UK knew in advance of alleged coup plot November 14 2004
at 03:15PM
London - Britain knew about an alleged coup plot in
Equatorial Guinea at least five weeks before a team of mercenaries was
nabbed in Zimbabwe as they prepared to carry it out, the Observer newspaper
reported on Sunday.
The weekly paper said Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw confirmed this past week that London was "informed" of the alleged
plot "in late January 2004", ahead of the March 7 arrest of the mercenaries
in Zimbabwe.
Straw's disclosure was made in a "parliamentary
answer" in the House of Commons to a question tabled by Michael Ancram,
foreign affairs spokesperson of the main opposition Conservative
party.
"Until now, cabinet ministers have denied any prior
knowledge of the attempted African coup, which would be illegal under
international law," the Observer said.
Sixty-eight suspected
mercenaries began sentences in Zimbabwe last September in connection with
the alleged plot to topple Equatorial Guinea's president Teodoro Obiang
Nguema, who has been in power for 25 years.
They were arrested at
Harare airport while en route to Equatorial Guinea, where the trial of 19
other people alleged to be part of a conspiracy against Obiang is to resume
later this month.
Mark Thatcher, the entrepreneur son of former
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is facing trial in South Africa
after he was arrested in August on suspicion of bankrolling the alleged
plot.
ECB and England are "bullied" Sunday November 14
2004
Zimbabwe tour debate
Graham Thorpe has hit out at the
England and Wales Cricket Board over their decision to go ahead with the
forthcoming trip to Zimbabwe.
England will play five one-day
internationals in the crisis-torn African country ahead of their tour of
South Africa.
Thorpe will not be travelling to Zimbabwe as he has retired
from limited-overs internationals, but will join up with Michael Vaughan's
squad for the five Tests in South Africa.
He told the Mail On Sunday,
"When England pulled out of the World Cup match in Harare last year, the ECB
promised the players that they would never again be placed in the position
of having to go to Zimbabwe against their own moral judgement.
"Here
we are, 20 months later, and the players have been left in exactly that
position.
"Players are deeply concerned over the political situation in
Zimbabwe. They do not want to be at the centre of protests that could lead
to opposition supporters being arrested and mistreated.
"And they
cannot understand a logic that says it was right to pull out of the World
Cup match in Harare last year but wrong not to travel now."
Thorpe
accuses the ECB of having "allowed themselves to be bullied by the ICC" and
claims they in turn "have bullied the players psychologically with threats
of what will happen to the game in this country if they don't tour".
The
Surrey batsman is especially critical of the decision to insist that Vaughan
leads the one-day squad rather than allowing him such much-needed
rest.
Vaughan has already stated this week that his side "just want
to get it over with".
Thorpe adds, "It is clear that the captain is
going against the wishes of the coach, Duncan Fletcher, who wanted to rest
him along with other senior players.
"If England were sending a
one-day side anywhere else in the world at this time and Fletcher wanted
Vaughan to take a breather, there wouldn't be a problem.
Utterances by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of Parliament
and ruling party secretary for administration, in a local privately-owned
weekly that he would accept the post of Vice-President if nominated, have
thrown the veritable Pandora's box of the succession debate wide open. This
has elicited controversy within the Zanu PF power echelons, and raised the
ire of former members of PF Zapu, who are questioning his leadership
credentials, ahead of the Zanu PF National People's Congress in December.
After years of playing the cautious game and manoeuvring his way into a
strategic position, Mnangagwa reportedly said: "I think every committed Zanu
PF cadre when nominated, unless they are suffering from ill-health or mental
deficiency, can't fail to accept the challenge. I am among those who will
take up the challenge." His detractors and those critical of his suitability
feel otherwise. They argue that despite the fact that Mnangagwa has held the
posts of Justice minister, State security chief and party head of
administration, among others, "no one has ever bothered to check his
credentials as a leader, both within and outside the party". The critics are
up in arms over what they perceive to be Mnangagwa's attempts to discredit
his rivals, particularly Joyce Mujuru, as well as his deft attempt to
absolve himself of all blame in the Matabeleland Gukurahundi incidents of
the 1980s. In so far as the Mujuru factor in the race for the VP post is
concerned, the Speaker also appeared to be positioning himself, by
implication, for a battle with Joyce Mujuru, who in recent weeks has emerged
as his strongest challenger, when he implied that women should not be
accorded an unfair advantage over other candidates. "Women have a legitimate
issue of representation at a high level. As policy, Zanu PF accepts it, but
the mechanism of achieving it has not been resolved. Currently, the Zanu PF
constitution requires whoever is interested in the position to have the
support of six provinces, voted for by the provincial executive of the six
provinces. Whoever gets that support is nominated. So, the Women's League,
unless it changes, has to follow the provisions of the Zanu PF
constitution," Mnangagwa is quoted as having said.
Sceptics have
viewed this as a way of trying to neutralise the Joyce Mujuru threat. They
point out that it is an argument that fails to achieve its goal, since even
though Mujuru candidature is being pushed for by the Women's League, there
is strong evidence on the ground that seven provinces clearly support her.
To win the vice-presidency, a candidate has to win at least six of the ten
provincial votes at the Congress. Mashonaland Central Provincial chairman,
Chen Chimutengwende, has since indicated that their vote will go to Water
Resources Minister Joyce Mujuru. However, Midlands Provincial chairman, July
Moyo, said he was not in a position to comment as he was in a meeting.
Philip Chiyangwa, the Mashonaland West ruling party chairman, refused to
divulge where their vote would go, saying he would not talk about the
vice-presidency. "I can't comment. I will not comment. And I shall never
comment. I only support President Mugabe, whom we elected," he said. Former
Zanu PF stalwart Edgar Tekere, who has in the past expressed his support for
Mujuru, refused to comment on Mnangagwa's suitability for the
vice-presidential post.
In 2000, Mnangagwa lost the Kwekwe
parliamentary seat to unheralded Blessing Chebundo of the MDC. Mnangagwa was
beaten to the powerful post of Zanu PF national chairman by John Nkomo and
had to settle for the post of secretary for administration. Consequently, it
was said by some that his elevation to Speaker of Parliament was meant as a
consolation for a man regarded as President Mugabe's first choice and heir
apparent - a consolation that came courtesy of the intervention of the late
Vice-President Simon Muzenda, effectively throwing Mnangagwa a political
lifeline. Mujuru, on the other hand, is seen as having strong credentials
and, unlike Mnangagwa, has the potential to attract the votes of people from
across ethnic and ideological divisions. Another disadvantage Mnangagwa has
is the fact that he has no popular power base, while Mujuru's relative
greater popularity is evidenced by the fact that she is an elected Member of
Parliament representing Mt Darwin North, which is augmented by seniority in
the party and liberation struggle. Said one observer: "In reality, I do not
think that he is among the most senior party members. What has he got over
the likes of (Rugare) Gumbo, for example? I think he is no more senior than
(Witness) Mangwende and (Stan) Mudenge but he is no doubt a junior to
Mujuru, who carried a gun and became Minister of Defence. Mnangagwa was not
even a member of the general staff in Zanla, having come straight from
university as a personal assistant to the president of the party in 1977.
