Zim Independent
By MD Kufakunesu
SOBER-mindedly speaking, one can see that Operation
Murambatsvina was an
accurately named operation.
Surely, our sunshine cities had
been reduced to heaps of
rubbish. The pavements had been "uplifted" to the
level of make-shift retail
shops - a level they do not
deserve.
But have you ever asked yourself why there was filth
which was
mercilessly scrubbled by Operation
Murambatsvina?
The filth and disorderliness which was
"sanctified" by some
cabinet ministers entered our cities not so long
ago.
It was due to the rural-urban migration triggered by
government's
failure to provide for the rural populace.
The education for all, accommodation for all and health for all
calls among
other promises, turned to living nightmares.
In an endeavour
to make these aborted promises a reality, people
moved to the cities. The
increase in numbers of the people, coupled with
crippled service delivery,
resulted in chaos and disorder.
However, a few months after
the operation, the cities were
infested with the very people who had been
driven to the villages.
Even now the streets are full of
street kids, shebeens and
vendors while squatter camps are slowly but surely
mushrooming.
A stroll around the streets of any city will
give one a feel of
what I mean. But was Operation Murambatsvina a
solution?
I don't think so.
To the
designers and executers of Operation Murambatsvina, I say
you lacked common
sense because the operation is slowly proving to be a
piece-meal
solution.
The streets are teeming with chaos again.
Government should have
fulfilled its promises.
Frustrating people through mistimed and badly crafted operations
is not a
solution. In fact, it is becoming dazzling clear that the Zanu PF
government
lacks the basics in terms of governance.
Those in government
should serve the people or step down. People
who litter the streets with
their wares in efforts to fend for themselves
are a product of government's
failure.
Does government honestly think people would have
moved to the
cities if it had fulfilled its promises?
*
MD Kufakunesu writes from Harare.
Zim Independent
Comment
ONE phenomenon emblematic about the
Ziscosteel saga is
government's convoluted management of information
relating to the
embarrassing corruption that has crippled the steel
giant.
Apparently displaying all the traits of a rudderless
vessel,
government is crying out for a more competent information manager to
clearly
articulate its position on the saga.
The
multiplicity of messages which have emerged from senior
party officials
typify the lack of cohesion in the party's anti-corruption
crusade.
Industry and International Trade minister Obert
Mpofu set the
tone of discord when he sensationally revealed to a
parliamentary portfolio
committee that "there is a thick file, which if you
see it, you will be
shocked".
He said some of the people
responsible for "bleeding" Zisco were
his colleagues in
parliament.
No sooner had he made the revelation than he told
the same
committee that he was not aware of any MP who had looted Zisco - a
fatal
gaffe.
Then followed a cornucopia of confusion on
the real story at
Zisco. The Standard this week quoted Vice-President Joseph
Msika as saying
there was no corruption at Zisco but that the company had
collapsed due to
lack of equipment.
A Herald columnist,
who usually reflects the thinking of
President Mugabe's thought police, on
Saturday tried to situate the Zisco
report as a non-event. The columnist
feels that the corruption at Zisco has
nothing to do with government but
venal managers aping poor corporate
governance in the private
sector.
The Sunday News this week quoted Anti-Corruption
minister
Munyaradzi Mangwana almost confirming details of Mpofu's initial
expose.
"I cannot say names (of alleged looters), but yes, I
can only
inform you that a number of my esteemed colleagues are under
investigation,"
he said.
This level of honesty could be
dangerous for Mangwana.
Then government itself entered the
denial mode.
Statements attributed to "Zisco managers"
yesterday sought to
dismiss the contents of the Zisco report, saying the
National Economic
Conduct Inspectorate investigators who authored the report
had relied on
information from "nefarious sources".
Before the full publication of the report, there is already a
concerted
effort to sanitise its contents. Government spin-doctors have
tried to
exonerate politicians by blaming the rot on Zisco managers. The
managers
have in turn professed their innocence saying they made "sensible
business
decisions".
The attempt to trivialise the level of corruption
at Zisco,
denials and the paucity of official information on the saga, do
not however
discount the fact that there is grand corruption at Zisco and
that
politicians had a hand in this by virtue of their active involvement in
the
graft and the failure of their oversight role at the
parastatal.
Like the more than three-score state institutions
in the
country, Zisco falls under its line ministry. Mangwana's ministry
also plays
a supervisory role at parastatals and there are also departments
in
vice-presidents Joice Mujuru and Joseph Msika's offices dealing with
state
enterprises.
This bureaucratic dead mass lived up
to its reputation and let
the situation degenerate to the current
disconcerting levels. Government
should therefore not escape culpability
here.
The attempt to lead the nation into believing that
Zisco was
brought down by managers underscores government's jaundiced
commitment to
fighting corruption in big offices. We are already seeing a
dogged effort to
restrain structures set up by the state - through a
constitutional amendment
and an Act of Parliament - from probing misfeasance
at Zisco.
It is curious that Msika says there was no
high-level corruption
at Zisco at a time when the Anti-Corruption Commission
is investigating the
issue. Then there is the criminal attempt by government
spin-doctors to
divert public attention from politicians to management at
Zisco. All this in
the name of fighting corruption?
The
Zisco saga should instead be a test case for government's
commitment to
fighting corruption and demonstrating to would-be investors
that corruption
will not be tolerated. Mpofu's attempt to conceal the
contents of the report
on the sterile premise that it would scare away
investors is an undisguised
advertisement that government is prepared to
conceal graft even if it means
scaring away investors.
This is government defending
corruption.
This newspaper meanwhile will continue to perform
its public
duty by shining a spotlight on the dark and dirty corners of
so-called
public corporations that have become billboards for Zanu PF's
misrule.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
By Joram Nyathi
WHEN it comes to discussing national issues, Zimbabweans are a
pathetic lot.
The bigotry and self-righteousness are sickening. The latest
display of
intolerance for rational dialogue was sparked by The Zimbabwe We
Want
document and it has brought out the worst among people you would expect
to
exercise reason. Even open distortions of that document have become
currency
to prove how Bishop Trevor Manhanga and his group want to "buy time
for this
regime".
The first is the issue of what President Mugabe said
was
"non-negotiable". The Christian Alliance camp believes he referred to
the
constitution and that means there can be no dialogue. You won't believe
that
the issue of a new constitution has been outstanding since before the
February 2000 referendum.
The biggest sin that the
bishops committed, from all that I have
read, was not to end every sentence
in their document with the phrase "and
Mugabe is to blame". In an interview
with Violet Gonda on SWRadio's Hotseat
programme, Dr John Makumbe was
forthright, asking Manhanga, "Did you blame
him?"
This
referred to the bishops' meeting with President Mugabe. Is
this not the
"bravado" that Morgan Tsvangirai accused Lovemore Madhuku of?
What would
Manhanga achieve, for instance, by glaring at Mugabe in front of
TV cameras
and saying "You murderer, you should leave State House now.
People are
hungry and angry because of Murambatsvina?" Beyond sensational
headlines
like Dzikamai Mavhaire's "Mugabe must go" what would that "blame"
achieve?
Manhanga explained what is already in their
document about
sovereignty, independence, ownership of national resources
and freedom from
foreign domination. These are the issues Mugabe said were
non-negotiable.
When you read or hear that the bishops are
buying time for the
regime, you would imagine that their document precludes
any militant
alternatives that have been proposed since the formation of the
MDC in 1999.
How come we haven't moved an inch? If anything things have
gotten worse,
including Operation Murambatsvina and Project
Sunrise.
Then somebody has the shameless nerve to ask
Manhanga: "Where
were you when ZCTU leaders were beaten?" But that is the
question for all of
us, the entire civic society movement and opposition
parties. Where were
they and where were the bishops supposed to
be?
Our discussions are now framed in the Zanu PF mindset.
Those who
did not fight in the Independence war have no right to aspire to
rule this
country. Now those who have never been arrested or beaten by
police have no
right to speak of democracy. There are no latecomers,
otherwise you want to
steal the limelight from the "real"
fighters.
Anybody who suggests an alternative belongs to Zanu
PF. It doesn't
alarm them that government spin-doctors are uneasy with the
radical position
adopted Manhanga's camp regarding the church's mandate and
its involvement
in the political affairs of its flock, presidential term
limits and a new
constitution.
Having tried to denounce
the bishops' The Zimbabwe We Want
document, Makumbe was asked the way
forward. This was his response: "What we
need is a roundtable, Zanu PF, MDC,
Christian Alliance and the group, I don't
know what they call themselves .
the vision group". So who is the "we" who
have a licence to talk to Zanu PF
and Mugabe when all others are seen as
sellouts for proposing a national
dialogue that embraces all key
stakeholders? It's back to the old political
paradigm: if you are not with
us you are against us.
There is no disagreement on what the bishops proposed. The
difference is
that you must be "a known critic of Mugabe". Bishop Levee
Kadenge admitted
in the same interview that their documents were similar. He
was not worried
by the "product" but by the "process" which they have agreed
was guided by
Zanu PF. It's only "we" who should talk to Zanu PF.
Declared
Makumbe: "We know the Zimbabwe we want. The Zimbabwe we
want is without
Mugabe as president." Is freedom really that simple? Is that
what they are
going to declare at the imaginary "roundtable" with Zanu PF?
The problem with this posturing militancy is that it panders to
the illusion
that Zanu PF and President Mugabe have no supporters. The
reason we are
stuck in this crisis is because those deceiving voters
in this
way tend to believe their own propaganda and stop
investing energy in
building party structures because they imagine they own
the electorate. This
is despite Zanu PF proving them wrong over and over
again.
Many of us dream of the Zimbabwe portrayed in the
bishops'
document. There is no rivalry among the poor about how we attain it
so long
as they get to live its ideals. Mugabe cannot be wished away by
simply
sounding hostile, militant and critical. It is action that will move
Mugabe,
not weak opposition forces fighting to claim credit for chickens
that have
not hatched.
I can imagine Mugabe taking the
bishops' document to the AU, the
UN General Assembly or the EU and telling
them: "You see, my people don't
want all these things you claim for them
about democracy - free elections,
property rights, investment, access to
education and healthcare, personal
security, an end to violence, an
independent judiciary, an equitable land
reform process, peaceful elections
and a free press or a new constitution.
