Zim Independent
Dumisani
Muleya
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
negotiators have rejected a plan by Senegalese President
Abdoulaye Wade to
intervene in the country’s crisis by engaging
Britain.
Wade left Harare yesterday after closed talks with Mugabe
and MDC
negotiators Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti on Wednesday. Wade
suggested that
a five-member committee of African leaders be appointed to
"assist in the
normalisation of relations between Zimbabwe and the United
Kingdom".
However, Mugabe and the MDC rejected the plan for
different reasons.
Mugabe refused to accept the offer, saying it would
create "unhelpful
parallel initiatives" outside Southern Africa Development
Community (Sadc)’s
own process. Sadc mandated South African President Thabo
Mbeki to deal with
Zimbabwe. Wade said Mbeki alone could not handle the
issue.
The MDC rejected Wade’s plan because it would divert
attention from
serious issues currently under discussion to "red-herrings"
on the British
and anti-imperialist mantras. "We turned down his plan
because it would
distract our focus from serious issues we are currently
dealing with," an
MDC official said.
This came as Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni entered the fray in a
bid to crack the impasse
from another angle. Museveni’s spokesman confirmed
after the Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala last weekend
his boss would now be
involved in Zimbabwe.
Tamale Mirundi, Museveni’s spokesman, said
Brown confirmed that he was
prepared to help rehabilitate Zimbabwe if Mugabe
puts his house in order.
It also follows the resumption of talks
between Zanu PF and the MDC
who are racing against a new early December
deadline. Mbeki was in Harare
last week to pressure Mugabe and the MDC to
conclude the talks before Zanu
PF’s congress and his ruling ANC’s conference
in mid-December.
Mbeki was heavily defeated in nominations for his
party’s presidency
by his buccaneering rival Jacob Zuma last weekend,
sparking fears among the
negotiators that this might undermine his role if
he eventually loses in
December.
Mugabe is also under intense
pressure on the EU-Africa summit front
where it has been suggested by the
Portuguese that even if invited, they
would be happy if he doesn’t attend
because his presence would be
disruptive.
Already British
premier Gordon Brown and Mirek Topolanek, the Czech
prime minister, have
confirmed their boycott in protest at Mugabe’s
invitation. African leaders
have threatened to boycott if Mugabe is barred.
However, Nigerian
President Mussa Yar’Adua has broken ranks with other
African leaders, saying
at a meeting in Wiesbaden, Germany: "I want to
emphasise that what is
happening in Zimbabwe is not in conformity with the
rule of law. I do not
subscribe to this."
Sources said Zanu PF and the MDC are now
meeting "everyday" to
complete the talks, although fresh hurdles have
emerged.
"We have been meeting virtually everyday since President
Mbeki came
here (last week). There is now war at the negotiating table, but
both
parties remain committed to the talks," a reliable source said. "We are
now
at a sensitive stage and negotiations are now very
delicate."
The sources said the debate is focusing on sanctions,
land,
demilitarisation of state institutions, use of militias, abuse of
state aid
and traditional chiefs and hostile political rhetoric. These
issues fall
under the political climate, the last item on the
agenda.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
ZANU PF’S "one million
men and women" solidarity march in the capital
today is part of President
Robert Mugabe’s project to secure the
life-presidency and to close the
succession battle in the ruling party.
The march from the Zanu PF
headquarters to Harare Grounds in
Highfield, party insiders said, was a
public roadshow for those opposed to
Mugabe’s continued stay in power that
the 83-year old leader was still
popular.
The move, the sources
said, was the culmination of lobbying by the war
veterans, women and youth
leagues that started at the Zanu PF people’s
conference in Goromonzi last
December and at a crucial central committee
meeting on March
30.
In Goromonzi and at the central committee meeting, the women’s
league
headed by Oppah Muchinguri resolved that Mugabe should remain in the
party
and as head of state until death.
No one in the party
opposed the league’s proposal that was also
adopted as part of proposals at
the Goromonzi conference.
War veterans vice-president Joseph
Chinotimba and youth chairperson
Absolom Sikhosana yesterday confirmed to
the Zimbabwe Independent that they
wanted Mugabe to die in
office.
Chinotimba said: "President Mugabe is our leader for life.
Comrade
Mugabe is a father figure to us and have you ever rejected your
father
because he is old? It is only (USA President George) Bush, (former
British
Premier Tony) Blair and (ex-Australia Premier John) Howard who leave
office,
not our president."
He said the march was to encourage
Mugabe not to quit even after
winning next year’s elections and serve his
five-year term.
"We are saying Comrade Mugabe is not like Howard
who lost elections.
Our president has no terms, he should rule for ever,"
Chinotimba added.
Sikhosana said the youth wanted Mugabe to rule
for life.
"The youth should go in their numbers to demonstrate
their unwavering
support to our only presidential candidate, the hero of the
nation President
Mugabe," Sikhosana said. "We are praying to the Almighty
God that he gives
President Mugabe good health and more days on earth so
that he continues to
lead our party and our great nation till
death."
He said Mugabe should be life-president if he is to achieve
his goal
to "totally liberate Zimbabwe and Africa".
The only
official to comment on the matter after the Goromonzi
conference was
Vice-President Joseph Msika who said people must be careful
not to make
emotional decisions in politics.
However, since Mugabe’s
endorsement by the politburo and central
committee, there have been a lot of
buy-ins for Mugabe’s project to remain
in power from various constituencies
in the party.
Msika recently said Mugabe should be allowed to stay
on so long as he
was serving the nation.
"We do not change
leaders as fast as we change our shirts," Msika told
a Zanu PF Harare
province meeting on November 17. "In Zimbabwe, we do not
accept that. So the
issue of changing a leader after a specified period is
out of the question.
It is a luxury we cannot afford. If they are still
serving the people, then
they should stay on or even die there."
Mugabe’s continued stay in
power was being challenged by a faction in
Zanu PF led by Solomon Mujuru,
which wanted Vice-President Joice Mujuru to
take over.
The
Mujuru faction has since made a u-turn insisting that it never
questioned
Mugabe’s leadership, and did not oppose his endorsement as the
party’s 2008
presidential candidate by the politburo and the central
committee last
month.
Mugabe’s project to remain in power for life is spearheaded
by war
veterans, women and the youth leagues of Zanu PF who in the past
three
months have organised solidarity marches.
Rural and
Social Amenities minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, another
presidential hopeful
and a rival of the Mujuru camp, is reportedly the
mastermind of the marches
by the war veterans to rally support for Mugabe
ahead of a special congress
by Zanu PF in mid-December.
But despite Mugabe securing the
endorsement, the marches continued
with insiders saying they were meant to
garner support for the president to
be declared a life president at Zanu
PF’s five-day extraordinary congress
starting on December 11.
While efforts to get a comment from Muchinguri yesterday were
fruitless, at
a march in Chinhoyi at the weekend organised by war veterans,
women and
youth leagues, placards written that Mugabe should stay in office
till death
were being waved by party activists.
Didymus Mutasa, Zanu PF
secretary for administration, could not be
reached for comment last night as
his mobile phone was not being answered.
Zim Independent
ZIMBABWE
yesterday broke a new record by being the only country in the
world with a
national budget running into quadrillions (15 zeroes),
reflecting its
highest inflation on the globe, and possibly making another
dramatic entry
in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Finance minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi presented a $7,8 quadrillion
budget to parliament amid disbelief
among MPs and the public about the
government’s chaotic fiscal
policy.
Mumbengegwi, whose budget concept and delivery were widely
described
as "pathetic", dramatised his failure to measure up to the task by
even
failing to read budget figures before him. The minister pronounced the
figures wrongly before giving up when it became clear he was mixing up
things.
MPs laughed while the public watched in
disbelief.
Mumbengegwi’s budget was $7 840 000 000 000 000.
According to the US
weights and measures system — which Zimbabwe uses in
monetary issues — this
figure is $7,8 quadrillions.
However, if
converted to the US dollars, it comes down to a mere
US$5,3 billion at the
Old Mutual Implied Rate of US$1: Z$1,5 million. If the
official rate of $30
000 is used the figure jumps to a massive $261 billion
but this does not
reflect the real value of the budget.
In US measurements, figures
with six zeroes are a million, nine zeroes
is a billion, 12 zeroes is a
trillion, 15 zeroes is a quadrillion.
The next figure after this is
a quintillion (18 zeroes) followed by a
sextillion (21 zeroes) and it goes
up to googol for 100 zeroes and then
infinite after 600 zeroes. No country
has a quadrillion in the world today.
Due to hyperinflation,
Zimbabwe’s budgets could soon deteriorate to
quintillions. Officially,
Zimbabwe has the highest inflation of more than 14
000%.
Zim Independent
Augustine
Mukaro/ Kuda Chikwanda
THE Reserve bank of Zimbabwe is set to
change the country’s currency
in the first week of December in a programme
codenamed "Sunrise 2" as a way
of dealing with the current cash
crisis.
The operation was supposed to have started on Wednesday
this week but
encountered last minute problems that required the attention
of the central
bank.
It is however expected that the new
currency might be launched as
early as tomorrow.
The
change-over will require massive resources in both manpower and
capital
injection.
Highly placed sources said an RBZ management team led by
Edward
Mashiringwana, the acting RBZ governor, last Saturday met to finalise
logistical issues, which they agreed required a minimum of three days
instead of the 48 hours initially suggested.
"The change-over
is likely to take place beginning tomorrow
(Saturday)," one source
said.
The source said the RBZ would deploy a minimum of five teams
in each
district in the country, which implies that around 295 teams would
be
deployed to cover the 59 districts.
"Each province (of RBZ
operational teams) has submitted a proposal for
32 vehicles, which means
that about 1 888 vehicles will be required for the
operation," he
said.
The recruitment of retired police officers to provide
security for the
operation started on Monday as the central bank entered the
final stages
before the currency switch.
Shortlisted officers
were informed during the weekend to report for
duty on Monday and receive
their briefing on the operation.
"I was told to report for duty on
Monday. We were supposed to have
been informed of the allowances we would
get then," said one officer who was
shortlisted.
A severe cash
shortage has hit the country for the past four weeks,
forcing hundreds of
people to spend days and nights on queues outside banks
trying to withdraw
money.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono last week blamed the shortages on
speculation
by foreign currency dealers. He said dealers were keeping huge
amounts of
money at home.
He said as long as people stashed
large amounts of money at home, thus
starving banks of cash, he would not
inject new money into the system. Gono
threatened to introduce a new
currency in a bid to force the public to bring
back money into the official
system.
Several commercial banks which under normal circumstances
permit
individuals to withdraw $20 million and corporate account holders a
maximum
of $40 million a day have since reduced these limits to $5 million
and $10
million respectively since the beginning of the cash crisis at the
end of
October.
Zim Independent
Orirando Manwere
TODAY’S "one million men and
women march" in Harare by war veterans
supporting President Robert Mugabe’s
candidature in next year’s election
will seriously disrupt critical
industrial and commercial activities due to
the diversion and abuse of state
resources when the economy is in a deep
crisis.
