Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
DETAILS of alleged looting by senior
politicians and officials
at state-owned steel-making enterprise,
Ziscosteel, started surfacing this
week with a number of company officials
involved in the abuse of funds being
named.
Investigations by the Zimbabwe Independent found that a long
list of Zisco
managers and their counterparts in the public enterprise's
subsidiaries in
Botswana - Ramotswa Steel & Iron Co (Pvt) Ltd and Tswana
Steel &
Iron Co (Pvt) Ltd - were deeply involved in the scramble for the
ailing
steel giant's resources.
Senior politicians - including
members of the state presidency,
ministers and MPs - also grossly abused
public assets by claiming large
unaccounted for allowances from Zisco after
travelling on business that had
nothing to do with the company. Others
benefited through dubious contracts
and a supplies over-pricing
rip-off.
Procurements were also used as a window for
rent-seeking
behaviour as the process is not open to competitive bids. At
the Zisco
subsidiaries in Botswana, only one person, a business manager,
handles
purchases.
"The Zisco scandal involves government
and company officials who
had been claiming money without justification and
unprocedurally for a lot
of things, including allowances, directors'
sittings, and management fees,"
a source said.
"Some
Zisco officials took cash for private use using all sorts
of methods for
self-enrichment. Others abused credit cards, petty cash and
took gross
advantage of a weak accounting system, purchases, procurement,
public
relations campaigns, and the servicing and repairs of vehicles. There
was
also the issue of hotel bookings and entertainment allowances in which a
lot
of money was abused or siphoned."
Thousands of United States
dollars were spent entertaining
government officials and their hangers-on at
the Grand Palm Hotel Casino &
Convention Resort in Gaborone where they
squandered public funds on
expensive drinks and food during
weekends.
Sources said former Zisco group MD Gabriel Masanga,
current and
former directors David Murangari, Zvichinei Churu, Dr MN
Abubasuthu, Dr
Ndabezinhle Dube, George Mlilo (Transport permanent
secretary), Grace
Chella, MJ Harris, Professor Alaphia Wright, and George
Chikumbirike, among
others, received monies or incurred dubious expenses for
the company,
raising eyebrows of National Economic Conduct Inspectorate
(NECI)
investigators.
A three-man NECI team investigated
the issue which covered
events from 2002 to last year. It compiled a damning
report at the end of
last year which has now been buried by a government
fearing the corruption
scandal could rock it to the
foundations.
Sources said some of the names mentioned are
Zisco spokesman
Augustine Timbe and others linked to the company such as SD
Chawasarira, ES
Barlow, A Mafurirano and a Mapenzauswa. They got
allowances.
Sources said Chikumbirike was paid US$1 225 on
July 14 2003 as
allowance through a telegraphic transfer into his ABC
Botswana Bank Account
BCWHIG001CALUSD0007. He also received US$1 000 for
school fees on January 23
2004 from Masanga's company facility. Masanga used
P1 230,72 through his FNB
business credit card at Victoria Falls, while
Murangari got R300 to pay the
University of Cape Town from the
company.
Dozens of Zisco workers - including drivers - have
also been
recipients of company funds for shady payments.
"For instance, a total of about Pula 26 662,85 was spent on one
driver by
the name Mtinta to take Masanga's car for service in Botswana," a
source
said. "About P49 225,35 was spent on another driver, Bojosi."
Businessman and former Zanu MP Tirivanhu Mudariki and an R
Makuni - who
seems well-connected - have come up as some of the people who
were involved
in the Zisco affair where serious abuse of public resources
has been
detected by NECI.
Industry and International Trade officials
V Vengesa, J
Chigwedere, FA Makombe and Mrs Nyagweta, and a host of others
also received
questionable payments from Zisco.
Sources
said Ramotswa/Tswana steel MD J Chininga and the
companies' business manager
Shelton Chivhere were key players. The two were
interviewed by NECI in
Botswana between July 24 and August 3 last year,
sources
said.
Thousands of US dollars were involved in payments. In
the case
of the controversial purchase of Ramotswa/Tswana Steel by Zisco and
now
current attempts to sell off the companies, millions of dollars in hard
currency were at stake.
Information gathered through
interviews showed that on some
occasions Chininga and Chivhere had purchases
made on their behalf even for
small items such as ladies'
handbags.
"Chininga bought two ladies' handbags valued at
P170 using
company funds. Furniture has also been bought under unclear
circumstances
for the management, for instance Chivhere bought furniture for
a Zisco
official known as Mafika who was in Botswana," a source
said.
"When Mafika was transferred to Namibia, he took all
the
furniture with him. The company lost money. In another incident,
Chininga
claims that Masanga had authorised him to buy furniture for
Chivhere without
the board's approval. All these things are not
documented."
Sources said there were many instance of such
abuses.
"The petty cash in Botswana is open to abuse as there
is no
specific limit. It can be P50 000 or P100 000. Our managers claim that
we
have to keep a lot of cash because banks are far away," a Zisco official
said.
"Sales proceeds, eg from one of our companies
Fullfit, are also
receipted as petty cash and stashed in a safe. The money
is then used on
such sort of expenses as entertainment allowances for senior
officials,
gifts for visitors, and public relations campaigns that include
paying
Botswana MPs, police, immigration and customs
officials."
Zisco, through its subsidiaries, has had to spend
funds in a
public relations blitz that appeared to have been the entry point
into the
company vault to access money for personal use.
"At one time P7 500 was donated to a Botswana MP in the name of
public
relations. On March 15 P1 000 was taken, on March 19 last year P1 000
was
also taken by Chininga for PR, on April 15 P5 000 was taken, on May 12
P4
000 was taken, all this money purportedly for PR," a source
said.
In the end, millions in forex of public funds were
spent or lost
through various loopholes and deliberate siphoning, the source
said.
(To be continued next week.)
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
THE government has
withdrawn the Interception of Communications
Bill which was meant to spy on
people's messages after the Parliamentary
Legal Committee (PLC) raised
strong objections to its clauses, the Zimbabwe
Independent established this
week.
In an interview on Wednesday the chairman of the PLC,
Welshman
Ncube, confirmed that government had undertaken to come up with a
new
version of the Bill that would take into account the committee's
concerns.
The climbdown on the proposed legislation came
after Ncube's
committee met the Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele and
Transport and
Communications minister Christopher Mushohwe last month where
the
legislative body queried the constitutionality of some of its
clauses.
Mushohwe, who is sponsoring the Bill, and
Gula-Ndebele, who sits
in parliament as an ex-officio member and is the
government's principal
advisor on legal matters, promised to come back to
the PLC with a response
to their objections.
"They
accepted our objections. They said they are going to come
up with a new
version," Ncube said on Wednesday.
The Bill's memorandum says
its purpose is to "establish an
interception of communication centre for the
appointment of persons to that
centre whose function shall be to monitor and
intercept certain
communications in the course of their transmission through
a
telecommunications, postal or any other related service
system".
The Bill also says that the Transport minister may
issue
warrants for the interception of communications on application by the
Chief
of Defence Intelligence, the Director-General of the President's
Department
of National Security (the CIO), the Commissioner of the Zimbabwe
Republic
Police and the Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority or by
any nominee of any of the above.
Although
Ncube did not state the contentious clauses, sources
said the PLC had raised
objections to clauses 4, 6, 8, and 18, among others.
They
said on clause 4, the committee objected to the
establishing of a centre
known as the Monitoring of Interception of
Communications Centre (MICC)
saying it was unconstitutional to have such a
body.
The
sources added that on clause 6, the committee objected to
the part that says
"in the case of urgency or the existence of exceptional
circumstances, an
oral application may be made".
Clause 8 allows courts to use
information intercepted unlawfully
in prosecutions while clause 18 says
aggrieved persons can appeal to the
same minister who issues a warrant for
their communication to be
intercepted.
The Interception
of Communications Bill becomes the second
proposed law to be withdrawn this
year following the withdrawal of the
Suppression of Foreign and
International Terrorism Bill, after the
government conceded that some of its
provisions were unconstitutional.
A new version of the
terrorism Bill, which critics say is aimed
at cracking down on dissenting
voices, is expected to be gazzetted soon.
Zim Independent
Shakeman Mugari
LEO Mugabe's
clandestine bid to buy a stake in Telecel Zimbabwe
(Pvt) without the
knowledge of other local shareholders has fallen on its
face after major
shareholder Telecel International Ltd snubbed the
politician's
overtures.
Telecel International owns 60% of Telecel Zimbabwe
while a local
group, Empowerment Corporation (EC) in which Mugabe claims to
have a stake,
owns 40%.
Zimbabwe's telecommunications
regulations stipulate that a
foreign company can only own up to 49% in a
cellular network.
EC as a whole holds the preemptive rights
to dilute Telecel
International's shareholding in Telecel
Zimbabwe.
The government has for the past two years been
threatening to
cancel Telecel Zimbabwe's operating licence unless it changes
its
shareholding structure to reflect a 51% shareholding for EC and 49% for
Telecel International in Telecel Zimbabwe. Telecel International had offered
to sell the outstanding 11% stake to EC in compliance with the law. EC has
since started negotiations with Telecel International.
Confidential documents to hand however show that while EC are
still
negotiating to buy the shares, Mugabe went behind their back and made
a
secret offer to take over the stake through his company, Integrated
Engineering Group (IEG).
In his two offer letters of July
and October, Mugabe told
Telecel International that he had been tasked by EC
to buy the stake. He
reminded the international firm that Telecel Zimbabwe's
operating licence
would be cancelled unless they disposed of the outstanding
11% to a local
company - in this case his IEG.
Mugabe, a
nephew of President Robert Mugabe, offered US$3
million for the
shareholding, documents to hand say. Two letters in
possession of this paper
show that his secret offer collapsed after Telecel
International discovered
that Mugabe did not have permission from EC to buy
the shares as he
claimed.
Telecel International's interim chief executive Jim
Bailey wrote
to Mugabe informing him of the complications of his offer. In
the first
letter dated August 1 Bailey told Mugabe that he was "surprised
that IEG had
been asked by EC to purchase the stake" because he had not
received such
communication from EC.
"We have been
informed by them that all communications between
EC and TIL (Telecel
International) should be done through the office of the
chairman of EC, and
we have heard nothing of the matter through this
channel," Bailey said. He
said there was something amiss about Mugabe's
offer because Telecel
International had a binding agreement with EC that
both shareholders should
approve the introduction of a new partner into
Telecel
Zimbabwe.
Mugabe wrote another letter to Telecel
International in August
repeating his offer. He said he was ready to start
negotiations. He warned
them that the licence was in danger unless they sold
the 11% to a local
company.
Two weeks ago Telecel
International wrote again to Mugabe
reiterating that they were not in a
position to start negotiations unless he
proved that he had permission from
EC to undertake such a deal.
In that letter, Bailey said he
found Mugabe's claims that he has
been given the permission to by the stake
"curious".
"We find it curious that although you have, as you
say, been
informed by other members of Empowerment Corporation that they
have no
objections to your entering into discussions with us regarding the
11%
shareholding, we have not received any notification of a change in the
chairmanship of Empowerment Corporation," said Bailey.
Bailey said Telecel International only dealt with EC's
representatives on
the Telecel Zimbabwe board of directors-James Makamba and
Jane
Mutasa.
"Accordingly, and until such time as we would receive
such
proper official notification, we see no point in entering into such a
discussion."
When contacted for comment this week, Mugabe
confirmed he had
made the offer saying he had the permission of EC to buy
the stake.
"Yes, I made the offer to buy the 11% because if
we don't
correct the structure Telecel Zimbabwe's licence will be cancelled.
Apparently EC does not have the money required," Mugabe
said.
It is understood that government had given Telecel
International
and EC to the end of 2007 to put the structure in place to
avoid losing
Telecel Zimbabwe's licence. When pressed to prove that EC had
surrendered
its preemptive rights to him, Mugabe was evasive saying he
needed time to
find the evidence because he was at parliament. He accused
this paper of
trying to scuttle his deal.
"So you guys
want to destroy my deal? Is that what you want to
do?"
Zim Independent
Ray
Matikinye
POLICE in Harare on Wednesday used batons to break
up a
demonstration by scores of pro-democracy activists, arresting three
protesters including National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairman
Lovemore Madhuku.
Human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama
last night said Madhuku and
two other NCA members were still in police
custody at Harare Central police
station.
While Madhuku
has been charged for contravening Section 24 of
the Public Order and
Security Act (Posa), the other two NCA members, Marko
Shoko and Shingirayi
Nyakudya, are yet to be charged, their lawyer said
"Police
have promised to bring Madhuku to court tomorrow (today)
on charges of
failure to give prior notice of the demonstration, but they
have yet to
prefer charges against the other two," Muchadehama said.
At
least 250 members of the NCA were rounded up by police in
Africa Unity
Square demonstrating for a new constitution.
Ernest Mudzengi
of the NCA said Madhuku was separated from the
rest of the crowd and bundled
into a police vehicle before the police turned
on the rest of the
demonstrators.
"They beat the demonstrators who remained
seated," Mudzengi
claimed.