This is the document I drafted for
the Zimbabwe I imagined they wanted. They
have rejected it because they
don't like me. But I am not God and will not
live forever. So leave my
Zimbabweans alone."
The document's greatest merit is its
sober simplicity, its lack
of bitterness or personalised rancour. In its
humanness and big-heartedness,
it is a document that Nelson Mandela could
have written. Its weakness is
that it is too optimistic, painting an idyllic
society even for the most
advanced democracies. But that is also its virtue
because a national vision
should be attainable but never attained.
Unfortunately Zimbabweans have been
so poisoned in their reasoning and
thinking by the incumbent regime that
they divide themselves well before
Zanu PF has noticed that there is a
groundswell of opposition building up.
We are our own worst enemies.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
We liked the picture on the front page
of Tuesday's Herald. It
showed what looked very much like two waxworks from
Madame Tussaud's museum.
But on closer inspection they turned out to be
President Hu Jintao shaking
hands with President Mugabe in Beijing's Great
Hall of the People.
The hall faces on to Tiananmen Square
where in 1989 the Chinese
"people's" army ruthlessly crushed a popular
movement by students and
workers seeking reform. Perhaps Hu Jintao passed on
a few tips. What we do
know is that the two leaders looked decidedly wooden
in their greetings.
There was considerable space between them and, indeed,
it looked as if Hu
Jintao was holding Mugabe at arm's
length.
The president will recall similar treatment from
Jacques Chirac
in that memorable Elysée Palace scene where an embrace was
extended to just
about every African leader except ours.
Why don't Chinese leaders try and look less contrived in these
scenes?
Greeting visiting luminaries follows a
well-choreographed
pattern. Barely have they touched hands when the Chinese
head of state will
swing his guest round to face the camera. There will then
follow the most
plastic of smiles as if to say "I have done this a thousand
times before and
this is how it goes".
Hu Jintao spoke of
"unshakeable" ties with Zimbabwe. So why didn't
he look as if he meant it?
Perhaps having another 47 leaders to greet, all
of whom were assured of
"unshakeable" ties with Beijing (so long as they
have minerals) proved
tiring for the Chinese president.
Meanwhile, here is a list
of things that could have been
discussed: how to crack down on trade unions;
how to monitor the Internet;
how to hold fake elections; and how to have a
partisan judiciary.
Not discussed was independence for Tibet
and the performance of
MA60 aircraft.
THE Chinese, it
would appear, have been bestowing their favours
rather liberally in Africa
as they seek to win friends. Apart from the small
incident of birds that
don't fly, much has been made of the approved tourist
destination status
bestowed on Zimbabwe. This would lead to a veritable
stampede of visitors,
we were told.
In fact there has been only a trickle, and
those that have
ventured here tend to sit on their wallets. Given a choice,
the more
affluent tourists flock to London and other European capitals.
Britain is
also an approved tourist destination and Chinese tourists, like
everybody
else, want to be pictured outside Buckingham Palace. They should
avoid doing
the same thing outside State House!
Now the
authorities in Beijing have taken the shine off Zimbabwe's
exclusive status
by conferring it upon a host of other African cou tries.
On
arrival in Beijing last Friday Rwanda's Paul Kagame was told
his country had
been awarded approved tourist destination status. And now we
discover 10
African states currently enjoy that status.
Oh well. Perhaps
when they have "done" London, Paris, Rome,
Berlin and Amsterdam the Chinese
will find time to visit us in significant
numbers. But it won't be just
yet.
Anybody out there feeling sorry for Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority
boss Karikoga Kaseke? He can't understand why he has been refused
a visa to
visit the UK. He said he had received a call from a lady at the
British
embassy who asked him "funny" questions about his association with
Zanu PF.
"I told her that I do not hold any positions in Zanu
PF but I am
a party cadre and cannot deny that," he said. "I am what I am
today because
of Zanu PF."
He thus helpfully dismissed
any lingering thoughts we might have
had that he owed his position to
professionalism or performance!
Somebody else not too
worried by professionalism is Didymus
Mutasa, the Minister for State
Security, who appears to think police
officers have the right to beat up
somebody being arrested if they can argue
that they were earlier assaulted
by that person.
The police had been "provoked" by trade
unionists, he told Irin
news agency. "One of the trade unionists had
attacked a policeman at a
roadblock. So then the police told the trade
unionists: 'Now you are in our
hands, we are beating you.' How can people
attack the police and not expect
them to retaliate?"
So
an unverified claim by a policeman becomes a pretext for
police violence
against peaceful protesters? Mutasa's statement needs to be
circulated as
widely as possible. Nothing better illustrates the criminal
nature of the
regime: a group of people peacefully exercising their right to
demonstrate
are viciously attacked with batons because a policeman claims he
was
assaulted by one of them weeks before.
In any case, nothing
could justify the degree of violence used.
This was not
self-defence.
It was a planned and systematic assault on
civic leaders both
before and after their arrest. That Mutasa should attempt
to justify this
disgraceful episode by characterising it as a warranted
reprisal tells us
just how abusive this regime has
become.
We were intrigued to note the following inserted
in a recent
Herald article by Caesar Zvayi: "At the beginning of July UN
secretary-general Kofi Annan openly condemned the sanctions that he
acknowledged are hurting ordinary people."
We have
checked reports appearing in the press at the time and
statements made by
Annan's office. Nowhere can we find a statement by him
"openly condemning"
sanctions or saying they were hurting ordinary people.
The
only thing we did find was a claim to that effect by
President Mugabe after
their meeting in Banjul.
Does Zvayi really think Annan, a
consummate diplomat, would give
such a hostage to fortune? That he would
publicly endorse the claims of a
leader who has denounced the
secretary-general's own emissaries and refused
to cooperate with the UN?
That he would agree to pursue diplomacy that is
directly contrary to the
views expressed by the US and EU?
Not very likely is it?
Zvayi should get real and stop swallowing
the self-serving rubbish dumped on
him by the President's Office. It is
almost as bad as Tafataona Mahoso
claiming that the future of the economy
lies with new farmers,
parastatals,Phillip Chiyangwa and publications that
carry pictures from the
galas! That, in all seriousness, is what Mugabe's
minions are churning out
with the obvious implication that independent
papers are out of
touch.
Can you imagine a future in which corrupt parastatals
are the
only form of advertising and galas the only form of
activity?
And there was Manheru last weekend telling us
Zisco's problems
were a product of "corporate evil", not the corporate
corruption of the
leadership he speaks for! They will have to do better if
they want to get
off this particular hook.
Another
point, Zvayi claims the church leaders omitted from
their National Vision
document to explain why government delayed in
distributing land. This is a
falsehood. In the same section that the church
talks of a homegrown
constitution, it notes that under "relevant restrictive
provisions" the
Lancaster House constitution "included the 10-year
moratorium on
constitutional amendments, a clause protecting white property,
rights and
privileges, and the willing seller and willing buyer clause".
Even when it's in black and white, it would have got in the way
of a sweet
lie along with "illegal" western sanctions. Then there is the
twaddle that
the vision is not "exhaustive" because it "focused on political
parties"
instead of the bigger society. Where do they claim that it is
"exhaustive"?
How can a discussion document ever be exhaustive?
But what
can one expect from a mafikizolo of journalism who sees
Zimbabwe's national
vision in the coat of arms, flag and national anthem as
if there was ever a
referendum to endorse these. Was it not just a panel of
a few men who chose
Solomon's Mutswairo's composition as having some merit
and he was paid $7
000 for his individual effort?
One of the biggest fables
to hit the pages of the Sunday Mail
was created by one Robert Mukondiwa. It
was touted as a revelation of the
animal that is Harare Commission chair
Sekesai Makwavarara. She was
described in the Sunday Mail as a no nonsense,
political survivor and a
political schemer who had outwitted her
rivals.
It turned out that her greatest achievement was no
more than to
play turncoat, dumping the MDC for Zanu PF when it suited her.
When it
became clear that Zanu PF had lost power at the Town House, all they
needed
to do to stage a backdoor comeback was to produce a malleable woman
that
Ignatious Chombo could manipulate. She stabbed her boss in the back for
the
love of Zanu PF and has never pretended that she knows anything about
improving service delivery to Harare residents.
That's
about all there is to Makwavarara's claim to fame.
There
was a statement this week issued by a company named S & M
Bricks which
sought to "officially categorically clarify" a story in the
Standard that
working for the Chinese was hell. One of the stations in the
ZBH stable
carried a similar story warning of a deadly disease outbreak if
the workers'
compound was not attended to urgently.
The statement carried
in the Herald on Tuesday denied claims
that the only available lavatory was
not working.
"The truth is the lavatory has been working
properly since it
started functioning," was the categorical clarification.
So when did the
lavatory start "functioning" but not working we
wonder?
Just to rub it in, the statement accused the Standard
of a
hidden agenda and "irresponsibly spreading lies with blind eyes". We
have
heard about substandard products but we had not heard about "blind
eyes".
And these are the people Mugabe believes will lead us to
prosperity!
The statement called on the Standard to
"apologise in all the
newspapers in Zimbabwe" or face legal action. Let's
hope their lawyers are
more literate than their
managers!
Finally, as South Africa said farewell this
week to former
President PW Botha (known as the Great Crocodile), there has
been
controversy over his legacy. He presided over a paranoid regime which
believed it was facing a "total onslaught". It was also responsible for
unprecedented human rights violations. He liked to wag his finger at his
critics, when he wasn't locking them up. But this particular crocodile made
a significant contribution to the diverse and democratic state South Africa
is today. He understood when the time came that he had to get out of the way
to facilitate negotiation and change. Other crocodiles who like to wag their
fingers could benefit from his example.
Zim Independent
By Eric
Block
THERE has recently been very justifiable excitement
in Zambia,
for the remarkable economic turnaround in the last few years has
now been
capped with a discovery of oil reserves in the north-west of that
country.
