http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 26 November 2009 21:25
VICE-PRESIDENT Joice
Mujuru (pictured) on Tuesday lambasted Finance minister
Tendai Biti over the
contentious handling of the over US$500 million
facility from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in what officials this
week said was the
most dramatic high-profile clash within the inclusive
government since its
formation in February.
The stormy showdown between Mujuru and Biti -
which was followed by some
reconciliation - is said to have left President
Robert Mugabe and ministers
shell-shocked because of its emotional intensity
and ferocity.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who has mutual respect
with Mujuru, was
not at the meeting because his flight from South Africa had
to return to
base in Johannesburg after experiencing a serious technical
problem airborne
in Zimbabwean airspace.
Sources said Mujuru
fired brickbats at Biti at the meeting chaired by
Mugabe, accusing him of
stalling the disbursement of the IMF advance and in
the process disrupting
the purchase of agricultural inputs for the farming
season.
Biti
has also been fighting with Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono over
control
of the financial levers of the state and the same money. The
minister says
he wants to channel part of the funds towards budgetary
support, while Gono
says it has to go directly to certain sectors of the
economy.
"There was blood on the floor at our meeting on Tuesday.
Mujuru attacked
Biti in the most unprecedented way over the IMF funds and
all ministers were
shaken by her angry attacks," a senior government
minister said. "We have
never seen that before and up to now most of us are
still in a state of
disbelief."
A source familiar with the
incident said Mujuru "took no prisoners" in her
assault on Biti who was said
to have restrained himself by not showing his
characteristic aggression
during the encounter. Biti is said to have
contained the situation by
reacting in a relatively calm manner. It is said
the minister tried to
ward off the assaults by offering an explanation and
pleading for protection
from Mugabe. The source said Mugabe did not
intervene and remained subdued
as he was also stunned by his deputy's
uncontrollable rage.
"The
attack astonished everyone. Mujuru was up in arms, but Biti did not
aggressively fight back," the source said. "He was agitated but largely
managed to remain unruffled by the incident."
Biti is said to have
tried to explain that the money had not yet been
utilised because it was in
the form of special drawing rights (SDRs) which
needed to be converted into
hard currency before use. Mujuru is said to have
retorted that those SDRs
must be quickly converted to buy inputs for farmers
and finance other
government projects and programmes.
An informed source said had it
not been for Biti's respect for Mujuru, the
incident could have degenerated
into chaotic scenes.
"We feared Biti would walk out but he
surprisingly managed to remain cool,
calm and collected. He behaved very
well," the source said.
It is said Biti did not take Mujuru's
outburst personally and managed to
reconcile with her after the
meeting.
A top Zanu PF official said while Mujuru wanted the money
for farmers, she
also wanted to "project power" after her recent crushing
victory over her
opponents within her party ahead of their congress next
month.
"She wants the farmers to get money but I think it was an
attempt to show
political muscle. It was an attempt to show that she is
leadership material
and display power and authority," the official
said.
Although there have been many clashes in the inclusive
government between
top political leaders and ministers, sources said
Tuesday's confrontation
stood out as the most fierce.
After the
stormy meeting, Mugabe called another gathering on Tuesday
afternoon between
Mujuru, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, Biti, Gono
and himself in a
bid to manage the fallout by addressing the issue of the
dispute over IMF
funds.
Tsvangirai did not attend the meeting although at that time he had
managed
to catch another flight back home. The prime minister was returning
from
visits to Morocco and Libya during the weekend.
Sources said
shortly before the second Tuesday meeting, Mujuru and Biti
managed to talk
and reconcile "like mother and son". "There was no
bitterness afterwards," a
source said. "It was like a fight between mother
and son."
After
the second meeting chaired by Mugabe on Tuesday, Biti and Gono were
directed
to sort out the issue.
Mujuru and Biti also came face to face
yesterday during a meeting of the
cabinet committee on economic affairs
chaired by Mugabe where Biti presented
his "budget assumptions" before he
could take his blueprint to cabinet on
Tuesday next week. After that Biti
will present his first budget on December
2.
Dumisani
Muleya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 26 November 2009
21:18
A HIGH powered South African delegation is expected in Harare on
Sunday to
speed up talks among partners in the shaky inclusive government,
as it
emerged yesterday that the negotiators of the global political
agreement
(GPA) have agreed on a 20-item agenda to resolve outstanding
issues of the
pact.
The three-member facilitation team was
appointed on Wednesday by South
African President Jacob Zuma and will be led
by his long-time ally, Mac
Maharaj. Other members would be Zuma's
international relations advisor
Lindiwe Zulu and former Safety and Security
minister Charles Nqakula.
Zuma - who replaced ex-South
African President Thabo Mbeki as the
facilitator of the Zimbabwe
negotiations - is piling pressure for the
resolution of sticking points and
full consummation of the GPA within the
agreed timelines.
Zulu
last night told the Zimbabwe Independent that the facilitation team
would be
coming to Harare anytime soon.
"We are coming to Harare, but I cannot
confirm the dates at the moment. It
depends on the setting up of meetings
with parties and their negotiators,"
Zulu said. "As soon as we have done
that, we will be on our way to Zimbabwe.
It can be tomorrow (Friday),
Saturday or Sunday."
But sources close to the negotiations insisted
the facilitation team would
arrive in Harare this weekend in renewed efforts
to nudge President Robert
Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his
deputy Arthur Mutambara -
the principals of the GPA - to resolve the
outstanding issues and fully
consummate the pact signed in September last
year.
The South African presidency said it was determined to see the
resolution of
the outstanding issues within the 30 days as outlined by the
Sadc organ on
politics, defence and security on November 5 in
Maputo.
Talks between the parties' negotiators only started on Monday
- three days
after the first 15 days lapsed. They were adjourned to
Saturday.
Sources close to the talks said the negotiators have agreed
on a 20-item
agenda, which includes sticking points outlined by the Sadc
troika in
Mozambique.
The sources said the agenda was almost a
review of the GPA as the
negotiators would deliberate on issues captured by
the pact such as the
restoration of economic stability and growth; sanctions
and related
measures; the land question; constitution; national healing;
external
interference; free political activity; rule of law, freedom of
assembly; and
state organs and institutions.
Talks would also centre
on the national youth training programme;
humanitarian assistance;
legislative agenda; freedom of expression and
communication, electoral
vacancies; GPA implementation mechanism; and
periodic review
mechanism.
Above all, the negotiators would deal with the outstanding
issues outlined
by the Sadc troika, which included the re-appointment of
central bank
governor Gideon Gono, the appointment of Attorney-General
Johannes Tomana
and provincial governors, among
others.
Constantine Chimakure
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 26 November 2009
20:56
FACTIONALISM in Zanu PF has spilled into the Zimbabwe National
Liberation
War Veterans Association, as different factions in the party
fight to
control the powerful and feared body. The fierce succession battle,
played
out behind the scenes, has now moved to the war veterans, threatening
to
split them along factional lines.
The war veterans, who fought
in the war of liberation are often employed to
intimidate opposition
supporters. They are seen as a powerful extension of
the party and control
of the association would be an asset in the succession
race.
There are three factions in Zanu PF, two led by kingpins
Emmerson Mnangagwa
and Retired Army Commander Solomon Mujuru.
The
third camp, supposedly aligned to President Robert Mugabe with Saviour
Kasukuwere and Nicholas Goche pulling the strings, has reportedly teamed up
with Mujuru to block the ascendancy of Mnangagwa's group.
The
Mujuru faction is closing in to take control of the war veterans'
executive
at the weekend at a congress in Chinhoyi, whose sponsors, Zanu PF
sources
said, are businesspeople in the retired army commander's camp.
Zanu
PF sources said Mujuru's faction is already in control of the central
committee, youth and women's leagues, plus the presidium.
War
veterans, said to be aligned to Mujuru, are pushing for the removal of
its
current leadership chaired by Jabulani Sibanda and deputised by Joseph
Chinotimba, who were both linked to the so-called Tsholotsho
saga.
Retired Colonel Basten Beta is tipped to take over from
Sibanda, while
former war veterans secretary-general Endy Mhlanga, Douglas
Mahiya, Moffat
Marashwa and Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa are among those
reportedly vying
for posts to be contested at the weekend congress, which
the current
executive says is unconstitutional.
While the Mujuru
group is organising the Chinhoyi congress, the current
executive, which
claims to have the mandate to call for such a meeting, is
maintaining that
the congress will only be held either in January or
February next
year.
Chinotimba said: "There are no elections and congress at the
weekend.
Normally a congress is funded by the party, so where are they
getting the
money from? We want to know who their donor is and what his
interests are.
Those calling for the congress have lost their minds. They
need to be seen
by a psychiatrist."
Mhlanga said the current
executive's mandate expired years ago.
The current executive, he
said, had failed to call for two congresses, in
2005 and in
2008.
According to the war vets constitution, the association is
supposed to elect
new leadership every three years at a congress. The last
congress was held
in Mutare in 2002.
"Why should we postpone to
next year? If they want to hold on to power, we
will push them out
forcefully," said Mhlanga.
In response, Chinotimba said if the
congress goes ahead to elect a new
executive, it would operate as a parallel
structure to the current
leadership.
"Why forcefully, we are not
violent people, we have big thoughts --
tinepfungwa kukunda ma (we have
brains better than the) British and
Americans. We are leaders, so things
should be done properly," he said.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 26 November 2009
20:11
THE endorsement last weekend of the newly-nominated Zanu PF
presidium by
Midlands province and Masvingo, which dramatically changed its
initial
decision after a failed bid to topple vice-president Joice Mujuru,
completed
the trouncing of the Emmerson Mnangagwa faction within the party
ahead of
its congress next month. The latest rout in a series of defeats for
the
presumably powerful Zanu PF faction, firmly establishes Mnangagwa as the
most celebrated high-profile loser in the long-drawn-out but increasingly
dynamic power struggle within the badly fractured party.
The move
also leaves Mnangagwa's prospects of succeeding President Robert
Mugabe
gloomy, while in the process creating fresh possibilities for a
realignment
of alliances and opportunities for new hopefuls in the
succession race of
the party.
Mnangagwa, a Zanu PF bigwig with strong
liberation-struggle credentials and
a fearsome reputation for ruthlessly
crushing opponents, suffered
humiliating defeats in national and party
elections in 1999, 2000, 2004 and
2005. Mugabe, whom Mnangagwa now prefers
to call "Supreme Leader" to
reinforce his personality cult, invariably
rescued him from the political
wilderness following crushing
downfalls.
Two weeks ago Mnangagwa steered clear of party nominations
fearing another
thrashing although it is common cause that he wanted to
ascend in the
pecking order to move away from the periphery and closer to
the seat of
power as Mugabe enters the twilight years of his long and
chequered
political career.
This left the rival faction led by
retired army commander General Solomon
Mujuru with an opportunity to remain
firmly ensconced at the commanding
heights of the party. The two factions
have been tearing away at each other
since the late 1990s when the Mugabe
succession debate started gathering
serious momentum.
The
Midlands province, Mnangagwa's power base, was forced by events to
nominate
Mugabe, Joice Mujuru, John Nkomo and Simon Khaya Moyo for the Zanu
PF
presidium, abandoning its own list composed of Mugabe, Nkomo, Oppah
Muchinguri, and Kembo Mohadi in the top four.
Smarting from
another embarrassing defeat, Mnangagwa this week tried to
limit the damage
by claiming the humiliation his faction had endured - by
having to endorse
the Mujuru line-up after choosing to be the last province
to do nominations
due to failure of leadership - was much ado about
nothing.
"We
were the first province to sit down and endorse President Mugabe as the
party's supreme leader way before the nomination process was even called
for," Mnangagwa said.
"We sat down several months ago and agreed
that President Mugabe was the
supreme leader of the party and we made it
public. Turning to the VP post
that fell vacant after the death of Cde
(Vice-President Joseph) Msika, as a
province we wanted to get guidance from
the Matabeleland provinces for
obvious reasons and we followed the guidance
they have given us. We have
also done nominations for the central committee
members in the most
democratic way possible."
Putting aside
damage limitation, Mnangagwa conspicuously did not talk about
Vice-President
Joice Mujuru's nomination. He just ignored it and in the
process tried to
avoid the painful fact that his province had been forced by
events triggered
by the Mujuru group to nominate his bitter rival.