The Zimbabwe
Independent has it on good authority that the National
Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ) yesterday suspended the movement of goods trains
which ferry coal from
Hwange to various centres as well as grain to the
southern parts of the
country.
This was meant to create free passage for trains expected
to move
party supporters to Harare. It is also understood that locomotives
for goods
trains have been diverted to haul passenger train
coaches.
A highly placed source in the NRZ said technicians were
ordered to
ensure a smooth passage for passenger trains from Chiredzi,
Victoria Falls
and Mutare despite the usual problems with signaling
systems.
The source said the suspension of goods trains would
remain in place
until Monday and that this had presented logistical problems
for
technicians.
However, NRZ spokesman Fanual Masikati on
Wednesday told the media
that his organisation was ready to transport the
marchers.
"As the national rail transporter, we are geared for the
event and we
have pooled together our resources to fully support this
historic event," he
was quoted as saying.
Over 150 buses from
the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company and private
organisations will ferry
the supporters, a development that will create a
shortage of public
transport on a number of routes.
The Zimbabwe Federation of Trade
Unions is reported to have issued a
circular to companies urging employers
to release workers to join the march.
However, no official comment could be
obtained from the Employers’
Confederation of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce on
the issue.
Officials from
retail outlets yesterday said they were not going to
open for business until
after the march for security reasons, while
employees in government
departments said they had been instructed to join
the march.
The route for the march, which starts near Rainbow Towers Hotel on
western
end of the city through Samora Machel Avenue, down Julius Nyerere
Way, up
Charter Road into Simon Mazorodze, is usually busy and a huge
traffic jam is
expected.
The route map was not advertised earlier in accordance
with local
authority by-laws.
Harare provincial police
spokesman Inspector James Sabau said police
officers would be deployed on
the route.
Harare residents and individual businessmen who spoke on
conditions of
anonymity yesterday said it was a waste of public funds that
would also
affect business operations and the free movement of people and
traffic in
the city.
"Where is the money to transport, feed and
accommodate all these
people coming from? How can we have a public
enterprise like the NRZ
providing free transport to supporters of a
particular political party?
"This is gross abuse of public funds by
the ruling party," alleged one
man.
However, war veterans
leader Jabulani Sibanda has maintained that
funding for the marches is being
mobilised from party members and
well-wishers.
Another resident
said the march demonstrated double standards by the
police on political
gatherings.
"Our police force is partisan. It is always refusing to
clear meetings
by opposition parties, yet it ensures that Zanu PF is well
covered. When
opposition groups organise similar marches, they are crushed
and people are
arrested and assaulted by the same police force.
"I think this presents a challenge for the opposition forces to
organise a
similar march and see how they will be treated by the police and
public
enterprises like the NRZ," he said.
Zim Independent
Lucia Makamure
THOUSANDS of failed Zimbabwean asylum-seekers in
Britain face
deportation after a British court last week ruled that not all
of them were
victims of political repression in Zimbabwe.
The
deportation move comes in the wake of last week’s ruling by the
Asylum and
Immigration Tribunal in Britain that not every deported
asylum-seeker would
be at risk of harassment by security agents if returned
to
Zimbabwe.
Justices Ockelton, Storey and Southern, said in their
judgement: "We
do not accept either that all those seen as having claimed
asylum in the
United Kingdom will be thought to be supporters of the MDC on
that account
alone," reads 88-page judgement.
"As noted
earlier, the suggestion that the Zimbabwean authorities
proceed on the basis
that anyone with a connection with Britain must be
considered a supporter of
the MDC is impossible to reconcile with the
significant effort put into
obtaining intelligence concerning those in the
United Kingdom who do support
the opposition."
The affected Zimbabweans will be coming back to a
country dogged by
fuel shortages and power outages and a health system
delivery that has
almost collapsed.
Most supermarket shelves
are empty following a government blitz, which
slashed prices by half in
July. The country lost trillions of dollars as a
result of the ill-fated
price blitz.
The country’s unemployment rate currently stands at
over 80% and
chances are that most of the deportees will not get any
jobs.
The inflation rate is estimated at above 14 000% while the
Zimbabwean
dollar is trading at US$1: $1 500 000 on the parallel
market.
The mass exodus to the United Kingdom began after the 2000
elections
and an estimated 4 million Zimbabweans are believed to be outside
the
country in search of greener pastures.
It is ironic that
Britain will be resuming the deportations at a time
when the country is
preparing for elections when most of the asylum-seekers
had claimed to be
running away from political violence in the run-up to
elections.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
VICE-President Joseph Msika
last week summoned Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement minister Didymus
Mutasa to explain allegations of unprocedural
issuance of offer letters and
ordered their nullification plus the eviction
of beneficiaries of the
unapproved offers.
Sources said Msika over-ruled Mutasa’s recent
farm allocations to his
cronies and top army officials.
The
meeting was attended by Minister of State for Special Affairs
Responsible
for Land and Resettlement Programme Flora Buka, Policy
Implementation
minister Webster Shamu, Mashonaland West governor Nelson
Samkange and Lands
ministry permanent secretary Christina Tsvakwi last
Wednesday.
Msika ordered Mutasa to implement recommendations of the Mashonaland
West
provincial leadership to nullify his recent land offer letters and
evict all
the new beneficiaries allocated farms unprocedurally.
"Msika
demanded an instant eviction of new occupiers of Grande Parade
and Foliot
farms in Karoi, both occupied by senior army officers," the
sources said.
"He said cases of the two farms had been resolved a long time
ago."
Brigadier General Nicholus Dube last month forcibly moved
onto Grande
Parade while Brigadier Mtisi took over Foliot farm.
The sources said Msika also made a special mention of Rydings farm,
which
has been occupied by a crony of Mutasa, saying disturbances there
should
stop forthwith.
Mutasa’s personal lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa occupied
the farm and took
over the school.
"Msika also ordered another
instant eviction of Fungai Chaeruka,
chairman of the commission running the
affairs of Mutare, from Mapetu Farm
in Manicaland."
Chaeruka
last week invaded Mapetu Farm in Burma Valley and
unfortunately for him,
there was an uprising by villagers and resettled
farmers in the area,
supporting the commercial farmer, Heather Guild, whom
they said had a good
working relationship with the community.
"Chaeruka refused to
move," one of the sources said. "He produced an
offer letter signed by
Mutasa but had not gone through the normal
procedures. During the wrangle
crops worth billions of dollars wilted after
Chaeruka’s militia disconnected
water supplies," he said.
Sources in the Karoi area said the
evictions of the new occupiers has
not yet started even though the directive
has been forwarded to Mashonaland
West lands committee chairman, Farukai
Chikomba, for implementation.
The new occupiers have taken over all
the equipment and the tobacco
crop which the white farmers had
planted.
Zim Independent
Constantine
Chimakure/ Lucia Makamure
THE Morgan Tsvangirai-led faction of
the MDC yesterday wrote to the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) alleging
that it (ZEC) was being used by
the government to rig next year’s harmonised
elections on behalf of Zanu PF
through the manipulation of the voters’ roll
and delimitation of ward and
constituency boundaries, among
others.
In the letter signed by the party’s secretary for elections
Ian
Makone, the MDC said it had pointed out to ZEC in previous
correspondences
that the recently concluded mobile voter registration
exercise was "opaque,
biased in favour of perceived ruling party
strongholds, poorly publicised
and executed".
The MDC said it
would not accept the exercise.
"Given the problems surrounding the
exercise and a pittance of new
voters who got registered, the MDC would like
to disassociate itself from
such an exercise which was carried out in
disregard of Zimbabweans’
democratic right to register as voters," Makone
wrote.
He said an audit recently carried out by the MDC shows that
not only
is the voters’ roll unacceptably flawed, but it was also
unusable.
"It is full of dead and ghost voters," Makone wrote. "To
this should
be added a significant number of people who were displaced by
Operation
Murambatsvina from urban centres, which are predominantly
MDC."
He said this had disenfranchised a "whole segment of our
society and
your commission has a responsibility to ensure that these people
are
re-enfranchised, wherever they may now be residing".
Makone
also alleged that as a result of a poorly-executed voter
registration
exercise, the delimitation programme would also be ipso facto
flawed.
"The MDC cannot be expected to accept a delimitation
exercise that is
based on inaccurate statistics of registered voters," he
complained.
The party said it does not recognise the current
delimitation, arguing
that this process must await the outcome of the
Sadc-initiated talks between
the opposition and Zanu PF.
"In
view of the above, I am directed
to advise you that the MDC will not
participate in the current
consultations on delimitation. We look forward to
being invited for the
consultation at the conclusion of the inter-party
dialogue," Makone added.
Meanwhile, the opposition has accused the
police of banning its
rallies across the country and an escalation of
violence against its
members.
The accusations were made by
party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa in his
recent address to the ACP-EU joint
parliamentary assembly and by Tsvangirai
in Kampala, Uganda, last week when
he addressed the Commonwealth People’s
Forum.
"Meetings of the
opposition continue to be interfered with. As of the
month of November over
244 meetings of the opposition had either been
unilaterally cancelled or
interfered with by the police," Chamisa said.
"Political violence against
members of the opposition continue particularly
in the rural areas where
supporters of the opposition are targeted for
harassment, intimidation and
assault."
The MDC said the escalation of violence against
democratic forces was
a matter raised with the government and South Africa
President Thabo Mbeki
in his capacity as the mediator in the MDC and Zanu PF
dialogue.
"More than 2 000 cases of human rights violations have
been reported
to date within a period of six months. Democratic and peaceful
expression by
civic groups such as the National Constitutional Assembly,
Women of Zimbabwe
Arise, Zimbabwe National Students Union and Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade
Unions have been brutally crushed resulting in many
activists being either
detained, assaulted or sustaining injuries," the MDC
said.
Zim Independent
Constantine
Chimakure
THE newly appointed United States of America
ambassador to Zimbabwe,
James McGee, has said his country will not scrap the
Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) even if President
Robert Mugabe wins a free
and fair election next year.
ZDERA
was promulgated in 2002 and the government claims that the
legislation was
the source of declared and undeclared sanctions against
Zimbabwe that have
resulted in the current economic and political crisis.
The
government said ZDERA was enacted as part of the USA’s and the
West’s
efforts to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.
In a wide-ranging
interview last Friday, McGee (58) said apart from
holding democratic
elections, the authorities should also respect human
rights and the rule of
law if ZDERA is to be lifted.
"The United States policy on Zimbabwe
is not about free and fair
elections alone," McGee, who succeeded the
controversial Christopher Dell,
said. "That is only one of the principles
outlined in the law (ZDERA). There
is need to address all the principles
before the law can be repealed, such
as upholding of human rights and the
restoration of the rule of law."
The former US ambassador to
Madagascar and the Union of the Comoros
denied that his country had imposed
sanctions on ordinary Zimbabweans.
"Our sanctions were targeted
against individuals in government. There
are no economic sanctions against
Zimbabwe," McGee, who also served as US
ambassador to Swaziland from 2002 to
2004," said.
Asked why government recently claimed that it was
failing to obtain
balance of payment support from multilateral organisations
like the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank because of the
United States
and its allies’ interference, McGee said: "We are not to
blame. Let’s deal
with facts. There are targeted sanctions against
individuals. Are you aware
that Zimbabwe qualifies for the United
States’Agoa (African Growth and
Opportunity Act )?"
