FinGaz November 15, 2007
Njabulo Ncube Political
Editor
Pressure mounts on embattled Gula-Ndebele to quit
PRESSURE is
mounting on embattled Attorney-General (A-G) Sobusa Gula-Ndebele
to quit
following his sensational arrest last week on allegations of abusing
his
office, The Financial Gazette can reveal.
Gula-Ndebele, appointed A-G in
2004, is accused of meeting former NMBZ
deputy managing director James
Mushore at a time when police had a warrant
out for the banker's
arrest.
The episode has created further tension in the volatile Ministry of
Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, and has sparked renewed conflict
in the
fractious ZANU PF party, where the A-G and Mushore have been linked
to a
powerful faction jostling to succeed President Robert Mugabe.
There
is also unease within government and the ruling party about
Gula-Ndebele's
choice of Welshman Ncube, the secretary general of the Arthur
Mutambara
faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as his defence
counsel.
Ncube is a sharp constitutional law expert and his inclusion in
Gula-Ndebele's defence team suggests that the crux of the A-G's case is on
its constitutionality more than anything else.
Gula-Ndebele, who signed a
warned and cautioned statement after his arrest
last Tuesday, is alleged to
have met and promised Mushore, who fled to the
United Kingdom in 2004 after
being accused of contravening foreign currency
regulations, that he would
not be arrested.
Sources said this week that Gula-Ndebele, an ex-combatant,
is now under
pressure to throw in the towel, with ZANU PF insiders noting
that President
Mugabe, who has the prerogative of appointing
attorney-generals, would have
authorised his arrest.
"This speaks volumes
about the presidency's view of the A-G's office," said
one
source.
Johannes Tomana, the deputy chairman of the Anti-Corruption
Commission is
tipped to succeed Gula-Ndebele should those pushing for his
ouster succeed.
Constitutional law experts say President Mugabe should have
ordered an
inquiry into the Attorney-General's conduct, instead of allowing
the police
to arrest him.
"Whether his conduct constituted corruption, is
neither here nor there. But
this arrest has brought the office of the A-G
into disrepute," said a
source, speaking strictly on condition of anonymity.
"We are aware some
people want him to quit, but he has indicated he will
stay put until proven
guilty by the courts."
A ZANU PF source added: "A
chain of people should be arrested (too). The
first person should be the
first immigration officer who stamped his
(Mushore's) passport at the
airport when he entered. Why Gula-Ndebele? What
about the police that
cleared him."
Zimbabwe's first ever arrest of an attorney-general has created
a crisis in
the judiciary system, where subordinates opposed to
Gula-Ndebele's "military
style" of running the office were relieved when his
impending departure
seemed certain.
However, staff were shocked when
Gula-Ndebele reported for duty a day after
his arrest.The Financial Gazette
reported earlier this year how relations
between Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa and Gula-Ndebele had become icy.
It is reported things were so bad,
at some point, that the two officials had
stopped talking to each other,
obliging President Mugabe to intervene.
The President is said to be angry
with the A-G over the embarrassing
collapse of the state's case against 50
opposition activists arrested in
March on allegations that they were waging
a terror campaign.
Plans had been afoot for the Justice Ministry to reduce
the
Attorney-General's powers and bring key functions of his department
under
the direct control of Chinamasa. But Gula-Ndebele resisted the
changes,
advocating even more independence for his office.
The Minister
and the Attorney-General had clashed earlier after Gula-Ndebele
approved
Chinamasa's prosecution last year on charges of attempting to
defeat the
course of justice.
There is general consensus in the corridors of power that
the corruption
charges against Gula-Ndebele are meant to dent his integrity
as the
government's top lawyer, said sources.
Chinamasa, accused by
certain quarters in ZANU PF of complicity in the
arrest of his top officers,
is understood to have told Gula-Ndebele after
his arrest that he had nothing
to do with his ordeal at the hands of the
police.
The two officials are
to come face to face again at a hearing of the
portfolio committee on
justice today.
Innocent Gonese, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legal
spokesman, said
his party condemned Gula-Ndebele's arrest, saying it showed
ZANU PF did not
understand the concept of the separation of powers and the
independence of
the A-G's office.
"We hold no brief for Gula-Ndebele and
we express no opinion on the
correctness or otherwise of the decision he is
alleged to have made in
relation to Mr Mushore. Our concern as the MDC is
that the behaviour of the
police undermines the remaining vestiges of the
public's confidence in the
justice delivery system."
Gonese noted that
the arrest came in the wake of the acquittal of Levison
Chikafu, the
Manicaland area prosecutor who has attempted to prosecute
senior government
officials, including Chinamasa.
"We have noted that the A-G Office Bill,
which went through its first
reading and received a non-adverse report from
the Parliamentary Legal
Committee, has not seen the light of day and is
gathering dust in some
office somewhere and one wonders whether there is a
link between the latest
incidents and the Bill," Gonese said.
The Bill
proposes greater autonomy for the Attorney-General's Office.
Gula-Ndebele is
one of the top government and ZANU PF officials to be
arrested in recent
years.
In April 2004 former finance minister Christopher Kuruneri became the
first
high-profile figure to be arrested on allegations of externalising
foreign
currency.
Other notable officials to be netted include Bright
Matonga, the Deputy
Information Minister, James Makamba, former ZANU PF
legislator and Philip
Chiyangwa, former ZANU PF chairman (Mashonaland West).
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Clemence Manyukwe Clemence Manyukwe
FREE fund holders under the
Direct Fuel Import system risk losing US$18
million worth of fuel if the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) fails
to replace 18 million litres
of diesel believed to be contaminated.
Companies and individuals are
using their free funds for NOCZIM to procure
fuel on their behalf.
But a
batch of fuel imported by the parastatal is contaminated, sources
said, and
NOCZIM has undertaken to replace the lot with fuel held in
strategic
reserves.
However, an official at the company told The Financial Gazette that
there
was a problem with an 18 million-litre consignment of fuel.
"The
diesel is not contaminated. It only has what is called low flash point
(meaning It ignites faster than other fuels). That is why people are
refusing to take it. It does not do any damage to vehicles," the official
said.
However, a businessman who uses the facility expressed fears that
customers
may not be compensated because the oil company had taken too long
to address
the problem.
"The incident brings into question NOCZIM's
capacity to bring in fuel on
behalf of free funds holders. How would a free
fund holder ask NOCZIM to
import when it fails to secure the commodity?" an
affected individual said.
The fuel crisis has recently forced the government
to resort to the
supernatural in the hope of finding a solution.
Nomatter
Tagarira, the n'anga at the centre of an embarrassing scandal, is
in remand
prison following her arrest for allegedly swindling the government
of $5
billion and a farm on the strength of her claims that diesel could be
obtained from a rock.
According to court documents, in June this year,
state media reported that
the ZANU PF Politburo had been shown "video
footage of the visit by a
ministerial committee . The video showed the
liquid gushing out of a rock at
the summit of a hill near Chinhoyi caves and
Makuti."
Zimbabwe is in the throes of a fuel crisis blamed on the shortage of
foreign
currency.
Government had to relax fuel importation arrangements
by allowing direct
fuel importers to use free funds in order to ease the
fuel crisis.
Of late NOCZIM has started flexing its muscles by creating a
facility that
would give back the parastatal monopoly in the sourcing of the
scarce
commodity.
NOCZIM chief executive Zvinechimwe Churu was
unavailable for comment at the
time of going to print. Zvikomborero Sibanda,
NOCZIM spokesperson, declined
immediate comment, referring questions to
marketing manager Crispen
Mashange, who said he was on leave. Acting
marketing manager Lovemore
Mandugu also refused to comment.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Clemence
Manyukwe Staff Reporter
A PARLIAMENTARY committee has asked that Industry
and International Trade
Minister Obert Mpofu's contempt case be concluded
expeditiously after it
became apparent the matter was unlikely to be tabled
this year, raising
suspicions of a cover-up.
Mpofu was convicted in
May by a six-member privileges committee chaired by
Defence Minister Sydney
Sekeramayi, of charges of lying under oath. But
Parliament is yet to vote on
whether or not to uphold the conviction.
Proceedings against Mpofu were
initiated by the portfolio committee on
Foreign Affairs, Industry and
International Trade, which accused him of
giving false testimony under oath
during a probe pertaining to a management
contract between state-controlled
steel maker Ziscosteel and Indian investor
Global Steel Holdings
Limited.
The same committee is now urging Parliament to conclude the
case.
If the House of Assembly is dissolved ahead of next year's polls before
the
finalisation of the matter, it would automatically fall away. In terms
of
the law, the case cannot be resuscitated thereafter.
"We note that
there is an attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet. We
are going to
ask that justice be done, and be seen being done," a member of
the committee
told The Financial Gazette this week.