His explanation
that his province had to wait to take the lead from the
Matabeleland
provinces could not hold water because Masvingo, which was
working
hand-in-glove with Midlands, had already made its choices public by
selecting Mugabe, Nkomo, Muchinguri and Mohadi who made up the real
Mnangagwa faction line-up.
Masvingo hastily changed its decision
of nominating Mugabe, Nkomo,
Muchinguri and Mohadi after realising its
faction's strategy had collapsed
and melted on the ground in the heat of
battle, leaving behind many
political casualties.
Stan Mudenge, a
senior member of the Mnangagwa faction who warned Masvingo
against
proceeding with its plan to oust Mujuru without proper coordination
on
nomination day, and Lovemore Matuke, the provincial chair, also came out
with a futile damage-control line, saying the faction's attempt to depose
Joice Mujuru was an "expression of democracy".
Although observers
agree that the Zanu PF nominations this time around
showed a gradual shift
from an authoritarian paradigm of fixing and
directing of internal elections
towards free democratic expression, the
Mnangagwa camp seems unable or
unwilling to acknowledge its political
fiasco.
After the
reluctant surrender by Masvingo and Midlands, the Mujuru camp
galloped to a
clean sweep - a victory of 10 out of 10 provinces. The latest
defeat of the
Mnangagwa group was worse than the 2004 one because the
faction then managed
to cling onto four provinces despite Mugabe's ruthless
intervention and
enormous pressure on behalf of the Mujuru faction.
As usual in Zanu
PF, regional and tribal designs were at play in the 2004
battle as was the
case now.
The root causes of the power struggle and infighting in Zanu PF are
many and
varied. They include the race to succeed Mugabe, competition for
economic
resources, as well as regional and ethnic
rivalry.
At the heart of the matter is the fight to gain power
and resultantly an
access to resources in order to consolidate and protect
political, regional
and ethnic interests, over and above class and
individual accumulation of
wealth by the plutocrats.
Political
and ethnic rivalry, with no ideological or policy content, has
always
fuelled internal wrangling within Zanu PF since its formation in
1963. After
Independence in 1980 this broadly extrapolated and morphed into
institutionalised nepotism, political corruption and systematic pillaging of
public resources in government run by a criminal and incompetent cabal which
has now privatised the state for massive elite and personal
enrichment.
Political corruption in Zimbabwe encompasses the abuse of
public office and
resources for private gain.
Winning the Zanu PF
leadership is in the current scheme of things a major
step towards seizing
state power and gaining access to resources, although
things have vastly
changed since the emergence of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his
Movement for Democratic Change as a major political force
in
1999.
In fact, the biggest challenge for Mugabe's prospective
successors is no
longer fighting off challenges from within but taking on
Tsvangirai before
gaining power. This now makes it doubly difficult for them
to win the state
presidency.
After being defeated in 2004 in the
so-called Tsholotsho "coup", the
Mnangagwa faction had managed to close
ranks and regroup to mount a
challenge against the Mujuru camp but its
disastrous comeback bid ended in a
political calamity which is bound to
damage and even ruin careers.
Dumisani Muleya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 26 November 2009
20:05
THE police had no full control of exhibits during arms dealer
Michael
Hitschmann’s trial in 2006, raising concerns that they could have
been
tampered with by Central Intelligence Organisation and Zimbabwe
National
Army officers, the High Court heard this week during the trial of
MDC-T
treasurer Roy Bennett. Bennett is in court facing terrorism-related
charges
after Hitschmann allegedly implicated him in the buying of arms of
war to
destabilise the country.
Defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa on
Wednesday said she was concerned that the
state’s third witness, Detective
Superintendent Arnold Dhliwayo, had no
knowledge of how Hitschmann’s laptop
was moved from the exhibit office to
the office of the police officer
commanding the province (Propol).
Mtetwa also raised concern over how
firearms discovered from the arms dealer
were transported from his house to
Adams Barracks without a full
contemporaneous inventory done by
Dhliwayo.
The state is claiming that Hitschmann implicated Bennett
through emails that
were downloaded from his laptop and statements he made
to the police.
However, the arms dealer disowned the statements
saying he made them after
being tortured.
An information
technology expert, Denford Mutsetse, whom the state wanted to
be its
witness, declined saying the emails could have been created by
anyone.
Under cross examination by Mtetwa, Dhliwayo insisted that
the police were in
full control of the exhibits and Hitschmann although they
were at Adams
Barracks.
“We got assistance from other officers
and took charge of the exhibits,”
Dhliwayo said. “We took control of the
keys from the army.”
But Mtetwa did not buy Dhliwayo’s
explanation.
“How did this laptop walk from the exhibit office to the
Propol’s office
without your knowledge? I am concerned,” said Mtetwa. “You
arrived with
Hitschmann (at the Propol’s office), everybody is there with
the laptop and
you had no idea what they had been doing with it up to that
point. You don’t
know what fiddling could have been done with the
laptop?”
The court also heard that when Dhliwayo arrived at
Hitschmann’s house on
March 6 2006 with police officers and state security
agents, he did not make
a contemporaneous inventory of the firearms. Instead
the firearms were only
“properly” recorded at Adams Barracks after they had
been transported from
the arms dealer’s house.
Mtetwa said the
state had failed to produce evidence that implicates Bennett
on allegations
of possessing dangerous weapons and inciting acts of
terrorism and
insurgency.
The trial continues today before Justice Chinembiri Bhunu
with the state’s
fourth witness, Inspector Lazarus Zivengwa, giving
evidence.
Meanwhile, the High Court on Wednesday granted the state
leave to appeal to
the Supreme Court against the granting of bail to MDC-T
transport manager
Pasco Gwezere who is facing allegations of unlawfully
entering Pomona
Barracks and stealing arms of war; and undergoing military
training in
Uganda in order to destabilise the country.
The court
had last week granted Gwezere US$500 bail but he remained in
custody after
the state indicated it wanted to seek leave to appeal against
the
ruling.
The state alleges that Gwezere working in cahoots with a
Gertrude and
several army officers broke into Pomona Barracks on October 20
and stole 20
AK47 rifles and a shotgun.
The firearms have since
been recovered.
Three more people have been arrested in connection
with the case. One of the
people, Stanley Marange, was sentenced to 15 years
imprisonment, while the
two others would appear before a court
martial.
The state further alleges that Gwezere on July 31 1999 to
October 13 1999
underwent military training at Soroti Training camp in
Northern Uganda
acting in concert with Ernest Chihombori, Matthew Musokeri
and Thandiwe who
are MDC-T activists, to destabilise the government upon
their return.
The defence denies the accusations against
Gwezere.
Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 26 November 2009
20:03
IN recognition of his accomplishments in the media industry, the
African
Media Initiative (AMI) has announced the appointment of Zimind
Publishers
executive chairman and executive deputy chairman of the South
Africa-based
Mail & Guardian Trevor Ncube, as co-chair of its board.
Ncube will lead the
newly formed board with acclaimed and award winning
American journalist
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, former Africa CNN bureau
chief.
Hunter-Gault and Ncube were appointed at the just-ended Africa
Media
Leadership Forum in Lagos, Nigeria, where over 120 media entrepreneurs
and
senior executives from over 42 African countries were represented. The
meeting was also attended by the World Bank and African financial
institutions interested in investing in media on the
continent.
Commenting on the appointment, Amadou Mahtar Ba, executive
director of the
Initiative said: "I am delighted that Trevor Ncube, one of
the most
accomplished media personalities on the African continent, has
agreed to
join the AMI Board. I am honoured to have the opportunity to be
working
under his leadership for the years to come".
AMI is a
pan-African effort to improve democratic governance, social
development and
economic growth in Africa by strengthening the continent's
media sector.
This continental initiative -- supported by a broad coalition
of respected
African media entrepreneurs, executives, journalism experts and
media
academics -- aims to support the development and leadership of a
private
media sector that is ethical, of quality, sustainable and adaptable
so that
it can fully serve the needs and interests of its audiences and
citizens.
At the core of the AMI mission is a shared belief in
the importance of
professional ethics and sound management in the private
media sector which
is growing in importance on the continent. This includes
the innovative and
responsible adaptation of new technology and a commitment
to reaching rural
and other marginalised audiences that have long been
sidelined in African
media markets.
Ncube said: "I am pleased to
join the AMI board as co-chair and to share my
experience and knowledge with
a highly talented and diverse group of
professionals from Africa. It is time
that the continent seriously addresses
the core constraints which hinder the
development of our nations and
societies and we know that without a strong
and professional media, economic
and human development will remain
stunted."
Hunter-Gault said this is an ambitious project towards
strengthening the
private media on the continent.
"The quality of
management, availability of funds for new media projects and
expansion and
the restrictive political environment for media on the
continent are issues
that will receive our attention," she said.
With backing and
involvement from a broad and diverse community of African
media experts and
entrepreneurs, AMI includes representatives from all
regions of the
continent, as well as from all media: print, broadcast and
electronic with
many participating media houses engaged in all of these
interlocking
platforms.
The group's common denominator is a set of professional and
personal values,
with the ultimate goal of strengthening private media so
that it can better
address critical public needs and hold governments to
greater account.
AMI is firmly grounded in the largest consultation
and research process on
the media ever to take place in Africa, under the
auspices of the UN
Economic Commission for Africa and the BBC World Service
Trust and led by
African journalists, scholars and professionals. -- Staff
Reporter.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
19:58
THE business community in Zimbabwe has asked government to reduce
the number
of its embassies, consulates and missions abroad as a first step
towards
containing expenditure in the 2010 National Budget. In a position
paper on
the budget to be unveiled by Finance minister Tendai Biti on
Wednesday, the
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) also wants the
government to
reduce foreign trips and use alternative methods to conduct
business with
international partners.
The paper titled “Voice of
Business” suggested that government should cut
embassy staff abroad.
“In
order to fund state expenditure wholly from revenues and also balance
recurrent and non-recurrent expenditure, that is, without recourse to
borrowing, the government should work towards the reduction in the number of
Zimbabwean embassies, consulates and missions abroad while consolidating
representation in various regions,” ZNCC proposed. “The government should
reduce foreign trips or use affordable air travel classes, reduce delegation
size, cut embassy staff and foreign missions.”
The call by the business
community to cut the number of traveling
delegations comes a week after
media reports that President Robert Mugabe
traveled with an entourage of
over 60 people for the food summit held in
Rome, Italy, last
week.
Zimbabwe has 38 embassies and three consulates, of which 16 are in
Africa —
in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt,
Ethiopia,
Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South
Africa,
Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Overseas, Zimbabwe is represented in
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,
Canada, China, Cuba, France, Germany,
India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy and
Japan.
The country also has diplomatic
missions in Kuwait, Malaysia, Portugal,
Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the
United Kingdom while in the United
States it is represented at the United
Nations in New York and has an
embassy in Washington.
ZNCC said
government should close embassies that are not in strategic
locations.
They want government to come up with a policy guideline that
would reduce
significantly the size of public service and the armed
forces.
“We recommend a significant reduction in the size of the public
service and
the armed forces in order to contain expenditure,” ZNCC
said.
The business leaders also want Biti in the budget to give a commitment
that
the country would continue to use multi-currencies until 2011.
“The
government should make a commitment that Zimbabwe will continue to
operate a
basket of multi-currencies, subject to review in the 2011 budget
statement,
thereby eliminating currently widespread uncertainty and
insecurity within
the economy,” the chamber added.
Turning to issues pertaining to tax, the
business leaders called on
government to consider reviewing the tax-free
threshold to US$500 in the
budget so as to cushion workers and stimulate
local demand.
“The 2010 budget should seek to increase tax-free threshold to
US$500 and
the first income bracket should be taxed at 10 percent,” ZNCC
said.
The tax-free threshold is currently pegged at US$150 monthly, the
average
salary for most civil servants.
The business leaders said there
was an urgent need for government in the
2010 budget to increase civil
servants’ salaries with immediate effect.
They said Biti should adopt a
growth budget adding that the country should
make use of cost-effective
transparent systems to collect taxes as a way of
cutting
expenditure.
Loughty Dube
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
19:40
LIBYAN leader Muammar Gaddafi has commended Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai
for not resorting to war and agreeing to a power-sharing
agreement with
President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai met Gaddafi this week in
Tripoli.
