Zim Online
Friday 02
November 2007
By Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - The
Zimbabwean government has written to relief agencies,
friendly countries and
"whoever is in a position to help" begging for food
as hunger worsens across
the country, Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche
told
ZimOnline.
Zimbabwe, also grappling with its worst ever economic crisis,
has faced food
shortages since 2001 but President Robert Mugabe's
cash-strapped government
this year said it had made adequate plans to ensure
no one starved.
Goche said the U-turn to invite outside help was because
the government
wanted to save lives.
"What we need now is to save
people and not politics. That is why we have
written letters this week
asking for food from whoever is in a position to
help", said Goche, who
declined to name the countries and relief
organisations approached by
Harare.
Goche, who thanked the British government for providing food aid
worth eight
million pounds through the World Food Programme (WFP), said
Harare would
happily accept donations even from countries considered
unfriendly because
the situation was critical.
Zimbabwe's relations
with Britain are strained, with Harare accusing London
of mobilising its
Western allies to impose sanctions against Mugabe's
government. London
denies the charge and in turn accuses the Harare
administration of violating
human rights.
Goche said: "We are grateful to all countries be they our
enemies or friends
because the situation is now critical. What we are now
focusing on is to
save human life through the provision of
food."
Harare's appeal for help comes as the WFP this week announced it
had
imported nearly 36 000 tonnes of maize from Malawi as part of emergency
food
aid for Zimbabwe.
The relief agency that has played a major role
in feeding Zimbabweans said
it paid US$6.2 million for the maize bought for
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe - once a regional breadbasket - has battled severe
food shortages
over the past seven years after Mugabe's government violently
seized white
farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
The often
chaotic and violent land reforms, that Mugabe defended as
necessary to
correct colonial injustices, slashed food production by 60
percent leaving
millions of Zimbabweans to rely on food handouts from
international relief
agencies.
In August, the WFP appealed for US$118 million to buy food for
starving
Zimbabweans over the next eight months.
The food relief
agency says it already had 138 000 tonnes of food but still
needed another
180 000 tonnes to distribute to about three million
Zimbabweans until the
next harvest in April.
In addition to food shortages, Zimbabweans must
also contend with the world's
highest inflation rate of nearly 8 000
percent, rising unemployment,
shortages of hard cash and other basic
commodities as the country grapples
with an economic meltdown described by
the World Bank as the worst in the
world outside a war zone. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 02 November 2007
By Batsirayi Muranje
HARARE -
Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party on
Thursday said a former army brigadier shot and killed one of its
activists
while another survived the shooting but was battling for his life
in
hospital.
The main wing of the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai said retired
brigadier
Benjamin Mabenge shot Taurai Chigede and Clement Takaendesa at
point blank
range.
The opposition party, that described the shootings
as politically motivated,
said Takaendesa died on the spot while Chigede was
in critical condition in
hospital in the Midlands town of Kwekwe, 275 km
south-west of Harare, where
the shootings took place.
Police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed the incident, but said initial
investigations indicate that Mabenge shot at the two MDC activists and two
other people when he saw them poaching fish at his Woodlands farm near
Kwekwe.
Bvudzijena, who said Mabenge was in custody while police
carry out
investigations, said: "It is alleged he fired a single shot which
hit
Takaendesa killing him on the spot and the same bullet hit Chigede
severely
injuring him in the pelvis."
Mabenge is a prominent member
of ZANU PF in Kwekwe where he has been accused
in the past of victimizing
MDC supporters.
"ZANU PF's ugly hand of violence continues and
insincerity in the talks
continues to reign supreme," MDC spokesman Nelson
Chamisa said in a
statement referring to talks between Zimbabwe's two
biggest political
parties aimed at finding a solution to the country's
political and economic
crisis.
A key objective of the talks that are
being facilitated by South African
President Thabo Mbeki is to end political
violence and ensure next year's
presidential and parliamentary elections are
free and fair.
However, the MDC has accused of ZANU PF of insincerity
towards dialogue,
saying President Robert Mugabe's party has stepped up
violence against
opposition supporters despite the talks.
The
opposition party was expected to present to South African facilitators a
dossier on politically motivated violence against its
activists.
Mugabe and his Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, who met a
delegation of
opposition officials last week to discuss violence, have
dismissed
opposition claims that its supporters were being victimised as
lies and
hearsay.
Meanwhile, South Africa's official opposition
Democratic Alliance party on
Thursday said it had submitted written
parliamentary questions to Mbeki on
the Zimbabwe situation. Mbeki has
ensured talks between ZANU PF and the MDC
are held in almost total
secrecy.
The South African opposition party wants Mbeki to adapt a more
robust stance
against human rights violations by Mugabe's government. The
African
Christian Democratic Party said Mbeki had to be more "honest and
open" with
his northern neighbour.
The ACDP said: "As an opposition
party we urge him (Mbeki) to stop being
biased and protective towards Mugabe
while the Zimbabwean government
continues with human rights abuses." -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 02 November
2007
By Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - The
government has reduced the number of voter registration
centres in the
country by over 60 percent amid reports of critical shortage
of financial
and human resources.
It emerged yesterday that the second phase of
the voter registration
exercise was not budgeted for, resulting in a
last-minute rush to raise the
required funds.
The exercise to
update the roll ahead of next year's joint
presidential and parliamentary
elections that was completed last August had
to be extended last Friday
after complaints mostly from the main opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party that thousands of newly eligible
voters from areas it
controls were left out.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
yesterday confirmed that not
all registration centres had been reopened for
the mop-up exercise that
began last Friday.
"We are busy
working flat out so that some of the traditional centres
which did not open
are opened before the end of the exercise", said ZEC
spokesman Utoille
Silaigwana.
The extended voter registration exercise runs until
mid-November.
Sources said urban and rural constituencies seen as
opposition
strongholds were hardest hit by the reduction of mobile
registration
centres.
In Masvingo province, only 90
registration centres re-opened when the
exercise was extended compared to
more than 200 centres that operated in the
province's 14 constituencies
during the first phase that ended in August.
Just one centre is
serving Masvingo urban, home to more than 500 000
people.
"The
problem is not in Masvingo alone but is countrywide where over
half of the
centres are yet to open," Silaigwana told ZimOnline.
He noted that
a critical shortage of funds had affected the electoral
body's ability to
hire personnel.
Sources said officers hired for the exercise were
getting an allowance
of $400 000 a day and some teachers normally hired
during such times had
refused citing poor remuneration.
Zimbabweans go to watershed polls early next year to choose a
president and
members of parliament.
The MDC has already written to ZEC demanding
the convening of an
all-party meeting to agree "practical approaches" to the
registration of
voters to avoid mistakes made in a previous exercise to
record voters.
Zimbabwe's voters' roll has been in shambles for
years with hundreds
of thousands of names of voters who died or left the
country to live abroad
still appearing on the register, while thousands more
voters have failed to
vote in previous polls either because their names were
entered in wrong
constituencies or did not appear at all on the
register.
President Robert Mugabe's government has been accused of
rigging
elections by manipulating the voters' roll. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 02 November
2007
By Wayne Mafaro
The Zimbabwe
government is expected to gazette new electoral
legislation that will
transfer responsibility for managing the voters' roll
to the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) and bar members of the security
forces from being
seconded to or hired by the commission.
The Electoral Laws
Amendment Bill, which could be gazetted as early as
today, would amend the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act [Chapter 2:12], the
Electoral Act [Chapter
2:13] and the Traditional Leaders Act [Chapter 29:17]
(No. 25 of 1998) to
make provision for various matters arising from the
newly passed
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 18) Act.
The Bill would,
among other things, transfer to the ZEC the
responsibility for keeping
voters' rolls, a function currently handled by
the Registrar General's
Office.
It will also make voters' rolls more accessible to the
public.
"The first new section will transfer to the commission the
responsibility for keeping voters' rolls, and will indicate what particulars
must be recorded in the rolls.
"The second new section will
make voters' rolls more accessible to the
public, and will require the
Commission to provide copies of the rolls to
candidates and political
parties contesting elections," says the Bill, a
copy of which is in the
possession of ZimOnline.
The proposed legislation will also bar
police officers from polling
stations, unless they are casting votes or
unless they are specifically
summoned to assist polling officers quell
disturbances.
Members of the police force, defence forces or the
prison service will
no longer be seconded as staff of the commission except
where their services
are required for the provision of
security.
Currently some senior members of the electoral commission
are former
army officers.
The Bill will also include a clause
empowering the ZEC to regulate the
conduct of news media prior, during and
after the elections.
"The media will have to be impartial when
accepting or refusing to
accept electoral advertisements and will have to
publish public statements
by the commission in regard to elections," the
Bill says.
The clause will insert a new Part IV A into the Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission Act, which will prevail over provisions contained in
other media
laws.
Public broadcasters will be required to
afford parties and candidates
contesting an election free access to their
services in accordance with
regulations made by the commission.
"In terms of the new section 16F, the Commission is obligated to
monitor the
Zimbabwean news media during any election period and report on
the coverage
of the election by the news media in its post-election report,"
the Bill
says.
Clause 14 of the new Bill clips the powers of the minister of
home
affairs and allows the commission to proceed on certain matters without
seeking his or her approval.
In particular, the Commission will
not be required to seek the
minister's approval to enter into arrangements
connected with its functions
with any government or authority.
The commission will no longer be required to furnish the minister with
copies of the minutes of its meetings. This provision was felt to compromise
the independence of the commission.
The new law will also
require the ZEC to submit a report on the
conduct of an election or
referendum to the president, Speaker of the House
of Assembly, the minister
of home affairs and all political parties that
contested the election or
referendum within six months.
The commission must begin its own
programme of voter education no
later than 90 days before an
election.
The proposed law comes just over a month after a
compromise deal was
agreed between the ruling ZANU PF party and the main
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) regarding the controversial
Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No. 18).
The MDC had
contested the passing of the constitutional amendment,
arguing that it was a
ploy by ZANU PF to consolidate its stranglehold on
power.
Reliable sources said the Bill had already been sent to the government
printers for publication today or next week. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 02 November 2007
By Tafirei
Shumba
HARARE - Zimbabwe government agents forcibly confiscated a
videotape from a
filmmaker who had quizzed visiting Jamaican reggae artist
Luciano over his
support of the country's controversial land reforms during
a press
conference.
Award winning film-maker Tawanda Gunda Mupengo
and camera person James Jemwa
were confronted by the agents who grabbed the
tape of the recording of the
press conference and accused the two of asking
"wrong" questions.
Luciano, who is in Harare as part of a government
public relations programme
to spruce up the image of the battered country
and improve tourism arrivals,
had openly endorsed Zimbabwe's land grab as
noble during the press
conference on Wednesday.
Mupengo provoked the
ire of the state agents - who working with music
promoters under the
government tourism promotion body, the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority (ZTA) -
when he quizzed Luciano about his support of land reform
and threats that
had been made on the musician's life by people opposed to
the land
reforms.
Apparently Luciano was reported on Wednesday to have received
death threats
believed to have emanated from South Africa over his public
support of the
Zimbabwean government and its land redistribution
programme.
