http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011 10:22
BY CAIPHAS
CHIMHETE
TRACY Mutinhiri, the deputy minister of Labour and Social
Welfare and former
Zanu PF Women’s League Commissar, will cease to be
minister next month
following her expulsion from the former ruling party in
September this year.
Sources said President Robert Mugabe is expected
to send her a letter of
dismissal from government when he comes back from
China, where he had gone
for a business visit.
“If that letter
has not been sent to her, it means she will get it as soon
as President
comes back to his office” said one of the sources.
“She has to leave office
in the second week of December.”
Efforts to get a comment from
Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba, were
unsuccessful as his mobile
number was not reachable.
Mutinhiri, former Marondera East legislator, was
suspended from the party
for five years after the party leadership found her
guilty of undermining
the party.
She was also accused of voting
for MDC-T chairman Lovemore Moyo in the March
elections for Speaker of
Parliament. Zanu PF had fielded its own chairman,
Simon Khaya-Moyo, who lost
to the MDC-T chairman.
After she was accused of voting for the wrong
candidate in an election where
a secret ballot was used, she claimed that
she had received death threats
from Zanu PF activists.
Zanu PF
claimed that it knew the identities of its MPs who had voted for the
MDC-T
candidate. Mugabe lashed out at the MPs in public, but never mentioned
them
by name.
Zanu PF activists invaded Mutinhiri’s farm in Marondera but
they were later
ordered to leave by party officials. She later claimed State
Security
minister Sydney Sekeramayi was behind the invasion because he
wanted to
replace her with Zanu PF’s provincial secretary for security,
Lawrence
Katsiru.
Sekeramayi is the senator for the
area.
Mutinhiri expects to leave office anytime
soon
In an interview with The Standard yesterday, Mutinhiri
(pictured) said she
had not received communication of her pending dismissal
from Mugabe, but was
expecting it anytime.
“I expect this because
the Constitution says one ceases to be a minister
after 90 days of
suspension from Parliament,” said Mutinhiri.
“Since I was expelled from
Parliament on September 14, I expect to leave
office anytime
soon.”
Asked if Zanu PF had proposed a name to replace Mutinhiri,
party
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said that was the preserve of Mugabe.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011
11:45
BY PATIENCE NYANGOVE
NOTHING positive will come out of the three
principals’ meeting this week,
as Zanu PF has hardened its political
position ahead of its national
conference next month in Bulawayo, political
analysts have said.
President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara are scheduled
to convene a meeting to discuss the
outstanding issues of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA).
The meeting is expected to be
attended by the Sadc facilitation team in
preparation of South African
President Jacob Zuma’s visit. Political analyst
Charles Mangongera said Zanu
PF had hardened its position as it prepares for
its annual
conference.
He said it was unlikely to agree on anything with the
facilitation team. “We
will see them becoming more and more recalcitrant and
intransigent. I do not
see them capitulating on any of the outstanding
issues as Mugabe will want
to demonstrate resoluteness to his followers,”
said Mangongera.
“At any rate, both Zanu PF and the MDC seem to have
agreed on narrowing
reforms to issues around the electoral management
framework rather than a
holistic reform process.”
He believes
Zanu PF now has an upper hand in the negotiations compared to
the two MDC
formations. Professor Lovemore Madhuku concurred with Mangongera
adding that
only “fools” would expect anything positive to come out of the
meeting with
Zuma’s facilitation team.
“Nothing will come out of this meeting.
(Morgan) Tsvangirai is now weaker
than ever before. Zanu PF is now in a
stronger position than the MDC and
those outstanding issues have been
overtaken by events,” said Madhuku.
“These meetings have become talk
shows, no one in their right state of mind
would expect Zuma to succeed,
looking at his moral authority and given he
can’t even control his own
party.”
Another political analyst, who requested anonymity, said the
only positive
development expected from the meeting was that they will
denounce the recent
reported incidences of political
violence.
The analyst said Zuma’s team must urge for a quick
finalisation of the new
constitution. “It will be important though for
Zuma’s team to take note of
the violence and make a firm statement that Sadc
will not tolerate more of
the same,” he said.
“Their biggest
contribution could be to urge the quick conclusion of the
constitutional
process. It is important that any future election be held
under a new
constitution and Zuma’s team could add impetus to the current
drafting
process,” said the analyst.
The MDC-T has said, without addressing
issues such as security sector
reforms, re-staffing of the Zimbabwe Election
Commission (ZEC) and state
sponsored violence, the country would not have
free and fair elections.
Disabled people denounce presidential
scholarship
PEOPLE with disabilities have claimed that they were
being excluded from the
Presidential Scholarship because of their condition.
Not even one of them
has benefitted from it since its
inception.
Addressing journalists at a workshop in Mutare recently,
National
Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (Nascoh)
executive
director, Farai Mukuta, bemoaned the trend, saying it was
retrogressive.
“No disabled person has benefitted from the
Presidential Scholarship. The
able-bodied people, even without proper
qualifications, are benefitting,”
said Mukuta.
Mukuta said the
government must consider disabled people in setting its
development goals.
“We want to have a strategy to ensure that disabled
people are included in
national planning. We challenge you journalists to
empower us,” said
Mukuta.
Mukuta’s remarks were echoed by several other participants at
the workshop,
who appealed to the governor of Manicaland, Christopher
Mushowe, to take
this complaint to President Robert
Mugabe.