According to the premier’s spokesperson, James Maridadi,
Gaddafi pointed out
that as chairperson of the African Union he was
interested in what was
happening in Zimbabwe because stability in the region
was at his heart.
“He (Gaddafi) said as the AU chair, stability in
the region is close to his
heart. He gave the prime minister a pat on the
back, saying that despite him
being on opposing sides, he managed to put
that aside and put the best
interests of Zimbabweans first to form the
inclusive government,” he said.
“President Gaddafi said well done to the
prime minister for the inclusive
government, which he said was commendable
instead of resorting to an armed
struggle. He told the prime minister that
arms do not solve conflicts. He
said he was happy that the prime minister
chose the ballot and not the
bullet.”
Gaddafi said Zimbabwe
should never be allowed to slide back to levels before
the formation of the
inclusive government, when there was hyperinflation,
unbearable living
conditions, starvation and gross economic instability.
Maridadi said
the premier was impressed by Libya’s housing project and the
level of
infrastructural development.
Tsvangirai was taken on a tour of
construction sites by Libya Prime Minister
Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi, who
heads the country’s developmental issues.
“The level of development
was amazing. There is so much construction going
on and they want to catch
up with Europe. They are into partnership with big
international development
partners from the United States and other
countries.
“What the
Libyan prime minister said of major interest to Zimbabwe was that
countries
should go into international cooperation with anyone in the world
that adds
value to the lives of its people,” said Maridadi, who pointed out
it was
something which Tsvangirai’s office said Zimbabwe should consider
seriously
instead of being opposed to anything Western.
Tsvangirai, who was in
Tripoli for a two-day visit at the invitation of the
Libyan leader to
strengthen cooperation between the two countries, held a
one-on-one with
Gaddafi for about 40 minutes.
The premier was welcomed with full
military honours and met at the airport
by his Libyan counterpart, foreign
affairs minister Mussa Kussa and generals
from the Libyan army, air force,
navy, police and other security services.
Faith Zaba
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
19:32
SOUTH African legal consultants have said if the government of
South Africa
proceeds to conclude the proposed Bilateral Investment
Promotion and
Protection Agreement (Bippa) with the government of Zimbabwe
thereby
immunising Zimbabwe from its international law liabilities it would
be going
against South African law. By signing the Bippa –– aimed at
providing
security of tenure to South African investments in Zimbabwe but
which
expressly excludes past claims arising from Zimbabwe’s post-2000 land
seizures –– the South African government would act contrary to the
principles of the Sadc Treaty and other international instruments, and in
violation of the South African constitution, and may in law be interdicted
against doing so, the consultants, Mssrs Jeremy Gauntlett and FB Pelser said
in a legal opinion published this week.
They were consulting for
the Commercial Farmers Union on the proposed
conclusion of the Bippa between
that country and Zimbabwe in Harare today.
Both countries are members
of Sadc and are bound by international and
constitutional law obligations
impacting on Bippas.
Of particular significance, the consultants
said, was the fact that the
Bippa seeks to give the Zimbabwean government
immunity from prosecution for
post-2000 land seizure measures, despite the
fact that such claims have been
upheld by the relevant international
court.
The consultants accuse the South African government of
negotiating the terms
of the Bippa without taking independent legal advice
regarding its ability
to do so in the light of the final Bippa Tribunal
award of November 2008,
the Tribunal’s referral to the Bippa Summit of June,
and the pending
application rejected this week in Harare to register the
Tribunal’s award
for enforcement under the domestic law of
Zimbabwe.
The High Court could not hear the case on Tuesday after
Justice Barat Patel
upheld an application by Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa that Gauntlett
cannot practise law in the
country.
Gauntlett said by entering a bilateral treaty which purports
to exclude
liability arising in terms of an existing multilateral treaty
constitutes a
breach of South Africa’s legal obligations.
He said
the proposed exclusionary clause in the Bippa impacts on legal
proceedings
concluded at international law level.
The proceedings are also
currently sub judice in Zimbabwe on the national
law level, and are further
subject to consideration by the Sadc Summit on
the international political
level.
The Tribunal in a separate final ruling in June 2009 has held
the government
of Zimbabwe to be in breach of its orders of November 28
2008, and formally
referred this defiance to the Sadc Summit for
consideration of consequential
measures under the Treaty.
During
2007 various members of the Commercial Farmers Union instituted legal
proceedings in the Sadc Tribunal after exhausting existing remedies in
Zimbabwe. The proceedings were based on the fact that they were either
already expropriated or stood to be expropriated without compensation, as a
result of Zimbabwe’s land seizure measures, purportedly authorised by
amendment to the property clause in the Bill of Rights in Zimbabwe’s
constitution.
On November 28 2008 the Tribunal upheld the
farmers’ case. It held that
Zimbabwe’s land reform exercise was in breach of
international human rights
norms and the rule of law as entrenched by the
Sadc Treaty. The Tribunal
condemned the land reform exercise on all three
bases contended.
The Tribunal said the land reform programme
constituted racial
discrimination, because the measures did not relate to
criteria of land use
or need, but targeted only so-called white farmers and
benefited designated
cronies and a class of political chefs.
“The
programme amounted to expropriation on an arbitrary basis and without
compensation; and it ousted courts’ jurisdiction to adjudicate on human
rights infringements,” said Gauntlett.
The Tribunal ordered the
government of Zimbabwe to take all necessary
measures to protect the
possession, occupation and ownership of farmers not
yet expropriated and to
pay compensation to those already expropriated.
But, Gauntlet said,
the farm invasions continued in Zimbabwe not only with
impunity, but with
active state involvement. The farmers again approached
the Tribunal, this
time for an order declaring that the government of
Zimbabwe was in breach of
the order of November 28 2008 and that the matter
be referred to the Sadc
Summit for it to consider appropriate measures. The
farmers also succeeded
in this and the Tribunal made a punitive costs order
against the government
of Zimbabwe. Nevertheless farm invasions intensified,
and instances of
destruction of property and physical assaults increased.
In order to
ensure effective protection in Zimbabwe in terms of the relief
granted by
the Sadc Tribunal, application was made to the High Court of
Zimbabwe to
register the Tribunal’s ruling as provided for under the
Protocol to the
Tribunal but that could not be done this week on the
technicality that
foreign lawyers could not practise in Zimbabwe.
It is likely to be
still sub-judice today, which is the date for the
proposed signing of the
Bippa.
“Therefore it is against this background –– namely a ruling by
the relevant
international court, pending proceedings before the relevant
national court
and deliberation thereon by the Sadc Summit –– that the
question of the
legality of concluding the Bippa is posed,” said
Gauntlett.
Both international law and national law impose duties on
South Africa which
impact on it entering the proposed
Bippa.
Being members of Sadc, both Zimbabwe and South Africa have
their
international law obligations governed by the Sadc Treaty on
sub-regional
level in addition to other principles operating regionally and
globally.
In terms of the Sadc Treaty, member states are bound to
honour human rights
and to further the rule of law. Member states are also
obliged to co-operate
with and assist the institutions of Sadc, like its
Tribunal.
Further, member states are obliged to refrain from taking any
measures
“likely to jeopardise the sustenance of Sadc principles”, which
include
advancing the rule of law and human rights. The Treaty further
requires that
states take all steps necessary to ensure the uniform
application of the
Treaty.
“Therefore, said Gauntlett, entering a
bilateral treaty which excludes
liability imposed by the Sadc Tribunal
constitutes a clear violation of
these duties. The exclusionary clause
subverts the Tribunal’s order and
detracts from the Tribunal’s
status.
It also jeopardises the human rights culture prevailing in
Sadc and dilutes
the rule of law and remedies for breaches of human rights.
Moreover,
exemptions of liability under Sadc law granted by member states
between
themselves in terms of bilateral treaties impede a uniform
implementation of
the Sadc principles.
This is contrary to the
treaty, which constitutes the supreme law among its
member
states.
The African Charter, which is the regional instrument binding
on South
Africa, also imposes a duty on states to ensure that human rights
violations
are redressed effectively. The African Commission held that “any
person
whose rights are violated [should] have an effective remedy as rights
without remedies have little value.”
Gauntlett argued that human
rights norms operating within the wider African
region require states to
give effect to human rights and their protection,
and obliges states not to
compromise judicial remedies by exclusionary
clauses which grant impunity to
human rights violations.
Also, obligations under global international
law proscribe exemption of
liability for human rights infringements as
envisaged under the Bippa.
He said it was clear that international
law recognises the obligation to
make full reparation for any injury flowing
from an international wrongful
act, and acknowledges the principle that
victims of human rights
infringements are entitled to an effective remedy.
Exclusionary clauses
clearly compromise this. As such the Bippa falls foul
of international law
on account of compromising the Tribunal’s
order.
From a national law perspective, the principles relating to
diplomatic
protection are of particular relevance. The various international
law
obligations referred to above find resonance in South African domestic
law.
The term “diplomatic protection” includes not only all state
action to
prevent a threatened violation of international law, but also
action aimed
at remedying violations after the event.
The South
African High Court has held that the commitment to the promotion
and
protection of fundamental human rights, democracy, justice and
international
law had to underpin the state’s foreign relations policy.
The state could
not “remain silent when a member state commits the most
egregious violations
of any of the fundamental human rights enshrined in
these instruments”.
Instead, government had to act positively “when an
egregious violation of
the very fundamental human rights, enshrined in the
document it has
ratified, is being committed by a member state.
Therefore, said
Gauntlett, entering a Bippa that contains a compensation
clause whose
operation is restricted to prospective violations of human
rights only, is
contrary to the South African constitution.
“It is to be noted that this
judgment is final, and that its correctness has
been accepted by government
in subsequent proceedings before the
Constitutional Court.”
He
said by entering the proposed Bippa with the exemption clause, the
government’s constitutional duty to give diplomatic protection is
breached. — Staff Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009 19:03
IS
DEFENCE minister Emmerson Mnangagwa the crown prince of Zimbabwean
politics
destined to be Zanu PF’s first secretary and subsequently the
country’s
president or just an ambitious politician with no hope of ever
rising to the
helm of the party and the nation? This has been an intriguing
question of
Zimbabwe’s politics and becomes more pronounced whenever Zanu PF
holds a
congress.
Mnangagwa, who stood for the Zanu PF chairman’s post and
lost to John Nkomo
a decade ago, is leader of a faction locked in a duel to
control the party
with another camp headed by retired army general Solomon
Mujuru.
There is a third faction aligned to President Robert Mugabe
which is fronted
by ministers Saviour Kusukuwere and Nicholas Goche. This
faction has
political ambitions of its own.
The Kasukuwere
faction has been in an alliance with Mujuru to block
Mnangagwa’s ascendancy
to the presidium, it has been reported.
The fall-out between
Mnangagwa and Mujuru is not over political ideology,
but triggered by
business interests in the 1980s when the retired general
bought a
substantive stake in Zimasco.
Since then the two political giants
have been engaged in a political turf
war analysts say was meant to defend
their business interests.
The Mujuru-Kasukuwere alliance emerged
victorious a fortnight ago when the
majority of the 10 Zanu PF provinces
nominated their candidates to the
presidium ahead of next month’s party
elective congress, defeating those
from Mnangagwa’s camp.
Mugabe
was nominated president and first secretary of the party, deputised
by John
Nkomo and Joice Mujuru, while Simon Khaya-Moyo will come in as
chairperson.
Mnangagwa had preferred Mugabe as president, Nkomo
and women’s league boss
Oppah Muchinguri as vice presidents and Kembo Mohadi
as chairperson.
The Defence minister and his faction have lost their
bid to take control of
the party presidium for the third time, having
earlier lost in 1999 and
2004.
The failure has raised questions
over Mnangagwa’s capacity and clout to win
support within Zanu PF and one
day land the position of party president.
Questions are also being asked if
Mnangagwa can pick up the pieces after the
latest
drawback.
Political analysts believe that factions within Zanu PF
were not cast in
stone as there were underlying alliances that could be more
enduring than
camps.
These alliances, the analysts argued,
include ethnicity and the role of the
young Turks and businessmen and these
give Mnangagwa the proverbial nine
lives of a cat.
