Zim Independent
Vincent
Kahiya
MAKONDE MP and President Robert Mugabe's nephew, Leo Mugabe, is
involved in
a multi-billion-dollar bid to force a company hired by cellphone
network
operator Telecel to cancel its contract and cede it to his
engineering firm,
IEG, documents reveal.
The company, FM Eiving,
which has been building base-station containers for
Telecel, was two months
ago forced to pay a company called Rigger Holdings
about $5 billion as
"compensation" for allegedly stealing its designs.
Documents to hand show
that Mugabe has been pushing Telecel to cancel a
contract awarded to FM
Eiving and give it to his IEG or to a friendly
company, Rigger
Holdings.
FM Eiving has since instructed its lawyer Irikidzai
Mapulala of Mapulala &
Motsi to recover the "compensation" money paid to
Rigger. The company has
also refused to surrender its contract and is
building more base-stations
for Telecel. Mapulala yesterday confirmed moves
to recover the money but
could not give details on the amount of the claim
saying that was
confidential.
Mugabe yesterday denied any
involvement in the alleged arm-twisting, saying
his role as a technical
partner and director of Telecel was to make sure the
two parties did not end
up in court as this would delay the network's
roll-out programme. Asked if
any money was paid to him, Mugabe said: "There
is nothing like that. We did
not want Rigger to sue FM Eiving as this would
have delayed the roll-out
plan."
There appears to be a close relationship between Rigger and
IEG as Mugabe
has written to Telecel raising questions as to why Rigger was
not awarded
the contract. The documents also show that one Cosmas Gwede is
listed as
vice chairman of IEG while he is also a director of
Rigger.
Officials at FM Eiving yesterday confirmed that they had paid
"about" $5
billion to Rigger after the company in August demanded $8 billion
as
compensation for what it alleged was "loss of profit and plagiarisation
(sic) of our intellectual property". The money was withdrawn from Premier
Bank, Samora Machel branch.
Rigger Holdings contends that FM
Eiving stole its designs and used them to
execute the Telecel contract.
Officials at FM Eiving yesterday said that was
the pretext used to scare
them into surrendering money to Rigger. They said
there was no way they
could have stolen designs as they built base-stations
as per specifications
stipulated by the network operator.
"We have been doing this job
since 1998. How can we be accused of stealing
designs this year?" an
official said.
But Mugabe in letters to Telecel acting managing
director Rex Chibesa last
month did not hide his interest in the project. In
a letter dated October 4,
Mugabe said as a local technical partner of
Telecel, he must be involved in
technical evaluation and "execution of such
project works which can be
carried out in-house by IEG as well as in
selection, appointment and
supervision of other specialist local contractors
for outsourced project
works".
He insisted on Telecel availing to
IEG, through its representative Gwede,
all information on historical and
future technical work.
"We are particularly disturbed by the
unprofessional manner in which the
Telecel Zimbabwe January 2004 tender for
supply and installation of civil
works for new base-stations was awarded to
FM Eiving at the expense of
Rigger Holdings," said Mugabe.
Mugabe
in an interview yesterday denied that IEG wanted to take over the FM
Eiving
contract. However, minutes of a meeting held on September 30,
attended by
Gwede, Chibesa and Telecel technical director Samuel Duncan,
show that
Mugabe had intervened in the FM Eiving/Rigger conflict and that FM
Eiving
had agreed to "cede the outstanding works" (on base-stations) to
IEG.
Gwede is quoted in the minutes as having said Telecel would
issue a
variation order to the FM Eiving contract to effect the changes.
Duncan said
FM Eiving had not indicated to Telecel that they had reached
such an
understanding with IEG as they had procured material to execute the
contract, according to the minutes.
Contacted to comment on his
involvement in both IEG and Rigger and whether
FM Eiving had been paid the
"compensation", Gwede at first professed
ignorance of the whole issue. When
told of a letter bearing his signature,
he could only say: "Those are
confidential documents you are holding. Where
did you get those letters
from? I have no comment to make."
Chibesa refused to comment on the
issue.
Zim Independent
Ray
Matikinye
ASSOCIATED Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) no longer has any
meaningful assets
that can be auctioned to pay retrenchment packages for the
153 employees
dismissed in July 2003, lawyers representing the publishing
company say.
The ANZ, publishers of the banned Daily News and Daily News
on Sunday, is
embroiled in a fresh legal battle with its former employees
over severance
packages.
Mordecai Mahlangu of Gill Godlonton
& Gerrans, representing the ANZ, told a
labour hearing on Wednesday his
client's balance sheet reflected "a sad
state of affairs due to its
inability to publish and generate revenue over a
long
period".
The papers were forced to close down on September 13,
2003.
"My client's major asset was being able to publish. Unless the
company is
given a licence there is no way it can pay. The company has no
assets. It
has no resources," Mahlangu said.
Mahlangu had
initially disputed the number of people entitled to
retrenchment packages
saying his client was not obliged to pay people now
working
elsewhere.
But Selby Hwacha of Dube Manikai & Hwacha law firm,
representing the former
ANZ workers, said the ANZ management was liable to
pay either salary arrears
to the employees backdated to July 2004 or
retrenchment packages as set down
by the labour minister on October 19 last
year.
"The fact that some have found jobs does not relieve the
employer of his
obligation. The employer's pleas (that it is unable to pay)
are not relevant
in terms of the Labour Relations Act," Hwacha
said.
Hwacha argued that the ANZ was in this situation because of a
problem
created by the employer, not by the employees.
Last
Wednesday Hwacha threatened to attach ANZ property if need be.
Former
workers of the Daily News newspaper on November 2 launched a fresh
bid to
get their retrenchment packages, more than a year after the courts
ruled in
their favour.
The workers say they had put the issue of retrenchment
packages on the back
burner during the last 13 months in the hope that the
company would be
granted an operating licence by the government to resume
publishing.
But the workers say their hopes for a quick return to Old
Mutual House were
shattered a fortnight ago after the chief executive
officer of the company,
Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, filed nomination papers to
stand on an opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) ticket in this
month's senate election.
They said the move by Nkomo could see the
government hardening its stance
towards the embattled company trying to
parry accusations of being an
opposition mouthpiece.
In July last
year, the Labour Court awarded Daily News workers $5 million
each as
relocation costs and six months pay for every year served to each
individual. The court also awarded two years' pay to workers who had served
for less than a year.
The ANZ appealed against the ruling but
lost the case.
The retrenched workers accused Nkomo of neglecting
their welfare since the
closure of the newspaper two years
ago.
"We now think management is feeding on our plight. It has been
more than a
year since a ruling was made in our favour but the company seems
to be
dragging its heels on the issue," said Taka Mparutsa, a former
chairman of
the workers' committee.
Another former worker, Luxon
Muringani, said: "Sipepa Nkomo has abandoned us
judging by the way he is
seeking political office when he has always assured
us he will never seek a
political solution to get the Daily News re-opened."
But the ANZ boss
has rejected charges that his standing for the MDC in the
senate election
would jeopardise the paper's bid to secure an operating
licence.
Workers also wondered how the company expected to get
back on the streets if
it has no assets left.
Lawyers for workers
and the ANZ agreed to go to arbitration next week.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro/Ray
Matikinye
CHITUNGWIZA mayor Misheck Shoko might have failed to comprehend how
thoroughly Local Government minister Ignatious Chombo does a hatchet job
when it comes to harassing any official that comes into office on the coat
tails of the opposition MDC.
But he should have learnt that the sword
of Damocles was permanently hanging
over his head when the minister ejected
his colleague, Harare's first
popularly elected executive mayor, Elias
Mudzuri, from office.
As a former independence war fighter, Shoko
could have reapplied some
wartime tactics and girded his loins for a
long-haul counter-attack on the
university lecturer-turned-politician's
antics.
Now he has learnt the hard way.
A few days after
residents of the sprawling dormitory town woke up to dry
taps, government
took over Chitungwiza town council by using its utility
arm, the Zimbabwe
Water Authority, to cut off water for a bill it actually
owes the local
authority.
On Monday government pulled out $5 billion from a hat to
finance the
purchase of motors for sewage pumps as a measure to arrest
deteriorating
services.
Zanu PF has resorted to arbitrary
take-overs of cities it lost in elections
to the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change using flimsy excuses of
mismanagement and poor service
delivery. Chitungwiza is the latest victim of
the onslaught.
Over
the past three years, MDC-led local authorities have been subjected to
systematic assault by a government whose electoral fortunes have been
confined to rural outposts since the launch of the MDC. Analysts view
government's actions as a concerted effort to subvert residents' democratic
right to elect a council by imposing Zanu PF leaders on urban
councils.
Starting with the Harare mayoral saga, Chombo has become
master at showing
that the purported decentralisation of authority to
promote efficiency is in
reality designed to protect the ruling Zanu PF
party's declining fortunes.
None other President Robert Mugabe has
lamented his party's loss of control
of most urban centres, particularly the
capital Harare, hence the
undemocratic extension of the term of the
government-imposed commission
beyond its legal mandate. MDC-led councils
have the onerous duty of putting
up with a minister who deliberately delays
approving budgets to cripple
their operations.
The executive
mayor of Bulawayo, Japhet Ndabeni Ncube's administration is
owed billions by
government departments for services delivered to the army,
the police and
other government institutions that could improve a worsening
cash-flow
situation in Zimbabwe's second largest city.
Yet government has taken
an inordinate time to pay up, hoping service
delivery in the city will
deteriorate in one of the best-run cities in the
country to create an excuse
for a takeover.
Commentators said the way Chombo moved into
Chitungwiza this week exposed
Zanu PF's grand plan to grab urban areas from
MDC control.
The same excuses were used to elbow Engineer Mudzuri out
of Harare, dismiss
Mayor Francis Dhlakama from Chegutu, and suspend Misheck
Kagurabadza from
Mutare. Relentless efforts are being made to dislodge
Japhet Ncube from
Bulawayo.
At the height of divisions in Zanu PF
in Matabeleland before its December
congress, metropolitan governor and
resident minister Cain Mathema stunned
party delegates to a meeting with the
president when he said: "We are so
divided here in Matabeleland as a
province. These divisions have weakened
our resolve to dislodge the MDC
mayor as has happened in Harare."
Combined Harare Residents
Association chairman Mike Davies said there was a
trend of blatant
subversion with government creating problems for opposition
mayors so that
it can usurp their functions.
In all cases Chombo starts by
appointing Zanu PF-linked investigating
committees whose partiality is
obvious.
The first victim was Mudzuri who was suspended in April 2003
before being
fired a year later.
"Government has a record of
denying opposition-run councils borrowing
powers," Davies said adding: "When
the situation gets bad, government
accuses the mayor and councillors of
mismanagement before moving in to give
money to its imposed
leadership."
Davies said government was failing to come up with
legitimate means to
return urban local authorities to Zanu PF after the
party was overwhelmingly
rejected by the electorate.
"Zanu PF has
lost the mandate of the people so it has to resort to
totalitarian means of
usurping power," he said.
In July Chombo suspended Kagurabadza in
Mutare on allegations of failing to
control the activities of council
employees. He proceeded to appoint a
six-member team to investigate the
mayor.
The team was made up of Zanu PF functionaries such as Isau
Mupfumi, a Zanu
PF central committee member, Ellen Gwaradzimba, a Zanu PF
losing candidate
in the city's mayoral election, and a Mr Mugadza, who is a
lawyer in
Gwaradzimba's case challenging Kagurabadza's
election.
Kagurabadza has since expressed concern about the
impartiality of the
members investigating him, challenging their capacity
"to act in a
transparent and impartial manner".
MDC MP for Harare
North Trudy Stevenson said the Zanu PF leadership had a
grand plan to
reclaim cities through unorthodox means.
"The plan involves creating
problems for local authorities, putting the
mayor under pressure and then
moving in to run the affairs on the pretext of
reviving a collapsing service
delivery system," Stevenson said. "On the
ground, Zanu PF-run councils are
worse. Harare is now worse than it was when
Mudzuri was in office," she
said.
Virtually all the capital's infrastructure is in a free fall
characterised
by intermittent water supplies, raw sewerage flowing in
high-density
residential streets and roads almost inaccessible due to
potholes.