The Zambian government is rapidly and dynamically
pursuing the
commercial exploitation of the discovery which, if proven to be
viable, will
accelerate even more the spectacular recovery of the economy
that has
stemmed from the creation, albeit belatedly, of genuine democracy,
respect
for law and order, human rights, economic deregulation and an
investment-conducive, welcoming environment.
Not to be
outdone, Zimbabwe has recently discovered the heaviest
element yet known to
science, and this columnist is obliged to the anonymous
author of the
following "authoritative" report: "The new element has been
named
Governmentium. Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant
neutrons, 88
deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it
an atomic mass
of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces
called morons, which
are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like
particles called
peons.
Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert.
However, it
can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it
comes into
contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction,
that could
normally take less than a second, to take over four days to
complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of four years;
it does not
decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion
of the
assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact,
Governmentium mass will actually increase over time, since each
reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming
isodopes.
This characteristic of moron promotion leads some
scientists to
believe that Govermentium is formed whenever morons reach a
critical
concentration. The hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical
morass.
When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium - an
element
which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has
half as
many peons but twice as many morons.
That
Governmentium exists in pronounced quantities in Zimbabwe
is indisputable,
for the evidence of its presence is to be seen within
virtually every facet
of Zimbabwean life. Authoritative scientific
confirmation that Zimbabwe is
possessed of infinite resources of
Governmentium include:
* Having, over the first quarter-century of Zimbabwean
Independence, had six
economic plans to bring about well-being for all
Zimbabweans, each launched
with great fanfare and promises of imminent
economic utopia, but none of the
promised deliverables being forthcoming, it
is now almost a year since
government, with even greater fanfares, launched
the National Economic
Development Priority Programme (NEDPP).
But all that it has
appeared to yield to date has been the
creation of innumerable "task forces"
which have apparently produced nothing
but endless talk-fests, and thousands
of column centimetres in the
state-controlled media, heralding the imminent
massive economic upturn
(whilst ever greater numbers become unemployed, are
homeless,
under-nourished, without access to healthcare and suffering
intensely). Only
Governmentium can create an administration that can
unendingly be duped by
its own specious propaganda, and that can be
continuously blinded by the
realities;
* The Head of
State, speaking in Beitbridge only a few months
ago, said that Zimbabwe
welcomes white farmers, wants white farmers, and
will facilitate white
farmers, provided that they recognise black farmers as
their equals, but his
Minister of State for Security and Lands states
vigorously that no whites
will be permitted to farm in Zimbabwe and,
pursuant to that intent,
continues to authorise and encourage evictions of
whites from
farms.
He promotes authoritarian, discriminatory legislation,
spews
forth racial diatribes in disregard for policies enunciated by his
president
and in disregard for Zimbabwe's constitution, which prescribes
against
racial discrimination. Clearly affected by Governmentium, he not
only
contemptuously disregards his president, the constitution, justice and
equity, but also exacerbates Zimbabwe's economic ills and national
poverty;
* Governmentium has also pervaded the corridors of
the Ministry
of Agriculture, ever since 2000, as is assertively demonstrated
by the
year-on-year assurances of gargantuan increases in agricultural
output.
Undertakings that Zimbabwe would be rapidly restored to food
self-sufficiency, that productivity would be undoubted because of timeous
availability of essential agricultural inputs, and so forth. In
contradistinction, year after year the production of the agricultural sector
has declined, and the economic foundation of Zimbabwe brought to near-total
destruction;
* Endlessly enthused statements flow forth
from government of
the long-awaited upturn in tourism, with those statements
supposedly
corroborated by impressive statistics of fast-growing numbers of
tourist
arrivals. Concurrently, however, disclosures from tourism industry
operators
indicate that there has been virtually no increase in the number
of
bed-nights sold. Thus, either the data on arrivals is incorrect, or the
tourists are curtailing their stays in Zimbabwe, or the increases are
attributable to back-packers who do not patronise hotels, caravaners, or
visitors residing with family or friends. Whichsoever of these is the case,
there is little or no benefit to the tourist industry and the
economy;
* Great emphasis is placed by the president, the
presidium, the
Ministers of Information and Publicity, Industry and
International Trade,
and many others, upon Zimbabwe's supposedly most
beneficial "Look East"
policy. Few will dispute that Zimbabwe should, in its
endeavours to attract
investment, develop the economy, and generate trade,
look to the East, but
only contemporaneously with looking North, West and
South. But although the
governmental claims overwhelming success from its
"Look East" policies, the
populace can see little, if any, of that supposed
success. Admittedly, a
cement factory has been opened in Gweru, a glass
factory is being
established in Kadoma, a brickfield has been created by
Chinese investors in
Mt Hampden, there has been some limited investment into
mining, and there
are stated to be 37 other small-scale, corporate
investments, but the
aggregate investment is minimal when compared with the
repeated projections
of gargantuan investment that emanate from national
leaders impacted upon by
Governmentium. To a major extent, Zimbabwe has
benefited China, with
comparatively little reciprocal benefit to
Zimbabwe.
China has sold at least six aircraft to Zimbabwe,
fleets of
buses, tractors, and other mobile equipment, tonnes of clothing
and shoes
(much of which were second-hand and rejects, quality products
being
consigned to Europe, USA, Australia and other first world economies),
and
much else, but the quid pro quo trade has not been substantial. Those
are
but five examples of the permeation of Governmentium in Zimbabwe, but
are
only indicative of like infiltration of that element throughout the
Zimbabwean autocracy. It is surely an element that Zimbabwe could do
without!
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Dumisani Muleya
CHINESE President Hu Jintao hosted more than 40 African
leaders - including
President Robert Mugabe - in the Great Hall of the
People in Beijing last
weekend for the China-Africa summit amid fanfare.
China
basked in global publicity as the emerging giant in
Africa, competing for
economic turf and political influence with Western
powers, the United
States, Britain and France, whose sway is supposed to be
declining.
China's trade with Africa was worth US$40
billion last year.
Nearly all African countries were
represented at what was the
largest such event yet held by the country. The
event was characterised by a
lot of symbolism and rhetoric, as well as
ringing resolutions that might
have well overshadowed the need to come up
with solutions for Africa's
myriad problems.
For a few
days African leaders coming from countries collapsing
under the weight of
misrule and mismanagement such as Mugabe and the likes
of Omar al-Bashir of
Sudan hid behind the Great Wall of China from the
consequences of their
policy failures at home.
They enjoyed admiring Chinese
success attributable to good
economic policies - which some of them are
immune to - and reforms
introduced after 1978. Hopefully African leaders
learnt something about how
to reform and build a successful economy from the
backwoods.
It would have been a waste of time and public
resources if
African leaders did not pick up any good lessons from Beijing.
But some of
them have previously been to countries like Malaysia and learnt
nothing.
The event came at a time when China is fast
spreading its wings
across the world's poorest continent (which ironically
is one of the richest
in terms of natural resources) trying to gain a
vice-grip on its resources.
Copper, cobalt, platinum, timber
and iron ore are all on Beijing's
shopping list in
Africa.
While China ideologically and materially supported
African
liberation struggles and may help some countries to reconstruct
their
economies, it must also be noted it is not a charity organisation that
dishes out gifts to African nations for fraternal
reasons.
Times and global dynamics have changed. China is
hunting for
resources all over the world to service its rapidly expanding
economy.
Beijing is no longer hidebound in a rigid ideological mindset. It
is a
rising power trying to secure its place in a changing global order.
This is
the context of its open show of power and wealth. The competition
for trade
and investment is hotting up and China has now joined the new but
similar
scramble for Africa with western powers which have traditionally
exploited
the continent for centuries. Given the chance, China would want to
be the
new imperial power on the continent.
Probably
because of changed circumstances China would offer a
better deal for Africa,
but the underlying motive is the same: to expand its
influence for economic
and political hegemony.
However, it is those countries
willing to reform that will
benefit from the Chinese largesse, not those who
emulate a model the Chinese
themselves long ago discarded. This means Mugabe
must now quickly put his
ducks in a row and reform if he wants to benefit
from China via his Look
East policy. Sabre-rattling without rhyme or reason
while the country is on
the skids will not help anyone.
This is China's story. Coming from a background of a failed
Maoist land
reform programme and political repression, China launched
economic reforms
in 1978 by dismantling its command economy.
It deepened
reforms of the economic system, capital, commodity,
labour and technology
markets as part of its socialist market economy
vision. This strengthened
the regulatory function of the market rather than
the
state.
Now, as its economy grows, China offers new hope as a
major
investor, trading partner and provider of aid to Africa. It's also
viewed by
others, especially in the third world, as a counterbalance to the
west in
their efforts to build a new world away from the one dominated by
one
country or one power bloc.
African leaders,
especially dictators, are also comfortable with
China because it does not
tie aid to such political imperatives as democracy
and human
rights.
China's foreign policy is premised on the doctrine of
non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries whatever the
circumstances. African despots who hide behind the cloak of sovereignty to
conceal human rights abuses find this most appealing. China emphasises
non-interference because it is extremely sensitive about its own human
rights record. This shows China, just like Western powers, is driven by
self-interest.
Although Mugabe wants to cast himself as
China's best friend in
Africa, the real benefits of Chinese investments are
going where there are
more resources and a chance for better returns. China
has offered very
little to Zimbabwe in terms of trade and investment besides
the paltry aid,
low- quality equipment and machinery, fighter jets, and
suspect passenger
planes.
In fact, Hu Jintao and Premier
Wen Jiabao recently omitted
Zimbabwe from their African tour. This shows
Zimbabwe is not a special case
for China. Harare must reform if it is to
benefit from its "unshakeable"
relationship with Beijing.
There should be an Act for women too!
IT looks like the
Women's Coalition is now the most powerful
organisation in Zimbabwe, more
powerful than parliament itself, the ruling
party, and even the war
veterans' body.
How can one explain the fact that the
coalition managed to make
parliamentarians accept the Domestic Violence Bill
without as much as a
whimper?
Why was the Bill formulated
by women's groups and not by
parliament?
It is common
knowledge that women's organisations are
donor-funded and always follow
orders from their principals. So in a way,
these donors have force-fed
parliament via the Women's Coalition to accept
the Domestic Violence Bill
without taking it to those who will be affected
by it - the common people
who elected the very MPs who are now debating the
Bill in
parliament.