Mujuru has a proven track record from the time she joined the struggle in
1972, becoming a commander over the years, joining the general staff, the
high command and being a long-standing member of the
Politburo."
Mnangagwa, the observer said, was banking on support from
fellow members of the sub- ethnic Karanga group, though there are Karangas
more senior to him, like Gumbo and Josiah Tungamirai. Another ruling party
insider, speaking on condition of anonymity because of "fear of his
wide-ranging powers in Zanu PF", questioned Mnangagwa's claim to the mantle.
"There are people who are far more senior than Mnangagwa in the party. He
has survived on the President's patronage. As far as many of us know,
Mnangagwa came to the fore as the President's personal assistant during the
war years." Mnangagwa's career as a politician and businessman has been
characterised by allegations of corruption, especially pertaining to alleged
illegal dealings in the Democratic Republic of Congo, although nothing has
been publicly substantiated. The same weekly that broke his veiled interest
in the VP post wrote, a few months ago, that he had come out clean from the
scandal. But the general feeling is that in Zanu PF, a number of people
appear to be opposed to his succession to the post of vice-president as this
would be an obvious stepping stone to the presidency. Furthermore, his
utterances concerning Gukurahundi might have earned him a new set of enemies
rather than friends. Mnangagwa told the local weekly he "never carried a
gun" and never commanded any section of the police, army or Support Unit. He
said that his role in that troubled period was simply to supply intelligence
information as to where arms caches were hidden. "Politically, if the Zapu
leadership had accepted that they had lost the elections and that the number
of seats they had were equal to their popularity and convey that message to
their forces, then it could not have happened. "It was necessary for them to
have accepted democratic decisions," Mnangagwa said.
At the time
of the operation codenamed Gukurahundi - which President Mugabe later
labelled a "moment of madness" - Mnangagwa was at the helm of national
security. The observer said that it was obvious that Mnangagwa had begun
campaigning although his stance on Gukurahundi was unfortunate since it
deviated from the notion of collective responsibility for an operation,
which in principle had national security at the heart of it. The observer
said that in as much as the US had gone to war in Iraq on the basis of
information supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency, Zimbabwe's security
forces would not have acted without input from the intelligence services.
Some former members of PF Zapu, expressed dismay at the Speaker's claims,
saying they were an "attempt to legitimise the killings". One Politburo
member, who declined to be named, said: "Personally, it was saddening to
hear him speak like that. He is trying to justify the unjustifiable. "How
can he expect to win the Matebeleland votes when he is saying the things he
is saying in the media?" Mnangagwa was recently in Gwanda where he made a
donation to a school there in a move many have labelled as the launching of
his campaign trail, designed to dispel the widely held and long-standing
perception that as Minister of National Security he was at the heart of the
Gukurahundi incidents. Another Politburo member said that he could not as
yet comment publicly and would only do so after consulting with his
colleagues and coming up with a common stand on the issue. Vice-President
Joseph Msika said he would not comment on the Matabeleland massacres, adding
that it was up to the people to decide if they wanted Mnangagwa as their
second VP. Mnangagwa led the first batch of Zimbabwean troops to be trained
in China during the liberation struggle and was incarcerated by the Smith
regime. Amidst all the controversy, the battle for the vice-presidency is a
macrocosm of the battle that no one is willing to talk about openly - who
will take over from President Mugabe if he resigns when his current term
comes to an end in 2008? According to Mnangagwa, "It's a crime to conceive
the exit of the head of State."
Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo is under fire for
using billions of taxpayers' money to sponsor his band. Moyo has squandered
at least Z$2 billion of public funds in recording and launching music group
PaxAfro's first CD, and in hosting music concerts aimed at sprucing up the
Zimbabwean government's battered image. Moyo told parliament recently that
he had spent close on Z$3 billion to set up and promote PaxAfro and to
arrange various music concerts. He conceded that the music shows had only
raised Z$900 million, resulting in a loss of almost Z$2 billion. Moyo said
the money was used for the payment of musicians, the booking of venues,
accommodation, lighting systems, stage costs and broadcast charges for when
concerts were broadcast live on television. Some of the money, he added, was
used for production costs, transport and merchandising. PaxAfro's album
Back2Black was launched amid pomp and fanfare in July at Victoria Falls. The
album's songs were composed and produced by Moyo. And there's no escaping
them as they saturate Zimbabwe's airwaves. State-owned radio and televisions
stations have been instructed to play them incessantly. Defending his use of
the money, Moyo told parliament that while he wrote the songs, he would not
collect royalties from sales of the music because he wanted to develop local
music. "Although I happen to have composed all the songs on the project, I
collect no fees that I'm entitled to as an individual composer," Moyo told
parliament. "This is entitlement I have decided to forego, wishing instead
to develop the artists and the industry," he said.
Mugabe's Eventual Fall - Marvelling - Sunday 14,
November-2004 by Orlando Marville It is easy to say his time is past. It
was past several years ago. His era was the fight for independence against a
fascist neo-colonial regime and the epoch following it. He was building a
country for the future.
What was more significant, the Commonwealth
forced the hand of Margaret Thatcher, whose husband's interest in the
Southern African transport system had her hesitating about acting against
kith and kin. The very first Commonwealth agreement on what constituted good
governance and good behaviour was therefore even named after Zimbabwe's
capital city, Harare.
Throughout the tenure of office of Robert Mugabe
there was one task he had to achieve: the recovery of African land taken in
the 20s and even later colonial periods. White Zimbabweans owned practically
all of the arable land in the country. Black Zimbabweans were forced into
being peasants or scratching a living from the least attractive
terrain.
That he failed to achieve this was partly the result of British
treachery, and his own misunderstanding that he had other indigenous people
to look after apart from those who had fought in the maquis with him decades
before.
His land reform programme had begun with a British promise to
fund the land that he would have to appropriate for redistribution. It was
understood that only those with several farms would lose some of their
land.
It must also be understood that we are talking of farms, sometimes
the size of Barbados. Somewhere in the process, the deal went sour, and
without funds to conduct an orderly transfer of the land, it was decided to
seize land from white farmers and have it occupied by Blacks, some of whom
had no idea how to farm such vast tracts of land and several of whom had a
greater inclination towards their old ways as a guerrilla force than as
settled farmers. Mugabe's efforts to recover some of the farms occupied by
some of his own people may have come a bit late in the proceedings.