Decomposing mounds of uncollected garbage have become an eyesore
in most
residential areas and pose a serious health hazard as the rainy
season
begins in earnest.
Davies said problems in the urban areas
were symptomatic of an endemic
national crisis.
"Until the crisis
is resolved at national level, local government problems
will persist
regardless of whether you put in Zanu PF or MDC councillors or
illegal
commissions," he said.
Zim Independent
Dumisani
Muleya
OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has
told diplomats his party is going through a "period of
anxiety and
uncertainty" triggered by the senate issue.
Tsvangirai
also moved to mend fences with South African President Thabo
Mbeki whom he
recently refused to meet to resolve the infighting in his
party.
Tsvangirai is engaged in a war of attrition with a rival
faction for the
control of the party.
His spokesman William Bango
said his boss had not snubbed Mbeki as widely
reported.
"As for
the speculation that Tsvangirai is snubbing President Mbeki, this is
far
from the truth," Bango said.
After briefing Harare-based diplomats
yesterday morning, Tsvangirai was
visited by the new South African
ambassador, Professor Mlungisi Makhalima at
his Strathaven
home.
Bango said the meeting between Tsvangirai and Makhalima was
fruitful. "A
number of issues were discussed, notes compared and fresh
proposals for
co-operation were hammered out. Tsvangirai took the
opportunity to brief
Prof Makhalima on the state of the party and the MDC's
view on the
resolution of the national crisis," he
said.
Tsvangirai denied reports he was preparing to go to Europe to
meet European
Union leaders over the MDC crisis after snubbing Mbeki. There
were reports
he was going to meet EU leaders to discuss the MDC
squabbles.
Addressing diplomats in Harare yesterday, Tsvangirai
admitted the MDC was
rocked by internal strife triggered by the debate over
whether or not to
participate in the November 26 senate
election.
"I must admit that the last few weeks have been a period of
anxiety and
seeming uncertainty among observers of the democratic struggle
in Zimbabwe,
at home and abroad," he said.
"I would like
therefore to take this opportunity to set the record straight
and allay any
lingering fears among our friends and well-wishers
abroad."
Tsvangirai narrated events surrounding the MDC crisis to the
diplomats and
insisted his party would boycott the poll. He recently claimed
the issue was
an internal matter to justify his refusal to meet
Mbeki.
He said although his party's national council initially voted
to
participate, it had since reversed its decision. The rival faction led by
secretary-general Welshman Ncube has dismissed the
claim.
Tsvangirai said the MDC was committed to democracy and its
values. This came
against a background of accusations by colleagues that he
was a "dictator in
the making".
Tsvangirai, failing to quell the
turbulence in the MDC, said his party
wanted a comprehensive constitutional
reform process, not piecemeal reforms.
"Our position on
constitutional reform is quite clear. We believe that only
a broad and
comprehensive process with the full participation of the people
of Zimbabwe
can produce an acceptable and legitimate constitution for the
country," he
said.
"This position constitutes one of the central objectives of the
party and no
single organ outside the full congress can vary or modify it.
It is a
fundamental principle. It is one of the major reasons for the
existence of
the MDC."
Tsvangirai said after he had overruled the
MDC council on the senate issue,
he embarked on a "comprehensive
consultative programme" to solicit the
people's views on the
issue.
"It became absolutely vital for the party to revisit and
re-fashion its
policy bearings with a view to charting a consistent and
common path
forward. An outreach programme to consult with the people became
imperative," he said. "We embarked on this comprehensive consultative
programme and the result was a clear restatement of the central objectives
of the party on constitutional issues, by the various party organs
throughout the country."
He said the consultation process
culminated in the controversial council
meeting last Saturday which he
claimed had reversed the decision to enter
the poll.
Zim Independent
Godfrey
Marawanyika
THE ruling Zanu PF is seeking $100 billion to finance the senate
election
campaign and its so-called National People's Conference in
December. The
party has raised $1,9 billion so far from the sale of party
cards.
The conference will be held in Esigodini, 40km south of Bulawayo
in
Matabeleland South, while the senate election is set for November
26.
Zanu PF secretary for finance David Karimanzira could not be
drawn into
commenting on the funds needed referring all questions to the
national
political commissar, Elliot Manyika.
"Talk to Manyika,
he will give you all the details," Karimanzira said
yesterday. Manyika was
not available for comment.
According to a copy of a presentation
Karimanzira made to the national
fundraising committee on October 28, the
party is having problems raising
funds.
"Since the party relies
mainly on membership card sales, fundraising
projects and donations, I am
disheartened by the rate at which our
membership cards are selling since
their launch in October 2004,"
Karimanzira said.
"The total
revenue received from all provinces stands at $1,9 billion out of
the
expected $27 billion projected had all the cards been bought and fully
subscribed for by today."
In his mid-term fiscal policy review,
Finance minister Herbert Murerwa
availed $30 billion for the senate
election. This was however earmarked for
government
work.
Karimanzira said revenue inflows from fees had gone down
significantly.
He told the committee that to date, Harare had raised $385
million,
Mashonaland East $319 million, Masvingo $313 million, Midlands $210
million
and Manicaland $191 million through the sale of
cards.
Matabeleland South and North have raised $191 million and $55
million
respectively, whilst Mashonaland West and Central have chipped in
with
$158,4 million and $60 million each. Bulawayo has raised $22
million.
According to the presentation, a card fees and subscription
verification
exercise was scheduled to be held on Monday in Bulawayo and
another in
Matabeleland North and South on November 14.
For last
year's conference, Zanu PF raised $500 million, a target which a
number of
provinces are now struggling to meet.
"There is need to focus our
minds on fundraising this year's $100 billion
target to service these
forthcoming programmes," Karimanzira said.
"All provinces should
precisely plan fundraising activities to raise funds.
Some provinces already
have projects under way, such as Harare, which has so
far managed to raise
$1,1 billion towards the $5 billion each province
should raise."
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
GOVERNMENT has stepped up efforts to push the few remaining white
commercial
farmers off the land by empowering a reconstituted equipment
committee to
seize farming implements.
Sources privy to the operation
said an equipment committee led by police
Assistant Commissioner Ndanga this
week swooped on Mwenezi district in rural
Masvingo, seizing equipment worth
billions of dollars.
The team left about 10 of the farms in the area
under guard by armed
personnel to forestall the farmers removing their
equipment from the farms.
Farmers said the raids were an apparent
last-ditch attempt to rid the
province of its few remaining white
farmers.
Raided farms included Reinette Ranch owned by Don Theron and
Alko Ranch
owned by an elderly widow, a Mrs Kloppers.
Theron
confirmed that his equipment was seized on Monday by a group of 22
people
who came in three heavy vehicles and three pick-up trucks. Amongst
the
people were the police, a prisons officer in uniform and self-styled war
veterans.
"About 22 people, eight of them armed with rifles, came
here at around
midday on Monday," Theron said.
"Their leader, a
provincial police officer in Masvingo, a Mrs Ndanga, told
me that they
wanted to collect the equipment. She didn't explain why but
simply
instructed her team to start loading the equipment onto a 30-tonne
and an
eight-tonne police truck."
Theron said the equipment taken included
tractors, trailers, water bowsers,
road graders and irrigation pipes. The
equipment was taken to Mwenezi police
station and Masvingo central police
station.
"They proceed to Alko Ranch where they took the same range
of equipment. The
value of the equipment runs into billions of dollars,"
Theron said.
Farmers condemned the behaviour of the Masvingo
Equipment Committee,
describing this week's raids as blatant acts of
theft.
Ndanga refused to shed light on the matter saying: " I don't
talk to the
press over the phone. If you want to get information on that
issue you will
have to come and see me in person," Ndanga said.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
GOVERNMENT has given a number of farms seized from white commercial
farmers
during the land reform programme to the Chinese as incentives for
them to
start business ventures in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has been
pursuing a "Look East" policy to replace traditional
trading partners in the
West after a major fallout following President
Mugabe's hotly-disputed
election victory in 2002.
Highly placed sources said the Chinese
government-owned China State Farms
Agribusiness Corporation (CSFAC) would
revive several derelict former
white-owned farms as well as clear vast
tracks of virgin land for farming
projects.
Farmers in the
Mashonaland West province said the Chinese had already moved
onto four
estates in the Mazvikadei and Biri dam areas where they are busy
clearing
farmland.
"The Chinese are at Fenemere and Dalkeith farms near
Mazvikadei dam," one
farmer said.
"They have moved onto
Clydesdale and Liverdale farms along Biri dam as
well."
The
farmer said speculation was rife that the Chinese wanted to set up
plantations for trees from which oil could be extracted.
The
Chinese have been linked to partnership deals with the quasi-government
agricultural arm, the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda)
and the Zimbabwe Development Company owned by ZFU vice president Edward
Raradza, in an initiative aimed at reviving former white farms that were
taken over by Arda.
Arda has moved onto about 20 estates since
the land reform programme started
over five years ago but has little to show
for its presence.
Among the expropriated estates where the joint
ventures are expected to be
undertaken are the highly contested Kondozi
Estate, now lying derelict in
the Odzi area of Manicaland, Foyle Estate in
the rich Mazowe valley, Charter
Estate in the Beatrice area, Greaslee in the
Goromonzi district, Charleswood
Estate, taken from former MDC MP Roy Bennett
in Chimanimani, and Bosbury and
Essex farms in Mashonaland
West.
Central bank authorities have been advocating the promotion of
ventures
between new farmers and former operators as well as new investors
to boost
production and hasten skills transfer.
Zim Independent
Roadwin
Chirara
THE owners of Ezulwini Farm, registered under a family trust in the
Troutbeck area of Nyanga, have been evicted from the remaining 25-hectares
of their property by a Central Intelligence Organisation
operative.
Ezulwini Farm was subdivided into 80 plots at the height of
the land
invasions in 2000, leaving its previous owners with 25 hectares.
The
property has crops estimated at over $8 billion.
The Fields
family, previous owners of Ezulwini Farm, has five hectares under
timber
valued at $3 billion, four hectares of apples with an estimated value
of $3
billion and four hectares of potatoes worth $2 billion.
The farm
exports cut flowers and blackberries worth close to 300 000 euros.
Among
immovable properties on the farm are eight holiday cottages and a
homestead.
Mike Nyakatawa, a CIO operative, allegedly moved onto
the farm house on
Wednesday night after a group of youths who had been
camping on the farm
evicted the Fields family. The farm is not listed for
acquisition.
The Fields family has taken refuge on a neighbouring
farm.
Nyakatawa allegedly made numerous visits to the farm in the
company of the
Nyanga district administrator, a Mr Mondeta, and ordered the
Fields to
leave. Nyakatawa and Mondeta ordered a group of Zanu PF youths to
camp on
the farm until the owners left.
Last week the farm
manager was attacked by the youths after he ordered them
out because they
were disrupting production.
"The situation is tense as we speak. The
farm manager is badly injured and
no production is taking place. They have
disrupted production," said a
farmer in the area who declined to be named,
fearing victimisation.
"We all know they are after the export crops
on the farm considering they
will be ready in a few weeks' time," he
said.
Manicaland governor and resident minister Tineyi Chigudu last
week denied
any knowledge of fresh farm invasions in the
province.
"There are no invasions taking place as far as I know.
People are
misinformed about what is going on. These are people who were
offered land
during the distribution and have now decided to take up their
plots,"
Chigudu said.
Zim Independent
Itai
Mushekwe
ZIMBABWE'S tourism industry faces collapse after reports of
extensive
wildlife deaths due to poaching and lack of water in national
parks with
Gonarezhou and Hwange particularly badly hit.
Government
this week made a tacit admission of the growing disaster,
although National
Parks Authority officials have been evading questions on
the threat posed to
the tourism industry by rising deaths among wildlife
species.
Tourism minister Francis Nhema this week said government
was moving swiftly
to save the animals.
"We have begun drilling
strategic boreholes and moving the animals to the
nearest water points," he
said.
"Our major problem are the elephants because they need more
water. We are
hoping that the rains will favour us and alleviate the
problem."
Nhema said the receding water table in the parks had
exacerbated the crisis
prompting government to transfer water in bowsers to
the affected areas,
while identifying new water sources to supplement these
efforts.