Despite the death threats, Luciano was spotted on Wednesday
night at a
reggae musical show by a local outfit Transit Crew at Book Cafe,
a
restaurant in Harare's Avenues area, with at least 10
bodyguards.
"I simply asked Luciano a very innocent question about his
support of the
land programme and what he thought about the death threats
over his support
of the land reforms to which he said as an artist he was a
soldier and
soldiers were always under threat," Mupengo told
ZimOnline.
It all seemed well as the press conference ended and the
filmmaker and Jemwa
packed their equipment and left the venue of the press
conference.
But once outside, the agents and promoters pounced on Mupengo
and Jemwa
forcibly grabbing their camera demanding the tape with the
recording of the
press conference. Mupengo and Jemwa complied and handed
over the tape.
Said Mupengo: "Confiscating the tape was robbery. They
robbed me of my
intellectual property and earnings as a filmmaker. It
baffles the mind why
anyone would want to censor questions that have always
been asked about the
land reforms."
Mupengo said he was consulting
lawyers before making a police report over
the matter.
A consortium
of businessmen has been locked in behind-the-scenes
negotiations with the
tourism authority who wanted to buy out Luciano's
tour. The musician is
believed to have been paid US$30 000 by the tourism
authority for his
tour.
The tourism authority has been offering lucrative contracts to
foreign
musicians to perform at government propaganda concerts in a bid to
portray
the pariah State in good light.
The propaganda musical shows
by the authority complement those of the
Ministry of Information and
Publicity who hold about a dozen dusk-to-dawn
shows per year promoting the
ruling ZANU PF party and government. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 02 November 2007
By Tanonoka
Joseph Whande
GABORONE - Archbishop Pius Ncube, I see you are going over
a rough patch.
And at such times, we tend to make matters worse by doing
something silly in
an attempt to caution the trauma of our
misfortune.
Often this knee-jerk reaction makes matters worse. Just stay
calm; heaven is
about to happen in Zimbabwe.
I must say right away
that I was pleased silly when you denied any ambitions
to run for the
Zimbabwean presidency using a regional party to achieve such
a goal. It was
a wise move.
You see, Sir, you should be above such tomfoolery. You are
not only a
national figure but one with international
influence.
Aligning yourself with a party based on tribal allegiances
would have been
the death of you. We have never met but you were quite an
inspiration to
millions of people, including me.
Your Excellency, I
was most pleased to discover that you, like all of us,
are human; that, like
the rest of us, you are also free to be foolish.
I am not in any way
prejudging that the things that have been said are true
but, allow me, Sir,
to say that if they are true, you owe nobody an apology.
Only God, your
maker would need to hear from you. What I find interesting is
that
hypocrites accuse you of things they have themselves done and continue
to do
using public funds.
They are taking other men's wives using taxpayers'
money. And that, I dare
say, is the most repulsive, rotten and low-down
thing anyone, let alone a
president, could do.
And they are doing it
while the national anthem is being played, while we
stand at attention. Your
Excellency, life makes no sense and people make
less. Anyway, this letter is
not to sing accolades to you, Sir.
This letter is not to give you support
where you do not deserve it. This
letter is not to hype your very well-known
efforts to bring a little justice
to our nation. For that, you don't need
me, or anyone else for that matter.
Your honest efforts are a matter of
public record. This letter is from a
believer and is directed to you, Sir,
just in case you feel weighed down by
the evil pervading our country and
especially a rabid president our country
has been cursed with.
This
letter is to you, Pius, to remind you to fight on.
Your fighting spirit
and the battles you have waged are not related to the
'crimes' that Robert
Mugabe so shamefully broadcasts to the people.
How does a president find
the time to talk about a particular person's
perceived adulterous affair? Is
this what Mugabe is all about? No wonder the
country is in such a
mess.
Mugabe finds the time to address the nation about rumours of
romance
allegedly perpetrated by a citizen and pays no regard to
law.
Mugabe, a bored murderer who is under siege from all angles, stops
'running'
the country to indulge in gossip and talks about an alleged affair
that is
officially scheduled to be heard in a court of law.
You once
announced that you were praying for his demise. I hope you are
still on your
knees, sir. You have been fighting a lone, dangerous battle
against an old
spent and homicidal dictator.
You have spiritual, psychological and
physical scars to show for it. Mugabe,
always a coward and pretender from
the early days, still hides behind other
people's sons.
He is a
manipulator; he is not original unless we talk about killing
innocent
people. Your Grace, this letter is an appeal to you. The work you
have done
and the allegations levelled against you by Mugabe, himself a
cruel
adulterer, are not related.
One does not cancel out the other. I,
therefore, urge you to fight on,
please.
Regardless of what Mugabe
does to you, please continue with the struggle.
Heaven is about to happen.
You, like so many other sons and daughters of
Zimbabwe, have an obligation
to free Zimbabwe.
I would feel very sad were you to coil up and roll into
a shell and deny
Zimbabweans that exceptional courage of yours that they had
become
accustomed to.
It is Mugabe who should feel ashamed of
himself, not you. Fight on, dear
brother. Your accusing president is the
fiend which the country must get rid
of. You got to fight on, Pius; you got
a job to do.
You have to help to free this country and the people. When
that shameless
pretender Supa Mandiwanzira showed you 'footage' of your
'escapades', I was
touched by your reaction.
You displayed an
unrushed and edifying dignity; it was a classic display of
self-control and
belief in self. The last time when I saw such courageous
demeanour was when
Saddam Hussein faced the hangman.
After that encounter, you were silent
for quite a period of time and I
believe you were in retreat, communicating
with your Lord, talking,
listening and seeking guidance.
God
sometimes doesn't deliver us out of our hardships but through them. A
Luta
Continua, Pius!
And welcome back to the spotlight. I became a Catholic in
1964. Over the
years, I became aware that my church had a problem,
especially when I was at
school in Boston.
Your Excellency, allow me
to suppose, just to suppose that the adultery
allegations against you that
Mugabe is so pathetically proud of were true,
history shows that it's not
Pius Ncube but the church that has a problem.
Our church, like all other
churches, is weak when it comes to such matters.
Others are actually
solemnising marriages between men; they allow women to
marry each
other.
The church is made up of individuals and individuals who are
fallible.
Individuals are human and that is why we all need God. Except
Mugabe who
blasphemously calls himself the Son Of God.
Your Grace,
you will be surprised to find that your alleged transgressions
are just
minute and meaningless when compared to the work you have done for
the Lord
and for the people. God takes note; he does.
Forget those who are drunk
with power and who have signed contracts with the
Devil. I am amazed at a
leader who works so tirelessly to trumpet negatives
and who cheers when bad
things happen.
Mugabe believes in destroying the country in order to keep
it. While other
leaders weep when misfortune befalls their citizens, ours
feels inadequate
if there is no political killing carried out in his
name.
Pigs love mud, Pius, and when you wrestle with one, you ought to be
prepared
to get dirty. Mugabe is a man who deserves no reward in either this
world or
the next.
I read somewhere that psychiatrists say the child
within us never dies and
the ethics and standards pounded into us in our
very early years, no matter
how stern or inappropriate, are never completely
forgotten, but "exist like
reproachful ghosts in the dark recesses of our
minds."
You are human, Your Excellency, and you have a job to do so get
on with it!
Even the still wind has a voice, my dear brother Pius, for
even in
shabbiness, there is room for pride.
*Tanonoka Joseph Whande
is a Botswana-based Zimbabwean writer
VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington
01
November 2007
Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu this week raised hopes
that the Daily News and Daily News On Sunday,
shuttered four years ago by
the government for allegedly violating draconian
media laws, might hit the
streets again.
The move is pursuant to a
February decision by high court Justice Rita
Makarau, who said Media and
Information Commission Chairman Tafataona Mahoso
was biased and ordered the
MIC to reconsider its decision refusing
registration to the
newspapers.
Ndlovu, responding, said he has named a new MIC board that
will look into
the closure of the papers. The MIC's new board includes
Chinondidyachii
Mararike, Charity Sally Moyo, Edward Dube, Tendai Chari and
Ngugi wa Mirii.
But media observers are skeptical as Ndlovu retained
Mahoso as chairman and
kept board member Pascal Mukondiwa, seen as a staunch
government loyalist.
Advocacy Coordinator Abel Chikomo of the Media
Monitoring Project of
Zimbabwe told reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyelye of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that the composition of the panel despite the nominal
overhaul suggests
nothing will change.
Zim Independent
Dumisani
Muleya
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has rejected overtures by former
South African
president Nelson Mandela and other international statesmen for
him to retire
ahead of next year's elections to avoid further deterioration
of the
economy.
Mugabe's resistance to renewed domestic and
international pressure for
him to quit before the polls demonstrates his
rigid determination to hang
onto power at all costs. This seems to have
become his main objective
despite the worsening crisis and attendant
suffering.
Impeccable sources said Mugabe has given the brush-off
to Mandela and
his "Global Elders" team which deals with trouble-spots,
snuffing out any
hopes of him leaving office before the elections now likely
to take place in
June.
It is understood Mugabe told off former
United Nations
secretary-general Kofi Annan, who is part of the Elders
group, after he made
contact in September to arrange a meeting in Harare to
discuss the Zimbabwe
crisis, including his sensitive retirement
issue.
Mugabe and Annan fell out publicly after UN envoy Anna
Tibaijuka in
2005 compiled a damning report on government's Operation
Murambatsvina which
said the crackdown had displaced at least 700 000 people
directly and
affected 2,4 million others. Mugabe blocked Annan from coming
to Harare to
discuss the issue on that occasion.
Two months ago
Mugabe again blocked Annan from coming to Harare to
discuss the Mandela
initiative. Annan originally wanted to visit Harare to
meet with Mugabe
before the crucial Sadc summit in Lusaka. Mugabe stormed
out of the meeting
after clashing with host President Levy Mwanawasa.
Mandela's Elders
initiative is funded by British billionaire Sir
Richard Branson, the
chairman of the Virgin Group, a vast business empire,
and musician and
activist Peter Gabriel.
Branson, who is worth about US$8 billion
and was recently ranked by
Time magazine as one of the top 100 most
influential people in the world, is
part of the Elders team. The group
includes Mandela, who is the patron, his
wife Graça Machel, and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, the chair.
Other members of the group include Annan,
Ela Bhatt, prominent Indian
lawyer and international labour leader,
ex-Norwegian prime minister Gro
Harlem Brundtland, former US president Jimmy
Carter, ex-Chinese foreign
minister and Peking University professor Li
Zhaoxing, former Irish president
Mary Robinson, and Muhammad Yunus, a
Bangladeshi professor of economics and
banker.
Mandela, Tutu
and Yunus are Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Sources in South Africa
said Mandela communicated with Mugabe through
his advisors in March,
indicating to him that he had played his role in the
liberation of his
people, but it was now time for him to go. It is said
Mandela stated he
would not like to see Mugabe hounded out of office by his
own people and
treated like former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet once
out of power.
Sources said Mandela further noted Mugabe would be better
advised to leave
sooner rather than later with residual respect and a
modicum of
dignity.
Mandela communicated with Mugabe via their advisors on
March 30 after
the Zanu PF central committee met in Harare and claimed
afterwards that
Mugabe was endorsed as the party's candidate in next year's
presidential
election when in fact he had not been. Mugabe was only endorsed
last week.