Mushowe, who is patron of the Presidential Scholarship, was
represented by a
senior official from his office. However, Mushowe denied
discriminating
against those who are disabled, saying the allegations were
unfounded and
malicious.
“The scholarship programme does not
discriminate,” said Mushowe. “It does
not also look at one’s political
affiliation. We select children from every
district across the country. What
people must understand is that we cannot
accommodate everyone at
once.”
Mushowe said they would this year consider only 500 children
due to shortage
of funds. The programme used to offer scholarships to
between 1 000 and 2
000 students.
Mukuta said his organisation
was pushing for a significant representation of
the disabled people into the
country’s policy-making positions.
It is estimated that people with
disabilities constitute 10% of the country’s
population.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011 11:45
NQABA
MATSHAZI
HARARE mayor, Muchadeyi Masunda has challenged those who are
critical of the
construction of an ambitious mall in Harare to come forward
with their
objections, since the development will only start mid-next
year.
Residents of suburbs next to the proposed mall claim the
construction
negates environmental concerns and therefore should be halted.
The
residents say the mall, to be built on a piece of land between Dandaro
Village and Borrowdale West in Harare, is being built on a wetland and that
the city by-laws prohibited such construction.
“The actual
construction is not scheduled to start until June 2012 and that
should give
all interested parties ample time to work with us, as the
designated town
planning and licensing authority, to resolve any outstanding
issues
concerning administrative and regulatory matters,” said Masunda in
written
responses.
He said the proposed mall would add a new dimension to the
landscape of
Harare and go a long way “towards decongesting some of the
existing
facilities”.
Constructors of the audacious mall last
week dismissed the suggestions by
residents that the shopping centre was
being built on a wetland and
therefore, construction should be
halted.
Michael van Blerk of West Properties, who oversee the
development of the
mall, last week said since Borrowdale was constructed in
the 1960s, the
violation of the area could not then be blamed on the
construction of the
mall, to be known as the Mall of
Zimbabwe.
“Dandaro and Borrowdale West are built on the same
ecological environment
and anyone who complains is being mischievous,” said
van Blerk, who
described the residents’ call to halt construction as
disingenuous.
He said the company had applied for a change of use
from the government and
had been granted that. “This was advertised and only
six objections were
received and were adjudicated to by the minister (of
Local Government, Urban
and Rural Development, Ignatius Chombo), but were
ruled not to be of any
substance,” he explained.
Giving an
example of the construction of Julius Nyerere Street, which was
built on top
of an open stream, Van Blerk blamed urbanisation and
population growth for
the change in the environment.
Van Blerk said his company had complied with
requests from the government
regarding construction of the mall and
currently, an environment impact
assessment was underway.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011
10:44
BY OUR STAFF
A firm has appealed for President Robert Mugabe’s
assistance to recover
US$20 000 it had paid to obtain a licence before the
ministry of Mines and
Mining Development cancelled all licences to cut and
polish diamonds.
In a letter dated October 25 2011 addressed to
President Mugabe, Mustrite
Investments sought his intervention so that the
money it had paid for a
licence can be returned.
Conrad Tarupiwa,
Mustrite managing director said the company had been vetted
and adjudged fit
to do business. “We managed to secure an investor and
entered into a
partnership agreement. The investor was to bring in cutting
and polishing
material.
However, while we were in the process of machinery
logistics (sic) coming
into the country our licence was cancelled/suspended
pending
investigations,” Tarupiwa wrote.
He said that Mustrite
had managed to secure an investor on the grounds that
a licence had been
secured. The company later lost the investor, he claimed.
Tarupiwa
said they never bought a single diamond using that licence and
hence the
plea for Mugabe to intervene for a reimbursement of the licence
fee.
“We are humble and law-abiding Zimbabweans. US$20 000 is
money that could
seriously help our families embark on other ventures,”
Tarupiwa wrote.
The licence ran from January to December 31
2011.
According to correspondence seen by The Standard, the ministry
suspended the
licence on the basis that there were some outstanding issues
that had to be
addressed first.
“Following careful consideration
of the findings of a joint inspection of
your diamond cutting and polishing
factory in June 2011 by the ministry,
Minerals Marketing Corporation of
Zimbabwe and the ZRP Minerals Unit, you
are advised that your licence
remains suspended until you have regularised
the following outstanding
issue: no equipment and security systems,” Prince
Mupazviriho, permanent
secretary in the ministry of Mines wrote in a
September 16 2011 letter to
Tarupiwa.
“You can write to the ministry requesting another joint
inspection once you
have addressed the outstanding issue.” But Tarupiwa said
there was no way
the company would meet what the ministry wants before the
licence expires
next month.
However, in an earlier letter, the
ministry had advised Tarupiwa that the
US$20 000 for a licence fee is
non-refundable. “More so, failure to secure
funding for your project was not
caused by the ministry. The licences are
issued on assumption that
applicants have a strong base to conduct
business,” Mupazviriho wrote in a
September 5 letter.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011
10:38
BY NDAMU SANDU
ONCE complete, the Kunzvi Dam project is expected
to produce at least 250
megalitres of potable water, a development that
would help alleviate Harare’s
water crisis.
The project is
expected to take three years to complete. Harare Mayor
Muchadeyi Masunda
said they were considering foreign financial assistance as
the mega-project
cannot be funded by local resources due to liquidity
constraints.