Wildlife plays a central role in foreign currency generation
through game
viewing and licensed hunting. The water problems will further
worsen already
dwindling tourism business casting doubt over government's
resuscitation
efforts.
Hundreds of animals are reportedly dying
daily due to lack of water in the
arid national parks with elephants the
most vulnerable. Tourists have been
forced to watch animals fighting over
scarce waterholes.
Hwange National Park spans 14 000 square
kilometres and has a population of
50 000 elephants, 36 000 more than the
carrying capacity of 14 000
elephants. An elephant requires at least 100
litres of water a day to
survive.
Another dilemma facing the
parks authority is the lack of adequate
boreholes.
Out of 60
boreholes only seven are working. But this failure is due to lack
of
maintenance, conservationists charge.
National Parks Authority
spokesperson, Retired Major Edward Mbewe, said his
organisaton had managed
to put in corrective measures to deal with the
situation.
"We
have managed to dig a 2,5 km trench from a water point managed by Zinwa
(Zimbabwe National Water Authority) at Hwange National Park. The water
points have high yielding pumps, and the water will be funnelled to a
central point where distribution to the park will be made."
Mbewe
said Hwange Colliery had donated pipes for the project, which will
alleviate
prevailing problems.
He said plans were under way to construct at
least three troughs per
borehole for water holding and preservation
purposes.
Private sector organisations such as the Zimbabwe
Conservation Task Force
have been instrumental in getting fuel supplies to
the affected areas.
Zimbabwe Council of Tourism chairman, Tom Chuma, said
government and
National Parks authorities should put their house in order
considering the
economic benefits of wildlife.
"Our industry
depends on wildlife and the parks. The state of their health
is what drives
the tourism industry," he said.
"We expect all responsible
authorities to do what they're supposed to do,
and that is ensuring the
wildlife and parks are in a functional state."
Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
THE Commercial Arbitration Centre is expected to soon
fix a date for the
hearing into the suspension of Zimbabwe Mirror Group CEO
and editor-in-chief
Ibbo Mandaza.
This follows the recent proposal to
have former chief justice Anthony Gubbay
as the chairman of the inquiry.
Gubbay is likely to be assisted by former
Institute of Chartered Accountants
president David Vincent and chairman of
the Institute of Directors of
Zimbabwe Much Masunda.
The hearing results from High Court judge
Bharat Patel's recent
recommendation that a panel, chaired by a retired
judge, be set up to look
into and determine the "propriety" of Mandaza's
suspension.
Mandaza's lawyer Joseph Mandizha said yesterday the date,
venue and other
issues such as service fees had not yet been announced
although the process
to sort them out was in motion.
"The date of
the hearing has not yet been set but I have spoken to the
administrator of
the Commercial Arbitration Centre about the issue on
Monday," Mandizha said.
"She was supposed to get back to me on the matter
yesterday, but she could
not manage. I will check with her today
(yesterday)."
Mandizha
confirmed Gubbay, Vincent and Masunda had been suggested to form
the panel
to hear the matter although the team had not yet been agreed upon
by the two
parties to the dispute.
Mandaza was recently suspended from the
Mirror by disputed group chair
Jonathan Kadzura and his deputy John
Marangwanda in the wake of disclosures
about the takeover of the Mirror
titles, the Daily Mirror and the Sunday
Mirror, by the state security
apparatus using public funds.
Kadzura and Marangwanda said Mandaza's
suspension had followed an Ernst &
Young forensic audit report, but did
not specify the nature of the report's
findings.
The intelligence
service was also said to have muscled into the Financial
Gazette through a
front ownership structure in a bid to win hearts and
minds. The state
security department also has other extensive media
interests.
Mandaza, who had 30% of the Mirror, has since been
removed from the company
as a shareholder in terms of his revised exit
strategy which left the papers
practically exclusively in the hands of the
intelligence service.
Meanwhile, the Mirror newspapers continue to
make changes designed to ensure
the papers survive the biggest media scandal
in 25 years.
Sources said plans were afoot to appoint deputy
editor-in-chief Alexander
Kanengoni, who recently bounced back from
suspension by Mandaza,
editor-in-chief. Tichaona Chifamba has been appointed
acting CEO and
editor-in-chief.
The sources said Tawanda Majoni
could become the substantive editor of the
Daily Mirror, while Ruzvidzo
Mupfudza would become editor of the re-branded
Sunday Mirror, now reduced
from a broadsheet to a tabloid. The Mirror papers
did not have substantive
editors since Innocent Sithole, who was the editor
of both titles, went for
further studies in the United Kingdom last year.
Sources said Sithole had
been told not to come back to the papers.
Zim Independent
Godfrey
Marawanyika
THE board of the Small Enterprises Development Corporation
(Sedco) has
suspended its general manager, Claude Maredza, and placed him
under virtual
"house arrest", businessdigest can reveal.
Documents in
the possession of businessdigest show that Maredza was
suspended on October
28 for "excessive fuel withdrawal and usage, (and) lack
of prudence in
management of loan book and expenditure".
In the suspension letter,
Sedco chairman Owen Tshabangu said Maredza would
remain on a full salary and
benefits during his suspension.
Maredza was appointed as GM at Sedco
in June.
"In short, these matters relate to breach of board limits
and terms of
reference on granting of cash cow loans, excessive fuel
withdrawal and
usage, (and) lack of prudence in management of loan book and
expenditure,"
Tshabangu said.
"Your leave, as aforesaid, is on
full pay and will be subject to the
following: you will not interfere with
investigations or witnesses, you will
not be allowed to visit Sedco without
written authority from (the) board."
Tshabangu said that Maredza
should make himself available and cooperate with
investigation.
"You will stay at your known residential address
and should be available on
24 hours notice to report for duty. It is
important that this matter be
concluded as quickly as reasonably possible
and your cooperation in this
matter will be appreciated," said the letter of
suspension.
Maredza has also come under attack from the board for
allegedly availing
$300 million to a Chinese delegation. The Sedco board was
set to meet again
yesterday and review the suspension.
However,
according to an internal memo copied to all board members, Maredza
has fired
a salvo at Tshabangu saying the information they used to suspend
him, which
was supplied by the chief internal auditor, a S Matema, was
false.
The board members include Tshabangu, Phillip Mutasa, O
Sibanda, J Mbudzi, E
Hlabangana and C Mutepfa.
"During the
hearing I was conscious of the fact that the chairman of the
board (human
resources committee) Mr Mutepfa, and yourself were sure that
protocol had
been breached," Maredza said.
"This was cemented by Mr Mutepfa's
comment: 'We received this report from
the chief internal auditor of Sedco.
Haikona kuzorova mwana (Do not
victimise the child.)'"
Maredza
questioned why Mutema would victimise him if what he had done was
procedural
and in the interest of the organisation.
He said that evidence will
prove that the informant, Matema, was
deliberately "lying about the status
of accounts at Sedco and the reasons
are all too clear", Maredza
said.
"There has been overt and covert resistance to my
administration at Sedco
since my appointment."
Maredza said that
although he was willing to take it "in my stride" as this
situation was not
unique to the corporation, he noted that it begins to rile
him when attempts
are made to deliberately misinform the authorities with
possible connivance
"with other internal and external sympathisers and
conspirators".
On allegations of availing a loan to a Chinese
delegation, Maredza disputed
the charge saying the funds were instead given
to local businesswomen who
were going to China adding that the money was
availed on the instruction of
"minister" Sithembiso Nyoni.
Zim Independent
THE government
intends to set up a commercial crimes court which will
specifically deal
with issues related to economic "sabotage", a government
minister has
said.
In an interview this week, Anti-Corruption and Anti-Monopolies
minister Paul
Mangwana said that the court will also be used to determine
cases of
self-exiled bankers.
Bankers that fled the country
during the height of the financial sector
crackdown include Julius Makoni,
James Mushore, Otto Chekeche, Mthuli Ncube
and Nicholas
Vingirai.
Although the country is facing a backlog of magistrates,
Mangwana is
optimistic that by the time the court is set up, the issue would
have been
addressed.
"Once they are here, they will be tried at
that court," Mangwana said. "It
does not matter when they come back, but
once they come they will be tried
there."
The bankers fled the
country on allegations of externalising foreign
currency and running down
their institutions. Over the past 14 months, the
government has been trying
to have the bankers extradited with little
success.
"One of the
reasons for setting up that court is that there is a serious
backlog of
cases that have to be dealt with by the commercial crimes court,"
Mangwana
said.
"The issue of extradition of these people is being handled by
another
ministry."
In 2004, nine financial institutions namely
Barbican, CFX Bank, CFX Merchant
Bank, Intermarket Banking Corporation,
Intermarket Building Society,
Intermarket Discount House, Royal Bank of
Zimbabwe, Time Bank and Trust
Banking Corporation were placed under the
management of curators. - Staff
Writers.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
ZIMBABWE'S fishing industry is clutching at straws due to cheap
imports that
the government is allowing into the country, with operators in
the kapenta
sector contemplating shutting down their
businesses.
Operators say they are facing stiff competition from imported
fish products
that the government is allowing to flood the local
market.
The price of fresh kapenta has remained subdued and not in
tandem with
inflation because of cheap fish products that are being imported
from
Mozambique and Namibia. Zimbabwe imports mackerel from Namibia and
Mozambique.
Stakeholders who met in Kariba last week said the
industry is heading for
doom because of the unavailability of fuel, which
has become too expensive.
Operators at the meeting said their
situation has been worsened by the
Zambian illegal traders who were luring
Zimbabwean fishermen into side
trading for forex.
"The price of
fuel is about $90 000 a litre and fish is sold for $80 000 a
kg, making
fishing not viable," a Kapenta Fisheries spokesman said. "Several
companies
are not going to start fishing after the October full moon until
something
changes."
The spokesman said some companies have been forced to close
because of huge
losses they are incurring in their
operations.
"Most companies are operating a huge loss and holding on
to their fish in
the hope that the price would improve. Zambezi Fisheries
has already closed
and paid their workers up to the end of December," he
said.
The stakeholders said the illegal selling of fresh kapenta on
the lake has
risen to account for up to 50% of the catches as the security
personnel fail
to procure fuel to patrol the lake and reduce
side-trading.
Stakeholders also said some of the fishing companies
were likely to be
pushed out of business by the ever-rising licensing fees
that being charged
by the Department of National Parks. A fishing licence
currently costs $15
million for a year and there are fears that it could
rise to $20 million by
next year.
Zim Independent
Godfrey
Marawanyika
LESS than 40 days ahead of Christmas, it might be too early to
scribble a
festive season wish-list until Finance minister Herbert Murerwa
presents his
budget on December 1.
Murerwa will have to do a
balancing act of trying to please both the
government and the people who are
already poverty-stricken because of rising
inflation.
An increase
in the budget means that working people will have to pay more in
taxes to
sustain government's spendthrift ways.
If he widens the tax bands, as
many people would want him to, the government
will have less to spend and
could borrow heavily.
Analysts say Murerwa would be in a Catch-22
situation of trying to feed too
many mouths from a very small cake which the
government has already pillaged
through massive domestic debt to fund last
year's shortfall.
Murerwa would also need to deliver a budget that
relates to the monetary
policy presented last month. But analysts warn that
the budget is likely to
contain the same old piece-meal measures that are
not enough to achieve
growth.
The budget was supposed to be
presented on the traditional last Thursday of
this month, but this has now
been moved to the first week of next month.
For the 2005 financial
year, Murerwa presented a $27,5 trillion budget, an
increase of 215% from
the previous year. There are, however, fears that next
year's budget could
grow by more that 300% because government has not done
anything to cut its
bloated wage bill which has been taking a significant
chunk of the previous
budgets. Government's revenue streams are however
drying up as more people
are retrenched with companies closing. This year,
total revenues are
expected to be $23 trillion, resulting in a $4,5 trillion
budget
deficit.
Three-quarter way through the year, Murerwa presented a $3,4
trillion
supplementary budget in August, which he blamed on
drought.
One of the major problems which the government has failed to
do is to assist
the productive sectors.
Over the years, recurrent
expenditure has been more than capital allocations
which exerts pressure on
inflation. In any properly run country, recurrent
expenditure should be
covered by recurrent revenue, which will result in the
state generating its
own income rather than resorting to getting money from
the central
bank.
