in Guruve are
exactly what we have experienced in all the other areas where cholera outbreaks
have been reported since January. There is a crisis in the supply of medicines
and essential drugs, personnel, and even cars to get to places we believe need
thorough check-ups," said the official, who asked not to be named.
According
to Portia Mangazira, acting co-ordinator of the ministry of health’s
epidemiology unit, the situation in Guruve was under control, and prevention
teams were being dispatched around the district.
"We have been responding to
outbreaks since the beginning of the year and they have all been contained,
although the recurrence rate remains high," said Mangazira.
Health Minister
Dr David Parirenyatwa admitted that foreign currency shortages and an exodus of
specialist staff meant his ministry faced huge challenges in running an
effective disease control unit.
"Fuel and transport problems have also
crippled a lot of control operations. However, we have managed to deploy the few
resources [we have] with some effect over disease-hit areas," Parirenyatwa told
IRIN.
He acknowledged the reduced capacity of the disease control unit as a
result of Zimbabwe’s long-running economic crisis and the exodus of skilled
staff. "The rate at which the diseases have been recurring is proof that we are
failing in total epidemic control. A lot of work needs to done in rebuilding the
unit, but we are not sure if we are going to be able to attract and retain
highly qualified staff," Parirenyatwa said.
Blessing Chebundo, chairman of
the parliamentary portfolio committee on health and child welfare, said the
failure of disease control mirrored the rot in the entire public healthcare
system.
"The problem at disease control has been growing with the crisis
since 2000. Every year we remind the government about the need to replenish the
health sector, but the usual excuses are budgetary constraints, and promises of
reforms that never work out or pay. The problem is with government, not the
ministry or an isolated department," Chebundo told IRIN.
Since the start of
the rainy season in December, hundreds of people have died from recurrent
cholera and malaria outbreaks. Six years of unrelieved economic crisis,
triggered by the government's land-reform programme and policy blunders, have
crippled Zimbabwe's social welfare system, previously one of the best on the
continent. -- IRIN
The Standard
Broaden currency debate
Sunday Opinion By Webster
Zambara
THE last week of January 2006 will be remembered for the bad it
brought with it on the economic and social front. Urban and rural transport went
up by between 50 and 80%, respectively. Beverages went up 40%. The black market
fuel went up significantly too.
These events preceded the announcement by
the Reserve Bank governor Dr Gideon Gono that a new $50 000 bearer’s cheque will
be in circulation on 1 February, to be followed by the introduction of a new
currency later in the year.
It is the introduction of a new currency that I
am writing on, not because price hikes are irrelevant but we are so much used to
them now that we accept them as the norm. The introduction of a new currency, on
the other hand, is spirally of a much deeper level than just an exchange of
notes and coins for goods and services, especially in a hyperinflationary
environment that we are in.
Of interest is also the fact that the IMF team
was in the country during that period.
I am neither a banker nor an
economist, so I promise I will not digress to peace and conflict issues that I
articulate with so much passion.
The price increases and introduction of a
higher denomination of the bearers’ cheque may be attributed to a number of
factors but as a layman I will focus on two aspects; the global geo-politics and
a weak economy. While these two are so much related, I would like to interrogate
the second one first simply because it is the nearest to the lay person.
Our
economy is so weak that the central bank governor and the Ministry of Finance
failed to handle the extra-yearly wages to our hardworking but
poverty-threatened civil servants in a manner that is not financially explosive.
The fact that almost every Tom, Dick and Harry could predict a price increase
after pay rises for civil servants tells volumes of the state of our economy. I
felt so touched as a retired teacher myself.
Gono even predicted a rise in
inflation, which he once declared the nation’s "enemy number one", to rise
further before receding. Much has not been said about what exactly will lead to
the decline. Let me hasten to say that the end of hyperinflation does not mean
the end of suffering or extreme poverty.
Far from it! I should say to the
government’s economic team that if they are brave, heroic, steadfast, earnest
and honest, they could turn our impoverished, hyperinflationary country into an
impoverished country with stable prices.
I know I irk some people by saying
it so candidly that we are a very poor country. Professor Jeffrey Sachs
(2005:20), distinguishes between three degrees of poverty; extreme (or absolute)
poverty, moderate poverty and relative poverty. To him, extreme poverty means
that households cannot meet basic needs for survival. They are chronically
hungry, unable to access healthcare, lack the amenities of safe drinking water
and sanitation, cannot afford education for some or all of the children, and
perhaps lack rudimentary shelter and basic articles of clothing such as shoes.