It is understood that Mugabe appreciated Mandela's message, which
was
supported by South African government officials and ruling ANC leaders,
in
particular party stalwart and business magnate Tokyo Sexwale, and
promised
to get back to him. He never did.
Realising that
Mugabe was not willing to respond, Mandela unleashed
the Global Elders to
pursue the Mugabe issue and find ways of engaging him.
Mandela and Mugabe
are perennial rivals in the region and clashed over the
DRC intervention in
1998.
The Elders met in Johannesburg during Mandela's 89th birthday
on July
18 to discuss hot spots around the world, including the Zimbabwe
crisis.
They resolved to send Annan to Harare to talk to Mugabe about his
retirement
plan and also dispatch a team to Darfur to assess the situation.
The Elders
went to Darfur recently.
At the Johnnesburg meeting,
close sources said there were different
suggestions on how to approach
Mugabe on the issue given his notoriously
prickly disposition. Carter and
other Elders proposed that a team, which
included former African presidents,
should approach Mugabe and persuade him
to go, but Annan said that would not
work because Mugabe was bound to reject
a ganging up approach. Besides,
Annan said the group might end up working at
cross-purposes. He then said it
would be better to send one person to meet
with Mugabe and his name was put
forward. Annan agreed. He then tried to
arrange a meeting with Mugabe but
was snubbed although he did not give up.
After discussing the
Mugabe issue with the Elders in July, Mandela
said that his team must "speak
freely and boldly, working both publicly and
behind-the-scenes on whatever
actions need to be taken".
"Together we will work to support
courage where there is fear, foster
agreement where there is conflict, and
inspire hope where there is despair,"
he said.
Former Botswana
president Sir Ketumile Masire persuaded ex-Zambian
president Kenneth Kaunda
to reform in 1990 and helped to end the crisis
there. Mugabe himself,
Mandela and Masire were in the past involved in
efforts to end problems in
Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia.
Zim Independent
THE
ruling Zanu PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
have
agreed to postpone next year's crucial elections from March to June
during
ongoing talks in South Africa.
This comes after President Robert
Mugabe has signed into law the
recent amendment to the constitution to
introduce limited political and
electoral reforms supported by both parties
in parliament.
Well-informed sources close to the negotiations,
which resumed in
Pretoria on Tuesday, said yesterday the two parties agreed
that the joint
polls - presidential, parliamentary, senate and municipal -
will now have to
be moved to June to allow more time for preparations,
subject to approval by
their leaders.
The sources said Zanu PF
and the MDC - which on September 30 agreed on
a new draft constitution as
part of the talks - have also agreed to amend
provisions of the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act to
relax the media operational
environment and to facilitate a better
implementation of the law under which
four private newspapers were closed.
This week Information minister
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu re-organised the
state-controlled Media and Information
Commission to reconsider the case of
the closed Daily News.
The
sources said the two parties yesterday debated amendments to the
Public
Order and Security Act. While the parties agreed that every country
needs
security laws, especially after the terrorist bombings in the United
States,
they differed on the type of legislation needed in Zimbabwe. The MDC
wants
sections of Posa which have been used to ban its rallies removed.
Piecemeal
changes to this law are expected soon.
Zanu PF, represented by
Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche, and the
MDC whose delegates are
Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti are now also
discussing the last item on the
agenda - the political climate.
This week they were focusing on
targeted sanctions imposed on Mugabe
and his cronies as part of the
negotiations. Under the item, they are also
expected to discuss issues such
as the de-militarisation of state
institutions, the role of traditional
chiefs in politics, use of state and
donor food relief for political gain
and foreign broadcasts to Zimbabwe.
When the parties resumed talks
on Tuesday on the day of the deadline
for the conclusion of talks they had
only agreed on the draft constitution
but had not reached an agreement on
electoral laws, security legislation,
and media laws because of
disagreements. They had also not even started to
discuss the political
climate, the last item on the agenda.
After missing the October 30
deadline, the parties now expect to
finish the talks on November 7 and sign
the main agreement by November 15.
Although the polls are supposed
to be held in March, delimitation of
constituencies now done by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission instead of the
ad hoc Delimitation Commission has not
yet started. Registration of voters
is also still continuing.
Government is also struggling to mobilise enough money to finance the
elections, which will almost certainly leave the fiscus virtually empty and
fuel the worsening economic meltdown.
About $3,5 trillion is
needed before the end of the year to print the
voters' roll. The Registrar
General's office has only received $110 billion
so far. The department which
has to print the voters' roll is also unable to
pay its bills due to a
financial crisis.
Police - who are expected to undertake massive
recruitment for the
elections - are also facing serious financial problems.
Deputy police
commissioner Levy Sibanda said this week their $1,5 trillion
budget was now
almost exhausted, with only $85 billion
remaining.
The amount is only enough to cover the police's expenses
for a month.
Sibanda said police are now unable to pay their bills as well.
This all
indicates a lack of preparedness for the elections. - Staff
Writer.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro
DIVISIONS in the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai
widened this
week with power struggles at its headquarters in Harare
spreading to the
provinces.
Just as the October 12, 2005
differences split the MDC into two
factions, the current divisions have been
stirred by the violation of the
party's constitution by Tsvangirai who is
accused of relying on a "kitchen
cabinet" for policy decisions.
Tsvangirai two weeks ago fired the party's women's assembly executive
headed
by Lucia Matibenga for alleged incompetence.
Highly placed sources
in the party said Tsvangirai has alienated
himself from his National
Executive and National Council following the
unprocedural dissolution of the
women's assembly against the recommendations
of a commission of inquiry into
allegations of "dysfunctionality".
The commission, composed of
chairman Sam Sipepa Nkomo, Blessing
Chebundo and Sessel Zvidzai, recommended
"reformation" but was ignored by
Tsvangirai who proceeded to dissolve the
assembly.
Officials who differed with Tsvangirai's alleged
unconstitutional
decision include the party's national organising secretary,
Elias Mudzuri,
who wrote to Tsvangirai reminding him that: "Section 6.1.2 of
the MDC
constitution states that 'it shall be the duty of the president to
uphold
and defend the party's constitution'."
The wife of Ian
Makone, Theresa, was last weekend controversially
elected women's assembly
chairperson, confirming assertions that Tsvangirai
wanted to catapult his
close allies into influential positions through the
backdoor to safeguard
his interests.
The sources said besides Makone, Tsvangirai was
under pressure to
reward other members of his kitchen cabinet by ensuring
that they contest
next year's elections in "safe"
constituencies.
Kitchen cabinet members set to benefit include
Piniel Denga, who is
eyeing Mbare after failing to clinch Chikomba on two
occasions, and Denis
Murira who is gunning for Budidrio, currently held by
Emmanuel Chisvuure.
In Bulawayo, the divisions have isolated MDC
national leaders such as
vice-president Thokozani Khupe and national
chairman Lovemore Moyo from
their support base.
The sources
said the supporters accused the two leaders of blindly
following
Tsvangirai's instructions.
The divisions are much more pronounced
in the Midlands province where
two camps, one led by former Gweru mayor and
party secretary-general Patrick
Kombayi, and party secretary for local
government Sessel Zvidzai, have
emerged.
The Zvidzai camp is
understood to be enjoying Tsvangirai's support
while Kombayi is in charge of
the militant youth wing. Last week the two
camps turned violent resulting in
houses for the deputy mayor, Councillor
Obert Tachi Ncube and Councillor
Elvis Mavondo being stoned.
The camps accuse each other of wanting
to impose candidates ahead of
primary polls for the 2008
election.
Kombayi and Zvidzai are fighting for the Gweru senatorial
post.
"Kombayi has always wanted to contest for the senate post but
is now
threatened by Zvidzai who is also eyeing the same post following the
scrapping of executive mayoral elections," a senior party official
said.
The official said the Kombayi faction is also against the
imposition
of Roderick Rutsvara as the Gweru Urban candidate arguing that he
doesn't
qualify since he has been in the party for only two
years.
The sources said the differences were gradually spreading to
other
provinces as the leadership had started writing to Tsvangirai
questioning
his handling of party issues.
Women from
Chitungwiza women's districts have written to the National
Executive showing
their solidarity with Matibenga, a development which shows
that they have
abandoned Tsvangirai.
"Since we are faced with presidential
elections, dissolving the women's
assembly and bringing newcomers into the
party would divide the electorate,"
wrote the Chitungwiza women's districts
in response to Tsvangirai's decision
to dissolve the assembly.
"We reject the Zanu PF mentality of bringing "mafikizolos" into the
party.
President Tsvangirai must not forget those who remained with the
party when
it split," the women said.
l Meanwhile, the MDC yesterday made a
claim, which was dismissed by
the police, that one of its youth members in
Kwekwe was shot dead and the
other seriously injured by a former senior army
officer and Zanu PF
activist.
In a terse statement, the MDC
said Zanu PF's "ugly hand of violence
and insincerity" continued to reign
supreme.
"This afternoon two MDC youths, Taurai Chigede and Clement
Takaendesa,
were shot at point blank (range) in Kwekwe by retired Brigadier
General
(Benjamin) Mabenge," the MDC claimed. "Takaendesa died on the spot
and
Taurai Chigede is battling for dear life in a hospital in
Kwekwe."
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena last night confirmed
the shooting
of Takaendesa and Chigede at Woodlands Farm, but denied it was
politically-motivated.
He said the victims and three others
were found poaching fish with
nets by Mabenge in Mbembeswane River that
flows through his farm.
"It is alleged that the retired brigadier
general fired a shot at the
five suspected poachers using a 303 rifle,"
Bvudzijena said. "The single
shot that was fired hit the deceased who died
on the spot and the same
bullet hit Taurai Chigede who was severely injured
in the pelvis."
He said Mabenge was arrested and would face murder
charges.
"It is unfortunate that statements coming from certain
quarters seek
to predicate for political expediency this unfortunate
occurrence from the
realm of common criminality into that of political
violence," Bvudzijena
said. "Initial investigations do not indicate any
allegiance to a political
party by either the accused or victims to be
material in this case."
The MDC claimed that Mabenge was Rural
Amenities minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa's chief parliamentary election agent
in 2000.
Mnangagwa lost the Kwekwe parliamentary seat to Blessing
Chebundo of
the MDC in 2000. He went on to lose again to Chebundo five years
later.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure/ Lucia Makamure
MORGAN Tsvangirai's
future at the helm of the opposition MDC hangs in
the balance after it
emerged that he has lost favour among party structures
over his
"dictatorial" style of leadership.
Tsvangirai, impeccable sources
said, was accused of being a "serial
violator" of the party constitution and
relying on a clique of party
members - referred to as the kitchen cabinet -
to make far-reaching
decisions on the MDC.
He is also accused
of failing to stem violence in the MDC's ranks and
not briefing or
consulting the party on the on-going Sadc-initiated talks
with Zanu
PF.
The sources said as a result of Tsvangirai's leadership, the
MDC was
on a verge of another split after he three weeks ago allegedly
masterminded
the "unconstitutional" dissolution of the women's assembly
executive headed
by Lucia Matibenga.