“While there
are factions within Zanu PF, it has to be pointed out that
politics is about
the struggle for power at any level and this includes
within political
organisations, of which Zanu PF is one,” said a University
of Zimbabwe
political scientist who asked for anonymity. “If anything,
Mnangagwa has
been the biggest beneficiary from the factions within the
party and there is
nothing that will stop him from doing so in future. In
fact the threat he
poses as a faction leader is political currency which he
can easily trade
for political posts.”
The political scientist said Mnangagwa, despite
losing the fight to control
Zanu PF since 1999, had always emerged a winner
of sorts.
He said even when Mnangagwa twice lost parliamentary polls
in 2000 and 2008,
he remained in government demonstrating that he has power
in Zanu PF.
Mnangagwa was elected Speaker of Parliament in 2000 after
he lost his seat
in Kwekwe and when he lost it again in 2005 he was
appointed a
non-constituency MP and minister.
“This is a clear
sign that the Mnangagwa faction can still lobby to have its
leader within
the echelons of power with the other giving in,” the political
scientist
added. “I am of the strong opinion that the same rule would be
used and the
man will rise from the setback of failing to control the
presidium.”
Another political analyst and also the director of
Centre for Community
Development, Phillip Pasirayi, said factionalism was a
reality in Zanu PF
but was quick to point out that Mnangagwa lacked the
necessary “gravitas” to
lead.
“Mnangagwa has no gravitas to
effectively lead a faction because he has
suffered a string of defeats in
elections after the formation of MDC and
this is a sign that he has no
grassroots support,” said Pasirayi.
He said the factions in Zanu PF have
largely worked to Mugabe’s advantage as
they always fight each other without
shaking his power base.
“What happens is that they are afraid of what
would follow should they
challenge Mugabe’s power,” said Pasirayi. “If you
look at the Zanu PF
provincial leadership then you would realise that they
are designed to
support either of the factions. This is how the factions
have continued to
bicker and haggle for positions within Zanu PF itself
without challenging
Mugabe.”
Such suggestions raise further
questions on the nature of factions within
Zanu PF and their
purpose.
It is clear that these factions are, at least for now,
content with being
close to power and not assume it as they do not challenge
Mugabe.
This may mean that they are content with the benefits which
come with such
closeness.
Another political analyst said
questions should be asked on the role of
Mugabe in the set
up.
This, the analysts said, could be answered by the fact that
despite lacking
clout, Mnangagwa leads a faction which has continued to
challenge for power
each time there is leadership wrangle in Zanu
PF.
The analysts said it was still to be seen how the Zanu PF
presidium
political dynamics would influence the configuration of the
central
committee and the politburo during the congress.
Until
then, the analysts have said, it would be very premature to make
conclusions
on Mnangagwa’s position in relation to power in the short-term
and
long-term.
Leonard Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
18:51
ZIMBABWE could have lost millions of dollars in a diamond sale
after
Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) authorised Sabi Gold
Mine
to auction gems for a song, businessdigest can reveal. Documents in our
possession show that Sabi sold gemstones weighing 31,5 kg (157 968,71
carats) for US$3,50 per carat and realised US$553 890,49 on March 6 this
year.
Ironically other diamonds classified as near gem diamonds on MMCZ's
tender
results show that the lowest price at the auction for low quality
stones was
US$15,86 per carat.
In other trades, gem stones fetched the
highest price of US$449 per carat.
The diamonds were sold to Raydium BVBA, a
Belgian firm based in Anterwerp.
MMCZ officials said the sale in question
involved rough industrial diamonds.
But signed MMCZ documents involved rough
gem diamonds. Invoice number
PD002/02/09 dated March 6 2009, also showed
that the proceeds of the sale
would be paid into an account held at African
Banking Corporation (ABC)
account number 04039498.
Swift codes - a
transfer code for foreign and external wire transfers - was
made by the
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas.
The swift code for the particular sale
was BKTRUS33 and another Fedwire
FW021001033.
Part of the invoice reads:
"100% value to be made by TT through Deutsche
Bank Company Americas, 280
Park Avenue, New York, NY10017 USA.Beneficiary as
Kimberworth Investments
p/l. Upon receipt of payment ABC Zimbabwe to advise
Kimberworth Investments
of receipt of funds."
Sabi Gold Mine is Kimberworth's trade name.
MMCZ had
not replied to our enquiries at the time of going to press.
But questions on
how the parastatal in charge of marketing of minerals
arrived at the price
of US$3,50 remain unclear.
MMCZ is expected to conduct a diamond auction next
month, according to
sources.
Meanwhile another anomaly has been dug up
according to our investigations.
MMCZ in another shady deal sold diamonds to
a company that misrepresented
itself to the parastatatal's management.
A
company owned and run by Lebanese national Imad Ahmad chairman of PureDiam
did business with the parastatal allegedly using an import licence for Atom
DMCC, a reputable Dubai-based diamond trading company.
But a background
check discovered that Ahmad had no business relationship
with ATOM
DMCC.
Documents show that PureDiam bought a consignment of industrial
diamonds
valued at US$478 197.
The payment was wired to MMCZ's African
Banking Corporation (ABC) account
number 1007595390201.
Efforts to reach
Ahmad proved fruitless as his business numbers do not take
incoming
calls.
Our investigations show that there is no other information on
PureDiam.
PureDiam does not have a website. With such business practices,
Zimbabwean
diamonds could end up on the black market or funding a war
elsewhere in the
world.
Meanwhile, international diamond industry
watchdogs allege security at
Marange is inadequate but Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZMDC)
management engaged Chitkem Security (Pvt)
Limited to run security in and
around the mine.
Investigations revealed
that ZMDC granted the security company - owned by
former Zanu PF MP for
Murehwa North Victor Chitongo - a contract to provide
security at the
Marange diamond fields.
Chitongo according to our investigations is a
founding director of the
security company.
ZMDC chief Dominic Mubaiwa
confirmed that the contract was granted to
Chitkem.
He said: "We floated
a tender and a lot of companies applied but when the
companies went on a
site visit, most of them backed off saying they did not
have capacity. So we
engaged Chitkem and Fawcett."
In the past, security at the diamond fields was
provided by the army and the
police but allegations of human rights abuses
against the security forces
forced government to remove military personnel
from the mines. Government is
still to comply fully.
A Kimberly Process
Certification team that was in the country this year
attacked government for
militarising the fields. The delegation urged
government to consider private
security prompting ZMDC to hire the services
of Chitkem.
Other companies
such as River Ranch and Murowa have conformed to
international best
standards.
Chris Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
18:31
FINANCIAL conglomerate Old Mutual (OM) has come under fire from
London Stock
Exchange-listed mining company, African Consolidated Resources
(ACR), over
its involvement in Marange Diamonds. ACR, which recently won a
High Court
case to mine diamonds in Marange, has threatened to take OM to
court over
the matter.
OM through its 16% shareholding in the New
Reclamation Group, a company that
recently partnered government to extract
diamonds in Marange, is now at the
centre of an ownership dispute pitting
government and ACR.
A letter dated November 17, from ACR chief Andrew
Cranswick to OM reads: "I
understand Old Mutual has a significant
shareholding in the New Reclamation
Group (pty) Ltd ("Reclam") - 30 million
shares is the figure I believe. I
believe this represents some 16% and that
Mr Quinton Dicks sits on their
board in representation of Old Mutual's
interest.
"Furthermore, we understand that through a subsidiary, Grandwell
Holdings
Ltd, Mauritius, Reclam Holdings Ltd, Mauritius, Reclam have entered
into an
agreement with Marange Resources (Pvt) Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of
Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC). This specifically enters
into an
agreement to mine on ACR's mining claims, established in 2006 and
the title
thereto upheld in a recent High Court judgment - attached
hereto."
Cranswick said the joint venture between Grandwell and ZMDC was
"lopsided"
in favour of Reclamation in terms of marketing.
The ACR chief
said the marketing arrangement was "a clear attempt" on the
part of
Reclamation "to steal a national asset value from the people of
Zimbabwe".
Cranswick also warned OM that both Marange Resources and ZMDC
were under
European Union and United States sanctions.
The letter
explains: "In theory and in law the sanctions can and will be
applied to
partners thereof. I urge you to contact the various ambassadors
or trade
representatives thereof and confirm these facts."
Cranswick urged OM to seek
legal counsel on the matter saying the company
would not get "legal nor
material PR relief".
"This company (ACR) is listed on the London Stock
Exchange and we will seek
redress and full damages from all participants,
jointly and severally in
every country including South Africa and the UK,"
Cranswick threatened.
He also acclaimed that his company had sunk a lot of
funds into exploration
in the country in the past five years than its mining
peers.
He added: "To have an important asset stolen from ACR and the people
of
Zimbabwe after this investment is immoral, unethical and illegal. I urge
Old
Mutual to take steps possible to rectify this abhorrent behaviour by
Reclam
and its subsidiaries."
This is not the first time OM has been at
the centre of controversy over its
dealings in Zimbabwe.
Some years back,
the company came under attack from shareholders and civil
rights activists
after it emerged the company owned a significant
shareholding in state
publisher, Zimpapers group.
Zimpapers runs newspapers seen to be blind
supporters of President Robert
Mugabe's regime spewing propaganda against
the opposition and perceived
enemies of his government. Of late the civil
society has upped the ante in
their condemnation of OM investment but the
conglomerate has defended its
decision.
Chris Muronzi
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
18:30
SMALL-scale tobacco farmers are struggling to get inputs, a
situation
threatening to reduce by a fifth the projected output of 65 000 kg
next
season. Focus for inputs have largely been on maize farmers to the
neglect
of the small-scale tobacco farmers who do not have contracts with
merchants.
Contractors preferred large scale farmers where they are
guaranteed of
returns.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association president Kevin Cooke
said small- scale farmers
could not access inputs, especially
fertiliser.
"Inputs are still difficult to get at the Grain Marketing Board
depots and
we are very concerned that this would affect the season," said
Cooke. "About
half of the small-
scale farmers are yet to get inputs but
commercial planting is going on well
and it is up compared to last
season."
Small-scale farmers account for up to 40% of tobacco produced in the
country.
Cooke said farmers could not get compound fertilisers and they
were now
awaiting the intervention of the Tobacco Industry and Marketing
Board
(TIMB).
TIMB chief executive Andrew Matibiri confirmed that
distribution of inputs
was still going on at several depots despite that the
planting season had
already started.
The tobacco board would support
farmers to plant 4 000 hectares under the
crop this season.
Matibiri said
TIMB was focusing on the three Mashonaland provinces, as well
as Manicaland.
It would distribute fertilisers and chemicals in the
provinces.
"We are
distributing ammonium nitrate and chemicals to farmers through GMB
depots as
part of the CBZ scheme and farmers are collecting these from the
depots in
the four provinces," said Matibiri.
There were very few takers for financing
small-scale tobacco farmers until
CBZ came up with a scheme but this also
came a bit late as all inputs should
have been at the farms by now.
Small
scale tobacco farmers do not have the required collateral to borrow
from
banks to finance the crop and in the last seasons they have been
heavily
dependent on subsidised inputs.
It has been completely different this season
as the perennial provider of
subsidised inputs, the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe, has stopped such
quasi-fiscal activities.
This has been
worsened by the fact that potential sponsors have chosen to
support the
growing of maize and small grain crops to improve the country's
food
security situation.
Tobacco, at its peak production levels, accounted for
more than half of
total agricultural exports and this translated to 30% of
the country's total
exports.
Tobacco production peaked at 260 million kg
in 1998, which is almost five
times as much as what the industry is now
producing 11 years later.
At its peak, the crop earned the country around
US$270 million yearly and
accounted for 10 percent of the gross domestic
product.
Leonard Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
18:24
AGAINST a backdrop of "extraordinary uncertainty" and a liquidity
crisis,
will Finance minister Tendai Biti downgrade his positive growth
forecasts,
or strike a remarkably upbeat national budget, with a consistent
approach to
longer-term planning focused on increased production? Will Biti
reiterate
that economic policies should focus on the country's longer-term
interests,
highlighting the dangers of policies "designed for populist
appeal"?
How will he deal with the country's financial health and
liquidity
challenges at a time when there has been a "destructive implosion"
in world
financial markets?
What will he say about the
performance of the current budget? Will his
revenue projections be realistic
and where will the money come from?
These are questions being raised
ahead of the announcement of the national
budget by Biti on
Wednesday.
According to a document compiled by the business community
entitled "The
voice of Business: Proposition to the 2010 National budget",
increasing the
tax-free threshold would go a long-way in reducing the number
of families
living under the poverty datum line.