A
lot else had gone wrong by now. Other countries in the Southern zone
complain that Zimbabwe's economic and political problems are dragging the
African standard of living down. The World Bank has also refused Zimbabwe a
further loan until its $208 million debt is paid off. As we all know, any
government that is in power for too long becomes corrupt, either in terms of
the public purse or in its exercise of the power that the people invested in
it.
This was easy in the case of Mugabe. He had the advantage of
being from the right clan in the majority Shona, and of having been a leader
against the Smith army, both during the war and after. The Shona are more
numerous than the Matabele, Whites and the other minor ethnic groups in the
country, all put together. Even within his party, there were young bright
men who wanted to have a chance to govern the country, but their opportunity
never came. Zimbabwe in the earlier days of Mugabe even survived one of its
famous droughts without that much suffering or disruption, even though only
20 per cent of the production of Zimbabwean soil consists of food. His
government then was organised and had great international
backing.
What went wrong? Probably the usual, where a president who has
exercised power for too long begins to believe that he should be
president-for-life a la Kenyatta, Banda or Mobuto. It also seems that
tyranny tends to beget tyranny, even centuries later. One has merely to look
at Roman treatment of the Portuguese and the Portuguese treatment of their
conquered African territories centuries later.
The moment when Mugabe
began to think of himself as president-for-life was the moment when he
faltered. That was the moment when he began his fall. This, as we see from
the recent African Union acceptance of a complaint against Human Rights
standards in Zimbabwe, and the acquittal of Morgan Tsangarai is all a thing
of the past.
I do not join with those who dismiss Mugabe simply as a
tyrant. That would be far too simplistic. He is a man who has done more for
Southern African liberation than we now imagine. He also represents more in
the life of millions of black people the world over than any of the black or
other leaders who would dismiss him out of hand. But like all that is
mortal, his time came, and when it was his time, he did us proud.
He
managed, taking over the reins of a white government, with a white civil
service and only a handful of Blacks (some of them educated in Barbados) to
help to move a country from a neo-fascist state to one in which even Ian
Smith himself had his human rights observed. He represented the best hope
for maintaining all the different peoples of his country as citizens of what
is easily one of the most beautiful countries on this Earth.
But his
day is now past, and like all those whose day is past - Mandela understood
and he stepped gracefully aside with all of his old troupers like Mac
Maharaj - he must either go home to rest or fall.
THE
Central Executive Committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions
(Cosatu), will next week hold a crucial meeting in Johannesburg to decide
appropriate action to take against Zimbabwe authorities after Harare
deported its representatives three weeks ago.
A 13-member fact
finding Cosatu mission that arrived in Zimbabwe despite a ban imposed by the
government was bundled into a bus and dumped at Beitbridge in the early
hours of the morning of October 26, 2004. That was after they had been
arrested, threatened physically and mentally abused, according to their
secretary general, Zwelinzima Vavi.
Cosatu Secretary for International
Relations, Simon Boshielo, told The Standard in an interview from Pretoria
on Friday that a position would come out of the meeting to be held by the
central executive committee in Johannesburg.
"It is not untrue that
Cosatu will respond to how its delegation was treated in Zimbabwe. The issue
though will be decided by the central executive committee," Boshielo
said.
Asked about threats to blockade borders leading into Zimbabwe from
South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia, Boshielo said:
"All I
can tell you is that it was Cosatu members who blockaded Swaziland in 2001
during a general strike. Truck drivers who bring goods to Zimbabwe belong to
the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, an affiliate of
Cosatu. Police and immigration officers stationed at the country's borders
belong to unions affiliated to Cosatu."
Cosatu is credited with
contributing to the capitulation of the apartheid regime after it staged a
series of crippling strikes in the 1980s.
The labour union has more than
two million members.
Boshielo could not say if they had discussed their
treatment with unions in Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique.
"The world
is now a global village. We don't have to physically inform our comrades if
something happens to us. Everybody knows what happened to us in Zimbabwe and
there have been many letters of protest written to the Zimbabwean government
by unions from the region and around the world."
The Cosatu delegation,
which was hoping to meet members of the civil society, was initially barred
from visiting Zimbabwe. But the delegation defied the ban and flew into
Harare.
The South Africans came at the invitation of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and were also expected to hold discussions
with Zanu PF, the opposition, MDC, representatives from Crisis Coalition,
the National Constitutional Assembly and Zimbabwe Council of Churches, among
other civil society organizations.
Zimbabwe deported the delegation
saying their mission was not acceptable because it was
"political".
Cosatu is also a key ally of the African National Congress
(ANC), the ruling party in South Africa.
Nigeria rolls out red carpet for Tsvangirai By our own
Staff
NIGERIAN President, Olusegun Obasanjo last week rolled out the red
carpet for Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai as
it emerged that the Nigerian government had denied a Zimbabwean government
delegation visas to travel to Abuja.
Tsvangirai was leading a
delegation, which included MDC vice president, Gibson Sibanda and the
party's national chairman, Isaac Matongo.
The MDC delegation met the
Nigerian president and voiced their concerns about the political violence
and anomalies in the electoral process in Zimbabwe.
After three hours
of discussions, Obasanjo invited the MDC trio to his farm.
During the
tour, sources said, the Nigerian leader personally drove his guests around
the farm where there are wild animals that were donated to Obasanjo by the
Zimbabwean government several years ago. Then the Nigerian leader was fondly
regarded as "Big Brother Obasanjo" by the Zimbabwean
authorities.
After the Nigerian visit, the opposition party's
delegation flew to Accra, Ghana, where President John Kuffour welcomed
them.
The West African diplomatic offensive ended in Ouagadougou, with a
meeting with President Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso.
Unconfirmed
reports said a government delegation, which wanted to "counter" the
discussions at the Abuja meeting between Obasanjo and the MDC was denied
visas.
"A senior government official who wanted to as usual, cause
some commotion about the meeting was denied a Nigerian visa. He was told to
apologise after the government media under his control falsely claimed the
Nigerian government was funding the opposition," said an official close to
the developments.
Zimbabwe and Nigeria had a fallout last year as the
West Africans refused to support the re-admission of the southern African
nation into the Commonwealth.
Tsvangirai was yesterday in Botswana
where he was scheduled to meet recently re-elected President Festus
Mogae.
Tsvangirai and his delegation have also been to Mauritius andSouth
Africa.
Zanu PF legislators lose seats By Valentine
Maponga
TWO Zanu PF Members of Parliament, Elleck Mkandla of Gokwe North
and Jaison Kokerai Machaya of Gokwe South, have lost their seats in
Parliament after the Supreme Court last month dismissed appeals by the
ruling party legislators.
The High Court in January last year ruled
in favour of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after it challenged
the election results, but the MPs' appealed to the Supreme Court, extending
their stay in Parliament by almost two years. However, the Zanu PF MPs'
lawyers failed to file heads of arguments with the Supreme Court within the
specified time.
