http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 21:46
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe has crushed internal resistance to his continued
controversial
leadership of the deeply-divided Zanu PF, mainly using the
state security
services ahead of the party’s annual conference in Mutare
next
month.
Mugabe’s leadership of Zanu PF and the country has in recent
years been
coming under serious challenge particularly from within the
Soviet-style
politburo which he appoints, indicating his increasingly
declining authority
and control of the party.
A briefing to the Zimbabwe
Independent by senior Zanu PF officials,
including politburo members, this
week, shows Mugabe has suppressed –– at
least for now –– all those who had
clandestinely been plotting to force him
out. Zanu PF officials say he has
overstayed his welcome and run the country
down. Mugabe has been in charge
of Zanu PF since 1977 and the country since
1980.
Zanu PF
insiders said Mugabe was now going to be endorsed with no trouble in
Mutare
next month for the first time since he survived plots to oust him in
2004
and 2007.
Mugabe’s undemocratic plan to extend his stay in office
by two years from
2008 to 2010 without going to elections was also blocked
by the party in
2006.
However, Mugabe has since those setbacks
managed to regain control of his
faction-torn party and is now in charge,
although his age and health
problems remain flash points.
“This
time around he is going to be endorsed easily because there is no one
opposing him to continue as the party’s leader and candidate in the next
elections,” a senior Zanu PF official said. “What happened, particularly in
2004 and 2007, would not be repeated because everyone has learnt their
lesson. It is going to be a mere formality for him to be endorsed in
Mutare.”
Several Zanu PF structures have already endorsed Mugabe
although they are
yet to officially nominate him as the party’s candidate in
elections through
the secretary for administration’s office and endorse him
at conference.
“Mugabe now has support of his party’s principal
structures which include
the congress, conference, central committee and its
administrative organ the
politburo, national consultative assembly, women’s
league, youth league,
provincial coordinating committees, provinces,
district coordinating
committees, branches and cells or village committees,”
another senior Zanu
PF official said. “This is how he has recovered after
all those problems
which he encountered in the past few
years.”
Since his leadership was re-affirmed at the party’s volatile
special
congress in 2007, Mugabe now needs to be only endorsed by the
conference
next month to become the uncontested candidate of the party in
presidential
elections.
The 2007 extraordinary Zanu PF congress,
which was forced on Mugabe by
politburo members, almost degenerated into
chaos with the late
vice-president Joseph Msika and John Nkomo threatening
to walk out in
protest over war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda’s presence
and activities.
“We are going to declare the president of the party
who was elected at the
last congress as the state presidential candidate of
the party,” a politburo
member said. “That is not in doubt at
all.”
One of the functions of the Zanu PF conference is to declare
the president
of the party as the presidential election
candidate.
Another Zanu PF official said Mugabe had pounded into
submission the two
main factions led by retired army commander Solomon
Mujuru and Emmerson
Mnangagwa. The Mujuru and Mnangagwa factions have been
fighting each other
for years in a bid to position themselves to produce
Mugabe’s successor. In
the process, Mugabe’s position has come under threat,
mainly in 2004 and
2007, when he survived internal intrigues to remove
him.
Mugabe unleashed serious reprisals against Mnangagwa’s
supporters in 2004
after they tried to plot leadership changes in the party
in the aftermath of
the so-called Tsholotsho political coup conspiracy,
resulting in six
provincial chairmen being suspended.
Other high
profile political casualties of that bloodbath included Jonathan
Moyo who
was only readmitted to the party at last year’s conference.
In 2007
Mugabe rode out serious challenge for him to relinquish power,
particularly
to step down and avoid being the 2008 presidential election
candidate, from
politburo members led then by Dumiso Dabengwa and Simba
Makoni before they
left the party in 2008. Dabengwa especially challenged
Mugabe in several
politburo meetings in 2008 and even had heated exchanges
with Mnangagwa over
the issue.
Zanu PF politburo member Oppah Muchinguri fought hard then to
defend Mugabe
and even suggested he should be declared life president. The
late
vice-president Joseph Msika had to intervene to stop the debate in
which
Dabengwa had opposed the proposal. The Independent has documents
showing all
this.
However, one of the Zanu PF officials who spoke
to the Independent this week
said Mugabe has now succeeded in using the
security services, mainly the
army, to run the party to ensure his political
survival both internally and
nationally.
“Besides internal party
structures of control, he is also using the army to
enforce military
discipline and no one is raising their heads now to go up
against him, the
official said. “Both the main factions of the party have
learnt a lesson
from the past.”
Zanu PF officials have confirmed that a group of
soldiers — code-named Boys
on Leave — has been deployed to work with the
party ahead of elections. The
team is led by Air Force of Zimbabwe Air
Vice-Marshal Henry Muchena who was
said to be working with a team of 300
army officers scattered around the
country.
Former Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director internal, Sydney
Nyanhongo, is also
part of the team and is now working directly with Zanu
PF.
Muchena, who assumed his current position in the Air Force in
2002 after the
army helped to retain Mugabe during the controversial
presidential election
that year, is now based at Zanu PF headquarters in
Harare and is working
with six senior officers to re-organise and revive
Zanu PF structures before
the elections, perhaps next
year.
Sources said Muchena’s team also includes three top commanders
stationed in
each of the country’s 10 provinces.
These commanders
were being assisted by three soldiers per district deployed
around the
country. Zimbabwe has 59 districts and 1 200 municipalities. The
soldiers
deployed at district level were stationed in all the 59
districts.
These soldiers, sources said, helped Zanu PF to control
the chaotic and
partisan constitution-making process.
“Besides,
they have re-established discipline in the party and this has
helped the old
man (Mugabe) to remain firmly in charge,” the Zanu PF
official said. “All
the security structures, the army, police and
intelligence, are loyal to him
and using them in the party has helped check
the ambitions of the faction
leaders.”
The army helped out Mugabe mainly during the presidential
elections in 2002
and 2008. The Zanu PF politburo resolved after the March
2008 elections in
which the party lost control of parliament to MDC-T and
Mugabe was defeated
in the first round of polling, to use a “warlike”
strategy to win the
elections. A campaign of violence and intimidation
followed resulting in
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulling out of the
polls. State security
service chiefs said they would not respect Tsvangirai
even if he won. They
insinuated they could even oust him through a coup if
he won.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November
2010 21:41
GOVERNMENT has no intention of issuing broadcasting licences
to private
players in the near future as required by the Global Political
Agreement
(GPA) until it has developed the capacity to monitor and regulate
the
activities of the new players.
Permanent secretary in the Ministry of
Media, Information and Publicity,
George Charamba, revealed this when he
appeared before the Media,
Information and Communication Technology
parliamentary portfolio committee
yesterday.
Charamba, who also doubles
up as President Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson,
said: “The current levels of
investment in broadcasting infrastructure in
the country create no room for
new entries as espoused by the GPA. One can
make as much noise but until and
unless there is the technical wherewithal
then we are building pie in the
sky.”
However, this contradicts what his boss, Media minister Webster Shamu
said
last month when he publicly declared that the Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) should urgently expedite the issuance of licences to private
broadcasters and create a platform for community radio stations to go on
air.
“Universal access to broadcasting services has remained on the
government’s
wish list for the past two decades, but regrettably little
progress has been
made in that direction,” Shamu said at a BAZ strategic
planning workshop.
According to the GPA signed in September 2008, the three
ruling parties had
agreed that government should ensure the immediate
processing of all
applications for re-registration and registration in terms
of both the
Broadcasting Services Act as well as the Access to Information
and
protection of Privacy Act. It called on Zimbabweans to make applications
for
broadcasting licences.
Charamba said issuance of new licences would
be done only after considering
community broadcasting
stations.
“Liberation of the airwaves should take into consideration the
interests of
commercial and community broadcasting,” Charamba said. “In
liberalising
airwaves, policing functions should be put in place first also
before
issuing any licences. This should be done so that the state can
control
intrusion by unlicensed players.”
The ministry admitted that a
number of legislatives changes were needed
regarding the national
broadcasters policy on airing political
advertisements. However, he said
they would rather have the status quo
remain.
“Our laws still need to be
developed in regard to political advertising.
Presently the law only
regulates advertising in the election period and this
is a well-defined
period that is from the declaration of the election date
to the polling day.
The regulation is done by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC). The law is
unclear of what ZBC should do outside elections and the
ministry’s position
is clear we let sleeping dogs lie,” Charamba said.
The committee was told
that ZBC two weeks ago signed a re-brokered Iranian
deal to fund the
broadcaster’s digitalisation programme after the first was
cancelled when
ZBC defaulted on payments.
Iran had extended a loan jointly to Arda and ZBC
for their recapitalisation
projects. However, the deteriorating economic
conditions then forced the
state to default on the loan.
The Iranian deal
was set to improve the quality of broadcasting services as
the country moves
towards another round of elections next year.
“The new Iranian deal gives us
the opportunity to develop broadcasting
services. The loan also removes the
burden on the fiscus to fund the
programme. In the new deal, ZBC will
refurbish its studios at Pockets Hill,
Montrose, Radio Zimbabwe and Gweru in
addition to outside broadcasting
equipment especially when we are going
towards elections. That whole
programme will make sure the country gets
ready for the digital changeover
set for 2013,” Charamba said.
Meanwhile,
the police on Monday visited the Zimbabwe Independent offices and
interviewed the editor, Constantine Chimakure, over a story published by the
newspaper in August that quoted extensively a letter written by
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to co-Home Affairs ministers Theresa
Makone and Kembo Mohadi opposing government’s planned electoral
reforms.
Detective Inspector Henry Dowa told Chimakure that the police wanted
to know
who had given the Independent the letter and that they wanted to
interview
the author of the article, former news editor Farai
Mutsaka.
Contrary to media reports, no summons were served on Chimakure and
Mutsaka
to appear in court.
Paidamoyo Muzulu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 21:39
SOUTH
African President Jacob Zuma said he would not support an election in
Zimbabwe that is marred by violence, intimidation and a suppressed media
environment and called on the three political parties to come up with a
roadmap to elections as recommended by Sadc.
In a telephone interview
with the Zimbabwe Independent on Wednesday,
international affairs advisor to
Zuma who is the Sadc-appointed mediator,
Lindiwe Zulu, said her boss wanted
to see a conducive environment for free
and fair elections before the polls
are held.
President Robert Mugabe recently said the constitution-making
process should
be fast-tracked to pave way for elections mid-next year as he
could not
stomach a prolonged extension of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA). He
has, however, been mum on media, security and electoral
reforms.
Zuma’s call for mechanisms to be put in place that guarantee
violence-free
and credible elections is what Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai has been
calling for.
Tsvangirai said a roadmap to ensure
credible elections should be implemented
and Sadc should assist in drawing
up guidelines for the polls where
intimidation and violence would not play
any part and where the result of
such elections would not be
disputed.