Legislators have drawn parallels
between Mpofu's case and an earlier one
involving former Movement for
Democratic Change Member of Parliament (MP)
Roy Bennett, who was sent to
jail a day after a privileges committee found
him guilty of assaulting
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister
and leader of the House of
Assembly, Patrick Chinamasa during a fracas in
parliament.
Mpofu's
troubles began after he spearheaded a deal with Global Steel that
would have
given the Indian company control of Zisco for 20 years, on
condition that
the firm invested US$400 million into the company.
The Industry and
International Trade committee, chaired by ZANU PF Chipinge
South MP Enock
Porusingazi, said Mpofu flouted guidelines on external
investment, the
Procurement Act, as well as others set by the Ministry of
Finance in 2004 on
public-private sector partnerships.
He was also accused of rendering the
Zisco board redundant.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Staff Reporter
ZIMBABWE has accrued a US$5 billion trade
deficit over the past five years
due to the destabilisation of agriculture,
a parliamentary committee has
reported.
The Lands and Agriculture
committee, in its first report on preparations for
the 2007/08 farming
season, cited the deficit after gathering evidence from
the ministries of
Agriculture and Agricultural Mechanisation as well as
farmers' unions, seed
houses, and Agribank.
"Your committee was informed that the country was
under-producing by US$650
million of agricultural exports, and importing
goods worth US$350 million to
cover mainly food deficits annually. As a
result of low agricultural
productivity, your committee was told that the
country has incurred a
deficit of US$5 billion for the last five years," the
report says.
The committee, headed by Chief George Chimombe of Manicaland,
gives a bleak
forecast for the new season, officially dubbed "the mother of
all
agricultural seasons". Input supply would remain unreliable, the
committee
said, dashing hopes of a recovery.
Representatives of
fertiliser manufacturers told the committee that they
were not able to meet
national requirements due to a combination of factors,
the main one being a
pricing system that makes their businesses
unprofitable, a worsening
scarcity of foreign currency, power outages and
erratic coal
supplies.
"Your committee noted with concern that even if all the
requirements for the
fertiliser industry were met today, it would not be
possible to produce
adequate fertiliser between now and
December."
Fertiliser prices were last reviewed in April, forcing companies
to absorb
increased costs without passing them on to consumers.
As of
September 10, seed companies said of the 50 000 tonnes of maize seed
required, there was a deficit of 21 000 tonnes because of unviable
pricing.
The committee was told that growers were holding onto their seed in
anticipation of a price review, with Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo
having told the committee that he had recommended a review of the price to
the National Incomes and Pricing Commission.
"At the time your committee
conducted its inquiry, the permanent secretary
for the Ministry of
Agriculture confirmed an acute shortage of fuel. He said
only six million
litres against a national requirement of 119 million litres
had been
sourced, and that this was being distributed at 1 000 litres per
farmer,
which stakeholders felt was a drop in the ocean if set targets for
the
summer crop were to be met."
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Charles
Rukuni Bureau Chief
BULAWAYO - A former member of the ZANU-PF central
committee has called on
ZAPU members in the party leadership to revisit the
unity accord because
they do not seem to be making any meaningful input into
the running of the
country.
Norman Mabhena, who was in the central
committee until 1999 and was deputy
secretary for foreign affairs in ZAPU,
said the former ZAPU members in
ZANU-PF should go back to the drawing board
and examine critically their
continued marriage with ZANU-PF or else they
would become irrelevant as they
were not doing anything for the region and
the nation at large.
ZANU-PF and ZAPU merged into ZANU-PF in 1987 ending
bitter internal strife
that saw more than 20 000 people mainly from
Matabeleland and the Midlands
provinces being massacred.
The accord has,
however, been shaky since the death in 1999 of former ZAPU
leader Joshua
Nkomo who signed the accord, which was strongly opposed by
most of his
lieutenants including those in the leadership of the current
ZANU-PF.
Mabhena, who said he did not represent any political formation
but was
speaking as an elder statesman, said he had decided to speak out
because he
could not stand by and watch the country he had fought for sink
deeper and
deeper into a "political and economic quagmire".
"This
country, in my view, is now being run like a personal fiefdom by an
exclusive club of people who seem to be afraid of their own shadows, people
who have parcelled out national resources among themselves, drivers of the
parallel market, leaders who are at the forefront of oppressing the people
they claim to have liberated, revolutionaries that have finished eating
their own children and are now beginning to eat their fathers," Mabhena
said.
He said he did not see any reason why the unity accord could not be
revised
because the country's constitution, for example, had already been
amended 18
times.
Mabhena claimed he had raised these concerns with the
provincial leadership
of Bulawayo because it was apparent to everyone that
the people of
Matabeleland were being marginalised. They were being denied
water, top jobs
in parastatals and loans under the Agricultural Sector
Productivity
Enhancement Facility.
He said the former ZAPU leaders were
playing second fiddle in the new
ZANU-PF as no one seemed to be listening to
them.
"How could someone, for example, tell the people of Bulawayo to get
water
from Khami Dam when one knows that bodies of people killed during
Gukurahundi were dumped into that dam. Isn't that an insult?" he asked.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Stanley Kwenda Staff Reporter
"THE government and the President
believe in African culture, we believe in
spirit mediums. She said the
diesel was coming from our ancestors, so we had
to pursue it. The second
reason is the current fuel problems. If we had not
pursued it, she was going
to blame the government."
These words were uttered by Mashonaland West
governor Nelson Samkange while
answering questions on why the government put
so much faith in claims by a
Chinhoyi spirit medium that she could produce
fuel out of a rock.
The government's preparedness to invest considerable
amounts of money in
pursuit of such unscientific claims was a big surprise
to many people,
because nowhere in the world had refined diesel ever been
squeezed out of a
rock.
Had this claim proved true, it would have been
the first such miracle in the
world.
Pictures of bare-footed government
officials attending rituals in connection
with the diesel have been
published in the press, raising questions about
the ruling ZANU PF party's
ability to steer the country out of the political
and economic quagmire it
is in.
The seriousness with which the officials embraced and believed the
proceedings are enough to leave even a primary school pupil with an
elementary grasp of science worried about the future.
Even if the claims
had been true, what would have happened when the trusted
spirit medium
died?
The pictures of the bare-footed officials doing the bidding of the
n'anga
were hilarious. But behind the mirth lies desperation, which calls
for
serious introspection into how the country is being governed.
It is
not far-fetched to imagine that at this time when many Zimbabweans are
unable to make ends meet, one can wake up one day and convince the gullible
ZANU PF government of having discovered a rock where United States dollars,
British pounds and South African rands can be extracted.
At this level of
suggestibility, any such claims can apparently be taken
seriously. Why not,
when the government showered the "diesel" spirit medium
with $5 billion.
Prosecutors are now questioning her sanity. But what about
those who were
prepared to be taken for a ride?
Two government taskforces, comprising no
less than six cabinet ministers,
were set up to investigate the existence of
the diesel that was supposed to
have fallen like manna from
heaven.
Serious questions must be asked. Is it through spirit mediums, or
through
proper political processes, that a country should be
governed?
"The problem is that the government justifies everything that it
does by
referring to the liberation struggle, which it claims to have been
led by
spirit mediums. But this spirit notion does not apply today. It's
either you
discover oil, or you don't. From a scientific point of view, you
have to
discover it and not try to find it through some strange prayer,"
said
political analyst Takura Zhangazha.
But State Security Minister
Didymus Mutasa, the government's front man in
the diesel saga, said he
believed the spirit medium's claims because of the
role traditional
fortune-tellers played during the liberation struggle.
Spirit mediums offered
guidance to freedom fighters, he told The Standard,
and "could manage
miracles and strange happenings, anyone who was or claims
to be part of this
country's liberation will tell you of the very important
roles performed by
our spirit mediums."
So is it now official policy to govern on the basis of
the advice of spirit
mediums?
"It is very unfortunate, but it only shows
the level of desperation of the
government. If a government goes to this
extent, then it would have run out
of ideas. The diesel story is the
clearest evidence of that so far," said a
political analyst who requested
anonymity.
"It has something to do with the reported succession issue. These
people
thought that by discovering diesel, they would make themselves
legitimate
successors to the President."
University of Zimbabwe political
analyst, Eldred Masunungure, said this was
the latest sign of the levels of
desperation within government.
"I am not surprised by the government's
behaviour. It simply shows that the
leadership is stranded and hopeless.
They are now trying to invest their
faith in miracles as a solution. They
are hoping for some kind of divine
intervention," said Masunungure.
He
suspects the diesel story is only a tip of the iceberg saying "there
might
be other cases of n'angas that are yet to be put into the public
sphere".
ZANU PF took its traditional beliefs a gear up when it
"Africanised"
parliament by erecting a granite chair in the House of
Assembly for use by
President Robert Mugabe.