(Prof. Jeffrey Sachs is the architect of the Millennium Development Goals. and a
chief economic advisor to the UN Secretary General).
Is this not what we are
seeing in Zimbabwe today? Our municipalities are at pains to tell us that the
water they pump is safe for drinking, on a day that it comes. Uncollected
stinking garbage is with us everyday. In any case, do you know that in our
country there are some people who spend the whole year without making or
receiving a phone call? Do you accept that in Zimbabwe there are people who
spend the whole year without boarding a bus, car or any automobile?
Let me
go back to my point of departure that we are eagerly looking forward to a new
currency in a weak economy. To make our currency a convertible currency the
Zimbabwe dollar should be pegged at a stable value from the start of any
reforms. To do that Zimbabwe will need foreign currency reserves, which could be
put in a highly visible stabilisation fund. This means reviving our
forex-earning agro-commercial production, which is the mainstay of our economy.
Let me take tobacco for example; simply because I used to teach that
Zimbabwe’s highest foreign currency earner is the golden leaf. Then it raked in
over 30% of our total earnings. In the year 2000 we produced 262 million tonnes
of the crop. I can’t recall exactly how much we grossed, but last year we only
sold 69 million tonnes of the same crop. This year we produced even less than
what we produced last year. This is the same with maize production and other
agricultural products. We wait to hear why we did not produce enough now that
the rains came in abundance.
Our other forex earners came from mining and
tourism, and these sectors are in shambles too. These three sectors could
provide our currency with a real foreign currency stability we need. I mean, our
economy at the moment is just so weak that introducing a new currency needs a
double thought.
I find serious disparities in having a "Look East" policy
and at the same time trying to please the very West that we are giving our backs
to. The geopolitics of the world has changed drastically since the time of the
Cold War. It’s now a question of fundamentals in a globalised world rather than
simply the direction one looks to.
From a humanitarian point of view,
renewed debt servicing is completely inappropriate. I hold forth vigorously that
renewed debt servicing will crush the living standards of already impoverished
people, and has potential to politically destabilise the country.
We
afford to pay back the IMF when our hospitals are empty? I wish we would revise
our foreign policy so as to be able to deal with anyone economically. That way,
I humbly believe, we can even negotiate for postponements of our debt servicing
as we get our priorities right. Successful change requires a combination of
technocratic knowledge, bold political leadership on fundamental economic
realities and a broad social participation. We will not go it alone.
I look
forward to a day where, as Zimbabweans, we will have stopped spending our daily
lives searching for goods on the black market, or queuing up for goods in front
of empty shops. On that day, we will not be poor millionaires.
Business Report
NEWS
May
28, 2006
By Basildon Peta
Johannesburg - The dismal failure of
Zimbabwe's business sector to forge a united front against President Robert
Mugabe's "commercial hooliganism" was the biggest nemesis of South African
investors trying to ward off a controversial plan to nationalise the country's
mining assets, said analysts.
As it emerged this week that there were
deep divisions within the Zimbabwean government over the plan to force foreign
mining companies to relinquish majority equity to the state, analysts lamented
the fragmented approach by the South African-led Zimbabwean business community
in dealing with the Mugabe establishment. They said the approach was detrimental
to the cause of business.
"The business sector has the power … to
influence change, but not when it is as fragmented as it is here," said a
Zimbabwean consultant economist, John Robertson, who also advises big
corporations.
All the South African investors who have flooded Zimbabwe
to take over mainly mining corporations are interested in doing their own thing
and protecting their own turf at the expense of working towards an integrated
approach that may benefit everyone in the end.
Business Report is
authoritatively informed that deep divisions within the Zimbabwean government
have pitted greedy politicians - who fear that their unfettered honeymoon under
the authoritarian Mugabe might be over soon and hence want to accumulate as much
wealth as possible - against the more realistic technocrats who are sympathetic
to foreign investors and who believe that forcing multinationals to relinquish
majority stakes to the state is as unsustainable as the white land seizures that
have destroyed Zimbabwe' farm-based economy.