The
targeted sanctions prohibit Mugabe, his cabinet ministers and
senior
government officials from travelling to the US and the European
Union.
McGee said his government was open to dialogue with
Mugabe’s regime,
but added that he was not sure who should take the first
initiative towards
building bridges between the two.
The career
diplomat said there was no need for negotiations in the US.
"They
(government) may come to me and negotiate with the US
government. I can
negotiate on behalf of the US. Why should they go to the
US to negotiate?"
questioned McGee whose foreign service career started in
1981 and has also
served in Nigeria, Pakistan, the Netherlands, India,
Barbados, Jamaica and
Cote D’Ivoire.
He said government should not expect him to change
US policy towards
Zimbabwe because he was a black American and, therefore, a
brother to the
country.
"The fact that I am a black American is
not an issue with your
government," McGee declared. "I don’t want your
government to prejudge me
because of the colour of my skin. I am here to
represent the US government
and to implement US policy."
He
denied that his country was pursuing a regime change agenda arguing
that it
was up to Zimbabweans to decide who should govern them.
McGee said
he was not aware that the US intended to deport children of
government
officials on the travel sanctions currently studying in that
country.
"I have nothing to say on that issue. I am not aware
of the plan to
deport the children," he added.
When told that
Dell made a pronouncement to that effect, the
gesticulating McGee said: "My
job is to implement policies as directed by
the government of the USA. As
far as I know there is no change in the USA
policy on Zimbabwe. If there is
change, we will inform you."
McGee, who presented his credentials
to Mugabe last Thursday, said he
was "impressed" by the ageing
leader.
"I was very impressed by your president," the Chicago,
Illinois, born
diplomat said. "He is a very bright, thoughtful man. He
chooses his words
carefully."
McGee, who served in the US Air
Force from 1968 to 1974 and completed
Vietnamese-language studies at the
Defense Language Institute in Monterey,
California, said he was asked by
Mugabe to improve bilateral relations
between Zimbabwe and the
US.
Asked whether he would take the government head-on on human
rights
issues as his predecessor Dell had tried to do, McGee said he was a
different diplomat.
"If I see a grandmother homeless and
starving in the streets I will
say it out. Facts are facts. You cannot deny
the truth, but I am not here to
stick my finger everyday in the eye of the
government," McGee, who earned
three Distinguished Flying Crosses during his
duty in Vietnam, said. "If
there are abuses we will say so. US policy
towards Zimbabwe cannot be
changed because I am here."
Apart
from working towards improving relations between the two
countries, McGee
said he would be overseeing US humanitarian assistance to
Zimbabwe. The US
will give over US$$200 million worth of assistance this
year.
It will help feed nearly one-in-five Zimbabweans from about US$170
million
of food aid.
HIV and Aids assistance has increased to US$31 million
this year,
including anti-retroviral treatment for 40 000
Zimbabweans.
In his testimony before the Senate in September, McGee
said Zimbabwe
was once a prosperous nation now suffering under
"authoritarian misrule".
He said there was a "deep reservoir of
democratic knowledge, capacity,
and desire in Zimbabwe that needs continuing
support to challenge the
government" to enact democratic reforms and to keep
hope alive that change
was possible.
"Abandoning the people of
Zimbabwe to the worst effects of their
government’s misrule is not in
America’s interests," said McGee. "Returning
Zimbabwe to a democratic state
with a strong economy is necessary to promote
regional stability and
economic growth."
He said the US would use all tools at its
disposal to "achieve the
results we seek (in Zimbabwe)".
"The
ZDERA and our targeted sanctions programme have increased the
pressure on
those individuals that have undermined democracy and
prosperity," McGee
said. "We are working with like-minded members of the
international
community to increase this pressure."
He added that the US would
continue to lend support to regional
efforts to help Zimbabwe to enact
needed reforms.
Zim Independent
Orirando Manwere
THE 2008 harmonised elections
require at least 15 000 polling stations
and 174 000 ballot boxes for the
210 constituencies, among other resources,
if they are to be run
successfully in line with regional standards.
Observers say the
increase in the number of constituencies from 120 to
210 and the
simultaneous election of four candidates at once — president,
MP, senator
and councillor — using specific ballot boxes, requires more
human, material
and financial resources than was required in any previous
election.
This is expected to cost trillions of
dollars.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) projects that
at least 15
000 polling stations would be ideal for the 2008 polls, although
this would
be determined by the ongoing delimitation exercise and the number
of
registered voters.
Zesn national director Rindai
Chipfunde-Vava said apart from having
more polling stations, the smooth
running of the polls would also hinge on
the availability of adequate
polling officers, voters rolls and polling
booths, voter education and other
resources to speed up the voting process.
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) public relations director Shupikai
Mashereni said there
were 8 265 polling stations for 120 constituencies in
the 2005 parliamentary
polls.
Simple mathematical calculations show that each constituency
had an
average of 69 polling booths. If the same number was to be maintained
that
would translate to 14 490 polling stations for the 210 constituencies
in
2008.
In 2005, ZEC imported 50 000 translucent ballot boxes
and an average
of three were distributed to each of the 8 265 polling
stations to
facilitate the splitting of voters into three alphabetical
categories — A-L,
M and N to Z.
A total of 5 780 912 people
were on the voters roll.
If three ballot boxes were used at each
polling station for the
election of a single candidate, 12 would be needed
for the presidential,
parliamentary, council and senatorial candidates,
which translates to 173
880 ballot boxes.
Mashereni
acknowledged that more polling stations would be needed for
next year’s
polls, but pointed out that the exact figures would be
determined by the
delimitation exercise and the number of registered voters.
He said
ZEC had submitted its budget to treasury for the elections,
though
delimitation and compilation of the voters roll, which should bring
about
the exact figures, was still ongoing.
"We have since submitted our
bid but I am not in a position to reveal
the figures. Our budget was based
on some projections. I agree, delimitation
is still on while the
Registrar-General’s office is working on the voters
roll," Mashereni
said.
"We submitted our bid to treasury which includes the
acquisition of
more ballot boxes and other resources for the elections and
we are waiting
to see what we will get from the national
budget."
Apart from ballot boxes, more voting booths, ballot papers
for the
four candidates, ink, ultra-violet light detection devices, voters
rolls,
gas lamps used in rural areas and in case of power cuts,
communication
devices, vehicles and various other items are needed to ensure
the smooth
running of the elections.
The voters roll, which
should be inspected by the electorate before
the polls, was yet to be
finalised as the Registrar-General’s office
requires $3,5 trillion before
the end of the year for the task.
In terms of human resources,
there were at least 12 polling officers,
including the presiding officer, at
each polling station and more would be
needed next year to ensure
transparency because of the increased number of
candidates.
The
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), which is mandated to provide
security during
the polls, is expected to deploy at least four police
officers per polling
station.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Faustino Mazango, the
chairperson of the
police elections committee, was recently quoted in the
press saying the ZRP
intended to boost its manpower from 29 000 to 50 000
before the polls.
"We have started a massive recruitment exercise
so that we have a
minimum 50 000 police officers by the time we have
elections," Mazango said.
"If we fail to get those numbers, we will use the
police constabulary
because right now we have about 29 000 police officers,
which falls short of
our requirements."
It appears that the ZRP
will rely more on the constabulary as Deputy
Police Commissioner Levy
Sibanda recently told a parliamentary portfolio
committee on Defence and
Home Affairs that the organisation had exhausted
its 2007 budgetary
allocation and this affected the force’s recruitment
drive.
Commenting on the polls to be held in one day in terms of the Sadc
guidelines on elections, Chipfunde-Vava said the efficiency of the polls
would largely depend on the ZEC’s planning.
She said: "Since
the electorate will be choosing four different
candidates, ZEC needs to
ensure that there are adequate ballot boxes and
papers as well as polling
officers to expedite the verification process.
"The period a single
voter takes to go through a name-check on the
roll, ink checking and
dipping, allocation of ballot sheets, which will be
four this time around,
casting of the vote and depositing the ballot sheets
in the right boxes
according to the candidates and alphabetical list, can
present
problems.
"So it’s critical for ZEC and other stakeholders to
educate the
electorate on the process as well as ensuring that they are in
the right
constituencies. The voters roll check, especially for names
starting with
certain letter, usually takes time and this can be addressed
by having more
voters roll desks and officers like what happened in
Sierra-Leone."
Chipfunde-Vava said more voters roll check desks
would reduce queues
and the time a voter takes from arriving at a polling
station to finally
casting their vote.
She added that the
provision of more voting booths in the polling
station would also expedite
the voting process.
Local elections usually start at 7am and end at
7pm but in some cases
voting time has had to be extended due to various
factors.
Although there is no agreed or acceptable timeframe within
which a
voter should go through the voting process, South Africa’s
Independent
Electoral Commission said an average of 15 to 20 minutes was
ideal.
Electoral Institute of Southern Africa senior advisor Liona
Tip said
the voting timeframe, however, depended on a number of factors,
including
literacy levels of the electorate and the length of
queues.
"Electoral administration authorities tend to work on about
600 voters
per polling station to ensure a smooth process. Actual voting
time for a
single ballot can be between three to five minutes, but it can be
longer if
the voter requires assistance," said Tip.
Commenting
on the polling logistics, Mashereni said he was confident
that the process
would go on smoothly as previous trends had shown that
polling stations were
usually busy at the beginning of elections.
"Our experience has
shown that by the time the polls end, polling
officers are usually free. It
also depends on the number of polling stations
and the turn out of voters at
particular polling stations," he said.
"Sometimes there can be
voter apathy due to several factors and this
is where voter education by
ZEC, election monitoring organisations and
political parties should play
their role. I am however confident that the
polls will go on
smoothly."
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya/Bernard Mpofu
BLACK market barons that Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon
Gono, said would burn their fingers in the
pending currency change have
emerged as the major beneficiaries of the
current cash shortage.
Gono last week said black market dealers who
were keeping money to
fund parallel market deals risk making huge losses if
they hang on to large
volumes of cash. He said the currency change was
imminent and warned people
against keeping large volumes of
cash.
He refused to intervene in the current cash shortage saying
the
central bank would rather "watch the situation and see where it will
end".
He also refused to give a specific date for the introduction of the
new
currency insisting that the plan was to catch the barons
unawares.
The problem is however that the barons have become so
sophisticated
that they are always a step ahead of Gono. It is unlikely that
the barons
will lose a cent even if the new currency was to be introduced
today because
they have found a way to beat the system.
Gono’s
threat seems to have had very little impact on the parallel
market dealers.
In instead of suffering, those who have been hoarding cash
are now making
huge profits from the cash shortages.
It emerged this week that
dealers were taking advantage of the
shortages to sell cash at premiums of
up to 25%.
Companies and individual write cheques or wire the money
through the
RTGS system for cash. The barons then make a 25% profit on the
deal.
Officials in the banking sector are normally part of such
shoddy deals
as they are paid to fast track the transfers and clearance of
cheques.
