http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Tuesday, 08 November
2011 14:51
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has
dispatched an 11-page
dossier to facilitator President Jacob Zuma warning
him that the inclusive
government is teetering on the verge of
collapse.
He urged Sadc to urgently intervene to avert the situation from
degenerating
into anarchy.
The dossier, seen by the Daily News, lists
seven key issues the party warns
could be detrimental to the continuity of
the inclusive government as well
as political and economic stability in
Zimbabwe.
The dossier expresses the MDC’s frustration with unresolved
disputes with
Mugabe and urges the Sadc facilitator to urgently remove
obstacles in the
unity pact.
The damning report lists state-sponsored
and sanctioned political violence,
the breakdown in the rule of law, closure
of democratic space, the partisan
reporting in the public media, allegations
that Zanu PF is running a
parallel government, non-implementation of the
agreed issues and security
sector realignment.
“The political and
security situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating at an
alarming and scaring
pace and the MDC calls on Sadc to intervene to ensure
the GPA does not
collapse,” reads part of the dossier.
“It is now 32 months after the
consummation of the inclusive government.
Despite the economic gains made
thus far, the political situation still
remains precarious with the
potential of degenerating into anarchy.”
Bitter rivals Tsvangirai and
Mugabe formed a unity government in February
2009 to end a political and
economic crisis, but have been feuding over
implementing the Sadc brokered
pact.
The report says violence and intimidation are the biggest challenge
to a
free political environment in Zimbabwe.
Since the formation of
the inclusive government, the cycle of political
violence has not been
broken and politically motivated, state sponsored and
sanctioned violence
has not abated contrary to the provisions of the GPA.
The report says a
self-styled Zanu PF militia group known as “Chipangano” is
at the behest of
many atrocities of violence against MDC supporters in
Harare.
The
report claims the police are at the centre of the breakdown of the rule
of
law in direct contravention of Article XI of the GPA, an assertion denied
by
police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka yesterday.
The report says Zanu PF has
disrupted the Parliamentary process of public
hearings into the Electoral
Amendment Bill and the Human Rights Commission
Bill, the first body tasked
with investigating rights abuses.
“The hearings have been marred with
violence at the instigation of Zanu PF
members,” the report says. Zanu PF
supporters disrupted the Parliamentary
hearings on the Electoral Bill on
October 17 in Marondera, on October 18 in
Mutasa, on October 19 in Masvingo,
on October 20 in Gweru and on October 21
in Bulawayo. The report warns Zuma
that the democratic space in Zimbabwe
continues to shrink.
Police
have proscribed MDC rallies and political activities, says the
report.
“Recently, the Prime Minister toured some parts of the
country to assess the
levels of poverty as well as the state of development
as well as the needs
of the people ahead of the budget, but was prevented
from venturing into
some parts of Mashonaland by Zanu PF.
“In
Marondera, Mudzi and Murehwa, the Prime Minister failed to tour clinics,
market stalls and business projects in these areas amid threats of violence
and physical harm targeting the Prime Minister and members of his
delegation,” says the report.
Tsvangirai also says the veteran ruler
is undermining the agreement through
the arrest of several MDC
lawmakers.
The report says since January 2011, more than 600 MDC
officials, members and
activists have been arrested on clearly political
cases.
The dossier also points to looting of state
resources.
“This is manifested in the generation and expenditure of state
resources
outside government treasury rules and regulations,” the report
says.
“Of note is the continued sale of State resources such as diamonds
without
the knowledge of the Treasury. There have over five diamond auctions
to date
and only two have been accounted for by the Treasury. The resources
accrued
are not known and have been used to facilitate the operations of
this
parallel government.
“Clearly, this remains why some elements in
government have refused the call
for transparency and nationalisation of
diamonds in Chiadzwa. It is also
possible that these diamond resources are
now being used to perpetrate
violence against civilians in Zimbabwe. This is
also very plausible as
security forces remain active in the extraction and
selling of diamonds in
Chiadzwa.”
The document also says the running
of the parallel government has also been
capitalised by the non-remittance
of police spot fines, toll-gate fees,
vendor fines and small-scale business
fines.
“The intransigence of the police and other security agencies
against the MDC
shows that the parallel government is fully operational.