Some of the projections made by the Finance minister in
November last year
such as a rise in gross domestic product have collapsed.
So has the promised
rise in agricultural production.
Murerwa had
hoped that by year-end, inflation would be between 30-50% but it
is now
411%.
The government had also hoped for the restoration of positive
real growth
rates targeted at 3-5% but this was not to be, as this has now
been revised
to 2%.
During the budget presentation, the
government had undertaken to support
agricultural land utilisation so as to
guarantee food security and a surplus
for export, but 11 months down the
line very little progress has been made
to revive the agriculture
sector.
While Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and Vice President
Joseph Msika
speak out against invasions, State Security minister Didymus
Mutasa is
threatening to evict more commercial farmers.
Analysts
said the government will also need to create a conducive operating
environment to arrest de-industrialisation through the protection of local
companies from subsidised cheap imports.
Although the country
managed to offset its International Monetary Fund
arrears by US$135 million,
there is still need for the government to support
foreign exchange
generation and move towards market-determined policies.
The
government will also have to take bold measures to build confidence in
the
economy with a view of promoting savings and investments.
Zim Independent
By Alex T
Magaisa
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) commended the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
(RBZ) for measures applied to reinforce supervision, corporate
governance
and risk management in the financial sector in the wake of the
crisis.
Like a determined firefighter, the RBZ has tried to extinguish
the rising
flames not only in the financial sector but generally in almost
every sphere
of the economy. Apart from the points of criticism on the
approach and
mechanisms used in some instances, the IMF conclusion
represents a fair view
of the general efforts of the RBZ particularly
considering that it has
worked under remarkably difficult political and
economic conditions.
It is particularly significant that two key
elements of the RBZ efforts have
been, firstly, a risk-based approach to
supervision and, secondly, improving
corporate governance structures in
financial institutions, which hitherto
were a
shambles.
Nonetheless, the gains achieved have been somewhat
undermined by the recent
amendment to the banking legislation, which
requires the governor of the RBZ
to consult with the Minister of Finance
prior to granting or withdrawing
licences to financial institutions. This
amendment is a danger to efficient
financial regulation and as the IMF
rightly pointed out, it represents a
retrogressive step.
In brief
terms, the amendment effectively means that the RBZ no longer has
the
autonomy to make a determination on the suitability of an applicant
getting
a licence or a licensed bank continuing as a player in the market.
The
RBZ is the premier supervisory authority in the financial sector and
prior
to this amendment was responsible for licensing banks into the sector
and
withdrawing licences from unsuitable banks.
Given the history of
regulation of banks, the recent amendment surely
appears to be a
retrogressive step. Prior to 2004, the Ministry of Finance
had the power to
authorise applicants in the banking sector. On the other
hand, the RBZ had
the power to supervise the banks once they had been
authorised by the
ministry.
This was an obvious anomaly in the regulatory system
because the RBZ as the
supervisory authority did not have the control over
the key authorisation
process, which was in the hands of politicians. The
granting of the
authorisation power to the RBZ in 2004 was therefore an
overdue correction
of an anomaly that had caused unsuitable banks to be
authorised by the
ministry while the RBZ had no control over the
process.
In any modern system of regulation, it is recognised that
the task of
regulation involves a number of key processes of which
authorisation and
supervision are at the centre. The body that supervises
banks should have
the power to authorise their entry into the sector in the
first place.
This allows it to check whether taking into account all
factors, the
applicant is a fit and proper person to be allowed to conduct
banking
business. Doing this requires a good measure of independence,
professionalism and appropriate techniques of judging whether one is fit and
proper.
This is particularly important in the modern era where
risk-based approaches
to supervision and corporate governance occupy
centre-stage. It means that
the supervisory authority must assess the risk
factors at the stage of
authorisation as well as at the point when
considering whether or not to
withdraw the licence.
This
systematic risk-based approach is therefore used at authorisation,
supervision and checking whether or not to cancel a licence. Because it will
be responsible for supervision in future, the regulatory authority has
greater incentive to ensure the application of a risk-based assessment of
the corporate governance systems from the first stage of
authorisation.
A properly equipped regulatory authority should have
the experience and
skills to deal with these approaches. This is a marked
difference from the
previous system where the ministry was involved - which
not only lacked the
expertise but also had no sufficient incentive to apply
a risk-based
approach because its interest ended at the point of
authorisation because it
had no responsibility for
supervision.
Now, the reversion to the involvement of the ministry in
the authorisation
and cancellation processes will have negative impact on
the independence and
efficiency of bank regulation. It means that the RBZ no
longer has the
autonomy to apply its professional judgement without
political influence.
Political influence harms effective regulation
because it privileges
partisan interests at the expense of key prudential
aspects of supervision.
It introduces the risk that unsuitable applicants
will be granted licences
in disregard of their weaknesses.
It
also ushers the risk that otherwise insolvent institutions will be
allowed
to remain afloat simply because politicians with an interest wish to
protect
their personal investments and deposits which they would have
imprudently
made in disregard of risks. Such measures could ultimately make
it difficult
to contain contagion in the financial markets, affecting the
very purpose of
banking regulation.
More importantly, given that the state is a major
player in the finance
industry, its involvement in authorisation and
cancellation of licences has
the potential to distort the market and
regulation. The state has massive
influence in a number of financial sector
institutions and it is difficult
to see how it would allow their failure
even in the face of obvious risks
because of its vested
interests.
In this regard, what is of major concern is the effect of
this amendment on
the uniformity of application of regulatory laws. Because
the state is
likely to be biased towards its own banks, there is a risk that
put in the
wrong hands the regulatory laws could be applied more harshly to
private
institutions.
Even the RBZ might fall into the same trap
because of its vested interests
in institutions such as the Zimbabwe Allied
Banking Group (ZABG), which it
created from the forced (and contested)
merger of Trust Bank and Royal Bank
in 2004.
In the latter case,
critics could point out that the RBZ has great interest
in seeing that its
baby is seen to be doing well and surviving the difficult
circumstances
surrounding its controversial birth. Given its vested
interests how likely
is it that it will not apply the laws in the same way
as it does in relation
to other players? Already there have been murmurs
suggesting that the ZABG
is being treated with kid gloves with numerous
correspondence in the press
pointing to corporate governance shortcomings,
etc.
The close
relation to the ZABG exposes the RBZ to charges of lack of
independence and
bias, which affects confidence in the market. It could also
undermine the
RBZ's moral authority over other players in the market,
regardless of the
legal powers that it wields under the law. How does it
chide others when it
is seen to be lax towards its own creation? That poses
regulatory
difficulties.
Such a case reminds us of the proposal made in this
column last year which
has been echoed in other articles by fellow writers
and analysts - that is,
of the need to create an autonomous, integrated
financial services
regulator.
This body would have no direct or
indirect interest in the institutions that
it supervises. China has done
this by taking regulatory power from its
central bank to the China Banking
Regulatory Authority, following similar
approaches in the UK, which gave
power to the Financial Services Authority
from the Bank of England in the
1990s.
Finally, it is ironic that at a time when more power should be
given to an
independent regulator, the state is diluting the independence by
usurping
some of the powers. The rationale given is to protect the public
interest
but surely, if we have an independent regulator, why should we not
trust its
professional judgement?
The amendment simply provides
an avenue to exert political influence
probably to safeguard partisan
interests. Perhaps politicians were unable to
withdraw their deposits and
investments in time when the RBZ closed banks
and placed them under
curatorship last year. So they probably want the
minister to be "consulted"
so that upon such "consultation" the privileged
can quickly secure their
money before closure.
If rules should apply, they should apply to all
and there is no need to
"consult" where the team of professional regulators
has seen it fit to close
the institution or place it under curatorship. What
really is the
"consultation" intended to achieve other than informing the
privileged few
of impending danger and therefore the need to take
cover?
What would the minister do that the professionals at the RBZ
would have
failed to achieve after rigorous examination? Under this new
regime
characterised by the dilution of the RBZ's powers, we might yet see
more
unsound banks entering the market or more weak institutions being
allowed to
remain afloat on the basis of political expediency.
*
Dr Alex T Magaisa is a specialist in economic and financial services law.
He
can be contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
Vincent
Kahiya
WRITING in a South African on-line edition in June, Ian McDonald had
this to
say about the quota system in sport: "Affirmative action in the
workplace
and team quotas on the sports field are short-term solutions to a
long-term
challenge. It attempts to address imbalances today, with debatable
effectiveness. A longer term, sustainable solution is the equal provision of
education, opportunities and resources to all South Africans.
"This
is what is happening at our schools and sports academies. Today, young
South
Africans are emerging, multi-racial and equal, and they are taking
their
rightful places in South African society. Today, young black sports
stars
are representing our country in greater numbers. Today, young black
skilled
professionals are charging up the corporate ladder. Tomorrow, no one
will
care that they're black, white, pink or green."
He was reacting to
the young Springboks multiracial side's winning the
junior rugby world cup.
His words are instructive in post-apartheid South
Africa where the issue of
achieving the right racial balance in sport,
especially rugby and cricket,
has been a subject of emotive debate on either
side of the racial
divide.
While some of the comments from sports pundits in South
Africa have bordered
on outright racialism, the crucial endgame has been
that the opposing sides
both believe that sport should be the winner and the
two sports in SA have
done just that.
The same cannot be said of
Zimbabwe where government is a virtual spectator
as sports administrators
tear each other apart under the guise of achieving
the right racial mix in
former minority sports. In fact, what can the
government do when it has
promoted a violent form of affirmative action as
exemplified by the land
reform programme?
The inept thinking that affirmative action is
achieved by bringing down the
privileged to the same platform as the
disadvantaged is evident in sport.
Then there are the naïve former members
of the privileged class who believe
it is their right to play and administer
the sports to preserve tradition.
Both parties have one thing in
common. They are employing a huge amount of
energy to destroy
sport.
The events in cricket, which I have followed with keen
interest and which
this paper has written about extensively, are panning out
to be a tragedy
starring individuals with huge egos. Do I see white
administrators who have
felt hard done by their loss of grip in the running
of the sport and black
officials who are keen to make a point that the
scales have tilted and
"Zimbabwe will never be a colony
again"?
In between, there are opportunists who have switched sides
with the
regularity of a pendulum - all depending on which side is holding
sway. I
will be exposing this lot soon. More worryingly though is a
dangerous lot
with an undisguised appetite to want to stir trouble, use
violence and
pretend to be working with or for government.
In the
mid-1990s I watched the same greedy individuals being given a licence
by the
government to destroy rugby under the guise of achieving the right
racial
mix.
I recall the days when gullible officials at the Ministry of
Education,
Sport and Culture and the Sports and Recreation Commission would
pretend to
intervene in the problems bedevilling the sport while at the same
time
holding secret meetings with individuals who eventually chased away
sponsors, good administrators and good players from rugby. They have moulded
the sport into what it is today: a caricature of the great team that was a
marvel to watch even when being massacred by Griqualand West in the Bankfin
Cup.
The rugby tragedy is being replayed in cricket with
seemingly the same
objective of destroying the sport to achieve political
ends. I see the sport
failing to recover from the current throes as long as
administrators make it
as apparent as possible that they do not want to work
to achieve peace which
is important in improving our now embarrassing record
with bat and ball.
The situation in cricket is not going to improve
as long as the blame game
continues to feature larger than the forlorn Test
players who also feature
for junior and reserve sides. Convince me that all
those billions officials
appear to be fighting over have been used for the
good of the game!
There is not going to be a breakthrough as long as
letters detailing serious
allegations against Zimbabwe Cricket chairman
Peter Chingoka and chief
executive Ozias Bvute appear on the cricket
websites before their delivery
to the local body and International Cricket
Council. There is not going to
be progress in the game as long as ZC leaders
use the race card to skirt
problems which must be attended to
urgently.
Talking to cricket administrators this week, I picked up
unfortunate
statements like: "the blacks killed rugby and we (the whites)
cannot allow
them to kill cricket" and that "whites who lost the land are
still bitter
and they do not want to let go of cricket". All this in the
name of
improving Tawanda Mpariwa's bowling figures or that Brendan Taylor
matures
into a reliable opener?