Isn't it an irony that an unelected body like the
Women's
Coalition can arm-twist a body of elected people into doing what it
wants?
It is a scary thought. The invisible hand of Western
donors is
now governing us, whether we like it or not.
Women's groups are now the defacto ruling power in this country
even though
they represent/are accountable to noone, not even the so-called
disadvantaged women.
When the Bill was first debated in
parliament, only MDC
legislator, Timothy Mubawu had the guts to stand up for
what he and the
silent male victims of psychological female violence
believed in, while the
rest of the MPs were too scared to make their views
known.
Mubawu was later silenced by donor-funded
demonstrators and
removed from his positions within the
MDC.
It is a sad day when parliamentarians are too scared to
voice
their opinions in parliament of all places.
These
same demonstrators have been silent about Zanu PF leaders
who have slept
with under-age girls.
Betty Makoni once told viewers on the
Mai Chisamba Show that she
had the names of those leaders who had raped
children but declined to name
them. Why?
Perhaps she
would have done so if Mubawu had been one of the
culprits?
Perhaps it is time women's groups were governed
by an Act of
Parliament, just as they themselves expect others to be
governed by Acts of
Parliament.
It would not be a bad
idea for a parliamentary committee to
probe the operations and finances of
women's groups to find out what
percentage of funding is actually used to
help women, how much the directors
are earning and how much they get in
allowances.
If they earn in forex then they should be earning
those salaries
through foreign currency accounts. I'm sure some disgruntled
staff members
could chip in with some very interesting
details.
Mwana Wevhu,
---------
We're really grateful
THE MDC expresses its gratitude to the people of Zimbabwe
for coming out to
vote during the just-ended rural district council
elections.
The party is conscious of the immense
economic burden
associated with hunger and starvation which the people of
Zimbabwe are
enduring as a result of a crisis of misgovernance and
corruption in the
country caused by Zanu PF and the Mugabe
government.
The MDC is also mindful of the threats of
violence and
threats of denial of state-supplied agricultural inputs and
food assistance
that the people of Zimbabwe were subjected to by Zanu PF
during the election
campaign.
Inspite of all these
pressures the people of Zimbabwe were
still able to come out to vote for
their preferred candidates. For this we
salute them for their courage and
resilience.
Notwithstanding the uneven electoral
playing field which
favours the ruling party, the MDC is pleased with the
party's performance
which saw it win in 45 contested
wards.
We note that the Tsvangirai group won in 35
contested
wards and congratulate them for their efforts and
victories.
We hope that these results will put to rest
the lie
peddled since the split of the MDC that the Tsvangirai group is the
legitimate MDC and that it is the dominant wing of the party with grassroots
support while we have been branded as lacking in grassroots
support.
We hope and pray that we have heard the last
of the false,
prejudiced and malicious claims that we are a splinter group
with no
grassroots support.
The truth of the matter
is that in this national election
we won more contested seats than the other
half of the MDC which has been
falsely described as the main MDC, dominant
MDC or legitimate MDC.
The MDC is also pleased with its
improved performance in
light of the statistics which show that in the 2003
rural district council
elections the united MDC managed to win no more than
15 wards throughout the
whole country.
We as the
MDC strongly believe that our concern should be
to come up with strategies
of dislodging the Zanu PF-led regime and rescue
the people of Zimbabwe from
starvation, hunger and dehumanising abuses.
This can
only be achieved if the obsession with figures
and numbers by the opposition
give way to the sober realities on the ground.
We
recognise that there is still a lot of work ahead in
removing the corrupt
and dictatorial regime of Zanu PF, and to that extent,
we as a party are
prepared to go the extra mile in our struggle against the
regime.
Paul Themba
Nyathi,
MDC director of
elections.
---------
Help Zesa
and stop insulting our intelligence,
Gideon!
HAS central bank governor Gideon Gono lost his
mind?
How dare he publishes a pathetic supplement
- in
cartoon form - costing a huge amount of cash, when this country is so
broke?
Firstly, the cartoon-type supplement was
an insult
to our intelligence.
Those of us
who can afford to buy the papers do not
need this type of graphic message to
tell us how broke the country is. Those
who need the graphic-type messages
live in the rural areas where they never
see a newspaper. We are neither
stupid nor uneducated.
Our stupidity could be
putting up with this mess for
so long without doing something about
it!
In this day and age when we have constant
water and
electricity shortages, and there is virtually no fuel in the
country except
on the black market, how dare the Reserve Bank wastes
valuable money on such
a stupid, pathetic
supplement?
Presently, the majority of teenagers
in this country
are writing the most important examinations of their lives
and last week
alone my children came home to no cooked supper as electricity
goes off
before 6pm only to come on after
8pm.
Even getting up early in the morning to have
a
decent breakfast has not worked as the electricity goes off before 6am and
only comes on after they have gone to school.
My plea to Mr Gono is: get your act together,
procure some spares for Zesa
and stop insulting our intelligence.
IN
Darke,
Harare.
---------
Are these signs of a return to
sanity?
DO I detect the tiniest glint of a
return of
humanity, legality and sanity to the Zimbabwean
scene?
I refer to the statements by a
senior member
of the administration - Vice-President Joice
Mujuru.
From her lips came, not a
commendation to the
ZRP for prompt action, but a reproof for the
"overzealous" arrest of some
unfortunate bakers for
overcharging.
Does anyone believe that
price controls can
work when hyperinflation
prevails?
This brave lady also suggested
that
intimidation was not the best way to gain the co-operation of the
people. Is
it possible that the vice-president's sentiments are shared by
some of her
colleagues or do the bully boy tactics still reign
supreme?
The first inkling of hope came
some months ago
when Mujuru paid a visit to Kondozi Estate and demanded to
know who had
helped themselves to the tractors and other equipment, loss of
which had
jeopardised production on the
estate.
There appears to have been some
change since
that visit.
An attempt has
been made to bring disabled
Arda farms back to production by allocating them
to Sedco, but why not back
to their owners who would guarantee production
without the help of
government
subsidies?
For six years other people's
property and
assets have been up for grabs by anyone who considered
him/herself to be
above the law or indeed supported by the
law.
The disastrous consequences are
obvious to all
except those who do not want to see. Business people whether
from the east
or the west are scary of investing in a country which has not
regretted its
past mistakes but daily threatens more of the same to still
productive
enterprises!
Is change on
the horizon? If so, there might
very well be a small glow at the end of the
tunnel. There are, however, many
inescapable conditions to be met before a
turnaround becomes possible:
* A return to
the rule of law under an
independent judiciary including a guarantee of
property rights;
* Redress for the wrongs
committed during
Gukurahundi, the farm invasions and Operation
Murambatsvina;
* The re-establishment of
sustainable
agriculture independent of massive, crippling, hyper-inflation
building
government subsidies;
* The
development of a sound fiscal policy;
and
* The acceptance and adherence to
United
Nations human rights norms.
Predictably, the National Economic Development
Priority Programme is
following the failed route of its numerous
predecessors. The rate of
inflation and fall in value of the Zim dollar are
as devastating as
ever.
Perhaps it is this pressure which is
at last
opening the eyes of those who will not or cannot
see.
Observer,
Harare.
-----------
Fixation on past has failed
govt
FOR the umpteenth time, we
continue to hear
that the government is implementing economic turnaround
programmes or that
initiatives for turnaround programmes are underway.
Evidently, all this has
been rhetoric as the results on the ground show that
an accelerated economic
downward spiral is instead
underway.
The problem lies squarely in
Zanu PF and its
old guard leadership whose thinking is fixated in the
liberation war
ideology and therefore cannot grasp the modern day trends in
economic
development such as the critical importance of attracting foreign
direct
investment (FDI) and
globalisation.
Such fixation with an
outdated ideology is
aptly displayed by the government's foreign policy
which focuses on
denigrating Western countries, especially Britain and
America, and this has
stifled any meaningful FDI into this
country.
No country in the world has
achieved
sustainable economic development without substantive FDI or at
worst by
trading with itself. China and India are examples of emerging
economic
powerhouses which realised that economic development can only be
achieved by
following foreign policies which are conducive to trade and
investment with
all countries including and specially the
West.
These two countries have become the
most
favoured destinations for FDI. Investor confidence in these countries
is at
unprecedented heights. More specifically, to achieve its impressive
economic
growth China had to draw on its reservoirs of domestic savings to
create
infrastructure and then attract foreign capital to build factories
and
acquire expertise.
In our case,
domestic savings, if any, are
devoured by government's recurrent expenditure
while its misguided foreign
policy, among others, inhibits
FDI.
It is Zanu PF's blinkered view that
mending
relations with Western countries is negating sovereignty. Brazil,
Singapore,
India and South Africa still have their sovereignty as intact as
ever yet
they are all on good terms and are increasing trade, with the
Western world.
Sovereignty does not mean
impoverishing
Zimbabweans. Zanu PF political trajectory is no different from
North Korea's
whose dictatorship has impoverished its populace to the
bone.
The disorderly implementation of
the land
acquisition may have stifled relations with Western countries, yes,
but
mending these relations was and is still very possible had it not been
for
the entrenched paranoia, egoism and backwardness of the Zanu PF
leadership.
Today the majority of
Zimbabweans (perhaps
excluding those in the diaspora) are poorer than they
were a year ago due to
the ravaging inflation and it can easily be projected
that in 2007
Zimbabweans will be among the poorest people on the planet as
inflation is
expected to reach 5 000% with the gross domestic product
inevitably
plummeting to unprecedented
depths
Under the guise of protecting
sovereignty,
Zanu PF has monopolised political power through banning daily
independent
newspapers, denying opposition access to both radio and national
television,
using brute force of the army and police to crush any gathering
by
opposition parties or civic organisations and driving out all white
commercial farmers.
Sovereignty is
never compromised by
following democratic principles of freedom of the
press, association and
rule of law. In fact, leaving alone the few
experienced white farmers that
are left in the country will at least ensure
that a respectable level of
agricultural productivity is guaranteed as the
majority of new black farmers
still need time to gain experience and to
fully mechanise their farms. This
is a smart way of doing things and Didymus
Mutasa and company should know
this.