Tsvangirai’s MDC
accuses Mugabe’s Zanu PF of failing to honour an agreement
to implement 24
issues agreed by the negotiators."
The negotiators of
the GPA presented their final report to the Zimbabwe GNU
principals and to
Zuma on April 6, 2010.
The GPA principals then met on the 8th of June
2010 and agreed on 24 issues
out of the 29 presented by the
negotiators.
“The sad reality is that of the 24 issues agreed, none has
been implemented
to date,” says the report. (see table).
Zanu PF has,
in turn, charged that the MDC has not fulfilled its pledge to
condemn
sanctions imposed by Western governments on Mugabe and his inner
circle.
The report says state security agents were now at the
epicentre of the
perpetration of violence, intimidation and the selective
application of the
law.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
08 November
2011
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday told journalists that the
national executives of all three political parties in the inclusive
government will meet on Friday, to discuss the worsening political violence
in the country. ZANU PF Central Committee members and their counterparts
from the national executive councils of the MDC-T and MDC-N are expected to
attend.
The meeting follows the violent disturbances witnessed on
Sunday when
members of the notorious ZANU PF Chipangano gang attacked MDC-T
supporters
preparing for a rally at Chibuku Stadium in Chitungwiza. The
gang, which was
armed with catapults, iron bars, machetes and stones stormed
the venue in
the early hours of the morning and attacked those preparing the
stadium for
the rally.
Tsvangirai is said to have confronted Mugabe
over the matter during their
weekly Monday meetings but the ZANU PF leader
claimed police did not go to
the venue because the MDC-T had banned them.
Speaking to the state media
Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba
claimed:
“The President intimated to him (Tsvangirai) that the Police
Commissioner-General was not at the venue of the clashes and had not
deployed in Chitungwiza because the MDC-T made it clear to the police that
they were not welcome to their meetings as the MDC-T was able to police
itself.” Charamba did not explain why the MDC-T would have needed protecting
and from whom?
The MDC-T has meanwhile accused a reporter with the
state broadcaster of
working with the violent Chipangano gang in disrupting
the rally in
Chitungwiza. Tafara Chikumira, a reporter with the ZBC was
apparently “heard
communicating constantly with Chipangano gang leader Jim
Kunaka” the MDC-T
said.
Other perpetrators of the violence were
identified as “ZANU PF’s Chitungwiza
district coordinating committee (DCC)
chairperson, Wilfred Gwekwete, Luke
Luke of Ward 25 in Chitungwiza North and
Godknows Muzenda, a ZANU PF PF
Harare youth provincial
member.”
Others fingered in the violence were Nyasha Dziva, Chitungwiza
DCC
secretary, Dennis Fisher, Lloyd Bhunu, Tichaona Chapfika and Tonderai
Kasukuwere, a young brother to Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere. Police at
Makoni Police Station refused to open dockets for cases reported by the
MDC-T.
Instead two MDC-T youths, Julius Marambakutongwa and Kuda
Muchemwa have
since been arrested on allegations that they were behind the
disturbances.
The two are detained at St Mary’s Police
Station.
Meanwhile several senior MDC-T members have told SW Radio Africa
they will
not attend the indaba on violence scheduled for Friday. One member
accused
Tsvangirai of being toyed with by Mugabe, when he knew ZANU PF was
the
source of the violence and only they needed to stop it.
Another
national executive member Charlton Hwende turned to facebook and
wrote on
his wall “All the talk by Mugabe of calling for a meeting of the
Politburos
of the main political parties to discuss violence is nonsense.
Mugabe and
Chihuri must agree and attend our call for a National Day of
prayer at the
National Sports Stadium before the end of the year. It is now
clear that
without Divine intervention this country is now on the edge of a
precipice.”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Everson Mushava, Staff Writer
Tuesday, 08 November 2011
08:59
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday confronted
President
Robert Mugabe over the recent spate of violence in the country and
implicated Zanu PF politburo member, Saviour Kasukuwere as the man
responsible for the mayhem in Chitungwiza over the
weekend.
Tsvangirai told journalists after his one-and-half hour
meeting with Mugabe
and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara that he gave
Mugabe names of
suspected instigators of violence in the country, some of
whom include Zanu
PF ministers.
He said Mugabe promised to follow up
on the specific incidences he had
tabled.