If the administrators genuinely
represent the interests of sport, they
should begin dialogue aimed at
uplifting the game and not the dogfight to
prove who is right or wrong. At
the moment the feuding parties are all
culpable in the slow death of
cricket.
Zim Independent
By Denford
Magora
ALTHOUGH the MDC fight over the senate election is only a
manifestation of
deep-rooted ideological schizophrenia, it also represents
the best chance
for the party to overcome its moribund status and paralysis.
The movement
that was created and carried by momentum has been, for some
time now, up the
creek without a paddle. With the popular momentum gone, the
party appeared
lethargic, resigned and indeed unconcerned with daily woes.
This almost
single-minded focus on attaining power had left many supporters
confused.
Mass movement slogans such as "Mugabe must go now" etc have proved
inadequate to galvanise the masses.
The palpable immediacy of the MDC
agenda at its inception attracted hordes
of supporters only because through
this movement, they could see the light
at the end of the tunnel. But that
light has been receding ever since.
As Adolf Hitler (surprisingly)
said just before he was elected Chancellor of
Germany, a mass movement
cannot sustain itself purely by being popular. "We
must come to power soon,
or we'll win ourselves to death in elections," he
was reported as saying to
Josef Goebels at the time.
Movements, it is true, succeed on the
basis of creating an urgent need to
correct matters before they slide
further. The MDC did this very well at the
beginning. But power has proved
elusive. Three elections on, the party still
has no power. Even its mayors
are emasculated wantonly by Mugabe and his
minions and all the opposition
party does is grumble a bit.
The movement failed to keep the momentum
going. Long-drawn out court battles
and electoral challenges meant that the
party all but deserted the streets
and took the fight to air-conditioned
lawyers' offices and foreign
presidents' VIP lounges. Meetings, rallies and
even mass communication
slowed to a trickle. The agitation (vital for the
success of a movement)
degenerated into monosyllabic insults and
sloganeering. Live-wire contact
with the masses all but
disappeared.
With it went any hope of convincing Zimbabweans of the
immediacy of their
crises and the pitiless inferno they would plunge into
should they sit back
and be apathetic.
Some of this was a
consequence of flawed strategy. It is too common a
mistake to confuse
assumptions for facts. (Assuming, for instance, that
Mugabe had enough of a
conscience to resign when he saw that there was no
fuel, food, foreign
currency and even tissue paper in the country was one
assumption which led
Morgan Tsvangirai to claim that Mugabe would be gone
within six months, and
that was a couple of years back.) Some of it was
oversight or laziness on
the part of those charged with organising the
party. The MDC ward and
district structures at the moment, for instance,
come nowhere near Zanu PF
in terms of organisation. All this should have
been evident to the party
leadership and personnel should have been shifted
or replaced. That the MDC
leadership ignored this messy state of affairs in
the organisation
of
the party is why the festering boil within the opposition party has
now
burst open.
The MDC would be wise to lance that boil now
rather than try and cover it up
with a bandage. The decline in the influence
and visibility of the MDC to
the masses happened on Tsvangirai's watch. For
too long, there appeared to
be no vision or agenda within the party and its
leadership.
When this was pointed out, the response was often a
dismissive side-swipe to
the critics. This only added to the view that the
people's problems were a
side issue to the MDC leadership. The real issue to
the leader of the party
was the assumption of the presidency.
But
the electorate does not forgive those who think that their personal
ambitions are also the ambitions of the people. They are not. Admittedly, it
is not as though Tsvangirai consciously chose to rally the nation purely
around his assumption of power. It is tactics, actions and words that have
formed this impression.
The psychology of the masses is such that
they will always want proof of
what benefit will accrue to them for backing
one horse over the other. It is
like mass gambling, where the gamblers weigh
up the odds and, once
convinced, will cheer their horse to the finish line,
no matter what
happens.
So, it is the leadership and leadership
style of Tsvangirai that has put the
MDC where it is today. It is he who has
taken the decisions. If he does
accept that, as leader, the buck stops with
him, he should also take
responsibility for the way the party has waned
since is heyday. Having done
so, the decent thing would be for him to admit
that his leadership and
strategies have failed to all intents and purposes.
Hiding behind
"collective leadership" is not leadership. Nor is imposing
your flawed will
on your party. Always blaming others is also not
leadership. For, indeed, if
you are forced down, you have no choice but to
struggle up. It is no use
bearing the burden and pointing to your tormentor
every time someone asks
what you are doing to free
yourself.
This, then, is a golden opportunity for the MDC to reinvent
itself. To
reinvigorate its leadership. To give the party a new sense of
direction,
urgency and purpose. New blood it must be. The party, yes, is
bigger than
one person as are the hopes of millions upon millions. It must
be do or die.
The party must find the courage to wean itself off its
hitherto ineffectual
leader and to choose a new team. Only this will give
the opposition a new
sense of purpose.
So the sword must not be
sheathed until Tsvangirai is axed. He should go. It
is to be hoped that if
this happens, Tsvangirai, like some leaders of the
opposition in Britain who
resign when they fail to win two elections in a
row, will stay in the party
and pledge his support for a new, more
energetic, more focused and more
strategically sound leader.
Indeed, he should stay on in the party
and, should it attain power, be
appointed to a senior cabinet position. If
his heart is with the people, he
will step aside and make room for a new
broom.
Should he continue to be intransigent, on the other hand,
those of us who
have all along feared the making of another dictator will be
vindicated.
Then the party should dump him. They must not pay any attention
to the usual
suspects who have, in the past, fatuously claimed that the man
has to be
good and democratic because "he was the product of a democratic
process".
Keep in mind that even Hitler, the worst dictator of all time, was
elected
democratically in the first instance.
It has to come to
Tsvangirai being fired if he won't resign because this
really is the last
chance saloon for the MDC. The party will either be made
or broken by how it
ends this crisis and infighting. The only way to take
the party forward is
to remove Tsvangirai from the leadership. All that this
debacle has revealed
is the MDC leader's failure to provide an alternative.
He has failed
to present a strong enough case to even the majority of his
executive team.
That is why they voted for participation. He wants them to
stay out of the
polls but has not presented a credible case for alternative
action. Had he
done so and persuaded his team that his plan would bring the
party closer to
its goals than participation would, then the vote would have
gone his way.
I, like many other Zimbabweans, would rather Tsvangirai lead
by persuasion
rather than force and iron fist. We've had enough of "African
strongmen".
What we need now are "men of reason" and "men of the people".
Tsvangirai is
turning out to be neither of these. If anything, the evidence
on the ground
points to another Mugabe or Mobutu in the making. My way or
the highway. The
party and the people, if they want to save the MDC, should
turn around and
tell the MDC leader exactly that: "Our way or the highway".
* Denford
Magora is a Harare-based advertising executive.
Zim Independent
By Chido
Makunike
AS economic problems mount and mass starvation looms in Zimbabwe,
there have
been frequent calls from various politicians that re-distributed
land be
used productively by the recipients. Among officials who have
appealed for
increased productivity on the farms are Vice President Joice
Mujuru, Lands
and Security Minister, Didymus Mutasa, and Reserve Bank
governor, Gideon
Gono. After several years of refusing to face up to the
reality of what a
disaster the Mugabe government's agricultural policies
have been, panic is
setting in at their calamitous effects.
Whatever
one's political leanings or feelings about the farm expropriations
of recent
years, I think everybody agrees we need to find a way to urgently
restore
confidence and productivity in agriculture. But let us for a moment
put
ourselves in the shoes of a serious new farmer and look at just a few of
the
range of structural problems arrayed against him or her.
For the
purpose of the point I am making, I will not dwell on obvious, now
long-running impediments to business in general and farming in particular
like the non-availability or non-affordability of various inputs. We all
know that tractors and machinery are hard to come by and that there simply
isn't enough diesel to go around anyway. There's no need any longer to
mention foreign currency problems and their effects on productivity, nor the
effects of hyperinflation.
But suppose you were a mythical farmer
who somehow had a way around this
litany of barriers to any realistic
prospect of doing serious farming. Even
if you were this imaginary farmer
with all the inputs, capital, machinery
and some hedge against the effects
of inflation, what would be your
realistic chances of success?
I
would say except for a few who are either particularly well connected or
unusually gifted in business, the odds are very much stacked against you in
today's Zimbabwe.
One of the main reasons for this is the
complete breakdown in the bond of
trust between the rulers and those they
rule over. Over many years the
Mugabe regime has insured that no one,
supporter or foe, can any longer
attach credibility to its assurances about
security of tenure, respect for
the law and other basics required for an
individual or corporate entity to
want to assume any significant risk. And
yet this kind of sense of
confidence in the fairness and predictability of
the system is just what is
required for a farmer to take on the risk of
planting hundreds or thousands
of hectares of a crop. She/he must have
confidence that if they plan
carefully and work hard and if the weather
cooperates, they have a
reasonably good chance of reaping the fruits of
their labour and of their
willingness to take risk.
But in
Zimbabwe a farmer has so much more to worry about than even these
significant factors that farmers everywhere must compute in their
decision-making. How do you know that if you do really well you will not
simply be opening yourself up to being a victim of some greedy government or
ruling party official jealous of your success? If that official decides they
want your crop, livestock or property, we now have definite evidence over
several years that there is simply nothing you can do to stop it all being
taken away from you. This process began first against the unpopular white
farmers, but now even a ruling party official has to worry about a bigger
fish in the structure being able to displace him or her by sheer
force.
The police or army will not come to your aid; the courts are
compromised -
helpless and mostly unheeded by their political
controllers.
Mashonaland governor Nelson Samkange was last year
involved in an
embarrassing situation of hi-jacking the tobacco crop of a
new farmer he had
asked to till "his" land since he couldn't do it and yet
wanted to give the
appearance of using the farm he had been
allocated.
There have been many cases of communities displaced from
land they had been
allocated to make way for some "big fish". Regardless of
whatever assurances
are given about prices and freedom to market one's crops
as he sees fit, we
now know that at any moment there could be a directive
reversing the
assurances under which you made the decision to grow a certain
crop,
throwing all your financial projections, in fact virtually your whole
life,
right out the window at a moment's notice and with absolutely no
recourse
whatsoever. We have seen all this happen over the years and it
continues.
Every now and then some minister or other official gives
"assurances" that
new farmers will soon be issued with 99-year leases to
give them security of
tenure and confidence to make long-term plans and
investments, a necessary
part of successful farming.
Tell me now,
how many new farmers are going to really have confidence that
the "99-year
lease" issued by the regime of Mugabe is worth the paper it is
written on
given all the policy contradictions and reversals we have
witnessed in the
last several years? With a regime like this, does it really
make business
sense to take out a huge farming loan secured by one's house
for instance,
in the present environment of chaos and cynicism?
Is this the kind of
environment in which one makes the long-term, difficult
decision to become a
serious farmer? I would argue that the conditions of a
lack of confidence in
the system of ruling the country only encourages the
quick-buck "dealer"
mentality that is so inimical to any hope of serious
farming or any other
kind of investment.
Because of this overall sense of insecurity that
has been engendered by the
ruling regime, it makes selfish, personal sense
for one to try to engage in
activities that are as low-risk and
low-investment as possible. This is why
under the current conditions it is
simply inevitable that a "farmer" with
any significant access to fuel, for
instance, would rather trade it for a
quick killing than invest it in the
long-term very high risk activity of
actually farming. You don't know if you
will realistically make a return on
the investment, you don't know if you
will stay ahead of inflation, you
don't know if you can service your
machinery, you cannot even be confident
that you will still be on your farm
six months from now!
The same lack of confidence in the government,
the future and the whole
system also contributes significantly to the
preference for speculating with
forex rather than the long, hard slog of
investing it in productive
activities that would be more beneficial to the
nation and to development.
It is no secret at all in Harare that those who
are the biggest forex
speculators are some of the very same hypocrites who
harangue us to be
"patriotic" when their activities glaringly show their own
lack of
confidence in the future of the system they are running! If this
were not
true they would be busy opening factories in every industrial area
and their
farms would be showpieces for us to emulate. But no, they are
fully aware
that the foundation of the system they are at the centre of is
made of sand
and could fall apart at any moment. This is the confidence
crisis I'm
talking about.