He said the city could enter into a strategic
partnership with a partner
who brings in investment to the tune of US$539
million and the city would in
turn, provide a customer base and the current
infrastructure.
Alternatively, the city could secure a loan facility
of US$539 million and
pay back over a period of 25 years. “Cash flows were
projected to establish
the viability of this option. The cash flows indicate
that the option is
viable,” he said.
Masunda said there are three
institutions — African Development Bank (AfDB),
Agence Francaise de
Development (AFD) and the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation (BMGF) — that
could finance the project but there are sticking
issues that needed to be
ironed.
He urged politicians from across the divide to refrain from
indulging in
unnecessary rhetoric which could jeorpadise the city from
raising US$1,3
billion for Kunzvi and Musami dams.
“As things
stand, regional and international financial institutions, with a
huge
appetite for funding the type of capital projects under consideration,
are
understandably reluctant to deal with our central government which has,
for
example, not been able to honour our obligations to France (US$400
million)
and Germany (US$800 million),” he said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011 10:36
BY JENNIFER
DUBE
HARARE’S water problems, which are causing perennial outbreaks of
water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid, are set to continue for at
least the next three years, if not longer.
A council
document on the development of the Kunzvi Dam, touted as the
panacea to the
city’s water woes, shows that the project may only yield
fruit in
2015.
The document prepared by Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi last month
says in order
to expedite the completion of the US$539 million project, it
becomes
imperative that all remaining phases and construction be executed
simultaneously on a turnkey basis, that is, design and construct at the same
time.
A look at the document shows that the construction of the
dam was three
years behind schedule. It says a lot still hangs in the
balance, with the
city fathers grappling with securing a loan for the
project, which they say
can be paid back within 25 years.
At
least three million dollars is needed before the end of the year for
document review, final design and preparation of tender documents. The
proposed implementation schedule shows that Harare hopes that construction
of the dam will begin early 2012 and stretch to 2014.
It also
hopes that existing facilities will be rehabilitated between 2012
and 2015
while construction of proposed water production treatment and
transmission
mains, including pump stations, will also happen at the same
time.
Construction of a proposed main distribution system is
expected to be done
from 2013 to 2015 while house connections will be done
from 2011 throughout
the project.
“Harare and its environs
require a new water supply source for continued
growth and development,”
Mahachi states in his paper.“Already, shortage of
water is reducing the
development in both industry and commerce and in the
socio-economic
development of the people.
“Housing for all concept cannot be
achieved unless water is availed, and
with industry operating at less than
50% capacity, the suppressed demand may
actually be at least another 50% of
current demand.”
Regular water cuts causing disease
outbreaks
Regular water cuts in Harare have caused the outbreak
of water-borne
diseases in the past few years. More than 200 people are
being monitored at
Beatrice Infectious Diseases Hospital following a typhoid
outbreak in the
capital at the back of acute water
shortages.
Although council authorities had earlier said they were
above the situation,
Harare city council health director Dr Prosper Chonzi
last week admitted it
will be difficult to contain the outbreak as many
residents relied on water
from shallow, unsafe wells and marshlands because
they do not have access to
piped water.
More than 4 000 people,
most of them from Harare, died of cholera in 2009,
yet another disease
blamed on the collapse of water, sanitation and
prevention services in
Zimbabwe.
Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said the Kunzvi project will
complement the
city’s water supply, adding that government has set up a
steering committee
charged with ensuring that the project takes off the
ground.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011 10:35
Own
Staff
THE Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) last week dumped Greencard
Medical
Aid owner and advisor to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor
Gideon
Gono, Munyaradzi Kereke for causing the arrest of The Standard
Editor,
Nevanji Madanhire and a reporter Nqaba Matshazi.
The two,
who are facing criminal defamation charges and a charge of stealing
documents from GreenCard offices, were released on US$100 bail each.
ZUJ
president Dumisani Sibanda said it was no longer going to be associated
with
Kereke in future, who used to sponsor journalistic awards.
Sibanda
said ZUJ was not going to be blinded from condemning Kereke’s action
that
threatens press freedom and the right by the media to free
expression.
“As ZUJ, we subscribe totally to the higher values of a
free media and we
will not hesitate to defend the media’s unfettered freedom
to expose the
ills of society. We therefore, declare that in future we will
not deal with
Dr Kereke in programmes that seek to enhance journalistic
standards because
his actions put him in direct confrontation with the
cherished ideals of a
free media. The ideas of a free press cannot be
subordinated to personal
interests.”
Sibanda said if Kereke felt
aggrieved, he should have channelled his
grievances to the Voluntary Media
Council (VMCZ) for redress rather than
resort to draconian
action.
“The arrest has resulted in the journalists being treated
as common
criminals. Cells were not built for journalists pursuing their
professional
duty of reporting without fear or favour, but for murderers and
other
undesirable elements of society. It should be made clear that
sponsorship
that seeks to hold the media at ransom will be rejected and
exposed for what
it is.”
Sibanda called on Kereke to withdraw the
charges against Madanhire and
Matshazi and approach VMCZ for redress.
“Criminalisation of journalism kills
investigative reporting, which is key
in combating corruption and promoting
institutions that foster democracy,”
Sibanda said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011 10:29
BY
PATIENCE NYANGOVE
THE contentious issue of homosexuality has been referred to
President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for political
discussion after
the Constitution Select Committee (Copac) failed to agree
on the issue.