“I told Mugabe that it was
Kasukuwere and one special councillor, Chapfika
who were responsible for the
violence in Chitungwiza. They took the Zanu PF
youths to Chitungwiza a night
before pretending to be engaging in genuine
and legitimate
activities."
“It has been proved that Zanu PF was responsible and the
President could not
refute that. But President Mugabe had already been
misinformed by the police
commissioner (Augustine Chihuri) by the time I met
him and I told him the
truth.
"It is clear Zanu PF caused the
violence,” said Tsvangirai.
Tichaona Chapfika is a special interest
councillor for Chitungwiza appointed
by Local Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo.
Tsvangirai said the principals to the Global Political Agreement
(GPA)
agreed to convene a meeting of political party executives to tackle
the
issue of violence and Vice President John Nkomo is expected to present a
political
parties’ code of conduct after the deliberations.
He
however, expressed reser- vations on the latest move to stop the tide of
violence saying his party would only participate if it is the only way to
stop violence.
“We have agreed that on Friday, executives from the
three political parties
will meet to discuss the issue of violence. I have
reservations over the
meeting but if that will help arrest violence, we will
attend,” said
Tsvangirai, describing the meeting of the principals as
“serious.”
Tsvangirai emphasised that so urgent is the need to deal with
violence in
the country that if the wave of violence continues until
election time, then
the poll will be nothing but a “sham.”
“If the
current situation pre- vails, the forthcoming elections will be a
sham. The
outcome will not be universally accepted.
The image of the country is
suffering heavily because of violence and I hope
things will change by the
time we hold elections.”
Tsvangirai said Mugabe should be sincere in his
calls for peace.
He said it was regrettable that the violence was
spearheaded from the top.
“If we stand up and call for peace and there is
defiance, then we are no
longer in charge. Mugabe and I have the executive
powers to give orders and
they are obeyed. If people are running around at
will, there is no
leadership,” said Tsvangirai.
The premier also
castigated the police for selectively applying the law.
“If people are
committing crimes with impunity, I have no confidence with
such a police
force,” he said.
In addition, he said the parties agreed to publicly
announce a date for the
eagerly-awaited elections once the constitution
making process is complete.
“We deliberated on the issue of elections and
there is no consensus yet on
the date,” said Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai
said they discussed media reforms and castigated Information
minister
Webster Shamu, for refusing to implement media reforms even after
being
ordered to do so by Cabinet.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Own Correspondent
Tuesday, 08 November 2011
14:56
HARARE - Welshman Ncube, president of the smaller MDC faction,
has continued
with his tirade against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
describing him as
the only “ceremonial prime minister the world has ever
had.”
Last week, Ncube told a rally in Magwegwe that the PM was scared of
him.
Ncube’s vitriol on the PM is the latest in a series of spats between
the
former opposition colleagues undermining prospects of an election pact
between the two MDC formations.
But as it seems, Ncube will never
cease to de-campaign his perceived tough
opponent as he told a rally at
Sipepa, Tsholotsho North over the weekend
that the PM has betrayed the
Zimbabweans by allowing the powers bestowed
upon him upon signing the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) to slip away to
President Robert
Mugabe.
“When we were compiling the GPA piece of legislation, all we did
was to
transfer the powers from Mugabe but Tsvangirai has returned the
powers back
to Mugabe and now he is wailing. But surprisingly, the powers
are clearly
stated in the GPA,” said Ncube.
He added, “Tsvangirai has
entered in the Guinness Book of Records for
becoming the first ceremonial
prime minister the world has ever had.
“You have the most influential
post but you are powerless because all the
powers have been surrendered back
to Mugabe, then you call yourself a
leader,” said Ncube.
"He
described Tsvangirai as a “failed leader who is sinking in shallow
waters.”
With elections expected next year, political parties in the
GPA have already
started doing ground work in a bid to lure supporters to
their side. But it
is the battle for Matabeleland provinces that has seen
the two MDC
formations, Zanu PF and Zapu scrambling to consolidate their
support bases.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
Staff Reporter 11 hours 42 minutes
ago
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday accused Empowerment
Minister
Saviour Kasukuwere of orchestrating an attack on his rally in
Chitungwiza
over the weekend.
Tsvangirai told a news conference at
his home that Kasukuwere had brought in
Zanu PF militants who disrupted the
rally leading to clashes that left
scores of people injured and property
destroyed.