Gono, Mujuru and all the rest decrying
the under-utilisation of land, you
are wasting your time. Your concerns are
entirely valid but the neglect and
rape of the land that we are currently
witnessing is the inevitable result
of the chaos, confusion and utter lack
of confidence that the people of
Zimbabwe have developed about their
destructive, shifty rulers. The problem
is that even if by some miracle
Mugabe were to accept this premise of a
crisis of confidence and even
earnestly tried to change his government's
ways, I don't think there is
enough time available to this regime to reclaim
that lost confidence of the
people.
I have chosen to give the example of how this crisis of
confidence almost
rules out any prospects of productivity in the short-term
in respect to
agriculture. But in reality it now affects everything else.
The IMF happily
accepts money paid to it but when the alarm is sounded about
the origin of
the forex, it refuses to believe Gono's assurances that it was
raised
without trampling on the rights of bank depositors to their forex.
They
instead choose to investigate for themselves where the money came from
than
to believe Gono.
George Charamba, you have recently whined
about the unfairness of the IMF
being so tough on Zimbabwe when poorer
countries that owe more than Zimbabwe
are treated softly. "It's part of the
world-wide conspiracy against my
master Cde Mugabe" seems to be the best you
can come up with to explain the
dichotomy. A big part of it is that
Zimbabwe's reputation is now in the
gutter because of the ruinous actions of
its ruling regime over many years -
simply another way of saying the world
has no confidence in the ability of
that regime to undo the destruction it
has visited on Zimbabwe. It is a
crisis of confidence.
An
embattled ruler goes to Rome and in his grandstanding stunts to the world
mentions his support of several oil-producing regimes to curry favour with
them. They slap him on the back, stroke his ego and give him rhetorical
support but not one of them turns on the oil taps to help his oil-parched
country.
Millions of Zimbabweans abroad could significantly
improve their homeland's
forex situation but apart from the obvious issue of
exchange rates, many do
not have confidence in the way their country is
being run by the present
rulers to repatriate funds, not just as a way to
assist family, but as a
nation-building mission.
All these are
symptoms of the crisis of confidence. The crisis is such that
even members
of the regime themselves exhibit behaviour that shows their
complete lack of
faith and confidence in the workability and sustainability
of an obviously
crumbling system.
Things have deteriorated too far in Zimbabwe to any
longer be dealt with in
a patchwork manner like threats of more farm
evictions based on productivity
or the lack thereof. Threats of arrests or
this or that sanction won't do
it. The whole system has become so sick and
dysfunctional, the people so
alienated from it that Zimbabwe will only have
a chance of stopping its
continued sliding and then eventually moving
forward again when that whole
system is overhauled. In the meantime all the
initiatives, policies,
speeches, threats and pleas for people to pull
together are just a waste of
time. It cannot happen in a society where the
people are so at odds with
their rulers.
* Chido Makunike is a
Zimbabwean writer based in Senegal.
Zim Independent
By
Rejoice Ngwenya
THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is not "just
another" political
party. It is a pot-pourri of sub-cultures, attitudes,
symbolisms and
perceptions that coagulated against tyranny in 1999 when the
lifeblood of
Zimbabwean ubuntu/unhu was sapped of political oxygen and when
a few
citizens summoned enough courage to transfuse a spirit of rebellion
into a
nation that was progressively sinking into a state of
resignation.
In a marketing context, this party is a popular brand that
has swallowed up
investments worth billions and sucked in millions in
man-hours of human
expertise oozing from an impressive array of academics,
professionals, trade
persons, business people, trade unionists and
activists. The long and short
of the scenario is that the chances of an
expensively assembled brand being
totally obliterated on the basis of change
of executive guard are minimal.
In fact, as much as it would take a
major human and corporate catastrophe to
erase brand names such as Coca
Cola, Microsoft and Nike from the marketing
landscape, both the Herald and
ZBC will have to pour billions of dollars in
taxpayers' money into a
bottomless pit before their propaganda converts me
to the illusion of
inevitability of the death of political opposition in
Zimbabwe.
My humble submission today is that the new struggle for
self-determination
in Zimbabwe is no longer about individuals, but the
critical leverage of a
swelling tide of anger and resentment bottled up in
the masses, which will
break the barriers through spontaneous rather than
organised peaceful
rebellion. In other words, ivory tower leadership will no
longer bankroll
the new struggle against dictatorship, but isolated pockets
of
community-based street action that will converge at some virtual
rendezvous
to drive out the oppressors. MDC, Zanu PF and UPM leadership may
be caught
in the "float-sum" of deflated lifeboats on high seas, eventually
submerged
and rendered totally dysfunctional at the hour of
need.
I despise the views of armchair political analysts who
interpret the current
happenings in the MDC boardroom as a sign of imminent
destruction of
opposition politics. In managing a highly popular brand,
executives worth
their salt know that a change of leadership is not only
necessary for
corporate innovation, but has a way of inciting sustainability
and longevity
in marketing and promotional programs. When a chief executive
departs from
an organisation, this would not necessarily signal the demise
of a popular
brand. Therefore the ramblings and murmuring, contradictions
and
confrontations in MDC are pre-requisite for human resource distillation
whose result is only one - an emergence of leadership purity.
The
MDC brand is bigger than Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube. It is a
summation of death, commitment, pain, tears and laughter. Aesthetically,
this may be deceiving, but the benefits derived from using the brand go
beyond the satisfaction of merely voting against authoritarian rule. It is,
by nature, an act of defiance against a system that has lost all traces of
humanity, a symbol of resistance, hope and faith that the end is nigh -
acceleration towards the eviction from our political history of one of the
most senseless dictatorships in the southern hemisphere.
To me,
whether or not Tsvangirai, Ncube, Gift Chimanikire, Gibson Sibanda or
Isaac
Matongo is the leader is not the issue. The focus of the struggle has
shifted from the stuffy boardrooms to the airy pastures, alleys, dual
carriageways, stadiums and shopping malls. In any case, we now know that
unlike Zanu PF, the purity of MDC's internal democracy is symbolised by the
dispensability of its leadership. It is mobility and usability that makes
leading brands sustainable and this longevity is not, or more accurately,
must not be mortgaged against personalities. Leading brands have lives of
their own - lives that transcend the character and nature of their
founders.
To say Bill Gates is Microsoft is to borrow from Jonathan
Moyo's myopic
political catchall phrase that: "Land is the economy and the
economy is the
land".
Therefore, in the interest of brand
sustainability, MDC is not Tsvangirai,
Ncube at all. MDC is a concept, a
culture and tradition of resisting a
largely gluttonous and self-serving
dictatorship. In whatever name, by who's
ever leadership, justice and purity
shall prevail over hegemony and tyranny.
Ubukhosi ngamazolo -
chieftainship is like dew that survives only on the
benevolence and
generosity of the sun. As the crescendo of resistance raises
the temperature
around them, political misfits always destined to doom will
evaporate like
dew, but the ground under their feet will remain solid, only
to nurture
another seed of defiance. There is historical evidence that
primitive
African tribes used to fight and haggle over chieftainship, but
this
certainly did not kill the name! It was, is and will always be an
acceptable
fact of life that in the political jungle, only the fittest
survive the
contest for territorial control.
My message to the cadres of the new
struggle against tyranny is to remain
focused on the mission. Let the fire
burn out the impurities because it is
the only way this distillation process
can produce purity. In the process of
reclaiming our individual dignity that
has been mutilated by a shameless
dictatorship, amongst us new leaders will
emerge, but this time they will be
urging us from the rear. It will no
longer be a case of them pulling
strings, but merely responding to the tide
of resistance.
In the 60s, 70s and 80s, it was acceptable to captain
the team for thirty
years, but modern-day Zimbabwean political consumers
demand high
utility-style leadership.
The final round demands new
and improved tactics, new methodology that does
not come with tinkering with
the package, or simply changing signal tune. It
boils down to the fans
breaching the security walls, invading the field and
puncturing the
ball.
* Rejoice Ngwenya is a Harare-based writer.
Zim Independent
Godfrey
Marawanyika
THREE weeks after mooting plans to introduce a new currency,
the central
bank has not said anything about what the new currency would be
called, look
like or the reasons for the change.
Observers say the change
will be useless without the political will to
restore economic and currency
stability. They say a currency change without
addressing inflation, the
foreign currency crisis and the broader
macroeconomic conditions will not
improve the economy.
One of the major challenges the central bank will have
to deal with is
government's gargantuan appetite for easy cash.
The
central bank will also have to get the much-needed political support to
stabilise the economy, an issue government only makes a passing reference to
during election periods. Analysts also note that the central bank will have
to guard against market speculation and manipulation.
Speculation is
generated either by self-fulfilling rational expectations or
by irrational
herd behaviour. Apart from the challenges that RBZ governor
Gideon Gono
faces in his latest plan, change in currency can only work if
the pubic has
confidence in the political and economic system
It also needs massive
assistance from donors and multilateral organisations
to stabilise the local
currency. Analysts say until the Zimbabwe dollar is
stabilised through the
injection of foreign currency there is no way a
currency change would
improve the situation. Perhaps Gono's biggest hurdle
would be galloping
inflation which is not expected to slow down anytime
soon.
Economist
Daniel Ndlela said even if Gono was to remove three zeros from the
$1 000
note its value would not change. He warns: "In fact with inflation
this high
the dollar would continue to lose value and would be back to the
three zeros
in no time at all. I think Gono does not realise the challenges
he faces in
this one (currency change)," Ndlela said.
"In any case I don't think the
economic situation in Zimbabwe is conducive
for a currency change. I foresee
chaos in the economy. We must remember that
a change in currency takes years
to implement and not a few months as he
plans."
Analysts say if the RBZ
adopts the Ugandan example of cleaving off zeros
across the board, things
like salaries will have to be reconfigured, from a
million dollars to a
hundred thousand. Products on shop shelves will have to
reflect the new
configuration.
Uganda is one of the few countries that managed to
successfully change its
currency but needed massive donor support, a stable
economy and
international goodwill to achieve it. Yoweri Museveni in Uganda
had
international sympathy and the people supported him. He might have been
a
dictator politically but his economic policies were working. He managed to
reduce inflation, boost exports and create a stable economy. Analysts say
these are basic ingredients that Zimbabwe lacks at the moment.
Judging by
the currency crisis that has affected the Asian tigers and
Zimbabwe, it has
been noted that many currency crises reflect inconsistency
between domestic
and exchange rate policies. The specific, highly simplified
form of that
discrepancy in the Canonical Model may be viewed as a metaphor
for the more
complex but often equally stark policy incoherence of many
exchange
regimes.
The canonical currency-crisis model, as laid out by scholars such as
Paul
Krugman, was designed to mimic the commodity-board story.
Krugman
states that the upward trend in the "shadow" price of foreign
exchange - the
price that will prevail after the speculative attack - is
supplied by
assuming that the government of the target economy is engaged in
steady,
uncontrollable issue of money to finance a budget deficit.
The central bank
has been trying without much success to do that.
He said that despite this
trend, the central bank was assumed to try to hold
the exchange rate fixed
using a stock of foreign exchange reserves, which it
stood ready to buy or
sell at the target rate.
To change a currency Zimbabwe will also need the
support of its major
trading partners who are likely to be affected by the
move. It means we
would need to negotiate with our neighbours such as South
Africa and to
inform the International Monetary Fund.
A senior bank
economist said while it was fine in theory to introduce a new
currency, he
warned that it was bound to fail here because of the
hyperinflationary
environment the country is operating in.
"Because of high inflation, this
will make the introduction of a new
currency ineffective; alternatively it
is better to introduce higher
denominated bearer cheques than a new currency
as two years down the line we
might need another currency," the economist
said.
"We risk having to introduce a new currency every five to six years.
The
problem in Zimbabwe is that everything might change but government
policies
will not change. So we will again be back to square one."
The
central bank introduced bearer cheques at the height of currency
shortages
in 2003.
The government argued that the local currency was being hoarded by
dealers
and cross-border traders.
Currently Zimbabwe's inflation is
around 365,9% but the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that it
will rise beyond 400% by year-end.
Labour and Economic Research of Zimbabwe
director and economist Godfrey
Kanyenze warned that Zimbabwe might be caught
in the vicious cycle of
changing its currency every now and then.
He said
what was now needed was to correct the country's skewed policies.