To make matters worse, there is no
succession plan in Zanu PF nor is it
known how people will choose President
Mugabe's successor. The question is
which people and when? Is it the central
committee members, politburo or
primary elections will be held?
The truth
is that Mugabe has no intention of
relinquishing power as long as he still
has a breath left in his body and
that is why he is deliberately dubious on
the succession issue and is even
pushing for the postponement of the 2008
election to 2010. This is misrule
and poor governance by any standards and
it sends a clear message that the
economic meltdown is here to stay - as
long as Zanu PF is in power.
Lately, Zanu
PF's "champion" of economic
turnaround Gideon Gono was left with egg on his
face when the central bank
spent millions of scarce foreign currency to
acquire fake fertiliser for the
country. Whether this was incompetence or
corruption or both, it remains
unknown, but one thing for sure is that the
value that this fertiliser will
add to the country is less than the old
currency $10 trillion which failed
to make its way back to the system before
the passing of currency reforms
deadline of August
21.
It is because of these reasons:
fixation
with outdated and prehistoric foreign policies, poor governance,
misrule,
endemic corruption, incompetence and disregard of the rule of law -
that
renders the Zanu PF government incapable of ever achieving economic
turnaround for this country - even if it is given a life time of
trying!
As never before, our salvation
now lies in
our hands. We are the voters responsible for putting the Zanu PF
government
in power. I call upon all of us whether one is currently an
ordinary member
of the MDC or Zanu PF or whether one is in the police, army
or any other
profession, to put our minds and efforts together and become
economic
freedom fighters and work towards removing this corrupt and
anti-economic
development government.
Let us create a future for our children!
Totambura here nenhamo isu tiine
simba rekubvisa nhamo yacho? (We surely
shouldn't suffer in a land of
plenty).
Tawanda
Sahayi,
Harare.
--------------
Saddened by death of
cricket
By Loud
Ramakgapola
DARLINGTON Majonga's
story "Sabotage for the
love of cricket?" (Zimbabwe Independent, November 3)
made sad reading about
the death of cricket in the
country.
I'm sad about the fire that
destroyed
Houghton's Cricket Academy, I'm sad about the fire at Harare
Sports Club and
I'm sad I can no longer watch Brian Lara, Andrew Flintoff,
Graeme Smith,
Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini at my favourite Queens Sports
Club.
It's really sad that cricket has
taken such
a knocking.
I'm sad
because I was one of the blacks who
benefited in the late 1990s when I was a
teacher in the Bulawayo western
schools. We were trained and given
certificates to become coaches at our
schools.
We used to benefit from the
presence of
Henry Olonga at our schools. It was nice to learn the game and
then later
see top-class players in
Zimbabwe.
It's sad that there are people
working
against the development of cricket. We really miss top-class cricket
and if
top guys like Heath Streak can be persuaded to come back, the better
for the
game.
* Loud Ramakgapola
writes from Bulawayo.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
November 8, 2006
Posted to the web November 9,
2006
Mavis Makuni
Harare
The talk being heard these days about
the need for parastatals and other
public sector service delivery entities
to charge higher tariffs as the only
way to dig themselves out of the
quagmire of corruption, inefficiency and
mismanagement that has bankrupted
most of them, is a shameless act of
passing the buck to the softest target
-- the consumer.
It is fashionable these days for any entity where the
chickens are finally
coming home to roost after many years of corruption,
financial
mismanagement, inefficiency, pillaging, top-heavy management
structures and
incessant interference by political heavyweights, to conclude
that the
easiest way out is to turn on hapless consumers.
Among
parastatals and organisations loudly mooting stratospheric tariffs as
the
panacea to their self-inflicted troubles are the Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply
Authority, (ZESA) the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), Air
Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company and local authorities such
as Harare.
It's daylight robbery, say I. An analysis of the chaos at
any of these
organisations will prove that they have not got to where they
are because of
lack of revenue but because of its abuse and poor corporate
governance. Fees
and tariffs paid by hard-working consumers have been
squandered on buying
fleets of expensive vehicles for managers in top-heavy
structures. To add
insult to injury, this has not been money well spent. It
is well known that
one of the most consistent findings of commissions
inquiring into the
operations of parastatals is the ruinous impact of
nepotism.
Some of these institutions have been flooded with relatives,
friends and
cronies of people in high places, who unfortunately, have run
the
organisations to the ground because of incompetence and other
shortcomings.
Most of these people are not qualified for the big positions
they are thrust
into but command out-of-this-world salaries and perks, thus
bleeding the
coffers dry. Because most of these appointees have hotline
access to
heavyweights in high places, they are capable of throwing their
weight
around and getting away with absolute murder.
As a result,
some parastatals have become places where anything and all
things are
possible -- a lethal recipe guaranteed to wipe out any national
objectives
or benefits.
That is why stories have surfaced from time to time of
abuses such as chief
executive officers allocating themselves eight or more
'company' cars or
converting the organisation's assets to personal use. In a
recent row
involving a CEO of a parastatal it was revealed how he had
regularly sent
gangs of workers from the organisation to tend his farm at
taxpayers'
expense. The ongoing row at Harare's Town House over the
suspension of town
clerk, Nomutsa Chideya, has given consumers a shocking
insight into how
revenues raised from the service charges levied from them
are abused. There
is a no-expense-spared culture as far as meeting the
extravagant demands of
officials is concerned. The helpful mud-slinging
enabled the residents of
Harare to learn that while they have gone without
water for hours or even
days on end, fire tenders have been dispatched to
fill swimming pools and
water gardens at the residences of members of the
Commission running the
affairs of the city of Harare. This is just one
example of how resources and
equipment that are supposed to be used for the
benefit of all residents are
diverted to meet the selfish needs of
individuals.
Is it any wonder that service delivery is non-existent in
the capital when
the abuses described above can only be the tip of an
iceberg? When
organisations such as the Harare City Council clamour for
economic tariffs
and service charges, they are asking the public to pay for
the extravagance
of greedy and selfish individuals and surely this should
not be allowed to
continue. These entities are already abusing the revenues
they are
collecting now. Levying higher service charges and tariffs simply
means
forcing consumers to throw more money into a bottomless pit into which
the
frivolous and corrupt can continue to dip their fingers with impunity.
It
has nothing to do with improving or even maintaining service
delivery.
At present, residents in many parts of Harare go without water
and
electricity for hours or even days on end. There is no garbage
collection
and householders are obliged to devise their own ways of
disposing of
domestic waste. These include burning or burying the stuff.
However, despite
the fact that the entities concerned are failing to meet
their end of the
bargain, they faithfully, without fail, demand payment of
tariffs and
service charges every month. They have no qualms about
increasing tariffs by
astronomical percentages for non-existent services.
What every consumer
wants to know is where this money goes.
In
gearing up to make a killing by squeezing consumers even harder, ZINWA
has
been trying to justify the move with self-serving but unconvincing
rhetoric.
The public is being told ad nauseam that existing infrastructure
is no
longer adequate to meet the demands of an increased urban
population.
This excuse would have made sense at independence in 1980
when the outgoing
colonial government could have been blamed for
deliberately not planning for
the future. But to complain about inadequate
or dilapidated infrastructure
after almost 30 years of independence is
self-indictment for the government
and ruling party. The fact that they have
been caught flat-footed because of
their failure since 1980 to lay any
foundations for the future does not
justify the scramble now underway to
squeeze blood out of stone. The taxes
and levies Zimbabweans have paid over
the years should have been used wisely
to take care of eventualities instead
of affording the ruling elites lavish
lifestyles.
The impact of
official dereliction of duty, abuse and lack of vision is
suddenly being
felt as things fall apart all round. ZESA wants to increase
tariffs when
even at current levels, it is not supplying electricity most of
the time.
What are consumers paying more for? Air Zimbabwe, which probably
has the
highest turnover of CEOs in the world, increases fares regularly in
inverse
proportion to the deterioration of its services. The authorities
must
realise that their belief that if all else fails after they have messed
up
the solution is to pile the financial pressure on the long-suffering
consumer is myopic and dangerous. Very soon that overburdened consumer will
simply not be able to pay. What, then?
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
November 8, 2006
Posted to the web November 9,
2006
Rashweat Mukundu
Harare
The chairperson of the Media and
Information Commission (MIC), Dr Tafataona
Mahoso is a desperate
man.
One would sympathise with the Law Society of Zimbabwe statement, a
few weeks
ago, that responding to the many allegations that Mahoso makes
about
everyone except himself is such an agonising decision because it is an
exercise in futility.
In making responses to Mahoso, the hope is that
citizens would benefit from
a clear understanding of issues and disabuse
them of the hysterical writings
of the MIC chairman.
Writing in The
Sunday Mail this week, Mahoso attacked ZUJ, MISA, LSZ, MAZ,
MMPZ, IJAZ, the
list is endless, accusing these organisations of not only
being confused
about AIPPA, but also of having other motives beyond their
stated
mandates.
For the record, at no point did MISA or any progressive
organisation or
persons, to my knowledge, commend AIPPA and at no point has
Mahoso been
asked to do anything for the media, because he is simply
incapable of doing
anything positive.
The question would be which
media would Mahoso assist when the same
commission he presides over has shut
four newspapers, and caused the
harassment, arrests and personal suffering
of hundreds of media workers.
MISA and many other organisations and
people in Zimbabwe have indeed
consistently reminded Mahoso that he has done
nothing good for the media and
that AIPPA is incapable of doing anything
positive till the end of time.
This failure is aptly demonstrated by his
use of the so-called Media Fund to
shut newspapers that are ironically
supposed to contribute to the fund.
By his own admission, he has used all
the resources in the Media Fund, set
up under AIPPA, to fight legal battles
with the very constituency he is
supposed to help develop.
Whose
interests is Mahoso and the MIC representing? As the LSZ asked, who
appointed Mahoso and who is he accountable to?
Certainly not the
media.
The MIC has proven over the years that it is one apparatus of
state
repression and Mahoso gets his instructions, as was shown in the
accreditation court case of Kelvin Jakachira, from the intelligence entity
which houses his postal address.