"It’s back to the 2003 case where the local currency was
being sold on
the parallel market. This cash shortage has created a new
business for us.
Now I deal in both forex and Zimdollar," said a parallel
market dealer based
at corner Third Street and Robert Mugabe
Road.
Companies that handle large amounts of cash like supermarkets
have
also found a way of making a profit through either buying foreign
currency
or selling it.
"This trend has been found manifest in
almost every sector. Cash rich
establishments have seen their bank balances
grow and profits increase with
no meaningful trade. Billions and even
trillions have been made ahead of the
scheduled currency change through such
underhand dealings," Economic
consultant, John Robertson said.
The Zimbabwe Independent this week observed how retail outlets and
furniture
shops were reporting brisk business as individuals with cash
rushed to beat
the RBZ’s plan to change the currency. Under normal
circumstances such a
rush would have meant that Gono’s plan was working but
the problems is that
the cash will not find its way back into the banking
system because it is
used to buy foreign currency. The other option is to
sell the money to the
barons for a premium.
Analysts said the crisis will persist until
interest rates in the
banks are attractive enough and inflation has
stabilised. They said the idea
of buying money was also being done to avoid
questioning by the Reserve Bank
if they are to make huge deposits when a
deadline is finally established.
The central bank last week said as
from tomorrow, individuals would be
allowed to deposit a maximum of $50
million in cash without having to
justify the source of their money.
Businesses will be allowed to deposit
$200 million a day while wholesalers
and other large cash handlers have a
cash limit of $1 billion
daily.
Gono said individuals and business wishing to deposit more
than the
set limits after December 1 would be required to produce evidence
to prove
that their income is from legal business activities.
Gono said over 52% of all the money in circulation was missing. This
translates to $28 trillion out of an issued $58 trillion.
Gono
had earlier revealed that he was sitting on $20 trillion of
uninsured $500
000 bearer cheques which he would not issue. The end result
has been cash
shortages reminiscent of 2003. The latest figures beat last
year’s record
when 22% of the country’s bearer cheques disappeared from the
system on the
eve of Sunrise Part 1.
In a statement on Tuesday, Morgan Tsvangirai
faction spokesperson
Nelson Chamisa said the cash crisis was an open
provocation to the people of
Zimbabwe to make them spend nights outside
banks as they seek to withdraw
their hard-earned cash.
"It is
criminal for any government to be the source of the people’s
agony and
tribulations. People simply want to withdraw their hard-earned
money so that
they can buy food, uniforms and other basic commodities for
their families.
They want to buy maize seed and fertiliser.
"They want to maintain
their dignity. They do not want to negotiate
for what is supposed to be an
ordinary service," he said.
The cash crisis comes after the Reserve
Bank said it had injected $10
trillion into the market through the Basic
Commodities Supply Side
Intervention Facility meant to help revive
businesses affected by a
government-sponsored price blitz in
July.
The cash situation worsened this week with some banks not
having cash
at all while some were allowing maximum withdrawals of $5
million for
individuals and between $15 and $20 million for corporates.
Central bank
officials this week said the date for the launch for Sunrise
Two was being
kept a secret by Gono.
But many people remain
sceptical about the "imminent" launch of a new
currency, pointing out any
new currency would soon be eroded by galloping
inflation. Gono is blaming
cash barons on the black market for hoarding
cash, and warned those who did
not take his announcement of the imminent
launch of Sunrise II that they
would only have themselves to blame when
their cash becomes
worthless.
Zim Independent
Constantine Chimakure
THE chairperson of the reconstituted
Media and Information Commission
(MIC) team to review the case of the
outlawed Associated Newspapers of
Zimbabwe (ANZ), Godfrey Chinondidyachii
Mararike, was struck of the register
of lawyers in 1994 for abusing trust
funds and practising without a licence,
the Zimbabwe Independent can
reveal.
ANZ was the publisher of the Daily News and The Daily News
on Sunday
that were banned by the government in September 2003 for failing
to register
with the MIC in line with provisions of the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act.
Information minister
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu appointed Mararike into the MIC
board alongside Charity
Moyo, Edward Dube, Tendai Chari and Ngugi Wa Mirii
in October.
Former Sunday Mail editor Pascal Mukondiwa and Tafataona Mahoso were
re-appointed with the latter retaining the executive
chairmanship.
However, Mahoso and Mukondiwa were barred from
hearing the ANZ case
after several court rulings said the previous board
could no longer be
trusted to decide the fate of the publishing
house.
Mararike is the second blacklisted lawyer to be appointed by
the
government last month to head a crucial commission after Godwills
Masimirembwa was picked to lead the National Incomes and Pricing
Commission.
Masimirembwa was struck off the law register in March
1997 for abusing
trust funds and also practising without a
certificate.
Information to hand reveals that Mararike was
deregistered by the Law
Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) in January 1994 after
being found guilty of
"un-professional, dishonourable and unworthy
conduct".
The Legal Disciplinary Tribunal, chaired by the then
Supreme Court
judge Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, also convicted Mararike of
practising law
without a certificate from the LSZ and misappropriating trust
funds.
Mararike issued a cheque in favour of a client that was,
however,
dishonoured. The LSZ instituted an inquiry into the matter, but
Mararike
allegedly failed to properly account to his client.
Justice Ebrahim found in favour of the LSZ’s application for Mararike
to be
struck off the register for five acts of misconduct. "The fact that a
cheque
was dishonoured by the bank in circumstances where the money should
have
been available to meet it can only be explained on the basis of
misappropriation," the disciplinary committee ruled.
Before he
was struck off, Mararike had worked for two legal firms as a
professional
assistant since his admittance to the bar in 1986 before then
High Court
judge Justice Blackie.
Five years later he started his own firm,
Mararike and Partners.
Mararike’s certificate of practice expired on
December 31 1992, but he
continued to practise without a new one and he did
not submit an audit
certificate and the prescribed fee in terms of LSZ
by-laws.
Before his admittance to the bar, Mararike worked for the
Harare City
Council as a legal adviser soon after completing his Bachelor of
Law degree
in 1984 at the University of Zimbabwe. He completed his LLB in
1985.
Mararike yesterday was uncooperative when reached for
comment. He
initially told Independent that he was having a bath and when
called later,
he claimed he was busy.
Zim Independent
Lucia
Makamure
POLICY Implementation minister Webster Shamu who sued
the Zimbabwe
Independent for $500 million for reporting that his 2005
parliamentary
election campaign was bankrolled by white farmers has
withdrawn the lawsuit.
The withdrawal comes after Shamu’s lawyers,
Vasco Shamu and
Associates, failed to produce the minister’s election
campaign accounts as
requested by Independent lawyer, Linda
Cook.
"With regard to your request to see our client’s accounts
pertaining
to the previous parliamentary election, we advise that our client
does not
have such accounts," Shamu’s lawyers wrote on July 5.
"These matters were dealt with by his chief election agent and
completed
long ago. In any event, we do not see why you wish to have them as
we take
the view, on reflection, that they are irrelevant to the present
proceedings."
In response, Cook demanded that Shamu’s agent
produce the accounts as
they were public records. "With respect, we are
astonished by your advice to
the effect that the plaintiff cannot produce
his records of funds received
for his election campaign and his accounts
because his chief election agent
has them," Cook replied to Shamu’s lawyers
on July 27.
"With respect, the law is clear on this point.
Documents in the
possession of your client’s agents are to be produced.
Furthermore, and in
any event, your client has a statutory obligation to
keep such records."
However, earlier this month Shamu’s lawyers
wrote to Cook advising her
of their intention to withdraw the suit saying in
the next High Court term
Shamu will be busy with the 2008 election
campaign.
"During the next High Court term, our client will be
involved in the
impending elections in 2008, and he will not have enough
time to attend to
this matter. His instructions to us, at this stage, are
that he would be
happy, on a completely without prejudice basis, to withdraw
his suit on
condition that each party pays its own costs."
Cook
said there was no reason for Shamu to be disappointed that the
case had not
been given a trial date as the case had been set down for trial
since
2006.
"I should add that to say that Shamu is disappointed that the
case has
not been set down for trial is nonsense. The case has been set down
for
trial on several occasions by Mr Justice Patel, going back to 2006,"said
Cook.
The Independent edition of July 29 2005 carried a story
headlined
"Zanu PF chefs exposed" in which it was reported that Shamu’s
election
campaign for the Chegutu constituency was bankrolled by white
commercial
farmers.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
FINANCE minister Samuel Mumbengegwi yesterday
presented a $7,8
quadrillion budget that analysts say is inflationary and
populist in nature.
Mumbengegwi went on a money dolling spree in a
move analysts say is
designed to win hearts ahead of next year’s elections.
Analysts said the
budget was devoid of any policies that will solve the
fundamental problems
of foreign currency shortages, inflation and slumped
production levels.
Zimbabwe is currently facing serious food, power and fuel
shortages. The
exchange rate is still out of sync with the reality forcing
individuals and
companies to use the parallel market.
Analysts
said Mumbengegwi’s budget is silent on how the government
plans to solve all
these problems which are at the core of the economic
crisis.
For the second year running, the government failed to produce the blue
book
which gives specification allocations to government ministries.
The
blue book shows government’s exact expenditures in the budget.
The
budget which ran into quadrillions — a shocking figure is not
often head of
in world economics — clearly indicates the collapsed state of
the economy as
it clearly shows.
Last year’s actual budget was $27 trillion but it
grew to $64 trillion
after an additional $37 trillion which Mumbengegwi
added through a
supplementary budget presented in September. This new figure
translates to
an increase of 12 250% on last year’s budget which indicates
that government
is anticipating that inflation will continue to gallop next
year.
Mumbengegwi said the budget would be funded from next year’s
tax
revenues projected to be about $6,080 quadrillion. He said the budget
deficit will be 11% while the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $16
quadrillion. Economists said government was likely to rely heavily on
domestic borrowing and money printing.
Analysts are skeptical
of the minister’s projections that inflation
will come down from 14 840% to
about 1 978% by end of next year saying there
were no policies on the ground
to achieve such an ambitious target. The
market is also skeptical of his
projection that the economy will grow by 4%
next year on the back of
increased agricultural production.
The economy has shrunk by more
that 60% in real terms since the crisis
started in eight years ago and
analysts say any prospects of growth are nil
unless there is a clear policy
shift in government and outside help in the
form of balance of payment
support.
Ambitious projections on inflation and growth in previous
budget
statements have proven to be wide off the mark. Inflation had
skyrocketed
and the economy has registered negative growth for the past six
years. "Its
shocking empty in terms of real policies to drive the economy
forward," said
an economist with a commercial bank. Mumbengegwi seemed to
have a blank
cheque as he presented what he dubbed the ‘People’s
Budget’.
Mumbengegwi reviewed the tax free threshold from $4
million to $30
million per month and widened the tax bands to end at $500
million above
which income would be taxed at 47,5% with effect from January
1, 2008. He
also increased tax free bonus and performance related awards to
$75 million.
Non taxable threshold for retrenchment packages were also
increased to $1
billion.
The budget will fund next year’s
elections to the tune of $209
trillion. Line ministries were given $1,3
quadrillion. He gave $914,9
trillion to support the ministries responsible
for health, education and
social welfare.