"The 2010
national budget should seek to increase tax-free threshold to
US$500 and the
first income bracket should be taxed at 10%," reads part of
the
recommendations.
According to the document it was vital for
government to introduce a
tax-free bonus in the income Tax
Act.
Economic and trade unionists this week said reducing the high
unemployment
rate remained a priority for government and wondered how much
would be set
aside to create jobs in the next three years.
The
business community said the budget should seek to increase the salaries
of
civil servants with immediate effect.
"There is a need to improve the
remuneration of the civil servants to match
regional standards," the
business community said.
Civil servants are currently earning US$150
monthly.
Economist Brains Muchemwa described the previous budget as
"good" adding
that the crucial aspects of the coming budget should centre on
allocating
International Monetary Fund loan to sectors that have strong
primary
multiplier effects on employment creation so that the secondary
effect on
government revenue creation will assist equally in repaying the
loan and put
the economy on sustainable growth path.
"We need to
start creating the platform for reviving the defunct middle
class. And the
government, being the single largest player in the market
now, should have
the right priorities in place to create a sustainable
middle class to
cultivate strong and rising domestic demand that will
provide the vital
anchor for growth," Muchemwa said.
Muchemwa said Zimbabwe needed a
strong private-public sector partnership
framework that would revive its
infrastructure much faster and put an end to
fiscal antics of attempting
subsidies on empty coffers.
"An economy, just like a private company,
needs to run on goodwill and
competitive economic pricing. And with the
dollarised economy, good times
lie in waiting," Muchemwa said.
The
business community said Biti should reduce all taxes, which include
Value
Added Tax, Pay As You Earn and the corporate tax.
"In order to fund
State expenditure wholly from revenue and also balance
recurrent and
non-recurrent expenditure without recourse to borrowing, it is
recommended
that a marked reduction in the number of ministers be
considered," reads
part of the document.
The business community said Biti should adopt a
growth budget adding that
the country should make use of cost effective and
transparent systems to
collect taxes as a way of cutting the country's
expenditure.
Some of the recommendations include privatising or
commercialising
operations of parastatals.
"Parastatals
commercialisation and privitasation, partial and total
privatisation of
parastatals should be vigorously pursued thereby generating
fiscal inflows
from disinvestments," said the business community.
Economist, Eric
Bloch said it was critical for Biti to announce steps and
incentives that
would facilitate investments.
Bloch said realignment of tax rates should be
considered so that they match
those that are being charged in the
region.
"The tax rates that are being charged in the country are a major
deterrent
to investments and they have also led to a serious brain drain,"
Bloch said.
"The ministry (of Finance) needs to look into these so that the
rates are
similar to those in the region and also as a way of curbing brain
drain."
Bloch also said businesses should not be forced to pay value
added tax by
the 15th of every month when they only receive money from their
clients at
the end of the month.
Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries is, among other tax reforms, pushing
for an increase in value
added tax from the current 15%, a move that is
likely to see a surge in
consumer prices.
"We recommend an increase in the rate of VAT to
17,5% and a sharp reduction
in the number of exempt products to compensate
for revenue loss under other
tax heads. This will revert to 15% once revenue
generation has improved,"
reads the CZI input to the national budget. "The
due date for VAT payments
should revert to the end of the month following
the month which VAT is
accrued to encourage credit creation in the
economy."
Apart from the tax reforms industry also recommended the
creation of an
"Independent Budget Office" to "oversee the budget from a
non-partisan
perspective".
The Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce is against plans to increase VAT
to improve revenue
generation.
Instead it recommends that government should lower
taxes.
"In order to then increase the revenue base the following
recommendations
are being made - review or reduce all taxes VAT, Pay As You
Earn, corporate
tax etc to stimulate demand by attracting more players and
compliance," the
ZNCC said.
Addressing parliament recently, Biti
projected a rise in government revenue
next year despite the current
dwindling monthly revenue saying it had
reached a "plateau".
He
said monthly revenue generated since June had remained stagnant,
signalling
a budget deficit for the current fiscal year.
This means government
would fail to generate US$1 billion targeted in the
revised national budget,
piling more pressure on the fiscus following the
dollarisation of the
economy in February. Biti said plans to increase
revenue in a "shallow
budget" of US$1,3 billion was a reflection of lack of
meaningful foreign
direct investment in the economy.
Dogged by the current economic
problems, the Finance minister said any plans
to service the US$5,7 billion
external debt using the current revenue
inflows were far fetched. Government
requires over US$60 million for wages
and pensions each month apart from
other expenditures.
"So if our unvalidated debt is $5,7 billion, it
means assuming that we are
living on water and air and God's grace, we are
required to pay that debt
for six years and clearly that is not
sustainable," Biti told parliament.
Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
18:22
FOREIGN investors have taken a keen interest in the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange
as local investors continue to shy away from the bourse due to cash
shortages, businessdigest has learnt. Information at hand shows that an
average of 43,18% worth of capital invested between April to October was
injected by foreign investors, marking a shift from the previous trading
pattern where local institutional investors were more active.
The
introduction of multiple currencies early this year has seen market
capitalisation of the ZSE dropping to the current level of $3,5 billion from
$12 billion, registered 10 years ago. This figure represents a tiny fraction
of the lively Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the world's 19th largest bourse
which trades an average of R10 billion daily.
ZSE chief executive
Emmanuel Munyukwi last week told journalists in the
capital that the bourse
had since April been driven by foreign investors
owing to cash constraints
on the local market. He said the "velocity of
shares" trading on the stock
exchange was around 1,2% adding that it was
desirable for liquidity to rise
up to 15%.
"One of the biggest problems on the market is liquidity," Munyukwi
said.
"The velocity of shares exchanging hands is still low. Right now the
market
is being driven by foreigners who have become net buyers while local
investment funds have been net sellers to meet their commitments such as
salaries. Share prices are currently depressed but you still have one or two
companies that are doing well."
Inactivity and low share prices according
to the ZSE boss had resulted in 10
counters out of the 72 trading,
accounting for 65% of the current market
capitalisation.
He however could
not be drawn to comment on which foreign investors were
driving the ZSE.
Analysts said the new trend could see major ownership
changes in listed
companies. According to ZSE regulations, 30% of shares for
listed companies
should be in the hands of the public.
But market analysts said investors from
Russia and Ukraine had since the
resumption of trade in February become net
buyers for the relatively cheap
stocks which local investors were hurriedly
disposing to meet other
commitments. They said Renaissance Capital which is
linked to Russian
investors and Terra Partners had been active on the
market, broking deals
for the foreign investors.
Despite problems on the
bourse, blue chip Econet has managed to grow during
the decade long
recession.
Econet which became the first company to declare a divided this
year had its
share jump to over $5 in recent times from $0,35 in February
while most of
its peers on the ZSE are still trading low.
Bernard
Mpofu
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
18:16
ALL state-owned tertiary education institutions in the country are
understaffed with the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and the Harare Institute
of Technology (HIT) being the hardest hit, a report by the Ministry of
Higher and Tertiary Education has shown.
The report has been included
in the draft Mid-Term Policy Plan (MTP), a
successor to Short-Term Emergency
Recovery Programme.
UZ had by May this year 385 professional staff members
out of 1 171
vacancies -- a 67% vacancy level.
HIT has a 70% vacancy
level with only 37 staff members out of a possible
123.
It is only the
Zimbabwe Open University which has the lowest vacancy levels
at 16% with 191
posts out of 227 filled.
The Midlands State University, Lupane University and
Great Zimbabwe
University had vacancy levels around 30%.
Great Zimbabwe
University is a relative's small institution with 27 posts
which explains
why there are low vacancy levels.
Polytechnics have also been affected with a
60,3% vacancy level, as only 1
043 of the 2 630 posts have been taken
up.
High vacancy levels at the institutions are a result of brain drain and
poor
remuneration which has seen college and university staff joining the
private
sector or leaving the country for greener pastures.
Universities
and colleges have partly filled in vacant posts by absorbing
recent
graduates -- a move some educationists said compromised the country's
quality of education.
There are cases where entire departments have been
left without a single
lecturer and have to rely on part-time
staffers.
Incentives and remunerations for part-time lecturers are very low.
Most
state universities pay part-time lecturers US$10 an hour.
It has
been suggested in the MTP that that the retirement age for lecturers
be
moved to 70 years from the current 65 years.
Retired lecturers should also be
involved on flexi-time basis whenever their
services are
required.
Staffing crises at state universities and colleges is a reversal of
what the
country had sought to achieve when it increased the number of
institutions
in the last 10 years.
Zimbabwe had one university, a single
polytechnic and several technical
colleges at independence but these were
increased after 1990.
The country now has seven state universities, three
privately owned, and an
open university and has upgraded all technical
colleges to polytechnics.
Leonard Makombe
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
18:11
PUBLIC Service minister Elphas Mukonoweshuro on Wednesday said a
national
civil service payroll and skills audit will begin on November 30,
but will
exclude soldiers and other security personnel.
The minister
said a pilot audit that started in Harare and Gweru on Monday
ends
today.
The audit followed concerns that the public service has on its books
thousands of "ghost workers" drawing pay for no work.
Mukonoweshuro said:
"The public service is conducting a payroll and skills
audit with a view to
revitalise the public service through the
identification of public service
strength, skills gaps and recommending
measures for attracting and retaining
qualified personnel in the service.
"The payroll and skills audit will cover
all public servants regulated by
the Public Service Act and the Health
Services Act, excluding the uniformed
forces and other security
services."
The head count, the first ever in the history of Zimbabwe,
involves over 200
000 workers.
During the exercise, which will end on
December 18, all civil servants will
report to their respective pay stations
carrying their birth and academic
certificates.
They will also be
required to produce letters of appointment, pay-slips and
police clearance
letters.
The payroll and skills audit is being conducted in terms of a
government
directive issued in April this year which mandated the public
service
ministry to conduct a human resource audit.
An inter-ministerial
committee has been established to carry out the
exercise, which is expected
to gobble a total of US$4 million.
The committee has been tasked to audit the
general manpower levels in order
to flush out ghost workers, assess the
skills levels, skills gaps and carry
out a skills profile of Zimbabweans in
the Diaspora who could be engaged to
return to the country.
In April,
government ordered the ministry of Public Service to conduct the
payroll and
skills audit to "establish the current status and future public
service
personnel need to enhance service delivery".
The audit comes after another
review for the first quota of the 2009
financial year by the government's
Auditor and Comptroller General Mildred
Chiri. Chiri concluded that during
last year's presidential elections, the
Youth ministry illegally employed 10
000 youths.
"Appointment procedures were not observed in the recruitment of
10 277 youth
officers in May 2008 for the Ministry of Youth," she said.
"Youth officers
who were on payroll yet having no requisite documentation
evidence this. The
appointment process was unprocedural as evidenced by the
following
irregularities: duplicated names and surnames with the same ID;
individuals
appearing in two ministries; no appointment documents; same date
of birth
for most employees."
Mukonoweshuro down played media reports
that his ministry had been asked by
the World Bank to supply classified
information relating to the identity of
state workers.
"We have got three
players here. We have got the ministry (Public Service)
which runs with the
mandate, the World Bank which funds and we have got an
independent firm of
auditors which takes instructions directly from the
ministry together with
ministry staff, to execute the audit," he said.
"The World Bank only holds
the purse. So any suggestion to the effect that
the World Bank was asking
for information is plainly and patently false,
mischievous and malicious".
--PUBLIC Service minister Elphas Mukonoweshuro
on Wednesday said a national
civil service payroll and skills audit will
begin on November 30, but will
exclude soldiers and other security
personnel.
The minister said a pilot
audit that started in Harare and Gweru on Monday
ends today.
The audit
followed concerns that the public service has on its books
thousands of
"ghost workers" drawing pay for no work.
Mukonoweshuro said: "The public
service is conducting a payroll and skills
audit with a view to revitalise
the public service through the
identification of public service strength,
skills gaps and recommending
measures for attracting and retaining qualified
personnel in the service.
"The payroll and skills audit will cover all public
servants regulated by
the Public Service Act and the Health Services Act,
excluding the uniformed
forces and other security services."
The head
count, the first ever in the history of Zimbabwe, involves over 200
000
workers.