Mahoso justifies AIPPA by arguing
that the fact that the LSZ used it to
demand a right to respond to his
attacks in The Sunday Mail means that the
law is okay. Mahoso deliberately
tries to mislead readers that media houses
need a law compelling them to
afford one a right to reply. Any knowledgeable
media person would know that
the right to reply is part of the modus
operandi of any serious and
well-meaning media organisation.
This of course does not include The
Sunday Mail and other state owned
newspapers, which have operated for years
now without observance of ethics
and general media practice.
There is
no need for a law like AIPPA to compel media houses to afford
citizens the
right to reply, this should be standard practice. Indeed there
is no need
for a law like AIPPA to register media houses and journalists as
Mahoso is
currently doing.
Mahoso gloats in his article that the MIC has done well
in defending AIPPA,
he does not say at what cost to the development of the
media in Zimbabwe and
at what cost to the rights of citizens to receive and
impart information.
And for whose benefit.
Mahoso was deployed to
defend AIPPA and he now believes his own lies about
the role of the media
and its relationship with the state. For a man of his
age, wisdom seems to
have evaded him.
Thus he argues that the relationship between the media
and the state should
be one of reverence as he does to his own masters. He
deliberately forgets
that no one forced the current leadership to run for
office. And when in
office, whether by hook or crook, they should be open to
scrutiny and not
seek to hide under repressive laws and sycophantic
academics.
The argument that the media in any democracy should not be put
under state
control will remain as valid for as long as the world exist. The
reason why
the legal, medical and engineering practices are partially
controlled by the
state is because they deal with serious socio-economic
issues that, in fact,
pose a danger to society, should, as an example
someone masquerade as a
legal practitioner, a doctor or an
engineer.
On the other hand the media and journalism are a profession
primarily about
one's right to freely express themselves. The right to
receive and impart
information, be it by journalists, columnists, opinions
writers, fiction
authors, writers of letters to the editor, cannot be made a
privilege of
only a few as is now the case under AIPPA.
Everyone in
society has a right to speak through any medium of his or her
choice. By
registering media houses and journalists, Mahoso and company are
making that
right a privilege for a few, who happen to carry licences and
certificates
of registration.
This right to impart and receive information was taken
way from four
newspapers in the past three years. The choice of what to
publish and who to
employ in any media organisation should be left to the
individual who so
desires. Indeed private media organisations are set for
profit among other
reasons, but they should get the same rights to receive
and impart
information even for profit because there is nothing immoral or
illegal/wrong with that.
Private media organisations, before AIPPA
and Mahoso, were legitimate
organisations that operated legally, paid taxes,
employed thousands and were
making a contribution towards the good of
society. Simply because the same
publications challenge state excesses,
expose human rights violations and
many vices of this government, they are
then seen as enemies of the ruling
elite. Mahoso confuses his and his
masters' interests on one hand, with
those of the generality of citizens. On
the contrary newspapers such as The
Daily News were popular and indeed made
it because they were loved by the
people.
The people of Zimbabwe and
not Britain the EU or US made The Daily News what
it had become, because it
resonated with their miserable conditions of
existence. Mahoso's cries to be
invited to the Quill Club are like cries of
an executioner to be invited to
the funeral of his/her victim.
It is for this reason that AIPPA
and its chief protector Mahoso are
unnecessary in Zimbabwe and detrimental
to the development of the media and
enjoyment of citizens' right to freedom
of expression.
Their existence is a political project that has become a
horrifying
nightmare we are all hoping to wake up from sooner rather than
later. As
sure as the sun rises every day, we are in no doubt that such a
day will
come.
Rashweat Mukundu is the National Director for MISA
Zimbabwe
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
November 8, 2006
Posted to the web November 9,
2006
National Agenda With Bornwell Chakaodza
Harare
The test of
the strength of a free and democratic society in this day and
age is its
capacity to undertake debate and accept honest dissent.
Even with our
differences, the importance of tolerating each other cannot be
over-emphasised.
It is in this context that I see the recent launch
of the document by some
church leaders (not all the church leaders of
Zimbabwe) entitled The
Zimbabwe We Want: Towards a National Vision for
Zimbabwe in a positive and
favourable light.
Not that what is said in
the document is anything new. No. It is all
familiar stuff which has been
discussed by all and sundry since the outbreak
of the Zimbabwean crisis more
than six years ago.
The crisis has not gone away and as long as it
continues to rear its ugly
head, organised pressure groups and individuals
must never tire of speaking
out. Candour, frankness, dialogue and
discussion: these are essential for
change.
In any event, it falls on
the entire Zimbabwean society including the
churches, the labour movement,
the media and the opposition parties to map
out the way forward for our
country in the spirit of creating the conditions
necessary for a new
beginning under the Almighty God.
The beauty of the church document is
that it is not propagandising for any
political party or political ideology.
It is providing a platform for public
debate and discussion on such issues
as the land question, the economic
crisis, democracy and good governance,
reconciliation, electoral laws,
constitutional reform, sovereignty,
patriotism, human rights and a host of
other issues.
As we navigate
our way to a political solution to our crisis, it is crucial
that everything
be put on the table. Consensus is growing among all
Zimbabweans that our
situation is not sustainable although it has been
sustained this far, albeit
with untold suffering. Where there are divergent
views is on how to get to
"The Zimbabwe We Want".
Some like the heads of Christian Denominations
which prepared the document
under discussion believe in the slower course of
changing ZANU PF opinion
and position and seeing President Mugabe as the key
and the epicentre of the
solution to this country's crisis.
Others
like the Zimbabwean Christian Alliance and the majority of
Zimbabweans
believe that as long as President Mugabe is at the helm, there
will be no
headway. Most Zimbabweans have become cynical and sceptical about
anyone who
tries to engage Zanu PF in the search for a solution to our
political
crisis.
And these sceptics including this columnist were vindicated by
the unhelpful
comments by the President at the launch of the document nearly
two weeks
ago. President Mugabe did a demolition job on this initiative by
these men
of cloth. Whereas this group of churchmen, in a rare attempt to
confront the
real issues at stake said in the document:
"We pride
ourselves in our sovereignty, but that sovereignty does not reside
in one
individual or one group. It resides in the people of Zimbabwe as a
collective. The authority to govern is derived from the people. Those who
govern, regardless of whatever political opinions they may have, must be
accountable to the people."
The President in his demolition job of
the document said: "The Zimbabwe we
want must be our Zimbabwe. We must have
it, own it, keep it and defend it.
It cannot be the Zimbabwe we want if we
give it away so easily, under
whatever guises. It must be independent, it
must be sovereign and it must be
a free country which is not fettered by
foreign domination".
I challenge anyone to give me a better and more
eloquent way of pouring cold
water and scorn on something that mature
Christians crafted in all
seriousness in an attempt to provide a road map
for our troubled country.
I'm sure we all agree including Bishop Trevor
Manhanga and company that
these are very interesting times we find ourselves
in.
President Mugabe is not the man to take us to 'The Zimbabwe We Want'.
His
best days are behind him and Zimbabwe must now move on without him. For
our
President to live in the past it's understandable. It is difficult to be
anything else twenty six years after liberation and still in power. Given
this kind of longevity for anyone, power invariably becomes arrogant and
does not like to be challenged or held accountable by mere
mortals.
Take the issue of sovereignty for example. Relatively young and
energetic
political leaders the world over are now talking about open
frontiers and
not sovereignty for its own sake. The buzz word is sovereignty
for
prosperity and not for poverty. Countries are now talking of sharing
sovereignty in the sense of trading-off some of their sovereignty in return
for prosperity and development for their own people.
The European
Union (EU) is a very good example of this. After all, who in
this world has
eaten sovereignty and declared: After action, satisfaction!
The heads of
Christian denominations who have come up with 'The Zimbabwe We
Want'
document must be told in no uncertain terms that though what they have
done
is commendable, Zimbabweans are beyond awareness of the problems they
face
and what they need the political authorities to do is to take concrete
and
practical action to resolve this crisis. There is fatigue all round now
and
the people of this country are impatient for change.
Yes, documents gave
us benchmarks, they give us direction but what is much
more important is
action, action and more action. I do think that there is a
lot of common
ground that binds us together as Zimbabweans.
In fact, going through this
church document one finds many fundamental
issues that bring us together as
a people regardless of race, tribe or
creed. Where there is no consensus or
broad agreement, let us sit down and
discuss for the good of Zimbabwe. Let
all of us have open minds.
In conclusion, I want to say that it is not
difficult to condemn and condemn
people who are trying to do something. But
we need to be constructive from
time to time. Some Zimbabweans are trying to
resolve this crisis in their
different ways. It does not matter much if some
of them are failing. At
least they are trying. Trevor Manhanga and his
colleagues are trying. Gideon
Gono and his team at the central Bank are
trying. So is Archbishop Pius
Ncube and other militant organisations doing
it their own way.
The difference between the people mentioned above and
some of us is that
they are trying and we are not. They are trying and
perhaps failing in the
process. The most important thing however it to keep
trying in the hope that
one day soon we will all arrive.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
November 8, 2006
Posted to the web November 9,
2006
Nkululeko Sibanda Own Correspondent
Harare
The Swedish
Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sten Rylander says the current economic
meltdown can
only be arrested if the government stops the continuing
upheavals on the
farms.
Addressing delegates to a Farmer Study Group Initiatives in Africa
conference in Kadoma this week, Rylander said Zimbabwean authorities should
stop the eviction of white commercial farmers committed to agricultural
production.
"At this point in time there is an urgent need, as I see
it, to turn the
tide again, to bring the situation (on the farms) back to
normal and to
bring the fast-track land reform programme to an end . . . to
stop chasing
keenly committed farmers off their land. There is also need to
go for
changes and reforms which will encourage and realise the
bridge-building
that all of us are so keen about, both within the Zimbabwean
nation and the
international community at large," Rylander said.
"It
is well known to all of you that Zimbabwe has been going through
turbulent
and difficult times during the past few years. This (land reform
programme)
has led to a very unfortunate economic meltdown and to an
unprecedented loss
of production, particularly in agriculture.
"Contrary to what we can
still hear today from some officials in the
Zimbabwean government, most of
us in the international community, including
Sweden and the European Union,
were not against the land reform programme in
this country."