He gave $302 trillion
for next years’ cropping, irrigation and
rehabilitation of equipment. This
is despite the fact that the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has poured in
trillions into the agricultural sector to
fund the mechanisation and next
year’s season. Mumbengegwi allocated $80
trillion for the rural
electrification programme and a further $10 trillion
to support rural
communities take advantages of the electricity to venture
into income
generating project.
Troubled water authority, Zinwa, was given $48
trillion to repair its
infrastructure. Two months ago the central bank gave
Zinwa $14 trillion and
US$5 million.
In what could be a
pacifist move Mumbengegwi allocated $34,3 trillion
for the housing of
uniformed forces and $65 trillion for the general civil
servant.
"I propose to allocate $25 trillion towards Operation
Garikayi and
$42,4 trillion for the Beitbridge redevelopment programme with
priority
towards completion of ongoing works.
Zim Independent
By
Tendai Biti
THE mediocre budget proposals for 2008 presented
yesterday by Finance
Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi is an economic fiction that
reflects the
disconnection, denial and the sense of abstraction of the Zanu
PF regime.
At all material times over the years, we have always
argued that the
regime is trapped in a matrix of denial and has no depth of
the nature and
extent of the Zimbabwean crisis.
The suggestion
by the totally talentless Mumbengegwi that the
Zimbabwean economy will grow
by 4% in 2008 and that year-end inflation in
the same year will be down to 1
978% underpins the psychiatric disconnect.
The structural streak of
abstraction and disreality makes Mumbengegwi
fail to acknowledge the reality
of the zillion dollar budget, preferring
instead to pronounce it in terms of
multiple trillions.
That this regime could present a $7, 840
quadrillion budget and fail
to see and acknowledge the reality that it has
failed, is not in charge of
this economy and has no answers to this malaise
is further evidence of this
reality deficit and the reified case of
structural denial.
Zimbabwe is in a structural crisis and is in its
11th year of
continuous negative economic growth rates, a situation not
known in a
country not in war.
The macro-economic fundamentals,
in particular the inflation figures,
the exchange rates and the interest
rates betray total and complete lack of
appreciation of the same by this
regime.
Put simply, the economy is on a free-fall and attempts to
rein in the
same by whatever instrument, be it the budget itself or the
RBZ’s
quasi-fiscal fascism, merely reinforces a fiction; the fiction that
Zanu PF
is in control when it is not in control.
At the core of
the crisis in Zimbabwe is the fact that the state is
controlled by a coterie
of gangsters and thugs who are tired and exhausted.
The limitations
of nationalism are being exposed in the post-colonial
State where the
nationalists controlling the State have failed to reform and
to pass on the
baton.
Put simply, in the language of Franz Fanon, nationalism has
become
exhausted and is surely dying.
Further, to the extent
that nationalism and the state it controls have
failed to evolve, the said
State has become predatory and captive. It is a
state that has become an
arena for personal accumulation. It is a state with
vampire, vulture and
piranha tendencies.
It eats everything in its way. It steals for
the sake of stealing and
accumulates for the sake of
accumulation.
However, it is a State that is fiercely loyal to one
value and one
value alone; the power retention matrix.
Thus,
even in its state of disconnect, Mumbengegwi’s budget does a
brilliant job
for the power retention agenda, particularly given that 2008
is an election
year.
No wonder, in real terms, 70% of the budget is devoted to the
army,
the police, militias and patronage in the form of high allocation to
the
women and the youth.
Thus, under a vote item innocuously
headed Special Services in the
vote for the President and Cabinet, $87, 9
trillion has been allocated to
the Central Intelligence
Organisation.
The Ministry of Defence got a staggering $374,3
trillion while the
ministry of Home Affairs got $339,6
trillion.
But the real slush fund is found hidden as an unallocated
reserve
under the Ministry of Finance’s allocation in the form of a
staggering
$277,9 trillion.
Further, a large part of the
patronage funds are found hidden in
various vote allocations to the Ministry
of Public Service, Labour and
Social Welfare.
The attempt to
label this budget a "people’s budget" is as hollow as
it is unoriginal. For
all practical purposes, this budget is arguably the
most anti-people budget
since independence. We say so for a number of
reasons, both structural and
normative.
At a structural level, the government anticipates a
revenue of $6,08
quadrillion and an expenditure of $7,8 quadrillion, leaving
a deficit of
11%.
In its wisdom, or lack of it, the government
anticipates receiving
revenue to the sum of $6,08 quadrillion. This is
fiction given the
continuing shrinkage of the supply side of our
economy.
Indeed, the Minister of Finance himself in the same
statement,
implicitly acknowledges that for 2007, actual revenue collections
were 53 %
of the fiscal targets of $46, 6 trillion.
What this
means is that in 2008, there is no reason to expect that
revenue collection
will be anything more than 60 percent of the revenue
target of $6,08
quadrillion.
This government will certainly print and borrow more
money.
That will trigger off major inflationary pressures arising
out of the
increase in broad money supply (M3) and of course the
inflationary effect of
the budget deficit.
More inflation means
further theft on the people’s savings and
incomes.
The budget
is also anti-people in that it is premised on a false and
scary turnaround
matrix. The government of Zimbabwe has dubbed 2008 the
"mother of all
agricultural seasons".
Pursuant to this, it has invested zillions
of dollars in this
agricultural season. About $1,9 trillion has been
allocated towards inputs
and over $1,4 trillion has been allocated for the
purchase of fertiliser,
chemicals and seed channeled through the
inappropriately named Operation
Maguta. Over and above this, there has been
an extensive farm mechanisation
programme which has been financed to the
tune of US$25 million.
Two things arise. The first is that with a
fertilizer deficit of over
50%, a seed maize deficit of over 40%, a bumper
harvest is a pipe dream.
Never mind the fact that everything
depends on whether or not we have
a good rainy season.
More
important is the fact that an accumulation model based on
agriculture and
mining is a false one. In this century, to believe that
agriculture and
mining can offer a way out of supply side haemorrhage is
totally
ahistorical.
Even if we were wrong on this point, the fact remains
that a good
agricultural season does not translate into economic salvation
as long as
there is no clearly articulated ideological and developmental
framework and
as long as there is no respect to economic fundamentals , even
in the narrow
and neo-liberal sense.
Put simply, any budget has
to be grounded on a clear ideological
policy and vision. Past budgets have
been rooted in various developmental
models that were in existence eg.
Zimprest, the Millennium Economic Recovery
Plan or the National Economic
Development Priority Programme.
The fallacy of Mumbengegwi’s budget
is that it’s a rhetorical,
contradictory mass of populist and neo-liberal
matrices which are not loyal
to any basic stabilisation or development
model.
Moreover, there is a complete disconnect and
dysfunctionality in the
affairs of this regime.
On one hand
there is an overzealous RBZ governor who at least is loyal
to a vague notion
of economic stability and on the other, there is a coterie
of gangsters who
impose indiscriminate price controls and fight inflation by
imprisoning
captains of industry and business leaders.
The risk-taking
gangsters will push in totally predatory and archaic
legislation such as the
Empowerment Bill and the new mining laws.
The bottom line therefore
is that the country is operating on the
basis of a structural deficit
model.
The neo-colonial State, such as Zimbabwe, operates overdrawn
accounts
in respect of economic sense, economic decency and truly pro-people
agenda.
The only way to close this structural deficit is to resolve
the
burning political deficit in the country.
This requires
genuine national dialogue that will hopefully articulate
the parenthesis of
a new people-driven Constitution model and free and fair
elections in terms
of that model.
Quite clearly, the regime in Harare continues to
play blind man’s buff
with the economy and the people of
Zimbabwe.
Tendai Biti, MP is the MDC Secretary-General.
Zim Independent
Kuda Chikwanda
FINANCE minister Samuel Mumbengegwi’s budget
yesterday showed a
deficit of $1 760 quadrillion a figure representing 4
064% of the
consolidated budget for 2007. This means that this next year’s
deficit is
actually far more than the total budget of this
year.
Expenditures for 2008 will come to a whopping $7 840
quadrillion
outstripping revenues set at $6 080 quadrillion.
The budget deficit is approximately 11% of the country’s Gross
Domestic
Product (GDP) which Mumbengegwi set at $16 000 trillion. Even at
such huge
figures in monetary terms the market believes that the deficit is
heavily
understated. The International Monetary Fund said this year’s budget
deficit
would rise to more than 75% of the GDP as government continues to
spend
money it does not have.
Analysts say the budget will have to be
funded through money printing
and domestic borrowings. Government’s domestic
debt is currently at $12
trillion.
Mumbengegwi said he expected
the budget to drive down inflation from
current highs of 14 840% to 1 978%
at the end of next year. It is however
unclear how this will be achieved
when the new figure budget figures are
more than 12 000% more than this
year’s budget.
Ministries and government departments had submitted
expenditure
requests for $42 435 trillion which Mumbengegwi dismissed saying
they were
inflationary.
"These bids are geared towards chasing
inflation rather than reducing
it. However, the thrust of the 2008 People’s
Budget is geared at stabilising
the economy and increasing output and
productivity in order to put the
economy back on a sustainable recovery and
growth path," said Mumbengegwi.
The minister also projected that
the economy would grow by 4% and said
this growth would ride on the
agricultural sector, improved industrial
performance and increased activity
by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
"The 2008 macro-economic
framework is premised on a projected real
economic growth of 4%, due to the
anticipated growth in the agricultural
sector, improved industrial
performance and economic performance by the
grassroots, including SMEs," he
said.
However, economists said the growth targets were far fetched
as
Mumbengegwi had already laid the ground for the economy to shrink much
further.
University of Zimbabwe (UZ) economist Tony Hawkins
said Mumbengegwi’s
budget was based on a lot of wishful thinking and was
patently misleading.
"If you look at the statement and the blue
book, the figures differ.
With the level of expenditure requests made by
ministries, it means next
year we are going to have quite a number of
supplementary budgets. And it
obviously means the budget deficit will be
much higher," Hawkins said.
Hawkins said government was clueless as
to how it would get through
next year and was likely to continue with
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s
inflationary quasi-fiscal funding.
"Ministries did not get what they asked for; instead they only got 18%
of
their requirements. It means we are likely to see inflation peaking," he
said.
Economist John Robertson said Mumbengegwi’s growth
forecasts were
unrealistic and said the economy was set to shrink
further.
"The growth forecasts are unrealistic for a number of
reasons. He
(Mumbengegwi) has already disallowed expenditure requests from
government
ministries and departments for $42 435 trillion," John Robertson
said.
"In the absence of such funds, it means we are going to see
seriously
deteriorating levels of efficiency and effectiveness across the
public
sector next year."
Mumbengegwi said his People’s Budget
would try to stem skills flight
so as to ensure that government achieved
economic turnaround.
"The 2008 Budget, therefore, targets the
retention and attraction of
skills, through a package of incentives,"
Mumbengegwi said.
Robertson said this was highly unlikely as
government was unable to
meet the requirements of its ministries and
departments.