According to rules of the Supreme Court, if the registrar
does not receive heads of arguments from an appellant who is legally
represented within a certain period, the appeal shall be
dismissed.
According to a letter dated 14 October 2004, a copy of which
The Standard has, the Registrar of Supreme Court wrote advising lawyers of
the affected MPs' that the appeal had been abandoned.
"I refer to my
letter dated 19 May 2004, in which you were called upon to file heads of
arguments. To date no heads of arguments have been received. The appeal is
therefore deemed to have been abandoned, and is accordingly dismissed,"
reads part of the letter directed to Ziumbe and Mtambanengwe legal
practitioners.
Innocent Gonese, the chief whip of the MDC told The
Standard that they had written to the Speaker of Parliament, calling for the
two seats to be declared vacant.
"It is evident that with the
dismissal of the appeals, the Previous High Court Judgement stands and in
terms of Section 136(3)(c)(1) of the Electoral Act, the "seats shall
forthwith become vacant," read a copy of Gonese's letter.
Mkandla of
Gokwe North won against the Movement for Democratic Change candidate
Sibangani Mlandu, while Machaya of Gokwe South beat Lameck Nkiwane Muyambi
also of the MDC.
However, last week Mkandla's lawyers filed an
application to the Supreme Court Registrar seeking the reinstatement of the
appeal.
Legal experts explained to The Standard that the seats should
remain vacant until the Supreme Court rules on the reinstatement of the
appeal issue.
They were more than 40 petitions filed at the High Court
soon after the announcement of the results of the 24-25 June 2000
Parliamentary elections, but it has taken the courts long to decide on the
cases.
Out of the 40 only 20 have been dealt with and judgements passed
but because of the appeals to the Supreme Court most the cases are still in
the courts.
Trudy Stevenson the MDC legislator for Harare said it was
disheartening to note that the two lawmakers have been in Parliament
illegally for more than four years.
"It is going to be a difficult
situation for the MDC even if the seats are declared vacant since we have
not been participating in the previous by elections," Stevenson said.
BULAWAYO - A high-powered delegation of South African Churches on
Thursday blasted Zimbabwean leaders and their African colleagues whom they
said continued to cling on to power while their citizens were
suffering.
Reverend Elijah Maswanganyi, who led the delegation that
attended a week-long conference of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa
held in Bulawayo, in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, said such
actions deserved strong condemnation. Maswanganyi said there was an
urgent need of young blood in the leadership in Zimbabwe and Africa if the
socio-political situation and economies of African countries were to
improve. "The problem with our leadership today is that of holding onto
power for too long and they seem not too keen to pass on the torch to
others. The main reason for clinging to power is simply because of their
sins, and they don't trust anyone."
He told the SADC delegates that the
region urgently needed leaders with no chieftainship, autocracy and beliefs
in royalty if southern African nations were to develop.
The 38 church
leaders from 14 SADC countries - who attended the SADC churches solidarity
conference, also strongly slammed the NGOs Bill which they described as
"poisonous" and " detrimental to human life development".
They said only
heartless and inhumane lawmakers during the time of Egyptian ruler, Pharaoh,
could craft such "harsh and crude" laws .
When time came for Archbishop
Pius Ncube to speak, the whole conference was temporarily stalled after
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives invaded the room,
outnumbering the delegates.
Ncube, however, did not present his address
on the current Zimbabwe crisis at the scheduled time because of the CIO
disruption. He did so on Friday morning amid applause from SADC church
leaders who praised him for being "brave", "just" and "sincere" to the whole
world.
Ncube said there was urgent need for the SADC region and the
international community to exert more pressure on Mugabe and his government
so that the country could return to the rule of law.
o Meanwhile, the
churches on Friday signed a Bulawayo Declaration, which called on all the
parties to work towards promoting good governance and leadership through
biblical principles that will reduce political intolerance, violence and
corruption.
BULAWAYO- Persistent shortages of foreign currency threaten the
ability of Bulawayo City Council to offer residents safe drinking water,
executive mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube told The Standard last week.
In
an interview, the Bulawayo mayor said the acquisition of water treatment
chemicals, used in the purification of water in the city had become
"unbearable" owing to acute shortage of foreign currency. "We have a
problem in sourcing foreign currency and this is affecting purchase of water
treatment chemicals. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been assisting but the
problem is growing rapidly.
"For more information I would rather refer
you to our city director of engineering," said
Ndabeni-Ncube.
Contacted for comment, Bulawayo City engineering director,
Peter Sibanda, confirmed that his department was experiencing difficulties
in importing water treatment chemicals.
ACTING Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa has been urged to tell
President Robert Mugabe to trim his bloated Cabinet so that the forthcoming
2005 National Budget can contain expenditure for only 16 ministries if
Zimbabwe is to register growth.
In proposals co-ordinated by the
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) and submitted to Murerwa,
leading business and unionists blamed Harare's swollen Cabinet of draining
meagre financial resources. The size of the Cabinet has increased
dramatically, especially over the last two years, to 29 with the creation of
more ministries and the appointment of provincial governors.
Among
some of the recently created ministries are the Ministry of Special Affairs
in the President's Office Responsible for the Anti Corruption and Anti
Monopolies Programme, the Ministry of State for Policy Implementation in the
President's Office and the Ministry of State Enterprises and Parastatals in
the President's Office.
Furthermore, the appointment of governors to run
Harare and Bulawayo has ballooned the posts of governors to 10.
"We
believe that a smaller government of 16 Ministries will result in huge
savings that can be re-directed to the health and education sectors," reads
part of the paper compiled by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions,
Zimbabwe Council for Tourism, Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ)
and ZNCC.
Murerwa, who was re-appointed by Mugabe to head the Finance
Ministry on a caretaker basis following the arrest of Chris Kuruneri on
externalisation charges in April, is scheduled to unveil the National Budget
to a restless nation on November 25.
"Nowadays embassies are being
set up more for economic expediency than political and this should be
reflected in the appointment of embassy staff and also the number and
location of embassies," reads the part of the document prepared for
Murerwa.
The government has also been called to reconsider its role in
the economy and allow greater responsibility to the market in the provision
of goods and services.
The ZNCC says focusing on food security,
provision of adequate health care at affordable prices, education, housing,
transport and the provision of basic utilities such as electricity and water
should be the government's preoccupation.
"This is not necessarily a
call for the rolling back of the State. Rather, it is a call for the
development of a strategic role of the State. The State cannot simply do
everything for everyone, thus requiring the ring-fencing of strategic
activities."
Over the last 23 years, all of Zimbabwe's national budgets
have featured economic stabilisation measures, yet nothing has
happened.
The ZNCC compiled document says key variables under the macro
economic framework that urgently require attention include inflation, the
exchange rate and interest rates.