Matibenga's executive was
replaced last Sunday by another one led by
Theresa Makone, the wife of
Tsvangirai's advisor, Ian.
The sources said senior party officials,
among them organising
secretary Elias Mudzuri, spokesperson Nelson Chamisa,
youths chairperson
Thamsanga Mahlangu, deputy secretary-general Tapiwa
Mashakada, health
secretary Blessing Chebundo, transport secretary Murisi
Zwizwai and Budiriro
lawmaker Emmanuel Chisvuure, have opposed the
dissolution of Matibenga's
executive as unconstitutional.
Those
against Tsvangirai's move, the sources added, were prepared to
part ways
with the MDC leader and were reportedly planning to oust the
former
firebrand trade unionist if he declines to reverse the women's
assembly
decision.
Mashakada is being tipped to lead the MDC in the interim
until a
special congress is held to elect a substantive
leadership.
Tsvangirai reportedly enjoys the support of
secretary-general Tendai
Biti, national chairperson Lovemore Moyo, and his
kitchen cabinet made up of
Theresa and Ian Makone, Professor Elphas
Mukonoweshuro, businessman Jameson
Timba, and lawyer Selby Hwacha, among
others.
Documents in the possession of the Zimbabwe Independent
reveal that
Mudzuri last week wrote to Tsvangirai telling him that the
dissolution of
the Matibenga-led executive was
unconstitutional.
"The process (dissolution of the assembly) can
only be done by the
national executive committee, national council or the
national assembly of
women," Mudzuri warned Tsvangirai. "It is unacceptable
for us in particular,
the president and the secretary-general as the
custodians of the
constitution to breach our party constitution to this
level. It is also my
considered view that you must re-look at this and
respect the constitution
which is the supreme document governing our
party."
The former Harare mayor urged Tsvangirai to reverse the
dissolution
and follow procedures that conform to the constitution to ensure
that the
impasse in the women's assembly was resolved without "creating new
conflicts".
Mudzuri's advice was not listened to and a special
women's congress
was convened in Bulawayo on Sunday, which turned into a
farce.
Matibenga's group met at Emakhandeni Hall, while another
faction
rooting for Makone assembled at MDC vice-president Thokozani Khupe's
restaurant.
However, this week Tsvangirai endorsed the outcome
of the congress
held at Khupe's restaurant that saw the "election" of Makone
as the women's
assembly chairperson.
In a statement, Lovemore
Moyo said the assembly had held a
"successful" congress "where a new team of
leaders was elected by the women
themselves".
"The event itself
was marred by bussed people who came to disrupt the
event, even though the
High Court had ruled on Friday that the
extra-ordinary congress could
proceed as long as the women themselves were
in favour of dissolution," Moyo
said.
"Due process took place in arriving at the decision to
dissolve the
women's assembly executive. The decision taken by the standing
committee on
Tuesday, 2 October 2007, was a constitutional decision, which
was in the
best interests of the party and the women
themselves."
This, MDC sources said, was unacceptable to senior
party officials who
felt Tsvangirai was now abusing his power. On Tuesday,
Tsvangirai met the
MDC parliamentary caucus at the party's headquarters in
the capital, Harvest
House, where lawmakers reportedly voiced their "deep"
concern on his alleged
continuation to "flagrantly violate the
constitution".
"It was made clear to him that he cannot continue to
violate the party
constitution. He was warned that this time around there
will be no split in
the party, but he will be expelled," one of the sources
said.
After the meeting, Chisvuure and Mkoba MP Amos Chibaya were
allegedly
beaten up at the party headquarters by youths aligned to Makone
after they
were accused of bussing people to Bulawayo to disrupt the women
congress.
So serious are divisions in the MDC that Tsvangirai had
since Tuesday
convened provincial assembly meetings to discuss "party
hygiene issues and
the way forward".
Tomorrow, the MDC's
national executive will hold a crucial meeting to
discuss "critical issues
affecting the party and the nation".
Chamisa said high on the
agenda will be the women's assembly issue,
the dialogue process between the
MDC and Zanu PF and the alleged escalation
of violence against opposition
members.
"The MDC as a democratic institution has sufficient
mechanisms to deal
with both the internal and external challenges that are
fairly inevitable in
such a mass-based organisation," Chamisa said.
"Saturday will provide the
party leadership from all the provinces with the
perfect platform to reflect
and debate these critical issues affecting the
party and the country."
However, sources said the meeting would
most probably decide the fate
of Tsvangirai in the party.
Zim Independent
Loughty Dube
DOZENS of MDC senior officials in the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led faction
who include several Members of Parliament (MPs) face
suspension and even
expulsion for allegedly leading demonstrations
denouncing the party
leadership at the violence-marred women's congress in
Bulawayo last weekend.
The party's national executive committee
will meet this weekend to
deliberate on action to take against those accused
of taking part in the
demonstrations where the party's leadership was
denounced for being
undemocratic.
Several district, provincial
executive members and MPs joined women
aligned to expelled former women's
assembly leader Lucia Matibenga in a
march to protest her suspension from
the party.
The women together with the youths marched in the city
centre and
converged on a restaurant where the party's vice president
Thokozani Khupe
was addressing delegates at a parallel congress organised in
the city.
The demonstrators attempted to break into the venue but
failed to do
so as doors to the congress taking place at the restaurant were
secured from
inside.
The party's secretary-general, Tendai
Biti, said the party was aware
of the actions of some of its party members
and said the party's national
executive committee will meet over the weekend
to deliberate on what action
to take against all those involved in the
demonstrations against the party's
leadership.
"As a party we
are aware that some of our party members in senior
provincial and national
positions were involved in organising and taking
part in the weekend
demonstration that denounced the party's leadership,"
said Biti. "But we are
a democratic party. We say party members have a right
to express their views
in a manner that does not undermine the principles of
the
party."
"But if the party members were singing derogatory songs
about
president Tsvangirai then it is up to the executive committee to
decide this
weekend what action to take against those that took part in the
demonstrations. The national chairman will submit a report that the
committee will deliberate on before taking a decision."
He
however said the party was also aware that Zanu PF had a hand in
the
demonstrations but did not elaborate further on the allegations.
Pressed to comment on whether the MPs involved in the demonstrations
will be
expelled from the party Biti said the decision was now entirely up
to the
national executive committee.
Sources however said a Gweru-based MP
and another Harare-based MPs
were coordinating the marches and were later
confronted by party youths on
why they were urging members to take part in
the demonstrations against the
party leadership.
Party sources
said the MPs involved will be expelled as Tsvangirai
seeks to assert his
authority over the party and contain divisions already
rocking
it.
The MDC women's congress was initially supposed to be held in
Emakhandeni but was moved to a city restaurant owned by Khupe after a group
loyal to Matibenga had barricaded the initial venue of the
congress.
However, Matibenga was not deterred as she led a group of
singing
women to Khupe's restaurant where they demonstrated outside before
they were
dispersed by riot police.
The divisions within the
Tsvangirai faction are set to split the
opposition into three entities after
the main party broke into two factions
two years ago.
The
Tsvangirai-led faction of the MDC recently dissolved the women's
assembly
chaired by Matibenga on accusations of non-performance and
factionalism.
Theresa Makone was subsequently elected
chairperson of the women's
assembly to take over from Matibenga.
Zim Independent
Lucia Makamure
THERESA Makone, the newly elected women's
assembly chairperson of the
Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC faction, has confessed
that she is a "long
standing" friend of Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander
Constantine Chiwenga's
controversial wife, Jocelyn.
Jocelyn is
a Zanu PF loyalist who has branded the MDC puppets of the
West and in August
reportedly tried and failed to physically assault
Tsvangirai.
Makone, the wife of the party's secretary for elections Ian Makone,
made the
startling revelations to a commission of inquiry into the
dissolution of the
MDC women's assembly by the party's standing committee
three weeks
ago.
Home affairs secretary Samuel Sipepa Nkomo chaired the
commission.
According to the commission's report, a copy of which
is in the
possession of the Zimbabwe Independent, Makone said: "She
(Chiwenga) is my
friend of long standing. My being friend to her does not
have any bearing on
our separate political belonging, and
persuasions.
"It doesn't follow that people should not have friends
outside their
political parties. As a family, we have other family friends
of long
standing who are not MDC, such as the Simba Makoni family. We don't
ditch
our friends simply because we now belong to separate political
parties. It
defies logic."
However, Makone's disclosure
reportedly shocked senior party officials
who were of the opinion that the
women's assembly boss should not be
associated with people like Chiwenga who
are sworn enemies of the MDC.
In August, Chiwenga hurled insults at
Tsvangirai who was touring shops
in the capital to assess the impact of the
government-sponsored price blitz.
Chiwenga is alleged to have
called Tsvangirai a dog and being the
cause of Zimbabwe political and
economic problems.
A day after she hurled insults at Tsvangirai,
Chiwenga in an interview
with the Independent challenged the MDC leader to a
fistfight accusing him
of being the root cause of Zimbabwe political and
economic crisis.
"If Tsvangirai thinks he is a man, he should come
to my office and
fight with me. I will beat him black and blue. He went
globetrotting calling
for sanctions to be imposed on Zimbabwe and today he
goes around town with
journalists in tow claiming that shop shelves are
empty as a result of
President Mugabe,"Chiwenga told the
Independent.
Tsvangirai at that time condemned Chiwengwa's actions
saying she had
become a law unto herself.
Zim Independent
Orirando Manwere
WITH only four months to go
before the 2008 elections there are fears
that thousands of people rendered
stateless following the enactment of the
Citizenship of Zimbabwe Amendment
Act No 12 of 2001, could again fail to
vote as they are still to have their
Zimbabwean citizenship restored, it has
emerged.
Perceived
aliens from neighbouring Sadc countries like Mozambique,
Malawi and Zambia,
including their off-spring born and bred in Zimbabwe,
some of whom have
never been to their forefathers' original countries, were
all rendered
stateless in 2001.
Some have since renounced their alleged foreign
citizenship and others
are doing so in the current voter registration mop-up
exercise.
However, it has emerged that a large number could fail to
do so as
they do not have the required long birth certificates due to
migration and
death of parents and guardians.
Others have
sought legal advice on the issue.
Irene Petras, the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights director whose
organisation submitted evidence on
the issue to the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Defence and Home
Affairs earlier this year, confirmed in a
statement that her organisation
was representing affected alien farm
workers.
She said her
organisation had been vindicated by the findings and
recommendations of the
committee on the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act as it
supported its
interpretation of the Act and the Government Notice which sets
out the legal
position which it has successfully argued in court on behalf
of innumerable
victims of the Registrar-General's misapplication of the law.
" We
regret however that, despite the recommendations of the
committee, the
Registrar General has nevertheless continued to apply his own
blatantly
wrong interpretation to deny Zimbabweans their rightful
citizenship in
contravention of our national law as well as international
human rights
standards which protect against an individual being rendered
stateless
"We continue to be consulted by farm workers and
other individuals who
have wrongly been advised that they have forfeited
their Zimbabwean
citizenship despite not holding any other citizenship,"
said Petras in a
statement.