After amassing several
large-scale commercial farms for themselves, their children and relatives, the
top politicians want majority equities in mining houses to be ceded to the state
as demanded by Mugabe to pass on to their consortiums at a later stage.
Some of the ministers have already abused their positions to acquire
exclusive prospecting zones in several mining areas and some have interests in
smaller-scale mining operations but want leeway to get to the big stage.
Their poor consortiums cannot afford outright buyouts of empowerment
stakes in foreign mining houses, officials said.
Authoritative sources
said the technocrats at the ministry of mines wanted a phased empowerment
approach in the mining sector similar to the South African model. This would be
a phased relinquishing of "realistic levels of equity" either to the state or to
Zimbabwe's private sector over a 10- to 15-year period.
"Many of
Zimbabwe's mineral resources, especially platinum, are unexploited and still
need huge investments. We, therefore, need to build the confidence of foreign
conglomerates to invest in extraction and in any other value-adding
technologies," said a well-placed official in the mines ministry. "Forcing the
companies to give majority equity to government or even establishing 50-50
partnerships will bring us back to square one … The government simply has no
money or expertise to invest in these capital-intensive
projects."
Officials said it would be better if Mugabe's government
avoided being an equity partner in mining ventures and restricted itself to
playing a facilitative role for black players who could raise money to be equity
partners with the South Africans.
Some black-owned conglomerates such as
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed TA Holdings have expressed an interest in
venturing into mining and would probably have the credibility to raise the cash
offshore required to partner with foreign mining companies and fulfil Mugabe's
preferred indigenisation sentiments.
Officials said another proposal by
the technocrats was to exempt specific mining projects needing huge foreign cash
injections from being asked to cede equity to the state as originally announced
by mines minister Amos Midzi. This was the compromise proposal that giants such
as Impala Platinum (Implats) were pushing for.
The draft changes
originally announced by Midzi would require foreign mining conglomerates to
immediately cede 25 percent equity to the government of Zimbabwe without
payment. The remaining 26 percent would be acquired over a five-year period and
paid for from dividends.
Although they don't acknowledge it publicly,
South African mining companies have withheld development projects worth billions
of rands at their mines in Zimbabwe pending clarity of the government's
nationalisation plans. Mugabe reiterated his stance to party supporters last
week that Zimbabwe's mining resources should be majority controlled by the state
for the benefit of Zimbabweans.
At the time of going to press, it was not
clear whether Mugabe would be persuaded by the recommendations of the
technocrats from his mines ministry or those from the Zimbabwe Chamber of
Mines.
But officials agreed with Robertson and other analysts that the
failure by the business sector in general and the mining sector in particular to
forge a united front was detrimental to their interests.
"They
[mining companies] come here one by one like children queueing up for lunch,"
said another mines ministry official.
Zimbabwean-born South African
businessman Mutumwa Maware, whose asbestos and gold mines were nationalised
under a decree issued by Mugabe, urged investors to learn from his experiences
and to forge a "united front against Mugabe's commercial tyranny and
hooliganism".
Implats chief executive Keith Rumble met with Mugabe more
than a month ago to safeguard his company's interests in Zimbabwe. Since that
meeting, Mugabe has repeated his resolve to seize mines on several occasions.
Anglo Platinum (Angloplat) spokesperson Simon Tebele said that his company was
still in talks with the Zimbabwe government.
Tebele refused to comment on
suggestions that the failure to forge unity within business was hugely
counterproductive.
He also declined to confirm or deny information that
Angloplat had scaled down investments at its flagship Unki Platinum Mine in
central Zimbabwe. Implats head of corporate affairs Bob Gilmore had not returned
several calls left for him at the time of going to press.
Implats
controls most of Zimbabwe's platinum reserves around the Chegutu/Ngezi area. It
benefited greatly when Australia's BHP Billiton abandoned its Chegutu Platinum
Mine several years ago. Impala has previously said it was involved in
negotiations with the Zimbabwe government. It is understood that the company was
withholding R6 billion worth of investment into its Zimbabwe mines pending the
final outcome of Mugabe's nationalisation plans.
But Mawere warned firms
to tread cautiously. "I am a victim of 100 percent nationalisation under a
decree issued by the same government that is negotiating with other asset owners
in Zimbabwe.