The "cultural reforms" only
made Parliament look like a safari lodge. A
stuffed leopard and two antelope
heads hang on the walls, and a leopard skin
and two elephant tusks adorn the
chair used by the President.
Aeneas Chigwedere, the Minister of Education,
Sports and Culture, who was
responsible for spearheading the reforms in the
House last year, said the
paraphernalia were in line with traditional
beliefs.
He said: "In our traditional society, the Mutapa or Mambo or Nkosi
was the
head of the legislature, executive and judiciary. In this context,
the
speaker of parliament and president of the senate simply represent the
jinda
or induna (headman) of the State President. The chair or seat he
occupies is
therefore, in essence, the State President's chair."
He said
the chair represents a lion, which in turn symbolises power and
authority in
line with African culture.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Rangarirai Mberi News Editor
THE planned mega-merger between
Kingdom Financial Holdings and Meikles
Africa is now in serious jeopardy
after Old Mutual, one of the shareholders
in Meikles, said it would not back
the deal.
This has forced Meikles to push for the postponement of
meetings scheduled
for today where shareholders in Meikles, Tanganda and
Kingdom, the listed
parties in the transaction, were to vote the deal
through.
Meikles said it believed a vote could no longer be taken, as further
discussion was necessary.
"The board of Meikles Africa continues to
support the business case for the
merger in its entirety, and is of the view
that unless all resolutions are
considered at the same meeting, the business
objectives of the merger will
not be met," Meikles said
yesterday.
Kingdom chief executive officer Nigel Chanakira said a meeting of
his bank's
shareholders would go ahead as planned regardless.
"We
maintain confidence in our business model and in our partners. We are
clear
in terms of our willingness to proceed with this transaction. We will
continue with our plans to further consolidate our position on the market;
we are not perturbed by valuation issues raised by a single shareholder (of
Meikles)", Chanakira said.
The Financial Gazette can report that the
dispute centres on the market
value of Kingdom as at July 31, the date of
the first release of a joint
statement on the deal.
Old Mutual Asset
Managers (OMAM), the fund management arm of Old Mutual, has
written a note
sharply critical of the valuation given for Kingdom by deal
negotiators.
Old Mutual says Kingdom is worth only half of the value
placed on it.
According to Old Mutual, relative to its banking peers, Kingdom
has been
overvalued.
Last week, Sean Gammon of sponsoring brokers Imara,
acknowledging how
"complicated" valuation had been, said weighted Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange
(ZSE) share prices over a 60-day period up to July 31 had
been considered in
reaching valuations, taking into account "contemporary
and more medium term
trends."
The terms of the deal are such that Meikles
would issue up to 78.1 million
of its stock to existing Kingdom, Tanganda
and Cotton Printers shareholders.
The offer is stock-or-cash; a swap of 17.67
new Meikles shares for every 100
Kingdom shares held, or cash of $32 318 per
each Kingdom share.
To do this, Meikles needs the backing of 50 percent of
its shareholders at
its extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
But the ZSE
has ruled that the major shareholders in Meikles - ACM
Investments, APWM
Investments, ASH Investments, JRTM Investments and FPS
Investments - who
collectively hold 55.5 percent of Meikles, cannot vote at
the Meikles EGM,
as they are related parties.
This means the fate of the deal is in the hands
of minorities, giving Old
Mutual, which holds 10.9 percent of Meikles, the
leverage to block the
transaction.
Analysts were split yesterday on the
standoff. One said Meikles itself -
unchanged at $2.8 million yesterday -
has always been undervalued, as the
price does not appear to fully reflect
its assets, such as the Cape Grace, a
one percent share of Mvelaphanda, and
its US$52.3 million cash pile, half of
which is held at the central bank.
OMAM also raises these issues.
As at Tuesday, Kingdom was trading at a
price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of
413.18 times, much higher than the 277x
sector PE average. PE measures how
expensive a stock is.
Kingdom is the
ZSE's biggest riser, up a massive one million percent since
January at
yesterday's closing bell.
The fact that the second biggest gain is TA
Holdings' 499 000 percent -
growth half of Kingdom's - has inevitably
attracted scrutiny for Kingdom.
But a fund manager said "valuations are never
an exact science", and that he
believed both Kingdom's current share price
and its deal valuation were
fair, citing the bank's performance over the
past year.
"Dividends have been coming and the bank has been gaining market
share.
There will always be questions over valuation, especially in deals of
this
size," he said.
The fund manager noted that OMAM, one of the ZSE's
biggest investors, has
always kept a somewhat downbeat rating on Kingdom,
and that it has in fact
been paring its interest on the counter over the
past three years.
Old Mutual already has significant banking interests of its
own. It holds 20
percent of NMBZ, and also controls MBCA Bank and CABS, the
country's biggest
mortgager. Under the current terms of the transaction, Old
Mutual would hold
10.4 percent of KMAL.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Kumbirai Mafunda
Senior Business Reporter
THIS time last year, department stores and
several retailers in Zimbabwe had
already stocked shelves with Christmas
merchandise and in some cases setting
up Christmas trees and holiday
lighting.
Other shop owners had already kicked off the Yuletide mood in
late September
or early October by putting out Christmas ornaments, gift
wrap, cards and
artificial trees.
According to economists at the
University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School
in the United States this
placing of a selective sampling of Christmas items
into stores early in the
season is a phenomenon called "Christmas creep."
By extending their
all-important holiday shopping season retailers hope to
catch early
shoppers. Decorating shops for Christmas in late October is also
all about
the psychology of spending. Retailers hope consumers will get
swept up in
the spirit of things and spend, spend and spend.
This period of time
primarily from Thanksgiving to Christmas has become
evermore commercialised
and intense as more people have been afforded the
opportunity to purchase a
wider variety of goods.
In today's consumption-based economy Christmas
continues to be a vital
economic engine where spending grows rapidly. The
impact on the greater
economy is likewise significant as a good shopping
season will be reflected
in the Gross Domestic Product figures while a bad
one will drag it down.
In short, Christmas is the lifeblood for many
retailers and an important
aspect driving a country. It's quite remarkable
how much a simple
religiously significant date has morphed into an economic
driving force.
At this time every year shop owners certainly owe a debt of
gratitude to
Jesus Christ and sometimes break into song thanking Jesus
Christ "for
lending his birthday for customers to spend themselves
crazy."
But sadly Zimbabwean retailers are not joining in that chorus to
praise
Jesus Christ for lending his birthday to them.
With just a month
away from Christmas it is a different story this year as
retailers are
grappling to replenish their shelves, which were emptied by a
government
crackdown on manufacturers and retailers after the latter accused
enterprises of frequently hiking prices to foment anger against President
Robert Mugabe's government, a charge business denies.
With only some few
weeks left before Christmas there is no evidence of the
upcoming holiday
season in Zimbabwe as happened in the past six years when
retailers broke
sales records.
Retailers and retail analysts warn that that shoppers will
spend less than
ever in the run-up to Christmas because of squeezed incomes,
which are being
eroded by out of control inflation of close to 8 000 percent
and shortages
of commodities to splash their savings on.
Foreign currency
shortages and the government's decision to charge import
duty in foreign
currency is hindering most department stores from importing
goods as they
normally do in the past years.
"A lot of that product has traditionally been
imported but now it has been
difficult because of the new rules to pay
import duty in foreign currency,"
says Dave Mills, the retail director at
Meikles Africa, which owns a
department store and TM Supermarket, one of the
country's largest retail
chains.
Retailers say depleted stocks have
resulted in a weak Christmas for shop
owners.
"It (Christmas trading
period) is going to be much more subdued," says
Mills.
The first proof
that retailers are struggling during the crucial run up to
the Christmas
period emerged yesterday when one of the country's leading
chains OK
Zimbabwe gave some insight into the impact the price blitz has had
on the
operations of retailers.
OK reported running into a loss of $502 billion
because of the controversial
price cuts introduced in June ostensibly to
stem rampaging inflation now
topping 8 000 percent and the highest in the
world.
Subsequently OK suffered a $143 billion operating loss in the six
months to
September.
Furniture retailer Pelhams admitted last week that
the price blitz had the
more devastating effect of killing off product
supply to the extent that the
10 percent volume growth experienced in the
first quarter was reduced to 2
percent for the half year to
September.
Pelhams said no meaningful quantities of product is forthcoming
from the
factories because of the absence of pricing models for
manufacturers.
In September, clothing retailer Edgars called off at the last
minute a
briefing for media and retail analysts for its interims, the
starkest
evidence of how bleak sentiment in retail has turned.
Edgars
said the company will only be able to restock fully by April next
year if
the government halts the price blitz.
However, OK Zimbabwe chairman Eric
Kahari said there had been noticeable
improvement in product supply in the
month of October following the
intervention of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) with cheaper Basic
Commodities Supply Intervention Facility
(BACOSSI).