"Mumbengegwi only allocated less than a fifth of what
ministries
requested. It means government cannot meet the requirements of
its own
departments. Most of that money was set to pay better wages and
replace
equipment. The people with skills will leave and those left behind
will
reduce their productivity and concentrate on their own small businesses
on
government time," Robertson added.
Capital expenditure
accounted for only 32% of the submitted budget
statement while recurrent
expenditure — a major inflation driver — is 68% of
the budget.
Zim Independent
Lucia
Makamure
FINANCE minister Samuel Mumbengegwi in his 2008
national budget
yesterday set aside $209 trillion to meet the costs of next
year’s
presidential, legislative and council elections.
In his
budget presentation in parliament, Mumbengegwi said the money
will fund
operations of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), the
Registrar-General
office (RG) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).
Mumbengegwi
said the government had already made available resources
for mobile voters’
registration, voters’ roll inspection and the
delimitation
exercise.
"Under the 2007 budget, government has already availed
resources for
mobile registration, voters’ roll inspection as well as the
delimitation
exercise," said Mumbengegwi.
"In addition, funding
requirements, including foreign currency, for
election materials such as
ballot boxes, indelible ink, tents and other
equipment have been
met."
In the 2008 budget, the minister said, funding requirements
include
personnel costs, vehicle procurement and other election-related
costs.
In terms of resources, next year’s polls will need close to
15 000
polling stations with 173 000 ballot boxes for the 210 contested
constituencies while each polling station would require at least 12 polling
officers and four policemen.
The budget allocation for the
elections is also expected to address a
critical staff shortage at ZEC,
which currently has 140 workers out of the
required 823.
Last
week, the RG’s office, which runs the voters’ roll and handles
identity and
citizenship documents, appealed for US$6 million from
government for
preparations for elections and management of its computerised
systems.
The RG’s office’s chief accountant Edwell Mutemaringa
recently told
the parliamentary portfolio committee on Defence and Home
Affairs that the
department urgently required $3,5 trillion to print the
voters’ roll.
The police are also failing to recruit additional
manpower and buy new
vehicles for the elections due to lack of
funds.
The force currently has 2 000 vehicles out of the required
15 000.
There are 29 000 members of the police and the force
intends to
recruit 21 000 more.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
FINANCE minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi yesterday allocated the
Agriculture ministry $475 trillion, $165
million more than what it had
requested for in the formulation stages of the
2008 national budget.
The allocation is expected to be used mainly
for grain imports,
support for both summer and winter cropping seasons,
livestock support,
rehabilitation of irrigation and on-farm infrastructure
as well as dam
construction.
Presenting the budget, Mumbengegwi
said a vibrant agricultural sector
was essential for the revival of the
economy and to ensure food
self-sufficiency as well as increase industrial
production in the country.
He reviewed the rentals fees for A2
farmers to reflect the real value
of the farms, saying that farmers would be
required to show proof of payment
of the rental fees in order to be eligible
to participate in
government-assisted prgrammes.
He said
notwithstanding the difficulties affecting the agricultural
sector, it
managed to record an overall growth during the 2006/7 season.
"Notwithstanding drought conditions experienced during the 2006/7
cropping
season, real growth of 4% is estimated for the agricultural sector
this
year," Mumbengegwi said.
"Tobacco, horticulture, groundnut, soya
beans, sunflower and tea were
among the major crops contributing to this
year’s overall positive
agricultural performance. The positive performances
of the above crops
offset the drought-induced decline in maize production,
which fell to 953
000 tonnes compared to the 2006 crop of 1 485 000
tonnes."
He said government will continue to support the
agricultural sector
through the provision of inputs and working capital, so
the 2007/8 season
which has been dubbed "the mother of all agricultural
seasons" has to be
accorded highest priority in the 2008
budget.
"Since the majority of our people are engaged in
agriculture,
increased support for agriculture is increased support for the
people," he
said. "This is why this budget is dubbed the ‘people’s
budget’."
Mumbengegwi said production in virtually all crops was
expected to
increase next year following government interventions with farm
machinery,
equipment and inputs.
"Government interventions for
the coming season should see farmers
benefit from improved access to a wide
range of farm machinery and
equipment, and such inputs as fertilisers, seeds
and chemicals are now in
place for the 2007/8 farming season," he
said.
He said farmers were already accessing the inputs through
countrywide
GMB depots.
"In the case of maize seed, measures
are in place to provide for the
estimated shortfall of the 15 000 tonnes
through imports. Seed houses have
availed 35 000 tonnes of maize seed," he
said.
Mumbengegwi allocated $1,9 trillion towards inputs support
and maize
purchases of which $1,4 trillion was already spent at the end of
October.
"Government also provided resources amounting to $98,6
billion for the
purchase of fertiliser, chemicals and seeds, through
Agribank and Operation
Maguta," he said.
He said the Reserve
Bank has also supported the effort through the
mechanisation programme and
provision of incentives in order to encourage
agricultural
production.
"By October 2007, over 2 500 tractors and other farm
machinery were
allocated to the farmers under this programme," he said.
"Over 70 000
ox-drawn implements have also been availed to communal
farmers."
He said government disbursed resources amounting to
$958,6 billion in
support of wheat production, of which $500 billion was for
wheat purchases
which has seen over 70 000 tonnes delivered to the
GMB.
He said attention has been given to other sectors that
directly
contribute towards the success of agriculture, which include inputs
such as
coal, electricity and fuel where the providers of these resources
need
recapitalisation.
"Included in the areas of agricultural
production under focus is
livestock production," he said. "This requires
budgetary support in terms of
the veterinary services and loan scheme for
the rebuilding of the national
herd.
"To augment these efforts
to support agricultural production,
government will work out and implement
cost-plus pricing for agricultural
commodities with two objectives of
ensuring farmer viability and
productivity as well as affordable food crop
prices to the end consumer."
He said his focus was consistent with
the current initiatives such as
the ongoing agricultural mechanisation,
Aspef as well as operation Maguta
and is a direct strategy for reducing
inflation.
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
THE Minister of Finance
Samuel Mumbengegwi yesterday made minor tax
concessions to hard pressed
workers which, analysts say, will soon be eroded
by rising
inflation.
Mumbengegwi increased the tax-free threshold to $30
million from $4
million, an amount which is only enough to buy about 6kg of
the low grade of
beef.
"I propose to review the tax-free
threshold from $4 million to $30
million and also to widen the tax bands to
end at $500 million per month,
above which income is taxed at 47,5% with
effect from January 1 2008," said
Mumbengegwi.
In August
Mumbengegwi had reviewed the tax-free threshold from $1,5 to
$4 million
during the mid-term policy review.
"In order to support households
during the festive season and their
preparations for other expenditures such
as new tern school fees, I propose
to increase the tax-free bonus and
performance related award to $75 million
with effect from November 1," he
said.
Mumbengegwi also reviewed the non-taxable threshold of
retrenchment
packages to $1 billion or one third of the retrenchment
package, whichever
is greater, with an upper limit of $10 billion effective
January next year.
Tax credits have reduced the tax obligations on
the blind and
physically challenged persons in order to increase their
disposable incomes.
Mumbengegwi increased tax credits for the blind and
physically challenged
persons to $25 million per month with effect from
January next year.
The minister said commercial imports by
unregistered traders were only
liable to customs duties at the port of
entry.
All other taxes that were liable after resale of such
commercial
imports such as tax on realised profits, Value Added Tax and
other related
taxes currently remain outside the tax net.
"I
propose to levy a 10% withholding tax on the value of all
commercial
consignments imported by traders who are not registered with the
Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra)," he said.
Mumbengegwi said upon
registration of the business with Zimra,
withholding tax paid will be
credited against tax payable on submission of
an income tax
return.
Income tax on motoring benefits granted to employees were
said to be
an additional income that should be grossed to their salaries for
purpose of
taxation in line with the principle of equity and
fairness.
Against this background, tax on a vehicle with an engine
capacity of
up to 1 500cc was reviewed from $600 000 to $40 million. An
engine capacity
of over 1 500cc but not exceeding 2 000cc was raised to $60
million from $1
million. A vehicle with a 2 000cc engine but not exceeding 3
000cc capacity
was reviewed to $75 million from $1,25 million while an
engine capacity
exceeding 3 000cc rose to $100 million from $1,6
million.
The minister said a low registration threshold strained
the capacity
of tax administration, since small-scale enterprises will be
compelled to
register for Value Added purposes.
"I propose to
adjust upwards the threshold for VAT registration to
$120 billion per annum
with effect from January 2008. The proposed threshold
will not apply to
registered VAT operators," he said.
Mumbengegwi said value added
tax would be levied on all goods disposed
of through a registered
auctioneer, regardless of whether they belong to a
registered or
unregistered company or individual with effect from January
next
year.
Due to the absence of a time frame within which capital gains
tax paid
should be remitted to Zimra, the time before remittance was in most
circumstances too long resulting to tax collected losses value.
Mumbengegwi then proposed the remittance of capital gains tax to be
made to
the tax authority within 30 days after transfer of the property.
"Provision for penalty and interest for failure to pay or delayed
payments
will also be put in place to enforce compliance," he said.
Customs
duty on fuel which was pegged at $5 000 per litre of diesel or
petrol was
reviewed upwards to $100 000 per litre effective tomorrow.
A
presumptive tax on hair saloon at a rate of $50 million or 10% of
gross
income per quarter whichever is greater.
Zim Independent
Orirando Manwere
FOUR public utilities whose performance is
crucial for the restoration
of production capacity across key sectors of the
economy have been allocated
$146,4 trillion in the 2008 national
budget.
Presenting the 2008 budget to parliament yesterday, Finance
minister
Samuel Mumbengegwi said the money would be shared between Zesa
Holdings, the
Rural Electrification Agency, the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority and the
National Railways of Zimbabwe to address structural
bottlenecks in energy,
water and transport sectors, among
others.
On Hwange, which is key to industrial production and
electricity
general, Mumbengegwi said government would work with
stakeholders to
mobilise resources for its recapitalisation, coupled with a
timely review of
coal prices to reflect production costs.
Zesa,
which is failing to meet local production and finance power
imports from
neighboring countries, was allocated $5,5 trillion for ongoing
rehabilitation and expansion of power generation works.
Mumbengegwi said this would be complemented by demand management
measures
that would include periodic tariff reviews to reflect costs as well
as
energy conservation awareness campaigns.
A total of $80 trillion
was allocated towards the rural
electrification programme and $10 trillion
for electricity end-use
infrastructure development to encourage
income-generating projects and
irrigation in rural areas.
The
development of alternative energy sources, including bio-diesel
and ethanol,
solar and bio-gas, received $5 trillion.
The Zimbabwe National
Water Authority that is failing to ensure water
supplies in urban centres
due to ageing infrastructure, lack of spares and
equipment for repairs, was
allocated $48 trillion.
Mumbengegwi allocated $2,2 trillion to the
NRZ for upgrading rail
infrastructure.
He said this would be
complemented by targeted provision of foreign
currency by the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe to procure more wagons, locomotives
and refurbishment of
signaling and telecommunication networks. The NRZ’s
signaling system has
been blamed for a number of train accidents.