Documents in possession of The Standard show that Copac
has shelved
discussions on gays and lesbians’ rights. The documents also
reveal that the
committee is divided on whether Satanism should be included
or not in the
new constitution.
The contentious issue of gay
rights was referred for political discussion
because there were people who
were of the notion that homosexuality did not
qualify to be a
right.
“The debate was based on the feeling that the constitution is
there to
protect minority rights while others felt that people spoke
strongly against
the issue during the outreach programmes, which they argued
was a clear
indication they wanted it forbidden in this country,” the report
says.
Tsvangirai opened a hornet’s nest with calls for the
legalisation of
homosexuality. While in the UK recently, Tsvangirai said he
hoped the new
constitution would come up with freedom for sexual
orientation, immediately
drawing the ire of Zanu PF and cultural activists
in Zimbabwe.
The prime minister has been questioned on why he seems
to say one thing to a
Zimbabwean audience and another to a foreign audience.
Mugabe has described
homosexuals as worse than “pigs and
dogs”.
On the issue of Satanism, the report says the technical
committee could not
reach a consensus because others argued there was
freedom of worship already
and therefore, it encompassed Satanism because
it’s part of worship.
The report also shows that the country is set
to ban the interception of
telephonic private conversations and replace it
with the “Namibian Section
13”.
However, The Standard could not by the
time of going to print verify what
the Namibian Section 13 says.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011 11:09
BY OUR
STAFF
TELECOMMUNICATIONS mogul Strive Masiyiwa is one of the richest in
Africa,
according to an inaugural survey by Forbes magazine. The Forbes
Africa’s 40
Richest list was topped by Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote
worth US$10,1
billion.
Masiyiwa is worth US$280 million and is
tied on position 34 with South
African national, Adrian Gore. Masiyiwa is
both an entrepreneur and
philanthropist, having fo-unded Econet Wireless
Zimbabwe which began
operating in 1998.
The mobile operator could
have come on the mobile market earlier had the
businessman not fought in the
courts for an operating licence. To date
Econet is the largest mobile
operator with over five million subscribers and
controls over 70% of the
mobile telephony market.
Masiyiwa was rank-ed above African National
Congress politician Cyril
Ramaphosa who was on position 36 with a net worth
of US$275 million.
Masiyiwa is the group chairman of the South African-based
Econet Wireless
which is now a global telecommunications group with
operations, investments
and offices in more than 15 countries in Africa,
Europe, USA, Latin America
and Asia-Pacific.
The company’s
activities include mobile cellular telephony, fixed networks,
enterprise
networks, fibre- optic cables, and satellite services.
They also provide
payment solutions to banks across Africa.
Other business activities
include operations and investments in some of
Africa’s leading businesses in
areas such as financial services, insurance,
renewable energy, bottling for
Coca-Cola, hotels and safari lodges.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 19 November 2011 18:16
BY NDAMU
SANDU
IT’S the politics stupid. A negotiator to the power-sharing deal has
stalled
the formation of a body designed to give advice to government and
formulate
economic plans and programmes, among other things, saying the
matter has to
be dealt with by political parties.
The Global
Political Agreement (GPA), the bedrock on which the inclusive
government was
formed, stipulates that there be a National Economic Council
(NEC) to give
advice to government, formulating economic plans and
programmes for approval
by government and such other functions as would be
assigned to the council
by the government.
According to Article 3 (c) of the GPA, NEC is
supposed to comprise
representatives of the parties in the coalition
government — Zanu PF, MDC-T
and MDC. It is supposed to comprise
representatives from various sectors of
the economy such as manufacturing,
agriculture, mining, tourism, commerce,
financial, labour, academia and
other relevant sectors.
Economic Planning and Investments Promotion
minister Tapiwa Mashakada said
on Thursday the setting up of NEC was stalled
by politics.
He said the ministry has done a framework for NEC which was
taken to the
Council of Ministers. “We took it to cabinet and we had one of
the
negotiators who indicated that the issue of the NEC is political. It
mustn’t
be driven by a government department, in this case by the Ministry
of
Economic Planning.
“The negotiator was more comfortable with the NEC
being driven by political
parties,” Mashakada said.
Mashakada
hoped the negotiator would be persuaded to release NEC so that his
ministry
can run with the planning and its implementation.
“We are the chief
planners of the economy. We need a forum where business,
academia, labour
and everybody come together, recommend policies to
government, evaluate
government programmes and projects and assist
government as a think
tank.”
Mashakada said the ministry would continue to harp on this so
that it can be
implemented because it’s apolitical.
“It must be
apolitical and it’s a vital organ in the implementation of the
MTP (Medium
Term Plan) and indeed other government projects and programmes,”
he
said.
So has NEC been added onto the list of outstanding
issues?
“Yes it has joined the long list. Those are the pains of
transitional or
coalitional governments but we will do our part” Mashakada
said.
Since the signing of the GPA in 2008 and the creation of an inclusive
government in 2009, parties in the coalition are haggling over outstanding
issues which they say are inimical to the smooth working of government.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 19 November 2011
18:11
BY NDAMU SANDU
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
(CZI) has proposed that government
use the UN conversion rate of 35
quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars to US$1 on
liabilities rising prior to the
dollarisation of the economy. The move, if
implemented, would bring closure
to an issue which has been pending since
the country dumped the Zimbabwean
dollar for multi-currencies in January
2009.