Zulu said though there had not been any major discussions on
elections next
year, Zuma strongly supported the decision taken by Sadc at
the Windhoek
Summit in August.
Zulu said: “First and foremost there
hasn’t been any position by our
principal, President Zuma on elections. He
has not had a discussion and a
date of elections for Zimbabwe. What he has
is a decision that was taken by
Sadc of starting to look at a roadmap for
free and fair elections.
“A roadmap has to be established first, that will
involve GPA principals,
Sadc and relevant people to ensure that any
elections that will be held will
be free and fair. President Zuma is of the
view that if elections should be
done there should be no violence, no
intimidation and there should be a free
media environment.”
According to
Zuma’s Sadc report, which was adopted at the August summit, the
24 agreed
items of the GPA should be implemented on schedule as this would
lay the
basis for free and fair elections.
The report said “the inclusive government
should be united in its effort to
ensure everything is in place for the
elections” and that “the
constitution-making exercise, as well as the
referendum on that
constitution, should be a joint task of all the parties
in the inclusive
government”.
Zulu said: “To him (Zuma) the most
important thing is the creation of a free
environment conducive for free and
fair elections.”
She said she had no idea when the roadmap would be drafted
as focus was more
on the implementation of outstanding issues which were
moving “back and
forth”.
Zulu said the mediators were not “dealing with
the negotiators right now”
but meeting with the principals directly.
On
the political crisis triggered by Mugabe’s unilateral appointments of
governors, judges and ambassadors, Zulu said they briefed Zuma on the
meetings they had with the MDC-T after it wrote letters complaining about
Mugabe not consulting Tsvangirai and other outstanding issues in the
GPA.
“The issue of a crisis was raised by one partner (Tsvangirai). We came
to
Zimbabwe as you might recall as soon as the president received the letter
and met him,” Zulu said. “When we got back to South Africa we briefed the
president of the meeting we had with Prime Minister Tsvangirai and it is now
up to him to take action. He has not yet responded, but will definitely do
so. This is an ongoing process where you will be dealing with a bigger
picture and dealing with things that come in between.”
While Zuma is
calling for an environment that is violence-free, there is
intimidation and
reports of violence in Manicaland, some parts in Masvingo
and Muzarabani by
Zanu PF members.
Military chiefs and a group of soldiers codenamed “Boys on
Leave” have
reportedly been deployed to work with Zanu PF ahead of the
anticipated
elections next year.
Soldiers, according to the reports, have
already been deployed nationwide.
An army officer Douglas Nyikayaramba
openly declared that he was a Zanu PF
supporter at a meeting with chiefs on
October 23 at 3-3 infantry battalion,
saying he would not support a leader
who did not have war credentials.
According to the Zimbabwe Peace Project
(ZPP) information alert released
this week, two traditional leaders from
Masvingo North were reportedly
forcing villagers to pay two goats or a US$70
fine for refusing to be under
Zanu PF-imposed village heads. More than 60
families under chiefs Gurajena
and Zimuto have also been forced to buy Zanu
PF party cards or face
eviction.
“It is reported that the traditional
leaders, Chief Gurajena and Chief
Zimuto from Masvingo were impelled to
demand the fines after the villagers
from ward 1 in the same constituency
were vehemently opposed to the
imposition of village heads by Zanu PF
officials from the province,” said
ZPP.
In Bikita West constituency, war
veterans were accused of harassing and
threatening villagers forcing them to
buy Zanu PF party cards.
War veterans on November 6 allegedly threatened to
violently “flush out” all
MDC-T supporters from Bikita West.
During the
meeting, the villagers were threatened with beatings and attacks
worse than
the 2008 election political violence.
Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
21:31
ZANU PF politburo members in Bulawayo have petitioned the presidium
to
intervene to end the deepening divisions which are threatening to split
the
party in the province.
The province has become a political hotbed
with suspensions and
counter-suspensions of members as infighting continues
dogging the party
whose structures in other parts of the country are equally
shambolic.
The long running feud has seen politburo members Angeline Masuku,
Absolom
Sikhosana, Joshua Malinga, Edson Ncube as well as central committee
members
David Ndlovu, Abednico Nyathi and Nelly Dupute, writing to
Vice-President
John Nkomo and Zanu PF chairman Simon Khaya Moyo to
mediate.
In a letter in the possession of the Zimbabwe Independent, the
senior Zanu
PF members accused politburo members Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and
Eunice Sandi-Moyo
of causing divisions in the province by supporting
provincial chairperson
Isaac
Dakamela who is accused of misappropriating
party resources.
Ndlovu suspended Dakamela in June over allegations of
stealing meat and
groceries meant for last year’s congress, but later
reversed the move after
the chairperson apologised to him.
Ndlovu’s
decision to lift the Dakamela suspension without consulting other
senior
members angered them.
“Members of the central committee rejected his (Ndlovu)
unilateral decision
and told him he had no authority to reverse Dakamela’s
suspension,” reads
the letter to Nkomo and Moyo. “In fact, Ndlovu was under
pressure from those
involved in misappropriating party resources for
personal gain.”
The senior Zanu PF officials told Nkomo and Moyo that
Dakamela had also
violated the constitution by suspending provincial
executive members and
packing the provincial coordinating committee meetings
with his allies.
“Members of his (Dakamela’s) provincial executive abuse
party vehicles which
are at times used to carry out personal business in
rural areas, like
carrying cattle bought from peasants,” reads the
letter.
The disgruntled party officials said they would continue boycotting
provincial coordinating committee meetings chaired by Dakamela.
Dakamela
has said those who are not attending meetings may be expelled
before the
party’s December conference in Mutare.
There has also been a fight in the
province over the election of central
committee members and Masuku,
Sikhosana, Malinga and Ncube, among others,
accused Ndlovu and Sandi-Moyo of
imposing their allies.
In their letter, the politburo members said the recent
election of Emmanuel
Kanjoma, Themba Ncube, Dennis Ncube, Anah Moyo, Yona
Mpofu and Jevan Maseko
was not in line with the December 2009 congress which
instructed Bulawayo
leaders to co-opt veteran politicians into the central
committee.
The original list of central committee members, according to the
Bulawayo
politburo members, consisted of Raphael Baleni, Elphas Tshuma,
Violet Ncube,
Denis Ndlovu, Misheck Velaphi, Nelly Dupute and Abednico
Nyathi.
Dakamela declined to discuss the issue saying he was not aware of the
allegations by politburo and central committee members.
“I can’t comment
on that because the case might be handled by senior people
like Nkomo,” he
said.
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu could not be reached for comment as his mobile was
not
reachable.
Meanwhile, in a renewed drive to push Dakamela out of the
chairmanship,
district structures staged protests against him.
Last
Friday at the party’s Davies Hall offices, Dakamela barred 123 district
chairpersons from attending a crucial meeting to address fissures affecting
the province.
Police were called in by Dakamela to flush out the
chairpersons from the
meeting resulting in the latter picketing outside the
party offices and
demanding the immediate removal of Dakamela.
Brian
Chitemba/Nqobile Bhebhe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 21:27
AN
international group known as the Friends of Zimbabwe, or Fishmongers
Group,
is scheduled to meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month to discuss,
among
other things, the state of the inclusive government, debt relief,
public
finance administration and sanctions.
The Fishmongers Group, which includes
the United States (US), Britain,
Japan, Germany, France, Sweden, Holland,
Norway, Canada and Australia, will
meet on December 10.
The meeting is
one in a series of meetings that have been going on since
2007 between
Europe and the US.
Diplomatic sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that the
meeting would also
be attended by the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund, the African
Development Bank and the United Nations.
“This broad
participation has contributed to good coordination and strong
cohesion when
it comes to our approach versus Zimbabwe,” a diplomatic source
said.
The
source said they were most likely not going to soften their stance on
sanctions until the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA).
“(President Robert) Mugabe likes to keep the sanctions as long as
possible,”
he said.
The Fishmongers Group in its last meeting in June in
Oslo agreed to offer
more economic and humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe
channelled through and
managed by non-governmental organisations such as
United Nations Development
Programme and African Development
Bank.
However, the group said no assistance would be channelled through the
transitional administration in Zimbabwe until the partners to the GPA fully
implement the deal, rule of law is restored and bilateral investment
promotion and protection agreements are respected.
The sources said the
Fishmongers Group has so far played a big role in
stabilising the economy
and improving essential services like health, safe
water provision and
education.
According to the sources, the group contributed significantly
towards the
$200 million vote of credit to government coffers.
Last year,
the donors provided US$651 million in official development
assistance which
was directed towards improving services in health,
provision of safe water,
education, social protection and a
range of essential services that had
virtually collapsed due to the
decade-long economic and political
crisis.
Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
21:21
SENATORS from the two MDC formations and Zanu PF said this week
that the
three political principals should urgently meet and solve the
current
political crisis which has seen relations between President Robert
Mugabe
and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai deteriorate further after the
president’s
unilateral appointments, which angered the premier.
The
senators’ call comes after the upper house adjourned till February next
year
after it failed to sit for two consecutive days as MDC-T Senators
disrupted
business arguing that the disputed reappointed provincial
governors should
be barred from the House. Tsvangirai declared last month
that the
re-appointments were null and void.
They said an urgent political solution on
the senate dispute should be found
to keep the country from sliding back
into the pre-2008 political and
economic quagmire.
Besides staying away
from cabinet twice, Tsvangirai had stopped attending
the Monday meetings
with Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
The MDC-T leader has
also threatened to sue Mugabe for the “illegal and
unconstitutional”
appointments.
The senate was expected to pass the National Security Council
Amendment
Bill, Public Order and Security Act Amendment Bill and a number of
international treaties already approved by the lower House.
Governors
Faber Chidarikire (Mashonaland West), David Karimanzira (Harare),
Thokozile
Mathuthu (Matabeleland North), Jaison Machaya (Midlands) and
Martin Dinha
(Mashonaland Central ) refused to leave the House arguing their
re-appointments were done above board.
MDC senator and Education minister
David Coltart said the principals should
show their statesmanship by putting
the interest of the nation before
parochial party interests.
“The
political impasse risks undermining all the political and economic
gains
recorded since the promulgation of the inclusive government in 2009,”
Coltart said. “They (principals) have an obligation to the electorate. It
requires statesmanship from all the three principals to resolve the matter
and resolve it urgently before it deteriorates further.”
The dispute,
however, seems far from being resolved as both Zanu PF and
MDC-T have
burrowed deeper into their entrenched positions.
MDC-T senators have vowed
never to recognise the “controversially”
re-appointed governors, saying they
should not take up their seats in the
Senate.
MDC-T Senate chief whip
Gladys Dube said: “We are sending a strong message
to the principals that
they should resolve this dispute the soonest if any
senate business has to
go ahead. We will continue calling for the disputed
governors not to be
recognised in the House until the president appoints
governors according to
the Global Political Agreement’s agreed ratio.”