Mills said improvement in the retail sector would hinge on access
to some
concessionary funding unveiled by the RBZ last month to allow
manufacturers
to access working capital funding at concessional lending
rates of 25
percent per annum and the enhancement of the supply of products
to feed on
to retailers.
"A lot depends on our ability to access the
BACOSSI. That will help quite
substantially in replenishing the working
capital. One of the impediments
could be what is in the supply chain," said
Mills.
The BACOSSI facility, which has a nine-month window renewable through
90-day
instruments, is aimed at restoring capacity utilisation to levels
before
June 18 when a government price crackdown started.
Considering the
lengthy period that retailers would need to fully replenish
their stocks
after an experiment that backfired with painful repercursions,
the
government might be forced to intervene and decree an extension of the
Christmas holiday from December to April next year so as to allow consumers
to partake in the festivities associated with Christmas.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Clemence Manyukwe Staff Reporter
ALLEGED coup mastermind Albert
Matapo has told the High Court that Foreign
Affairs Minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi can vouch for the fact that his stay
in the United Kingdom (UK)
was for the purpose of promoting national
interests.
Matapo said this
while giving testimony on his frequent trips abroad,
especially to the UK,
and his activities there. At the time when he lived
there, Mumbengegwi was
Zimbabwe's High Commissioner in London.
President Robert Mugabe has
previously claimed the British government was
behind the coup
plot.
However, Matapo said after travelling to the UK in 2002 to see his sick
brother, he ended up working at a manufacturing company and doing other odd
jobs.
He later founded a charity organisation, the Zimbabwe Community in
the UK,
that supported Zimbabweans based there during bereavement or
weddings.
Matapo claimed that when Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon
Gono
arrived in the UK to launch the Homelink programme, his organisation
was
asked by the then High Commissioner to mobilise Zimbabweans to attend
meetings with Gono.
He was also given Homelink materials to distribute at
no personal gain,
Matapo claimed.
The meetings culminated in Matapo being
labelled "a Mugabe henchman" by the
BBC, which went on to allege he was
facilitating the illegal entry of
Zimbabweans into the UK.
He refuted
these allegations saying even after the publication of the BBC
report,
British police made no move to arrest him.
"You can confirm this with Dr
Mumbengegwi," Matapo told the court.
He alleges that a rival charity
organisation, Zimbabwe Association, led by
Partson Muzuva, which he says is
linked to the Movement for Democratic
Change, framed him.
An intelligence
operative based at the Zimbabwean embassy told Matapo that
the chairperson
of that group was used by the BBC in a sting operation
against him.
The
state alleges that when he went to the UK in 2002 and returned to
Zimbabwe
in 2004, he used an emergency travel document, and only used his
original
passport to travel through Zambia, en route to London.
According to the
state, this created the impression that he was still in
Zimbabwe, when in
fact he was in the UK.
However, Matapo said he used the emergency travel
document in 2002 after
misplacing his passport and when he found it in 2004,
he used it to travel
to Zambia for business.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Staff
Reporter
OCTOBER inflation data, expected out today, could show a figure
above the 10
000 percent for the first time, economists said.
A
Financial Gazette poll of five leading economists and analysts returned an
average forecast of 10 210 percent, which would be another record for
Zimbabwe's inflation, already the highest in the world.
The forecast is
in fact tempered by a single conservative forecast of 9 201
percent, a sign
most see as the biggest yet jump in annual figures.
Inflation rose 1 389.3
percentage points year-on-year in September to 7
982.1 percent, underlining
the failure of a damaging state crackdown on
business intended to slow
inflation.
On a monthly basis, inflation surged 26.9 percentage points to
38.7 percent,
reversing a slowdown recorded in August to 11.8 percent. But
economists see
month-on-month inflation rising back above the key 50 percent
level, the
point at which hyperinflation is confirmed.
The Reserve Bank
is unlikely to react too radically if the forecasts are
correct.
Last
week, central bank governor Gideon Gono told journalists that a planned
currency change had been put on ice as the bank concentrates on
recapitalising companies devastated by the price crackdown.
Earlier, he
raised interest rates, but gave a drab forecast for inflation in
the short
to medium term, saying he saw a continued rise on an expected
surge in
government spending due to elections next March and spending on a
range of
new farm and business subsidies meant to end food shortages.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Njabulo
Ncube Political Editor
ZANU PF national chairman and Speaker of
Parliament, John Nkomo, has been
accused of using his influence to secure an
amended offer from State
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is in charge
of land resettlement, for
a disputed wildlife-rich ranch in Matabeleland
North.
Nkomo has, for the past three years, been involved in a dispute
with
businessman Langton Masunda over Lugo Ranch in the Gwayi Conservancy in
Lupane.
Nkomo instituted fresh legal proceedings to evict Masunda despite
the latter
obtaining a court order barring Nkomo from interfering with his
operations
specifically at Jijima Lodge, which is located within Lugo
Ranch.
In new affidavits lodged with the Bulawayo High Court, Nkomo claims he
is
the rightful holder of Lugo Ranch, including Jijima Lodge, as he has been
issued with an amended offer letter by Mutasa.
The Financial Gazette is
in possession of the amended offer letter from
Mutasa.
Nkomo says he was
duly offered Lugo Ranch by the then responsible minister,
Joseph Made, but
"unfortunately" lost or misplaced the original offer letter
dated September
3, 2003.
"I have since been issued with a duplicate of my offer letter signed
by the
Honourable DNE Mutasa, the minister. The issuing by the Hon. Minister
of an
offer letter dated 22nd September, I must state at this stage that the
land
allocated to me was erroneously described as subdivision 1 of Lugo
Ranch yet
I was offered the whole of Lugo Ranch. However, the minister has
since
corrected the anomaly," reads part of Nkomo's affidavit.
Masunda
says Nkomo is abusing the courts by seeking to have him evicted on
the
strength of the amended letter from Mutasa.
He said the allocation of the
whole of Lugo Ranch to Nkomo was recent, as
evidenced by Mutasa's amended
offer letter dated September 20, 2007.
"He (Nkomo) is trifling with the court
and is clearly on a fishing
expedition. I believe this is an attempt at
judge shopping," he said.
Masunda says Nkomo's claim must stand or fall on
summons and not on
amendments made after the issuing of the summons.
"I
entered an appearance to defend and filed a plea after applicant issued
summons of eviction against me. Under Case Number HC1896/05 applicant
(Nkomo) applied for summary judgment, which was dismissed by Justice Bere.
Applicant withdrew case Number HC1632/05 and tendered costs. In case Number
HC818/07 applicant has sued for the same relief he sued for in case Number
HC1632/05 and in this application applicant sought the same relief the court
denied him in case Number HC1896/05."
Masunda says if Nkomo was
dissatisfied with Bere's ruling, the proper course
would have been for him
to appeal, but he did not. "It is an abuse of the
processes of the courts
to, as it were, seek a second bite of the cherry. As
I said, this is clearly
a fishing expedition."
Says Masunda: "The ministry cannot by the stroke of
the pen make an
amendment to deprive me of rights to Iand I acquired. It
cannot be that
simple. This is a clear case of bullying and abuse of the
process of the
courts."
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Staff
Reporter
INFORMATION Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
has honoured
his pledge to ask Media and Information Commission (MIC)
chairperson
Tafataona Mahoso and board member Pascal Mukondiwa to recuse
themselves from
hearing an application by The Daily News to be
licensed.
Ndlovu yesterday confirmed that he has
now asked
Mahoso and Mukondiwa to excuse themselves when the issue comes to
the MIC
board for deliberation. But he has not set a timetable for the board
to
consider the Daily News case.
"They will
certainly deal with it when it comes to
them," he
said.
Ndlovu appointed a new MIC board at the end of
last
month, retaining Mahoso and Mukondiwa from the previous board. But in
response to protests by media watchdogs over his decision to keep Mahoso, he
told The Financial Gazette at the time that the MIC chairman might be asked
to step aside when the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers
of The Daily News, approach the commission for a
license.
The five new members of the MIC board are
Chinondidyachii Mararike, Charity Sally Moyo, Edward Dube, Tendai Chari and
Ngugi wa Mirii.
Mahoso and Mukondiwa are part of
a previous board,
who according to several court judgments, could no longer
be trusted to
handle an application by the ANZ for the registration of its
two banned
titles, The Daily News and The Daily News on
Sunday.
A 2005 Supreme Court ruling said the MIC
could not
hear the newspaper's case because of Mahoso's perceived bias
against the
ANZ. And in a further judgment delivered in May this year, High
Court judge
Justice Anne-Marie Gowora specifically said Mahoso could not
preside over
the matter.