She said this was a matter of
concern as the nation approached the
2008 elections, as many people were
likely to be denied their right to
register as voters and exercise their
fundamental right to choose their
representatives or run for political
office
"This can only suggest that the Registrar General, as the
person
responsible (incorrectly, in our view) for drawing up the voters'
roll and
registering voters, has ulterior motives as, instead of
scrupulously
implementing the recommendations of the committee to abide by
the rulings
and interpretations of the courts and cabinet and undertake "a
vigorous
nationwide campaign" on the Citizenship Act, he continues through
his
actions to defy the legislature, just as he has done and continues to do
with orders of court, evidencing a clear lack of respect for the rule of
law. This must end as a matter of urgency," she said.
Local
Government minister Ignatious Chombo was in May quoted as saying
in the
Herald that all aliens born in Zimbabwe should register to vote,
adding that
plans to issue them with identity documents were at an advanced
stage
He said a meeting was being held with the RG's office "to
iron out
grey areas".
However, despite the court rulings, the
Registrar-General still
requires aliens' children to renounce their alleged
foreign citizenship and
the process has not been smooth as some have no long
birth certificates
because their parents and guardians either passed away or
returned to their
original countries.
The citizenship saga
dates back to 1983 when government amended the
Constitution to do away with
dual citizenship which was allowed at
Independence in 1980.
According to a Zimbabwe Election Support Network report, the
Constitution
then provided for dual citizenship.
In 1983 the government amended
the Constitution so as to remove the
guarantee of dual citizenship by
amending the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act
(now Chapter 4:01).
Dual citizens had to surrender their foreign passports and sign a form
renouncing their foreign citizenship.
The renunciation had no
effect in foreign law, but it satisfied the
government until 2001, when the
Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act was amended
again for dual citizens to renounce
their foreign citizenship within six
months, failing which they would cease
to be Zimbabwean citizens.
This time the renunciation had to be
valid in terms of the foreign law
concerned.
The initial
abolition of dual citizenship was almost certainly aimed
at the whites, but
ended up affecting those whose parents migrated from
neighbouring
countries.
These people, whether they knew it or not, were also
dual citizens
even if they had been born in Zimbabwe, and like whites they
were obliged to
renounce their foreign citizenship.
The report
says very few of them did so when dual citizenship was
first abolished in
1983 and government was faced with the embarrassment of
having
disenfranchised many of its supporters in rural areas.
This led to
a hasty constitutional amendment before the 1990 general
election, which
gave the vote to people who were not citizens but permanent
residents since
the beginning of 1986.
This led to a further amendment of the
Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act in
2003, which stated that descendants of
migrant workers from Sadc should
renounce their foreign citizenship by
filling in a prescribed form, thereby
"confirming" their Zimbabwean
citizenship.
The report said the problem with this amendment was
that all the
people who might have benefited from it had already lost their
Zimbabwean
citizenship by the time it was promulgated (March 5
2004).
The courts have ruled against the Registrar- General in a
number of
cases but the office continues to stick to the renunciation
requirement.
To clarify the law, the Minister of Justice published
a notice in the
Government Gazette which the cabinet also endorsed and
approved that
everyone was presumed to be a Zimbabwean citizen by birth and
one could only
renounce foreign citizenship if he or she had had to acquire
it. One of the
first cases to challenge these provisions was Morgan
Tsvangirai v
Registrar-General and others.
Justice Adam held
that it is wrong to presume that when one has a
parent or parents that are
born out of the country they are citizens of the
other country by
descent.
This interpretation has been relied upon in several
instances when the
RG has refused to issue individuals with
passports.
The other previous judgements were in favour of Judith
Todd, and
Ricarudo Manwere, Lewis Uriri and Trevor Ncube.
The
Registrar-General refused to issue Lewis Uriri (a lawyer) a birth
certificate for his child claiming that he was Mozambican.
Uriri was born in Zimbabwe but both his parents were born in
Mozambique and
migrated to this country before Independence.
The Registrar-General
lost the case and was again ordered to pay the
costs.
Two years
later, in the case of Trevor Ncube v Registrar General the
court made a
similar ruling faced with the same facts.
Born locally from a
Zimbabwean mother and a Zambian father, Ncube was
refused renewal of his
passport.
However, Justice Bhunu sitting at the Harare High Court
ordered the
Registrar General to pay the costs on a higher scale as he was
in defiance
of cabinet rules and a court orders.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
ZANU PF's decision-making body,
the politburo, last week rejected a
land reform report that proposed a
further purging of the few remaining
white farmers.
Sources
privy to the developments said the Minister of State for
Special Affairs
Responsible for Land and Resettlement Programme, Flora Buka,
last Wednesday
presented a report to the politburo, proposing a further
expropriation of
white commercial farms, arguing they were still "too many"
white farmers on
the land.
Buka's report said there were 927 white farmers remaining
on farms, a
figure it said was too big, and proposed that the number be
reduced to five
farmers per province, implying that only 40 white farmers
were expected to
remain on the land throughout.
To Buka's
surprise and that of Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of Lands,
Land Reform and
Resettlement, and minister Ignatious Chombo, Zanu PF
secretary for lands,
members of the politburo rejected the report describing
it as a
"retrogressive proposal".
Politburo members argued that the
eviction of more farmers would bring
the economy to its knees because they
were the ones providing the little
supplies that were still trickling onto
the market.
They further argued that the report was driven by
nothing other than
racism since swathes of land were lying idle following
the emotive
fast-track land reform programme.
Others pointed
out that a further purge of white farmers would cause
an unnecessary
international outcry.
Some farmers have taken their land
acquisition challenges to
international courts arguing that the whole
programme had turned racist
since it targeted only white
farmers.
President Robert Mugabe, the sources said, was equally
shocked by
members of the politburo's response because he had the impression
that his
lieutenants would welcome another opportunity to grab more farms
judging
from the fact that party bigwigs were the ones leading the current
wave of
farms evictions.
The rejection forced Mugabe to
strike-off the land issue from the
agenda of the Central Committee meeting
the following day.
Effects of the rejection began to show this week
when Zanu PF bigwigs
leading the latest farms invasions were ordered by the
courts to vacate the
properties they are intending to take
over.
The High Court on Tuesday ordered Senate President Edna
Madzongwe to
vacate Stockdale Farm in Chegutu owned by Richard Thomas
Etheridge.
In Karoi, Myles Hall, who had sought the intervention of
Makonde MP
Leo Mugabe, was granted relief allowing him to continue his
operations at
Summerhill farm. Hall was under threat from Nomhle Mliswa who
claimed
ownership of the farm on the basis of an offer letter from Mutasa's
office.
Zim Independent
Lucia
Makamure
MAGISTRATES and prosecutors across the country downed
gavels this week
in protest against poor remuneration and deteriorating
working conditions.
The strike, which started on Tuesday, has
resulted in disruptions in
the justice delivery system as many cases that
were set down for hearing
this week were postponed.
Lawyers
with cases that were supposed to be heard on Wednesday at the
Harare and
Chitungwiza magistrates' courts said they were told that
magistrates were on
strike.
"There were no magistrates at the Chitungwiza courts to
attend to our
cases and we were advised to wait until the strike ends," said
one lawyer.
Zimbabwe has about 300 magistrates, although some of
them are leaving
the country for greener pastures.
A prosecutor
who spoke to the Zimbabwe Independent on condition of
anonymity said the
disparities in the salaries of judges, regional
magistrates and magistrates
has also contributed to the strike.
According to sources, a judge
earns $400 million a month, a regional
magistrate $200 million, a provincial
magistrate $28 million, and junior
magistrates $20 million.
The
striking magistrates also bemoaned the government's failure to
implement
provisions of the Judicial Services Act, which was enacted last
year to
improve conditions of service in the judiciary.
Meanwhile, in
Bulawayo, sources said Prisca Dube, a senior magistrate
at Tredgold
Magistrates Court and Phineas Mpofu who was the senior public
prosecutor
(Western Division), departed during the week for "greener
pastures".
More resignations were looming, said the
sources.
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa could not be reached
for comment as
he was reported to be out of the country.
However, Chinamasa and his permanent secretary David Mangota are on
record
as saying the ministry was working on a package to retain
magistrates,
prosecutors and interpreters.
Various government departments,
particularly the education and medical
sectors, have been hit by massive
resignations due to poor remuneration and
conditions of service.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
THE High Court
has interdicted Minister of State for National Security
and Lands Didymus
Mutasa, his lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa and businessman Themba
Mliswa from
interfering with the administration, assets and programmes of
Rydings
Primary School in Karoi.
Mutasa in August designated a farm on
which the school is built and
allocated it to Mlotshwa, who in turn
appointed Mliswa as chairman of the
school's board of
governors.
This irked the school's board of trustees led by Richard
Chimuka,
which then filed a High Court application in September seeking a
provisional
order compelling Mutasa to set aside the notice of acquisition
of Rydings of
Enthorpe Farm and its allocation to Mlosthwa.
High Court Judge Justice Susan Mavangira recently granted a relief
order to
the trustees saying Mutasa, Mlotshwa and Mliswa should not
interfere "with
the administration, assets and programmes of Rydings School
in any manner
whatsoever".
Mavangira advised Mutasa, Mlotshwa and Mliswa that if
they intended to
oppose the confirmation of the provisional order, they must
file a notice of
opposition, together with one or more opposing affidavits
with the registrar
of the High Court.
"If you do not file an
opposing affidavit within the period specified
above, this matter will be
set down for hearing in the High Court at Harare
without further notice to
you and will be dealt with as an unopposed
application for confirmation of
the provisional order," Mavangira said.
The Zimbabwe Independent
reported in September that Mutasa on August
18 allocated Rydings of Enthorpe
Farm to Mlotswa under the commercial scheme
of the land reform programme
that commenced in February 2000.
The move was hotly opposed by
parents who wrote a petition to
President Robert Mugabe seeking his
intervention.
The parents appealed to Mugabe to "take whatever
action you deem
appropriate" in order to ensure that the school continues to
function for
the benefit of pupils and the community.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
GOVERNMENT has lost a massive 66% of its
potential tax revenue since
the launch of the controversial price blitz in
July, businessdigest can
reveal.
A report seen by
businessdigest shows that government will lose $20
trillion of its potential
revenue from corporate tax and valued-added tax
(VAT) because of the price
controls and current shortage of basic
commodities.
The report
also shows that because of the revenue loss the budget
deficit will exceed
63% of gross domestic product.
Under normal circumstances, the
government is supposed to rely on tax
revenue to fund its
operations.
Government had this year projected to collect $30,2
trillion in tax
and duty. An initial assessment of the impact of the
crackdown done by the
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) had projected a
potential revenue loss of
$13,1 trillion. The gap has however increased to
$20,2 trillion.
More revenue will also be lost on VAT because most
retail shops have
not received any stock for the past three
months.
Zimra, which collects taxes on behalf of government, is
also bleeding
because of the price blitz, the report said.
Zimra will also experience huge outflows through VAT refunds because
of
increase company claims.
Government will also lose trillions of
dollars in potential income tax
because of increase unemployment. Thousands
have lost their jobs since the
blitz started in July.
The few
workers that remain in their jobs will pay fewer taxes because
their working
hours have been reduced.