Zanu PF senate chief whip
Tambudzai Mohadi said the principals should meet
to resolve the dispute as
it was interfering with the House’s business.
“We are worried about the
disruptions of business in the House,” Mohadi
said. “Some of us travel more
than 1 000 kilometres to come and conduct
House business only to see this
(disruption of proceedings). The three
principals may have to sit down and
make a decision quickly.”
Mohadi said Zanu PF was worried that the electorate
was being shortchanged
by the senate’s non-sitting.Mashonaland Central
governor Dinha said they
would continue attending senate sessions as they
were constitutionally
reappointed.
Paidamoyo Muzulu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
21:20
MDC-M secretary-general Welshman Ncube said this week
constitutional views
gathered during outreach programmes are far worse than
what was being
proposed in the controversial Kariba draft supreme law and do
not meet
expectations of political parties.
Addressing a civic
organisations meeting in Bulawayo last week, Ncube said
people wanted a very
powerful executive president who makes unilateral
decisions and appoints
commissions which were state-controlled.
He said political parties have come
to the realisation that views gathered
during the constitution-making
outreach programme were constitutional views.
Said Ncube: “We are once again
caught up in our visions of what our society
is. We thought the people out
there, their views would coincide with our
views, the elite here and that if
we went to ask them they will tell you
they want democracy, want a president
with limited power, and want
commissions which are independent.
“In many
of the places we went to, freely or un-freely, people then said
when we
elect a president we are done, it’s up to him (president) to appoint
everyone else. We know that if you were to be faithful to the data which has
come out of that outreach you won’t even get the Kariba draft because that
data is far worse than the Kariba draft.”
The three political parties in
the inclusive government agreed to craft a
people-driven constitution after
which elections would be held.
Before the outreach programme, the parties
clashed over the process with
Zanu PF campaigning for the Kariba draft to be
used as the basis for a new
constitution. The Kariba draft, which critics
argue favours most of Zanu-PF’s
standpoints, was crafted by the three
parties before the March 2008
harmonised elections. Ncube said the rejected
2000 draft document was a
better document.
“That 2000 draft constitution
had provisions which said the presidential
term would be limited to two
(terms) ...meaning that President Mugabe would
not be eligible to stand
after this year to contest to be president,” he
said.
In February 2000,
Zimbabweans rejected the country’s first post-Independence
draft
constitution because the process by which it was arrived at was deemed
to be
flawed.
With the collected views far worse than the Kariba draft, Ncube said
the
major challenge to people who opposed constitutional amendment No 19
saying
it did not go far enough in making democratic reforms and those who
had
disdain towards the Kariba draft, “are grasping the reality that all
those
gains we have made are now being trampled by the supposed opinion of
the
people”.
On elections which are likely to be in June next year, Ncube
who is a front
runner for the presidency in his party, said it was more of
individuals in
political parties that wanted elections than the political
parties as
institutions.
“Individuals in political parties want elections
but institutionally none of
the parties actually want elections because
there is a lot of work to be
done to reposition them to win elections
whenever they are called,” Ncube
said. “There are some who want an election
next year for selfish reasons…If
you wait till 2013 they might not be the
president of a party or its
automatic candidate.”
Ncube said when
evaluating the personal interests they are not consistent
with national
interest. “Right now what dismays some of us who were involved
in the
negotiation of the Global Political Agreement; we were all in
agreement that
what was needed was a programme through which we gradually
reduce the
political temperatures, polarisation and atmosphere of June
2008,” he
added. “What we have seen in the last eight weeks as we demand an
election
is the escalation of the tension and going back to where we were in
June
2008. So you ask yourself what was the point of this government if by
the
time we have an election we are back to the trenches.”
Nqobile
Bhebhe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
21:19
SIXTEEN-year-old Tino Mutemwa is a distressed Form 4 pupil at a
secondary
school in Dzivaresekwa Extension after government cancelled seven
Zimbabwe
School Examinations Council (Zimsec) Ordinary Level exam papers
following a
break-in at a school in Masvingo.
Like any pupil sitting for
examinations that started on October 19, she had
planned and was well-
prepared. But now Tino is confused, anxious, fearful
and unsure of her
future since the re-setting of the tests.
Tino, showing the confusion that
has shrouded the examinations, said: “I
didn’t go to school that day
(November 3, the date set for the Geography
Paper 2 examination) because my
understanding was that the paper was going
to be re-done. But to my surprise
when I went to school the following day to
sit for another exam some of my
friends told me I had missed the geography
paper the previous day.
“I
couldn’t believe it. It affected me so much such that when I sat for the
exam I lost concentration, all I could think of was that I had missed the
paper and automatically had failed the exams.”
Luckily for Tino, she can
still sit for Geography 2, which was one of the
seven papers to be
reset.
While Zimsec has been commended for improving the delivery of exam
papers,
perennial problems seem to haunt the examination body each
year.
In 2006, a Hurungwe headmaster Makisi Jimu of Dandawa Secondary School
in
Magunje, lost three O’Level examination papers to a stranger he had given
a
lift to on his way from collecting the papers.
In 2009, thieves broke
into Maxim Primary School in Matabeleland North and
stole Zimsec Grade 7
general and mathematics examination papers, answer
sheets and
stationery.
Last year, due to strikes by markers protesting against poor
salaries, dates
for examinations had to be changed on several
occasions.
In addition to lack of resources, students have been getting
results for
subjects they did not write.
While things seemed to have
improved a great deal due to government effort
and donor assistance,
controversy seems to follow Zimsec and people are now
questioning whether it
is capable of running smooth exams.
Trouble resurfaced for Zimsec two weeks
ago when seven exam papers were
stolen from a school identified as Chingogwe
Secondary School in Masvingo.
When the papers were stolen, pupils had already
written Shona Paper 1 which
has now had to be reset.
Other affected
papers are English Language 1 and 2, Geography 2, Shona 2,
Mathematics 1
(non-calculator) and Mathematics 1 (calculator).
University of Zimbabwe
lecturer in the Education department Godfrey Museka
said the continued
leaking and disruptions of Zimsec exams each year had a
negative impact on
the credibility of the local examinations body.
“Leakages can never be
tolerated in the Zimsec system and I personally think
that heads must roll
at Zimsec to ensure efficiency and professionalism. I
want to assume that
some of the bosses at Zimsec are political appointees
some of whom don’t
have the skills to run the examination body,” Museka
said. “It is the
responsibility of Zimsec to ensure that there is adequate
security at
schools where Zimsec examinations are written.”
“Because of these leakages
universities outside the country might begin to
doubt the credibility of the
students’ results or the quality of education
in Zimbabwe because they will
take into consideration that exams during that
year leaked.”
An
independent campaigner of governance, public policy reform and democracy
David Takawira told the Zimbabwe Independent that the leakages of exam
papers made one question Zimsec’s competency level.
“At one goal, one is
shocked at the current operational paralysis that has
bedevilled a
transitional academic authority. Zimsec, no matter which
yardstick of human
development is used, the institution has regressed
significantly in the last
years,” Takawira said. “I think Zimsec is
committing academic fraud, its
institutional credibility as the oasis of
academic leadership is at stake
not to mention the competence of academia we
as a country would
produce.”
He said Zimsec should put in place current international academic
standards
“hence someone somewhere should answer to this mockery.”
“While
many have asked the leadership and competencies of the institution,
it is
still worrying to note that the institution stills fails to achieve
the
basics. Is it that government has failed to secure institutional and
financial support for Zimsec or it’s the general reflection of what went
wrong in the country?” queried Takawira.
“The failure to adopt new
modules and syllabuses which are in-tune with the
21st century leaves a lot
to be desired, hence the process of education is
all but flawed and the
result would be shameful.”
He added that: “Because of the failure by Zimsec,
Education has not been
spared as facilities have dramatically declined over
the years. The
underlying challenges of the inadequate management of
conflict, poor
administration, corruption, partiality, political
interference and nepotism
in the institutions of higher education have been
a daily occurrence. The
failure of leadership and management has resulted in
all the current
prejudices.”
However, Education minister David Coltart
said Zimsec had worked hard this
year to make sure the smooth flow of exams
and it would be unfair to blame
the break-in on Zimsec as it was a criminal
matter.
“There are regulations that I set to ensure that schools have
security and
that exams are stored in safe houses. It is very difficult for
Zimsec to
make sure that each of the 8 000 schools nationwide are complying
and even
if they comply it is difficult to prevent criminals from breaking
into rural
schools most of which are flimsily built,” he said.
Coltart
said the break-in and leakage of the exams impacted heavily on
pupils and
the consequences were massive - costing Zimsec tens of thousands
of United
States dollars.
“It prejudiced a lot of children and children are the ones
who suffered
most. They had planned for their exams and were fully prepared.
Teachers had
to extend their invigilating periods, not to mention the costs.
Tens of
thousands of dollars meant for other projects had to be used,” he
said.
“Objectively we have seen a huge improvement in Zimsec as compared to
the
past two years. I don’t argue that Zimsec is perfect. A lot needs to be
done
to re-establish public confidence and it’s a process. At the moment we
have
a strong board and a financial team that has brought a lot of financial
discipline. Zimsec will become a centre of excellence in the
region.”
Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
21:15
A MASSIVE US$600 million ethanol project, set to transform the
country’s
energy and agriculture sectors, is taking shape in Chisumbanje in
Chipinge,
Manicaland, with the first production of the fuel expected in the
first
quarter of next year.
The ambitious project is a build, operate and
transfer partnership between
government represented by the Agricultural
Rural Development Authority
(Arda) and three investment partners ––
Greenfuel Investments, Rating
Investments and Macdom Investments. The
20-year pact was signed in February
2009.
The project, the biggest so far
in Africa, is promoted by business mogul
Billy Rautenbach through the three
investment partners and is modelled along
the lines of ethanol plants in
Brazil.
The massive project, according to the general manager of the three
investment partners, Graeme Smith, would have three ethanol plants –– two at
Macdom Chisumbanje and one at Rating Middle Sabi.
Chisumbanje and Middle
Sabi would produce sugarcane over 50 000 hectares for
use by the three
plants to produce not only ethanol, but also stockfeed.
“On completion of the
project, we will produce between 2,5 million and 2,8
million litres of
ethanol daily,” Smith told the Zimbabwe Independent during
the tour of the
project last Saturday. “We will also generate 120 megawatts
of electricity
of which we will use 20 megawatts and the remainder will be
fed into the
national grid.”
The production of such volumes of ethanol would be expected
to end the
country’s importation of petrol as consumers convert to the use
of the
cheaper fuel. Excess ethanol-petrol would be exported, bringing into
the
country much-needed foreign currency for social and economic
development.
Zimbabwe’s daily petrol requirements are slightly above one
million litres.
The initial phase of the project, the construction of the
first ethanol
plant by Greenfuel Investments at Chisumbanje, is expected to
be completed
in March. Progress towards completion is 35% with civil
engineering works
for the plant’s foundations having been done, the boiler
section is 60% and
towers are now several meters above the ground.