"There is need to adequately deal
with key determinants of inflation in Zimbabwe, to restore predictability in
business planning and viability."
On the tax burden, which is weighing
down most salaried workers, the ZNCC proposes a widening of the tax band to
ensure that the current regressive nature of the tax system is
reversed.
"The most sustainable approach would be continuously reviewing
income tax bands in line with inflationary developments so as to minimise
erosion of incomes through bracket creep."
The top marginal tax rate,
said the ZNCC, should be reviewed downwards to 35% from the current 45%, so
as to release more high net worth spending power.
Corporate tax,
which is currently charged at 30% should be pegged at a unitary rate of 20%,
to lessen any administrative hurdles says the ZNCC.
The Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), which has also submitted its proposals for the
much-awaited National Budget, also underscores the need for adjustments in
individual tax bands. It says reviews should be carried out half-yearly in
order to cushion workers against high levels of inflation.
CHIMANIMANI -
Unknown people on Monday night painted graffiti on buses belonging to a
Mutare businessperson and ruling party stalwart in Manicaland protesting
over the incarceration of their legislator, Roy Bennett.
Parliament two
weeks ago jailed Bennett, the MP for Chimanimani for assaulting Patrick
Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. Four
buses belonging to Esau Mupfumi, the Zanu PF secretary for transport in
Manicaland province, were sprayed with messages demanding Bennett's
release.
Some of the messages read:" Release Honourable Bennett"; "He has
no case to answer"; and "We want our MP back", among others.
The
police in Chimanimani confirmed the incident and said investigations were in
progress.
Mupfumi said he was not sure who could be behind the action."I
don't know the people behind the incident, but I have since repainted the
buses."
Police sources said the MDC could be linked to the incident and
they were closing in on suspected MDC supporters.
However, the
opposition MDC has distanced itself from the incident. Pardon Maguta, the
party's Chimanimani co-ordinator said: "This has nothing to do with the MDC,
but the people of Chimanimani who voted Bennett into Parliament."
WHAT
can the Zimbabwe media do to contribute to a violence-free election in March
2005 and what challenges lie ahead for all media houses in the light of the
polarisation of the media that is prevailing in this country?
These are
fundamental questions and issues, no doubt, preoccupying the minds of local
journalists as the hours tick and the nation contemplates the forthcoming
general election slated for March, 2005. I begin from the premise that as
Zimbabweans we have a vested interest in the success of our country,
Zimbabwe. And that if we think differently, it does not mean that we have
become "enemies" locked in some kind of mortal combat.
Indeed, it is
incomprehensible that Zimbabweans whose only home and heritage is this
country can view each other as "enemies".
Having said this let me go
straight to the heart of our discussion. The question is: What can the media
do to contribute to a violence-free election next year? Very simple. The
media must simply stop being used by politicians as instruments of hate and
hatred.
Some publications and the media, particularly the state-owned
newspapers and electronic media have been disseminating hatred and
generating a climate of tension in the country. And as is commonly known,
violent rhetoric and inflammatory language can lead to violence and all
sorts of problems in the country.
An example that immediately comes
to mind is the recent interview on ZTV's "Face The Nation" programme where a
war veteran being interviewed said words to the effect that if he had his
way, he would want MDC supporters and all the whites killed - this on public
television!
A major challenge to all politicians and the media is to
change our mindsets and try to learn a new language of communication leading
to a change of political climate in Zimbabwe. Our country cannot develop in
an atmosphere of continued crisis and instability.
A challenge to all
political leaders and the media as a whole is to examine their own
consciences and look at themselves in the mirror and try to see what they
are disseminating means to the welfare and well-being of the
country.
Propaganda can be a dangerous word. All journalists and
writers of opinion are propagandists of a kind, if propaganda means zeal and
passion in spreading views and positions. It is how propaganda is used that
matters.
If propaganda is used as the current Minister of State for
Information and Publicity in the Office of the President, Jonathan Moyo,
uses it - to preach hatred against those who disagree with government and
introduces words like 'traitors', 'puppets of the British, ' running dogs of
imperialism' as he does most of the time, then propaganda becomes evil,
wicked and dangerous.
If it is used to push forward one's position to try
and influence things in one's direction, then it is fair
journalism.
There was a time when the Zimbabwean Ministry of Information
was an "information ministry" in the true sense of the word. The minister
was the chief government public relations officer building bridges between
government and the people.
The role of government information
officers then was to explain government policy and practice, promote the
positive aspects of that policy and admit mistakes where they were made and
generally get those policies understood and supported by the Zimbabwean
populace.
But in Zimbabwe at the moment, the Minister of State for
Information and Publicity, Jonathan Moyo, sees himself as the knight in the
shining armour - the executioner in charge of the Harem - and woe betide
anyone who dares cross his path.
If the number of journalists being
wantonly arrested under the country's draconian media laws is anything to go
by, anyone who ignores this man's campaign of attrition against the media
does so at their own peril. It is most unfortunate for our country that we
have a person like Jonathan Moyo holding a government position of such
importance.
It is equally most unfortunate that editors whose job is
editing newspapers and reporters whose pre-occupation is gathering and
writing the news are now spending much of their time in police stations
answering questions on issues of defamation for which adequate redress can
be sought through legal suits.
I think the point must be made here that
it is not the media which creates wars or conflicts but political leaders.
However, by their headlines and manner of reporting they can keep conflicts
or crises aflame.
In other words, journalists must ask themselves the
obvious question: If we write this or report this issue this way or utter
words in that manner, are we not in danger of creating events that might in
the short or long term threaten the stability of our country and become
uncontrallable?
Jonathan Moyo and his editors and managers ostensibly
managing his instruments of mass deception i.e. Zimpapers and ZBC must ask
themselves this fundamental question. And come up with the correct
answer.
It is important for journalists and politicians to reflect on
these issues all the time. Being purveyors of hate will not get us anywhere.
Prevention or cure, only Zimbabweans can solve their own
problems.
Others in the international community can help but in the final
analysis they do not owe Zimbabweans a living. Shifting the blame for our
political and economic crisis away from the Zimbabweans onto Tony Blair,
newly re-elected President George W Bush, the opposition MDC and the
independent media does nothing about the homegrown causes of our
problems.
In conclusion, it has to be acknowledged that the media in
Zimbabwe is deeply divided and polarised but we do not have to hate each
other. We live and die by ideas. There is absolutely no need to ban
newspapers. Let the various media fiercely compete in the market place of
ideas.
Society can never be homogenous. Any society, that includes the
Zimbabwean society, can never be homogenous. It consists of competing
interests between and among individuals and groups and this can only lead to
healthy development in our country. We do not have to kill each other as
Zimbabweans.
Peaceful co-existence is the only way forward. We face
more or less the same challenges and problems as journalists across the
great divide and what is important at the end of the day is for all the
media to serve the Zimbabwean society as a whole and not sectional or
individual interests.