The judge said she found
it surprising that despite
the 2005 ruling by the Supreme Court that remarks
by Mahoso, prior to the
hearing of the application, could have created
apprehension in the minds of
any reasonable person that justice would not be
served, no effort had been
made on the part of the Minister of Information
to put in place a separate
legal structure that would allow the application
to be heard and determined
by an impartial body.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Mavis Makuni Own Correspondent
The controversy over the
presence of President Robert Mugabe at the
Europe/Africa summit to be held
in Lisbon on December 8 and 9 seems set to
rage on right up to the day of
the conference.
The row, which was sparked by new British prime minister,
Gordon Brown's
threat to boycott the summit if the Zimbabwean head of state
was invited,
has taken many turns during which threats and counter-threats
to boycott the
event have been made by the different blocs. In response to
Brown's threat,
both African Union (AU) and Southern African Development
Community (SADC)
leaders threatened to stay away from Lisbon unless their
Zimbabwean
counterpart was invited.
European and African ministers met in
Accra, Ghana, towards the end of last
month to decide whether to risk
sparking a diplomatic storm by insisting
that the Zimbabwean leader should
be invited. In the end the meeting, which
was attended by Portugal's foreign
minister, Luis Amado, decided that
President Mugabe should be invited to
attend the summit. Portugal has
insisted that a bilateral dispute between
Zimbabwe and its former colonizer
should not be allowed to derail next
month's summit. The last Europe/Africa
summit was held in Cairo in 2000. The
next one, which was scheduled to be
held in 2003 was cancelled because of
disagreements over the Zimbabwean
leader's attendance.
Member countries
of the European Union have adopted different positions with
regard to
President Mugabe's presence in Lisbon . Some Nordic countries
including
Sweden have opposed the President's participation but indicated
they would
not boycott the summit if he attended. Germany's Chancellor
Angela Merkel
insisted from the outset that the Zimbabwean leader should be
allowed to
attend so that his peers could engage him openly over the
persistent
allegations of undemocratic governance and human rights abuses
levelled
against his government. "Criticism of Mr Mugabe can be levelled at
him when
he is there", she said in a press interview last month. Merkel said
Africa
was too important for her country to boycott the summit because of
squabbling over Zimbabwe's presence.
A headline in yesterday's issue of
the state daily, The Herald, which
announced in bold letters; "Zimbabwe
prepared for showdown" proved the
diplomatic row was far from over. The
headline was over a story in which
government officials accuse Britain and
some Nordic countries of plotting to
have Zimbabwe placed on the agenda of
the Lisbon summit and stress that
President Mugabe's government is "prepared
for any showdown." In the report,
the Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sten
Rylander is accused of spearheading
a "plot" with other Nordic diplomats to
"build up" allegations that the
government perpetrates violence against its
opponents .The press story says
the plot also involves reviving calls for
the prosecution by international
courts of those responsible for atrocities
in the 1980s when 20 000
civilians are believed to have been killed in
Matabeleland and the Midlands.
Rylander is accused of having embarked on an
anti-Zimbabwe campaign while on
holiday in Europe in July and to have
continued his onslaught at a meeting
of the Zimbabwe United Nations
Development Assistance Fund in Nyanga last
month.The Swedish envoy is
slammed for making political allegations against
the government at a
development forum. "For him to throw his salvo at the
government of Zimbabwe
in a development forum is not only discourteous but
also undiplomatic," the
Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck
Sibanda, is quoted as
saying.
Another government official is quoted as saying Zimbabwe was not
afraid to
defend its sovereignty and reputation and would not shy away from
a fight,
especially where it is right. "If they dare play Britain's cat
pawl, they
are likely to get one outcome, namely a repeat of the 2002
Johannesburg
World Earth Summit". This is where the Zimbabwean leader told
then British
prime minister Tony Blair to " keep your Britain and I will
keep my
Zimbabwe." The irony of this continuing war of words is that it
could prove
Brown's fears that Zimbabwe's presence in Lisbon could turn the
Europe/Africa summit into a media circus and detract from the main agenda to
be valid after all.
Zimbabwe's combative mood and its dark warning about
a repeat of the
spectacle in South Africa in 2002 when President Mugabe was
joined by former
Namibian president Sam Nujoma in blasting and ridiculing
Blair from the
podium cannot be re-assuring to the organizers of the Lisbon
summit. The
vitriolic tirades against Rylander show that Zimbabwe is
spoiling for a
fight. Observers will have noted that Zimbabwe is threatening
to fight so as
to avoid defending its governance and human rights record,
and ensuring that
these issues are off limits during the summit.
Why?
Questions will be asked why, if it has nothing to hide, the Zimbabwean
government is not keen to seize the opportunity afforded by the summit to
prove convincingly once and for all that the allegations of human rights
abuses and repressive governance persistently levelled against it are
baseless.This is the ideal platform from which to prove Rylander, his
alleged co-conspirators and any other detractors wrong. It would be a
contradiction for Zimbabwe, which has fought so relentlessly to assert its
right to go to Lisbon as an equal partner , to then flinch at the prospect
of facing scrutiny and criticism from its peers. It is Zimbabwe's insistence
on attending international gatherings only to defend its sovereignty and
blast other countries while insisting that discussion of its own
shortcomings is taboo that has won the country notoriety as a
rabble-rouser.
Surely, if the Zimbabwean government is prepared to use
international
gatherings to defend its sovereignty and to attack the leaders
of other
countries, it should be willing to face criticism of its track
record at the
same fora. After all, according to an EU-Africa Strategic
Partnership
document titled "From Cairo to Lisbon", democratic governance is
expected to
be one of the issues on the agenda. The others are climate
change, energy,
migration, mobility and employment. The African Union
Executive is reported
to have insisted that the agenda of the summit should
take into account
"Africa's development needs including agriculture and food
security."
The first EU-Africa summit held in Cairo in 2000 resulted in the
formulation
of the Declaration of Cairo and a joint EU-Africa Cairo Plan of
Action. Both
address political and peace building issues, debt, conflict
prevention and
development.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Personal Glimpses with Mavis Makuni
THE Harare City Council
is not doing a very good job of adhering to its own
by-laws.
A few
weeks ago, the local authority was fined an undisclosed sum for not
collecting garbage from the streets.
In its November 10 issue, the state
daily, The Herald, carried a report
about the municipality incurring another
fine. This time the Environmental
Management Agency fined the council $158
million for failing to have fire
prevention measures around a dump site in
Pomona. This information emerged
only after the Member of Parliament for
Harare North, Trudy Stevenson, had
asked if the Ministry was aware of the
polluted smoke being spewed from the
burning dump.
It was only then that
the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Francis
Nhema, disclosed that the
local authority had been fined for violating the
Environmental Management
Act and had been ordered to come up with
sustainable management practices to
enable residents in the vicinity of the
dump to breathe clean air.
Nhema
lamented that attempts by firemen to fight the inferno by lighting
more
fires had exacerbated the situation. Attempts to counter-burn the dump
fire
failed due to "the combustion of hydrocarbons, particularly methane
that has
been continuously accumulated at the dump,"he said.
Nhema said: "In this
regard, we took action against the Harare City Council.
Several charges have
been levelled against the council. More importantly,
the council is being
charged with operating a waste disposal facility
without a valid licence
from the Environmental Management Agency. The
council is further being
charged with failing to put in place fire
prevention and mitigating measures
as there are no fireguards around their
waste disposal facility."
The
list of violations committed by the city council seems endless and Nhema
summed everything up by saying the local authority had been ordered to
"prepare a holistic and comprehensive management plan for the waste disposal
facility."
It is noteworthy that in his long and detailed response Nhema
failed to
respond to Stevenson's most important question, i.e. why the
ministry
allowed such things to happen in the first place. In essence, the
legislator
wanted to know, as all residents of Harare wish to know, why the
Environmental Management Agency is happy to sit back and play a reactive
rather than a proactive role. It does not help residents in any way to have
bodies and agencies with high sounding names when such organisations'
existence does not enhance their chances of living in a safer and cleaner
environment. Regulations are of no use if they cannot be enforced and events
have repeatedly shown the Environmental Management Agency being caught flat-
footed.
As an example, the agency only stirred into action with regard to
the
environmental degradation caused by gold panners when the damage had
already
been done. Some time in 2005, the permanent secretary in the
ministry,
accompanied by Sekesai Makwavarara, who then chaired the
Commission running
the affairs of Harare, descended on Mbare Musika for a
clean-up and sprucing
up exercise that caused considerable disruptions and
losses for traders and
vendors. One wondered then as one does now what the
officers manning the
agency spend most of their time doing if they only
become aware of the
flouting of environmental regulations through disasters
such as the Pomona
fire or the eyesore that the Mbare market had
become.
Minister Nhema told Parliament in response to Stevenson's questions
that the
Harare City Council had now been ordered to undertake a number of
measures
to normalise waste management at the Pomona dump. This implies that
all
along, the agency had neither been doing any monitoring nor enforcement
of
regulations in Harare or else it would have ensured the municipality had
a
comprehensive waste management plan not just for Pomona but with respect
to
all its operations.