The
plant would be made up of four sections, the mill, generating plant, the
boiler, and the ethanol distillery chamber.
“Each section has a civil,
mechanical and electrical engineering phases. The
boiler section is very
critical because the cane will be received into the
mill of crushing,” Smith
said. “The resultant bagasse is then fed into the
boiler through a conveyor
belt to burn and produce steam to generate
electricity that powers the whole
plant while the surplus is fed into the
national grid.”
On completion of
the first plant, 350 000 litres of ethanol and 18 megawatts
of electricity
would be produced daily to meet over 30% of the country’s
petrol
requirements. The electricity generated would be enough to power
Manicaland
on completion of all the three plants.
The first phase was initially
scheduled to be completed last month, but
progress stalled when plant parts
imported from Brazil did not reach
Zimbabwe on time because of industrial
action at South African ports.
This delay saw about 100 000 metric tonnes of
sugarcane harvested being sold
to Triangle for sugar production.
“We are
currently sending some of the cane to Triangle to boost their raw
cane
supplies while replanting some of it in order to expand our own
hectarege
under the cane,” Smith said.
About US$270 million has so far been invested in
the gigantic project.
The construction of the plant and agricultural
activities at both
Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi have created 3 000 jobs, most
of them from the
local community.
Smith said the successful completion of
the project, which includes the
setting up of the two other plants, would
depend on the construction of
Kondo Dam in Chipinge to irrigate 30 000
hectares of sugarcane.
“The dam will be two and a half times bigger than Lake
Mutirikwe,” Smith
said. “We will need the support of government and both
local and foreign
investors to build the dam.”
Lake Mutikwe in Masvingo
has a capacity of 1 378 million cubic metres, a
catchment area of 3 900
square kilometres and a surface area of 9 105
hectares.
Besides
transforming the country’s energy sector, the massive project would
also
benefit the local community.
Macdom is establishing irrigation blocks for
small-scale irrigation for
farmers who were affected by the project. The
farmers had for long before
the commencement of the ethanol project been
using the Arda land after the
authority went broke.
Instead of ejecting
the settlers, Macdom ensured that for “every block of
land developed for
cane towards the project, a significant percentage of the
land would be
developed for small scale irrigation by the farmers.
“The water supply in
terms of pumps and canal will be completed this month
and the 10% of land
for irrigation for them (farmers) in the new development
area is being
demarcated and will be prepared along with our fields,” Smith
said. “We
anticipate this to be complete by the end of December if the rains
hold off
or early in the new year.”
At Middle Sabi, Rating pioneered a community
small-scale irrigation
rehabilitation programme that has resulted in the
refurbishment of pumping
units and waterways for 18 schemes covering 1 863
hectares divided into
small plots for 2 861 farmers. The rehabilitation
programme cost US$500 000.
“The amount of money invested in resuscitating the
pump stations and whole
irrigation system here is nothing compared to the
way in which livelihoods
in the community we operate in will be changed for
the better,” said Rating
Middle Sabi estate manager Glen Mirams. “Once there
is water flowing from
Sabi River into the canals, the community survives on
its own and makes
money through selling their produce to wholesalers of
their choice… The Sabi
River and a functional irrigation system is the
lifeline of the area.”
As a result of the project, Checheche Growth Point has
since applied for
town status in anticipation of a boom in business as a
state-of-the-art
shopping mall and a residential area is in the offing.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 20:46
FORMER Zesa
Holdings Ltd boss Simba Mangwengwende, who is also deputy board
chairman,
has taken charge of the day-to-day affairs at the power utility
after the
resignation of former CEO Ben Rafemoyo.
Although Mangwengwende denied he had
taken over management affairs, sources
at Zesa said the former power utility
general manager is running the show.
The sources said Mangwengwende had been
allocated an office at the company’s
Samora Machel headquarters, a charge he
also denied.
When reached for comment last week, Zesa chairman Noah Madziva
denied
Mangwengwende was acting CEO, but chips in “once or twice a week” to
assist
the acting boss.
Madziva said the acting CEO, Eliab Chikwenhere,
is of a financial background
and needed assistance on the technical side of
the business.
He said: “Mangwengwende is not acting CEO. He is a deputy
chairperson of the
board. The acting CEO has a financial background and we
decided that
Mangwengwende could assist on the technical side of the
business. He has no
salary for his assistance and does not get any
consultancy fee and is at
Zesa once or twice a week.
“He has no office.
The arrangement will continue until we get a substantial
CEO. My
understanding is he (Mangwengwende) has no interest in the job, but
is
merely helping through the transition.”
Mangwengwende also denied performing
the CEO role at Zesa saying he was only
a non executive director.
When
businessdigest challenged him last week saying his chairman had
confirmed
his presence at Zesa, he said: “I only help as of when I can, but
I am not
interested in the job.”
Sources said when Elias Mudzuri was appointed Energy
minister last year, he
appointed “a very antagonistic board” chaired by
Madziva and “curiously
deputised” by Mangwengwende.
“The current
chicanery centres on the ex-Zesa boss as it appears the man has
an agenda to
take control of the power utility,” one of the sources said.
“Within the
very first six months of its existence, the board fought tooth
and nail to
get rid of Rafemoyo by conducting some dubious CEO performance
appraisal.
The exercise was temporarily aborted when Mudzuri was reassigned,
but was
renewed and the war was eventually won before the new Minister of
Energy
(Elton) Mangoma had even settled in his new assignment.”
Mangwengwende was
fired from Zesa unceremoniously in 2000 and later got a
golden handshake. He
bounced back at Zesa as a board member last year.
Chris Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
20:43
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) will next week meet to decide
on
proposed tobacco blending ingredients ban, a development that could
negatively affect Zimbabwe’s economic recovery and lives of an estimated 850
000 people.
Through its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),
WHO wants to
force tobacco growing countries to reduce production as part of
its
anti-smoking campaign.
Zimbabwe is now among top five tobacco
producers in the world.
The golden leaf is the best paying crop in Zimbabwe
with a total of 123,4
million kgs sold at the just ended tobacco selling
season after mop up
sales. This year’s production is 110% more than last
year’s production of 56
million kgs.
In Zimbabwe, about 350 000 people
are directly earning a living from
tobacco, while an estimated 500 000 more
benefit from downstream industries.
WHO and FCTC say countries’ such as
Zimbabwe should look for alternative
crops to replace tobacco if the
proposals are passed.
Tobacco growing countries and those advocating for the
ban will meet in
Uruguay from November 15 -20 where the FCTC could come into
force.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association president Kevin Cook told businessdigest
yesterday that as an association they were against the decision to ban
tobacco saying the move affects farmers and the country’s economic
revival.
“We are part of the delegation that went on a fact finding mission
to advise
government on what course to take to ensure that this does not
pass,” he
said.
“We have put together a DVD to present to WHO explaining
to them that there
are no alternatives as we are an agro-based country with
tobacco being one
of the major crops and the best paying. We hope they will
consider our
presentation and requests,” he said.
The FCTC seeks to ban
ingredients used to blend certain varieties of tobacco
such as Virginia and
burley, a move that will affect Zimbabwe’s tobacco
farmers, the industry and
the economy. About 80% of the world’s traded
tobacco production was said to
be represented at this year’s International
Tobacco Growers Association
(ITGA) Annual General Meeting last week, where
farmers discussed the
devastating impact the new guidelines for the FCTC
could bring if adopted in
Uruguay next week.
According to ITGA, which represents 30 million tobacco
farmers these
measures will have disastrous social and economic consequences
without
making any difference to peoples’ health. Article 9 of the FCTC aims
to
regulate the contents of tobacco products, that is the testing and
measuring
of tobacco contents and emissions.
Article 10 of the FCTC aims
at regulating tobacco product disclosures,
disclosure of contents and
emissions of tobacco products. A working group,
led by Canada, Norway and
the European Union, developed detailed guidelines
on Articles 9 and 10 for
countries to follow when implementing national
legislation. The latest
version of the draft guidelines recommends a ban on
use of ingredients in
tobacco products.
Articles 17 and 18 of the FCTC address economically
sustainable alternatives
to tobacco growing.
Common Market for Eastern
and Southern Africa (Comesa) has taken a position
to fight the FCTC. Tobacco
is a source of livelihood to millions in poor
countries such as those in
Southern Africa.
The Zimbabwe Tobacco Association and the Zimbabwe Commercial
Farmers Union
have both united to fight this ban, which could affect 30
million tobacco
farmers globally, according to the International Tobacco
Growers
Association.
Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 19:58
THE
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) says it is advancing
economic
progress through the creation of a conducive climate for business
as well as
developing and enhancing business entrepreneurship. This week the
Zimbabwe
Independent Chief Business Reporter Paul Nyakazeya (PN) spoke to
ZNCC
president Trust Chikohora (TC) about how the chamber is identifying,
promoting and servicing the interests and needs of business. Below are
excerpts from the interview.
PN: What is the role of ZNCC?
TC: We
are the voice of business. Our aim is to be a leader in business
development
in the national economy and a channel of communication between
business and
the various authorities in Zimbabwe. We provide a focus on
business
empowerment as the engine for economic growth and also encourage
competitiveness in the market place through the promotion of organised
business communities.
PN: How many members do you have to date?
TC: We
have about 3 000 members.
PN: Why should one join ZNCC?
TC: The chamber
represents the collective voice of its members, their views
and concerns at
a local, national and international level. Members make
business contacts
through our regular business networking luncheons,
seminars and social
events.
They develop a skilled and qualified workforce by taking advantage of
a
whole range of training activities, get advice on overseas markets and
documentation and take part in trade missions and export/import
courses.
PN: What significant developments have you made so far as a chamber
and
since you came became president in July?
TC: We made significant
contributions in the mid-term fiscal policy. We also
took part considerably
in the PPPs (public-private partnerships) that are
gathering steam right
now. We have been marketing Zimbabwe as a preferred
investment and tourist
destination and promoting trade. We also signed a
memorandum of
understanding with the Zimbabwe Open University to encourage
our members to
further empower themselves through education. We are also
working with
junior chambers who are the future members of ZNCC. We are
also working on
projects for woman to empower them as they play an important
role in
economic revival. We have also presented business request in for the
forthcoming national budget.
PN: What were some of your submissions for
the 2011 national budget?
TC: There are a lot, however, taxes have been a
major issue. Government
should review downwards the Pay As You Earn tax
system with the maximum
being around 30%. The Minister of Finance (Tendai
Biti) should consider a
two-tier approach whereby the general tariff rate on
passenger motor
vehicles shall be reduced to a flat rate of 15%.
We are
suggesting that a lower tariff rate of 7,5% could be allowed where it
can be
proved that the vehicles were purchased on a vehicle finance scheme
so as to
encourage banks to offer vehicle financing to the public.