He said Shoko and Nyakudya
were arrested on allegations that
they had stoned a police vehicle. The NCA
has been at the forefront of
pressing for a new constitution and has often
paraded in the streets to
press home demands for a replacement of the
26-year-old Lancaster House
Constitution that has been amended several
times.
Zim Independent
Lesley Moyo
MATABELELAND North
governor Sithokozile Mathuthu has started
relocating from Bulawayo to
Lupane, the Matabeleland provincial capital.
Mathuthu was
operating from Mhlahlandlela Government Complex in
Bulawayo and commuting to
Lupane at the taxpayers' expense in travel
allowances.
Government set November 1 as the deadline for Mathuthu and other
departments
to relocate to Lupane.
Mathuthu this week confirmed that she
was relocating to the
provincial capital of Matabeleland
North.
"I think it is fair for us to relocate and start
working from
the provincial capital," she said. "We were having problems
commuting from
Bulawayo to places like Binga which are very far. We are
relocating to
Lupane and we will use whatever resources available there. We
are moving
gradually, depending on the space available," said
Mathuthu.
Construction of the governor's house and the Lupane
government
complex, Elitsheni, has not been completed.
Sources said construction of the governor's house was moving at
a very slow
pace. The sources indicated that workers who were staying in
government
houses that Mathuthu and her colleagues would take over were
being
relocated.
"The construction of the governor's house is
moving at a slow
pace and I don't think it will be completed anytime soon.
The governor's
property has already arrived in Lupane and she will be
occupying one of the
government houses, but the problem is they are evicting
people who were
occupying these houses," said an official who did not want
to be named.
Reports in August indicated that Matabeleland
North, South and
Bulawayo governors were chewing over $40 000 (revalued) in
travel allowances
every day due to lack of accommodation in their respective
provinces.
But Local Government minister Ignatious Chombo
argued that the
governors were entitled to the allowances since government
was yet to build
houses for them.
"There is nothing
sinister in that governors are paid allowances
for accommodation. These
governors are government employees and they are
entitled to that allowance
because we are still constructing their houses,"
he was quoted as
saying.
Projects such as the Joshua Mqabuko International
Airport,
Gwayi-Shangani Dam and Bulawayo-Nkayi road have not been completed,
years
after construction started.
Zim Independent
Lesley Moyo
GOVERNMENT is yet to
construct water and sewerage reticulation
infrastructure under Operation
Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai at Cowdray Park in
Bulawayo.
This
emerged after reports that the Bulawayo City Council had
issued eviction
orders to beneficiaries of the housing project to prevent an
outbreak of
diseases as the two-roomed houses have unsanitary living
conditions.
The local authority said the evictions were
meant to prevent
diarrhoea outbreaks and respiratory infections and at the
same time enforce
compliance with the public health by-laws. The houses do
not have potable
water and sewerage reticulation.
Contacted for comment, chairman of the provincial
inter-ministerial
taskforce on reconstruction, Brave Matavire, refused to
talk to this
reporter.
"I cannot comment on that," said Matavire before
terminating the
call.
Repeated efforts to get a comment
from Cain Mathema, Governor
and Resident Minister of Bulawayo, were
fruitless as his phone went
unanswered.
The construction,
which is being carried out by the Zimbabwe
National Army, has been stalled
for almost a year after government failed to
provide funds to complete the
houses.
According to a recent Health, Housing and Education
council
report, failure by the government to put up water and sewer
reticulation
services was exposing residents to diseases.
"Developing a project of this nature and size on unserviced land
had
inherent problems that in the long-run negate whatever gains may be
envisaged in providing shelter to residents," the report
said.
"Lack of water and sewer reticulation compromised
hygiene
standards and created a nuisance of fouling of open spaces. In fact,
residents' swapped death from exposure to the elements for death through
diarrhoea and respiratory infections as a result of unsanitary living
conditions," read the council report in part.
The council
report said the houses should be occupied after
certification of occupation
from the building and health inspectorate.
Operation Hlalani
Kuhle/Garikai, which began last year after
Operation Murambatsvina which
left thousands homeless, is moving at a
sluggish pace.
The government said the operation was meant to rid the cities
and towns of
slums but the operation was condemned internationally as
another assault on
human rights.
Well-placed relatives and children of
government and Zanu PF
party officials have been accused of corruptly
grabbing the houses while
Murambatsvina victims languish in the
open.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Muleya
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe has come under fire for rejecting
growing calls for full
constitutional reform, claming that the current
British-made Lancaster House
constitution was "home-grown and sacrosanct".
Analysts said
this week that Mugabe's remarks last Friday to
church leaders represented a
crude attempt to falsify history and trade in
deception for short-term
political gain. They observed that it was alarming
for someone who postures
as a revolutionary to claim that a conservative
"cease-fire" document like
the Lancaster House constitution was home-made
and
sacred.
Political analyst Dr Ibbo Mandaza, a backroom
delegate to the
Lancaster House conference from September to December 1979
in Britain, said
the current constitution was a "compromise" document in
which competing
interests had to be balanced by the negotiators. He said the
history of the
Lancaster House conference was
well-documented.
"It was a compromise document because the
Patriotic Front was
forced by circumstances to accept entrenched clauses in
it that otherwise
they did not want, for example the clauses that land could
not be taken for
the first 10 years of Independence and the reserved seats
for whites,"
Mandaza said.
"The Frontline States
pressured nationalist leaders to sign and
in the end it became a
give-and-take document."
Talks broke down on December 18,
1979 between the
Zimbabwe-Rhodesian government of Bishop Muzorewa,
nationalist leaders from
the Patriotic Front, and the British government
represented by Lord
Carrington.
"However, just when the
Patriotic Front delegation was packing
its bags to return to base on
December 19," Mandaza recalled, "envoys
arrived from Mozambique, Zambia and
Tanzania to tell (Robert) Mugabe (the
Zanu leader) and (former Zapu leader
Joshua) Nkomo that they had to sign. As
a result of this and many other
events, on December 22, with much reluctance
and trepidation, Mugabe and
Nkomo signed."
Mugabe himself confirmed this at the
time.
"Even as I signed the document I was not a happy man at
all," he
said. "I felt we had been cheated to some extent and that we had
agreed to a
deal which would to some extent rob us of the victory that we
had hoped to
have achieved in the field."
Nkomo was also
unhappy, so were other nationalist leaders. But
they too signed because the
battlefront stalemate had to be broken. The
commander of Zanla, Zanu's
military wing, Josiah Tongogara, was widely
quoted at the time as having
insisted that: "We just have to have a
settlement. We can't go back
empty-handed."
Professor Jonathan Moyo, former Information
minister and
analyst, said he was shocked by Mugabe's
remarks.
"It's scandalous and outrageous for Mugabe to say
the Lancaster
House constitution was home-grown and sacrosanct. First, it
flies in the
face of what he said after the signing of the document," Moyo
said.
"Secondly, every ignoramus knows it was a compromise
document.
Mugabe only changed his mind when he came to power and inherited
the
repressive apparatus of the Rhodesian colonial state. After gaining
control
of such brutal instruments as the State of Emergency laws, the Law
and Order
(Maintenance) Act and others that he used to entrench his rule
under the
cloak of constitutionalism, he conveniently forgot what he had
said
earlier."
Writing in the book, Zimbabwe: The
Political Economy of
Transition, 1980 to 1986, Mandaza, retracing the road
to the Lancaster House
Conference, said the final agreement was a setback
for the liberation
movement.
"The Lancaster House
Agreement constituted a substantial setback
for the Patriotic Front, at
least in terms of the broad objectives that the
national liberation movement
had set for itself in the course of the armed
struggle," he
said.
"First, the white settler colonial state was not to be
dismantled. On the contrary.a British governor (Lord Soames) would represent
the return of British rule for a brief period to ensure that a suitable and
acceptable black government came to power. Secondly, the Patriotic Front was
now deprived of the possibility of winning undiluted and total power as
would be expected in a decolonisation process. Third, the colonial
socio-economic structures would remain intact. The land issue remained
unresolved."
Mugabe's rejection of constitutional reform,
Moyo said, was
typical.
"He has always preferred
piecemeal amendments rather than a
comprehensive reform agenda through a
popular process. That's why he
initially opposed the setting up of the
constitutional commission in 1999
and only agreed at the eleventh hour after
which he was dragged kicking and
screaming to appoint the commission," Moyo
said.
"That's why Mugabe and his party withdrew political
support for
the process and did not bother to campaign for the draft. In the
end the
rejection of the draft was a major victory for Mugabe - and not
those
opposition and civic groups who opposed the draft without
understanding the
politics at play - and he is only showing it openly now
that he won."
Moyo said if the draft constitution had been
adopted, political
change would have been secured.
However, Moyo said Mugabe was now celebrating the rejection of
the draft
constitution - which he thinks was an attempt to legislate him out
of office
- in a manner that could further damage his already battered
credibility.
"To say the current constitution was
home-made and sacrosanct is
inherently irrational. Many fallen heroes of the
struggle must be turning in
their graves in shame over such comments," he
said.
"Mugabe risks defiling whatever little remains positive
in his
controversial legacy and portraying himself as a phoney nationalist
or
revolutionary now betraying his true colours."
Addressing church leaders, Mugabe said the current constitution
was just as
good as a home-grown one because of amendments.
"It was after
the war that we got the British to preside over a
conference to transfer
power (to us). It was not a British constitution; it
was not a constitution
foisted on us by the British, no. We demanded one man
one vote; that's what
we got," Mugabe said.
"There could never be another
constitution so dear, so
sacrosanct. True there might be amendments
necessary to make, let us say so,
but to say this is not home-grown is as if
the British imposed this on us."
Mugabe said amendments had
been made to "consolidate national
unity". He said his party was prepared to
make more amendments, but would
resist another major constitutional reform
process after the rejection of
the state-sponsored draft constitution of
2000.
The Zimbabwe constitution has been amended 17 times
since 1980,
many of the changes aimed at enhancing Mugabe's powers,
diminishing the
authority of the courts and closing democratic space. More
amendments are
being mulled. Critics say the plethora of amendments show the
constitution
is deeply flawed.
The United States
constitution - the oldest written constitution
in the world - has been
amended 27 times since 1787.
Zim Independent
Ray Matikinye
RESULTS of rural
district council elections held last weekend
have illustrated that
opposition parties still have an uphill task to weaken
the chokehold Zanu PF
has on rural voters.
Statistics also paint a picture of an
opposition struggling to
convince rural voters to take them seriously as a
challenger to Zanu PF.
Out of the 1 247 wards, the combined
opposition and a sprinkling
of independents chalked up a mere 84 seats, with
the two camps of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) picking up 81
seats between them.
The Arthur Mutambara-led MDC won 40 seats
with remarkable
successes in Nkayi district where it got 14 seats while the
Morgan
Tsvangirai camp registered its best score in Binga with 11
seats.
The Tsvangirai-led camp which fielded 680 candidates
registered
a 5,88% success with 40 winning candidates while their
counterparts in the
opposition who fielded 206 candidates chalked up 19,9%
success with 41
winning candidates.
The results show a
total rout of the MDC in Mashonaland Central,
West and East provinces that
have become an impenetrable fortress of Zanu PF
support. After clinching 82
wards without breaking sweat, Zanu PF went on to
win the remaining 90 wards
in a clean sweep of the polls.
Statistics show that overall
the opposition won a paltry 6,7% of
the total wards on offer while it also
won 9,54% of the contested wards.
Both figures are a far cry
from claims by the Tsvangirai-led MDC
spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa, that 44%
of the rural electorate voted for his
party despite
intimidation.
"They braved massive intimidation, threats and
violence to vote
for the only party that represents the last hope of a
brutalised and
repressed nation," Chamisa said.
"Apathy
won the polls because the electorate no longer has
confidence in the
electoral system and its outcome," he said.
The opposition
put up a fair fight in Matabeleland North where
it won the highest number of
contested seats with 33 out of 84 and
Matabeleland South where it garnered
19 out of 80 contested seats.
Independent candidates took one
each in both Matabeleland
provinces and a single seat in the
Midlands.
Zim Independent
Clemence Manyukwe
GOVERNMENT has
suspended the implementation of a draconian law
that threatens to disrupt
Econet Wireless operations through termination
rates for international
traffic favourable to state-owned Tel*One pending
the finalisation of a
court application filed by the country's largest
mobile
operator.
The court case in which Econet Wireless is
contending that
Statutory Instrument 70 is aimed at reintroducing Tel*One's
monopoly
"through the back door" is expected to kick off today at the Harare
High
Court.
The case was supposed to start on Wednesday
but Justice Lavender
Makoni postponed it to today with the parties' lawyers
consenting to the
suspension of the law that was supposed to come into
effect on Wednesday.
Zim Independent
Itai Mushekwe
NATIONAL Security
minister Didymus Mutasa has fired salvoes at
food experts who have
criticised government's centralised food management
system as a strategy to
control the population through politicisation of
food
distribution.
Food experts have attributed the current food
crisis besieging
the country partly to government's failure to allow more
players other than
the state monopoly Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to trade
in grain.