"Even if we
are to start a new one cent it won't work. The value of a
currency is
determined by a nation's fundamentals, something which is
completely out of
this world for now," Kanyenze said.
"The real issue, which is political, is
not being addressed. Unless there is
now new thinking among politicians, we
risk reducing ourselves to a dog
chasing its own tail."
Before the
economic meltdown, Zimbabwe used to have smaller currency
denominations such
as 20 cents, 50 cents, and $1 but this has now been
reduced to nostalgic
hearsay.
At one stage the central bank introduced a $5 coin but due to
inflation even
the $1 000 note has lost its value.
Although Zambia,
Zimbabwe's northern neighbour, once experienced a currency
crash, its
fortunes were not as bad as Harare's since it had donors,
something that
cannot be said of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's controversial land reform policies
have created a major rift with
international financial donors for balance of
payments support, a vital
ingredient in any currency reform.
Zim Independent
Eric Bloch Column
ONCE again, Zimbabwe's government is going into hysterical
frenzy, ranting
and raving in a state of near delirium. In so doing, it is
abetted by its
sycophantic media which has attained a pronouncedly
"DELLirious" state in
its vitriolic mouthings against the United States
ambassador to Zimbabwe,
Christopher Dell.
Ever since the former British
ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sir Brian Donnelly,
finished his tour of duty and
departed Zimbabwe, government has been casting
far and wide for new targets
of its abuse. It has desperately been seeking
new persons to blame for all
that is ill in Zimbabwe (and that is a very
great deal!). Whilst it
continues to pour forth its spurious allegations
against Tony Blair, Jack
Straw, George Bush and Condoleezza Rice for their
supposed orchestration of
sanctions, it inevitably also continues to ascribe
responsibility to its
political opponents, to the minute white minority in
general, and to former
white commercial farmers. But it is aware that its
invariably specious
contentions against them ceases to have even the remote
semblance of
credibility unless ongoing aggressive collaboration with people
on the
ground, representative of the mythical foreign enemies, can be
identified as
being the tools of those enemies.
Donnelly's outgoing forthright character
had readily cast him as one that
government could convincingly blame for
much, even if unsubstantiated by
anything concrete in fact. Thus, in a
perverted sort of way, his departure
from the country was an immense loss to
government. However, no matter how
great its faults, and no matter how often
it is incapable, government is
particularly adept at making assumptions
which it can then use to support
"finger-pointing" at alleged enemies. Thus,
it has been delighted when
recent incidents involving the US ambassador
readily convinced the paranoiac
government that he was bent upon the
destruction of Zimbabwe, with his first
and foremost objective being the
ousting of the government from office. That
there was no foundation to these
paranoid conclusions was, and is,
irrelevant to government.
The first
instance occurred when, on a US public holiday, which occasioned
the closure
for the day of the US embassy in Harare, the ambassador sought
to relax by
enjoying a stroll through Harare's Botanical Gardens. Then,
seeking to find
the cafeteria for some light refreshments, he very evidently
inadvertently
strayed into a "high security" area, being that part of the
Botanical
Gardens adjoining the presidential residence. That he had not
noticed a
warning sign (which was apparently not very prominent) is
irrelevant.
Clearly, his presence was sinister in the extreme in the eyes of
the
authorities, and the servile state media certainly made a meal of an
insignificant occurrence.
But then the ambassador did the unforgivable.
Addressing a gathering at
Africa University, near Mutare, he had the
astounding temerity to tell the
truth or, in fact, several home truths. And
nothing hurts as much as does
the truth, so government was in a great deal
of pain. The ambassador told
his audience that: "Neither drought nor
sanctions are at the root of
Zimbabwe's decline. The Zimbabwe government's
own gross mismanagement of the
economy and its corrupt rule has brought on
the crisis." It is significant
to note that he neither denied a negative
economic impact of sanctions or of
drought, but contended that those were
not the root causes of the calamitous
state of the economy. On that he was
indisputably right. The economy was in
a disastrous free-fall long before
being afflicted by drought, and such
sanctions as exist against Zimbabwe are
minimal in effect insofar as the
economy is concerned.
The reality is
that Zimbabwe enjoyed a very significant economic upturn from
1994 to 1997,
once government reluctantly embarked upon economic
deregulation, upon
creation of an investment-conducive environment, upon
rational fiscal
policies, upon stimulating tourism, and upon facilitating
new enterprise
development. The economic future looked positive and bright.
However, after
only three short years, government brought the economic
growth to a halt,
and set the economy upon a devastating down hill path
towards near total
collapse, widespread poverty, and untold misery.
Its first action in that
direction was to succumb to the demands and the
threats of over 50 000 war
veterans (real and pseudo). Of these, 32 000 had
entered assembly points at
the end of the war for independence, but despite
an elapse of 17 years,
entailing death of a probable 12 000 or more, leaving
only about 20 000
genuinely surviving war veterans, government entertained
compensation claims
from 52 000. Of those, approximately 3 000 were 19 years
old in 1997, so
they fought the war when they were two! About 1 000 were 16
years of age, so
they fought the war before they were conceived! But they
demanded
compensation packages, and government yielded to the demands,
fearing the
consequences of not doing so. That burdened the fiscus with an
unsustainable
commitment of many billions of, then valuable dollars,
necessitating
recourse to massive borrowings, with an inevitable consequence
of soaring
inflation. And government did so in total disregard for
widespread,
informed, contrary advice.
That triggered "Black Friday", in November, 1997,
on which day the
Zimbabwean dollar depreciated by 75%, as money markets
foresaw the
consequences of government's foolhardy action. That currency
depreciation
was the catalyst for further inflation, resulting only a month
later in
violent food riots which, amongst other effects, destroyed almost
all
investor confidence.
The economy was then set for intensifying
destruction, but government did
naught to halt the collapse. It resorted to
"crisis management", being
wholly reactive instead of proactive, and
unconstructively so.
Concurrently, it allowed corruption to become more and
more pronounced,
irrespective of the concomitant economic negatives. By way
of example, the
Chidyausiku Commission identified numerous instances of
corruption and fraud
in respect of post-war compensation claims. However,
years later, virtually
no prosecutions have resulted.
However, the
economic "tsunami" was evidently not yet sufficiently great to
satisfy
masochistic, myopic politicians, so they dug out (from under the
mounds of
dust on ministry shelves) the 1991 enacted Land Acquisition Act.
Ignoring
all proposals of collaborative and constructive land reform from
the
Commercial Farmers' Union, government proceeded to annex and expropriate
thousands of productive farms and, in all too many instances, handed them
over according only to nepotistic criteria. Will and ability to farm was
generally irrelevant. Sound political connections prevailed. Some new
farmers worked assiduously to have productive operations, but many were
expecting immediate enrichment without effort. And many of those who did
were hindered by recurrent non-availability of governmentally promised
inputs.
At the same time, government turned a blind eye to thousands of
unlawful
farm expropriations, to murder, assault, vandalisation and theft
applied by
many self-nominated, "get-rich quick" aspirant new farmers. The
results
included the near total decimation of Zimbabwe's well-developed
irrigation
infrastructures, making it near impossible to counter the effects
of
drought. Agriculture was the economic foundation, and government
shattered
that foundation.
Even now, when Vice President Msika and
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono
call for a halt to farm invasions and
farmer harassment, the invasions and
harassment continue and the authorities
do nothing to halt them.
Insofar as sanctions are concerned, the only
substantive sanctions are
targeted ones against the political hierarchy,
including travel restrictions
and barriers to possession of foreign assets.
These have no economic
consequences. Some cite the US Democracy Act as
evidence of sanctions
against Zimbabwe for, in terms of that Act, many
countries in Africa enjoy
favourable trade concessions on exports to the US
under the Agoa Convention.
Those concessions are intended to reward adherence
to the precepts of
democracy, but are not extended to countries such as
Zimbabwe which pay lip
service to democracy, but do not practise its
fundamentals. So Zimbabwe is
not barred from exporting to the US, but does
not qualify for the special
concessions. That can hardly be construed as
sanctions! Admittedly, some US
companies misinterpret that Act, to justify
self-decisions to minimise
interaction with Zimbabwe, but their actions do
not constitute
internationally imposed sanctions. Some countries no longer
provide
developmental aid to Zimbabwe, but that is reactive to Zimbabwean
abuses of
aid on all too many occasions, matched only by abuses of the
donors.
Ambassador Dell was stating nothing but fact, but that fact was
unpalatable
to government, and especially to its Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, and so the knives are drawn against the
worthy ambassador. This
will undoubtedly alienate the international
community further, and will
further tarnish Zimbabwe's much-blemished image,
resulting in still further
economic catastrophe.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
ONCE again Ignatious Chombo has ignored the will of the people and
taken
over the running of Chitungwiza council. Nobody was fooled by the
alleged
demonstration by a rented Zanu PF crowd last week. We all know that
the aim
was to seize power from popularly elected MDC officials.
The
excuse for the takeover would be facile if the situation were not so
tragic.
Chombo claimed the council was failing to deliver service to
residents. The
councillors had failed to provide water and maintain the
sewerage system,
charged Chombo as if he had just dropped in from Mars.
He didn't say anything
about the situation in Harare where he had come from.
To its credit, the
Herald had a biting sense of irony. Under the heading
"State takes over
Chitungwiza" was a huge picture of bare-footed children
jumping across "raw
sewage" in Kuwadzana Extension which is run by another
hopeless commission
appointed by Chombo.
Did Chombo see the picture, telling better than the
thousand words
chronicling the problems of Chitungwiza that pre-date the
MDC? Why is Chombo
so quick to notice the speck in the Chitungwiza council's
eye but cannot see
the log in his own? By the way, that picture would make a
nice poster in
Sekesai Makwavarara's office.
US ambassador to
Zimbabwe Christopher Dell appears to have given a hostage
to fortune in his
comments on the country's economic situation. The patriots
in the state
media are up in arms because they will not bear to hear the
truth told so
openly.
The irony of course is that everyone of the enraged patriots is only
too
glad to quote the offending line that "it is neither the drought nor
sanctions" that have caused Zimbabwe's headlong decline. "The Zimbabwe
government's gross mismanagement of the economy and its corrupt rule" had
brought on the crisis, said Dell, thus earning himself the umbrage of a
government used to blaming everyone but itself.
The Herald went further
to claim that Dell's comments were "unbecoming and
undiplomatic" as if any
amount of diplomacy could mask the unparalleled
national decay stinking as
raw sewage.
The Herald reporter even had the cheek to pass a verdict that
Dell faced
expulsion for his "repeated" meddling in the country's internal
affairs.
Needless to say there was no evidence of the envoy ever having made
similar
comments earlier, except for the alleged "trespassing" in the
Botanical
Gardens last month.
Information secretary George Charamba
warned then that Dell was lucky to be
alive after that incident. Now the
Herald tells us he faces expulsion for
his "crimes" and could face
prosecution in his country.
What tosh! The only charge Dell faces is not
speaking out earlier.
We must say we were more than dismayed to read John
Makumbe's Tough Talk in
defence of Morgan Tsvangirai's boycott option in The
Zimbabwean this week.
First a matter of correction: Makumbe overstretched
his fable about two
Zimbabweans forming five political parties. He went on
to claim the MDC was
"six days" old. Even as hyperbole it doesn't
work.
Then on Tsvangirai's position, state media already call him Mr Boycott,
so
he needs no defending.
Makumbe went on to attack those who say they
want to defend their turf where
Zanu PF has never won an election for
advancing a fallacious and myopic
argument "since the dictator's party still
governs those areas in every
sense of the word". He goes on: "To what effect
has the keeping out of Zanu
PF from these areas been of benefit to the
removal of the dictator from
office and the restoration of democracy and
good governance?"
Good Lord, what is the world coming to? Is it the problem
of the people of
Matabeleland that the MDC has failed to win parliamentary
seats in
Mashonaland? And what's this nonsense about Zanu PF governing in
areas where
it lost the election?
Whoever said a party with a majority of
seats cannot rule in areas where it
has lost? Are there parts of the UK
where Tony Blair doesn't rule because he
lost to the Conservatives there?
Are there areas in the US where George Bush
doesn't rule because he lost to
the Democrats there?