Banks must be
encouraged to offer viable interest rates on deposits while at
the same time
the financial services sector, which stands accused of looting
depositors
through low interest rates on deposits and high lending rates,
should begin
to publish their rates.
In order to encourage the development of a money
market, government should
allow financial institutions to offer an
investment paper that has a
prescribed asset status.
The investment paper
can then be used as collateral and also be traded in
the secondary market
thereby encouraging flow of credit as well as trading
among various
entities.
PN: To what extent does government adopt what you would have
presented to
them?
TC: They have accommodated much of what we have
presented to them,
especially in the latest mid-term fiscal policy. We are
optimistic they will
take on board much of what we have submitted for
consideration in the next
budget.
PN: What is the common problem among
Zimbabwean companies and what has been
slowing down economic revival and
what can be done?
TC: Liquidity has been the major problem among all sectors.
The absence of
affordable loans and lines of credit has also negatively
affected business.
Liquidity and absence of lines of credit has been the
major problem. It is
important to engage multilateral lending institutions
such as IMF and
properly define policies such as the Indigenisation Act in a
way that will
not scare away investors. Most investors seem not to be
confident with what
they hear or read about regarding the Global Political
Agreement’s
outstanding issues and that it is collapsing has and is still
affecting
foreign direct investment in a big way.
PN: What do you think
of the tax-free threshold?
TC: Government should increase the tax free
threshold to US$300 from US$175
in order to improve disposable incomes among
Zimbabwe’s struggling workers
enduring the harsh effects of high
taxes.
PN: Do you in any way work with other industry bodies or
organisations?
TC: We collaborate with other national organisations with
similar
objectives, such as the chambers of commerce and trade organisations
throughout the world.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 20:59
IT is
always a pity to see a leading businessman parroting Zanu PF’s line
about
sanctions being responsible for the country’s setbacks. You have to be
either very foolish or very naïve to swallow that hokum.
All
intelligent people in this country know perfectly well that sanctions
were
imposed because of electoral manipulation and political violence. Zanu
PF
thought it could get away with coercing the country in 2000/2. The EU
observer team that was sent here to monitor the 2002 poll was booted out
having witnessed the then ruling party’s misconduct. And those responsible
for political murders in 2000 were never brought to justice.
Then we have
captains of industry excusing this appalling record by blaming
sanctions for
damaging the economy. This enables them to skate over land
seizures, fiscal
mismanagement, and the debilitating impact of
indigenisation
laws.
Callistus Jokonya as president of the CZI overlooked glaring policy
defects
that did much to damage industry. And now his successor Joseph
Kanyekanye is
doing the same thing. He is happy to go along with the state’s
dishonest
message that somebody else is responsible for the mess we are in.
No senior
businessman worth his salt would treat Zimbabweans to this
dishonesty. We
all know where the rot starts. At the head!
And once the
Herald throws its weight behind you, it soon becomes obvious
whose views you
represent.
For instance, the Herald claimed this week that “Westerners have
admitted
that the sanctions are constraining the operations of the inclusive
government which is why they are looking at ways of toning them
down”.
Are they? This might have been true before President Mugabe took it
upon
himself to arbitrarily cast aside the requirements of Constitutional
Amendment No 19 and appoint governors, judges and ambassadors without
consulting the prime minister, but it is unlikely now that EU governments
will be able to justify to their constituents any further concessions to the
GNU. The law continues to be a weapon used to pursue and harass members of
the MDC. And the MDC has to beg the police to allow them to exercise their
right to hold meetings.
A good illustration of the structural
problems the MDC faces was provided
recently by Brigadier-General Douglas
Nyikayaramba. He was reported as
telling soldiers under his command that:
“From today no one will come in
your communities to hold political meetings
or rallies without your
blessing. Those who defy such orders will be dealt
with. Only war veterans
and chiefs have the right and the powers to hold
rallies and meetings
because they fought for this country.”
Nyikayaramba
speaking in Mutare at what was called an “indoctrination
workshop”, urged
chiefs to support Zanu PF.
“No leader without war credentials will rule
Zimbabwe and President Mugabe
will remain in office for life,” he declared.
“I want to make it clear to
all chiefs gathered here today that if President
Mugabe loses in next year’s
elections, they will have a case to answer. Gone
are the Rhodesian days when
chiefs were apolitical.
“I am not ashamed to
declare publicly that I support Zanu PF and President
Robert Mugabe,”
Nyikayaramba was reported as declaring. He called those
civil servants who
have not publicly declared their allegiance to Zanu PF
“traitors”.
This is all very revealing. When we heard in 2002 that
Nyikayaramba had been
appointed chief elections officer we asked the army if
that was in order.
They said he was retired so there wasn’t a
problem.
Now he is back in uniform — and always has been — declaring his
undying
loyalty to President Mugabe and heaping vitriol on Morgan
Tsvangirai.
There is nothing professional or in any way acceptable about
this. Serving
army officers should keep out of politics. We don’t want to
know what their
partisan views might be. Their job is to defend the country,
not the
candidacy of a particular presidential incumbent. And those civil
servants
who are performing their duty by avoiding partisan politics deserve
congratulation, not abuse. At least they understand their duty
clearly.
By the way, we recall chiefs in the Rhodesian era as slavishly loyal
to the
regime, hardly “apolitical”.
Nyikayaramba’s remarks, as reported
last week, deserve a wide audience
abroad. The international community needs
to know about the role of the army
in politics.
And then we had in
the wake of Nyikayaramba’s maladroit remarks, Patrick
Chinamasa rejecting
the allegation that the ZEC is dominated by serving
members of the army,
police and CIO.
They may not be in the ZEC but they are certainly everywhere
else!
Does Zanu PF really expect the EU at their annual meeting on Zimbabwe
in
February to ignore behaviour of this sort?
And are they also expected
to hand out large amounts of money to Zimbabwe
when Mugabe calls the EU and
US “damn fools”?
Another example of Zanu PF’s delinquent behaviour came from
the normally
sensible SK Moyo last week.
“What happened in 2008 is
unusual and we are not going to let it happen
again,” he said in Mutare. “We
are a revolutionary party and any other party
which thinks it will rule this
country is daydreaming. We will not
relinquish power to any other
party.”
He is of course dead wrong. What happened in March 2008 was part of a
pattern which can be traced back to 2000. Zanu PF is a party in terminal
decline. The more it struggles to maintain its power by beating the hell out
of voters, the more it is perceived as a rogue party that can only succeed
where it has the instruments of state power at its disposal.
It lost the
battle for hearts and minds years ago.
If we were in any doubt as to Zanu
PF’s rapacity, the Zimbabwean reported
the recent seizure of Tiennie van
Rensburg’s farm by Brian Mushowe, son of
governor Chris Mushowe assisted by
a CIO officer. Van Rensburg was evicted
despite a High Court ruling by
Justice George Chiweshe barring interference
on the property.
The farm,
Rubeni Farm in Nyazura, is one of the few remaining commercial
farms in the
area. Van Rensburg (73) is battling to get his property off the
farm which
includes 15 tonnes of maize and farm equipment. His household
goods have
been looted.
The Zimbabwean reports that armed soldiers led by a Colonel
Mashiri from
Mutare recently arrived on the farm at midnight and ordered Van
Rensburg to
vacate within 72 hours.
President Mugabe arrived at the
swearing-in of Tanzanian president Jakaya
Kikwete to “thunderous applause”
we are told by Sunday Mail correspondent
Robert Mukondiwa.
This eclipsed
the welcome given to other leaders attending the ceremony.
Tanzanians can
afford to be generous in their praise. Successive leaders
have abandoned
past socialist policies and espoused the market. As a result
the country has
progressed by leaps and bounds. It is an African success
story. Zimbabwe
meanwhile has gone downhill fast. Mukondiwa should have
explained the
contrast instead of blinding us with “thunderous” receptions.
And the Chama
Cha Mapinduzi party didn’t really usher in independence when
Julius Nyerere
“swept to power in 1962”.
Nyerere led his Tanganyika African National Union
(Tanu) to independence as
prime minister in 1961. He then stepped down and
returned to office as
president of the Republic of Tanganyika in 1962. Chama
Cha Mapinduzi came
later.
Let’s hope that President Mugabe took a cue
from the inauguration of
President Kikwete. In a colourful ceremony Kikwete
was sworn in by the
Tanzanian chief justice at the Uhuru Stadium in the
presence of several
heads of state, African Union Chairman Jean Ping,
government officials and
foreign diplomats not to mention thousands who
thronged to watch the event.
With the exception of a few, the majority of the
losing presidential
contenders also attended the event. In his speech
Kikwete pledged to join
hands with his opponents to put the country back on
“the right track for
development”.
Kikwete, a spritely, youthful figure
cut a striking contrast to his
86-year-old Zimbabwean counterpart who
ultimately ran against himself to
reclaim power in 2008.
Mugabe’s own
inauguration ceremony, pervaded by a sense of hollowness, can
only be
described as drab and dreary. Fellow heads of states were
conspicuous by
their absence and Mugabe could only count on the company of
his hangers-on
who included his henchmen along with Gabriel Chaibva. Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, who had withdrawn from the violent election,
rightly dismissed
the inauguration as “an exercise in self-delusion”.
Whilst Kikwete was
swamped by congratulatory messages from across Africa,
Mugabe was greeted by
a deafening silence from Sadc and the AU.
In the end Mugabe had to seek
dialogue with the MDC, not out of goodwill but
from a stinging realisation
that he had no legitimacy.
Hopefully we won’t have another déjà vu moment
next June with Mugabe having
again railroaded his will at the expense of the
majority.
There seems to be a hullabaloo about the alleged assault on
Chief Serima by
Tongai Matutu and MDC-T youths in Gutu in September.
The
president has promised to do something about it.
What strikes us as
interesting in all this is the way in which a party with
a record of
violence and which has never brought the perpetrators to book
should
suddenly focus its attention on Matutu.
Then we have on the same page of last
Thursday’s Herald an article headed
“Govt warns NGOs over aid”.
They have
been warned against “using aid to further their political agenda”.
Doesn’t
this sound familiar? Didn’t the government say the same thing in
2008,
leading to the curtailment of aid?
And what constitutes “using aid”? Could it
simply be the act of handing it
out?
Meanwhile Rugare Gumbo, addressing
journalists after last week’s politburo
meeting, said he highlighted the
support government was giving to farmers.
“We are concerned that some A2
farmers just do not have the capacity to
effectively work without the
support of government,” he said.
When did that dawn on him?
One of the
army of Zanu PF apologists who prefer to live in the UK rather
than
Zimbabwe, Sihle Dube a lawyer, was
this week proclaiming that she could never
as a lawyer concoct stories about
conditions in Zimbabwe in order to support
asylum seekers. To lie like that
would be to invite censure from the Bar
Council, she points out.
But she doesn’t hesitate to tell a much bigger
whopper that the regime here
has been trying to spread for over two years.