Mutasa told the Zimbabwe Independent on Wednesday
that such
claims were ill-founded and imperialistic. The intelligence
minister said it
was incumbent upon government to provide food to the people
and there was no
politicisation of food.
Mutasa said food
production and security were part of national
security, dismissing
observations by the food experts that "Zimbabwe is
among a few countries in
the world where food production had become a
national security
issue".
"You must not listen to those lies," said
Mutasa.
"Food security has always been a national security
issue. I'm
the Minister of National Security and it's not something new.
There is no
country in the world where food is not part of national
security."
He said government was not playing food politics
with the people
as a way to control them but had an obligation to provide
enough food to
feed the nation.
"There is no controlling
of food and any politics involved. Imi
ndosaka makuda kupiwa sadza
nemaBritish. Itai vana kwavo kwete kufurirwa
naBlair. (That is why you now
want Britain to give you food. Act like
well-mannered children, and don't be
fooled by Blair)."
"The GMB has been there ever since, so I
don't agree with you or
that report from so-called experts,' Mutasa
said.
"It (GMB) was in fact created before our time and used
to
subsidise white farmers. It's a question of allowing every farmer to
produce
abundantly so that the GMB ends up running out of storage space.
Besides,
the population itself can produce their own food and no one forces
them to
sell their produce to GMB, so where is the food
control?"
Government has militarised the grain parastatal,
which is run by
Colonel Samuel Muvhuti as acting chief executive. There are
also reports
that soldiers were recently deployed to round up villagers
ordering them to
release their
grain to boost dwindling
reserves at GMB.
As part of its grip on food production,
government last year
launched Operation Maguta/Sisuthi - a project conceived
by the Joint
Operations Command (JOC) to avert Zimbabwe's perennial food
woes.
According to experts, the country requires about 1,8
million
tonnes of maize annually to meet national requirements and another
500 000
tonnes for strategic reserves. Contrary to government's projected
harvest of
2,4 million tonnes this year, international food agencies have
put the
2005/2006 harvest at between 600 000 and 800 000 tonnes.
Zim Independent
Augustine Mukaro
JUDGE Gilbert Guillaume of France, Ronald
Cass, former dean at
the Boston School of Law, and former Pakistan Justice
minister Mohammad
Wassi Zafar, have been appointed to preside over a Dutch
farmers' case
against government filed at the International Centre for the
Settlement of
Investment Disputes (ICSID).
The Dutch
Farmers Association, in conjunction with UK-based
Agric-Africa, registered
the case on behalf of dispossessed local farmers at
the ICSID in Washington
last year, demanding that President Mugabe's
government should uphold
Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection
Agreements
(Bippas).
Judge Guillaume, a former president of the
International Court
of Justice and a designee of the government of France to
the ICSID panel of
arbitrators, will preside as the casting vote in the
case.
The Zimbabwe government appointed Zafar as their
arbitrator
while farmers chose Cass to represent them.
The centre was established in 1966 as an affiliate of the World
Bank to
provide facilities for the arbitration of disputes between member
countries
and investors who qualify as nationals of other member
countries.
The Zimbabwe case is number 74 out of the 104
cases that are
before the tribunal.
A group of 11
dispossessed Dutch farmers took their case for
compensation in respect of
confiscated land to the tribunal, claiming more
than US$15
million.
The case was filed by Bernardus Henricus Funnekotter
and others,
and then registered by the tribunal on April 15 under Case
Number ARB/05/6.
"We are claiming in excess of US$15 million
as compensation for
improvements, land (title deed value) and expropriated
moveable assets,"
Funnekotter said this week.
"The
Zimbabwe Government will be responsible for the payment of
the claim, which
at present is accruing interest back-dated to the time they
expropriated the
land, and they have to pay in the currency of the
nationals - which would be
euros."
He said farmers want to prove that both governments
signed and
ratified the Bippa agreement and show the inappropriate methods
used by the
Zimbabwe government to take possession of their
land.
Funnekotter said Zimbabwe has been pushing for the
arbitration
to be held in Harare citing problems of foreign currency
shortages.
"The Zimbabwe government asked for the venue to be
in Harare
pleading a pathetic reason as being short of foreign currency,
which was
denied," he said.
"Anyway Harare would be an
unfair venue for the Dutch
nationals."
More than 60 Dutch
farmers were forced off their properties
despite the fact that they were
protected under a Bippa, ratified by
President Robert Mugabe in
1996.
There were about 1 000 Dutch nationals, 70 of them
farmers, in
Zimbabwe before 2000 who grew flowers on land that was protected
by the
Bippa.
Under the agreement, government had
promised to pay full
compensation to Dutch nationals in the event of a
dispute arising out of an
investment in Zimbabwe.
Should
the ruling by the tribunal favour the applicants, it
could set a precedent
for similar claims against government in international
courts. The centre's
rulings are enforceable in 140 states that have
ratified the organisation's
convention.
The Dutch claimants are being represented by
Wiley Rein &
Fielding in Washington, Bishop & Sewell in London, and
by Coghlan Welsh &
Guest in Harare. Agric-Africa chairman Bob Fernandes
used to work as a
property evaluator in Zimbabwe.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Ndlela
BANK executives
were this week scrambling to contain imminent
bankruptcies in the financial
sector which lurched into an unprecedented
crisis following Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) measures compelling
financial institutions to take up a new
form of bonds meant to mop up
liquidity on the market.
Market sources said with between 85% and 90% of deposits locked
up in bonds
and statutory reserves, banks were having little room to acquire
new trading
assets.
The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ), a
consortium of bank
executives, was this week understood to be mobilising
market participants,
including asset management firms, against the measures
which had ignited a
cash crunch in the financial sector.
They were still to come up with a position by yesterday,
according to market
sources, indicating, however, that a clear position
would have been taken by
the time RBZ governor Gideon Gono returned from a
trip to South Africa next
week.
Sources indicated that financial institutions were this
week
left washed up after paying out over $100 billion for Financial Sector
Stabilisation Bonds (FSSBs), whose take-up thresholds are determined by
balance sheet sizes.
The institutions had already
splurged $65 billion to buy bonds
under initial
thresholds.
They are expected to spend a further $130 billion
for another
five-year bond called the Economic Stablisation Bond (ESB), a
move likely to
hurl them into technical insolvency.
The
RBZ, which last week increased the holding thresholds for
the five-year
FSSBs for financial institutions, again increased the
thresholds this
week.
Holding thresholds for the five-year FSSBs, which had
been
increased from 10% of the balance sheet size as at September 30 for
commercial banks to 15%, were increased further this week to 25%, while
merchant banks, which had moved from 7,5% to 12,5%, had their FSSB holdings
increased to 22,5%.
Financial houses, building societies
and discount houses, which
had their holding thresholds increased from 5% to
10%, last week, were
instructed to increase their holdings to 20% while
asset management firms,
which were compelled to hold bonds amounting to 7,5%
of their balance sheet
sizes after a five percentage points increase, were
this week told to
increase their holding thresholds to
17,5%.
Banking sector executives indicated yesterday that
there was
pandemonium in the sector as many institutions braced for what
they
anticipated to be imminent closure of financial institutions as a
result of
the central bank's measures.
They said with 45%
of their balance sheets in bonds, most of
them were already insolvent as
they were now "completely" unable to give
depositors their money back on
demand because all funds were now tied up in
the bonds and statutory
reserves.
The new bonds plus money locked up in statutory
reserves meant
that commercial banks had very little of depositors' funds
left on their
books. One analyst said the banks had locked up between 85%
and 90% of
depositors' funds in the new bonds and statutory reserves,
leaving them with
very little cash for business.
Sources
indicated that the cash crisis was highlighted by the
fact that banking
institutions were already competing for deposits ahead of
today's deadline
to fully comply with the central bank's demand for
prescribed bonds holding
thresholds.
"Most of the banks do not have cash and are
competing for
depositors' funds to raise enough cash to buy the FSSBs to
meet prescribed
thresholds. It's going to be worse when they start buying
ESBs to comply
with the November 17 deadline for institutions to meet their
prescribed
holding thresholds," a bank executive told businessdigest,
declining to be
named for professional reasons.
BAZ
president, Pindie Nyandoro, was yesterday unavailable for
comment as she was
reportedly busy with crisis meetings with bankers.
Above
their FSSB holdings, commercial banks will be compelled to
hold ESBs
amounting to 20% of their balance sheets while merchant banks will
have to
take up ESBs equivalent to 17,5% of their balance sheets. Finance
houses,
building societies and discount houses will be forced to hold EBSs
equivalent to 15% of their balance sheet sizes
respectively.
Asset management firms will be required to hold
bonds equal to
12,5% of their balance sheet sizes. The balance sheet sizes
used for ESBs
are as at October 31, while the balance sheet sizes used for
FSSBs are as at
September 30.
Zim Independent
Shame Makoshori
CHINESE investors
have put up a strong bid to reopen Mhangura
Copper Mine (MCM), shut down in
2000 due to a host of problems, among them
poor international copper prices,
businessdigest has been informed.
Mashonaland West governor
Nelson Samkange told businessdigest
last week that his office has been
flooded by requests for the mine despite
MCM's low reserves at the time of
the closure.
Samkange said his office was working with the
ZMDC and the
Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) to find
appropriate
investors for the former Johannesburg and Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange listed
company.
There were also promising deals
to reopen Alaska Mine near
Mhangura, Samkange said, adding that during
MMCZ's recent trip to China,
serious discussions were carried out regarding
the closed copper mine.
"There are so many interested
investors from China and other
countries who have talked to us but their
offers are under consideration at
the Ministry of Mines. Whether they will
be offered opportunities is up to
the government, but they are very
serious," Samkange said without disclosing
the companies.
MCM, a subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation
(ZMDC),
owed substantial debts to various creditors when it closed down.
These
included power company, Zesa Holdings, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
and
rail transport operator, National Railways of Zimbabwe.
MCM's
closure left about 1 500 workers out of employment while
its copper refinery
plant which has the capacity to mill 4 800 tonnes per
month also winded
up.
In 2000 MCM entered into a contract to treat 2 000 tonnes
of
copper concentrates from Gecamines in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC)
and other Zambian mines but the deals were aborted under unclear
circumstances.
Several Chinese business delegations have
toured Mashonaland
West, where the mine is situated, seeking investment
opportunities since
2004.
China Aerotechnology Import and
Export Company (Catic), which
sealed several deals across all economic
sectors of Zimbabwe last year, has
announced its intention to invest US$400
million in the country's mining
sector in the next few
years.
The rapid growth of the Chinese economy in the past
decade has
unlocked high demand for copper in the mines, information
technology,
automotive, construction and other industries in that
country.
Chinese companies have resuscitated closed mines in
Zambia's
copperbelt.
However, there are high incidences
of mine accidents in that
country, a situation analysts said had to be
considered by those
spearheading MCM's deals.
About 150
workers died in Zambia last year in gas explosions in
a Chinese-run mine in
the copper belt.
In 2004, 6 000 workers died in Chinese mines
while 3 800 workers
were killed in Chinese coal mine accidents in
2005.
The Chinese government last year moved in and shut down
4 000
mines which did not meet the required safety standards at the end of
2005.
Zim Independent
Dumisani Ndlela
ECONOMIC
research and consultancy firm Techfin Research has
forecast Zimbabwe's
embattled domestic currency's fair value by year end at
$814,15 to the US
dollar, against $250 to the greenback fixed by the central
bank in
August.
The frail currency would reach a fair value of $1
058,39 to the
US unit at the start of 2007 and end the year at a fair value
rate of $16
588,73 to the US dollar, the research firm's computations
obtained by
businessdigest this week indicated.
The
projections support gloomy forecasts made by the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) suggesting Zimbabwe's economic crisis in
likely to accelerate at an
unprecedented rate next year.
The IMF expects inflation to
average 1 216% this year and a
record 4 278,8% next year, with real gross
domestic product (GDP)
contracting by 5,1% and 4,7% in 2006 and 2007
respectively.
Zimbabwe has experienced a cumulative GDP
decline of 30% between
1999 and 2005.
Year-on-year
inflation as measured by the all items Consumer
Price Index fell by 181,3
percentage points to 1023,3% in September 2006
from a record high of 1204,6%
touched in August.
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono devalued
the local currency on
the official interbank market to 250 against in
greenback in July from $101
to the US unit and suggested that an Exchange
Rate Impact Assessment Board
(ERIAB) would be established to review
Zimbabwe's currency value
periodically in line with economic
fundamentals.
Gono re-introduced the interbank system, which
has had several
adjustments meant to curtail market-determined exchange
rates, in October
last year after experimenting with the auction system
which it adopted in
January 2004.
The auction system was
meant to restore stability in the foreign
exchange market which has been
overtaken by the parallel market.
While the exchange rate on
the auction system was allowed to
adjust periodically, critics said it had
been of little benefit to exporters
because the adjustments were not
realistic and did not allow exporters to
break even.
In a
mini review of monetary policy on October 9, Gono skirted
the issue of the
establishment of the ERIAB and left the exchange rate
unchanged at
$250/$1.
"We believe that it's necessary for the exchange
rate to be
adjusted regularly in line with the inflation developments in
order to keep
exports viable," Techfin Research said in its weekly report to
professional
investors.