The MDC-T leader voiced his anger at a meeting with President
Robert Mugabe
on Monday.
“I told the President that Kasukuwere and a
special councillor in
Chitungwiza were responsible for bringing youths in
Chitungwiza a night
before the meeting,” Tsvangirai said.
“It has been
proven that Zanu PF was responsible and the President cannot
dispute what he
has been told."
He said that both parties would gather their top
leadership for a joint
meeting on Friday to address the violence, after a
week that saw his rally
attacked and his party's office tear-gassed by
police.
“We have agreed that on Friday we are going to convene a meeting
of all
executive committees to address the issue of violence,” he
said.
“Violence is not being spearheaded from the bottom; it's being
spearheaded
from the top by senior political practitioners.”
“We want all
of us to make a commitment that violence will not be
tolerated,” said the
MDC-T leader.
Tsvangirai warned that the recent upsurge in political
violence could
undermine preparations for elections expected early next
year.
“We agreed that once a report of the constitution-making process
has been
given, we must actually have a date of elections,” Tsvangirai
said.
“There is no consensus yet on the date,” he said.
“If we allow
the current situation to prevail, and I say if, then the
election will be a
sham,” Tsvangirai said. “At the moment, in the face of
what happened this
last week, if such a situation were to prevail I cannot
see that as a free
and fair election.”
The violence, which was reportedly orchestrated,
targeted and well planned
by ZANU PF, was sparked when its militia led by
the notorious Chipangano
attacked the organisers of the rally from the
MDC-T.
There is strong suspicion the violence had been well financed as
scores of
ZANU PF reinforcements were bussed in to Chibuku stadium armed
with iron
bars, machetes, and stones.
A statement from the MDC said
five party vehicles and their public address
system worth US$7,000 were
destroyed and that key components of the PA
system, such as the mixer and
microphones, were stolen, in full view of the
police.
‘Money meant
for paying essential services for the event was looted
resulting in the
cancellation of the rally. The rowdy thugs stole the
national and the Party
flags and five banners,’ the statement added.
But on Monday police in the
dormitory town arrested two MDC-T youths, Julius
Marambakutongwa and Kuda
Muchemwa, on allegations that they were behind the
disturbances. The two are
detained at St Mary’s Police Station.
Tendai Biti, the MDC-T
Secretary-General told journalists on Sunday that
around 50 of their
supporters suffered varying degrees of injuries. He said
seven activists had
been hospitalised in Harare, while about 15 others were
rushed to a
Chitungwiza hospital for treatment.
A seething Tsvangirai met Robert
Mugabe for one and half hours and discussed
the Chitungwiza violence at
length at their weekly Monday meeting. The MDC-T
leader reportedly told
Mugabe not to allow perpetrators of the violence that
has erupted in the
past month to go scot free as has been the practice with
other incidences in
the past.
Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa said Tsvangirai told
journalists in Harare
that his meeting with Mugabe was tense and that before
the two met, police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri had briefed
Mugabe on what transpired
in Chitungwiza.
‘The Prime Minister said
Mugabe was given wrong information by Chihuri, most
of which were lies and
baseless accusations against the MDC-T.’
During his media briefing at his
Strathaven home, Tsvangirai laid the blame
on Sunday’s disturbances on ZANU
PF Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and
Chitungwiza councillor Tichaona
Chapfika.
It is also believed the MDC-T has in its possession, a dossier
of culprits
who have incited, mobilised, transported or funded the militia
or Chipangano
to attack party activists. The list contains cabinet
ministers, several MPs
and councillors, serving and retired military
officers and even church
leaders.
Violence in Harare, police attacks against President Mugabe's political rivals, and whispers about Mugabe's health all are signs of trouble for Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal.
Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s relative tranquility – the result of a two year experiment in a power-sharing government – may be coming to a violent end.
If police continue the brutality, Zimbabwe may be in danger of kicking off its own version of the Arab Spring, veteran journalist Vincent Kahiya wrote in a column in Newsday newspaper.
“Confrontation between the police and public can start small, but escalate into unsavory scenes with damaging ramifications to national peace,” Mr. Kahiya wrote. “When you attempt to use a hammer to swat a fly, there is a good chance of missing the vexatious insect and ending up with a damaged table.”