Companies like Innscor, Blue Ribbon and OK
Zimbabwe have reduced their
working hours to cut on overheads.
Other companies have sent workers on unpaid leave making it impossible
for
government to collect any income tax from them.
The report said the
few products that are being manufactured are
finding their way onto the
informal market where government does not have
the structures to collect
taxes. With no revenue government will have to
fund its operations from
borrowing on the domestic market, a move that
economists say will fuel
inflation.
As of September 2 government's domestic debt was $8,1
trillion, an
indication that the state has increased its reliance on
borrowings to fund
operations.
Economists say the government
will supplement the income from
borrowings by printing money.
The central bank has pledged to revive the production through at
concessionary rates of 25% but analysts say money will have to be printed to
fund the operation.
Zim Independent
THE
curator of Time Bank, Tinashe Rwodzi of PriceWaterhouse Coopers,
is still
holding on to the bank's assets almost 16 months after his term as
curator
ended.
Rwodzi was supposed to hand over the assets to Time Bank's
directors
and shareholders when his term ended on June 30 2006.
Businessdigest however understands that Rwodzi, who was in charge
since the
bank was placed under curatorship in March 2004, has been refusing
to make a
procedural handover of the assets to the shareholders and
directors.
Rwodzi has been insisting on a symbolic handover
which Time directors
argue would contravene the Banking Act.
A
procedural handover and takeover will involve the verification of a
company's account balances, assets, liabilities and treasury valuables. The
process is supposed to be done by both parties - the curator and the
directors of the bank.
The directors of the financial
institution are also allowed to appoint
an independent auditor to verify the
curator's assessment and the state of
the company at the time of the
handover.
A symbolic handover means that the curator will surrender
the bank's
assets without verification by the shareholders of the financial
institution. It is normally done away from the bank.
The danger
is that there will be no accountability on the state of the
bank at the time
of the handover. Once the shareholders accept the company
from the curator
they will have no recourse if they discover anomalies.
Rwodzi wrote
a letter to Time directors on July 4 last year inviting
them to a meeting to
make a symbolic handover of the assets. The directors
however refused to
attend the meeting arguing that a symbolic handover would
not be procedural
under banking regulations.
They also said the proposed meeting did
not have a clear agenda and
had been given on short notice. In their letter
of reply the directors said
they wanted the curator to follow the proper
accounting systems during
handover and takeover. They said a procedural
handover would allow them to
check the state of their assets and verify any
changes that the curator
might have made during his time at the
bank.
"By insisting on a symbolic takeover the curator is denying
us the
chance to make him accountable for his action," said one of the Time
Bank
directors.
"He is saying we must blindly take over a bank
we have not been
running for the past three years. How do we know what has
been moved or
tampered with? That is wrong under good corporate governance
principles."
The impasse is far from over with Rwodzi sticking to
his decision
arguing that he was acting on instructions from the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ). He has since written to the directors advising them
to make an appeal
to the central bank if they have any queries with his
decisions.
Time directors have written back to the curator
reminding him that the
buck stops with him because he was in charge of the
bank for three years. In
that letter, the directors said an appeal to the
central bank would not be
procedural under the Banking Act.
"We
suspect that his proposal for us to appeal to the central bank is
meant to
trap us," said the directors.
"If we appeal to the central bank,
the curator will become a mere
witness instead of being the chief player in
the whole issue." - Staff
Writer.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
SOMETIME in July four officers from the
President's Office arrived at
OK Zimbabwe Machipisa branch in
Highfield.
They were armed with a special government directive to
reduce prices
to pre-June 18 levels. They proceeded to cut prices of all
commodities.
As a huge crowd of customers formed outside the
supermarket, the
officers became so overwhelmed that in certain cases they
would just guess
prices of some commodities. It was as if OK Zimbabwe was
having a fire sale.
It was chaotic.
An old lady came to the
till with a packet of dried kapenta and asked
how much she should pay. The
till operator referred the old lady to the four
officers who were now fully
in charge of the proceedings.
One of the officers flipped through a
document she had but failed to
find the price for the product. On realising
that the price had not been
specified the officer responded: "I can't find
the price for that but how
much do you have grandmother?" The old lady said
she only had $33 000 on
her.
The officer then looked at the
puzzled operator (she has to be
surprised because the actual price was $220
000) and directed that she sells
the kapenta at $33 000.
"Just
give her at that price," said the officer playing "Father
Christmas" at the
expense of the listed firm.That decision cost OK Zimbabwe
$187 000 in loss
on a single product. More products were treated in the same
manner by the
officers.
That off the cuff decision seemed to have opened the
floodgates. As
the word spread among the customers that there were other
goods whose prices
had not been specified, more customers came with queries.
Under pressure the
officers started pulling prices randomly from their
heads. That is how
chaotic the operation was.
Christina Maruta
who was a merchandiser at the shop watched in horror
as people looted the
shop.
"Within three hours the shop was almost empty," Maruta
recalls.
"The only products that remained on the shelves were left
because
people did not really need them." After a government induced
shopping spree
the supermarket was left with a few packets of pet food in
one corner and a
few toiletries in another.
Maruta also bought
a few things with the little money she had. It
however didn't cross her mind
that she was indirectly aiding her own demise.
In fact her demise did not
come until the third week when she realised that
the shop would not be able
to restock.
"That is when I started worrying", she now
says.
With nothing to sell some workers had to be sent home and
Maruta was
one of the merchandisers who lost their jobs.
"The
manager said we were no longer needed because the shop was
empty." About 15
workers were laid off at that branch. More workers were
affected in other OK
branches.
Maruta is now surviving on selling basic commodities on
the black
market. Using the connections that she had made during her stint
as a
merchandiser, Maruta is able to get commodities like sugar, cooking oil
and
flour at controlled prices to resell on the black market.
She is one of the thousands of workers who have lost their jobs
because of
government actions. Her plight measures the real effect of the
government's
crackdown on the common man. While government's propagandists
desperately
try to pitch the move as a victory against price hikes,
thousands of workers
are now battling to pick up the pieces of their lives
shattered by the
crackdown.
They are jobless because of government policies -
victims of bad
economic decisions.
"Selling products on the
parallel market is not easy. I am always
running away from the police,"
Maruta said.
Three weeks ago, she was caught up in a police raid
and spent two
nights in the cells at a police station. Police confiscated
her goods and
fined her. She then watched helplessly as the officers shared
the
merchandise among themselves.
She went back home to find
her maid gone leaving her three young
children alone.
This week
she was back again at her usual spot still trying to dodge
the police and
trying to win a customer at the same time. This is now her
"new
job".
"The government calls us criminals (black market traders) but
they
forget that some of us would not be doing this if they had not
implemented
the price freeze. We are here because of their
actions."
As government continues to keep the lid on prices,
supposedly to
protect consumers,more companies have resorted to cutting jobs
to reduce
overheads.
TM Supermarket recently laid off about 300
workers to reduce crippling
costs.
"Manufacturers are no longer
making any goods because of low prices
imposed by government," said David
Mills who is TM group retail director.
"There is nothing from the supply
side"
The few workers that remain at most retail shops have had to
do with
no salary increases because the companies are already
bleeding.
Their future too looks bleak unless something is done
urgently. With
profit margins as low as 20% and limited stock, it seems the
end in near for
most retail companies.
The major victims of the
job cuts have been contract workers who are
mostly employed in the bakery
and butchery departments of supermarkets.
Supermarkets have also reduced the
number of sales representatives, till
operators and those in the
delicatessen areas.
"It's only a matter of time before the chop
reaches managerial
workers," said a senior manager at Gustai
Supermarkets.
There will certainly be a further effect on related
sectors. Security
guards and till slip checkers will certainly have to go.
For those managers
that were convicted for allegedly refusing to reduce
prices, these might be
their last jobs because they now carry a criminal
record.
About 3000 managers were arrested during the blitz. A few
are still
facing trial but the bulk have been convicted. The problem is that
some
companies are strict about criminal records. Norbert Kazunza (not his
real
name) is one of the managers who were arrested convicted for refusing
to
reduce prices.
"It has just dawned on me that I am now
officially classified as a
criminal. What job will I get with that kind of
record?" said Kazunza who
was arrested together with five other managers in
August.
"How will I explain ten years from now that this was a
conviction done
under a politically motivated crackdown on businesses? How
will I explain
that at that time the law was extremely vague and was being
applied
selectively?"
The blitz has also affected government's
revenues in Valued Added Tax
and corporate tax. It is highly unlikely that
most companies will not be
able to pay their corporate taxes.
Zim Independent
Jesilyn Dendere
ZIMBABWEANS can no longer buy clothes on credit
terms.
Most department stores have stopped offering higher purchase
terms
after government's directive that they reduce their margins to
50%.
The stores said it does not make sense to offer credit at
margins of
50% because of inflation and increased overheads.
Workers in the credit departments will have to be reassigned or
retrenched
altogether.
Lawrence Mabhiza, a director at Truworths which also
owns Topics, said
the company had suspended credit sales because it was not
viable under the
pricing formula implemented by government.
"We
have suspended all account sales, we are not accepting them," said
Mabhiza.
Retail shops are not allowed to apply replacement
costs in their
pricing systems, making it impossible to restock without
fresh capital
injections.
To restock the companies now have to
rely on bank loans which they get
at rates of between 450% and
550%.
Suppliers are also demanding cash.
"Don't you
know what is happening on the market," Mabhiza said when
asked why they had
stopped all account sales.
Truworths and Edgars stopped their
credit facilities in September.
Mabhiza said revenue from credit
purchase was being eroded by
inflation by the time the installments are
settled.
Although most retail outlets have not made public their
losses during
the price blitz, analysts say it was almost certain that
listed companies
like Edgars and Truworths will declare huge losses in their
year-end
results. Already the impact of the crackdown is apparent from the
emptiness
of the shops.
A survey by businessdigest this week
revealed that although most
retail outlets are re-stocking they are still
unable to meet the demand.
Queues have been a common sight at Topics and
Edgars as people scramble to
buy at controlled prices.
Number 1
Stores branches which cater for the lower end of the market
are almost
empty. Express, which is owned by Edgars, has limited stocks.
Edgars has also closed of its non-profitable branches to reduce costs.
The
company is still facing viability problems despite the recent price
reviews.
Government has also failed to deliver on its promises
to help the
company. In September government met with Edgars management and
promised to
assist the company to continue with operations.
"We
explained that the group was in the country for the long haul, and
that
there was no other agenda besides business. We discussed viability
problems
and encouraged to continue engaging relevant regulatory authorities
for the
resolution of this problem," said Edgars managing director Raymond
Mlotshwa.
The rescue package was supposed to come from the
Ministry of Industry
and International Trade but until now Edgars has not
received anything from
government.
Source at Edgars said the
company has made plans to close 19 branches.
Mlotshwa however
denied the company would close the branches
permanently. He said only four
Express branches will be closed permanently.
"In the Express chain,
seven stores have been closed temporarily and
four are closing permanently.
No Edgars chain branch has closed," Mlotshwa
said.