Closer to home, are there areas where Bingu wa Mutharika
is not president
because he has ditched the party that brought him to power?
We hope our
overzealous intellectual is not confusing a legitimate
opposition party with
a rebel movement in the mould of the Lord's Resistance
Army of Uganda!
We would understand it if Makumbe said the party was changing
its strategy
to "remove the dictator" as he calls it. What is the new
strategy now that
they have given up on the electoral process? How are they
going to ensure
the "restoration of democracy and good governance" after the
boycott? Are we
now going to see the final, final push we wonder?
It's a
pity that people that one would expect to think more broadly and help
Tsvangirai do not appear to see beyond region or ethnicity.
Readers
may recall that when the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act
was introduced in 2002 we were told the main thrust of this
deeply flawed
legislation was to prevent "falsehoods" appearing in the
press. It was
obviously targeted at the independent media and foreign
correspondents whose
reporting the regime found unpalatable.
But its first showcase prosecution of
Guardian correspondent Andrew Meldrum
collapsed as did nearly every
subsequent case because the law was so badly
framed. Even extensive
panel-beating failed to save the state from further
embarrassment. A case
against Daily News journalists a few weeks ago (for
reporting to work!)
didn't even make it to court because it was so
manifestly
ill-conceived.
Now, as the regime struggles with growing international
criticism, it is
having difficulty with its spin. We saw recently how deputy
Information
minister Bright Matonga clumsily attempted to clarify remarks
made by
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono on agricultural
sabotage.
Matonga was not of course a disinterested party. A survey of
productivity on
one of his farms would provide ample evidence for Gono's
charges.
On Monday we were treated to an unedifying spat between the
President's
Office and the Sunday Mail.
Political editor Munyaradzi Huni,
formerly the regime's spinner-in-chief but
now under the surface, reported
that President Mugabe would this week summon
US ambassador Christopher Dell
and read him "the riot act" over his recent
comments on the crisis in
Zimbabwe.
He would be asked why he was working with the British to compile "a
false
report" on the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe, Huni told
us.
But then on Monday, the Herald carried a correction saying Huni's report
was
false. A statement by George Charamba said it was not the business of
the
President's Office, "let alone the president", to summon the US
ambassador.
That was the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In any case,
the report did not reflect the feelings of the president,
Charamba said.
Rubbing salt into the wound, Charamba went on the point out
that this was
the same reporter that described Tobaiwa Mudede as Registrar
of Elections
when he was Registrar of Voters. He had "once again got his
facts wrong",
Charamba said.
Now, what do we have here? Firstly, Huni's
error in getting Mudede's
designation wrong is hardly a hanging offence. Any
journalist can make that
sort of mistake. So long as it is speedily
corrected there is no damage
done. Unless of course the regime is
particularly sensitive about Mudede's
role in elections!
And if the
president does not feel as aggrieved by Dell's remarks as the
state media
evidently does, who is behind the "Send Dell to Hell" campaign?
But we doubt
that the ambassador was exactly quaking in his boots at the
prospect of
being summoned by the self-important Simbarashe Mumbengegwi
whose blabbering
performance on Hardtalk is still the stuff of legend.
Our advice to the
ambassador: take a pin. Once the hot air begins to
accumulate, apply the pin
and stand back. Better to go out with a bang than
a whimper!
We liked
the bit in the ambassador's speech, missed by the media, where he
refers to
a visit by Anglo American boss Lazarus Zim.
"He related a telling story of
his investment experience in Zimbabwe. Anglo
American, you might know, is a
shareholder in Hippo Valley Estates, which is
under threat of seizure by the
government.
"Mr Zim travelled to Zimbabwe to sort out the problem and was
told to talk
to the new governor of Masvingo province. He approached the
governor,
pointing out that Hippo Valley Estates had a contractual agreement
with the
government to farm in Hippo Valley. The governor alleged no
knowledge of
the agreement. Mr Zim then produced the contract, which
happened to bear the
governor's own signature.
"To the Anglo American
executive's astonishment, the governor blithely
passed off the contract as
'open to re-negotiation'. You can imagine the
lesson Mr Zim took back to
Anglo American's board from this experience and
the consequences it has had
on Anglo American's plans to invest further in
mining in
Zimbabwe."
Mugabe's designation of 2005 as the Year of Investment also came
under
withering fire.
"I understand President Mugabe designated 2005 the
Year of Investment. Is
there no greater irony than bludgeoning property
rights under the banner of
investment promotion?"
There is apparently a
greater irony: Mugabe lecturing a FAO meeting on food
production in Rome.
Dell spoke of the government's refusal to acknowledge
the widespread hunger
that its policies have caused.
" . . . the grim irony of President Mugabe,
who has presided over and led
this decline, lecturing the Food and
Agriculture Organisation was lost on no
one - we and other donors are
helping to feed over five million Zimbabweans".
Perhaps ambassadors of donor
states in Dar-es-Salaam could convey this point
to President Benjamin Mkapa.
While Tanzania may have adopted policies that
encourage agricultural
production and a growing economy as well as a free
press and two-term
presidents, aiding and abetting leaders who pauperise
their people is
neither statesmanlike nor beneficial to anyone.
CZI president and ZSR
boss Pattison Sithole should know better than to make
naïve remarks about
the press. He believes "some media practitioners are
Zimbabwe's worst
enemies, as evidenced by their concerted effort to rubbish
the country in
the international arena", he told the Business Herald.
"I think some of you
guys are careless and just too unfair on Zimbabwe."
Some journalists had
"thrown ethics out of the window", he said, and were
embellishing their
stories, "creating controversies out of nothing".
What was lacking was the
"development dimension".
That should have set the alarm bells ringing.
Development journalism is the
Siberia of professional journalism. It is to
be found mostly in totalitarian
states and usually consists of first ladies
opening chicken cooperatives in
places like Gokwe.
What the press should
be doing is exposing the fantasies of Reserve Bank
governors and Ministers
of Finance - not to mention naïve business leaders -
who think we should all
be writing about turnarounds when there manifestly
aren't any. Who will
speak the truth to power if we don't? Evidently not the
sweet- talking
Sithole.
Why does Sithole think there should be more Pollyanna journalists
looking at
the economic collapse all around us through rose-tinted glasses
and then
describing it as a "challenge"? Isn't there a whole media industry
in
Zimbabwe devoted to such deceit? Does he expect us to join it? Is that
our
public responsibility - to pretend all is well when it isn't? Is that
what
his members want?
He thinks we are "unfair" for ascribing
responsibility where it belongs.
Where would he place it? And, by the way,
why did the country run out of
sugar on his watch?
Let's provide a
classic example of the sort of dissembling Sithole appears
to recommend. The
business section of the Sunday News led on October 30 with
a story headed
"High expectations ahead of budget".
The obvious question was: how could
anybody have high expectations of this
government given its record? There
then followed an interview with the ZNCC's
Luxon Zembe who spoke of the need
for government to reduce expenditure and
the budget deficit to levels below
5%. He also spoke of the need for strong
political will on the part of
government and the implementation of
consistent, rather than contradictory,
policies.
Nothing wrong with that. Except of course anybody who expects
Herbert
Murerwa to do anything different to what he has always done in a
succession
of failed budgets needs counselling.
We doubt whether Zembe
himself has "high expectations". He just pointed out
what needs to be done.
There is a national consensus on what needs to be
done. But the government
is ignoring it.
And Sithole is diverting public gaze by banging the patriotic
drum. He is
denying to the public and his members a robust media that
exposes
misgovernance and is not shy of controversy.
As we all know there
is no "strong political will" to turn things around
because it means turning
off the taps. It isn't going to happen. They can't
stop printing money
because that's how they get by politically. That's their
meal
ticket.
"High expectations" from this delinquent gang? Which ministries will
they
abolish? Which arms order will they cancel? Which paramilitary brigade
will
they stand down? What single example of sacrifice will Murerwa announce
on
December 1? Answers on the back of a postage stamp
please.
Finally, after Chombo's blatant assault upon the civil liberties
of the
people of Chitungwiza, does anybody feel sorry for Mrs Chombo,
departing the
US embassy in tears after being refused a visa to watch her
youngster
graduate from university in Texas? Does she know nothing of her
husband's
record?
Zim Independent
Comment
SENIOR government officials last week, with a spring in their
step, picked
their way through streams of sewerage and piles of rubbish in
Chitungwiza
before they arrived at the town's offices to declare that
government was
taking over the running of the local authority from the
opposition MDC
council.
Local Government minister Ignatious Chombo and
his team appeared to have
made an important discovery: that the town had
serious water and sewerage
problems!
Chombo, in sarcastic tones, berated
the mayor Misheck Shoko for incompetence
and lack of attention to detail in
the administration of the satellite town.
He also demanded that the council
produce a turnaround programme in 24
hours.
The duplicity by the minister
is breathtaking. This is a minister of a
government that has failed to come
up with a workable economic blueprint in
the past decade. The evidence is
there for all to see and Chombo should be
the first to admit that the
situation in Chitungwiza is hardly new.
Former Zanu PF mayor Joseph Macheka
is very familiar with sewerage streams
along streets and in open spaces.
Ironically, a sewerage stream has been a
permanent landmark close to his St
Mary's home. Zanu PF's Forbes Magadu's
footprints should also still be
visible in the raw sewerage in the streets
of Chitungwiza.
It is fair to
say that officials running local authorities in most of
Zimbabwe's urban
areas have been found wanting resulting in poor service
delivery.
But the
biggest threat to local governance is Zanu PF's penchant for
control. It has
gone out of its way to subjugate opposition in urban areas,
the case in
point being the firing of MDC Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri in
2003.
The
government has however no history of known competence in the running of
towns and cities - or indeed anything else! After the departure of Mudzuri,
the government took over the running of the capital and appointed political
turncoat Sekesai Makwavarara to be the state proxy at Town House. Chombo
claimed Mudzuri had failed to deliver on basic amenities and was
corrupt.
We were promised that the new broom would sweep clean and restore
the
capital to its former sunshine city glory. Nothing could have been
further
from the truth. Makwavarara has nothing to show for her leadership
in Harare
other than uncollected garbage, sewerage pools in high-density
suburbs and
dry water taps in the eastern part of the city.
Chombo will
naturally not ascribe the dire situation in parts of Harare to
incompetence
on the part of Makwavarara and governor of Harare David
Karimanzira (by the
way, what is his day job?) but cites other reasons like
shortage of foreign
currency and sanctions.
Chombo, who has accepted the shortage of diesel as an
excuse for the
non-collection of garbage in Harare when everybody else
manages to cope, was
this week quoted as dismissing the same excuse in
Chitungwiza.
Chombo is the embodiment of the destructive and incompetent hand
of
government in local governance. The same hand that has failed to nurture
growth points and other rural service centres should not perhaps be expected
to perform any better in the more complex urban set up.
In urban areas
where the government has taken over there are traits of
government's
ineptitude, bureaucracy and wrong decisions in planning civic
affairs.
Chombo's fingerprints are all over the malfunctioning robots in
Harare, the
crumbling sewerage and water treatment plants, and poor lighting
on major
roads. His prints can be traced back to potholes and uncovered
manholes on
Harare's roads.
He is the problem.
The assault on the civic authorities in
Chitungwiza is part of a broad
strategy by Chombo to directly run towns and
cities. That way, residents
associations - construed to be in alliance with
the opposition -- are
rendered dysfunctional while Zanu PF consolidates its
stranglehold on cities
and towns despite losing elections.
Residents have
no obligation to support ministerial appointees brought in at
the expense of
elected councillors and mayors. There has not been any
tangible investment
in any of the major towns because of the economic
collapse. Revenue from
rates has not grown concomitantly with demand for
capital to implement
capital projects.
No international financier will give Zimbabwe's local
authorities loans or
grants because of President Mugabe's hostile politics.
Resultantly, the
ageing sewerage and water reticulation plants cannot be
repaired or
replaced. In its wisdom, government has launched housing
projects in urban
areas which do not have sufficient infrastructural
capacity to support new
settlements.
Put simply, there is no basic
planning by central government to ensure that
cities and towns thrive, nor
is there a climate conducive to investment. We
would like to advise Chombo
to wake up and smell the coffee. But the stench
of sewerage probably
prevents that!