Zim Independent
Paul
Nyakazeya
THE country’s domestic debt has ballooned to $12,5
trillion as at
October 31 from $8,1 trillion in September, a 54,3 %
rise.
Presenting the 2008 national budget in parliament yesterday,
the
Minister of Finance Samuel Mumbengegwi said continued reliance on
domestic
financial borrowings was the reason behind the continued increase
in the
domestic debt.
He also revealed that the country’s
external debt stood at US$4,1
billion of which external arrears were US$2,7
billion.
"Increased reliance on domestic financial borrowings had
seen total
domestic debt rise significantly, especially against the
background of high
nominal interest rates. Reflecting this, total domestic
debt has
progressively risen to the current levels of $12,5 million as at
end of
October," Mumbengegwi said.
The figures have a huge
bearing on the returns that investors will be
getting from the money
market.
The market was bound to continue issuing investors with
negative
returns in the short-tem to minimise the harmful effects of the
huge
interest cost component on the debt figures.
The Reserve
bank has since January said interest rates which
constitutes over 90% of the
country’s domestic debt would be a burden on the
fiscus if government
continues to rely on domestic borrowing.
The bank said increased
borrowing had tied up a high percentage of the
nation’s
savings.
Analysts said the domestic debt would continue to soar due
to the
necessity to fund various imports such as electricity, grain and
fuel.
"We have managed to restructure our domestic debt profile,
which
though mainly still comprised of short term debt profile, which, tough
still
comprised of short term debt is now constituted of 35,8% instrument of
three
years maturity with the remaining 64,2% being 365 day treasury bills,"
Mumbengegwi said.
Indications are that the restructuring
exercise was likely to be
unsuccessful due to the market’s lack of appetite
for long-term investments.
It was evident that the solvency of
government was already seriously
compromised by the current interest rates,
and technically government
finances will not be better with even a 2% rise
in interest rates
Mumbengegwi said the country was experiencing
deficits between foreign
currency inflow and outflows.
"The
situation was reflective of constraints being faced in the
economy because
of sanctions, drought and sagging national ego or mindset,"
he
said.
The debt stock was likely to rise further on increased
borrowing by
government to finance unbudgeted expenditure and the need to
meet its
projection of a 4% growth in the economy.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
THE MDC’s preparedness for the
2008 elections is uncertain as the
party continues to delay the launch of
its campaign for the historic joint
presidential, parliamentary and council
polls next year with very thin
activity on the ground.
Analysts
have said divisions rocking the opposition have exposed the
party’s
ill-preparedness for the elections, a development that might give
away the
much-awaited polls to Zanu PF.
The MDC is fighting on all fronts,
from the women’s assembly, the
talks with Zanu PF and over candidates for
the elections. The divisions have
seen the opposition diverting attention
from canvassing electoral support
and shaping a convincing campaign strategy
for the watershed elections to
fighting itself.
Political
analyst Eldred Masunungure said the turbulence in the MDC
was caused by an
uncontrolled search for power.
"The MDC are shooting themselves in
the foot because instead of
consolidating their support base, they are
alienating it," he said. "They
have a penchant of pressing a self-destruct
button at a wrong time. It is
evident that their attention is facing inward,
trying to solve intra-party
problems. They need to put their house in order
and refocus their strategies
towards a common enemy."
The MDC
has failed to use the worsening economic crisis, the July
price blitz, and
food shortages as opportunities to advancing its cause.
"The MDC is
failing to harness public anger into support. Instead of
working to capture
more support for itself, it is sowing seeds of confusion,
a development
which might force supporters to stay away from the elections,"
Masunungure
said.
He said the MDC lacked a unifying factor for supporters and
the
leadership beyond personalities.
"Unlike Zanu PF, the MDC
lacks a unifying force and an ideology which
glues the leadership and
supporters to one common goal. Their politics is
the politics of poverty. It
is politics of survival whereby those seeking to
be elected to be MPs or
councillors have not achieved anything in life.
Politics is the only
industry they know," he said.
Zimbabwe Peace Project chairman
Alouis Chaumba said democratic forces
were worried by the developments in
the opposition, which he said were
killing 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, thus giving
away the
election."
Chaumba said failure to resolve internal
politics should ring alarm
bells for the leadership if they entertain hopes
of forming 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 doubts on
whether the party is prepared to
embrace democracy at national level."
Other analysts said the
opposition should be rolling out campaign
strategies for the elections,
which are only five months away, identifying
constituencies and rallying
their supporters at the grassroots level.
The analysts said the
opposition should not wait for Zanu PF to set
the tone of
elections.
However, the Morgan Tsvangirai faction of the MDC said
it has set in
motion its election preparations by setting up a poll
directorate to vet
candidates for the presidential, legislative and council
elections.
Tsvangirai last week met over 200 provincial and
district leaders of
his faction at Harvest House where the directorate was
announced.
Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the directorate,
headed by
national chairman Lovemore Moyo, will select and vet next year’s
election
candidates, among other things.
"The election
directorate has been tasked to finalise the vetting of
candidates who
submitted their curriculum vitae for selection," Chamisa
said. "It will also
be involved in key preparations for the election in both
logistical,
administration and technical support."
The directorate is expected
to finalise the list of candidates for the
election before the party’s
annual conference next month.
To boost its election bid, the MDC
has already imported more than 300
vehicles for its provincial and districts
structures. The vehicles are
easily identified by the party’s open palm
symbol.
Chamisa said the MDC was confident of winning despite a
hostile
environment. "Notwithstanding the hostile environment, we enter the
race
from a position of strength," Chamisa said. "We are confident of
victory
because people have suffered enough. We are confident that we shall
win the
popular vote."
MDC deputy organising secretary Morgan
Komichi said his party’s
preparations were at an advanced stage because they
had already invited
applications from prospective candidates for the
elections.
"We are going to field candidates in all
constituencies," Komichi
said. "We have already invited applications for
candidates, which have
received an overwhelming response so we will hold
primary elections in most
of the constituencies."
He said his
party was just waiting for the delimitation of
constituencies to announce
its candidates.
Komichi said the divisions that rocked the MDC last
month were just a
hiccup. "That was just a temporary hiccup," he said. "The
president has
explained it and everybody has accepted the
process."
He said his party had already deployed vehicles and
campaign teams
into constituencies to canvass for support.
All
this activity has however been overshadowed by intra-party
fighting which
has rocked the party from the time of the 2005 split to the
latest spat
which saw Chamisa, former Harare mayor, Elias Mudzuri, deputy
secretary-general Tapiwa Mashakada, Kwekwe MP Blessing Chebundo and youth
leader Thamsanqa Mahlangu, condemning Tsvangirai’s action.
Political analysts said the instability in the MDC ahead of a crucial
election against Zanu PF could tilt the scale in favour of President Robert
Mugabe.
They say while it is agreed that Zanu PF is weak now
given internal
rivalries and an economy in free-fall, the opposition appears
much weaker in
a number of respects.
Mugabe is under siege from
a collapsing economy blamed on
mismanagement, internal wrangling in Zanu PF
and internationally isolation.
Tsvangirai is battling to
re-establish himself as the undisputable
leading opposition politician after
the split of his party in 2005. While he
has in a way managed to reclaim
that mantle, divisions persist.
Zim Independent
Jacob
Rukweza
IN recent weeks war veterans have marched through the
streets across
the country to show solidarity with President Robert Mugabe
who is fighting
to thwart dissenting lieutenants within his party eager to
see him
relinquish power.
Questions have been raised as to why
the veterans of the 1970s war of
liberation — who have also been
impoverished by the economic meltdown
spawned by Mugabe’s misrule — have
chosen to hold these solidarity marches
at a time when Mugabe’s support in
the party is at its lowest ebb.
Zanu PF insiders say the pro-Mugabe
marches — spearheaded by war
veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda -— are an
attempt to silence factions in
the ruling party pushing for a new leader to
be selected at the party’s
extraordinary congress in December.
Another question that has not been answered by those appointed to
speak on
behalf of Zanu PF is why President Mugabe and his ruling party have
mysteriously chosen to hold an extraordinary congress instead of the
traditional annual people’s conference which could still deal with all items
which the party officials say have necessitated the extraordinary
congress.
Observers say President Mugabe has grudgingly agreed to
an
extraordinary congress as demanded by the powerful central committee of
his
party with a plan to tactfully impose his candidature while taking the
opportunity of a congress to silence dissenters.
While all Zanu
PF spokesmen are adamant that the main agenda of the
December congress is
the "confirmation of President Mugabe as the Zanu PF
candidate for next
year’s presidential elections" it is becoming clearer by
the day that there
is something that the ruling party officials are not
telling
us.
If it is true that according to the Zanu PF constitution
Mugabe’s
candidature cannot be opposed at the extraordinary congress in
December how
is it possible that, conversely, the same congress will be
mandated to
endorse Mugabe’s candidature?
Can it be possible by
any stretch of constitutional provision that the
Zanu PF extraordinary
congress — which happens to represent the highest
decision-making body of
the ruling party — is only required to endorse the
candidature of its
leaders but not empowered to do the opposite?
It may be important
to highlight that there is no difference between
an ordinary congress and an
extraordinary congress of the ruling party in
terms of composition and
fundamental powers. Both congresses are attended by
exactly the same number
of delegates who represent similar structures and
portfolios of the
party.
The only difference is that by constitutional design an
ordinary
congress of the ruling party is held once every five years while an
extraordinary congress is held as and when it is necessary to do so as
requested by a majority of party provinces or the central committee of the
party.
It follows therefore that the Zanu PF extraordinary
congress to be
held in Harare this December should have the power not only
to endorse
Mugabe but also to elect a new leader if it becomes
necessary.
Under normal circumstances it is the ordinary session of
the Zanu PF
congress that is empowered to elect new party leaders including
the first
secretary and president who becomes the automatic presidential
candidate in
any general election falling within his term of office as party
leader.
There would be no need for an extraordinary congress
between
congresses to endorse the party leader as presidential candidate
unless the
incumbent loses the support or confidence of party members as may
be
indicated by a majority of provinces or the central committee who would
proceed to request for an extraordinary congress.
Calling for
an extraordinary congress to confirm Mugabe as the ruling
party’s
presidential candidate clearly means he has lost both the support
and
confidence of party members and a congress has to make a new
determination
on Mugabe’s leadership and candidature.
Contrary to public claims
by Zanu PF spokesmen, the December
extraordinary congress has the power not
just to endorse President Mugabe,
but also to reject him.
By
listing the confirmation of Mugabe’s candidature as the main agenda
of the
extraordinary congress the party is inadvertently opening Mugabe’s
position
for contest.
The question to answer is what will happen in the
event that congress
delegates refuse to endorse Mugabe as the ruling party’s
presidential
candidate?
Will Zanu PF delegates pack their bags
and leave the congress without
a presidential candidate just because
"electing a new leader is not part of
the agenda" even when the same
delegates also constitute the ordinary
congress with the powers to elect new
party leaders?
Mugabe is alive to this reality which poses a
catastrophic threat to
his future at the helm of the fractious ruling party
no wonder his desperate
decision to resort to the expelled but energetic
Sibanda and his convenient
constituency of gullible war veterans to
intimidate and terrorise dissenting
party members and whip them into line
before the crucial December congress.