The coalition government has never worked smoothly, but it is credited for stabilizing an economy that was in free fall, with 1 million percent inflation rates, and for halting a wave of political violence in which more than 300 people were killed in the 2008 elections.
But maintaining that government has required constant negotiations between the two main parties, ZANU-PF and MDC, along with a smaller breakaway faction of the MDC led by Welshman Ncube. It has also required periodic interventions by Zimbabwe’s neighbors in the Southern African Development Community, who brokered the talks that created the coalition government. With the two sides no longer talking, in negotiations for the next set of elections next year, even government leaders themselves are warning that Zimbabwe could slide into open conflict.
“We no longer have the energy, inclination, or willingness to maintain the team of negotiators as a forum of resolving any disagreements,” Zanu PF’s negotiator, Patrick Chinamasa, told the state-controlled Herald newspaper. “We have lost faith in this forum and we cannot continue drifting into the wilderness.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, warned that Zimbabwe would slide back to the violent 2008 era and that the country was no longer under civilian rule.
“The state security agents have instituted a coup over civilian authority and they are now above the law to the extent of disrupting government programs and assaulting civilians with impunity,” he told a press conference on Nov. 2.
Missing in all the political disarray is President Robert Mugabe, who last week went off on yet another trip to Singapore for medical treatment. Last week, Mr. Tsvangirai told reporters that Mr. Mugabe should step down because of his ailing health.
In the city of Harare, there are signs that Mr. Mugabe’s control of public discontent is beginning to wane. On Tuesday, Nov. 1, an ordinary roundup of unregistered street vendors turned into a street battle, with police firing teargas canisters into a crowd. Youth members of Tsvangirai’s MDC at the party’s headquarters put up resistance, after a music vendor took refuge in the building, and the security forces laid siege.
MDC organizing Secretary Nelson Chamisa chided the police for “unprofessionalism.”
“They (police) think we are the enemy of the state,” Mr. Chamisa told the Monitor. “This perception has to change because the police are for the people, for the country and for the law. They are there to defend people but unfortunately it the opposite that is happening.”
Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo refused to comment when contacted for comment.
Eldred Masunungure, a political analyst and University of Zimbabwe lecturer, says the current violence are a sign of deep rooted divisions in Zanu PF and the security sector.
“The police actions last Tuesday were not as a result of cohesive approach by ZANU PF and the security sector,” he says. “In fact there are multiple centers of power in ZANU PF and the security people to the extent that no one takes any directive from anyone.
“The current scenario where people act in suspicious ways is as a result of the mysterious death of former army general Solomon Mujuru, WikiLeaks and the succession power struggle in Zanu PF,” Mr. Masununugure says. “They are paranoid and confused and as a result there are pockets of power emerging.”
The name of the Monitor’s correspondent in Harare is withheld for security reasons.
http://www.trust.org
08 Nov 2011
15:12
By Emma Batha
LONDON (TrustLaw) - Corrupt police and army
officers assigned to guard
Zimbabwe’s diamond fields are running illegal
mining syndicates and creaming
off the rewards, according to a local
journalist.
The allegations come just days after the lifting of an
international ban on
sales of diamonds from the country’s Marange diamond
fields.
The government launched a brutal crackdown on illegal mining in
the area
three years ago.
But Zimbabwean journalist Andrew
Mambondiyani said thousands of illegal
miners had flooded back, often
working at night in cahoots with the poorly
paid police officers manning the
fields.
Marange, considered the largest diamond find in the last century,
is largely
untapped, making its potential huge. But Mambondiyani is worried
that very
few people are benefiting from the diamonds.
In an article
on the Open Democracy website he describes how illegal miners
told him they
were working with unscrupulous members of the police, army and
security
guards to gain access to the fields.
One miner called Bemba Banda told
him: “…we are working as syndicates with
the law enforcement agents who
allow us to go into the fields and mine for a
specific time at
night.
“Normally a police or army officer forms a syndicate with say four
or five
illegal miners. After getting diamonds they sell it to illegal
diamond
buyers who are available in the area and split the proceeds among
members.
The law enforcement agents get the lion’s share.”
Illegal
panners say they often hide the diamonds in their mouths to get them
past
police checkpoints.