“We recommend that
this exercise is speedily concluded using the UN rate of
35 quadrillion
Zimbabwe dollars to US$1 dollar,” CZI said, adding that the
rate be adopted
for any and all liabilities in the economy arising prior to
February 2009 to
be backed by Statutory instrument.
This is one of the recommendations the
industrialist’s body presented to
Finance minister Tendai Biti for
consideration in crafting his 2012 national
budget.
Biti presents
the budget to Parliament on Tuesday.
In his maiden budget presentation in
2009, Biti set aside US$6 million to
clear all Zimbabwean dollar
balances.
However, nothing has moved amid allegations that some bank
accounts had
suddenly fattened in anticipation of the “windfall”.
“There
have been slow measures on this exercise and confusion over the rate
of
Zimbabwe dollar and US dollar to be used on liabilities arising prior to
the
dollarisation of the economy in 2009,” said CZI.
The confederation
recommended the creation of an Infrastructure Fund, which
collects a
statutory levy of 5%, and the creation of a board that becomes a
bankable
institution to raise finance for key projects as opposed to
government
tradition of simultaneously doing numerous projects that do not
get
completed.
It said the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe
could manage this
fund.
“The current level of infrastructure is
making it difficult to conduct
business and is hindering the economic growth
of the country,” it said.
The country’s infrastructure is deteriorating and
according to estimates,
requires US$16 billion for rehabilitation and
upgrading.
Government has already said it has no money to
rehabilitate the
infrastructure and asked for private sector’s support
through the public
private partnerships.
Tuesday’s budget
presentation by Biti would be closely followed by all
critical sectors of
the economy to see how he would allocate resources.
Analysts say the current
budget is not developmental, as it allocates more
resources to recurrent,
instead of capital expenditure. Over 90% of the
budget is recurrent
expenditure, with salaries chewing the bulk of that
allocation.
This means that the Treasury is left with little
fiscal space and Biti last
year said that so constrained is the ministry
that it requires “fiscal
marksmanship” in allocating
resources.
Witness Chinyama, head of Research at Kingdom Financial
Holdings Limited,
told Standardbusiness that he is not expecting surprises
in terms of
resource allocation as recurrent expenditure has always got the
chunk of
resources during budgets.
Chinyama said Treasury has to
avail more funds to the central bank, which is
at the core of the financial
sector stability.
Biti said recently, the country will incur a US$700
million deficit this
year. But Chinyama said Biti has to say how the hole
would be plugged.
Presenting his Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) in the House of
Assembly last
month, Biti said the economy would grow by between 7,8% to 9%
next year from
the anticipated growth of 9,3% in
2011.
Agriculture and mining would be the major drivers of this
growth.
The balance of payments position is projected to improve,
from a deficit of
US$789,7 million in 2011 to US$438,2 million in
2012.
The improvement is on the back of anticipated export growth and
marginal
positive change on the capital account, according to the
BSP.
Revenue growth to 34% of Gross Domestic Product from the current
30% would
be driven by current tax reforms targeting increased automation of
the tax
collection system.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 19 November 2011 18:10
BY NDAMU
SANDU
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) creditors would be paid once funds
are
available and treasury is looking into the matter, central bank boss
Gideon
Gono has said. RBZ’s list of creditors has sister central banks,
external
financial institutions and local banks among others.
It also
includes the former workers who were retrenched in January and are
still to
be paid their full packages due to cash constraints.
“The Bank will pay its
creditors once funds are available. The aggregate
requirements are receiving
consideration by Treasury as part of the 2012
budgetary provisions,” Gono
said in written responses to Standardbusiness.
RBZ board resolved
last year that government should take over the central
bank’s debt to allow
the institution to start on a clean slate.
However, nothing has moved along
that front as the proposed bill died before
it even went through
Cabinet.
RBZ has a US$1,1 billion owed to central banks, external and
local financial
institutions. As of June 30 last year, the bank owed a
total of US$80,2
million to sister central banks such as South African
Reserve Bank (US$10
million); Malaysian central bank, Bank Negara ( US$49,8
million) and US$20,4
million to the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
It
also owes regional and continental banks who provided roll-over
facilities
for grain, fertilizer and oil importations US$122,2 million. RBZ
said, of
that debt, US$55,1 million was accumulated prior to 2003.
On the
local front, RBZ owes financial institutions through corporates
(private
sector) foreign currency accounts deposits of US$359,8 million and
US$79,9
million in statutory reserves.
Statutory reserves — amount of money
any bank has to maintain with RBZ at 0%
for every deposit received from a
customer — were scrapped in June last year
as part of risk containment
measures in the banking system.
However, government owes the central bank
US$1,4 billion, which the monetary
authorities say would be enough to
extinguish its debt and remain with
US$300 million.
The US$300
million, RBZ says, would then be used to beef up the bank’s
lender of last
resort role.
Treasury gave RBZ US$7 million this year to perform its lender
of last
resort role, which had been suspended in 2008.
The bank
is in the process of disposing its non-core assets and concentrate
on its
core business. The assets had been accumulated when the bank engaged
in
quasi-fiscal activities in the period 2006-2009 in response to the
growing
national needs.