The company said it expected the
exchange rate to remain
unchanged until the next policy
review.
This is likely to be in December soon after the
budget proposals
for 2007.
Techfin Research said it
expected Gono to devalue the local unit
to $1 000 against the US dollar on
the official market and that the official
rate should be adjusted gradually
during the year to end at $5 200/$1 by
December 2007.
The
domestic currency is currently trading at $1 500 to the US
dollar on a
thriving parallel market.
Zim Independent
Paul Nyakazeya
ANNUAL broad
money supply continued on an upward trend, rising
to 862,6% in July from
779% in June driven by an increase in domestic credit
which grew by 924,7%
to $154,8 billion during the period.
Analysts said the high
money supply growth and increased credit
expansion was likely to fuel
inflation, already topping 1 000% year-on-year.
Statistics
released by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe this week
showed that the country's
money supply, which opened the year at 520%, had
increased by 342,6
percentage points inside six months to record 862,6%.
"It's
an understatement," said John Robertson, commenting on the
new money supply
figure. "The figure does not include the $120 trillion
printed to buy
foreign currency to pay the IMF (International Monetary
Fund)."
Robertson's comment reinforced entrenched fears
among economic
players that official money supply growth figures, as well as
inflation
figures, have been understated by a bureaucratic system to
understate the
gravity of the country's economic woes and subdue any
potential for social
upheaval.
Money supply is the
generation of new money - in other words, an
addition to stock of money
already in circulation.
While the major reason for such
growth in Zimbabwe has been
credit to the government, banking institutions
have become major
contributors to government debt through statutory reserve
requirements and
recently introduced economic and financial stabilization
bonds.
The large chunks of money from banking institutions at
the
Reserve Bank have largely been lent to the government to meet its
expenses
or used by the central bank in quasi-fiscal operations propping up
ailing
parastatals or the struggling agricultural sector.
Gono has previously said high growth in money supply had been
occasioned by
money printing to buy foreign currency to settle foreign debts
or pay for
critical import bills.
"Net claims on government contributed
53% of the domestic
credit, mainly in the form of Treasury Bills," the
central bank said in a
report accompanying its latest
figures.
Quasi money and narrow money for the period under
review also
shot up to 892,1% and 868,9% respectively, from 769,6% and 763,2
June.
Metropolitan Bank's group economist, Brains Muchemwa,
said the
new money supply growth were high.
"The large
increases are a reflection of how the monetary bases
in the economy are
ballooning," said Muchemwa.
He said high domestic credit to
government had been the major
driver to increased money supply growth.
Analysts said money supply was
likely to grow at an unprecedented rate next
year due to increased domestic
borrowing by government to meet its
expenditure commitments unlikely to get
enough from shrinking revenue
streams.
Zim Independent
Pindai Dube
A CONFEDERATION of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) board member has
accused Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor Gideon Gono of expropriating
foreign currency proceeds from
exporters despite assurances that there would
be no forced liquidation of
foreign currency accounts (FCAs).
CZI national executive
board member Julie Bonet told
businessdigest the industrial board was
disappointed by Gono's latest
directive demanding 7,5% of exporters'
receipts stashed in FCAs.
In his mid-year monetary policy
review, Gono said exporters and
gold producers could retain 70% of their
foreign currency proceeds in FCAs
indefinitely, rather than for 30 days
under ruling currency retention
regulations then under which they were
obliged to liquidate any unused
balance into the interbank
market.
Gono had said the measures, aimed at bringing
normalcy to the
country's operating environment, would enable "all
exporters, including
horticulture and gold producers.to keep their FCA
balances indefinitely
without fear of forced liquidation by either the
central bank or authorised
dealers".
"Our main
disappointment was the governor's recent appropriation
of 7,5% from
exporters. This is another clear indication of continued
shifting of goal
posts," said Bonet.
Bonet said the new measures, part of
Gono's mini policy
adjustment two weeks ago, had resulted in severe foreign
currency
procurement problems for industry in the import of raw
materials.
"Whilst we appreciate the dilemma governor Gono
and government
find themselves in, we however find it increasingly difficult
to maintain a
steady forecast that enables the purchase of raw materials and
inputs
required for both local and export markets," said Bonet, adding: "We
are
told the 7,5% is for fuel and energy, but where is the infrastructure to
enable exporters to access government-procured fuel?"
In
his mini policy review, Gono said the country's energy sector
required
redress to support productive activities and proposed the
establishment of
an Energy Sector Stablisation Fund which would receive its
proceeds from
exports.
Gono said he would direct 10% of all exports towards
that fund.
"Because of the absolute necessity to guarantee
electricity and
fuel availability, we should ensure that the country had
adequate fuel and
power," Gono said.
Zimbabwe is
currently going through its worst crisis in history
characterised by acute
foreign currency and fuel shortages that have
disrupted the normal
functioning of the economy and stocked inflation to
record high
rates.
Gono said in his mini policy review that fuel remained
"inadequate for everyone, particularly for leisure requirements, though
there is enough for critical elements of the economy such as
agriculture".
Many motorists have been grounded due to the
acute fuel
shortages. Parking of vehicles for weeks in long queues at fuel
stations in
anticipation of fuel deliveries has become a common feature in
the country.
Zim Independent
Shame Makoshori
THE
philosophy of economic integration has for long been the
ultimate goal of
the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
And like
other economic blocs such as the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern
Africa (Comesa), it has been driven by the desire to
become a strong player
in the global economy.
Sadc is striving for similar
achievements as the European Union
(EU) in the establishment of a eurozone
in 1992.
But economic commentators say in the case of the EU,
the ideal
was successful because the 25-member grouping had stable economies
and the
political will to support the integration process that took decades
to
accomplish.
Sadc appears sapped by a plethora of
problems as member
countries are at various stages of economic
growth.
Zimbabwe, a key member of the economic grouping, has
also
suffered six years of instability caused by rampant economic
mismanagement,
corruption and political abuses among the ruling
elite.
Those impediments need to be removed before any
significant
headway can be made towards hanging together as a regional
trading bloc.
There are several stages that Sadc has to
achieve before
establishing a free trade area (FTA), which analysts say
could be delayed by
the situation in Zimbabwe. These include the
establishment of a customs
union, a common currency and harmonising exchange
rates.
If these plans are rolled out by 2008 when Sadc's 14
members are
expected to form a FTA, the plan will turn the bloc into one big
economic
family similar to the EU.
Such moves would do
away with many barriers to inter-state trade
such as visa requirements and
tariffs.
But with economic and political refugees stampeding
into
neighbouring countries from Zimbabwe, the hosts might feel opening
their
borders as part of FTA could open the floodgates and degrade the
quality of
life of their citizens.
Countries making up
Sadc are Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa,
Botswana, Namibia, Angola,
Zambia, Mauritius, Tanzania, Malawi, Madagascar,
the DRC, Swaziland and
Lesotho.
Analysts say a lot of work has to be done for the 14
countries
to achieve an FTA in the next two years. These countries have to
adhere to
strict deadlines that they set for themselves.
The deadlines include the establishment of an FTA by 2008, a
customs union
by 2010, a common market by 2015 and a common currency by
2018.
Last week, Sadc leaders met at an extraordinary
summit in South
Africa to review progress towards the establishment of the
FTA as the
countries move towards streamlining their investment
policies.
Zimbabwe, Botswana and Swaziland signed the
protocol on trade
and foreign investment at the summit, bringing the
signatories to 10.
While the treaties have been signed and
progress appears to be
on the horizon, the economic crisis in Zimbabwe has
provided an obstacle as
some member countries still feel that the country's
economic indicators will
make integration impossible.
Commentators say integration can only be smooth if the economies'
budget
deficits are not higher than 5% of gross domestic product. The
central banks
of integrating countries' financing of budgets must not exceed
10% of the
previous year's budget.
"There are so many requirements for
integration into the FTA.
But looking at the situation, Zimbabwe's ability
to meet the requirements
will be elusive," said Isaac Kwesu, lecturer in the
Graduate School of
Management at the University of
Zimbabwe.
He said it would be difficult, for instance, for
Zimbabwe to
achieve single digit inflation by 2008 given the deepening
crisis.
Inflation must be in single digit figures and to
allow for
smooth integration, member countries' gross foreign currency
earnings must
secure three months' import cover while central banks must be
autonomous.
Zimbabwe has failed to stock enough foreign
currency.
The country hardly manages foreign currency
reserves to keep it
running for a month.
Unlike most Sadc
countries, Zimbabwe's central bank is facing
mammoth challenges in
controlling foreign currency inflows, speculation in
banks and in capping
interest rates.
It is also forced to finance annual subsidies
for the country's
corruption-ridden parastatals, bloating budget
deficits.
Zimbabwe's financial services sector is coming out
of a two-year
crisis, a position analysts say could militate against the
swift convergence
of banking regulations across Sadc as the regional
grouping moves towards a
common currency scheduled for
2018.
Kwesu said the Sadc integration project would face
similar
barriers as encountered by Comesa, whose integration into an FTA
might start
materilising at the end of 2007.
Business
leader and president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber
of Commerce Mara
Hativagone this week said industry was pinning hopes on the
FTA, which is
seen as a solution to the resentment local companies are
facing in
neighbouring markets, especially in Zambia, Malawi and
Botswana.
In 2002 Zambian companies campaigned to block cheap
commodities
like sugar, tea and cement from Zimbabwe that threatened the
survival of
their industries.
In 2003, Malawi made
frantic efforts to halt Zimbabwean exports
into that country, raising excise
duties from 15% to 20%.
Mineral-rich Botswana has been
hostile to cross border trade
with Zimbabwe.
These are
signals that Zimbabwe's isolation, which started with
the European Union and
the United States, is silently spreading into
Southern
Africa.
"Barriers are there but remember there are bilateral
trade
agreements between Zimbabwe and other countries in the region,"
Hativagone
said. "Sadc is not yet an FTA but we are moving towards the FTA.
So we will
benefit from the relaxation of trade
controls."
Although there were attempts to gloss over these
shortcomings in
South Africa last week, Zimbabwe's six-year economic crisis
is wreaking
havoc on the region's stability.
Sadc is
worried that plans to boost economies would be hurt by
negative sentiments
towards Zimbabwe, but Sadc chairman Pakalitha Mosisili
dismissed the
concerns.
He said Sadc would develop programmes to offset any
contagion
from Zimbabwe's economic crisis.
"We are saying
we need to be seen in total as a region, instead
of the outside world
singling out the one member and saying because of
member X we will not
invest in Sadc," he said.
Southern African economies are at
various stages of economic
development with Zimbabwe battling with negative
economic indicators.
Inflation is hovering at 1 023%, the
budget deficit at 56%,
interest rates of around 400% and crippling shortages
of fuel, food and
other key requirements.
The
International Monetary Fund predicts Zimbabwe's inflation
could hit 4 000%
by the end of 2007.
So, as President Robert Mugabe put pen to
paper in South Africa
last week, his advisors should have reminded him of
the implications of his
signature - that Zimbabwe's economic indicators are
out of sync with the
others.
Across the region, inflation
is between 3% and 17% while
Zimbabwe's figure stands at over 1 000% - an
unsustainable discrepancy.
Zim Independent
By Pedzisai Ruhanya
ATTEMPTS by
some sections of the church led by Zanu PF religious
sympathisers to
legitimise the norm-violating regime of President Robert
Mugabe by crafting
what they view as the solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe
through their
so-called National Vision document should be interrogated,
demystified and
rejected on the basis of its failure to locate causes of the
country's
national decay.
While some leaders of the church have a right
to rehabilitate
the decadent Zanu PF regime that has authored the national
crisis, they
should not mislead the country into believing that their
sectional interests
reflect the national mood.
Firstly,
the misguided church leaders and Zanu PF praise-singers
miss the point by
failing to understand that the country has numerous people
with vision bar
the Zanu PF leadership. It is therefore clear that the
country has visionary
leaders and what is needed is a constitutional and
institutional framework
to implement the abundant vision Zimbabweans are
blessed
with.
There is therefore an urgent need for a constitutional
overhaul
in the country in order to create a Zimbabwe that everyone can be
proud of.
A constitutional framework is necessary to implement that vision
because a
regime whose powers are not restrained is a danger not only to the
country
but even to itself.
This is so because
governmental power which is essential to the
realisation of national values
including the so-called vision that the Zanu
PF-associated church leaders
are calling for should be controlled in order
that it should not be
destructive to the national values that any civilised
and democratic
government is established to promote.
There is no
governmental restraint in Zimbabwe and most critical
institutions in the
country are appendages of the executive. This is what
Zimbabweans should
concern themselves with in constitutional reforms.
The
principle of constitutionalism rests on the idea of
restraining government
in its exercise of power. The abuse of human rights
in Zimbabwe is a result
of an unrestrained government.
After Independence, the Zanu
PF government killed thousands of
innocent Zimbabweans in the Midlands and
Matabeleland provinces because
Mugabe's regime was answerable to itself and
not even to the Zanu PF
controlled parliament. More recently, especially
after 2000, many
Zimbabweans have died through state-sponsored violence
while some of the
culprits such as the Central Intelligence Organisation
operative Joseph
Mwale still remain free because of executive
protection.