EXPORT BAN LIFTED
The Marange fields hit the
headlines in 2008 when heavily armed police and
soldiers launched a massive
crackdown on illegal mining. Human Rights Watch
said 200 people were killed
in the operation which was widely condemned by
the international
community.
But Mambondiyani said human rights abuses continued. He said
illegal panners
told him how they had been beaten up and tortured by police
and soldiers
during raids and that some people had been mauled to death by
dogs.
The allegations echo those made in a BBC report in August which
said the
security forces were operating a torture camp in Marange.
It
said the police and military recruited people to illegally dig for
diamonds.
Those who demanded too much pay or who mined independently were
beaten,
raped and savaged by dogs, it added.
Mambondiyani said the Marange area
has attracted illegal diamond dealers
from countries including Pakistan,
Israel, India and Nigeria. Some are
staying with local villagers while
others have established bases in
neighbouring Mozambique.
The illegal
miners are based in the mountains, hills and bushes around the
diamond
fields. But the journalist quoted one diamond panner as saying that
police
warn them to stay away ahead of visits by government ministers or
members of
the Kimberley Process, (KP) the international system regulating
trade in
diamonds.
Exports of Marange diamonds were banned in 2009, putting
pressure on
Zimbabwe to clean up its diamond industry. But the ban was
lifted last week
after inspections by Kimberley Process
monitors.
However, Mambondiyani quoted the diamond panner as saying: “We
are warned of
the impending visits and we don’t approach the fields during
those visits.
“When KP officials came to the fields they did not see any
panner and they
concluded that everything was OK in Marange.”
The
Kimberley Process was set up in 2003 to eliminate trade in diamonds that
fund violence and rights abuses.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
08 November 2011
The decision to allow Zimbabwe to resume
exporting diamonds mined at the
controversial Chiadzwa alluvial fields is
being questioned, after the
country’s Mines Minister admitted that smuggling
is still ‘rife’
Obert Mpofu, who has previously insisted that Zimbabwe’s
diamond industry
was meeting international trade standards, last week
admitted that smuggling
is a serious problem. Mpofu also reportedly said he
was shocked last week
when Zambia and Mozambique allegedly sought to join
the international trade
watchdog scheme, the Kimberley Process (KP), despite
not having diamond
deposits of their own.
“We have information that a
lot of our diamonds went through these
countries. There are massive leakages
at the border posts, but policing of
the border is not the responsibility of
the Mines Ministry. We believe our
diamonds are being clandestinely smuggled
out of the country,” Mpofu told a
parliamentary pre-budget seminar in
Victoria Falls last week.
Mpofu last week celebrated when the KP decided
to green-light Zimbabwe’s
diamonds for export, a decision that some
observers say is completely
undermined by Mpofu’s own revelations on
smuggling.
The KP last year listed smuggling as an area that needed to be
addressed
before sales from Chiadzwa could resume, calling on the Mines
Ministry to
bring the country in line with international trade standards.
But this never
happened, and there have been ongoing reports of rampant
smuggling, along
with the ongoing human rights abuses.
The civil
society arm of the KP has meanwhile slammed the new deal with
Zimbabwe,
because, among other issues, the smuggling problem has been
overlooked.
Political analyst Clifford Mashiri on Tuesday agreed that
the smuggling
reports, now being backed up by Mpofu, make a mockery of the
KP’s decision.
“The KP’s credibility is seriously in doubt and this does
not help matters,”
Mashiri said. “This also just shows how critically
Zimbabwe needs proper
oversight mechanisms and real transparency in the
diamond trade.”
http://www.voanews.com/
07 November
2011
Kimberley Process members meeting in the Democratic Republic of
Congo last
week voted to allow two of three companies mining in Marange to
export
diamonds to previously embargoed Western markets
Gibbs Dube |
Washington
Despite the largely positive feedback on the now-concluded
Kimberly Process
meeting in Kinshasa last week, experts said Monday that
Zimbabwe is unlikely
to reap massive benefits from global diamond sales from
the Marange field
unless Parliament passes proposed legislation setting a
legal framework and
audit trail for diamond earnings.
Officials and
economists said the distribution of diamond proceeds at
present leaves much
to be desired and the government at a disadvantage as
its joint venture
partners now exploiting the Marange field are expected to
retain the bulk of
such revenues.