The amended legislation removed that clause which was
blamed for fuelling
hyperinflation by allowing RBZ to engage in activities
that fall under the
realm of treasury.
Gono said the disposal of the
assets is in progress “and it would be
premature to explicitly announce the
status of this process at this stage”.
RBZ says it had incurred some
extraordinary debts when it financed national
interests such as funding the
March 2008 harmonised elections.
It said RBZ had intervened by mobilising
funds to clear the debt owed to the
International Monetary Fund to avoid the
country being kicked out of the
grouping.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Saturday, 19 November 2011
18:07
BY OUR STAFF
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti says statistics are
“software issues” for any
government, but that there is phobia in the
business community that affects
the production of accurate data. In his
keynote address on African
Statistics day on Friday, Biti said the low
response rate is compromising
the quality and timelines of the Zimbabwean
national economic statistics.
“There is that statistics phobia among
our business community. When Zimstats
send them survey… they don’t
understand how qualitative statistics are at
the epicentre of any planning
processes and how it is frustrating when you
are working without current
data or conflicting data,” Biti said.
Biti said the unavailability of
accurate data is an invisible sign of
fragility.
“There are
things that people see as a sign of collapse or fragility of a
state; shops
that are empty, roads with potholes, hospitals and schools that
don’t work.
Those are physical signs of fragility,” Biti said.
“When you go into
a planning office like the ministry of Finance there are
certain invisible
signs of fragility that you don’t see and one of them is
data and statistics
and capacity.”
Biti said the ministry is grateful to development
partners for providing the
capacity building for the nation to have credible
statistics.
Before the creation of the inclusive government, statistics
produced by the
then Central Statistical Office (CSO) had been questioned by
independent
economists.
CSO was later transformed into Zimbabwe
National Statistics Agency
(Zimstat).
The 2011 African Statistics
day was held under the theme “Keeping accounts
to improve Africa’s present
for a brighter future”.
Biti also launched the publicity for the 2012
Population Census and the
Zimbabwe National Statistics Database 2011.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011 13:37
Dear Santa
Claus,
Since my kindergarten days I have never attempted writing a letter to
your
distant address in the North Pole – a tradition of millions of kids on
the
globe.
And neither have I been tempted to stay up until
the wee hours to catch a
glimpse of your cherry coat and team of nine flying
reindeers.
I am told that you come through the chimney in the dead of
the night to fill
the empty stockings with goodies. I am also told that you
also bring coal
for naughty children.
Santa, the winds of change
have blown through our domestic football. Young
guns, especially the one who
wears neon coloured boots and answers to the
name Knowledge Musona, have
charmed us.
You should have been at Rufaro, Santa, on Tuesday night
as the “Smiling
Assassin” struck two wonder goals. I was particularly
impressed with his
sweet header. I must confess he is not a good dancer,
although he did
attempt the “Zora Butter dance.” Just like you Santa, he is
a jolly good
young fellow.
It has been a particularly good year
for domestic football. What, with
millions being sunk into the league with
the coming of Delta Beverages
through their Castle Lager brand and the Mbada
Diamonds Cup. However Santa,
I am still depressed by the boo boys and hope
that you will wipe out this
cancer that is creeping in our
football.
I could go on Santa, but this Christmas please could you
spare a thought for
Tineyi Maridzo – the forgotten World Boxing Organisation
(WBO) Africa super
middleweight champion, who is about to be stripped of his
belt.
Maridzo is supposed to defend his belt on home soil but has not
been able to
do so as there are no local promoters willing to bankroll this
tournament.
Several SOS have yielded nothing and it’s a classic case of
being forgotten
by your own people.
It is highly likely that
he could be stripped of his belt in the New Year.
Maridzo is a great boxer
and this is how he won the continental title, as
reported by boxing arena in
March this year.
“The fight started at a very fast pace, with Mikey
Shultz landing solid
punches to the body and face of the champion Maridzo.
It was clear the
challenger from Gauteng wanted to finish the fight very
early.
The champion responded quickly by counter punching with
hard blows also. The
second round followed the same pattern, with Shultz
charging forward.
Mickey’s punches were beginning to have an
effect on the champion as he was
often wobbled by Mikey’s punches. The round
ended with Mikey throwing every
punch in the book in the hope of ending the
fight.
The third round started the same way, with Mikey throwing more
body punches
with Maridzo counter punching. It was after an exchange of
punches at which
Maridzo caught Mikey with an over right punch flush on the
jaw. Mickey went
down straight on his back like a pole. The referee on the
night, Jaap Van
Niwenhuisen, counted him out.”
So you see Santa –
Maridzo is a good boxer and we do not want such a great
talent to go to
waste. And in the event you grant us our wish Santa, you can
take Maridzo’s
belt to the North Pole on condition that you bring it back
next
Christmas.
And if there is a local promoter willing to bankroll
Maridzo’s title fight,
Santa, we hope that you will reward him abundantly in
whatever he/she does.
And in the true spirit of Christmas, we hope
that Zifa will rescind its
decision to hire foreign referees for the Mbada
Diamonds Cup finals because
the local referees also need to be merry this
festive season.
We also hope that the festive spirit will envelope
Rufaro and Gwanzura this
afternoon. DeMbare will play Kiglon while FC
Platinum will collide with
Shooting Stars for the league decider. We hope
there will be no violence
after the matches regardless of who
wins.