Zimbabwe needs a total overhaul of its governance
structure
through constitutional reform, not the so-called National Vision
document
that the church leaders linked to Zanu PF are talking about.
Contrary to
what the church leaders that visited Mugabe are saying, it is
critical that
there be regime change in Zimbabwe because without a
fundamental change in
the institutional and governance structure of the
country, the national
crisis will continue.
The church
leaders need to appreciate that when people talk of
regime change, they are
not necessarily saying the government or President
Mugabe should be
overthrown. This is a parochial definition of regime change
that is
associated with bootlickers of the regime. A regime is a set of
rules, norms
and values by which a society or government is organised.
When Zimbabweans say they need regime change, they are talking
about
governance changes which include constitutional reforms. The regime
that we
need to change in Zimbabwe is a regime that celebrates and values
murder,
violence, rape, militarisation of state institutions such as the
Grain
Marketing Board, electoral manipulation and other vices.
If
the leader of the country and his government celebrate or
entrench such
vices, then they will be part of the regime change. Surely any
Zimbabwean
who argues that the country should not change a violent regime
that
encompasses murder in its governance structures needs urgent medical
attention.
If the church leaders want to convince
Zimbabweans that regime
change is wrong, then there is a need to question
their religious intentions
in this matter. They need to appreciate that
regime change goes beyond the
mere removal of a leader and the government,
it goes to the heart of
governance. This means a leader of the government
such as Mugabe can effect
regime change although it is impossible in
Zimbabwe.
Mugabe can do so by working with others in the
country to
overhaul the institutional and governance regime in the country
through the
establishment of a democratic state via constitutional reforms
and sea
changes in the political culture of Zimbabweans where people desist
from
creating political enemies among each other and where political
diversity is
celebrated in the country and not denouncing others on phantom
allegations
of selling-out the country as a cover up for political
failure.
These church leaders' aim is to make the people of
Zimbabwe
accept that the Zanu PF government is the legitimate authority in
Zimbabwe.
It could be lawful or legal but definitely not
legitimate.
It has been argued in political science discourse
that power can
be said to be legitimate to the extent that it conforms to
established rule,
the rules can be justified by reference to beliefs shared
by both the
dominant and subordinate, and there is evidence of consent by
the
subordinate to the particular power relation. Those who argue that the
Zanu
PF government is a legitimate regime must satisfy these criteria. In my
view
the current political situation since 2000 indicates that the Harare
regime
is not legitimate.
The first and most basic level
of legitimacy is that of rules.
It is argued that power can be said to be
legitimate in the first instance
if it is acquired and exercised in
accordance with established rules. These
rules may be unwritten, as informal
conventions, or they may be formalised
in legal codes or judgements. In the
case of Zimbabwe, during election
times, rules are broken with impunity,
judges are harassed, lawyers are
beaten up while journalists are banned and
newspapers bombed. A government
that is born out of such a process cannot be
called a legitimate regime.
These are the issues that the church leaders
need to make Mugabe appreciate
in order to gain legitimacy both at home and
abroad.
It is therefore plausible to argue that on its own,
legal
validity is insufficient to secure legitimacy, since the rules through
which
power is acquired and exercised stand in need of justification. Power
is
therefore legitimate to the extent that the rules of power can be
justified
in terms of beliefs shared by both dominant and subordinate, the
governors
and the governors. In Zimbabwe, there is dispute over how Zanu PF
acquired
its power and therefore the regime cannot be said to be
legitimtate
For power to be fully legitimate, then, three
conditions are
required: its conformity to established rules; the
justifiability of rules
by reference to shared beliefs; the express consent
of the subordinate or of
the most significant among them, to the particular
relations of power.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the leader
derives power through
violence, fear and other vices hence my contention
that the Zanu PF
government is illegitimate because it fails to meet the
criterion of a
legitimate government. A government that disenfranchises its
citizens living
abroad, that harasses judges, bans newspapers and forces its
citizens to
vote for it cannot be called a legitimate
government.
The church leaders need to deal with this
illegitimacy by
encouraging Mugabe to return the country to democratic
legitimacy before
they talk about their national vision
document.
* Pedzisai Ruhanya is a human rights
researcher.
Zim Independent
By Ellen Kandororo-Dingani
THE strength of any democracy depends on citizen participation
in issues of
governance. In a democracy, governance and attendant issues are
the people's
responsibility. Voters have a duty to hold their leaders
accountable
primarily as citizens and moreso as taxpayers. Therefore,
failing to vote is
tantamount to an abdication of one's democratic right and
responisbility.
The recent rural district council
elections - including the
Kadoma mayoral poll where a paltry 8 000 people
voted out of 42 000
registered voters - were characterised by monumental
voter apathy. This
brought into sharp focus the critical issue of voter
apathy in our electoral
politics.
In order to appreciate
the importance of voting, the electorate
must know the critical issues and
understand how the governance system
works. Citizens have to be able to work
together to be effective
politically; they have to be involved enough to
know the importance of their
vote and to convince others to do the
same.
It is an old democratic tenet that the voting habit is
learnt
through civic involvement. This raises the difficult issue of how to
convince people to spend time getting involved in isues concerning their
local community if they can't even take part in the less burdensome activity
of voting.
The answer is to ensure that involvement is
directly linked to
decision-making. Voter apathy dilutes the value of
democracy hence the need
to encourage participation. The challenge is how to
achieve this when there
are so many hindrances to
participation.
Of late there have been much deliberations on
voter apathy.
There are various factors affecting levels of voter turnout
throughout the
world.
Some of the factors as cited in a
working paper (June 2006)
drawn up by the International Institute for
Democracy and Electoral
Assistance were weather, length of time between
elections, electoral system,
physical access to the polls, the nature of the
electoral event - where for
instance turnout is lower in local authority
elections and referendums as
compared to national elections, though not
invariably the case.
In Zimbabwe there are a number of issues
contributing to voter
apathy. During some of the community workshops that
the Zimbabwe Electoral
Support Network (Zesn) has been holding, participants
cited factors such as
fear, threats and intimidation, lack of knowledge as
well as dissatisfaction
due to deception and false promises by candidates as
responsible for apathy.
Deception by candidates recurred at
most workshops as another
major factor among socio-economic problems
including poverty and lack of
confidence in the electoral system. Some cited
the lack of integrity of
election results, ignorance, discontent with the
electoral playing field and
disenfranchisement.
Disenfranchisement of voters has become an endemic problem
facing electoral
processes in developing countries, Zimbabwe included. For
years, Zesn has
been lobbying for the postal voting system to be extended to
all Zimbabweans
outside the country. An estimated population of more than
3,5 million
Zimbabweans are in the diaspora. This suggests that Zimbabweans
outside the
country have no right to determine the destiny of their
country.
As if that was not enough, in September 2005,
Constitutional
Amendment (No 17) Act, declared certain categories of people
as non-citizens
who would not be able to vote in the senatorial elections
and any other
future elections. These were classified as aliens, people who
since December
31 1985 have been regarded by virtue of a written law as
permanently
resident in Zimbabwe.
In addition people born
of foreign parentage or one of whose
parents was born out of the country and
did not renounce their alleged
foreign citizenship in terms of Section 9 of
the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act
(Chapter 4:01) as amended by the Citizenship
of Zimbabwe Amendment Act,
2001, (Act No 12 of 2001) and the Citizenship of
Zimbabwe Amendment Act,
2003 (Act No 12 of 2003). People who by any other
means are citizens of a
foreign country and did not renounce their foreign
citizenship in terms of
Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act were also
affected.
Those affected were mostly descendants of migrant
workers who
came into the country as labourers or domestic workers on
white-owned farms
and in suburban homes and Zimbabweans of European descent.
Media reports
showed that, by the time the senatorial elections were held
last year, the
Act disenfranchised over 150 000 voters.
During the 1999 Botswana general elections, in an effort to
widen the
franchise, the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18, usually an
enthusiastic
age group, though politicians argued that the youth have no
idea whether, or
for whom to vote. But the effort itself is commendable and
is worth
emulating.
The decline in voter turnout has been seen as
reflecting a
relatively uncompetitive period of national politics. There is
no reason not
to expect voters to participate in greater numbers once
elections become
more competitive and more meaningful. A theory supported by
the notion is
that those people who say there are no important election
issues at stake
are much less likely to vote.
The
apparent refusal by government to extend postal voting to
Zimbabweans in the
diaspora has lowered turnout and the apparent reluctance
in applying
proposed reforms by civic organisations are certainly steps
backwards.
Anything which persuades people to voluntarily
engage in the
democratic process should certainly not be dismissed and this
also includes
ensuring that there are no long queues on voting days,
registration periods
are continously open as well as making people realise
that politics is
important in their everyday lives by providing them with
adequate
information. Unless politics becomes more relevant to people the
big picture
still looks bleak.
Much thinking on
participation seems to have limited relevance
to the reality of what it
means to be a citizen in a mature democracy. We
still hold a rather quaint
notion that people should participate because it
is a good thing to do; it
makes us better citizens. This may have been
alright in ancient Greek
politics, but research has shown that this does not
wash in modern
democracies.
The appeal of politics and voting should not be
made on the
grounds that it is a higher need, we need to recognise that it
must compete
with other pressures. It needs to become as relevant,
attractive and
rewarding as watching football or going out for a meal. This
is not a call
for making politics more gimmicky, its relevance should be
based on what it
can deliver for the individual and their
community.
A major long-term issue then is how do we lower
the barriers?
How do we make our system one that encourages people to vote?
I never use
the term apathy in regard to voters because, generally, I don't
think it's
the voters' fault. I think our government has the first
responsibility to
make the system one that welcomes
people.
As is the case in Zimbabwe, for instance, voters'
registration
as provided for in the Electoral Act is a countinous process,
but it is only
publicised and open for inspection when there is an election.
However, this
fact is not well publicised and as a result people who want to
register as
voters only do so when the voters' roll lies for inspection and
moreso, some
fail to inspect because of transport problems, ignorance on the
importance
on this exercise among many other issues.
A
positive first step would be to identify those issues which
tend to excite
the public and invite them to the debates. A truly
independent electoral
commission should be put in place, and with the help
of interested local
civic bodies, intensively educate the electorate on the
importance of
participating in elections, voting in particular or conduct
what I call
"voter maximisation campaigns". Such publicity should be taken
to the so
called grassroots and every one above the age of 18 should have
access to
such crucial information. Reasons of participating in governance
issues
should be clearly laid out to the electorate.
* Ellen
Kandororo-Dingani is a journalist and Zesn's media and
information
officer.
Zim Independent
By Learnmore
IT came as a
surprise to hear early this year that men of the
collar are taking it upon
themselves to "help" the nation out of the mess
that it is currently
in.
Hopefully, they are all on the same political front
because one
dreads to think what would happen if they were to be of
different political
inclinations.
However noble their
efforts might seem to be, they cannot change
anything despite how thick the
document they presented to the head of state
might be.
Don't take me for a pessimist, but we by all means try to be
realistic,
churchmen are for the pulpit and not politics.
Politics
breeds hatred between the contending parties and the
main Christian
attribute is love, thus the two are just like water and oil,
one cannot mix
the two with any success.
Churches that have left politics
ought to be commended for they
do not risk muckraking God's name by either
of the two contending parties in
the Zimbabwean political
spectrum.
Have these churchmen that have resorted to
"solving" political
problems facing the country forgotten that Christians
look to God's Kingdom
as the solution to human problems and not human
governments?
Come Sunday these clergymen will be saying their
common prayer:
"Let your Kingdom come, let your will take place on earth as
it is in
heaven."
Oh what a striking paradox - mere
parroting, their acts show
that these words do not come from their hearts
when they say them. If these
priests-cum-politicians' service is to remain
"spiritually clean", they
ought to choose their side.
If
Jesus said that "My Kingdom is not of this world", then why
are His
followers sticking their noses into politics?
It's time that
these men cut their proverbial tails if they are
to gain respect from the
general public.
* Learnmore writes from Belvedere,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Comment
"THIS document is an invitation
to all Zimbabweans and all
friends of Zimbabwe to dialogue with us so that
we can together define a
national vision of the Zimbabwe we want, and agree
on strategies on how to
get there," the document drawn up by Zimbabwean
churches and presented to
President Robert Mugabe last Friday,
states.
"The document holds no brief for any political party
or
preconceived political agenda," it says. The vision the document seeks is
of
a "Zimbabwe that will be shared by all, owned by all, and loved by all
its
citizens regardless of religion, tribe, race, gender or political
affiliation".
The discussion document explains in its
preamble the problems
that the country has faced since Independence and how
the national decline
"assumed exponential impetus" with the launch of the
hurried and unplanned
land reform programme.