Nhema's reference to "challenges" that the City of
Harare is facing
regarding its waste management systems which had resulted
in "rampant
discharge of effluent and illegal dumping of waste into Lake
Chivero" is
even more disturbing. Where was the Environmental Management
Agency while
the situation deteriorated to such unacceptable levels? His
statement that
the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) had compounded
the problem by
discharging partially treated water and raw sewage into the
waterway is no
consolation. ZINWA has been notorious for its inefficiency
and redundancy
since it was imposed to usurp water management functions from
local
authorities.
Zimbabwean taxpayers should not be expected to finance
bureaucracies spawned
by the setting up of inert institutions such as the
Environmental Management
Agency and ZINWA just to create cushy jobs for
people who do nothing to
fulfill their mandates. Recently, ZINWA has sparked
outrage by proposing the
drawing of water for consumption by residents of
Bulawayo from the
decommissioned and heavily polluted Khami dam. Throughout
the duration of
the controversy, Nhema's ministry and the Environmental
Management Agency
maintained a thunderous silence.
One would have thought
it was at times when such controversies arose that
the Ministry would lead
the way in condemning selfish and dangerous notions
such as ZINWA's attempt
to reclaim water from a heavily polluted dam for
human consumption. It
should be at such times that the voices of experts in
the ministry should be
heard advising the government against insensitive
actions exposing consumers
to health hazards and defending the rights and
interests of the people.
Without the clout to promote and order the
implementation of sound
environmental management systems throughout the
country, one is bound to
regard the levying of fines from violators only as
a fund-raising ploy by
the ministry. The fines will have no impact as long
compliance continues to
be optional and as long as the Environmental
Management Agency can only go
through the motions without commanding enough
authority and clout to force
compliance with its regulations.
mmakuni@fingaz.co.zw
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Njabulo Ncube Political
Editor
IF the dog-eat-dog succession battles within the ruling ZANU PF
party were
premier league football, most punters would, by now, be berating
bookmakers
for refunds.
Until the 2004 December congress, it was
former ZANU PF Speaker of
Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa who was tipped to
succeed President Robert
Mugabe, who had hinted at a distant departure
date.
And then came the eventful ZANU PF congress of 2004, which tipped the
scales. For the past three years, the odds had been on Vice President Joice
Mujuru to be anointed heir to the veteran nationalist, who will turn 84 in
February.
Citing the Mujuru camp's victories, such as the scuttling of
the Dinyane
Primary School meeting in 2004, which produced what came to be
known as the
"Tsholotsho Declaration", punters would have put all their
money on Mujuru.
Her landing of the vice president's post in 2004, a first
for a female, left
many with little doubt about the identity of the
country's next leader.
President Mugabe also egged her on, hinting on a
number of occasions that
the country should prepare itself for a female
president.
And then when President Mugabe threw his hat into the ring for the
umpteenth
time, it became apparent that the party was yet to agree on the
choice of a
successor.
But even then, analysts had predicted that those
backing Mujuru would pull a
surprise at the ZANU PF extraordinary congress
scheduled for December 11-15.
It was therefore, with a degree of
disappointment, that last Thursday Mujuru
declared she was not eyeing the
high-pressure job.
"If there is a person who wants to contest President
Mugabe, it's not me.
The presidium is made up of four people, and I am
already in the presidium.
I am not going anywhere," she said, before
praising the head of state
profusely.
"Takabikwa navaMugabe tikakwana.
VaMugabe vanogona kuumba munhu akaita
munhu. (We have all been groomed by
President Mugabe. He is good at that)
Musandipinze pachigaro ichocho,
musandipinze pandisingakwane (Don't force me
into positions where I do not
fit). I am only here to help the President,"
said Mujuru.
Mashonaland
Central Governor Ephraim Masawi and ZANU PF Central Committee
member Thomas
Rusambo echoed these sentiments, dismissing reports that
Mujuru was eyeing
the presidency.
More than anything, Mujuru's retreat shows how disastrous it
is for one's
career within ZANU PF to as much as hint that one has such
ambitions.
Eddison Zvobgo had foreseen the problem long before now.
"Every
teacher aspires to be headmaster some day," the late legal genius
once told
an interviewer.
In other words, as far as he was concerned, ambition should
not be
criminalised.
Zvobgo's star dimmed, according to analysts, because
he made his ambition
known. He became the subject of backbiting by political
vultures eyeing the
throne.
Mujuru's poignant public renunciation of her
alleged ambitions has proved
Zvobgo's experiences provided useful lessons to
political heavyweights
within ZANU PF.
Mujuru had never openly declared
any ambition to head ZANU PF - but neither
had she ever denied such
ambitions before last week.
"Her declaration is based on her reading of the
situation within ZANU PF on
the eve of the extraordinary congress," said
Eldred Masunungure, a professor
of political science at the University of
Zimbabwe. "She has read it well,
and I believe the audience she is targeting
is the political leadership of
ZANU PF."
Takura Zhangazha, Media
Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe senior
programmes officer said:
"Firstly, Mujuru's declaration smacks of a
well-thought out political
decision intended not to ruffle feathers in the
central committee, which has
announced the items on the agenda of the
extraordinary congress."
But he
suspects there could be more to the move.
"There appears to be a tacit
agreement in ZANU PF that the battle to succeed
President Mugabe will resume
when the elections are out of the way and
possibly at another time when the
incumbent announces he is going. There is
no way she can be seen to be
openly challenging her superior, hence her much
publicised
statement."
Mujuru now appears to appreciate that she is no longer President
Mugabe's
favourite. Her political fortunes have diminished since 2004, when
she was
given the impression she would easily inherit the throne. The
"anointer is
no longer willing to anoint her," said Masunungure.
Rivals
within ZANU PF could have taken the view that the party needs to win
convincingly in 2008 thus making it imperative to stop all the bickering, at
least for now.
The focus will now shift to what happens after the polls.
Should ZANU PF win
with strong majority and in the unlikely event that he
decides to step down,
President Mugabe would be able to rely on Parliament
to elect a successor of
his choice.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Comment
THE Finance Ministry is once again on the roll, so we noted, with
a new
round of consultations where stakeholders countrywide have started
feeding
their ideas into the budget formulation process ahead of the
presentation of
the 2008 national budget later in the month or early next
month.
At no other time has this process been as critical as now given
the poor
state of the country's economy. Living conditions have taken a
dramatic turn
for the worse. The civil service and the private sector are at
risk of
desertion by skilled staff due to the brain drain that has reduced
the
country into a training ground for the region and the developed world.
Incomes, which do not make sense if denominated in United States dollar
terms now lag behind inflation, which hit a record 7 982.1 percent in
September.
It is evident that more than two thirds of the companies
operating in
Zimbabwe have become reluctant candidates for bail-out packages
and cannot
afford to pay inflation-beating salaries.
Industry is now
dependent on a life support system provided partly by the
Reserve Bank after
a government directive for companies to slash prices by
50 percent left them
on their knees, unable to restock, let alone to borrow
from bank
sources.
A disaster looms large. Hospitals are now relying on generators and
candles
owing to intermittent electricity cuts, forcing miners to seek
authority to
source power directly from regional utilities.
The import of
all this has been economic contraction of major proportions
and rising
poverty. The country is on the verge of sliding into a state of
paralysis if
politics continues to have an overbearing influence over
economics. It is
critical therefore, that the on-going budget formulation
process is taken
seriously.
In the past, the exercise has been treated as one leading into an
event,
which is the budget presentation, and not as part of a process
leading into
the revival of the country's battered economy. While successive
finance
ministers have tried to be innovative under very difficult
circumstances,
the process was premised on overly optimistic assumptions or
projections and
in the end, it lost credibility.
It does not help matters
to portray a rose-tinted picture of a budget only
to supplement it or worse
still violate governing statutes by making
unauthorised expenditures a few
months into the new financial term.
Government has been overshooting the
tarmac so to speak. Only in September,
it came up with a $31.7 trillion
envelope after exhausting the 2007 budget
in the first quarter of the year.
While soaring inflation has made the
budgeting process difficult, its
outcome should not be far off the mark or
else why embark on it in the first
place?
While the 2008 harmonised elections will present another budgetary
challenge, Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi should strike a balance
between the government's revenue needs and expenditure requirements if
inflation, identified as the country's number one enemy, is to
recede.
The national budget should avoid stoking the inflation fires or else
government will continue to suffer perennial expenditure overruns. It should
also have practical ways of minimising the burgeoning budget deficit whose
funding from domestic borrowing is not only inflationary but starves the
productive sectors of the economy of resources.
Yet Mumbengegwi must also
ensure government lives within its means and keep
a watchful eye on
recurrent expenditure, which chews up a large chunk of the
budget.