Given the fact that there are only three full
months left before the March 2005 elections, we have a narrow window of
opportunity to correct the problems and challenges that we face as outlined
in this article.
TAWANDA is a
junior manager at a departmental store in central Harare. The sight of him
protectively clutching an elegant elephant skin briefcase would pass him off
for a top-flight company executive with important corporate documents to
guard.
The briefcase certainly contains something important to the
recently graduated 23-year-old. It is a food container with left overs
from the previous night's supper.
At 12 noon, he furtively removes the
food container and quickly gobbles the contents before any of his juniors
have sight of his "lunch".
He is not alone in this desperate daily
struggle to keep body and soul together.
Carrying lunch to work was,
not so long ago, a preserve of industrial workers who performed menial
tasks. The need to carry food was also necessitated by the fact that there
were few outlets from which to buy food while their meagre salaries meant
they could not afford to buy from the few kiosks available.
But all
that has changed. Thousands of the once tall and proud Zimbabweans, among
them company executives, now carry left overs to work because the
traditional snacks of a just-out of the oven meat-pie, hamburger or the
occasional fish and chips lunch at a restaurant are now beyond the reach of
many.
Tawanda can be regarded as among some of the lucky few who can
at least afford a lunchtime "meal."
The meat-pie, long regarded in
Zimbabwe by many as the lunchtime snack for young professionals has now been
replaced by the "air-pie" and "sun crush"- euphemisms for not eating
anything over lunch.
"I earn over $2 million and have a wife and a
daughter but as you are aware, that salary is not enough to enable me to
indulge in the occasional meat pie or burger," says Tawanda
"The
irony of all this though," he adds, "is that while at university, I could
have a burger anytime I wanted. If I buy snacks over lunch my family will
starve. That is why I have to devise ways of keeping hunger at bay." Tawanda
says meat no longer features regularly at his dinner table at home.
So
what does he usually carry in his food container?
"The left overs are
usually sadza and vegetables. That is why I would not want any of my juniors
to see what I eat over lunch because I would be embarrassed," he said with a
bleak gaze in his eyes.
But Zimbabweans are ever so
innovative.
Despite enduring the rigours of a daily battle to get
transport to and from work, they still manage to come up with strategies to
beat the hunger.
Avocadoes and tomatoes have come in handy in keeping
hunger pangs at bay.
With a loaf of bread costing at least $3 500,
enterprising but hungry workers are forming food clubs where they contribute
money to buy bread, avocadoes and tomatoes."From that we make sandwiches
which we chase down with generous quantities of water," said a sales manager
with a publishing company in Harare.
Carrots and cucumbers have also
emerged as favourites over lunch.
With a burger going for $14 000 and a
pie costing $13 000 it is little wonder that cucumbers which cost as little
as $500 have become the main component of the dietary requirements of
Harare's workforce over lunch.
The avocado has just gone out of season,
leaving the cucumber, tomato and carrot as alternatives.
A vegetable
vendor, who identified himself as Mukanya, and owns several push-carts that
ply the streets of central Harare selling cucumbers, said the vegetable was
so popular that he was making as much as $100 000 profit a day.
"It
is amazing, but everyday from mid-day, people leave their offices to come
and buy cucumbers and carrots which they eat. I have come up with a chilly
sauce, which they add to the improvised lunch. With prices of food
sky-rocketing, a lot of people now prefer vegetable snacks for lunch," said
Mukanya.
The high food prices have led to the sprouting of informal
food outlets especially at minibus ranks.
One such venture is located
at the Dzivarasekwa terminus in the city.
"Our outlet has become so
popular with lunchtime patrons because we sell our food at garrulous
clients.
The majority of clients are touts (mahwindi) who operate from
several terminuses. "These informal food out-lets have come to our rescue
because as some of the most poorly paid people, we would not be able to
afford reasonable meals," said one tout as he ate sadza and
beans.
The search for cheaper lunchtime meals has left the traditional
restaurants worse off.
"We have been experiencing a gradual decline
in business over the past two years. We believe this has more to do with the
erosion of disposable income and the search for cheaper alternative meals,"
Rudo Phiri, a marketing manager at a fast food outlet told The Standard.
IT can never be repeated often enough that if we are to fully
turn around the economic fortunes of this country, politics and economic
efforts must move in tandem with each other. Even a child at a kindergarten
would understand and appreciate this.
We have a situation at the
moment where efforts that are being pursued vigorously by Gideon Gono and
his team at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe are being negated and in many
instances, reversed by the actions and pronouncements of small-minded men
and women who can not think beyond their own individual selfish
interests. The much-touted National Economic Consultative Forum (NECF)
National dialogue which was held in Masvingo this week will remain nothing
more than empty words if things are not put right on the political front. A
normal and stable political environment is imperative if Zimbabwe is to move
forward.
A new era of introspection and reconciliation is necessary if
the country is to replace the burnt-out policies and philosophies of the
past which have seen this country lurch from one crisis to another. Another
five years of isolation from our traditional economic partners will be
disastrous for Zimbabwe. Indeed, no country with any prospect of real
economic revival can afford to put all its economic eggs in one basket - in
our own case the East.
The reality is that ours is and has always
been a predominantly Western-driven economy and it would madness to think
that the umbilical cord that links us to the West can be cut that
easily.
For instance, we remain totally unconvinced that our tourism
industry can be resuscitated by the Chinese coming to this country. To be
fair, the Chinese have the advantage of numbers given the population of that
vast country, but it is expecting too much to hope that they can suddenly
adopt a culture of the free-spending tourists as those generally found in
the West.
What we find even more disturbing is that instead of
contributing positively towards a return to political normalcy, Zanu PF
leaders appear to be dissipating their energies on the wrong things at the
wrong time. We question the priorities of a government preoccupied with only
ensuring its own survival no matter the costs to the nation.
The
screws on journalists in the independent media have been further tightened
by the recent amendments to the draconian Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) which stipulates, among other things, a
journalist who practices his/her craft without a licence from a
government-appointed commission can be jailed up to two years.
This
has the effect of further suppressing free speech and stultifying a hitherto
vibrant and dynamic Press.
Another development we find increasingly
alarming is the selective application of the law. It is no secret that at
the peak of foreign exchange shortages two years ago, almost everybody
including government officials, parastatals and private sector companies
were violating the Exchange Control Act because doing so became a matter of
survival.
Many of the companies could quite easily have been history
today had they entertained qualms about doing what they did. It is a fact,
and everybody knows it, few business people and individuals, and this
includes government ministers, can honestly say they never purchased foreign
currency from unauthorized dealers during that dark period.
It is
unfortunate that the current campaign to curb illegal trade in foreign
currency appears to be targeting certain companies and individuals when
government itself had normalised the abnormal.