"This has
manifested in the denudation of professionals and
skilled personnel through
a massive brain drain into the diaspora,
hyperinflation, widespread
shortages of essential inputs and basic
commodities, decline in agricultural
and manufacturing productivity,
shortages of foreign currency, escalating
corruption, flight of foreign
investments, rampant black marketeering in
anything ranging from foreign
currency to scarce commodities, declared and
undeclared sanctions and
dwindling tourist arrivals," the document says. All
this has translated into
a growing population of urban and rural poor, which
has in turn led to
"national despair and loss of hope".
We found the document unusually forthright coming from an
ecumenical
organisation in pointing out the ills afflicting our society. It
condemns
"political intolerance, violence with impunity and lack of
transparency and
accountability" as major obstacles on the road to
democracy. The clerics
point out the problems caused by laws like Posa and
Aippa when they note
that "legislation that inhibits peaceful assembly and
the free flow and
exchange of ideas impairs the efficacy of participatory
democracy."
They also point out the almost inevitable
deficiencies of the
Lancaster House constitution which they say "was not
inspired by the
collective consent or consensus" of the people of
Zimbabwe.
We were therefore shocked when President Robert
Mugabe declared
that the Lancaster House constitution was "sacrosanct" and
"non-negotiable".
This was most strange coming from Mugabe
who likes to lecture
the nation on home-grown economic polices and a
home-grown opposition. But
soon it was clear. The clerics were right so long
as they mentioned all
other ills under the sun except "circumscribing" the
president's term of
office. All the 17 amendments to the constitution have
served to entrench
Mugabe's power and it has therefore become
sacrosanct.
Which people is President Mugabe talking about
when he says "we
fought and people died" for the Lancaster House
constitution?
Unfortunately there are many people who have
not read the
clerics' discussion paper but have started showing the same
polarised
intolerance that they condemn in Mugabe and his
government.
The bishops stated categorically that the
document was no more
than a position paper for Zimbabweans to discuss the
kind of nation they
want without being dogmatic about anything. But we are
witnessing irrational
prejudices being allowed to cloud reason about their
motives.
It is not for the church to say Mugabe must go. It
is enough
that they have called for a new constitution and a limit to
presidential
terms, which is what infuriated Mugabe after he was presented
with the
document.
At the risk of going beyond their
mandate, they pointed out most
of the egregious laws that all opposition
parties and civil society groups
say need to be repealed or amended. Why
should people want the churches to
adopt a confrontational position with
Mugabe when what is needed is national
dialogue? What have all the
pseudo-radical formations and political parties
that have declared Mugabe
"illegitimate" achieved in the six years since the
2000
elections?
But there was something even more significant in
the prelates'
paper. By calling for national dialogue the church has shown
that it is
looking beyond Mugabe. The vision that they envisage, one of
democracy,
tolerance, accountability, plenty and of a Zimbabwe that is loved
by all and
tolerates a diversity of opinion, is well beyond Mugabe. He can
no longer
see beyond his current office. That is why he doesn't tolerate
challenge.
But he cannot prescribe to the entire nation the Zimbabwe we
should want.
More than that, Mugabe cannot stop the nation discussing the
future it wants
for itself. He certainly can keep his "sacrosanct"
constitution but that's
not what Zimbabwe wants.
Those
prematurely attacking the church document need to exercise
caution. By tying
our future to the removal of Mugabe from office we risk
throwing the baby
out with the bath water. Just as there is life after State
House for Mugabe,
there is life for Zimbabwe beyond Mugabe himself. Let's
all go back and read
the document before we mislead people and excite
passions against the
clergymen for collaborating with the establishment.
Zim Independent
Candid Comment
By Joram Nyathi
SUDAN is
not all about the "long nightmare" in Darfur or the
Janjaweed militia. It is
not all about General Al-Bashir's long dictatorship
and his fight with the
SPLA of the late John Garang.
A Sudanese-born entrepreneur
has set up a fund for African
leaders who dedicate their tenure to the
betterment of the lives of their
people. It is the Mo Ibrahim Prize for
Achievement in African Leadership,
named after the multimillionaire
entrepreneur who made his fortune in the
telecommunications industry in
Britain.
Ibrahim is a worried man, like most thinkers who
have watched in
horror as the hopes and expectations raised by the advent of
Independence in
Africa have been dashed and national resources have been
personalised and
squandered by a few people in the
leadership.
Many have looked in shock as liberation heroes
have transmuted
into unconscionable, predatory despots as poverty and
tyranny got
entrenched. Beyond the slogan of one man, one vote, many
Africans have never
enjoyed the prosperity that Independence
promised.
Ibrahim seeks to achieve two things: first African
leaders must
commit themselves to the welfare of their people. So far, he
believes, many
of them want power for its own sake or to enrich
themselves.
The purpose of the fund is to reward leaders who
score highly on
an objective index of performance indicators such as
sustainable economic
development, human development in health and education,
participatory
democracy, integrity, respect for human rights and the rule of
law to ensure
the security of the person.
He says Africa
is in its current mess because it lacks a
visionary leadership that
cherishes ethical behaviour, frowns on corruption
and is keen to lift Africa
beyond a beggar continent.
The second focus is to encourage
African leaders to relinquish
power at the end of their terms of office. He
believes that most African
leaders face the spectre of poverty after they
leave office, hence the
obsession with amending constitutions to prolong
their rule. Too long a stay
results in unethical behaviour and corruption.
The aim of the fund is
therefore to assure such leaders that there is life
after State House.
The prize will be offered every year to a
leader who excels in
the performance indicators and is ready to leave power
after his term. The
leader will get US$5 million a year for 10 years. This
is followed by US$200
000 a year until death. He is also entitled to US$200
000 annually for
charity work.
Ibrahim praises especially
Botswana for its attempt to foster a
strong democratic tradition from the
time of Independence in 1966 to today
despite its limited natural resources
- diamonds. This, he believes, is a
result of a leadership committed to
peace and the belief that national
resources belong to all the
people.
The country has been rewarded by having its previous
president
Sir Ketumile Masire appointed to chair the African Leadership
Council which
will award the first Mo Ibrahim Prize next
year.
Under successive governments from Sir Seretse Khama to
incumbent
President Festus Mogae, Botswana has won praise for its stability,
adherence
to the rule of law, respect for civil liberties, tolerance for
diversity and
plurality of opinion and fostering entrepreneurship. This is
in sharp
contrast to a number of sub-Saharan countries that have been
subjected to
dictatorships of varying degrees from Hastings Kamuzu Banda of
Malawi to
Uganda's Idi Amin.
Ibrahim has known the
depredations of despotism at close
quarters coming from a country where
General Al-Bashir has been in power
since the 1989 coup. He has enough
experience of conflict over resources as
a result of the protracted war
waged by the SPLA in southern Sudan over oil
revenues.
The current crisis in the western Darfur region is but a part of
the trauma
that Africa's largest country has gone through since
Independence.
"Mo Ibrahim has a vision to promote and
recognise good
governance that will drive Africa's political and economic
renaissance,"
said former South African president Nelson Mandela of
Ibrahim's attempt to
make the African continent livable for its 800 million
people.
But there are still problems ahead despite these
sweet
inducements. Africa has many leaders who have no qualms about emptying
national coffers for personal enrichment and then want to rule until death
for fear of prosecution. Others believe ruling forever is the prize the
nation must pay for its "freedom". They are the only capable guardians of
the nation's sovereignty. This appeals to the egocentric leader who believes
he is indispensable.
While it is possible that some
leaders may strive to win marks
for delivering on education, health and
employment creation, Ibrahim is
arguably wrong in thinking that the long
stay in power has anything to do
with poverty among African leaders. Quite
the contrary, most of them stay on
as an insurance against prosecution for
corrupt self-enrichment, as we have
seen with many of Nigeria's rulers or
Frederick Chiluba in Zambia, or for
human rights violations in the case of
Charles Taylor of Liberia. The
culture of selfless service is still alien to
African politicians.
In addition to a robust civil society
movement, Africa needs
strong parliaments that are able to defend the
country's laws against a
self-serving executive. A vibrant concept of
separation of powers should
manifest itself in significant tension between
the three arms of state with
each fighting against undue encroachment to
defend its turf. The Zimbabwean
parliament's current coquetry towards the
executive only entrenches the
perception of a rubberstamping institution.
The judiciary is no better,
which is a disaster for democracy and a serious
drawback for Mo Ibrahim's
well-meaning project.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
By Vincent Kahiya
TOOK time this
week to read through the National Vision
discussion document prepared by
three ecumenical groups in Zimbabwe and
presented to President Mugabe last
Friday.
After reading the 50-page document, titled The
Zimbabwe We Want,
I was left in no doubt that some of the critics of the
initiative by the
churches, especially those having a go at individual
prelates, had not read
the whole document. The attacks were bereft of
substance largely because the
critics have not focused on the contents of
the document but have elected to
critique the process by which the paper was
created.
The critics have also premised their objection on
the fact that
the authors of the documents had tea with President Mugabe.
They have
therefore become allies of the regime. There is no doubt that some
of the
clerics deify President Mugabe but this deity was not at all very
pleased
with the document.
Government spin-doctors have,
as expected, tried to make the
document appear to be a celebration of Zanu
PF's rule and an outright
endorsement of President Mugabe's omnipotence. It
is not.
For example state media reported on the criticism the
document
levels against unpatriotic Zimbabweans. They quoted: "Some
Zimbabweans have
unfortunately become very unpatriotic in their thinking,
words and
behaviour. They refuse to see any good in their nation, or to work
for the
welfare of that nation. This may be in part because we have not
taken the
development of national values seriously."
This
nugget was however conveniently omitted: "Patriotism does
not mean that we
develop uniformity in our thinking, culture or political
party. Citizens
should be able to constructively criticise their government
without fearing
that they will be accused of being unpatriotic."
It is
definitely not the sort of document that will send the
president into
ecstasy. As a discussion document designed to trigger
national debate on the
future of this country, the ecumenical submission
contains useful detail for
national discourse. The tragedy of Zimbabwe today
is that the quality of
national debate has been prejudiced by our failure to
study issues. We are
enmeshed in the politics of personalities: Who authored
the report? Who
presented it to him? Who was sitting next to the president
at the
presentation ceremony?
To some, the same document would have
been acceptable if it had
been authored by the Christian Alliance or the
opposition who have both
ironically raised a vast array of issues contained
in the ecumenical
document.
These include the need to
repeal Aippa and Posa, guaranteeing
the Independence of the judiciary,
respecting the rule of law, political
tolerance and the setting up of a
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The
clerics also want a fair electoral
system in which the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission is seen to be "impartial
and not amenable to political pressure".
One aspect that
Mugabe found offensive in the document was the
churches' call for a
home-grown constitution which would among other
measures "circumscribe" the
powers of the president to deal with Zanu PF's
autocratic
rule.
The president's fist-waving last Friday and
pronouncements about
the constitution falling in the realm of
"non-negotiable" interests are a
precursor to how the presidency will
respond to the document as a whole.
"We fought for it (the
constitution), our people died for it.
There could never be another
constitution so dear, so sacrosanct," Mugabe
said.
The
president's statement is significant in that it sends the
message that the
destiny of this country should not be decided by the
people, but by the
willingness of those in authority to parcel out power.
The people cannot
demand power.
Isn't it amazing that the same President Mugabe
who has told us
that the people will decide on the political future of this
country has the
temerity to tell us that the issue of a new constitution is
"non-negotiable?"
While the clerics have come up with a
template for the Zimbabwe
we want, President Mugabe is keen to preserve
"his" Zimbabwe. Remember the
September 2002 speech at the Earth Summit in
Johannesburg.
In his Zimbabwe, a new constitution is not
welcome because it
would not only dilute his power but also make him appear
like he is
succumbing to the whims of the National Constitutional
Assembly.
Demonstrations are not permitted in his Zimbabwe
hence he
condones the beating up of labour protestors by "his" security
forces.
In his Zimbabwe, Posa is crucial to deal with any
dissent.
"We cannot amend Posa when we are under an onslaught
from
institutions which are causing mayhem and anarchy in the country,"
Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa told this paper two years
ago.
That is not the Zimbabwe we want. The Zimbabwe we want
is one
where citizens are allowed to be forward-looking and demand to be
governed
diligently. Will a new constitution wipe away the fact that there
was a
protracted armed struggle in Zimbabwe?
Zim Independent
Muckraker
Church-going Zimbabweans who believe this
country's problems
cannot be resolved until there is a change of regime
should say so when they
next meet their faith leaders.
According to reports published in the Herald after they met
President Mugabe
last week "the church leaders reaffirmed their commitment
to Zimbabwe as a
sovereign country and expressed their opposition to illegal
regime
change".
Did they? Did they say the current regime which
beats up and
tortures its opponents is okay with them? Did they say a regime
that has
induced nationwide poverty and rendered thousands homeless is also
okay with
them?
And do they not understand that by using
the language of the
regime ("illegal regime change") they are discrediting
their project?
"They emphatically distanced themselves from
Reverend Levee
Kadenge's Christian Alliance describing it as a fringe
organisation," we are
told.
Did they also dismiss the
whole democratic movement as a fringe
organisation, we
wonder?
Admittedly, Mugabe's officials were feeding the
Herald with
their spin on events and sections of the National Vision such as
those on
democracy, good governance and participation are well-crafted. But
one can't
help but feel there is an element of naivety, if not open
collaboration, in
much of the project.