During the exercise, which will end on December 18, all civil
servants will
report to their respective pay stations carrying their birth
and academic
certificates.
They will also be required to produce letters
of appointment, pay-slips and
police clearance letters.
The payroll and
skills audit is being conducted in terms of a government
directive issued in
April this year which mandated the public service
ministry to conduct a
human resource audit.
An inter-ministerial committee has been established to
carry out the
exercise, which is expected to gobble a total of US$4
million.
The committee has been tasked to audit the general manpower levels
in order
to flush out ghost workers, assess the skills levels, skills gaps
and carry
out a skills profile of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who could be
engaged to
return to the country.
In April, government ordered the
ministry of Public Service to conduct the
payroll and skills audit to
"establish the current status and future public
service personnel need to
enhance service delivery".
The audit comes after another review for the first
quota of the 2009
financial year by the government's Auditor and Comptroller
General Mildred
Chiri. Chiri concluded that during last year's presidential
elections, the
Youth ministry illegally employed 10 000
youths.
"Appointment procedures were not observed in the recruitment of 10
277 youth
officers in May 2008 for the Ministry of Youth," she said. "Youth
officers
who were on payroll yet having no requisite documentation evidence
this. The
appointment process was unprocedural as evidenced by the following
irregularities: duplicated names and surnames with the same ID; individuals
appearing in two ministries; no appointment documents; same date of birth
for most employees."
Mukonoweshuro down played media reports that his
ministry had been asked by
the World Bank to supply classified information
relating to the identity of
state workers.
"We have got three players
here. We have got the ministry (Public Service)
which runs with the mandate,
the World Bank which funds and we have got an
independent firm of auditors
which takes instructions directly from the
ministry together with ministry
staff, to execute the audit," he said.
"The World Bank only holds the purse.
So any suggestion to the effect that
the World Bank was asking for
information is plainly and patently false,
mischievous and malicious". --
Staff Writer.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009 19:36
AS
the Commonwealth gathers in Trinidad this weekend, attention once again
turns to the plight of our once valued member –– Zimbabwe. We all look
forward to the time it can rejoin our family of nations because it will
signify finally that the days of oppression, violence and economic
catastrophe have been left behind.
But there is still much progress to be
made.
Nelson Mandela once declared that he had discovered a secret. “After
climbing a great hill,” he said, “One always finds that there are many more
hills to climb.”
And so it must feel for Zimbabweans as they look back at
the past year since
the agreement that made Morgan Tsvangirai Prime Minister
was signed.
That agreement itself was a landmark achievement, rightly
welcomed in the UK
and across the world.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai signed
it having endured elections that the
Southern African Development Community
(Sadc) declared were neither free nor
fair –– and having survived the
violence and human rights abuses that
followed.
The magnanimity he
demonstrated sent a powerful message of hope that
Zimbabwe could unite,
recover and –– once again –– take its rightful place
in the international
community.
Indeed, we should all acknowledge the achievements that have
followed.
The inclusive government has improved living standards for hundreds
of
thousands of Zimbabweans.
The economic destruction wrought by
hyperinflation has been brought to an
end; tax revenues have grown; and the
credibility of the Finance ministry
has been restored.
Humanitarian needs
are being better managed; schools have reopened; and the
vibrant and dynamic
Zimbabwean private sector is stirring once again.
As a result it is today
easier than for many years to dream of a Zimbabwe
that is once again a
powerhouse of its region.
But there is no doubt that the opponents of reform
–– both inside and
outside government –– will do everything possible to
obstruct the change
that Zimbabweans and Sadc have demanded, and that the
international
community must see before it can have full confidence in the
Zimbabwean
government.
There are persistent and serious human rights
violations; a continuing lack
of judicial independence and an absence of the
rule of law.
And the constitutional reform process –– a vital component for
the free and
fair elections essential to full international re-engagement
with
Zimbabwe –– is already behind schedule.
As guarantors of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) which set up the
inclusive government, Sadc is
rightly leading the international approach to
Zimbabwe, and I welcome the
leadership of President Jacob Zuma as Sadc
facilitator.
I was encouraged
by the outcome of the recent Sadc summit in Maputo which
called on the
parties to abide by both the spirit and the letter of the
agreement, and
asked South Africa to monitor implementation.
But I also want to make clear
that we in the UK are also ready to help
Zimbabwe return to stability and
democracy.
In the last year, our humanitarian assistance has helped one
million
Zimbabweans get access to clean water; enabled two million to grow
vital
food crops; and helped bring the worst cholera outbreak in the
country’s
history under control.
During Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s visit
to the UK in the summer I also
announced that our aid programme this year
would total £60 million.
This includes an additional £5 million to improve
food security and to
provide much-needed textbooks and educational materials
to Zimbabwean
children in the country’s newly-reopened schools.
We stand
ready to do more, once the Zimbabwean government shows that it is
ready to
implement the agreements it has made; to take actions to reverse
the
political, economic and social decline of the country; and to implement
the
GPA.
That means progress on reforms in security, justice and the economy ––
including restructuring the Reserve Bank to improve management of the public
finances –– and embracing a vibrant free press.
Political reform must
include repeal of repressive legislation, an inclusive
process leading to a
revised constitution, and above all respect for human
rights.
And
ultimately Zimbabwe must hold genuinely free and fair elections.
Such actions
will drive the decision about whether to lift the EU asset
freeze and travel
ban against the 203 Zimbabweans involved in the violence
and human rights
abuses, and on 40 companies associated with them.
Whatever some may claim,
these are not sanctions against ordinary
Zimbabweans or against legitimate
trade or humanitarian work.
So, as Zimbabwe’s people and government
recognise, the next phase of reform
will be still more crucial than the
last.
With unity and determination, the true foundations could be laid of the
democratic and prosperous society which I believe Zimbabwe can become.
I
do not underestimate the challenge, nor the obstacles to progress.
But I
stand with those who want renewal and a restoration of hope for
Zimbabwe and
pledge the UK’s readiness to support them in this effort.
I sincerely hope
that by the time of our next meeting in 2011 Zimbabwe will
have made enough
progress for us to welcome them back into the Commonwealth.
It is a day I
look forward to.
Brown is the British Prime Minister.
By
Gordon Brown
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
19:11
PRESIDENT Ian Khama of Botswana is going "overboard" in his
criticism of
Zimbabwe, the Herald tells us. He has an "obsession" with our
internal
matters if his recent utterances are anything to go by. And what
might those
utterances be? He merely called for Zimbabwe to hold free and
fair elections
so the people could determine their future.
That seems to
be a form of heresy in Zanu PF's book. Khama is claiming to be
more
democratic than President Mugabe, Herald apologists spluttered. Which,
let's
face it, is not too difficult. At the signing of the GPA Mugabe made
it very
clear, the Herald claimed, he would never rubbish another African
leader in
public.
Well he may not but the press that serves as his mouthpiece certainly
does.
And Monday's rant, full of racist allusions was a good
example.
Botswana should remember that it is foreigners who have helped it
transform
to where it is today, the Herald declared.
What democratic
principles does Khama have when he deports foreign nationals
from Botswana,
the paper wanted to know?
The Herald appears to have a personal grievance
among its staff over this
issue. But here's the real complaint: "Has his
association with MDC-T made
him their spokesman who makes absurd utterances
to whip up emotions?"
So calling for democratic elections is absurd? And who
are the experts at
whipping up emotions? Probably the same ones that were
deported from
Botswana!
"We understand his strong ties with the UK
because he is a grandson," the
Herald fatuously claims, "but he also knows
that he cannot be a
fence-sitter.
"His father, Sir Seretse Khama, was an
African and that makes him an
African."
Can you believe this crude racist
nonsense. The West praises Botswana
because it wants access to its diamonds,
the paper suggests. "But diamonds
are not forever."
And this coming from
a regime that has frittered away its diamond revenues
with no sense of
shame!
We saw last week how cronies of the regime had been awarded rights
at
Chiadzwa. These were not part of the claims in dispute between the
Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation and the privately owned African
Consolidated
Resources, we are assured.
We are pleased to hear that
because nothing could be more calculated to
deter investors. The ACR's
rights have been upheld in the courts but not by
the state.
And what was
the role of the military in all this? The Herald carried
pictures of men in
uniform at Chiadzwa escorting the new owners around. The
new owners, we are
told, have very limited experience of mining.
"It is hard to believe," the
Herald reported, "that it was not long ago that
illegal panners and other
criminal elements wreaked havoc and perpetuated
chaos with
impunity."
What has changed, we wonder!
Under the heading "Mistakes
men, women make," the Sunday Mail's Garikai
Mazara believes readers could do
with a little advice when it comes to
hanky-panky. He therefore spells it
out:
l"Being passive. Don't let him undress you. Just help him a little
bit."
l"Wearing jeans or tight pants. It takes time to take off these kinds
of
clothes. Every second counts."
l"Going down half way. Once you start
going down, don't stop at the belly
button."
As things become more lurid
on the way down, Muckraker, in the interests of
good taste, won't follow.
But nothing daunts Garikai, it seems, who proceeds
to give warnings on
"Screaming too loud" (for the ladies) and "nudging her
head down" (for the
gents)."
In either case, "don't do it" is the rule.
We were interested
to see that Chinhoyi University of Technology held a
public lecture on
Monday in which Temba Mliswa was the speaker. He is, we
are told, "CEO of
Salt Lakes (Pvt) Ltd, national vice-president of the AAG,
a renowned farmer
and an accomplished entrepreneur".
We hope his lecture went well. But Phillip
Chiyangwa, who gave a public
lecture recently, would have been a hard act to
follow. When students were
asked what hardships they suffered and responded
about high fees, he dug
into his pocket and liberally distributed the
amounts needed.
He is understandably very popular at Chinhoyi University! But
Mliswa did
make an attempt to match Chiyangwa's generosity. He donated 20
head of
cattle to the university farm.
Does the ZRP still have a
functioning traffic section? There was no sign of
it on Monday night. Heavy
rains on Monday afternoon played havoc with the
traffic. When the rush hour
arrived there was chaos.
Looking down from our perch above Kwame Nkrumah Ave
there were the most
terrible scenes of anarchy taking place below. Vehicles
were pointing in
different directions and causing tailbacks up access roads.
Kombi drivers
rose to the occasion by driving on the wrong side, head-on
against on-coming
traffic. Motorists in desperation were mounting traffic
islands and
parachuting into Rotten Row and Samora Machel.
People coming
from other parts of town said it took them several hours to
get to their
destinations because of congestion. It was a truly apocalyptic
picture of
what happens when law and order breaks down on our roads
On the subject
of law and order, we were shocked to see the following three
stories on the
zimguardian.com website.
"Zanu PF comes to Gono's aid"; "Zanu PF in financial
crisis"; and "Zimbabwe
GNU fails to make talks progress".
These articles,
we were told, were authored by deputy editor Simomo Tshuma
and business
editor Patricia Dube.
They looked familiar -- which wasn't surprising. They
were written by
Zimbabwe Independent staff.
So not only did
zimguardian.com plagiarise the articles word for word, it
put its own
headings and bylines on them. The Independent's original
headings were:
"Gono, RBZ staff secure immunity"; "Zanu PF postpones annual
congress"; and
"Talks deadline lapses without progress".
Readers should watch out for
lazy-zimguardian.com. They reap where they do
not sow!
Joseph
Chinotimba has added a further honorific to President Mugabe's list
of
mandatory titles. In addition to "Head of State and Government and
Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, Chinotimba has described Mugabe as
"God-given".
"As war veterans we are on the record as saying there is no
vacancy for the
post of the President and First Secretary of the party,"
Chinotimba declared
this week. "We are happy that our able and God-given
leader, Cde Robert
Mugabe, was overwhelmingly nominated by all the provinces
and we will
support him for ever and ever."
Does Zanu PF really think the
president's cause is served by this sort of
slavishness? And don't we recall
Chinotimba actually losing his bid to be
elected to parliament last year?
Why is it all the losers are the loudest?
Finally, we were amused by
super patriot Reason Wafawarova's suggestion that
he remains in Australia
because he has "expensively shielded himself from
deportation hawks" and
because he has sued some of his "media attackers" in
the past, and that the
protection he currently enjoys lies in the fear of
litigation by his
enemies.