That tall story is that the
British government moved white pensioners from
Zimbabwe because it
recognised that the sanctions that it imposed on
Zimbabwe had eroded their
life savings and that they were living in
poverty.
Living in poverty indeed they were. But who apart from Zanu PF’s
apologists
would suggest those economic conditions were the product of
sanctions? They
were very obviously the product of President Mugabe’s
misrule.
How could a lawyer like Sihle Dube embrace such pernicious lies? Has
she
ever spoken to any of the old folk — 374 in total — who saw their life
savings wiped out? They would be unanimous as to where their misfortune
lay.
What was the source of national impoverishment in 2007/8? Wasn’t it
runaway
inflation spurred by money-printing? It certainly wasn’t
“sanctions”.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
20:58
IT is an incontrovertible fact that Zimbabwe’s greatest need is a
substantive economic recovery, instead of the minimal upturn achieved since
early 2009. Millions of Zimbabweans are struggling to survive on incomes
far below the Poverty Datum Line, and a great proportion of those millions
afflicted by pronounced malnutrition, inability to fund essential healthcare
and education for their children, and other basic prerequisites of life.
Factories and other enterprises are downsizing and, in many instances,
closing operations, with consequential increasing unemployment and
intensifying poverty.
The prerequisites of a meaningful halt to economic
downturn, and of
significant real growth, are manifold. They include, first
and foremost,
that Zimbabwe attain large-scale investment into its
considerable economic
potential. However, very few in Zimbabwe have the
resources to fund the
much-needed investment and, therefore, foreign
investment is an absolute
requirement. But the volume of foreign investment
required will not be
forthcoming unless Zimbabwe is perceived as a safe and
desirable investment
destination. The foreign investor will not invest
unless he is satisfied
that the investment will be safe and secure, will
generate acceptable
investment returns, and can be readily realised if and
when there is a
desire to dispose of it.
Providing the investors with
credible assurances of security and yields
required that government controls
be minimal. Investors expect the
investment environment to be one wherein
democracy reigns supreme; there is
comprehensive respect for human rights
and justice, and for property rights.
They also seek an investment regime
wherein taxation is fair and reasonable.
Zimbabwe also critically needs
considerable inflows of funding into the
presently financially emaciated
banking sector, but foreign financiers will
not make resources available in
the absence of the same factors as are the
criteria sought and applied by
investors. In addition, investors and
financiers alike are devoid of
confidence in Zimbabwe as an acceptable
investment and funding destination
unless it is in good standing and
harmonious relationships with the
international community.
Over and above these, and divers other
considerations, the foreign investor
seeks expectations of investment yields
which are equal to, or greater than,
those which can be anticipated from
alternative investment. One of the key
areas wherein Zimbabwe can meet
those investor expectations is the mining
sector. Zimbabwe has a vast
wealth of relatively minimally exploited
minerals and precious stones in
high demand internationally. These include,
amongst others, gold, diamonds,
platinum, nickel, chrome, lithium, methane
gas, and coal. So great are the
unexploited or only partially exploited
mineral resources that mining could
readily be a major catalyst for the much
needed, and hankered for, economic
recovery.
However, government is apparently determined not to have mining as
the
catalyst for the economic recovery anxiously sought by almost all
Zimbabweans. Despite more than nine months of intensive representations by
the mining sector, government has yet to modify the oppressive and
destructive requirements of Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment
legislation. That legislation prescribes that, within five years, not less
than 51% of equity in each and every mine (as well as other enterprises)
must be held by Zimbabweans. What investor anywhere in the world other than
the irrational and the insane will invest the required, usually very
considerable, capital into the development and operations of a mine, and
provide required technology, in order to be a minority, without any control
to protect the investment and assure a sound return thereon?
Concurrently
with placing the immense investment hurdle of restricting
foreign investors
to minority status, many are demanding nationalisation of
mines, in whole or
in part. The foolhardiness of that demand, over and above
being yet another
deterrent to investors, was lucidly highlighted last week
in South Africa
where similar foolhardy demands are being made. The
president of the South
African Chamber of Mines, Sipho Nkosi, disclosed that
South African tax
revenues would have diminished by R67 billion last year if
the mines were
nationalised, to the prejudice of government, taxpayers and
the populace.
He said: “It is worth pointing out to the advocates of
nationalisation that
mining is a universally tough business and not an easy
route to the
accumulation of immense wealth”.
His comments were reinforced by Anglo
American CEO Cynthia Carroll, who
said: “Nationalisation simply does not
work. It hinders the development of
private mining industry. It harms
industrial growth and industrial
competitiveness and it restricts social and
economic transformation.”
But Zimbabwe’s government clearly feels that forced
indigenisation, or
pursuit of partial nationalisation, does not suffice to
destroy the mining
industry thereby intensifying the already horrendous
economic circumstances
of Zimbabwe. Compounding those catastrophic intents,
government is firmly
determined to intensify the taxation of the mining
sector. It proposes to
increase the rate of income tax payable by mining
companies from 15%-25%,
arguing that they should pay at the same rate as
applies to other companies.
Concurrently, it is proposed to reduce very
markedly the allowances, for tax
purposes, on the inevitably great capital
expenditures necessarily incurred
by the mining sectors.
Government is
also threatening to increase the rate of royalties payable by
the miners.
At the same time, rural district councils, emulating central
government, are
going berserk in the increases of taxes and levies that they
are demanding
of mines, those increases in many instances being many
thousands per cent
greater.
There are also other factors which have a negative impact upon the
mining
sector. Amongst these factors, a key element is the ongoing
inability of
the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) to meet the
mines energy
needs. Not only does Zesa fail to meet those needs, but it is
unable even
to provide the mines with authoritative schedules as to when
they will be
subject to load shedding. As a result, to an ever increasing
extent, mines
have to acquire their own energy generation equipment, and the
government’s
response is to diminish the capital expenditure allowances
accorded the
mines.
Instead of feeding the goose to strengthen it and
ensure that it yields more
golden eggs, government seems determined to pluck
it endlessly, until it
withers and dies.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
20:57
THE revived Zapu party, which announced last week that it will
field
candidates in all constituencies if elections are held next year, is
likely
to pose a serious threat to MDC-T’s dominance in the Matabeleland
region,
analysts have said.
Since its inception in 2000, MDC-T has won
the majority of parliamentary
seats in the southern region but analysts now
say the declaration by Dumiso
Dabengwa’s Zapu that it will contest in all
constituencies could be
worrisome to Tsvangirai.
This, analysts said, was
because Tsvangirai has not done much for the region
despite receiving
support from Matabeleland, which they pointed out might
dissuade people
against voting for his party. President Robert Mugabe has
said elections
would be held by mid-next year.
However, other political commentators said
Zapu might not make any impact
because it was playing “old politics” without
bringing anything new to the
people, while MDC-T has said it did not feel
threatened at all.
After the 2008 elections, Tsvangirai has not been visible
in Bulawayo or
Matabeleland North and South provinces and it was only last
month when his
party established an office in the central business district,
in a move
which political commentators said was calculated to win back the
hearts and
minds of voters.
Tsvangirai’s selection of cabinet ministers
from Matabeleland has received
the sharpest criticism from the
region.
Initially in 2009, Tsvangirai had selected only two ministers from
the
region –– Eddie Cross (State Enterprises and Parastatals) and Abedinico
Bhebhe (Water Resources) –– from MDC-M. Both Cross and Bhebhe were later
dropped from the final list to include Gorden Moyo and Samuel Sipepa
Nkomo.
Tsvangirai’s appointments were seen as a betrayal of the people of
Matabeleland who felt that more legislators from the region should have been
appointed to Cabinet.
In July this year, top MDC-T officials from the
region felt that there was a
deliberate policy to sideline politicians from
Matabeleland when it came to
cabinet posts.
Their grievances centered on
the perceived demotion of Moyo from being
minister of state in the Office of
the Prime Minister to State Enterprises
and Parastatals. There was also
concern over Thamsanqa Mahlangu, who was
redeployed back to the party from
being the deputy minister of Youth
Development.
Dabengwa, a former
politburo member, pulled out of Zanu PF in 2008 to
champion the revival of
Zapu.
Political analyst Effie Ncube said Zapu could have an impact but it
would
depend on what they have to offer the electorate.
He said
Matabeleland people would rally behind Dabengwa since they still
have a
connection with the party that was dominant in the region from the
1960s to
1980s.
But Ncube warned that it would also depend on whether Dabengwa’s
policies
appeal to the younger generation, which never experienced Zapu’s
yesteryear
success. The late vice president Nkomo’s PF-Zapu garnered 20
seats in the
1980 elections in which Mugabe’s Zanu PF won 57 seats.
“Zapu
can make an impact on MDC-T’s performance in the forthcoming elections
because some people may feel betrayed by Tsvangirai whom they have
supported,” said Ncube. “However, if Zimbabweans think Tsvangirai is an
agent of change, it becomes difficult for Dabengwa and company to win the
elections. Zapu should not rely on the name because politics has
changed.”
Bulawayo-based political science expert Qubani Moyo said Zapu’s
rebirth was
an interesting development in Matabeleland, which may change the
political
landscape.
He said Dabengwa could grab a few parliamentary
seats but was quick to warn
that Zapu risked failing to make a significant
impact if it continued to
play “old politics.”
Moyo said Dabengwa has not
tabled anything new on the political arena but
relied on nostalgia, blaming
the former Home Affairs minister of recruiting
notorious war veterans into
his party.
“Zapu dominance has not been felt anywhere in Matabeleland and we
wonder
what kind of magic will Dabengwa use to woo voters. Why did Dabengwa
entertain war veterans who butchered Zanu PF political opponents?”
Moyo
argued Matabeleland people were sceptical of Zapu, which is widely seen
as
an extension of Zanu PF.
“They (Zapu) want to contain Zanu PF succession
battle from outside. Ever
since the congress, Dabengwa has failed to rise to
the occasion and the talk
of a special congress shows internal instability
that makes it impossible to
win seats,” he said.
On the other hand
Dabengwa defended his party saying he was confident of
winning the polls and
forming the next government.
“Zapu is a third force that can usher change and
give people what they long
for,” said Dabengwa.
“We will definitely win a
number of seats in the forthcoming elections,”
Analysts say if Zapu fails to
win seats in Matabeleland, the party risked
fading into oblivion and the
leadership’s former links with Zanu PF may cost
them votes given that
Dabengwa lost elections in Nkulumane against MDC-T.
Some commentators,
however, said Dabengwa lost because he contested on a
Zanu PF
ticket.
MDC-T organising secretary Elias Mudzuri believes his party would
continue
overshadowing other parties in Matabeleland and in the rest of
Zimbabwe.
He said there was confusion over Zapu considering that there are
still
former PF-Zapu members in Zanu PF while others defected with
Dabengwa.