"Why would Implats have confidence that they will be secure
when even blacks like me, in whose names Mugabe want to control the same
resources, are not secure and can get victimised?"
If business played a
role in helping defeat apartheid through sanctions, then business could
certainly forge a united front against "commercial tyranny" in Zimbabwe and help
in creating an acceptable business environment.
A South African court
dismissed criminal charges raised by Mugabe against Mawere, whose minerals were
marketed via South Africa. But that did not stop Mugabe from proceeding with the
seizures. It seems Mawere had incensed Mugabe by refusing a top post in Zanu-PF.
He has also won a case against the Zimbabwe government in the British courts,
but all his efforts have been to no avail as Zimbabwe's government would not let
go of his confiscated assets.
Sources say Mzi Khumalo, who operates five
large gold mines in Zimbabwe, and produces 51 percent of Zimbabwe's total gold
output, has long struck a good working relationship with Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono and has managed to get a deal to repatriate part
of his profits back to South Africa despite a foreign currency crunch in
Zimbabwe.
"He perhaps has no reason to want to work with anyone else …
here for a common approach for the moment," said a mining
official.
Robertson said the government of Zimbabwe believed in
intimidating everyone into acquiescence. It had in fact institutionalised the
mentality of intimidation against the mining community. But because businesses
were the real producers and had the wealth, they could easily employ their
power.
"Business has the power but it is not using that power,"
Robertson, Johannesburg-based Zimbabwean economists Lloyd Mutore and Trymore
Madondo said. South African businesses perhaps feared losing their mining rights
to Chinese and Russian investors who are courting Zimbabwe.
"But by
being passive, they will still lose anywhere … For them it is a lose-lose
situation unless Uncle Bob is perhaps out of the picture," said
Mutore.
It was also not certain whether the Chinese and Russians would
invest where others have left.
The Zimbabwe Independent reported last
week that Chinese conglomerates had now stopped work at various infrastructure
projects in Zimbabwe due to lack of payment.
South African investors have
not only taken over Zimbabwe's mining sector, they have invested in other listed
Zimbabwean conglomerates abandoned by Western investors. MTN is reportedly in
negotiations to take over the government's NetOne cellular company, the second
largest. Absa has taken over the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe and Nedbank was
reportedly considering investing in the Merchant Bank of Central
Africa.
"It seems the guiding principle for South African businesses is
to invest cheaply now in the hope that the Mugabe era would be over soon and
then they start reaping the rewards," said Mutore. - Independent Foreign Service
The Standard
Comment
THE one certainty that seems to drive Zimbabwe is an
obsession to punish anyone who appears to have escaped the hell that this
country has become.
The latest such move is a mandatory requirement for
medical doctors within the SADC regioan to seek clearance from the government
before recruitment in the region. That is entirely unnecessary and only serves
to demonstrate the level of parochialism that informs such policy.
It is open
to abuse with only those "approved" by or with links to Zanu PF
succeeding.
The presence of Zimbabwean medical practitioners in foreign
countries must be celebrated because it is beneficial to the country. They gain
more exposure to the complexities that define modern medicine, making them
internationally acceptable. It also equips them for the challenges that
Zimbabwe’s health sector faces.
Zimbabwean professionals in the Southern
African region not only remit foreign currency to their relatives back home, but
they make frequent visits. Both processes yield inflows of hard currency from
which the country benefits.
The current lack of enthusiasm for the Homelink
project is not because there is no money to remit. It is because Zimbabweans in
the Diaspora know the government is against them. Evidence of this is found in
laws that bar Zimbabweans outside the country from participating in elections.
The proposed requirement will — if SADC governments are so naïve as to enforce
it — see them suffering from a worse brain drain. They have been able to plug
their skills shortages by recruiting Zimbabweans, but if they become party to
Harare’s vindictiveness they will not only lose professionals from this country
but their own nationals will become nervous, fearing such laws will be visited
upon them.
The net effect of this will be to recruit expensive professionals
from Europe and America. Few countries have economies that can sustain such an
option.
But for Zimbabwe the likelihood is that medical professionals may
elect to leave the country forever, taking their skills where they are welcome.
Zimbabwe will be the poorer for it.
At a time when the government appears to
pride itself in engaging stakeholders, it is surprising that the medical
profession was not consulted for its input.