For instance, we
have this facile statement: "Some Zimbabweans
have unfortunately become very
unpatriotic in their thinking, words and
behaviour. They refuse to see any
good in their nation or to work for the
welfare of the nation. In order to
develop patriotism certain features of
the nation must be regarded as a
common heritage of all Zimbabweans. These
must include our history, our
heroes, the national constitution, flag,
national anthem, defence forces,
the civil service national holidays etc."
If that is true,
the project is doomed from the outset. The
country's history is a matter of
intense debate, as recent statements by
Vice-President Joseph Msika show.
How many educated people accept Zanu PF's
version of events? Must we accept
the likes of Chenjerai Hunzvi as a
national hero? And the crafting of a new
constitution is the aim of all
Zimbabweans apart from Mugabe and Zanu PF. So
is depoliticisation of the
defence forces and civil
service.
(Mugabe's propagandists told us in 2000 that
constitutional
reform was a vital national necessity if we were to throw off
the debris of
colonialism. When he lost the referendum his ministers told us
reform was no
longer a priority. Now Mugabe tells us the Lancaster House
constitution is
"sacrosanct".)
We hope the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches, which is riddled with
collaborators, the Zimbabwe
Catholic Bishops Conference, and the Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe
understand these obvious objections and are not
allowing Zanu PF to hijack
their enterprise with its discredited and
"non-negotiable"
mantras.
The ongoing land redistribution process is
"irreversible", the
clergymen say. Does this mean Zanu PF chefs get to keep
their ill-gotten
gains? Does it mean army and police chiefs, judges and
journalists get to
hold on to farms they have been awarded for their
assistance to the regime?
And do the church leaders really
believe that the 17 amendments
to the constitution "signify efforts to
address the shortcomings of the
Lancaster House
Constitution"?
We need to know these things. At least they
got it right when
they said issues of human rights and governance had
impacted negatively on
the image of the country and that a credible
independent land commission was
essential to ensure transparent, equitable
and fair land redistribution.
Apparently, Mugabe waffled on
for 75 minutes. His written speech
was full of sweet reason. The rest was
the usual posturing. He doesn't
appear to know that the expression
"majoritarian" is now regarded as
pejorative.
What do the
churchmen think they can gain by talking to the EU
about sanctions? What can
they do to remove the political violence and
electoral manipulation that led
to those sanctions?
It looks to us very much as the prelates
have compromised their
mission by attacking clergymen committed to
democratic reform and allowing
Mugabe to impose his own narrow frame upon
the exercise. He talked about
consensus emerging "some day". Exactly when is
that?
You have got to hand it to the Herald. They manage
to see a
silver lining behind every dark cloud. They have now convinced
themselves
that Britain has arm-twisted all 25 EU countries to follow its
lead on the
sanctions issue; that most EU countries are opposed to sanctions
but Tony
Blair cracks the whip and they all fall into
line!
That leads Herald editorialists to state that the
constraints of
group solidarity prevent member states from "telling Mr Blair
to build
bridges with Harare".
What this tells us is that
Herald writers have absolutely no
idea how the EU works or what the
sentiments of the various members are.
Yes, it is true that countries like
Portugal are "wobbly" on the sanctions
issue. So are Greece and Italy. They
always have been. But is it seriously
suggested that Blair carries such
enormous clout in Europe (and the
Commonwealth for that matter) that his
word is law? Is the Herald unaware of
the rivalries that are constantly at
play in the EU and how many states miss
no opportunity to have a go at the
Brits because they are not "European"
enough?
And can you
imagine the French easily succumbing to anything the
British propose? Very
simply, for any country to get a consensus on policy
is a Herculean task and
it can only be done if there are good grounds and a
reasonable measure of
majority support. Don't take our word for it. Ask any
EU
ambassador.
But Britain has an important ally in its
sanctions policy -
President Mugabe. Just when Zimbabwe looks like it is
slipping off the
political radar and the sanctions momentum is faltering,
London can rely on
Mugabe to make a speech like he did in Cairo a few weeks
ago which appeared
to endorse police violence against trade union leaders.
That will make it
impossible for the French, Portuguese and others who say
sanctions don't
work to speak up the next time the issue comes up for
consideration.
No EU government is saying to the British
"build bridges with
Harare" at the present time because there is no pressure
from their various
publics to do so. On the contrary, there would be stiff
resistance.
Meanwhile, Blair's spokesmen will no doubt be
delighted to hear
that their boss is viewed in Zimbabwe's official media as
the Master of
Europe. This will come as news to the British public. And
Jacques Chirac may
have something to say about it!
Two cellphone stories in the Sunday News caught Muckraker's
attention this
week. The first involved pupils at a Hwange school who were
caught
exchanging answers by phone to their Integrated Science paper during
an "O"
Level exam. The school has informed Zimsec but doesn't seem to know
what
else to do. Perhaps they should call somebody. Meanwhile, Muckraker
would
like to know if this is a first for Zimbabwe: an Integrated Science
practical involving cellular communication!
The other
story involved a man who had a puncture at Mbembesi
and used his phone to
summon help. He had difficulty finding a signal at
first but then discovered
that if he sat on the railway line he could get
through. Sadly, he didn't
hear the Bulawayo-bound train coming.
NRZ spokesman Fanuel
Masikati offered his condolences but said
he managed to welcome people
aboard the train.
"They were all fine and arrived
safely."
This sounded a bit like: "And apart from that Mrs
Lincoln how
was the play?"
Joke of the week:
Tafataona Mahoso's claim in the Sunday News,
referring to the so-called
Media Ethics Committee, that "the overwhelming
majority of the people of
Zimbabwe, when we went around the country, wanted
regulation including the
journalists themselves".
You can imagine thousands of people
in Nkayi and Buhera carrying
posters saying: "We demand media
regulation."
Mahoso refers to the Unesco Declaration of 1978
without telling
us what happened to it, a significant omission. And he
criticises the local
media for not doing enough to promote the "Look East"
policy. That, in all
seriousness, is what he thinks newspapers should be
doing!
He also has no time for journalists who say people are
cutting
down firewood instead of farming but can't prove it because they
have no
car. Why can't they hop on a bus, he asks?
This
is the same Mahoso who drives around in a 4X4. He claims
ZUJ was the first
to challenge the legality of Aippa. In fact it was IJAZ.
And can he prove
his claim that IJAZ was a beneficiary of Dutch aid?
We were
amused by his claim that the Independent Xtra section of
our newspaper which
he says carries pictures of "Madonna and some people
from overseas", is
being challenged by Zimpapers' Trends magazine which
features local content
such as gospel musicians and dancers from the galas.
We took
a look at Trends and liked the article headed "My
breasts are real - Dolly
Parton".
Mahoso thinks Phillip Chiyangwa should be involved
in setting up
newspapers rather than "floating" (flaunting?) his wealth by
importing a
Hummer H2.
Regarding further regulation of
the media, such as the Internet,
Mahoso said "anything that is digitalised
can also be controlled. It is just
a question of getting the
technology".
Don't say you weren't warned!
The Sunday News interview, while a tad long, contained much that
was useful.
However, the interviewer could have enlightened us further by
asking Mahoso
what contribution he thinks he made to the liberation of
Zimbabwe. And why
certain aspects of his Sunday Mail column, African Focus,
appear to mirror
views expressed by his colleague Nathaniel Manheru? We hope
the ex-Poly
professor is still able to think for himself. We would not want
him to
become Polly Parrot!
We enjoyed the story on the front
page of The Voice in which
Zanu PF's information secretary Nathan
Shamuyarira was "outraged" by a
report in the Standard alleging members of
the ruling party's politburo were
not happy with substandard goods from
China.
Shamuyarira might be right that the politburo never
condemned
Chinese goods as substandard. Unfortunately that alone doesn't
make them any
better. He said such reports "were malicious and outrageous"
as the Chinese
"have always been our friends".
Needless
to say "our friends" refers to Zanu PF politburo
members only, not workers
in the textile sector and Bata shoe company who
have lost their jobs because
Shamuyarira's friends have dumped their
substandard products on Zimbabwe.
Significantly, one such product is a gift
MA 60 that apparently sits like an
ostrich at Harare airport.
By the way, we hope Shamuyarira's
indiscretion about Zanu PF
giving consideration to allowing Mugabe to stay
on until 2010 also turns out
to be false.
We were
struck by Harare Commission chair Sekesayi Makwavarara's
"dare me" look in
the Herald as she swore to tell "the whole truth and
nothing but the truth"
to the parliamentary committee on transport and
communications. She didn't
tell anything to the committee until she was set
free. Let's see if there
will be any change after the two weeks she was
given to return and explain
what's going on at Town House.
Nelson Chamisa was right. "If
the confusion that is being shown
in (Makwavarara's presentation) is the
confusion in the city council, then
the residents are in trouble," he
said.
We only wonder why it takes our MPs so long to
appreciate voters'
problems.
Zim Independent
By Eric
Bloch
THE government has been vigorously opposed to
devaluation of
Zimbabwe's currency to such an extent that when President
Robert Mugabe
opened the 2002 mid-year parliamentary session, he said
"advocates of
devaluation are saboteurs and enemies of the
state".
There are undoubtedly many occasions when it is
contrary to the
economic interests and the wellbeing of a country, but
equally there are
occasions when devaluation is an essential element of
economic adjustment,
which must be pursued if there are not to be immensely
negative
repercussions upon an economy and, therefore, upon the populace
dependent
upon the economy.
Regrettably, that
incontrovertible fact has been repeatedly
disregarded by the government, and
any suggestions that Zimbabwe devalue its
currency are scathingly castigated
with insinuations that they are driven
only by personal interest, as
distinct from those of the nation, and that
they are therefore verging on
the thresholds of treason.
There are probably three key
reasons for the government's rigid
opposition to
devaluation.
The first is a deep-seated conviction that
devaluation fuels
massive inflation, to the prejudice of the populace, of
commerce and
industry and of the government. That conviction is normally not
devoid of
foundation, for an immediate consequence of devaluation is that
the landed
cost of imports rises commensurately with the
devaluation.
However, for every rule there is an exception,
and that is
certainly so in the case of the impacts that devaluation would
have had upon
Zimbabwean imports since the millennium. The government
studiously
disregards that the overwhelming majority of Zimbabwe's imports
are not
funded through official currency markets, but through the
alternative
"parallel" and "black" markets.
The premiums
payable for foreign currency within those markets
are gargantuan, and
therefore the feared devaluation- created inflation is
already sustained.
Therefore, devaluation would have had only relatively
minimal inflationary
impacts, and those would be more than offset by
compensatory factors, which
are addressed later in this column.
The government's second
ground of resistance to the pressures
for devaluation is that it is a major
user of foreign currency, be it for
military imports, requirements of many
prostates, funding of the numerous
embassies and missions of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, inordinately
great foreign travel, or for many other
purposes. If Zimbabwe's currency is
devalued, the cost of all those
expenditures would rise exponentially,
severely swelling the state's mammoth
deficits and recourse to borrowings.
The probable third
reason for endless resistance to devaluation
is one of ego, for the
government believes that devaluation is evidence of
economic failure and, as
it believes itself to be omnipotent and infallible,
admission of failure is
not an option, even if only an implied admission.
Governmental maturity is
not sufficiently great to place national interest
ahead of its self-image,
pride and ego.
However, when a country is critically
dependent upon foreign
currency generation, because of its high import
needs, and its economy is
suffering the ravages of hyperinflation, it cannot
afford not to devalue its
currency, whether by way of exchange rate
management, or by allowing market
forces to determine required
rates.
The hard fact is that if the national currency does
not devalue
to the extent of inflation, all exporter profitability is fast
eroded, and
very rapidly none can afford to export. Since Zimbabwe last
devalued
(relatively marginally!) its currency on August 1 to US$1: $250,
inflation
has been at least 85%. With production costs of industry, mining
and
agriculture, and operating costs of tourism, having risen by at least to
the
extent of that inflation, and in some instances to an even greater
extent,
the exporter now needs to generate approximately $470 for every US$1
to
cover the increased costs, and to be effectively in the same situation as
pertained three months ago.
The absence of
inflation-related devaluation is the assured
death knell for exporters.
Bankruptcy, closure of business, increased
unemployment, loss of downstream
economic flows and cessation of fiscal
revenues become the unavoidable
result of the failure to effect necessary,
ongoing, devaluations until
inflation has been fully controlled and
contained.
And
Zimbabwe's parlous insufficiencies of foreign exchange can
only intensify to
even more horrendous levels than presently is the case.
The government
regularly refutes those contentions, by charging that
whomsoever it has
devalued Zimbabwe's currency, there has been no
enhancement to foreign
currency inflows. It fails to recognise that that
enhancement cannot
materialise overnight, and that three is a significant
lead time until
forthcoming.
Once devaluation occurs, only if adequately so,
the exporter
must first woo back the support of lost customers, and obtain
export orders.