Members of the Kimberley Process meeting in the Democratic
Republic of Congo
last week voted to allow two of the three companies mining
diamonds in
Marange to export diamonds to previously embargoed Western
markets. Members
also named the United States deputy chair of the
organization, setting it up
to take the chair in 2012.
Parliamentary
Mines Committee Member Moses Mare said the Diamond Revenue
Bill is stuck in
Parliament. He said the Zimbabwe Mining Development
Corporation remits just
10 percent of Marange revenues to the government
after collecting proceeds
from Harare’s joint venture partners developing
the alluvial field in the
country's east.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said in July that in the six
months through
June only US$103 million flowed into government coffers from
Marange
diamonds.
Mare said much more transparency is required as
most companies operating in
Marange are opaque. “In some cases the companies
are in the hands of
security forces and therefore it is impossible to have
any kind of
transparency and accountability."
Economist Prosper
Chitambara of the Research and Economic Development
Institute of Zimbabwe
said Parliament should enact the Diamond Revenue Bill
so that it will be
more clear just where the potentially vast Marange
revenues are going.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
08 November
2011
When prominent banker Farai Rwodzi, a non-executive director at
telecoms
company Africom Holdings, was arrested on espionage charges
alongside acting
chief executive Simba Mangwende and engineer Oliver Chiku,
not much was made
of the case. The trio were accused of illegally setting up
satellite
communication equipment to leak official secrets to foreign
countries.
At the time we reported that Rwodzi had close links to the
Mujuru faction in
ZANU PF and speculated on the possible motives behind the
arrest. SW Radio
Africa has now received allegations that members of the
Emmerson Mnangagwa
faction engineered the arrest “to send a message to Vice
President Joice
Mujuru, that your husband is no longer here and we can do
anything we want.”
A source close to the Mujuru faction has told us that
Rwodzi basically ran
Mujuru’s vast business empire which included mining,
agriculture, transport,
tourism and investment in the construction industry.
One of the projects,
diamond mine River Ranch which was seized from its
original owners, is
allegedly used to launder illegally smuggled diamonds
from the DRC. Illegal
DRC gold deals also form part of the Mujuru
‘empire.’
Rwodzi calls Joice Mujuru ‘mainini’ or auntie and is a close
relative, hence
the trust. SW Radio Africa has been told that Rwodzi is
viewed as the ‘key
money man’ in the Mujuru faction and the arrest was made
to demonstrate how
the Mnangagwa faction now had the upper hand following
Solomon Mujuru’s
death. “They are trying to show Joice that she is now weak
and isolated,”
the source said.
SW Radio Africa was told: “It appears
the Mnangagwa faction is controlling
the police force and they ordered
Rwodzi’s arrest. Rwodzi was only released
on bail following the intervention
of one of his key business partners, Adam
Molai, who is married to one of
Mugabe’s nieces and is a well-known tobacco
merchant. Molai has direct
access to Mugabe and convinced him to get Rwodzi
released,” he
said.
Meanwhile the Canadian firm sucked into the Rwodzi espionage case
has
described as ‘unfounded’ the allegations that a satellite system
supplied by
them was used to send state secrets to Canada, the United States
and
Afghanistan. Juch-Tech president Walt Juchniewicz said the company feels
the
accusations are ‘very slanderous against its 25-year
reputation.”
He said when they visited Zimbabwe they had the approval of
the executives
and full co-operation of Africom employees. “Africom and the
landlord of the
property gave their permission to the location of the dish
and I was assured
by Africom that they had all required licensing to operate
in Zimbabwe.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com
JIM
BRONSKILL
OTTAWA— The Canadian Press
Published Monday, Nov. 07, 2011
8:02PM EST
The head of an Ontario telecommunications company says he
is shocked that
“unfounded allegations” have landed his firm at the centre
of an African spy
scandal.
Three Zimbabwean businessmen are accused
of using a satellite system
supplied by Juch-Tech Inc. of Hamilton, Ont., to
send state secrets to
Canada, the United States and
Afghanistan.
They have been charged with breaching the country’s
Official Secrets Act,
which prohibits the communication of information
“calculated to be useful to
an enemy.”
Juch-Tech president Walt
Juchniewicz says he knows nothing about the alleged
espionage.
The
company “feels this is very slanderous against its 25-year reputation
and
shocked at these unfounded allegations,” Mr. Juchniewicz said in a
statement. “Our intent was purely of good – not of hostility, or to harm
anybody.”