In 1999 the government appointed
a Commission of Inquiry into the Health sector. The report has never been made
public, but it is doubtful that the recent proposal is one of the
recommendations from the Commission because it is totally unproductive and
ill-informed.
Whatever the government may say, the proposal is clearly a
violation of the rights of the medical practitioners and can be challenged under
both the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other international
conventions to which Zimbabwe is a signatory.
The government is good at
investing its time and energy in conjuring up punitive measures. It is time to
redirect this energy for the greater good of Zimbabwe. Health professionals are
fleeing the country because of poor conditions and because of the trauma of
watching patients die when staff knows that, with drugs many lives could be
saved. This assessment is vindicated by recent visits to various health centres
by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health.
In April this year
medical practitioners presented a set of recommendations they believe are part
of the solution to Zimbabwe’s health crisis.
The government must stop acting
as if it is determined to exile all its professionals.
The Standard
By Shapi
Shacinda
PENYAONSE FARM, Zambia - Graham Rae says he would never go back to
Zimbabwe — even if it meant getting his land back.
Rae, 48, who now lives in
neighbouring Zambia, is one of several hundred white farmers who fled Zimbabwe
because of President Robert Mugabe’s campaign to redistribute white-owned farms
to landless blacks.
"I have no intentions of returning to Zimbabwe," said
Rae when asked whether he would consider a reported offer by Mugabe’s
administration to allow white farmers to submit applications to run farms under
new 99-year leases.
Rae said militants from Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party tried to
kill him before he left in 2001.
"They planned to cut off my head because
they said I was a serpent," said the farmer who owned a 1 100-hectare farm near
Bindura in northeast Zimbabwe.
Rae, his wife Bernadine and their three
children fled under cover of night after a tip-off that he could be killed. Now,
they live on Penyaonse Farm, perched on a hilltop, 45 km northeast of Zambia’s
capital Lusaka.
Land remains an emotive issue across southern Africa, where
despite the end of colonialism and apartheid huge ownership imbalances remain
with much land still in white hands.
In Zimbabwe, once one of Africa’s most
promising economies, the government launched a programme of land seizures in
2000, stripping white farmers of their property in a move critics say is partly
responsible for the near total collapse of the once thriving commercial
agriculture sector.
As Zimbabwe declines, its neighbour Zambia has begun to
prosper, and authorities say the 300 Zimbabwean farmers who have arrived since
2000 have played a role.
Rae takes pride in being part of efforts to expand
Zambia’s agriculture sector but, like others, he too is grappling with problems
caused by the strong kwacha currency.
Rae owns a 15% stake and management
rights in Zambezi Ranching and Cropping Ltd, the holding firm for Penyaonse
Farm. The farm is majority-owned by two Zambians.
Five years ago, only 100
hectares of Penyaonse was cultivated but Rae has changed that, putting 2 500
hectares under white maize, seed maize, wheat, soya beans and tobacco.
Tobacco production has increased since Rae arrived five years ago, there are
2 500 workers compared to 150, and the number of beef cows has doubled to 8 500.
But now Rae plans to cut tobacco output by 45 percent, because of high
production costs, and boost maize production.
The kwacha has gained more
than 30 percent against the dollar over the last 12 months in a trend driven
mainly by surging prices for copper, Zambia’s economic mainstay.
Rae and
other Zimbabwean farmers borrowed money to expand their output, and authorities
have been full of praise.
Tobacco output has risen to 50 million kg in 2006
from around 5 million kg before 2000. The Zimbabwean farmers are also growing
maize and other cash crops.
"Since the arrival of the farmers from Zimbabwe,
tobacco output has increased significantly and more jobs have been created,"
Jewette Masinja, the head of the Tobacco Association of Zambia told Reuters.
Masinja said the farmers had also introduced new farming methods and
improved soils to enhance yields. Farm experts say the new arrivals have helped
boost Zambia’s total white maize output to 1.2 million tonnes this year from 860
000 last year.
Rae also supports 96 families through an outreach programme
for growing tobacco on the fringes of Penyaonse and has opened a medical clinic
for workers and communities nearby.
He is looking forward to one day
becoming fully Zambian.
"We feel welcome here because the government and the
people have supported us so much and I now want a Zambian passport," he said, a
wide grin lighting up his face. -- Reuter