Santa, may the best men win.
By Fanuel
Viriri
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011
10:52
When the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority boss and his team decided on
bringing
international artistes for their perception management programme,
they
should have been quite cautious considering the controversies that
surround
the hefty budgets of such events.
Little did they know,
they were waking up a sleeping giant. Bringing
international artistes has
utterly become the business of the day for a
number of promoters. Each one
on average this year has brought at least two
while some have brought as
many as three.
But what is irking is that somehow, whoever is now
involved in bringing
these artistes, most of whom are Jamaican nationals,
has managed to alienate
the ZTA, whose brainchild it was to bring foreign
performing atristes. Maybe
rightly so; considering the amount of confusion
that institution puts into
the industry.
The question now is
whether or not it is proper for ZTA to create such an
initiative and then
stand aloof while individuals bring artistes on their
own for a different
reason. Anyone who is bringing a foreign artiste today
is doing it for the
money but they are not fitting into the model for which
purpose it was
crafted.
The perception management programme should ideally be one
that is all
inclusive, taking all citizens on board. It should be managed in
such a way
that there are consultations before any artiste is brought into
the country
and what the country at large benefits from the visit should be
explained.
If we are marketing Zimbabwe what is the logic that an
artiste comes here
and goes back to their homeland without visiting
Gonarezhou National Park?
What is the rationale that we boast of the
majestic Victoria Falls yet Akon
came and went without visiting the resort
area? Is it the best that we can
do, that an artiste who lives a lavish life
in their home country comes and
is booked at the Meikles Hotel and not at a
resort?
The resort is the heritage of Zimbabwe, which is the same
concept that
everyone is trying to sell. What needs to be marketed is not
the hotel that
everyone, anywhere in the world knows about. And likewise; it
should be
mandatory that whenever an artiste comes to Zimbabwe they visit at
least one
of the resort areas. In essence; what this writer is implying is
that the
goals of bringing these international artistes are now
misplaced.
Is there anything that Sean Paul is going to say about
Binga in his homeland
when he was holed-up in the Meikles hotel? Can Mr
Vegas surely go back to
Jamaica and report seeing a rhino when he was being
treated to a five star
experience at the Rainbow Towers?
If
Kaseke and company had made it a point that they engaged these promoters
and
crafted a policy that would rotate resorts where visiting artistes would
stay, then the task of promoting Zimbabwe would have been a lot
easier.
The visiting artistes must be told the reason for them to
come to Zimbabwe
is not just to fatten their pockets, which they will do
eventually, but for
them to tell others what Zimbabwe offers when they go
back home. Any artiste
is bound to have lasting memories about the Victoria
Falls. Similarly, they
will have a memorable experience once they visit the
Great Zimbabwe.
They are used to hotels; even better ones so to say.
So why not hold their
hand into the jungle they have only experienced on
Discovery Channel and
give them the real Zimbabwean
experience?
The perception is surely not going to change, until
Kaseke and company
realise they need to market the real Zimbabwe and not the
imposed town life.
Until that happens, Zimbabwe will forever be an alien to
its target market.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
s
Sunday, 20 November 2011 10:51
So
Gaddafi and his sons are gone. The National Transitional Council (NTC)
has
officially declared liberation and has thanked the international
community,
particularly Nato, for its role in the decapitating strikes
against the
Gaddafi regime. Yet big challenges remain.
One of the reasons why I
for one am not so impressed by this “humanitarian”
role of Nato in
liberating Libya is simply because of the hypocrisy that
underlines the
current discourse around the frozen assets for the Gaddafi
family.
Make no mistake, Gaddafi was a delusional dictator and at
the centre of his
heart lay a gigantic nothing. Yet that does not mean that
anyone who opposed
him did so for good reason.
Indeed, when
one studies the matter closely, one realises how Gaddafi was
heavily
invested materially in the West and they knew the billions were
suspect yet
they assisted Gaddafi to use pseudo names and complex investment
vehicles
that have made it close to impossible to track down those
assets.
Gaddafi is believed to have had around US$168 billion in
assets abroad, most
of which has been frozen since the start of the year. Is
it not strange that
the reason why those assets are going to be difficult to
recover is not
Libyan laws but laws of countries with the
money?
They make it easier, infact super easy for dictators to invest
and make it
next to impossible for the victims and or the leaders of the
“liberated
countries” to repatriate that money!
The international
financial system, apart from deliberately not coming up
with a comprehensive
legal framework to track down stolen assets, benefits
immensely from the
investments of fallen dictators.
A secret diplomatic cable released
by WikiLeaks suggests that Libyan
officials had spread around US$32 billion
in assets to different US banks in
US$300-US$500 million chunks. British
media reports that Gaddafi owned 14
Cornhill, opposite the Bank of England,
bought in December 2008 for £120
million and many other properties bought by
his sons.
The World Bank has clear guidelines around “politically
exposed persons”
which stipulates that banks are supposed to carry out due
diligence on
accounts of top politicians, their families and close
associates, especially
those suspected to be corrupt.
Was
there any doubt that Gaddafi could be corrupt? Or was there any due
diligence taken to ascertain whether that money was earned through honest
means or banks were just gladly accepting these massive
deposits.