The shenanigans by Sibanda,
his deputy Joseph Chinotimba and the
ex-combatants should be understood in
this context.
What started as an opportunity to show public
contrition by an
expelled but ambitious member of the party has ostensibly
become a national
project involving the highest offices in both Zanu PF and
government.
Zanu PF national commissar Elliot Manyika last weekend
annnounced that
the "million men march" originally mooted by Sibanda and
scheduled for
October 30 was now being organised "under the guardianship of
the party and
the office of President Mugabe".
The war veterans
chairman has previously warned that "any party member
who does not support
this revolution will be considered a sell-out". Ealier
on, Sibanda even had
the temerity to accuse senior Zanu PF leaders in
Matabeleland who did not
attend the solidarity march in Bulawayo of being
"against President
Mugabe".
It is not a coincidence that after the targeted threats by
Sibanda
senior Zanu PF leaders and party structures are falling over each in
trying
to publicly demonstrate their support of President Mugabe to the
extent of
hijacking Sibanda’s "million men march" ahead of the extraordinary
congress.
The stakes are high for President Mugabe and those who
have worked
with the Zanu PF leader are aware of the near-fatal concequences
of "selling
out" in such critical situations.
Mugabe’s whims
will eventually prevail come December largely because
he is surrounded by
spineless cowards who are already singing for their
supper following the
on-going threats by pro-Mugabe ex-combatants.
But if Zanu PF is
truly democratic and Mugabe wants to test his
popularity at the
extraordinary congress in December the party should allow
all the 4 000
delegates to endorse him through a secret ballot asking them
to vote YES if
they support his candidature and NO if they oppose his
leadership.
After the final vote count Mugabe will be lucky to
pull more than five
votes out of the 4 000. The same people who opposed his
candidature at the
party’s annual people’s conference in Goromonzi last
December will be in
Harare this December to repeat the feat.
Zanu PF members who are marching against their conscience in support
of
Mugabe’s candidature today are doing it out of fear of the dire
concequences
of publicly opposing the vindictive octogenarian.
We know that the
chief organiser of the pro-Mugabe marches —
Sibanda -— does not support
Mugabe from the bottom of his heart.
Mugabe belongs to the old
guard of unpopular and failed Zanu PF
politicians that Sibanda was eager to
replace with the Emmerson Mnangagwa
led faction as proved by his alligience
to the Tsholotsho declaration which
resulted in his expulsion from the
ruling party in 2004.
Taking his cue from his ally and confidante,
Jonathan Moyo — who was
rewarded with a cabinet post in 2000 for defending
Mugabe when the whole
party had abandoned him — Sibanda realises that as
things stand Mugabe is in
a lonely corner and desperately needs energetic,
charismatic but shameless
commissars to fight from his camp.
Jacob Rukweza is a sub-editor on the Zimbabwe Independent.
Zim Independent
By
Phillip Pasirayi
AT a time when we expect fair-minded people to
cringe at the levels of
hopelessness, poverty and deprivation in Zimbabwe
authored by the Zanu PF
government, we still hear people who continue to
declare that President
Robert Mugabe must be a life president.
Some of the people who make these remarks, like Oppah Muchinguri, the
Zanu
PF secretary for Women’s Affairs, look respectable at least until they
open
their mouth.
The levels of desperation and discordance in
government and Zanu PF
have reached fever-pitch levels as exemplified by
groups declaring President
Mugabe as the Zanu PF candidate for elections
scheduled for March next year.
What this means is that the centre
can no longer hold and even those
groups and senior politicians declaring
Mugabe the candidate are not even
confident and do not believe that they are
doing the correct thing.
They know that beyond the rallies which
masses are forced to attend,
particularly women and young children, Mugabe’s
support is at its lowest ebb
in post-Independence Zimbabwe.
The
question that many people ask today is why groups and individuals
are
falling over each other to endorse Mugabe’s candidature in newsrooms, in
the
streets and at rallies and not waiting for the proper procedure at the
party’s annual congress.
It is clear that Mugabe had lost the
plot to factions within his party
who are in touch with reality and want
change of leadership. There is ample
evidence that there exists a group in
Zanu PF that is opposed to Mugabe’s
grand plan to be life
president.
This group thinks that although Zanu PF’s policies have
led to the
collapse of the country’s economy, the party can still be
rehabilitated
through change of leadership and injection of new
blood.
So far Mugabe has shown that he is capable of dealing with
any form of
dissent within Zanu PF because of the many channels through
which his system
of patronage continues to feed and thrive.
Today Mugabe’s government is surviving on patronage leading to the
many
feuds between various camps that try to outwit each other and curry
favour
with the president. Mugabe has been shrewd in playing the various
camps
against each other rather than against him.
This astuteness is
exemplified in having many people directly report
to the president and not
through the various heads of government
departments.
For
instance the director of the Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO)
Happypton Bonyongwe reports directly to the president, the
Vice-Chancellor
of the University of Zimbabwe, Levi Nyagura reports directly
to the
president, the governor of the central bank, Gideon Gono reports
directly to
the president, police chief Augustine Chihuri reports directly
to the
president and the list goes on.
The system of governance is weak
and open to manipulation by the Head
of State for his selfish interests. In
this system, a Minister of Finance
may be less influential than say a
governor of the central bank.
For instance, the Minister of Finance
may not even know when and how
decisions to change the country’s currency
are taken because the central
bank governor would have discussed it with the
president. So apart from the
much talked about Emmerson Mnangagwa and Joice
Mujuru camps, I posit that
there are various camps in Zanu PF which all seek
to win Mugabe’s attention
for appointment to key government
posts.
It is true that the people who have spoken the loudest and
declared
Mugabe the candidate arguing that he still has got "unfinished
business"
that he must be allowed to finish are doing so not for the good of
the
country but for selfish agendas.
These people know too well
that a Mugabe win in next year’s election
spells disaster for the country
and its people. The current levels of
foreign currency shortages and the
scarcity of electricity, fuel and food
will worsen if Mugabe is declared the
winner of next year’s elections.
Apart from looting what is left of
the national coffers, the regime in
Harare has run out of ideas about how to
fix the economy and provide food to
the starving masses.
But
the question that we ought to ask ourselves as Zimbabweans is why
Mugabe who
has been in power since we attained independence from Britain in
1980 still
wants us to give him another chance to ruin our lives?
What does he
want to achieve in the next five years, especially with
all odds working
against him, chief among these being the increasing
disapproval of his rule
at home and an "unfriendly" international community?
These
questions are mind-boggling but can only be understood by
tracking Mugabe’s
trail of human rights abuses since 1982 such as torture,
murder and
disappearances for which he will certainly be prosecuted if he
leaves office
today.
Last week, Professor Jonathan Moyo noted that, "Any person
who as Head
of State and government, wants to rule for life under any
pretext is by
definition a danger to society. And anybody and any group that
supports and
endorses such a person’s continued stay in office under
whatever pretext is
by definition very dangerous to society."
Long and overdue incumbency is inimical to democratic practice. Mugabe’s
continued stay in power is an endorsement of the human rights abuses his
regime has been instigating against civil society and opposition. Mugabe’s
re-election means that those who used to have one meal per day will have
none and those who used to have electricity three days per week will have it
once a week.
The people of Zimbabwe must refuse to be duped
into voting for Mugabe
whose policies have ruined lives of young children
and those that are yet to
be born.
Even if a new government
comes into power, the process of rebuilding
our public institutions and to
restore confidence in them is going to take
time and a lot of resources. The
people must refuse to be held to ransom by
a bunch of people who are
enjoying whilst the majority of people are
suffering.
The
people who support Mugabe as the Zanu PF candidate next year want
to be
rewarded with cabinet posts or retained in their current positions and
not
for the good of the country.
These people include Oppah Muchinguri
and Saviour Kasukuwere who will
obviously have no meaningful roles to play
in the post-Mugabe era because
they have survived through bootlicking the
president.
Phillip Pasirayi is a Hubert Humphrey scholar at the
University of
North Carolina, USA.
Zim Independent
Comment
GOVERNMENT has gazetted the Mines and Minerals
Amendment Bill which
seeks to redistribute the country’s mineral wealth.
This is a piece of
legislation which follows hard on the heels of the
Indigenisation and
Empowerment Bill which went through parliament almost
three month ago.
President Mugabe is yet to sign the Bill into law
and there is
speculation that the legislation could be reintroduced in
another form. A
reformist alternative proffered by Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono in his
mid-term monetary policy statement in September raised
hopes that the Bill
might not become law.
The introduction of
the Mines and Minerals Bill however could be a
sure sign that government is
going ahead with its not-so-well thought-out
indigenisation plan. The two
laws are inseparable.
Of significance this week however was the
spin that the government is
now vending regarding the implementation of the
Mines Bill. Mines minister
Amos Midzi said government was not proposing to
give away mines for free but
that beneficiaries should demonstrate an
ability to raise capital to acquire
stakes in mines. He also said government
would repossess claims being held
for speculative purposes.
"Those who do not use their claims will simply lose them," said Midzi.
"The
principle will be applied without fear or favour."
Two key issues
arise from this explanation by Midzi. Firstly, the
government is keen to
allay fears that this will be another free for all
crafted on the template
of the fast track land reform. The worry which
gripped the industry is
understandable because of careless statements by
senior government officials
when advertising the impending tabling of the
Bill last year. Ministers — in
a threatening manner — said after the farms,
government was angling for the
mines. The effects of the destruction of
commercial agriculture after the
fast track land reform programme are still
with us.
Secondly,
the minister tried to sound reassuring by saying that
unproductive claims
would be repossessed and given to those with resources
and knowledge to
exploit them productively.
These are promises which we have heard
before. When the land reform
started, government promised that no farmer
would be left landless. It said
the land would be given to those with the
resources to utilise it.
Lately there has been talk that land lying
fallow — which is the state
of the majority of resettled farms — would be
repossessed and given to
deserving farmers. The government has also talked
of a one farmer on farm
policy — another fallacy. All these promises have
been broken with impunity
to the extent of enacting legislation to
legitimise the departure from
original policy guidelines.
The
failure of the land reform programme — manifesting itself in food
shortages
and very low production of primary goods — is going to be the bane
of any
future government plan to indigenise the economy. It would be naïve
to
believe Midzi’s assurance that there will be order in the quest to
increase
local ownership in the mining sector. Verbal assurances are not a
sufficient
guarantee that productivity in the sector can be enhanced through
the
transfer of assets to black owners.
There has been failure by black
businessmen to raise the requisite
capital for them to participate in
empowerment facilities; a notable one
being the 15% stake reserved for black
players in Zimplats.
Problems are set to arise if indigenous people
cannot raise capital to
participate meaningfully in the mining sector.
Government on the other hand
will not allow a situation where it finds
itself stuck with redundant
empowerment legislation because would-be
beneficiaries do not have the
resources.
History has shown that
the Zanu PF government, when faced with such a
scenario, starts to cut
corners. In the case of agriculture, the judiciary
was suborned, laws
protecting property rights were trashed, compensation for
loss of assets
became subservient to the need to transfer assets to b