Nothing here about him actually preferring to live there. Anybody
who knows
anything about Australian journalists will tell you they will
hardly be
quaking in their boots at the prospect of a writ from one of
Mugabe's more
virulent apologists. Newspapers down under devour hacks like
Wafawarova for
breakfast. And after five columns of mind-numbing
self-justifying verbiage
on the Mahosian scale, he still hasn't told us why
he refuses to live in
Zimbabwe!
C'mon Voice of Reason. Put up or shut up.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009 19:07
PROVIDED
that there is no last minute rescheduling, Finance minister Tendai
Biti will
be presenting his proposed 2010 national budget to parliament next
Thursday,
and Zimbabwe awaits that budget with great anxiety. The ongoing
recovery of
the economy, so very desperately needed, is largely contingent
upon that
budget, albeit that of even greater import for that recovery is
ongoing and
substantive, positive political transformation.
In his first nine
months as financial czar in Zimbabwe, much that Minister
Biti has done, in
extraordinarily constrained circumstances, has been most
commendable, and a
great contributant to the first phases of economic
recovery that have been
progressed in 2009. But very, very much more is
needed.
A key
requisite of a significant upturn of the economy is major enhancement
of
productivity throughout all economic sectors, and especially so within
the
manufacturing field. Greater production minimises inflation, increases
numbers employed and concomitant downstream economic activity, maximises
exports, and minimises imports, as well as diverse other economic
benefits.
However, the manufacturing sector has been tragically afflicted
by
innumerable constraints over the past 10 years of consistent economic
downturn, only very partially ameliorated in 2009, and the 2010 budget is an
opportunity to give that sector a greatly needed stimulus.
First
and foremost, government needs to address the unfair competitive
advantages
of imports over local production. Zimbabwean industry must not
be protected
against legitimate imports, but manufacturers need to be
accorded a level
playing field upon which to compete.
For many products this is not the
case, as not only do manufacturers in
other countries benefit from economies
of scale, but also in many instances
from immense export incentives and
subsidies provided by their governments.
This is exacerbated by many
products produced in the Far East entering
Zimbabwe disguised as having been
manufactured within Sadc, without
genuinely conforming with Sadc rules of
origin, and thereby avoiding the
incidence of Zimbabwean custom
duties.
Moreover, to some considerable extent it is possible that many
products are
entering Zimbabwe through unofficial channels, circumventing
the incidence
of customs duties and other import imposts. Minister Biti
needs to resort
to twofold actions, being increases in duty levels to an
extent as
eliminates unfair advantage, concurrently with ensuring that the
Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra) intensifies its verification of
compliance with
Sadc rules of origin, and of containment of
smuggling.
At the same time, Minister Biti needs to introduce export
incentives (not of
a magnitude that Zimbabwean industry has unfair
competitive advantage, but
to an extent that motivates and facilitates
penetration into export
markets).
In addition, recognising the
initial need for growth in employment, in view
of the present paucity of
formal sector employment, the manufacturing
sector, the economy, the
populace, and government, would benefit from the
establishment of employment
incentives. The cost of such incentives to
government would be more than
exceeded by the direct and indirect taxes
accruing from the increased
economic activity and employment.
The minister also needs to review
rates of taxation, income tax thresholds,
and tax bands. It is
incomprehensible that most Zimbabwean taxes are higher
than prevailing
within other countries in the Region.
Excessively great taxation
is a major deterrent to investments, and is one
of the many motivations for
Zimbabwe's immense brain drain. The ongoing
exodus of skilled Zimbabweans
is a major contributor to Zimbabwe's economic
ills. Concurrently with a
review of taxation rates, the tax threshold and
bands, and tax credits,
minister Biti should also restore levels of tax-free
bonuses, as prevailed
for many years.
This should be implemented with immediate effect,
ahead of 2009 year-end
bonuses. In addition, realistic revision of tax
payment dates is essential.
It is grossly inequitable that Commerce and
Industry must remit Value Added
Tax (Vat) to Zimra long ahead of collection
thereof from customers.
This requirement precludes many from
extending credit to customers, which in
turn impacts very negatively upon
trade volumes. In like manner, the
quarterly payment date requirement on
corporate tax effectively prescribes
payment on unrealised, and potentially
unattained, profits.
Recently there has been much talk by government
of intents to increase very
considerably the rates of mining royalties, to a
grossly unrealistic extent.
Doing so will constitute the death knell of
development of the mining
sector.
Whilst there is
justification for some royalties to compensate for the
progressive reduction
of mineral resources, royalties of punitive magnitude,
markedly greater than
applied by other counties with like resources, can
only cause contraction of
what could be one of Zimbabwe's greatest economic
contributors.
Whether it be direct taxation, indirect taxation,
royalties, other
governmental charges, or parastatals' charges, government
needs to be
conscious of the law of diminishing returns. Gargantuan and
punitive levels
of taxation can only result in reduced revenue flows to the
state, in
contradistinction to the enhancement of such inflows as could
emanate from
economic growth.
On non-taxation, but other fiscal
issues, the minister of Finance needs to:
* Make a very affirmative,
convincing statement, that there is no
possibility whatsoever of an imminent
reintroduction of Zimbabwean currency,
and that that will not occur for at
least two years, following comprehensive
and sustainable economic recovery.
This must be done if Zimbabweans are to
have any confidence in the banking
sector and therefore be willing to
deposit their foreign currency in the
banks, which is one of the
prerequisites of money market
liquidity;
* Reiterate, with convincing emphasis, an absolute intent
of government
speedily to progress the privatisation of parastatals, wholly
or partially,
including Zesa, TelOne, Air Zimbabwe, National Railways of
Zimbabwe, and
others enabling infrastructural rehabilitation and meaningful
service
delivery, recapitalisation, access to strategic technical skills,
and
capital inflows to the state;
* Further to stimulate
investment, and to restore Zimbabwe's
international credibility, Biti needs
to give convincing assurance of
Zimbabwe's determination to respect its
Bilateral Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreements (Bippas), and to
honour obligations in terms thereof.
These are but some of the many
constructive needs for inclusion in the 2010
budget, necessary for the
Zimbabwean economy to go forward.
Eric Bloch
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
17:50
Two weeks ago we ran an oped under the headline Moyo raising the
sceptre of
racism. We carry Prof Moyo’s reply below. DOES criticising Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s controversial choice of Roy Bennett as Deputy
Minister
of Agriculture amount to raising the sceptre of racism against
whites?
In the same vein, is it racist to merely remind those among us
with short or
treacherous memories that Bennett is a former member of the
Rhodesian Selous
Scouts who served in the similarly murderous Rhodesian
infantry whose
indisputable agenda was to entrench the ideology of white
supremacy over
blacks by torturing, maiming and killing freedom fighters
while terrorising
and subjugating blacks in this country in the vain hope of
defeating the
liberation struggle?
These and other related
questions have come to the fore of national debate
following the publication
by this newspaper of a racially motive article,
“Moyo raising the sceptre of
racism” (November 13 to 19).
While the article itself did not contain
anything worthy of a response or
comment, its packaging and layout betrayed
what could be interpreted as a
despicable attack on free speech in the
interest of public debate.
The article in question purported to be a
rejoinder to a recent contribution
made by this writer to the Financial
Gazette and the NewZimbabwe.com website
which categorically and
unapologetically maintained that Tsvangirai’s
nomination of Bennett as
Deputy Minister of Agriculture is an unacceptable
insult to our country’s
liberation struggle and the legacy of national
independence.
In
packaging that article, this newspaper astonishingly inserted Bennett’s
picture with a scandalous caption that said “Roy Bennett...persecuted for
being white”.
This was contrasted with a picture of this writer
which was outrageously
captioned “Moyo...takes refuge in
racism”.
In the circumstances, the title of the article and the
captions of the
pictures that were inserted in it were arguably defamatory
and thus beneath
the high standard of fair and balanced media coverage which
has come to be
associated with this otherwise leading
newspaper.
It is preposterous in the extreme for anyone to suggest
that recalling
Bennett’s undeniable membership of the murderous Selous
Scouts as a
Rhodesian infantryman is tantamount to racism.
Just how
does a fact, even if disgusting, become racism? Is there anyone
out there
who does not know of the wicked atrocities and massacres that were
committed
by the Rhodesian infantry and Selous Scouts in this country and in
the
refugee camps in Zambia and Mozambique during the liberation struggle
between?
With the obvious answers to these questions in mind, it
is clearly
outrageous for anyone to claim that this writer was “taking
refuge in
racism” when he strongly objected to Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s
nomination
of Bennett as a Deputy Minister of Agriculture and when he warned
of dire
electoral consequences for the MDC T should that nomination succeed
given
Bennett’s unacceptable background as a former active member of the
Rhodesian
infantryman and Selous Scout whose toll of combined massacres and
atrocities
is yet to be fully appreciated.
For the sake of
perspective it is important to note that while this
newspaper’s racially
emotive packaging of the story in question might be an
isolated editorial
incident, it is nevertheless a telling example of an
emerging and
orchestrated MDC T propaganda ploy whose treacherous purpose is
to brand by
definition as “racist” anyone who criticises former Rhodie
whites who, like
Bennett, hold key and very influential positions in the MDC
T.
The fact that there are many more Rhodies behind the MDC
T, who are very
influential as fundraisers and not as officeholders, makes
this propaganda
trick even more sinister.
It is also notable
that, with the author of the article in question as a
case in point,
virtually everyone from the MDC T who has written on the
Bennett issue
uncritically defending white Rhodies and attacking this writer
has an
Ndebele surname.
Of course people are who they are or perhaps
even who they say they are.
But a well documented Selous Scout tactic is to
create pseudo events—such as
fake violence that is typically blamed on
opponents—and the use of crude
propaganda penned by Rhodies and peddled by
their tribal puppets under
ethnically convenient
pseudonyms.
There’s more to be revealed soon about this unfolding
ethnic strategy with
its origins in Rhodesia. It seems that just like
Rhodesians say they never
die, they think the same is true of their dirty
tricks like manufacturing
pseudo political violence and using ethnic
pseudonyms in the media to peddle
revisionist propaganda whose not-so-hidden
import is that white Rhodesia was
better than black
Zimbabwe.
Arguably, there is a context to this and it is that, as the
twist of history
would have it, the same international powers that supported
the illegal and
racist Rhodesian regime are now actively supporting former
Rhodesians in the
MDC T, such as Roy Bennett, and they are presenting these
Rhodies not only
as human rights victims of Zimbabwe’s historic land reform
that was launched
in 2000 but also as the new champions of democracy in our
country.
This is the essence of the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy Act
(Zidera) whose
lead sponsor was the late US Senator Jessie Helms who
unashamedly
distinguished himself as a rogue stalwart of the Rhodesian
racist cause
before and after this country’s heroic independence in
1980.
It is not a coincidence that, within the Zidera scheme of
things, the
struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe is supposed to have started
in June 2000
when Zimbabweans embarked on the Third Chimurenga which also
happened to be
the time when Rhodies like Bennett thought they could form or
join the MDC T
and use it to stop the historic land reform programme with
the support of
the same Europeans and Americans who did not support
Zimbabwe’s liberation
struggle in the first place.
But the record
shows that the 2000 land reform programme was not stopped.
No wonder there
have been spirited efforts to shift the MDC T paradigm from
stopping the
programme to reversing it. Bennett is supposed to be the MDC T’s
point man
for the reversal to benefit former white farmers with their roots
in
Rhodesia.
This is why the MDC T and its sponsors want him to be inside
what they
cynically call “the belly of the beast” as deputy minister of
agriculture
whom they believe has the Selous Scout ruthlessness and motive
to derail and
subvert the historic land reform programme from within the
coalition
government in the Rhodesian interest.
There is nothing
racist about pointing this out or making the argument that,
as a former
member of the Rhodesian Selous Scouts, Bennett is not suitable
to serve as a
minister of any kind in any government in independent
Zimbabwe.
Indeed, to expect Bennett to serve as a government minister
in Zimbabwe
today is as unacceptable as having somebody like the notorious
apartheid
killer Eugene de Kock serving as a government minister in
President Jacob
Zuma’s ANC cabinet.
In the end, it is
instructive that those who claim that such arguments are
racist are also the
same self-righteous elements who claim to be the
champions of free speech
and democracy as if they are unaware of their
sickening double-standards.
The time has come to expose these elements for
the charlatans that they
are.