“We will strengthen our structures to ensure we remain the people’s
party
countrywide,” said Mudzuri. “Zapu’s presence doesn’t scare MDC-T
because we
are in a democratic country where parties are allowed to
contest.”
He suggested the revival of Zapu was Mugabe’s plan to divide
Matabeleland
people to allow him to continue ruling a deeply divided
nation.
Brian Chitemba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 20:56
LAST
week’s failure of the Kimberley Process (KP) to reach agreement on
whether
to give the Zimbabwe government the green light to export alluvial
diamonds
from the Chiadzwa diamond fields threatens to open up new divisions
over the
international response to domestic affairs in Zimbabwe among
Zimbabweans
generally, concerned observers, the human rights community,
political
parties and Southern African countries.
Division in international responses
to Zimbabwe’s internal affairs are a
decade old and have much to do with how
Zanu PF has sought to cloak its
domestic conduct from external criticism
using various symbols, liberation
history, race and sovereignty. To do this,
Zanu PF has drawn on real, not
imagined grievances.
There lies a widely
acknowledged set of concerns in how Zanu PF has sought
to defend itself from
external, particularly Western, criticism. The genius
of this defence is
that it links real grievances and powerful moral
narratives to an
authoritarian and violent political survival project.
The land grievance, for
example, had a long and real history. Popular
grievance over imbalances in
land distribution between whites and blacks was
authentic. In 2000, Zanu PF
used the need to redistribute land to mask a
project of violent land
seizures targeting black farm workers it perceived
as opposition
supporters.
Torn between their recognition of the emotive history of land
grievance in
Southern Africa and the obvious human rights violations
attendant to the
land seizures, most African states chose the former over
the latter. In the
human rights community, activists in Zimbabwe found
themselves divided over
whether economic rights took precedence to civil and
political rights. What
comes first: democracy or economic
prosperity?
Fast forward to 2010 and a scenario not too dissimilar from the
abovementioned one is once again playing out in Zimbabwe. Zanu PF argues
that it has been unable to secure international development aid because of
what it regards as Western sanctions aimed at “regime change”. The party
adds that the discovery and mining of Chiadzwa diamonds is potentially a
source of significant income for economic revival, but the Western sanctions
brigade is now frustrating the export of diamonds so that its regime change
agenda is not undermined.
Many Zimbabweans, Southern African states and
observers are likely to view
the ban on Chiadzwa diamonds as frustrating
economic recovery in a real
sense. They will scoff at the palpable double
standards: Western countries
are happy to buy up minerals from the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
without thinking twice about the human
rights violations that occur in the
process of extracting these resources,
but they are up in arms about
relatively lesser violations in Zimbabwe’s
mining sector.
Western countries do not flinch from buying oil from
Equatorial Guinea
either — one of the most repressive, corrupt and human
rights-violating
African states. Moreover, according to the KP, “conflict
diamonds” are
“rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to
finance conflict
aimed at undermining legitimate governments”. The Chiadzwa
diamonds do not
fit this definition by any stretch of the
imagination.
Thus, Zanu PF is once again articulating real grievance in its
refutation of
the international response to the mining and sale of Chiadzwa
diamonds. Zanu
PF’s argument on the Chiadzwa diamonds has resonance with
many Zimbabweans,
Southern African leaders, observers and some in the human
rights community
who are aware of how double standards undermine the human
rights agenda in
Zimbabwe.
The flip side is that once again Zanu PF has
linked what appears to be an
economic venture designed to uplift and empower
Zimbabweans with a project
that violates human rights and one that aims to
guarantee the party’s
continued authoritarian rule. Human rights violations
in Chiadzwa are real
and well-documented.
Some of the revenue from
Chiadzwa diamonds is also likely to find its way to
Zanu PF coffers and will
be used to fund the party’s campaign in the next
elections, which, given the
violence in the constitutional review outreach
programme and the party’s
past conduct in elections, will be a violent one.
In addition, just as the
land reform programme benefited Zanu PF elites
greatly, so will the Chiadzwa
diamonds. Indeed, the untapped wealth in
Chiadzwa provides Zanu PF with
renewed and robust incentive to remain in
power.
Zimbabweans, the human
rights community, Southern African states, concerned
observers and political
parties in Zimbabwe will do well to avoid
approaching the debate about the
Chiadzwa diamonds in the same “for or
against” approach they adopted on the
land reform programme because this
plays into Zanu PF’s divisive
designs.
Zimbabwe can still export Chiadzwa diamonds and uplift the country
economically while respecting human rights, just as land could have been
redistributed from whites to blacks without the violence and human rights
abuses that accompanied the process.
Blessing-Miles Tendi is the
author of Making History in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe:
Politics, Intellectuals and
the Media. He is based in the UK.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 20:55
THE Prime
Minister of the inclusive government, Morgan Tsvangirai, who is
also the
president of the MDC-T has publicly stated that he too is keen on
elections
being held next year. The difference between his statement and
that of
President Robert Mugabe is that PM Tsvangirai insists on the
elections being
supervised directly by Sadc, the AU and the other components
of the
international community. His statement is also made with full
confidence in
his party’s superior popularity to Zanu PF.
However, this popularity may not
be adequate for MDC T to win an election to
be held presumably by the end of
June 2011. Like Zanu PF and Mugabe, in
accepting the full possibility of an
election by mid next year, Tsvangirai
is taking a big political
gamble.
The first assumption of this gamble relates to the possibility that
he may
be calling Mugabe’s bluff and seeking to pressure the latter to
accede to
outstanding issues in relation to the Global Political Agreement
and the
inclusive government by threatening an election. Tsvangirai’s
assumption is
that Mugabe is so well aware of his lack of popularity, the
divisions within
Zanu PF and the impossibility of wishing the MDC away that
the last thing
the ageing leader wants is an early election. So in order to
exploit Mugabe’s
fears, the leader of the MDC T may have made his acceptance
of an election
next year as a way of getting Mugabe to allow him more
influence in
government and in order to address the now seemingly permanent
“outstanding
issues”.
The second assumption that Tsvangirai makes over
and about elections next
year is that the intervention of Sadc, the AU and
other intergovernmental
organisations have kept the same amount of interest
in the Zimbabwean
political crisis as they did particularly in the period
leading to the
signing of the GPA. Or even if he does not view things in
that manner, he
may at least think that the call for an election will
re-ignite a waning
interest in intervening in Zimbabwe’s crisis. He also
anticipates that
President Jacob Zuma will probably not be as stubborn as
former president
Thabo Mbeki as the Sadc appointed facilitator by dealing
with outstanding
issues with a greater sense of urgency.
The truth of the
matter is that Zuma has demonstrated neither urgency nor
full engagement
with the Zimbabwean inclusive government since the August
2010 Sadc summit
or in the aftermath of the MDC T’s statement of protest
over ambassadors and
governors. At best Zuma has maintained the quiet
diplomacy approach but
without indicating a substantive timetable or
inducing commitments to full
implementation of the GPA from Mugabe.
Tsvangirai must also be wary of the
decreasing levels of the acceptance of
the Zimbabwean crisis as a Sadc
problem, especially when President Ian Khama
of Botswana and newly
re-elected President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania seem
to be less direct in
their attitude towards our country.
The third speculation that Tsvangirai
makes is that his party’s structures
are intact and ready to mobilise the
public in the next half year to be
prepared to vote. It is however more
likely to be true that the greater
majority of MDC structures have been
adversely affected by the selective
nature of those that were chosen to
participate in the Constitutional
Parliamentary Committee (Copac), the
elitist functioning of the inclusive
government and by internal displacement
due to the political violence of
2008.
These supporters may not be in a
position to heed the call to fully prepare
to face Zanu PF in an election as
soon as mid next year. Add to this the
possibility of the potential attempt
to recruit MDC-T members by the newly
re-launched PF Zapu and the more
region-centred MDC-M, and all pointers lead
to the fact that Tsvangirai may
be in need of a thorough and urgent
reactivation of his party
structures.
A fourth assumption that Tsvangirai makes is that his party will
get a
resounding “yes” vote to the constitutional draft that will be drafted
by
Copac simply because of his party’s popularity. What he may not be aware
of
is that there is still the strong possibility of a joint “yes” campaign
with
Zanu PF for different reasons but with potentially the same effect,
that of
painting both parties with the same brush. The attendant biased
state media
coverage of such a process will inevitably present Zanu PF, as
it did with
the recent Copac outreach process, as being a step ahead of the
game. An
added factor would also be the “no” vote campaign that will
possibly be
undertaken by the NCA, ZCTU and Zinasu, which will have the
effect of
weakening the MDC-Ts support base at the referendum, and at a
potential
general election in June 2011.
A fifth assumption being made by
the MDC-T leader in agreeing to elections
next year is that the majority of
Zimbabweans are raring to go to the polls.
It may be true that the majority
of supporters of the MDC-T will do as
instructed by their national party
leadership but this may not be so for the
majority of Zimbabweans. It is
looking increasingly possible that unless
issues of redress for the
politically motivated violence of 2008 and before
are addressed adequately
the turnout at the proposed poll will be that of
mainly party supporters and
not necessarily of the general populace. In
such an instance, any possible
electoral victory for the MDC-T will not be a
resounding one.
The sixth
and final gamble (there are many more but the shortage of space
limits the
ability to address all of them) being undertaken by Tsvangirai is
that he
will be able to maintain the support of civil society organisations
(CSOs)
and the international donor community for his cause and processes in
the
next half year. The reality is that there are now many more competitors
for
the support of the CSOs and donors. These include the nascent devolution
CSOs and the newly reformed or reforming political parties that may not be
as popular as the MDC-T but are in with a shout in some regions of the
country. Even Zanu PF will be a competitor for the same especially if it
outlines some sort of Mugabe succession plan.
So the acceptance of the
possibility of elections next year by Tsvangirai is
a big political gamble.
He is faced with the possibility of a technical
defeat if his house and
strategies are not in order. Even though he probably
feels that it is Mugabe
who has the most to lose, a potential victory for
his party, come June 2011,
will not be by default.
By Takura Zhangazha.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010 20:54
DO WE need an
alternative term for “service delivery”? I think so, and so
does new South
African Social Development minister Bathabile Dlamini.
At the ANC’s recent
National General Council meeting she said that the term
should be stopped as
it inculcated a sense of entitlement among people.
“(It) makes people
believe that they will get everything from government...”
she said.
She
added: “South Africans were mobilised people before 1994. They were hard
workers but that has changed. They don’t contribute anything. They destroy
what they have when they demand something.”
This is a refreshing
acknowledgement of the dangers of dependency on
government hand-outs. Let’s
start with housing, where we have a fairly
insane give-away of a major asset
that is often not even recipients’ highest
priority.
This is why, as ANC
delegates also observed, they often sell or rent out
these houses and go
back to informal settlements. Housing waiting lists are
always contentious
and thoroughly corrupted. There are umpteen stories about
people on lists
since the mid-90s who still don’t have a house while others
jump the queue
through bribes or political connections.