What is worrying is
whether the government appreciate the long-term consequences of these
measures in terms of foreign investment and confidence in the local economy.
It is a fallacy to believe that Chinese, Malaysian or any other company or
financial institution from the East will flock to invest in a country where
the law is applied selectively and non-executive directors are routinely
arraigned before the courts.
We are not saying those that break the law
must not be punished - God forbid! What we are simply saying is that the
whole thing must not be done selectively and that arresting people in order
to investigate is a violation of the liberty and rights of
citizens.
To arrest and then investigate is really to turn the very
concept of justice on its head. Investigate and then arrest - yes. This is
what we know to be the norm in civilised human relations.
There are a
number of laws which have been enacted and some which are in the pipeline
which put Zimbabwe firmly in the league of totalitarian States. POSA and the
much maligned NGO Bill immediately spring to mind.
Add to this, the
reckless actions and utterances by government ministers regarding the
opposition MDC and the independent Press and you have the incarnation of a
barbaric and dictatorial regime, not only in the eyes of the majority of
Zimbabweans but in those of the international community as
well.
Clearly, all this does not help the efforts of those who are
passionate and committed to the revival of the Zimbabwean economy.
We
all want to build a positive and good image of Zimbabwe. Our efforts are
hampered and being made impossible by the actions of these politicians who
appear to have been corrupted by power beyond redemption. They are dead
scared about the real possibility of being thrown out of power come March
2005.
But they must not be allowed to hold this country to ransom.
Zimbabwe is much bigger than they are.
Petrol, petrol everywhere, but not a drop in
sight overthetop By Brian Latham
OVER The Top is grounded, but then so
is much of the troubled central African basket case. The reason for this
requires little explanation. Streets emptied of motorcars and filling
stations offering nothing more than air bear testimony to the efficacy of
monetary policy and economic turnaround in the troubled central African
state.
Of course, troubled central African government officials blame the
private sector for the fuel shortage. In the words of someone far more
famous than OTT, "Well, they would, wouldn't they?"
The truth of the
matter is that Zany economics are once again asking people to sell a
commodity for less than it costs. Troubled central Africans might well be
complaining about the cost of fuel, but it is too cheap in real
money.
Sadly too many troubled central Africans have forgotten what
real money is - or even what it looks like. These days just looking at the
stuff can see you being whisked away for a lengthy visit in a squalid cell
where jealous magistrates may let you languish for some considerable time,
probably because they haven't seen real money for a long time
themselves.
Still, the petrol crisis. OTT wasn't able to interview many
people because; well because there's no petrol. Even queuing proved
fruitless with two attempts coming to nothing as the pumps started belching
air instead of the precious commodity.
Suffice to say that troubled
central Africans can expect more shortages until the central bank wakes up
to the fact that it can fight many things (and grudgingly one has to admit
it does a remarkably good job in some ways), but it can't fight market
forces. Ever.
The troubled central African nation's currency may be an
object of derision and the laughing stock of the region, but the truth is
that it is over-valued. The real rate of exchange will never be what the
central bank dictates and will always be what is dictated by the street.
That is the market - and it is always where the market will be
controlled.
Far more powerful and ruthless regimes than the troubled
central African nation's Zany government have tried centralising the economy
- and all have failed, from Lenin to the loony toon dictators of North Korea
and Cuba. No matter where you go, the black market prevails - unless you
acknowledge it, at which time it ceases to be a black market and simply
becomes the market.
It doesn't matter whether it is bread, petrol or
money itself, only the market can decide what something is worth.
And
when it comes to petrol, the troubled central African basket case is selling
fuel for about 42 U.S cents a litre, which makes it about the cheapest fuel
in the world - and almost certainly less than it costs to import. Fifty
cents a litre might be just about acceptable, but of course neither the Zany
government nor its central bank want to accept those sums.
Well, not yet
anyway. They will when they have to dispatch their own messengers in their
Benzes and Pajeros to join queues. At that point, fuel will miraculously
return to the troubled central African regime. If they were serious about
turning the economy around and less concerned with saving face, they'd
acknowledge that the market dictates the value of money - and that when that
happens people don't have to "cheat" in order to stay in business.
In
the meantime, stand by for lots of finger pointing at the private sector
until there is a quiet and unacknowledged step down from government and fuel
continues to flow.
AS my passport had expired and I decided to renew it, I was
told to go to the infamous Room No 100 at the Passport Office in
Harare.
I get there and I am told to join the queue, which ends up in the
popular quadrangle, with another 50 or so people standing or sitting on some
poor excuse of a chair or bench. (There is no roof, so what happens when it
rains is beyond imagination!) After an hour and a half I get to this
grubby little office where I am asked what I want. I am told I need finger
printing and restoration of citizenship done. I have the metal ID, so why I
have to restore citizenship is beyond me.
I am told to get A,B,C,
photostated and brought back. No, I can't take the forms home and have a
nice day. There is not one sign in the building to tell you what you need
and where to go. Back to Chinhoyi to get everything done.
The
following week, back to Room 100 to join the quadrangle queue. Two hours
later I'm in the office and have my documents scrunitised. I now get the
forms and am told to fill them in and join the queue again. Have a nice
day.
Enough is enough, I head back to Chinhoyi hot under the collar. The
following week the forms are complete and I'm back in the quadrangle queue.
Hour and a half I'm at the desk and my forms take five seconds to be looked
at.
I am told to sit down and wait. Half-an-hour later my finger
prints are done in such a way that they don't look like mine! I am given a
receipt and told to come back another day!
Back to the quadrangle
queue to wait another two hours. My name is eventually called up with 30
other people and we march to Room 94. Half an hour later I'm called in. I
hand over my letter for restoration and when the official sees my address is
Chinhoyi I am told to go and get a big self addressed envelope as this all
has to be done in Chinhoyi. Half an hour later the envelope is dropped off
at Room 100.
I take my hat off to the staff for working in such cramped,
smelly, noisy, dirty offices. The Ministry responsible for that place needs
to put up signs of what to do, where to go and what one needs. The whole
process can be streamlined a lot better and save all those wasted man
hours.
Gono's timely challenge to PR practitioners Sundaytalk
with Pius Wakatama
I was rather intrigued by The Herald news report on
November 11, 2004. It said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr Gideon
Gono wants Zimbabwean public relations practitioners to help build a good
image of the country.
Addressing the practitioners at a meeting of the
Zimbabwe Institute of Public Relations, Gono said the profession had great
potential to contribute to economic development. Gono said: "The public
relations profession can make a big difference in our economic turnaround
efforts. It is a tragedy that the profession is not taking itself seriously
yet it is the vehicle of communication that is critical for development. The
profession is sitting on incredible potential."
The central bank
governor said the profession ought to be at the forefront in spreading the
correct information about the country's economic situation, given the
controversies and negative stories being published in some sections of the
local and international press.