The
Swedish Ambassador said the international community accepted the idea of
land reforms as there was great need to have a programme that sought to
address imbalances created during the colonial era.
"On the contrary,
we saw a great need and urgency for land reforms aimed at
correcting the
gross injustices inflicted upon the nation during the
colonial
era.
". . . But we did have, and still have, critical views about the
ways in
which the land reforms have been pursued and implemented," Rylander
said.
He however stressed that for Zimbabwe to succeed in building
bridges with
the West, there was need for a dimensional shift that would
allow some white
commercial farmers to either retain their land or remain on
the land without
interference from any quarter.
Rylander said it
imperative to restore the rule of law, good governance and
respect for
property rights if the West was to take Zimbabwe seriously.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
November 8, 2006
Posted to the web November 9,
2006
Njabulo Ncube
Harare
A bridge-building initiative by
former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa
appears to have failed to take
off, four months after the Zimbabwean
government announced his involvement
in attempts to end a six-year
diplomatic row between it and the British
government.
President Robert Mugabe, under immense pressure from the West
to change his
policies, announced in July that Mkapa had agreed to mediate
in what Harare
insists is a "bilateral" dispute with former colonial master
Britain.
Whitehall has denied the existence of a bilateral dispute with
Harare,
saying the country was reeling from bad governance and mismanagement
of the
economy, especially since the advent of controversial land reforms in
2000.
Diplomatic sources said the Mkapa initiative, like many before it,
had
suffered a stillbirth.
The diplomatic sources said the failure by
the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC) heads of state and
government to deliberate on Mkapa's
involvement in trying to tackle the
Zimbabwean crisis at their recent
meetings in Maseru, Lesotho and two weeks
ago in Midrand, South Africa,
spoke volumes about the initiative.
"We
have information Mkapa is not working on anything. In fact, we knew it
was a
time-buying gimmick by Zimbabwe. We have been asking for the agenda
and
terms of reference but nothing has materialised," added one diplomat,
who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
The British Embassy in Harare confirmed
that London had not received any
official communication from
Mkapa.
"We have had no recent contact with former president Mkapa," said
British
Embassy spokesman, Gillian Dare. "Neither he nor anyone on his
behalf has
approached the British government about mediation," Dare
said.
She stressed that London did not accept the existence of a
bilateral dispute
as the premise for any initiative to resolve the crisis in
Zimbabwe.
"We do not accept that this is a bilateral issue. The crisis in
Zimbabwe is
a domestic one based on poor economic and political governance.
If Mr Mkapa
can persuade President Mugabe to undertake the policy changes
that
Zimbabweans urgently want for a more stable and prosperous future, we
will
support his efforts in any way we can, as we would any international
efforts
aimed at achieving real progress in Zimbabwe."
Powerful
western nations, the United States and France, have indicated that
the
increasingly isolated Zimbabwean government's overtures to Britain were
meaningless unless Zimbabweans first engaged in political dialogue among
themselves before seeking a deeper rapprochement with foreigners.
A
church-authored vision document released a fortnight ago has also
underscored the importance of national political dialogue to resolve the
country's nagging six-year political and economic crisis.
ZANU PF has
repeatedly refused to engage the main opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change in dialogue, insisting instead on talking to British Prime
Minister
Tony Blair.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
November 8, 2006
Posted to the web November 9,
2006
Mordecai Mutiswa Betera
United Kingdom
- It is not the
role that churchmen play in politics that I wish to dispute
but rather, it
is what they should have done. First, the church has never
yielded any real
influence in Zimbabwean politics. In general, they are
viewed with
suspicion.
Indeed, no one has ever placed that obligation on the church
and thereafter
engaged in an appraisal of their performance. They choose to
do so
themselves -- and much to the disquiet of many. Many a time, when
ordinary
people sought an answer to daily hardships in colonial times, the
church has
sought to pacify them by trying to convince them that only an act
of
providence would free the people, not revolution!
Well, that can
only be totally untrue for, had it not been for President
Robert Mugabe,
where would we be today? Quite like our counterparts in
Australia, perhaps.
I am not referring to the incessant skirmishes between
the police and
protesters and the President's view of these. He is right on
these as well
and, though no one believes it, he wishes no one any harm but
that these
people observe the correct procedures.
To suggest that the clergy will
serve their nation better by aligning with
the protesters is simply adding
to the nation's confusion. These protests
are completely misplaced.
Constitutional matters, correctly conceived and
intended for real change,
are addressed through parliamentary debates.
Indeed, they are often
initiated by protest groups, but how does someone
take the role of an expert
in the campaign for constitutional change, with
no discussions involving the
government in power?
The fact that that government may be objectionable
to the supposed expert is
reason to engage it in discussions. Furthermore,
one cannot be a credible
advocate in this regard and at the same time seem
or overtly support one
political faction while rejecting a significant
other. Does Dr Lovemore
Madhuku seriously believe that if President Mugabe's
government falls --
hopefully peacefully after serving us so well, he will
then succeed in
effecting constitutional change to appease disgruntled ZANU
PF supporters --
and call that a constitution for the nation?
These
are time and national-resource wasters. Finally, losing an election is
not a
big deal. In a civilised society such as Zimbabwe, my vote is a
floating
one. I can change my loyalty from one leader to another at any
time,
depending on who delivers. I do not cling to party loyalty in a
fanatical
way, but give it legitimate loyalty -- and we should all give ZANU
PF
support at a time like this when we are besieged by international
enemies.
Party membership may be for life -- I have not changed mine
since I opted to
support Mugabe in 1962 as a young boy, but the party can
lose its support at
the ballot box, depending on performance. However, when
matters of great
importance such as land reform feature, I support the party
which ultimately
feels for its people and nurtures their elementary
aspirations. I do not
think that there are many churchmen -- generally
middle class -- who find
the land issue a lucrative one to address.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
November 8, 2006
Posted to the web November 9,
2006
Staff Reporter
Harare
Econet has begun a plan to sign up
20 000 new subscribers per week, while
CEO Douglas Mboweni says efforts are
in progress to raise additional foreign
currency for further network
expansion.
The company is close to completing a major expansion programme
at a cost of
US$20 million to increase capacity from 500 000 to 800 000.
Under the
current phase, Econet is releasing 300 000 new lines, which will
be at 20
000 every week.
"We want to carry on releasing lines beyond
the current 300 000 that we
promised will be released over the next weeks.
Foreign currency is the issue
for all of us in this country, but at Econet
we believe that a solution will
be provided for us," said Mboweni.
In
a statement, a spokesman for the company said the company had released
over
60 000 lines in the last three weeks and plans to release about 20 000
lines
a week through about 30 dealers as well as the company's shops
nationwide.
Econet says market research has shown that there are
currently about 100 000
people in Zimbabwe who have a cell phone but do not
have a line, and the
priority is to get these people all connected in the
next two weeks. "Once
this has been done it is expected that queues will
ease off, but the demand
will still be there," said the
spokesman.
Mboweni has questioned claims that the mobile phone market in
Zimbabwe could
reach a penetration of 40 percent, saying Econet's own market
analysis is
that real demand in Zimbabwe has fallen dramatically because of
the economic
situation.
In the region, only South Africa and Botswana
have reached that level of
penetration, and they have very strong economies
at the moment, while the
rest of the region is still below 15 percent
penetration, Mboweni said.
"The recent expansion we have done will take
Zimbabwe to about 10 percent.
It will be hard to push above 15 percent while
disposable incomes are being
eroded so quickly by inflation," he
said.
The company is currently leading mobile service providers in a
legal
challenge to a law that would give state fixed phone operator Tel*One
a
monopoly over international traffic, saying the law threatens their
viability and could force them to bill subscribers making foreign calls in
foreign currency.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
November 8,
2006
Posted to the web November 9, 2006
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Business Reporter
Harare
Factions seek unity.
The two factions
of Zimbabwe's splintered main opposition party, the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), have embarked on fresh moves to bury
the hatchet, a year after
splitting acrimoniously in October 2005.
Insiders in the rival factions,
which both claim to be the legitimate core
of the party, told The Financial
Gazette that committees to spearhead a
process of reconciliation had been
established on both sides and had been
tasked with initiating fresh talks on
the possibility of re-uniting.
The sources said the reunification of the
two factions was one of the items
on the agenda of a meeting of Morgan
Tsvangirai's national executive last
weekend. They said the Arthur Mutambara
camp of the party held a similar
meeting simultaneously, possibly to choose
a committee to spearhead the
initiative.
"Zimbabweans are suffering.
There is misery and impoverishment and the only
prescription to liquidate
misery and agony is a new Zimbabwe and the MDC is
a midwife of that new
Zimbabwe. So it is important to strengthen the midwife
for a new Zimbabwe to
be born."
Chamisa's counterpart in the rival camp, Gabriel Chaibva,
denied any
specific talks with the Tsvangirai camp.
"Our first prize
is national reunification of all democratic forces and that
has had no
takers," said Chaibva.
These fresh attempts at reunification follow the
recent signing of a
non-aggression pact to end hostilities between the two
feuding sides, which
had previously indicated that their differences were
irreconcilable.
The cooperation agreement, which was reportedly signed in
South Africa,
called on both factions to stop making public statements
ridiculing each
other.
The MDC gave President Robert Mugabe's ruling
ZANU PF a stiff challenge at
the polls in 2000 -- just a year after its
launch -- and during the
presidential election in 2002, when Tsvangirai lost
by 400 000 votes.
But the party split last year after an October 12
meeting of its top
executive which could not agree on whether or not to
participate in senate
elections the following month. Tsvangirai, leading a
section that called for
a boycott of the elections, vetoed a narrow majority
vote by his executive,
endorsing participation in the polls.
This
opened a rift that has resulted in the opposition suffering a series of
crushing election defeats at the hands of ZANU PF, putting the leadership of
both camps under pressure from supporters to bury their
differences.
But analysts say reuniting the two sides could be difficult,
given the deep
personal differences between senior figures heading the rival
groups. Since
the split, the two factions have hauled each other over the
coals in public,
with the pro-Senate camp accusing the Tsvangirai faction of
employing
violent tactics against those opposed to his leadership.