Then the exporter must source foreign exchange for required
production
inputs. Thereafter the exports must be produced, shipped to the
customer,
and payment obtained. Thus devaluation-stimulated foreign exchange
inflows
can realistically only be anticipated to be forthcoming, at least
four to
six months after devaluation. Moreover, in view of that lead time,
the
exporter cannot afford to commit to customers solely on the strength of
devaluation, but needs to be assured that the exchange rate will continue to
move, in alignment with inflation, failing which the ongoing inflation
erodes all benefits of the devaluation between the date thereof and the
dates of execution of the export orders and receipt of payments. Exchange
rate constancy cannot be applied until such time as inflation is minimal in
extent.
The government also needs to recognise that the
more it consigns
exporting and other foreign exchange generation to
extinction, the more it
is fuelling inflation (to a far greater extent than
any inflation as could
be attributable to devaluation). The lesser the
availability of foreign
exchange within the official market, due to
diminishing export revenues, the
greater is the dependency of the economy
upon the alternative markets to
satisfy essential foreign exchange
requirements, driving up the exchange
rates in those markets, with
consequential enormous inflationary impacts.
In addition, the
inadequacies of foreign exchange, due to
inadequate export revenues, result
in low levels of productivity, with many
industries unable to source
sufficient inputs to enable continuing, high
levels of production. Rising
fixed costs have to be funded from reduced
volumes of production, sharply
raising unit costs and, therefore, selling
prices. The inflation occasioned
by those costs, and by the movement in
alternative market rates, due to
non-devaluation, or inadequate devaluation,
vastly exceeds the inflation as
would be the result of devaluation.
Over a period of time in
which inflation has risen by over 1
000%, the exchange rate accorded to
exporters has moved by less than 200%.
And that is despite the declared
intent, in July, to establish an Exchange
Rate Management
Board.
Since the announcement of the intended creation of
that body,
nothing has happened other than that more and more exporters have
been
brought to the verge of collapse, the economy has continued to decline,
foreign exchange availability has worsened markedly, inflation has continued
to sky-rocket, and nationwide poverty has become increasingly endemic. It is
long overdue for the government to remove its blinkers, discard its
ill-conceived misconceptions of devaluation, recognise realities, and
appreciate that devaluation has become a must for survival.
Unfairness of monopoly press evident at funeral
THIS week we
buried one of Zimbabwe's most illustrious sons,
Ephraim Wise Chamba
Kadyamatimba.
At his funeral Webster Shamu, Minister of
Policy Implementation
in the President's Office, movingly narrated how
Chamba had helped to shape
Zimbabwe by training broadcasters, musicians and
dramatists at the then
Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation, including the
minister himself.
We all know how the minister's smooth
voice, as Charles Ndlovhu,
moved this nation to greater sacrifices during
the liberation war as he
broadcast from Mozambique. Chamba trained that
voice.
Isn't it tragic that this same Ephraim Chamba who we
all
recognise as a hero, died a disappointed and frustrated man? For well
over
six years he, leading a small band of dedicated Christian men and
women, had
worked hard to establish a radio station called Community Radio
Harare.
Everything was in place, except government permission to start
broadcasting.
Our intransigent and misguided government
firmly refuses to open
the airwaves to private Zimbabweans. It jealously
guards its monopoly over
the airwaves even to the most patriotic Zimbabweans
who could really help to
educate, entertain and inform the
people.
Chamba was deeply disappointed because he believed
that for any
nation to develop and prosper, a free press and media are
indispensable. I
know this because he had roped me into working with him as
a member of the
Board of Trustees of Community Radio
Harare.
I could not refuse because I believe in a free press
as he did.
Also he was my advisor as a writer. He encouraged me a lot when,
after being
arrested, I wanted to give up. He said to me: "Pius keep
writing. Don't be
afraid. As long as you are telling the truth the Lord will
protect you."
An example of the unfairness of a monopoly
press is that at
Chamba's funeral I spoke together with Shamu and his words
were reported
verbatim on ZTV in the evening. When my turn came, people just
saw me
gesticulating, my mouth opening and closing like a mad person. They
could
not hear what I said because it was blocked out. Is it fair that
Zimbabweans
are not allowed to hear the truth?
Hazvinei.
Famba zvakanaka yahwe. Fambai zvakanaka Maongera (It
doesn't matter. Go well
pal). Go well Ephraim Chamba of the great Maongera
clan of Zimbabwe. The
Lord will surely give you your deserved rest.
Those with ears
to hear, let them hear!
Pius Wakatama,
Harare.
------------
Why are these exempt
from Operation Murambatsvina?
EVERYONE witnessed the
brutal assault last year on poor
people's dwellings by the city of
Harare
together with central government under Operation
Murambatsvina.
The lame excuse given for the
horrendous operation at that
time was that they were targeting for
demolition buildings and businesses
operating without the permission of the
city council's planning authorities.
People's dwellings
were mercilessly razed under this
excuse, but lo and behold, in the middle
of the operation we have two
oriental restaurants - one Chinese at No 7
Kenny Rd and another Korean one
at No 9 in the same road operating in
Kensington.
I know for a fact that residents in this
street were never
consulted about this (as they should be according to the
city by-laws)
conversion of hitherto residential homes into businesses and
with all the
attendant alcohol-drinking and noise (karaoke) which is part of
these
operations.
Are we to assume therefore that
Operation Murambatsvina is
only applicable to locals - and poor ones at that
- or that there is some
collusion between the city officials and owners of
these institutions since
they are operating in brazen contempt of the city
planning regulations?
Local
Resident,
Harare.
--------------
Vision document will only delegitimise its
authors
ATTEMPTS by elements of the church to go it
alone,
ignoring their erstwhile partners in civil society, to engage with
the
criminal and illegitimate regime are reactionary, collaborationist and
counter-productive.
The fawning attitude
demonstrated towards President Mugabe
by Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe
bishop Trevor Manhanga are an insult
to those who are struggling for a new
Zimbabwe.
The bishop is deluded if he thinks that
Mugabe is capable
of engaging in genuine negotiations. Mugabe only uses such
initiatives to
distract, delay and divide. He has no intention of addressing
the crisis in
this country since that would require an end to his denialism
and an
admission of culpability.
He will continue
to mouth empty slogans and to blame the
blameless. The only outcome of this
vision document will be to delegitimise
those churches and their leaders who
are wasting their time engaging with
the criminals who have destroyed the
country, its economy and its people.
The bishop and his
colleagues would do better to pray than
to engage in false initiatives that
serve no-one except the author of our
misery.
Pius
Ncube remains a shining example of principled church
leadership that refuses
to be co-opted by the regime.
The initiative is
stillborn.
Mike Davies,
chairman, Combined Harare Residents' Association.
----------------
We surely can't suffer for Zinwa's
sins
WHEN we condemned the formation of the
Zimbabwe
National Water Authority (Zinwa) to run the water affairs of
Harare, Town
House cried foul and accused residents of unfairly demonising
the
commission.
Zinwa officials were invited
to attend various
residents' associations' meetings in different wards but
failed to fulfil
their promises.
We thought
it was too early to criticise the water
body and decided to give it time to
produce positive results.
Today, Harare is
running dry, thanks to our
"reputable" water body and the inefficient
commission running the city.
When we consider the
fact that Zinwa's first move
towards "improving" water services in Harare
was to hike water rates to
unreasonable amounts, one would expect the water
situation in the city to
have improved by
now.
The exorbitant rates imposed by Zinwa and
the city
of Harare are ridiculous and highly-unjustified to say the
least.
The provision of water services in the
city has
worsened since the animal called Zinwa was given the mandate to
manage
water.
Most residential areas in the
city have been going
without the "drop of life" for weeks yet Zinwa was not
even ashamed to
publish its timetable for
water-cuts.
The Reserve Bank had to embark on a
capital
injection programme to snatch the city from the jaws of hell, a
situation
brought about by the dismal failure of Zinwa to
deliver.
One wonders where all the money from the
ratepayers
has been going if Zinwa is failing to pay for the treatment of
water and
maintenance of its infrastructure.
How can we be told that there is a shortage of water
in Harare when the city
is littered with numerous burst pipes of clean water
which have been left
unattended for months, even years?
Water is being
wasted through these burst pipes and
residents have been calling on Town
House and Zinwa to attend to this
problem, but the two allies have turned a
deaf ear to their pleas.
Whose fault is it then
that a water shortage is
looming in Harare?
As residents we should refuse to suffer for the sins
of Zinwa. The unholy
alliance between Zinwa and Town House has brought
untold
suffering.
Living without adequate water supplies
is a health
and environmental hazard, and if this problem is not solved as a
matter of
urgency, the city will be plunged into an environmental
mess.
The performance of Zinwa leaves a lot to be
desired
and the overzealous water body has clearly demonstrated its
ineffectiveness
and irrelevance in management of water
services.
As residents we want continuous water
supplies
because we pay for it and it is our basic
right.
The fact that water is in short supply is
not our
problem but Zinwa's.
Loreen
Mupasiri.
Harare.
----------
Leaders of Mutasa's ilk shouldn't be
allowed
anywhere near public office
THE
fact that our country is on a downward
spiral to becoming a failed state is
indisputable.
With such tired ministers
like Didymus Mutasa
(National Security) who have a propensity for shooting
themselves in the
foot, one can only fear for the
worst.
Asked recently about the fate of
white farmers
in Karoi, Mutasa was quoted as saying: ".anybody with no
permission to farm
will be prosecuted
."
Do people like Mutasa know what they are
doing? Are we not killing the goose that lays the golden
egg?
When South Africa was under apartheid
with PW
Botha at the peak of his reign, Chimurenga musician Thomas Mapfumo,
sang:
"Botha anotaura seakasika munhu." (Botha brags like a
creator).
And Mutasa is behaving exactly
like that!
In a new Zimbabwe, with a new
beginning, with
a new constitution, parliament should be given powers to
vet, grill and
confirm ministers. People like Mutasa should never be
appointed to any
public office.
Frank Matandirotya,
Polokwane,
South
Africa.
-------------
Majonga was right, CBZ robbed
itself
CBZ Holdings wasn't robbed by
anyone but
itself as suggested by Darlington Majonga in his column, "CBZ Cup
robbery"
(Zimbabwe Independent, October
27).
CBZ should not have sponsored the
knockout
cup in the first place, but the league. Yes, you heard me
correctly.
In as much as the league has
its many
problems, there are several league matches that pull crowds,
especially
those involving Dynamos and Highlanders not to mention the mining
teams.
The problem with sponsoring cups
is that you
run the risk of having big teams being knocked out in the early
stages of
the tournament and then you lose out on the mileage that you had
anticipated.
It's as simple as that
and there is no way
the league will be won by a "small team". It's "the big
teams" that will win
it.
They should
have sponsored the league full
stop.
Oliver,
Harare.
----------
Great job
chaps!
THE Zimbabwe Under-19 rugby team
has done a
great job by qualifying for the World Cup and the nation should
surely rally
behind the gallant Young
Sables.
The team's technical department
is as strong
as they come. Those guys (Brighton Chivandire, Godwin
Murambiwa, Mzi Nyathi)
have been around rugby circles for so long and they
are no doubt tried and
tested in rugby
administration.
I played in the same team
with the chaps
during Old Harareans' great years and their love for rugby is
out of this
world.
All the best
chaps!
Mtawaz,
Harare.
---------
Muradzikwa not good material for
CEO role
By G
Mpofu
THE appointment of Henry Muradzikwa
as chief
executive of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) has been met
with
silence in the privately-owned media except for a letter "Corporate
incest
at state media houses", (Zimbabwe Independent, October
20).
The only other reference in the
state-owned
daily provided nothing more than reportage of the appointment.
Muradzikwa's
role can be described as being responsible for the finances of
the
corporation, the overriding management of divisions and staff and the
ZBH's
public image, and its relations with those in
government.
Muradzikwa is a journalist by
profession and
will therefore find it difficult to exercise his authority as
CEO.
It does not matter that he has held
senior
positions in other media houses. Instead, he should have been
appointed
Newsnet editor-in-chief. His familiar and comfortable territory
will be the
broadcasting of news and current affairs, an area where he will
obviously
easily interfere with the authority of the
editor-in-chief.
He is likely to be
phoned by the authorities
about what should be broadcast by ZTV and Newsnet
rather than the financial
state of ZBH or the strategic manner in which it
should be run as an
institution.
The
relevant ministry should have appointed
a manager or administrator in the
technical sense, someone with an
accounting/marketing/economics background
as a first degree and a masters
degree in management and relevant experience
as a senior executive.
Another mistake
has been committed. The
previous CEOs, executive chairmen or
director-generals (as previously
referred to) have been persons of
journalistic training yet their day-to-day
activities involved dealing with
structures, finances,
marketers/advertisers, licensing and ordinary
management activities.
A media house
would do well administratively
if its CEO is a seasoned professional
manager.
Relatedly, ministers in Zimbabwe
are busy
micro-managing state-owned institutions under them. They have
failed to work
through the board of directors they appoint. Much of what
they spend time
saying or doing should be done either by the board of
directors or the CEOs.
If the board of
directors and the CEOs are
not capable of performing adequately, one wonders
why they were appointed or
kept in their
positions.
* G Mpofu writes from
Harare.