Akere Muna, vice-chairman of Transparency International
famously remarked at
the 2010 International Anti Corruption Conference in
Bangkok, Thailand,
about an experience with bankers in which they remarked
that they actually
lure these dictators to open accounts knowing fully well
that those accounts
would be frozen and that money would be available to the
bank only!
Right now, countries like Switzerland, Germany and US do
well on the famed
Corruption Perception Index yet they are the havens not
just of tax evaders
but of some of the world’s leading
dictators.
The NTC has been pleading for months to have that money
back yet we are told
it will take years! Victor Comras, a former money
laundering expert for the
United Nations and US State Department laments
that Bankers managing assets
for Gaddafi and his family might “act as if the
assets belong to them,”
particularly with those converted into personal
holdings.
To aggravate matters, there is currently no single
international legal
regime or treaty setting procedures for tracing,
recovering and repatriating
assets misappropriated or abused by deposed
regimes hence assets will have
to be recovered country by
country.
Consequently, uncertainty remains on what happens to the
interest that
accrues to these foreign dollars stashed in Western bank
accounts. If money
was frozen in the year 2000 and it remains frozen to this
day, who is taking
the interest?
International banks! Ever
wondered why it is easier to push through a UN
resolution to freeze assets
yet the same UN Convention Against Corruption
(UNCAC) is glaringly silent on
what to do with these frozen assets? Was it
an omission that UNCAC was
silent on that or it was all a product of intense
lobbying by international
banks?
Surprisingly, as the NTC struggles to get the assets unfrozen
in the US
among a host of big nations, the US Treasury, in September quickly
but
partially lifted some Libya sanctions in order to open the door for US
companies and individuals to do business with the Libyan National Oil
Corporation and other companies in Libya, as long as the transactions don’t
benefit anyone affiliated with the Gaddafi regime. One wonders what big
Libyan company has absolutely no connection to the formerly all powerful and
ubiquitous Gaddafi regime.
Would it be wild speculation if one
argues that perhaps Libyan frozen money
is the money US companies are
borrowing so they can do business in Libya?
The British Daily Mail reports
some US lawmakers want to use frozen Libyan
assets to reimburse Nato
countries for military operations.
Others want to link frozen
assets to Libyan cooperation with investigations
into Gadhafi-era terrorist
attacks, according to a Congressional Research
Service report released
September 29 most likely so as to forfeit the money
altogether without
Libyan approval. In other words, some folks want to
cash-in before the
Libyans themselves.
Back home, we already know that over a hundred
officials on the sanctions
list also had their assets frozen for years now.
The question that has not
been answered by international banks operating in
big Western nations is
what is happening to the interest being earned in
those accounts.
We know that it is next to impossible for a 100%
recovery rate of frozen
assets which means banks will simply benefit from
some of the money. We have
been told that corruption is rampant in poor
countries and less in the
richer ones.
I don’t know if that
is necessarily true. The oppressed in Africa are caught
between the Scylla
of repressive dictators at home and the charybdis of a
hypocritical
international political economy.
Yet it is clear that
transnational corruption continues unabated. A modified
UNCAC that takes
into cognizance the current difficulties in recovery of
stolen assets is
urgent and imperative.
l Due to circumstances beyond our control, the
Editor’s Memo could not be
published today.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/
Sunday, 20 November 2011 10:49
The adversity that
befell the editor of The Standard, Nevanji Madanhire and
reporter Nqaba
Matshazi last week is a sad reminder that media repression is
escalating,
over two years after Zimbabwe’s political parties formed the
inclusive
government.
After sleeping in filthy cells on Tuesday night and
appearing in court on
Wednesday for alleged criminal defamation and theft,
officers from the Law
and Order Section visited the newspaper’s offices
searching for the two
again on Thursday.
This time it was in
connection with a complaint made by Kembo Mohadi, the
co-minister of Home
Affairs. The continued harassment of the staff at The
Standard by the law
enforcement agents is an explicit attempt to instill
fear in journalists and
stop them from pursuing investigative stories.
Enemies of a free
press would rather see the newspaper casting a blind eye
on mounting
corruption, greed and other ills besetting our society. They
want this paper
to ignore issues that disturb their comfort zones.
The Standard shall
not be intimidated by a flurry of police visits and
vexatious lawsuits meant
to cripple the media house financially. The
desperate attempt to stifle the
truth-telling role of the press, reducing it
to practicing yellow
journalism, is an exhibition of desperation by those
who ascended to
political power through unscrupulous means or those who have
accumulated
wealth either through chicanery or the abuse of public office.
The
timing of the arrests also shows that pledges made by parties to the
inclusive government to create conditions for an unfettered press, are
hollow. The media may be sliding back to the days when Zimbabwe was among
the worst places in the world for journalists to operate
in.
While this is a worrying trend, The Standard shall continue with
its
investigative role undeterred by those who are bent on muzzling it. The
harassment that is being orchestrated by enemies of a free press has
emboldened our journalists to dig even deeper to expose the rot that exists
within our society.
We owe our allegiance, not to politicians or
business leaders who believe
that they are untouchable, but to the readers
who are growing in numbers
each week. Our promise to them is —expect more
investigative stories in the
many issues to come.
Quote of
the week
"He is as good as gone as far as I can see, unless of course
if we, the
winners of the next election, decide to be magnanimous and
accommodate him
which ever way we deem necessary,” — Dumiso Dabengwa on
President
RobertMugabe’s future.