Tsvangirai has
denied resorting to violence, and his supporters have accused
the Mutambara
faction of seeking a compromise with ZANU
PF.
Tsvangirai's committee will be chaired by Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, the
group's
secretary for integration and reconciliation, and comprises Lucia
Matibenga,
the faction's chairperson of the Women's Assembly, economic
adviser Eddie
Cross, and Innocent Gonese, the secretary for legal
affairs.
"We discussed the issue of the split and how to resolve the
issue. We
appointed a committee to deal with the split and resolve how to
get back
together. We made a decision for reintegration of leaders that left
after
the October 2005 fallout," said a member of the committee, who
declined to
be named, saying he was not authorised to speak on behalf of his
party.
A source in the Mutambara camp confirmed that the faction had set
up a
parallel committee, which would be led by the group's secretary
general,
Welshman Ncube. Other members of the committee are Ncube's deputy,
Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, and Paul Themba Nyathi, the director of
elections.
Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the Tsvangirai faction, while
denying the
establishment of a committee by his group, said unity [ends here..]
People's Daily
The progress towards sustainable solutions to the
energy crisis in
Zimbabwe through producing bio- fuel from jatropha has been
slowed down due
to the lack of follow- up programs in the growing of
jatropha trees, local
media reported on Thursday.
The launch of
the bio-diesel project at Harare polytechnic at the end
of last year caused
a lot of excitement in the country. However, almost a
year after the launch,
progress towards the commercial production of
bio-diesel has been checked by
operational challenges, the official Newsnet
said.
Feasibility
studies carried out at the University of Zimbabwe have
shown that bio-diesel
is a sustainable solution to the country's energy
problems. The buying price
of jatropha seeds was also benchmarked against
international diesel prices
to promote farmers to grow jatropha. But the
responses from key institutions
have not been positive.
The infrastructural development bank has
also not made any moves to
put up infrastructures for processing the seeds
into bio- diesel.
Workers said they lack the knowledge and
resources to spread
information about growing jatropha which is a critical
stage for the success
of the whole project.
Source:
Xinhua
New Zimbabwe
By
Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 11/10/2006 12:53:32
ONE of President Robert
Mugabe's top lieutenants is suing a business weekly
over a series of reports
about her alleged lavish spending of tax payers'
money.
Thokozile
Mathuthu, the governor for Matabeleland North is suing the
Financial Gazette
weekly newspaper for $30 billion after it published
articles critical of her
stay at a hotel, court documents revealed Friday.
According to court
documents, Mathuthu does not deny staying in a top hotel
on a government
account but queries the Financial Gazette's claim that she
blew $2 billion
in tax payers' money.
Mathuthu also denies any involvement in an alleged
attempt to restructure
the ruling Zanu PF party's top power structure, a
plot allegedly hatched in
Tsholotsho by leading Zanu PF figures opposed to
Joice Mujuru's bid for the
vice presidency.
Mathuthu said she had a
"good name and reputation which were damaged by
the said
articles".
Her lawyers, in papers filed Thursday, said: "The applicant
denies that she
is in any way associated with the Tsholotsho group of
political plotters and
that her visit to the area had any other agenda other
than government
business."
She has hired top Bulawayo law firm,
Gula-Ndebele and partners to take on
the Financial Gazette.
Mathuthu
also said her stay in the hotel "did not cost the government
anywhere near
the amount of $2 billion alleged in the article."
She also denied that
President Robert Mugabe summoned her over the incident.
"The reports were
unlawful, false and malicious.They were understood by
the ordinary public to
potray the plaintiff as an irresponsible, dishonest,
reckless, insensitive,
nauseating, arrogant, corrupt, treacherous person
whose lavish extravagance
knows no bounds," the papers said.
No comment was immediately available
from the Financial Gazette
New Zimbabwe
THE debate around the recently released National Vision
Document (NVD) has
so far suggested an emerging pathetic cover up for an
evidently gigantic
ecumenical gaffe.
Since its release, there have
been comments to the effect that 'The Zimbabwe
We Want' document is "good"
and that those who see otherwise are barking up
the wrong tree. Only last
week, a leading business weekly newspaper's editor
took a swipe at the
critics and labeled them "bigots".
There has been little, if any at all,
effort by commentators and journalists
to dig deeper for clues as to how all
this began and to where it is leading
us.
According to Bishop Trevor
Manhanga, who so far appears to be the spokesman
for the Church Leaders, it
was President Robert Mugabe who suggested that
they "go out to the people"
and be his ears on what they want.
Be that as it may, questions
immediately arise.
Am I alone in finding it shocking that the same church
leaders who were in
the Constitutional Commission in 1999 will allow
themselves to go and gather
the same information they gathered and handed
over to Mugabe seven years
ago?
Is the Bishop seriously telling us
that they rose up and took their bibles
and went to see Mugabe without the
people's mandate, and they were told by
Mugabe to then go to the people? Is
he telling us that when they met Mugabe
they didn't know what the people
wanted and therefore could not say it to
Mugabe then and they had to go and
ask?
Is it a people's Church which seeks audience with a tyrant without
their
mandate and needs to be reminded by a tyrant that there are people to
be
consulted? Are they visionaries who don't know what the people want or
they
are tools ready to be used?
It goes without saying that the 1999
findings were more genuine because we
know that the government gave money to
the Commission and sent it to the
people. We still remember the dramatic
meetings throughout the country and
in South Africa. The reports are still
there.
This is in contrast with the Church Leaders whose meetings are not
easy to
remember and whose donors are unknown. What then is "good" about a
document
which is essentially a summary of what we all have read and heard
over the
years?
Bishop Manhanga dares to say "give the process a
chance". What process? What
Chance?
This whole senseless thing about
going to the people was a measure to cover
up for a dismal performance at
the State House on May 25 where we saw for
ourselves elderly Bishops
behaving like children.
If there was a concrete plan on the part of the
Bishops on how to move
forward on all this, they would have told Mugabe that
there was no need to
go and ask the people. As Church leaders who minister
to a whole population
affected by Mugabe's policies, and who know what the
people want, they would
have said it there and then. Instead, they offered
their "support" for him
and told the whole nation that he was a "listening"
leader.
To suggest that it is beyond their mandate for the Church leaders
to offer
political clues to an afflicted people is to miss the point and to
pull the
opposite direction against Jesus Christ.
It is the Church's
duty to point at the people who are at the centre of
humanity's agonies. The
people who were beaten and had their buttocks
roasted on stoves in 2000
belong to the Church. So are those killed by
Gukurahundi and displaced by
Murambatsvina, the two projects carried by the
army whose commander is
Mugabe.
It is, therefore, not over the top for the Church to "apportion
blame". To
avoid apportioning blame is cowardice.
Jesus Christ of
whom they are supposed to be his servants, called Herod the
"fox", cracked
the whip when the situation demanded, and above all, he
refused to be
associated with corrupt tyrants and the authors of the common
people's
misery. Always he mingled with the victims of power.
He knew what the
people wanted and did not need to meet Herod. He sought
modest solutions and
went straight to mobilise the people without anybody's
funding and finally
rode on a donkey to Jerusalem.
Just because the Church leaders did not
have any plan they not only unwisely
accepted to "go to the people" and be
Mugabe's ears, but they offered their
"support" and told us that he
"listens".
Now that the document -- whose contents were pretty obvious
anyway -- is
out, the same person whom were told listens has refused to
accept what we
want and told us it's "not negotiable".
We see here an
offensive inability to perform their duties in exact line
with the teachings
of a creed they claim to stand for.
In a nutshell the whole premise of
the Church's approach was wrong because
it left many loopholes for Mugabe to
manipulate it as Archbishop Ncube has
always warned. It is generally a
disservice to be praised by Mugabe and the
Church should have known
that.
For instance, President Mugabe resents donor-funded organisations
that dare
talk about the constitutional matters but why is it that he is at
ease with
the Church leaders whom we know lead organisations funded by
Western donors?
It is difficult to imagine that there is a Western donor
who will fund the
launching of a suspicious document, which is a brainchild
of people who
"support" Mugabe. They fund, mostly, developmental projects
and so it is
hard to imagine that they bought this one.
So where will
the money to print and launch the document in all the
provinces come from?
Shall we purchase into the suggestion that a person
like Prof Marvelous
Mhloyi spent all her time assisting in the writing of
the document all for
free? Who will pay her?
It is the silence around these questions, which
suggest that the Church
Leaders have been bought. This probably explains why
they are operating with
this sense of guilt and this whole air of wanting to
protect an image.
Like a barking dog in Saul Bellow's The Dean's
December, we simply "ask for
the universe to open a little more" but a cabal
of Bishops is shrinking it
further with their suspicious verses in the name
of righteousness.
Mthulisi Mathuthu is a Zimbabwean journalist and New
Zimbabwe.com columnist.
Views expressed here are his own. He can be
contacted at: thuthuma@yahoo.com
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 11/10/2006 12:52:40
A ZIMBABWE Republic Police
detective investigating Local Government Minister
Ignatius Chombo over
corruption allegations has been transferred from
Harare, throwing the
investigation into doubt.
Chombo, who is considered in political circles
an "untouchable" due to close
links to President Robert Mugabe is accused of
buying a personal vehicle
using money from the state-run bus firm, the
Zimbabwe United Passenger
Company (Zupco).
Chombo also faces charges
of receiving bribes in the purchases of buses at
the parastal among other
charges.
The case's investigating officer, a Superintendent Ncube spoke
Thursday only
to confirm that he had been transferred to Mutare but refused
further
comment.
Sources said Ncube touched a raw nerve after
arresting Zupco acting boss
Dr Chipo Dyanda on allegations that she had
unlawfully released Zupco funds
to pay for legal costs for her jailed
predecessor, Charles Nherera.
The sources added that Dyanda, a lecturer
at the University of Zimbabwe, is
Zanu PF District Coordinating Committee
member in Zvimba, Mugabe's home
area.
Zanu PF bigwigs are said to
have been furious after her arrest in a matter
that has seen Deputy
Information Minister Bright Matonga also being dragged
before the courts on
bribery allegations.
Matonga's case continuous.