Privatisation, which has been on the backburner for a very long
time, is one
viable way through which government can be encouraged to
generate additional
revenue without recourse to the embattled taxpayer while
also plugging the
losses suffered by the fiscus through bankrolling
loss-making and sometimes
hopeless parastatals.
The country's failure to
invest in infrastructure, which is in bad shape, is
another aspect
stakeholders should lobby for. Infrastructure has always been
an attractive
incentive to foreign investors, but this might cease if
nothing is done to
halt its deterioration. It is time government was
encouraged to move with
speed in implementing the Build Operate Transfer
arrangements, which can
take the burden off its shoulders and shift it to
the private sector.
The
taxable base has also shrunk due to the economic recession epitomised by
retrenchments, company closures and the decline in capacity utilisation. The
various constituencies feeding into the budgeting process should find ways
of generating additional revenue without necessarily overburdening the
truncated tax base.
At the same time the situation in the education and
health sectors is
deplorable. Staff retention has become absolutely
essential. Critical
ministries have been starved of funding and have had to
forego some
essentials in order to make it to the end of the year.
The
challenge facing the country is an onerous one but not insurmountable.
It
calls for the powers-that-be to think outside the box and to resist the
temptation towards pampering their selfish egos by ignoring what comes out
of the various interest groups and push for an election budget.
Zimbabwe
requires a realistic budget, which dovetails into the overall
economic
revival strategy.
FinGaz November 15, 2007
Synodia
Bhasera Own Correspondent
HARARE and Ruwa have run out of land for
housing development and now pin
their hopes on new administrative boundaries
that would be drawn up by the
electoral commission, a senior government
official said.
David Karimanzira, Governor and Resident Minister of the
Harare metropolitan
province made the revelation in response to enquiries
from members of the
Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association (ZBCA), who
are scouting for land
for housing development.
ZBCA has formed a
consortium - Sarantel Investments - to spearhead
construction projects in
and around the capital city. Its effort might come
to naught if it fails to
secure land for the projects.
The association, which got the endorsement for
the project from about 300
members, has set the target of 1 million housing
units in the medium to
long-term.
"Land has been on demand for
residential purposes. However, of the four
local authorities that make up
Harare province, Ruwa and Harare have
completely run out of land.
"Land
under private hands has also run out. We are waiting for the electoral
commission to demarcate new boundaries and we look forward to getting more
land for expansion," said Karimanzira.
The shortage of land in Harare is
forcing most people to seek accommodation
in smaller towns such as Norton
and Ruwa.
Others have moved into areas such as Domboshava, Seke and
Goromonzi.
Government had planned to end the housing problem facing the
country by the
year 2000. The plan, which assumed 163,000 units were to be
constructed
every year, failed due to lack of funding.
The housing
backlog in most cities and towns has remained high, exerting
huge demand on
the few available properties and, as a result, a sharp spike
in rentals has
poured cold water on government's efforts to fight inflation.
Only 15,000 to
20,000 housing units are being built yearly and the figure
includes projects
by private sector participants.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting in Harare
last week, Edzai Kufandarerwa,
ZBCA Harare region chairman said Sarantel
Investments would complement
government's efforts in the provision of decent
accommodation.
He said the consortium would also help stabilise the property
sector, which
has witnessed unprecedented price increases in the
past.
Kufandarerwa said ZBCA needs at least 25 farms within and around Harare
for
the project.
He said: "In this endeavor, we wish to appeal to our
government for the
provision of 10 farms in Harare, five farms in
Chitungwiza, five farms in
Epworth and five farms in Ruwa to kick start our
venture."
FinGaz November 15, 2007
COMESA was established in December 1994 as a successor of the
Preferential
Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa
(PTA).
Current member states are Angola, Burundi, Comoros, the DRC,
Djibouti,
Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi,
Mauritius,
Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
COMESA achieved FTA status in October 2000 when nine of the member
states -
Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and
Zimbabwe
eliminated their tariffs on COMESA originating products. It is
expected to
launch a Customs Union in 2008.
COMESA Attractive Aspects for
Zimbabwe
COMESA attractive aspects for Zimbabwe are:
lCOMESA is a larger
and developing market
lCOMESA member states' economies and trade capacities
are more balanced
lZimbabwe has a potential competitive advantage over its
COMESA regional
partners
lThe pace of regional integration is faster in
COMESA than in SADC
A major attractiveness of COMESA to Zimbabwe is that it
is a much larger
market than SADC. With a population of over 374 million,
distributed in 20
member states, COMESA provides an attractive market for
Zimbabwe,
particularly its agricultural and manufacturing sectors which are
relatively
developed in comparison to those of its regional partners in
COMESA. What is
more attractive for Zimbabwe is that the COMESA market is
growing at a much
faster rate than that of SADC. For instance, the
construction industry in
countries emerging from war (DRC, Angola, Rwanda,
Burundi) is bound to
expand rapidly in the near future and Zimbabwe is
likely to benefit from
such expansion.
Zimbabwe is attracted to COMESA
because economies and trade capacities in
the RECs are more balanced and
exporters compete on a level playing field.
This is not the case in SADC
where South Africa is by far the dominating
member. For instance, South
Africa is attributable to more that 73 percent
of Zimbabwe's trade. In
Zimbabwe's view, such a situation is not sustainable
since the country and
the region are vulnerable to the performance of the
South African
economy.
South Africa's dominating role in SADC is more worrying for Zimbabwe
considering that in trade terms, South Africa is regarded as a developed
country. Therefore, its needs and interests cannot be exactly the same as
those of Zimbabwe. For instance, supply and demand side constraints, which
are prevalent in Zimbabwe, are minimal in South Africa. South Africa enjoys
relatively developed and efficient transport and communication systems,
which give it competitive advantages over Zimbabwe. Therefore, if companies
in South Africa and those in Zimbabwe are allowed to compete on equal terms,
Zimbabwean companies will lose out, leading to possible closures and job
losses.
Zimbabwe would also prefer a COMESA Customs Union over that of
SADC because
it feels that it has better chances of attracting Foreign
Direct Investment
(FDI) in COMESA. This is not the case with SADC, where
South Africa is
likely to attract most FDI due to its developed
infrastructure and
sophisticated support services.
Although Zimbabwe lost
significant competitiveness in the last seven years,
it has the
prerequisites to regain equal or higher competitiveness than its
regional
partners in COMESA if the economic situation stabilizes. The
prerequisites
include relatively developed infrastructure (road networks,
railways,
communication systems, trade finance, insurance etc.), highly
educated and
skilled manpower and a diversified economy. These factors also
make Zimbabwe
an attractive area for both domestic and FDI if the economy
stabilises.
Further, there is likelihood of trade creation in favour of
Zimbabwe if it
joins the COMESA Customs Union.
While Zimbabwe hopes to have a competitive
advantage over its regional
partners in COMESA, this is not the case in
SADC. The country will certainly
face stiff competition from South Africa,
the dominating economy in the REC.
Another factor that makes COMESA
attractive to Zimbabwe is that regional
integration progress in COMESA is
faster than in SADC. In the past decade,
COMESA managed to achieve its key
targets (with some problems though),
including establishing FTA in 2000. The
planned customs union in 2008 is
also on schedule and there are realistic
chances that it will be achieved as
planned. Zimbabwe is actually
enthusiastically spearheading progress in
COMESA. For instance, it is one of
the first nine member states to implement
a FTA in October 2000 when it,
along with Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan and Zambia
agreed to eliminate tariffs on COMESA
originating products. Zimbabwe is also
part of the COMESA Common Tariff
Nomenclature and a Common External Tariff
by the member States. Further,
Zimbabwe has also adopted the single form for
use as a customs declaration
in COMESA (the COMESA Customs Document). It is
also part of the COMESA
Regional Bond Guarantee and ASYCUDA - the Automated
System for Customs Data.
Progress in SADC on the other hand is slow, with
planned targets being
missed or postponed. Although member states signed the
SADC Trade Protocol,
which aims to establish a Free Trade Area by 2008,
implementation of the
protocol is still dogged by numerous problems. These
include various
non-tariff barriers with Zimbabwe being one of the member
states having such
barriers.
There is a general feeling in Zimbabwe that
SADC does not provide the best
competency for regional economic integration
because this was not its
original objective. In Zimbabwe's view, SADC's
mandate and competency lie in
development co-operation. Regional economic
integration should be left to
COMESA, which has a clearer mandate and is
more competent to do so. As if to
support this argument, Zimbabwe chose to
negotiate Economic Partnership
Agreements (EPAs) with the EU under the
configuration of Eastern and
Southern Africa (ESA). ESA is an institution
created by COMESA for the sole
purpose of negotiating an EPA with the EU.
This decision carries significant
weight and provides the clearest
indication by Zimbabwe that it prefers
COMESA Customs Union over that of
SADC.