Businessdigest understands that there has been no written agreement
between
government and Edgars as negotiations are still in the process. The
parties
are said to be failing to reach a consensus on the margin that is
supposed
to be the mark-up profit.
The government had initially said the
group should operate at 28% a
margin a figure which Edgars said was too low
for the company to operate
profitably. The company then tabled a proposal
for a 60% mark-up.
Government then allowed Edgars to trade at 73%
on condition that the
retailer would not close any shops.
Government however reversed the decision demanding that the group
trades at
28% because its was comparing Edgars to Power Sales.
"The overall
impact is that our business has become much smaller than
before. However we
remain hopeful we will survive the short term," said
Mlotshwa.
"Should viable margins be agreed, it should take six months to a year
to
return to normal trading. That is how long the supply chain is in the
footwear and clothing business in Zimbabwe."
Zim Independent
Pindai Dube
FALCON Gold Zimbabwe (Falgold) says gold production
at its two
operating mines has slumped due to power cuts and late payment by
the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
The company said it had
lost over US$443 000 because of Zesa's load
shedding. Expansion at the mines
has also been halted because of the central
bank's delays in paying for gold
deliveries.
Zesa Holdings recently increased load shedding hours
after regional
power utilities reduced exports to Zimbabwe citing unpaid
debts and
increased demand in their own countries.
Mozambique's
supplies to the country were reduced from 300 megawatts
to 195 megawatts
over a US$35 million debt.
Presenting results for the month ended
30 June this year in Bulawayo
this week, Falgold Zimbabwe chairman, Greg
Hunter, said power outages had
affected mining operations resulting in a
drop in production levels.
"Production has been lower than
anticipated. Continuous shortages
mining inputs and interruptions in power
have adversely affected mining
operations. "Zesa down time during the period
under review was total of 763
hours and this equates to an estimated
production loss of just over 700
ounces or gold revenue of US$443 000,"
Hunter said.
Hunter said that the expansion programmes have been
limited during the
last six months due to the delays and sometimes non
payment by the Central
Bank for gold delivered to Fidelity
Refineries.
"Due to the non-payment of US dollars earned from gold
lodged with
Fidelity Refineries the anticipated exploration and development
programme to
expand mining operations has been limited as the capital
earmarked for this
has been diverted and used to sustain miming
operations."
Hunter said Falgold has been able to sustain
production with a US$1
million loan from the Central African Gold (CAG), the
major shareholder in
the mining company.
CAG acquired an 85%
stake shareholding in Falgold in March this year.
Falgold recorded
a pre-tax profit of $7,1 billion. The company is
still owed US$506 590 by
the RBZ.
Falgold owns Dalny Mine in Chakari, Golden Quarry Mine in
Shurugwi and
Venice Mine in Kadoma. Venice Mine has been closed for the past
three years.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
GOVERNMENT'S decision to slash prices of basic
commodities has created
serious price distortions in the market as
businesses battle to stay afloat.
The move has also resulted in an
avalanche of imported goods whose
prices are being set at black market
rates.
Over the past two months retailers have resorted to stocking
imports
to fill the void left by local producers who are not manufacturing
at the
controlled prices they were forced to charge by government's price
blitz.
The prices of most imported goods are beyond the reach of
many
consumers whose wages are not being reviewed because their companies
are
bleeding because of the price controls.
While the imports
might have helped restock shops, their prices
clearly show the futility of
government's decision to control prices in the
first place. Consumers are
now bearing the cost of government's poor
economic policies.
It
is because of the government's crackdown on prices that the country
now
spends billions in scarce foreign currency importing products that
should
otherwise be manufactured locally at cheaper but competitive prices.
For
example while local companies like Victoria Foods are being forced to
sell
rice at the gazetted price of $800 000 for 2 kgs, South African brands
like
Tastic rice packed by Tiger Consumer brands is going for $2,5 million
for
the same quantity.
While the gazetted price for two litres of
cooking oil is $660 000,
imports are being sold for between $3,5m (Sun oil)
and $4 million (Sunflow).
Locally made tissue paper brand Softex
manufactured by a subsidiary of the
listed Art Corporation now costs $400
000 for a pack of four but imports
from South Africa are being sold at above
$900 000 for the same quantity.
Other imports in the shops include
juices and toiletries which are all
nearly five times more expensive than
the gazetted prices of local products.
Other products include Black Cat
peanut butter (South Africa) which is going
for $2,3 m while government
insists that local producers sell peanut butter
at $430 000.
Ellis Brown powered milk manufactured by National Brands Ltd is being
sold
at $5m but local manufacturers of a similar product like Dairibord and
Nestlé are controlled at less than $1m.
Imports Golden Dawn
table salt and Selati Sugar manufactured by TSB
Sugar Ltd are now popular on
the market at the expense of similar products
from National Foods, Blue
Ribbon and Grain Marketing Board.
Zimbabwe is also importing
biscuits and snacks from Malawi.
The market has to do with baked
beans imported from Zambia when there
are local brands like Cashel Valley,
Heinz and Marlon. Analysts say the real
beneficiary of government's price
controls has been regional countries. The
real loser is not the government
but the consumer and local industries.
"It is the Zambian or South
African farmer and manufacturers who are
benefiting. In the end, it is their
(regional countries) economies that are
thriving because the Zimbabwe
government has destroyed its own industry,"
said the marketing director with
a local retail chain.
Analysts have said if the local manufacturers
resume production their
goods might never be able to catch up with the
foreign products.
Economic consultant John Robertson said as the
last remaining stocks
of goods trickle out of factory warehouses onto the
market, the country
could see the start of an inflationary spiral that would
make today's prices
seem cheap.
"It could go much higher 10
times as much for some things in the next
couple of weeks, as goods cease to
exist and imports flood the market,"
Robertson said adding that the real
victim will be the consumer. ZB
Financial Holdings group economist, Best
Doroh said local retailers were
being forced to import some of the basic
commodities to fill-in the gap
created by the low capacity utilisation in
the local industry.
"Consumers require these basic products and if
they are not available
from local manufacturers, then retailers have to
satisfy that need through
imports," said Doroh.
"Ideally, you
would want the local industry to benefit from the local
demand, but
unfortunately the benefits are now accruing to foreign
manufacturers at the
expense of our own local industry."
Doroh said it will take some
time for the local market to recover
because some critical raw materials
need to be imported and the full
production cycle for some products is
longer. "In some cases critical
production mass has to be achieved first,"
Doroh said.
"It will not be cost effective for industry to produce
some products
in very low quantties."
The worst is however yet
to come.
This week the National Incomes and Pricing Commission
(NIPC) chairman,
Godwills Masimirembwa announced a decision that analysts
say would stop
supermarkets from selling imported goods.
"The
commission notes with concern the indexation of manufacturing
costs or the
costs of imported items on the basis of the parallel market
foreign currency
exchange rate," said Masimirembwa.
"We have so far approved many
price review proposals. "However, if
reference is made to parallel market
rates, then we will strike it down
because that is against the
law.
Any cost build-up that is outside the official exchange rate
will not
be approved," he said.
In other words Masimirembwa was
saying imports are also technically
controlled because retailers will have
to use the official rate.
That means that an imported beer like
Windhoek whose landing price
from Namibia is about R12 will cost $360
000.
The effect of this new policy shift is that companies will
immediately
stop importing. The shops will be empty again.
"Charging goods at the official exchange rate of $30 000 can only be
viable
if retailers or manufacturers managed to get foreign currency at that
official rate from the Reserve Bank," said Doroh.
Doroh said it
was not practical to produce or import a product
factoring in the official
market rate in the cost structure and expect to be
viable.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president, Callisto
Jokonya, said
that government needs to address foreign currency
availability.
"The commission should implement the correct pricing system in order
to
boost industry's production capacity," he said.
Jokonya said NIPC
should allow correct pricing structures without any
delay in order to
stabilise prices.
"Companies are not happy with the prices they are
being asked to
charge," he said.
"As part of the way forward,
the nation needs to address foreign
currency availability and be bold enough
to implement the correct pricing
system," said Jokonya.
Since
the price blitz started five months ago most Zimbabwean products
have found
their way in neighbouring countries such as Mozambique, Malawi
and Zambia
where producers are making better margins.
Prices distortions are
also apparent in the few locally manufactured
goods that make it to the
formal market.
Just what is the official price of a bottle of Coca
Cola?
A shop along Takawira Street says $130 000 is the price while
a bottle
store along Kwame Nkrumah says it's $150 000.
A
convenience shop along Kaguvi Street says it's $250 000, another
says it's
$60 000 but Delta, the manufacturers of Coke, say the retail price
is $38
000.
The official price of bread is $100 000 but retailers are
selling a
loaf at between $400 000 and $600 000.
Zim Independent
By
Blessing Zulu
THE year is March 2008, President Robert Mugabe
has called for a
national election and people have not been told about the
location of
polling stations, only the day - Saturday.
When
people wake up to go and cast their votes they are told people in
Harare
have already cast their votes at the Zanu PF headquarters and Gumba's
Supermarket and President Mugabe has won a landslide victory. Imagine if the
same scenario is replicated throughout the country.
What is the
likely reaction from Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of one
faction of the MDC?
What will be the reaction of the international
community? I will not answer
these questions, as I do not have the spiritual
powers of Rotina Mavhunga,
the diesel mystic.
I am now convinced that the circus that happened
at the so called
Women's Congress in Bulawayo demonstrates that Mugabe's
government can run
an election better than the MDC faction led by
Tsvangirai. It is now clear
that Tsvangirai has been busy missing the point
and scoring own goals
repeatedly.
Tsvangirai is quick to say
there is nothing special about Lucia
Matibenga, but surely this is not about
Matibenga but about the rule of law
and abiding by the party's constitution.
A few months ago, he whipped his
MPs to endorse the controversial Amendment
Number 18 Bill. Whether this was
good or bad only history will tell. But I
think history will judge him
harshly. The decision has riled Tsvangirai's
strategic allies in the civic
groups.
It must be emphasised
that Zimbabweans have suffered enough - our
inflation is the highest in the
world at nearly 8 000%, life expectancy is
below 35 years and unemployment
about 85%.
We pray to the almighty everyday that in future we must
not have a
leader who abuses the people and the constitution like Mugabe,
but with the
behaviour of the opposition, our prayers are not being
answered.
Whenever there is change it must have substance and the
unfortunate
events unfolding in the MDC are proof that the opposition and
the ruling
party are conspiring to disappoint the people of
Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai must be the last court of appeal in the MDC,
but for him to
ignore his National Council and National Executive and
unilaterally fire
elected officers using his kitchen cabinet in Thokozani
Khupe's restaurant
is rather disturbing.
It is not surprising
that the media and groups normally sympathetic to
Tsvangirai have lost
confidence in his leadership abilities. People do not
have electricity,
food, clean water, medicine and other basic essentials yet
the MDC is again
focusing on internal problems.
The MDC has its roots in labour and
mostly the poor. It is unfortunate
therefore, that Tsvangirai has allowed
the haves and have-mores to elbow out
the poor and the workers. Theresa
Makone, whose husband Ian Makone is
Tsvangirai advisor and funder, has
become the chef in Tsvangirai's kitchen
cabinet and is giving Tsvangirai the
wrong advice.