The Reconstruction and Development
Programme (RDP) houses are typically
small and uniform, with little choice
given to recipients. They are often
built badly, due to corrupt contractors.
According to Human Settlements
minister Tokyo Sexwale, 40 000 houses
countrywide have to be rebuilt at a
cost of R1.3 billion. Building vouchers
and/or tax breaks for small builders
could have achieved far more, including
choice and variety.
Informal settlements could have been upgraded in this way
too. This would
have been real empowerment of the masses, tapping into the
creativity and
energy of everyone.
The irony of the “open toilets” saga
in Cape Town is that with community
consultation it stretched the available
money for sanitation. The deal was
that instead of one enclosed toilet for
every five families, each household
would get a toilet that they undertook
to enclose themselves.
Residents made all manner of arrangements to do this,
including some
ingenious en suite variations. Only 55 remained unenclosed
out of 1 316
toilets, and these residents still had access to the national
norm of one
communal toilet per five households. The ANC’s hypocrisy in
distorting this
to score points against the DA has unfortunately put paid to
similar
exercises elsewhere.
Another source of damaging dependency is the
grants given without any
conditions. This is in contrast to Brazil’s
successful Bolsa Familia cash
transfer programme. Money is given to poor
women on condition that they send
their children to schools and have them
vaccinated.
Pregnant women get it on condition they see a doctor during
pregnancy.
According to Brazil’s Deputy Minister for Social Security, Carlos
Gabas:
“Bolsa Familia not only helps to lift people out of poverty, it also
helps
them to enter the labour market. A person who has enough to eat, to
dress
and to have a decent life is in a better position to look for a job
than one
who is starving.”
This is a perfect expression of the need for a
“hand up” rather than endless
hand-outs. It is social assistance rather than
service delivery. The truly
incapacitated or vulnerable must have a safety
net, but those who can lift
themselves up must get the opportunity.
Jack
Bloom is a DA member of the Gauteng legislature. — The Citizen.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11
November 2010 21:11
LAST week I attended a conference whose theme was
“Progress in Zimbabwe”.
When the conference started, I realised that there
were many issues that
have been ignored since Independence. I expected
progress to dwell more on
what had happened in the country following the
inception of the government
of national unity, but after a few sessions into
the conference, I realised
that the tragedy that led to the signing of the
Global Political Agreement
was in itself a problem of progress.
It
suddenly became clear that whereas the country scored highly on
education,
access to primary health, infrastructure development, among other
successes,
there was no consensus on a number of other important issues such
as
nation-building, which continued to present problems to date.
The political
elites, I suddenly realised, centralised power and in the
process
demobilised, not only the combatants who had fought in the
liberation war,
but also the peasants, the workers and other people who had
supported the
war of freedom.
The result was a deep state whereby the elites take over all
decision making
processes. These elites thought they knew what the nation
wanted but there
was a disarticulation between the centralised and
presumably developmental
state and an expectant nation.
This was clearly
evident in the internal conflicts, violence, corruption and
stagnated
economic development within the first few years of Independence.
By the time
the ex-combatants, peasants, workers and students reorganised,
the damage
had been done. The other result of the centralisation of power by
the elites
was that nation-building failed and as a result there are many
contested
spaces which would take a genius to defuse.
One has to look at the dominant
narrative in the electronic media, the
history books and until recently
public discourse to realise how entrenched
this elitism is. The narrative in
the electronic media is so exclusionary
that it would appear that the Zanu
PF voice is the one and only. It swallows
all the other voices even on
issues where there should be a celebration of
diversity or
difference.
Our history books since Independence are dominated by patriotic
historiography that ironically was supposed to be supporting
nation-building, a failed project if ever it had been on the
agenda.
There is nothing wrong with the patriotic historiography, but it
should also
compete with critical text analysis. The obvious question would
be why there
are so many contestations. The answer lies in what the country
meant to be
progress at Independence. One has to ask if what was termed
progress
fell within the continuum of what people wanted during the war. It
is sad
that there was a complete dislocation in terms of what people’s
aspirations
were before Independence and
after.
What the people of
Zimbabwe wanted and what they got and continue to get are
at variance and
the answer lies in the monolithic grabbing of power by the
elites at
Independence. Whatever space was left, between 1980 and maybe 2000
has been
fast disappearing leading to the sad episodes in our history which
have
always been resolved by signing of unequal agreements.
If the increase in the
literacy rates was progress, especially when one
looked at the bottlenecks
in the education system before Independence, then
how would one explain the
failure to give jobs to the educated? How would
one explain the skills
flight! The same could also be said about primary
health delivery where
building of clinics could be viewed as progress.
However, is it progress if
there are clinics in every ward in the country
but without the basic
medicines?
The same could also be said about the issue of uneven development
in the
country where one province, district or region feels
neglected.
What I have realised is that in as much as there has been progress
in
Zimbabwe, there has also been regression. For the past 30 years, it could
be
argued, we have been muddling through with a deep state that has failed
to
realise what the people want and has instead focused on consolidating its
power. The public state project, which should have replaced a racist state,
failed at Independence when the people were demobilised. And until a time
when the contested spaces are neutralised progress in Zimbabwe remains a
mirage.
Leornard Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
21:08
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC party should resist
holding
elections next year for a myriad of reasons. President Robert
Mugabe’s call
for polls is not premised on a satisfactory conclusion of
reforms necessary
for the holding of free and fair elections.
Mugabe and
Zanu PF’s motive is to have a free hand over the state, and they
wish to
dispense with the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in order to
achieve this.
It is sad that this desire to regain absolute control over the
state is not
accompanied by any reformist discourse nor is it driven by the
so-called
reformers in Zanu PF.
It is hardliners and military elites whose methods for
achieving total
control of the state have begun to manifest in various ways.
According to a
Zimbabwean journalist currently studying in the UK, Innocent
Chofamba
Sithole, this portends greater fraud and thuggery in future
elections.
The role of the military in the constitution-making outreach
programme was a
case in point. Secondly, statements by hardliners
undermining the electoral
process’s capacity to act as a vehicle for power
transfer have come sooner
than we experienced in the past.
Senior cabinet
minister and army generals have made statements suggesting
that there is no
need to hold elections because either way Zanu PF will not
hand over
power.
“The margin of terror looks likely to increase, not subside,” Sithole
told
us this week.
I have misgivings with Tsvangirai’s strategy of
focusing on executive
appointments which has led him to charge that Zimbabwe
is caught up in a
constitutional crisis emanating from unilateral
appointments by Mugabe,” he
said. “But something far greater, far more
systemic demands his attention
than the issue of appointments. Security
sector reforms, the military’s role
in elections and electoral reforms
should be the focus. It is also vital to
ensure international
supervision/observance of elections and media reforms
are
instituted.”
Focusing on appointments has meant that Tsvangirai has no time
to flag these
issues. The military factor is really key, and South Africa
has a report
they are sitting on which was written by their own generals.
Pushing them to
acknowledge the observations contained in that report while
flagging the
urgency of negotiating the military out of politics in Zimbabwe
carries more
weight and diplomatic traction.
It is also important to note
that Zanu PF needs an end to the GPA so that
they manage their succession
conundrum without the complications presented
by having the MDC in
government and in parliament in the numbers that they
presently enjoy.
Tsvangirai must ensure that no new elections are held
before Mugabe leaves
office.
He must then play his powerful hand against the Zanu PF factions
either of
which recognise his strategic role in deciding who replaces Mugabe
should he
leave office. The succession issue in the absence of the MDC would
be easy
to handle.
Constantine Chimakure
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 11 November 2010
21:06
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week painted a bright
picture of
Zimbabwe’s economic outlook. This, coming from a fierce critic of
government’s
economic policies, must have pleased even President Robert
Mugabe, who stuck
his middle finger at the fund and told it where to get off
years back.
Among some of the positive highlights, the IMF says Zimbabwe will
have a
budget surplus, thanks to rising mineral prices and other “favourable
shocks” such as the firming of the South African rand which has restored
competiveness in local businesses.
The IMF team led by Vitaliy Kramarenko
which visited Zimbabwe recently says
the country has renewed efforts to
strengthen policies and would experience
some favorable
shocks.
Furthermore, the budget should see a cash surplus in
2011.
Kramarenko said: “To sustain the economic recovery, spread its benefits
to a
larger share of the population, and reduce significant external and
financial vulnerabilities, it is important to build consensus on a strong
medium-term agenda focused on prudent macroeconomic policies and a
comprehensive package of structural reform. Political stability is also key
to consolidating gains in macroeconomic performance.”
But government has
to re-orient budget expenditure towards infrastructure
and social needs in
order to solidify recovery and improve the livelihoods
of ordinary
Zimbabweans.
Also, according to the IMF, government should live within its
means and not
spend in excess of US$2,5 billion in 2011. An IMF World
Economic Outlook
assumptions for commodity prices, sees the budget broadly
balanced in 2011.
Turning to banks, the fund says risk in the banking system
has eased since
early 2010 owing to what the fund described as strict
supervisory and
“early” intervention on the part of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe. “Yes, the
central bank has done a good job of containing risk in
the banking sector.”
However, the fund underscored the need to rid
government of ghost workers in
order to create fiscal space for higher
capital expenditure and social
programmes.
Government should institute
structural reforms in areas such as reducing
labour market rigidities and
address land tenure issues, clarify ownership
requirements under the
indigenisation legislation and address concerns about
governance in the
diamond sector.
Zimbabwe gazetted indigenisation and economic empowerment
regulations
compelling foreigners to “dispose of” 51% stakes in companies
valued at
US$500 000 and above to black Zimbabweans. The empowerment policy
has
spooked foreign investors who fear it could turn into a land-reform-type
policy.
While the economy’s outlook is looking up, the politics in the
unity
government are getting nastier by the day. Now Mugabe wants elections
next
year. Apart from the violence anticipated in next year’s elections as
parties battle to win the hearts and minds of the electorate, Finance
minister Tendai Biti has to make a provision for US$200 million in the 2011
budget. This is way over government’s monthly revenue collection of US$140
million. Undoubtedly, this will affect the economy and scare off what is
left of investors in the market.
Many feel the US$200 million meant for
elections could be put to better use
and improve the lives of Zimbabweans.
Even Industry minister Welshman Ncube,
who belongs to a smaller faction of
the MDC, is against holding elections
and warns the timing could not be
worse.
Of late, foreign fund managers in the country have begun spending a
bit more
on stocks as evidenced by this week’s US$12 million Econet parcel
that was
snapped up on Monday. The past three quarters have seen foreign
funds being
diverted to safer investment destinations while this quarter has
seen funds
coming back into the market at a slower pace.
But at the end
of the day, the politics of the day is going to determine the
route
Zimbabwe’s macro-economics will play out and if the economy will reap
any
benefits, especially given the economy’s fate, is now in the hands of
politicians whose only interest, unfortunately, is power.