Zimbabwe's final decision on choosing the appropriate Customs Union
does not
only depend on the attractiveness of the various RECs, but also on
current
dynamics on the ground. These include:
lSouth Africa's attitude
and role in SADC regional integration
lNature of South Africa's bilateral
trade agreements with third parties,
including review of SA-EU
TDCA
lDecisions by Zimbabwe's key trading partners in COMESA
lThe outcome
of EPA negotiations between the EU and SADC/ESA
Zimbabwe is very sensitive to
South Africa's decisions and moves,
considering that South Africa is the
most significant trading partner for
Zimbabwe in the world. Therefore,
whatever South Africa does, will have
major bearing on Zimbabwe's final
decision to choose the appropriate Customs
Union. The overriding feeling in
Zimbabwe is that its economic and regional
interests should not be
undermined or marginalised by those of South Africa.
Zimbabwe hopes to see a
South Africa, which complements its development
efforts rather than one
which threatens them.
lDr Masiiwa is the Director of Africa Institute for
Policy Analysis and
Development and Researcher with the University of
Zimbabwe. This is a
summary of a presentation made by Dr Masiiwa at the
October 2007 Zimbabwe
Economics Society monthly meeting held at the Cresta
Jameson Hotel in Harare
on Tuesday 9th October 2007.
November 15, 2007
Tell the truth, Sekai
Holland
EDITOR - We are tempted to write by Sekai Holland's
article, which appeared
in several publications including The Financial
Gazette (November 1-7 2007):
"Male chauvinism and MDC's Top Six".
In one
paragraph Madame Holland said Ms Lucia Matibenga and Nelson Chamisa
had
saved Morgan Tsvangirai by mobilising consultative meetings around the
country "... when Tsvangirai was nearly toppled on October 12, 2005 by his
top six colleagues..."
Such an irresponsible statement coming from Madame
Holland especially as she
was privy to the developments, which occurred on
October 12, 2005, shocks
us. Mrs Holland knows, as much as we do that the
October 12, 2005 debacle
was caused by none other than Tsvangirai himself
and that there was
absolutely no attempt whatsoever, real or imagined to
topple him. It is
people like her who continued to feed Tsvangirai with the
false notion that
October 12 was a boardroom coup and have in fact peddled
such imaginary
thoughts.
For the purpose of this discourse it may be
helpful to revisit a few facts
about what happened thereon. The founding
fathers and mothers, daughters and
sons of the MDC had realised that
democratic deficits in Africa and Zimbabwe
in particular had been a result
of the absence of a culture of democratic
collective leadership. Leaders had
been allowed to make unilateral decisions
and to this end they employ
violence, tribalism and intimidation as tools
for political
organisation.
In an attempt to curb this cancer, the top six of the MDC was
charged with
the responsibility to guide the leader in their collective and
in their
majority of opinion. This collective spirit of the top six would
then form
the basis of action by the president at every turn.
On October
12, the top six were unanimous in their resolution to participate
in the
senatorial elections except for Tsvangirai alone who chose to present
a
minority view to the National Council. In the spirit of the founding
principle of the MDC, the simple thing for Tsvangirai to do would have been
to recommend the collective decision of the Top Six, which was to
participate in the elections.
He had no choice but alas, he thought
otherwise. However, his minority view
to boycott elections was resoundingly
defeated 33-31 and then Tsvangirai
stood up and declared ". I don't care if
the party breaks into pieces. We
will not participate in the
elections."
It is not the intention of this statement to interrogate the
wisdom of why
he did that. That matter remains in the domain of another
interrogation.
Tsvangirai then walked out and refused to recognise all
attempts to
reconcile the decision of the National Council with him. We
warned then of
the dangers of politicians succumbing to the whims of a
leader who clearly
was lost and was contemptuous of the party's procedures,
institutional
structures and the party constitution. We advised against
being pliable to a
leader who was showing total disrespect of party's
founding values and
principles. Such leaders were reminiscent of Africa's
despots.
It would be very interesting for Madam Sekai Holland to demonstrate
how the
Top Six had "nearly toppled" Tsvangirai. We suspect that Madam
Holland has a
very short memory and poor recollection of events. We note
with grave
concern that Mai Holland had been one of those who had chosen to
ignore and
had completely discarded the MDC constitution and rules of
procedure. We are
therefore not entirely surprised by her remarks.
The
Top Six of the MDC comprised of people of high integrity and loyalty to
the
party's values and principles and they would not have attempted
unconstitutional means of dealing with problems in the party. These were
deputy president Gibson Sibanda; chairman the late Isaac Matongo, secretary
general Honorable Welshman Ncube, deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire
and treasurer general Fletcher Dulini. If Holland is now experiencing
problems with Tsvangirai, let her not try to bring in people who had nothing
to do with the behaviour of Tsvangirai. Vakapembedza gona nerinobata mai!
(They celebrated witchcraft, which then implicated their mother!) Please let
us learn to tell the truth. We wish to state categorically that it is not
our intention to be embroiled in the Matibenga saga but we shall continue to
make corrections whenever necessary
Gabriel Chaibva
Secretary for
Information and Publicity, MDC.
----------------
Patriotism should be
banned as a word
EDITOR - I read with disgust an article in a
local daily newspaper about
patriotism and treachery.
Patriotism should
never be a word. It does not always work in a democracy.
The moment you
think patriotism then democracy is out of the window.
People have freedom of
choice, different views, association and opinion, so
if I exercise my
democratic rights and do not agree with your policies it
means I am not
patriotic.
If I condemn human rights abuses and repressive legislation, then
I am not
patriotic.
Surely there are many learned people out there who do
not seem to know what
this all means. I think patriotism should be banned as
a word in Zimbabwe
until we all learn tolerance.
Mart
United
Kingdom
------------
Readers
Forum
Outrageous
EDITOR - I find it
outrageous that a man as
honourable as Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele
would be accused of
abusing his office.
If the
truth be told, the Ndebele family has over
the years produced dedicated and
incorruptible patriots who, despite
numerous insurmountable challenges, have
always served their respective
countries diligently. Most notable being
former Parliament of Zimbabwe
Speaker, Cyril Ndebele, ex-ZimRights president
Dr Nicholas Ndebele, KZN
governor S'bu Ndebele and other noted luminaries in
various sectors across
SADC.
Mnu
Mongameli
South Africa
-------------
They hear, speak and see no
evil
EDITOR - I have always enjoyed
your frank, incisive
and polished comments and wonder if your messages are
reaching the top
echelons of the ruling ZANU PF party, the government and
the Movement for
Democratic Change.
I just hope
that one day we will have a ruling elite
which listens to advice, uses it as
its own and improves the livelihoods of
the people, who are suffering every
day.
Your comment of November 1-7 2007 helped put the
issue of price controls into its proper perspective. Nowhere in the world
have price controls ever worked.
If anything,
they create shortages and cause prices
of the few available products to rise
beyond the reach of the average
consumer who is forced to spend long hours
looking for the scarce products
on the parallel market. In a country like
Zimbabwe, where there is no
foreign currency to import raw materials and
fill up the empty shelves, it
would, indeed, be suicidal to go along with
what the National Incomes and
Pricing Commission is
saying.
There is no way Zimbabwean companies can wait
for
ever in order to get foreign currency from the Reserve Bank. The money
is
just not there, period.
In order to assist the
long-suffering consumer,
companies are sourcing foreign currency on the
parallel market. It is not a
secret that government is also sourcing part of
its foreign currency from
this thriving market. Godwills Masimirembwa should
not try and mystify this
unfortunate reality.
The
day Masimirembwa and his team succeed in forcing
companies to produce
invoices that are not indexed to the parallel market
exchange rate is the
day the consumer will last see any of the few available
products on the
shelves. Economics is as simple as all that.
Is
Masimirembwa ready to assist companies secure
foreign currency from the
official market? We know that is not part of his
brief, but what I am saying
is that he should not make life difficult for
those people who are working
right round the clock to ensure the situation
reverts back to
normal.
Arthur Matambo
USA
------------
It's a
weird world
EDITOR - It's a weird
world that we are living in. A
journey to and from Zengeza from the city in
a ZUPCO bus costs $90 000.
Utete Buses were demanding $300 000. The rest are
demanding $200 000, kombis
are demanding $400 000 and others $500 000. This
is the price circus that
the President was so mad about in
June.
Is that subsidised fuel still available? Was a
bill
passed permitting overloading? Relevant ministries should inform the
nation - it is their duty to do so.
Lovemore
Andrew Magaso
Chitungwiza
------------
Parks' illegal
fees
EDITOR - In the real world, the
Parks and Wildlife
Management Authority would have reduced its illegal
charges and published an
apology for overcharging as soon as Mr Nicholas'
letter in your issue of
November 8 2007 came to its
attention.
Instead, of course, it ignores the
complaint about
its illegal profiteering and hopes everybody will forget
about it.
Meanwhile, ordinary people throughout the country are being
prejudiced.
N. March
Harare