"At no other time in the history of
Zimbabwe have we needed you more than now, and at no other time do we need
communication on economic issues from the depth and breath of the country,"
he said.
The governor is reported as saying that the central bank was
prepared to set up a fund to propel the profession to greater heights,
provided the practitioners become more serious about their
work.
There you are, ladies and gentlemen of the institute. The clarion
has called loud and clear. You are being summoned to national duty. Your
country needs you - and there is money in it too, if you are serious that
is. Heck, I should not say "you" but "we". You see, I am a former and office
bearer of the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Relations and consider myself to
be a seasoned professional PR practitioner. Because of this call to national
duty and the money offered I think I will come out of my retirement and
rejoin the institute.
Let's face it. The hard economic times have
seen PR clientele dwindle and practitioners are living from hand to mouth.
Here is our opportunity to earn some money in the service of our country.
Thank you so much for your foresight and your confidence in our profession
Dr Gono. You will not find us lacking in both professionalism and
stamina.
Dr Gono could not have chosen a more appropriate group, for the
task, than members of the institute. These are qualified professional
consultants who adhere to a code of conduct, which has high ethical
standards. They are very different from "spin doctors" of the likes of that
Canadian Ari Ben-Menashe, who almost got the leader of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, sentenced to death on cooked up
allegations that he plotted to murder our President. These are charlatans
with no professional qualifications or ethical standards. These are just
conmen who are out to make a quick buck from the gullible. They rely on
empty propaganda, outright lies, subterfuge and deceit to build "favourable
images" where none exist.
They don't even belong to any regulated
institute like the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Relations.
What first
struck me about Dr Gono's call was the fact that it should have come from
the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Professor Jonathan Moyo
rather than from the keeper and administrator of the national treasury. But,
after all taking into account the fact that nobody in the ruling party, Zanu
PF or in the country takes the professor seriously anymore, I realised that
the matter is indeed serious.
Instead of seriously tackling the grave
issues the country is facing the professor spends a good amount of time and
money composing silly songs and organising galas and bashes. They say that
he is an accomplished dancer, too. When he hits the floor nobody can believe
that he is a real professor and minister of the government led by our very
sober President Robert Mugabe.
I have forgotten who it is, the other
day, who said some of our ministers are busy fiddling while Zimbabwe is
burning. Dr Gono is certainly not one of them. He is no fiddler. He realises
the gravity of our economic situation and seems to be the only one doing
anything tangible about it. This is why he had to approach us himself so
that we can also realise the seriousness of our economic
predicament.
We all agree with Dr Gono that Zimbabwe continues to receive
a bad press from the independent media locally and internationally. This has
resulted in a really ugly image of Zimbabwe, which has adversely affected
our economy - hence, the call for public relations practitioners to
intervene.
In Zimbabwe's political climate of fear, some may hesitate to
answer Dr Gono's call. Gono foresaw this. This is why he said that there was
no way Zimbabwe's economy could be turned around when some ministries were
laggards. He said he was not worried that, in the process of reviving the
economy he would create enemies, as his measures were not acceptable to some
quarters in the country. Are we going to be afraid of these laggards that he
is talking about? Surely not!
However, before jumping into the fray
we must make sure that Dr Gono understands what public relations is all
about. Public relations is a sustained effort to establish goodwill and
understanding. Where there is goodwill and understanding there is acceptance
by one's publics both internal and external. Projecting, through
communication, existing positive attributes, does this. It therefore stands
to reason that you can only establish goodwill, understanding and acceptance
"kudiwa nevanhu" by doing what is perceived to be good by the public.
Acceptance is further enhanced by communicating the good, which you are
doing through the various media.
That then establishes your image. Public
relations is a sustained effort. It is not something one does at election
time only.
Some people wrongly think that the science of public relations
is all about propaganda, brainwashing or "normalising the abnormal" through
some mass media blitz. It is nothing of the sort. An organisation or
country's image is established by actual policies and programmes and by the
moral and ethical stature of its leadership.
In answer to Dr Gono's
call, therefore, our aim will not be to give Zimbabwe some cosmetic or
artificial image. It will not work. The cosmetic mask will, at some time,
fall away.
Our aim will be to uncover the real image of the country and
then urge the powers that be to change or enhance that image from the inside
through sound programmes and policies. We will then be able to communicate
to all and sundry the nature of the country's attributes. You can't
communicate what is not there or the opposite of what is there.
JOHANNESBURG - Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition representative, Tapera Kapuya says President Robert
Mugabe has turned Zanu PF from a liberation movement into a "fascist
machinery" that is now brutalising and raping Zimbabwean
citizens.
"Mugabe has turned our victories into a chameleon
revolution where what changes are colours of the same fascist machinery. We
are still denied our civil and political rights - our rights to vote for a
leadership which we can trust," Kapuya told a central committee meeting of
the Young South African Communist League at the weekend.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition were invited to brief the meeting about the
political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. The country has been in the
throes of a grinding crisis for the past four years largely attributed to
President Mugabe's mismanagement of the country. Mugabe denies the
charge.
Kapuya said the recent deportation of the Congress of
South African Trade Union (COSATU) fact-finding mission from Zimbabwe
further vindicated the defenceless millions whose cry for help has been "met
by infantile dismissals of being British or
Western-sponsored."
"The COSATU delegation was labelled as
British-inspired agents of neo-imperialism. That is what is conceived of
anyone who gets closer to the truth about Zimbabwe's government onslaught
against its people," Kapuya said.
He said the situation was
not conducive for free and fair elections and victory for Zanu PF would be
disastrous for the country.
Chairperson of the Young Communist
League, David Masondo said the appeal for solidarity coming from Zimbabweans
was coming from the "most vulnerable - the women who are being raped and the
youth who are being turned into a violent militia."
Masondo
said the league would provide solidarity to the people of Zimbabwe until the
crisis was over.
The Young Communist League is the youth wing
of the South African Communist party.
Iran to construct gas power plant in Zimbabwe Nov 13, 2004,
16:07
Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf has said Iran is to
construct a gas power plant in Zimbabwe. Bitaraf's remarks were made during
a meeting with Zimbabwean Ambassador to Tehran S.C. Chiketa.
Bitaraf,
during the meeting, expressed Iran's readiness to bolster economic ties with
African countries, saying Iran-Zimbabwe cooperation should focus on projects
that can be implemented easily. He spoke of the existing economic ties
between the energy ministries of the two countries in the renovation of
power plants, installation of transformers and training of Zimbabwean
personnel.
He said that an Iranian company has made a survey of the
possibilities for constructing a hydro-electric power plant in this African
country.
He said that as of now the parties are still awaiting funding
for the project, adding that the once the financial problem is solved, the
Iranian company will forthwith implement it.