What is baffling is the fact that Theresa Makone has
not done anything
in Mashonaland East where she was the chairwoman. The MDC
as we all know
does not have a single seat in Mashonaland East and does not
seem to be
making any progress in this province. Where then is Tsvangirai
getting the
impression that she is the messiah for women?
Tsvangirai is surrounded by lawyers such as Tendai Biti, his secretary
general, but for a whole secretary general to endorse such an illegal move
is baffling. From this circus, it is clear that Tsvangirai and Biti have now
become a liability to the party and are a danger not only to themselves but
to the nation.
It is a national disgrace that even the most
senior leaders in the
party are being kept in the dark about the goings on.
But typical of Zanu
PF, they do not have the guts to go public, and the
people can only hear
through hearsay what is happening in the party. Real
democrats must never
allow the devil to run away with the pulpit. The truth
shall set us free. In
this regard I say hats off to Grace Kwinjeh for
standing firm.
What guarantee do we have that these individuals
will respect Zimbabwe's
constitution once in government? Can anyone ever
control them if they are in
power and have the state resources at their
disposal? These are the
questions that the nation failed to ask Mugabe in
the 80s and we are paying
dearly. Not challenging our leaders and asking
tough questions is now the
conventional wisdom for Zimbabweans across the
political divide.
The wisdom, or lack of the same, says if it's
Mugabe or Tsvangirai you
should hedge, flee, dodge and spin; at all costs,
don't criticise.
After the split with the Welshman Ncube faction
and the public
sympathy that he got from most people, Tsvangirai now has an
unhealthy
disregard for democracy and the party's constitution enhancing the
prospects
of miscalculation.
Tsvangirai must show his respect
for the people and democracy by
reversing this very unpopular decision to
use the kitchen cabinet to smoke
Matibenga out of the party. If this is not
done as of yesterday, the party
will resemble the last 30 minutes of the
Titanic, there will be so many
jumping ship.
There is no
denying the fact that Matibenga has grassroots support and
kicking her out
unceremoniously is likely to shake the resolve of many party
supporters;
they may not join Arthur Mutambara or Mugabe, but they will not
vote.
The MDC as we knew it was a broad-based democratic
movement, but is
now dead. It's now just a political party seeking power.
This was supposed
to be a watershed election for Mugabe but again Tsvangirai
has made another
strategic blunder.
* Zulu is a former
political reporter with the Zimbabwe Independent
and is now based in
Washington DC.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
DIVISIONS rocking the MDC faction led by
Morgan Tsvangirai have
exposed the party's lack of preparedness for
presidential and parliamentary
elections scheduled for March, a development
which might hand victory to
Zanu PF on a plate.
The opposition
has recently plunged into serious infighting on
virtually all fronts, from
the women's assembly, disagreements over
inter-party talks, and candidate
selection for the elections.
The divisions have seen the opposition
diverting attention from
canvassing electoral support and shaping a
convincing campaign strategy to
fighting itself. The dissolution of the
women's assembly opened the
infighting, which the MDC had tried to
conceal.
Former assembly chairperson Lucia Matibenga lashed out at
the MDC
leadership, accusing it of violating the party's constitution. She
went to
court seeking an interdict to stop an extraordinary congress held
last
Sunday, a bid she describes as designed to force the MDC to respect its
constitution.
Matibenga argued that the MDC's standing
committee had no powers to
dissolve the women's assembly as that power was
only vested in the party's
national council. She said the party's
constitution was clear that changes
in the make-up of the women's assembly
could only be effected after an
extraordinary party congress.
"The MDC leadership is showing it is allergic to strong women, they
want
women they can manipulate, " said Matibenga.
Other women in the MDC
said the latest episode was driving all the
party's positive energies into
the ground. The development has put
Tsvangirai under a barrage of criticism
over his leadership.
Political analysts said the instability in the
MDC ahead of a crucial
election against Zanu PF could tilt the electoral
scale in favour of
President Robert Mugabe despite a plethora of
opportunities which need to be
harnessed. The MDC has failed to use the
worsening economic crisis, price
blitz and food shortages as opportunities
of advancing their cause.
Political commentator Eldred Masunungure
said the turbulence in the
MDC - which is driven by an uncontrolled quest
for power - drastically
militates against winning next year's
elections.
"The MDC are shooting themselves in the foot,"
Masunungure said.
"Instead of consolidating their support base, they are
alienating it. They
have a penchant for pressing a self-destruct button at
the wrong time."
Masunungure said it was disturbing that the MDC
was scattering their
support and greatly diminishing their chances of
putting up a formidable
challenge against Zanu PF because of unnecessary
squabbling at the
leadership level.
"The MDC is failing to
harness public anger into support," he said.
"Instead of working tirelessly
to capture more support for themselves, they
are sowing seeds of confusion
amongst supporters, a development which might
force supporters to stay away
from the election."
Masunungure said the MDC kept on facing these
groundless squabbles
because of a lack of a unifying factor between
supporters and the leadership
beyond personalities.
"Unlike
Zanu PF, the MDC lacks a unifying force and an ideology which
glues the
leadership and supporters towards one common goal. Their politics
are the
politics of poverty. It is politics of survival whereby those
seeking to be
elected members of parliament or councillors have not achieved
anything in
life. Politics is the only industry they know."
He said the
squabbles led to the split two years ago and it is
conceivable that there
could be another formation.
"It won't be surprising to see another
formation sympathetic to
Matibenga emerging and that would signal the demise
of the MDC," he said.
Masunungure said public opinion polls
conducted in May showed that the
MDC was losing ground and instead of
concentrating on gathering support,
they are fighting each other. Analysts
said the MDC support base was fast
diminishing because of the party's
failure to capitalise on economic
developments and convert growing public
anger into a meaningful resistance.
"MDC paid a deaf ear to
ordinary people's cries and anger from the
time of Murambatsvina, the price
blitz and still continues to do so in the
current food shortages plus the
deteriorating economic situation," one
analyst said. "Their failure to
articulate developments and offer
alternative solutions is tantamount to
letting down supporters, leaving them
doubting its ability to rescue them
from Zanu PF tyranny."
Zimbabwe Peace Project chairman Alouis
Chaumba said all the democratic
forces were worried about the developments
in the opposition, which he said
were diluting the momentum to unseat Zanu
PF.
"It has become a tradition in the opposition that whenever they
are
faced with a crucial election, they find themselves disagreeing over
petty
issues," Chaumba said. "Their focus then changes from facing the
common
enemy and resolving national issues to personalities, giving away the
election."
Chaumba said the opposition was letting down its
supporters
considering the magnitude of disgruntlement over how the
leadership is
handling developments in the party. Under normal circumstances
these
failures to resolve internal politics should ring alarm bells to the
leadership if they entertain hopes of becoming the next
government.
"Conflict in general is not bad but what becomes wrong
is the failure
to deal with the disagreements internally," he said. "It
casts doubt on
whether the party is prepared to embrace democracy at
national level."
Other analysts said at this point in time the
opposition should be
consolidating its electoral strategy. They should be
rolling out campaign
strategies for the elections, which are only five
months away. They should
be identifying constituencies and beginning to
rally their supporters behind
possible candidates from the grassroots
levels. The MDC should not wait for
Zanu PF to set the agenda and tone of
the elections.
They should be ahead of the ruling party so that its
duty would be to
counter their strategies and not advance
theirs.
The analysts said the MDC would have only themselves to
blame for a
dismal outcome in the forthcoming elections if they do not put
their house
in order now.
The uproar coming from the women's
assembly dispute has been described
as having tendencies of autocratic
management associated with the Zanu PF
way of doing things and has attracted
criticism from key MDC allies, forcing
leader Tsvangirai to call an
emergency meeting this Saturday.
One of the MDC's key allies, the
Zimbabwe National Students Union
(Zinasu), came out in support of Matibenga
arguing that the decision to
relieve her of her duties broke the party's
rules. Zinasu warned Tsvangirai
that the people would punish the MDC by
voting for Zanu PF, justifiably so
if an end was not found to the
mudslinging.
"What kind of government do we want to be when we
cannot honour our
own covenants and respect the will of the people?" asked
Zinasu president
Promise Mkhwananzi in a solidarity letter to Matibenga.
"What guarantee is
there that the MDC as it currently stands will deliver a
new constitution to
the country and bring back our freedoms?"
Mkhwananzi said they were all devastated at what was going on in the
MDC,
more so at a crucial period before elections.
"I know that you are
the heroines that stood with Tsvangirai during
his time of need. We stood
with him together with you, because of our
genuine desire for a new society
based on the respect for and promotion of
human and gender equality, but
today we are confused. We do not know whether
we stood for the right thing
or not - the October 12 question remains
unanswered."
The MDC's
latest troubles are testing even Tsvangirai's most ardent
supporters,
particularly female backers who feel the party is frustrating
ambitious
stars in their ranks.
Many backed Tsvangirai when half the MDC's
MPs broke away from him
after he rejected a vote of the party's national
council on October 12,
2005.
The MPs accused Tsvangirai of
being a dictator when he vetoed the
party's decision to field candidates in
senate elections later that year.
Zim Independent
By Phillip Pasirayi
THE ongoing Mbeki-mediated talks between
the ruling party, Zanu PF and
the opposition MDC are doomed largely because
of the failure by the two
parties to locate and define the national question
through the same lens.
Whilst the opposition is still interested in
pursuing the democratic
route to win the people's mandate to govern, Zanu PF
remains unmoved by the
deepening national crisis and is determined to
consolidate the politics of
coercion as opposed to consent.
The
Sadc mediation is caught up in this cobweb of Zanu PF's politics
of
survival. I do not provide this thesis because I am some prophet of doom
or
that I am a Zimbabwean who is not interested in transformative change but
because of my appreciation of how Zanu PF is set to delay the Mbeki process
and frustrate the MDC out of the talks.
The first point is what
I would call the Robert Mugabe factor.
President Mugabe is the biggest
stumbling block who is holding the country
to ransom due to his insatiable
desire for power. Mugabe is 83 years old,
has been in power since
Independence from Britain in 1980 and has committed
serious crimes during
the 27 years that he has been in power.
If anything Mugabe is
comfortable with a situation where he dies in
office and skips the
possibility of being arraigned before international
criminal tribunals to
face charges of crimes against humanity. The situation
is even worse now as
we witness growing resentment to Mugabe's rule not only
from opposition
parties but from camps within Zanu PF who are working to
oppose Mugabe's
nomination as the party's presidential candidate in the
forthcoming
elections.
There is evidence of a serious lack of common vision and
what
constitutes the common good between the negotiating
parties.
The ongoing Zanu PF-MDC talks are not anything new in
political
science as there is a growing body of knowledge about what is
called
deliberative politics or the politics of accommodation given as the
solution
for deeply divided societies. Unless the two parties agree that
there is a
serious national crisis characterised by gross human rights
abuses, rampant
corruption, economic meltdown, lack of investment,
militarisation of the
state institutions and public policy incongruence,
among other problems,
then the talks will not yield any substantive
results.
The public couldn't care less about electoral politics and
the
politics of constitutional engineering when they do not have anything to
eat
or money to send their children to school.
So far the