Moyo is Zanu PF MP for Tsholotsho.
By Jonathan
Moyo
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009 19:27
THE
long-stalled bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement
(Bippa)
between Zimbabwe and South Africa is due to be signed today.
The
agreement is being signed in a contentious environment in which local
and
South African farmers believe that the treaty must guarantee land
rights.
As late as this week the Commercial Farmers Union
published legal opinion by
prominent South African lawyers Jeremy Gauntlett
SC and FB Pelser — advising
the South African government not to sign the
agreement. We carry excerpts of
the legal opinion elsewhere in this
edition.
The Zimbabwe government on the other hand has for a long
time argued that it
will not enter any bilateral investment protection
agreement as long as such
a treaty seeks to reverse the land reform
programme.
That is to say that the issue of property rights of foreign
investors as
they relate to land are not guaranteed under a
Bippa.
The government has kept under wraps the final draft of the
agreement to be
signed today but there are real fears from South African
farmers — a number
have already lost their farms under the government’s land
expropriation
plan — that protection of investment in landed property has
been excluded
from the Bippa.
They have every reason to be
afraid. In August Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa had this to say about
the delay in the signing of the Bippa: “We
have made it clear that
compensation for developments on any acquired land
would be paid over a
period of time. If they (South Africans) are agreeable
to exclude land from
the agreements, then the Bippa will be signed any time.
We will, however,
not agree to agreements that will undermine and cause
confusion over the
land issue.”
If anything, the confusion around the Bippa stems from
Zimbabwe’s mixed
message in its dealings with the South African
government.
Zimbabwe has pleaded for foreign investment and the South
African government
has already asked the international community to heed
this call. Zimbabwe is
expecting a bigger chunk of investment to come from
South Africa, hence the
need to expedite the signing of the trade treaty.
But Zimbabwe has in its
quest to attract investment and lines of credit from
South Africa displayed
the now all-too-familiar arrogance which has proved
to be unhelpful.
Zimbabwe has already demonstrated utter contempt for
property rights by
disregarding court decisions and thumbing its nose at the
Sadc Tribunal
which ruled that the land reform in Zimbabwe was racist and
that the
government failed to protect dispossessed farmers or adequately
compensate
them.
Zimbabwe’s justification for violating farmers’
fundamental rights and
breaching protections owed to foreign investors has
been that the state is
compelled to do so on the grounds that it is seeking
to protect a valid
human rights obligation to indigenous people; that is the
right to land. In
current pending international law proceedings between
investors and
governments, arbitrators are being asked to weigh whether
human rights
considerations should limit or preclude the liability of states
for
breaching investment treaty obligations.
That quest for
preclusion has become an easy escape route by governments to
violate
international obligations and the Zimbabwean case is emblematic. The
violation of existing Bippas by Zimbabwe and resistance to include land
protection clause in new treaties has little to do with empowerment or
transfer of wealth but sheer greed. Today we question the benefits to the
nation of the expropriation of properties once owned by Dutch farmers and
those confiscated from South African investors. Can the argument of common
good hold here?
It is accepted that one of the most important
challenges of modern
investment treaties is to ensure that the increased
flows of foreign
investment and corporate activity do not contradict
sovereign commitment to
human rights. This is not an abstract issue, neither
is it a licence for the
government to get careless and destroy primary
production systems.
For the land rights argument to hold water —
especially in our case where
regulatory systems, including democratic
systems of checks and balances, are
rudimentary — there must be a
participatory approach to ensure people fully
understand the international
processes that facilitate foreign investment in
or near their
communities.
It is fundamentally important that our rulers realise
that Bippas have
developed as a result of investors having realised the
weaknesses of local
institutional remedies. By entering into an agreement
with South Africa,
Zimbabwe is inviting international scrutiny and it should
be seen upholding
international law. At the moment it’s not.
The
Bippa with South Africa therefore is a major test for Zimbabwe’s
sincerity
in upholding international norms which are fundamental in
promoting
investment. The world is watching.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
19:25
SINCE the Sadc organ on politics, defence and security mini-summit
in Maputo
on November 5 there has been an escalating war of attrition
between the two
MDC formations over the outstanding issues of the global
political agreement
(GPA). The regrettable public spat by the formations has
left their major
adversary, Zanu PF, in a stronger position in the current
negotiations to
break the impasse on the sticking points.
Reports abound
that working relations between the two parties have
deteriorated badly since
the Maputo summit with the MDC-T taking potshots at
the Arthur Mutambara-led
party at every rally it holds.
Similarly, Mutambara has declined to cooperate
with the MDC-T. The latest
case being the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment
Bill where the MDC-M
reportedly said it would not vote in favour of the
proposed law alongside
MDC-T. This forced Finance minister Tendai Biti to
give in to Zanu PF
amendments as he was staring defeat in the House of
Assembly in the face
without the support of legislators from the
MDC-M.
Mutambara has confided in many people that whenever a Sadc summit is
convened to deal with Zimbabwe's political crisis, he has tried and failed
to caucus with Tsvangirai to come up with a common strategy to confront
Mugabe.
The MDC-T has accused its counterpart of siding with Zanu PF in
Maputo,
especially on assertions that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
office is
running a parallel government and is failing to denounce the
continued
imposition of sanctions on the country.
Tsvangirai's party has
also accused the MDC-M and Zanu PF of dragging their
feet in resolving the
outstanding issues within the timeframe set by the
troika.
In a scathing
press statement last Friday, the MDC-T said: "For two weeks
Zimbabweans have
waited in vain for the political gridlock to be unlocked.
We note with
concern that the body language from both Zanu PF and the
Mutambara-led
political outfit does not show sincerity and faithfulness to
resolve the
outstanding issues.
"The unelected negotiators from the Mutambara-led
political formation, who
by some chance have found themselves in government,
are stalling
the resolution of Zimbabwe's political crisis. Professor
Welshman Ncube and
Hon Priscillah Misihairabwi Mushonga have chosen to
prioritise flying to
world capitals at the expense of resolving critical
issues that will deliver
real change to the people of Zimbabwe."
But
Mutambara's formation hit back and accused the MDC-T of delaying the
talks.
The war of attrition is regrettable, but not surprising.
There
is an infantile quality to the behaviour of the men and women who are
supposed to be leading the struggle for change and that is a shame because
many ordinary people trust them with their lives. It is regrettable because
it shows them succumbing to the divide-and-rule tactics perfected for so
long by their supposedly common adversary, Zanu PF.
But it is hardly
surprising because these parties parted ways very
acrimoniously in 2005 and
all attempts to re-unite them so far have been in
vain.
The relationship
broke down irrevokably a long time ago and to expect them
to toe the same
line on all issues is wishful thinking. This division has
worked in favour
of Zanu PF, which despite its many internal problems, has
remained
resolutely united on the public platform.
Unlike the MDC formations, Zanu PF
has long recognised that there is more
that unites them than the issues that
divide them.
This war of attrition hands Zanu PF a position of advantage when
it already
has stakes weighing in its favour.
Everyone would have thought
that for parties that claim to be fighting for
the democratisation of the
country, they would have a common interest to
protect against the main
adversary that caused them to stand up and fight in
the first place. An
alliance of sorts would be strategic in the face of a
very cunning
foe.
But there is a hint of naivety on the part of the MDC formations - an
unnecessary, almost childish tendency to engage in point-scoring while the
nation suffers. Some individuals in both parties seem to have an unhealthy
penchant for playing to the public gallery even when commonsense would
require otherwise.
It is a shame because once again, they will both be
outwitted by the party
that sees itself as the boss of all bosses.
The
MDC formations have joined Zanu PF in focussing on their own partisan
agendas instead of the broader national interest. They have to decide now if
they are for the people or for the trappings of power and its
office.
Constantine Chimakure
http://www.theindependent.co.zw
Thursday, 26 November 2009
19:14
THE Victoria Falls thundered in the background but the sun was
relentless,
temperatures soaring above 30 degrees in the shade. The
delegates dozed and
wished it would all end so they could take a walk to the
gorge and immerse
themselves in the spray, or as in the fable, visit the end
of the rainbow
that straddles the roaring falling water to loot from the
golden pot
thereat.
But not so fast amigo! Not before Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe
addressed the opening of the Sadc Parliamentary
Forum's 26th plenary
session. It was fireworks, man!
"May I
assure you of Zimbabwe's support of the establishment of a Sadc
parliament.
"I will be one of those people who want the issue to
be brought up, debated
and concluded at our next Sadc
summit.
"Zimbabwe's commitment to the noble ideals and collective
vision of a
prosperous Sadc region is well-known." said the
president.
Wind back to 1992 and the establishment of the Sadc
Tribunal.
The Tribunal was established as one of the institutions of
Sadc by Article 9
of the Sadc Treaty. On August 18 2005 at their summit in
Gaborone the Heads
of State and Government of Sadc including President
Mugabe appointed its
members in accordance with Article 4(4) of the Protocol
on the Tribunal. On
November 18 2005 in Windhoek the Tribunal was
inaugurated and its members
were sworn in. One of them was
Zimbabwean.
The "noble ideals and collective vision" of the Tribunal
were clear.
"The primary function of the Tribunal is to ensure the
adherence to law in
the interpretation and application of the Treaty," says
the Tribunal on its
website.
Further if says: "The Tribunal shall
deliver its decisions in writing and
pronounced in open court and must
deliver a reasoned judgment which, subject
to the provisions of the rules as
to review, shall be final and binding."
(The emphasis is
mine).
In 2007 some members of the Commercial Farmers Union
approached the Tribunal
to file a case against the Zimbabwe government.
Their land had been either
seized or was threatened with seizure without
compensation.
In November 2008 the Tribunal upheld the farmers' case.
It said the land
reform exercise was in breach of international human rights
norms and the
rule of law as entrenched by the Sadc Treaty.
The
land reform exercise, the Tribunal ruled, constituted racial
discrimination.
Its measures did not relate to criteria of land-use or need,
but targeted
only so-called white farmers and benefited designated cronies
and a class of
political chefs.
The Tribunal said the land reform amounted to
expropriation on an arbitrary
basis and without compensation and it ousted
courts' jurisdiction to
adjudicate on human rights infringements. It ordered
the government of
Zimbabwe to take all necessary measures to protect the
possession,
occupation and ownership of farmers not yet expropriated and to
pay
compensation to those already expropriated.
But the
Zimbabwean government, contrary to its ratification of the Tribunal,
in June
this year rubbished its ruling. Hawkish Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa,
asked if the government would comply with the ruling, had this to
say: "Of
course not. The tribunal has no jurisdiction over Zimbabwe. We are
not State
party to the protocol and it has no jurisdiction over Zimbabwe.
The judges
are not Sadc."
Many people thought Chinamasa was just kidding. Legal
experts at the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said Chinamasa neglected to
mention the
fact that in 2001 the Sadc Treaty had been amended to make the
Sadc Tribunal
an integral part of both the Treaty and the institution of
Sadc. The
amendment specifically established the Sadc Tribunal and
incorporated it
into Sadc as an integral organ.
ZLHR said the
amendment referred to the Tribunal Protocol and categorically
excluded it
from the usual requirement for ratification by two-thirds before
it could
come into force and effect.
But when President Mugabe also dismissed
the Tribunal in early December last
year the world stood incredulous. He
said his government should not be
faulted for its land reform programme as
it was in fact reclaiming the
country, not the farms.
"We do not
have any qualms with taking farms from the white farmers. Not at
all. What
would definitely be a problem is our failure to reclaim our
country. We
asked the Tribunal if they had considered what is in our
constitution which
clearly states there shall be a resettlement programme.
They think what they
say should stand.
"So it's a tribunal that had an exercise in
futility."
Now let's talk about the futility of turning the Sadc
Parliamentary Forum
into a legislative agency with authority to pass laws.
What would be the
difference between this and the
Tribunal?
According to the Herald President Mugabe said in Victoria
Falls on Wednesday
Zimbabwe deeply valued Sadc's solidarity as it was
"truthful, well-meaning
and that it flowed from well-known Sadc
ideals".
These "well-known Sadc ideals" are the very same ideals he
dismissed when
confronted with a Sadc judgment that went against
him.
The Sadc parliament will pass laws that Zimbabwe will ratify but
somewhere
along the line Zimbabwe will rubbish them.
Wanna
bet?
Nevanji Madanhire