Mr. Juchniewicz says he simply went to Zimbabwe to provide
investment
company Africom Holdings with Internet service through
installation of a
satellite dish.
“When I visited Zimbabwe and met
with executives of Africom, I was very
impressed with the country and the
people,” he said. “We had the approval of
the executives and full
co-operation of Africom employees with respect to
this
project.
“Africom and the landlord of the property gave their permission
to the
location of the dish and I was assured by Africom that they had all
required
licensing to operate in Zimbabwe.”
Oliver Chiku of Global
Satellite Systems – hired by Juch-Tech to install the
dish – and two Africom
employees, Simba Mangwende and Farai Rwodzi, face up
to 25 years in prison
for allegedly breaching the secrets law. They have
been granted bail by a
Harare judge.
Mr. Juchniewicz says his company has carried out projects
in various African
countries for a dozen years without problems. Though
disturbed and
disappointed by the turn of events, he is reluctant to say
anything further
until he finds out more about the charges.
The
Foreign Affairs Department said Monday it was aware of the case, adding
it
would be “inappropriate” to comment while the matter is before the courts
in
Zimbabwe.
“However, we urge the government of Zimbabwe to ensure that
judicial
proceedings for these and other individuals in their jurisdiction
are
grounded in law, free from political interference, and that the rights
of
the accused are fully respected,” department spokeswoman Claude Rochon
said
in a statement.
Foreign Affairs says Canada is warily eyeing the
fragile political situation
in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe’s
party continues to control key
state institutions despite a power-sharing
arrangement with its former
opponents. Ottawa has also expressed concern
about Harare’s human rights
violations and failure to respect the rule of
law.
A consular official with the Embassy of Zimbabwe in Ottawa did not
return
phone calls.
According to Zimbabwean media reports, the three
men facing espionage
charges are accused of using the newly installed
communication system to
leak confidential government ministry data “useful
to an enemy” from July
through late October.
At issue in the case is
whether the alleged recipient countries, including
Canada, are actually
enemies of Zimbabwe.
Court proceedings are expected to resume next week.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
8 November 2011
The state case against former MDC-T legislator
Munyaradzi Gwisai is on the
verge of collapse after the ‘star’ witness has
been caught in a web of lies.
Gwisai’s defence team led by Alec
Muchadehama has uncovered major holes in
the credibility of ‘Jonathan Shoko’
the ‘detective police officer,’ who has
been exposed as a CIO agent. Shoko’s
real name is Rodwell Chitiyo.
The former MDC-T legislator for Highfields
is being accused of plotting
against the government. He is jointly charged
with Antoneta Choto, Tatenda
Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo and
Welcome Zimuto.
The group was arrested in February after watching videos
of the Arab spring
uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. They were initially
charged with treason and
plotting to overthrow Robert Mugabe but that was
downgraded to ‘conspiracy
to commit public violence’.
In February
Shoko had infiltrated the meeting attended by the civic and
human rights
activists. But infiltration is the job of the intelligence
services, not the
police and he supplied all the information that led to the
arrest of the
group.
Under oath Shoko told the court he is a police sergeant, while
irrefutable
documentation produced by the defence team in court on Monday
exposed him as
CIO and that he was testifying falsely.
The evidence
by the defence team tracked the past of Rodwell aka Jonathan to
his
secondary school education at St Faith Boys High in Rusape to Midlands
State
University, where he did a Bachelor of Arts in English and
Communication
from 2001 – 2004. They also followed his working career.
They also showed
that the police identity number he produced in court,
046330P is fake, and
does not exist.
He also had a fake national ID number; 63-752351-T-47
when in actual fact
his genuine ID number is 75-345235-T-47, with date of
birth given as
13/08/1982. This is the date of birth Shoko gave in court and
is the same
for Rodwell Chitiyo.
The CIO agent also lied about his
residential address, which he gave as 86
Chiremba in Queensdale.
Investigations by the defence team have revealed he
has never lived at the
house and they are seeking more answers as to who
printed the fake police
ID.
The social networking site Facebook also gave away Shoko. There is a
profile
photo of him under the name Rodwell Chitiyo. His girlfriend, Ester
Marufu,
wrote on her profile that she is in a relationship with Chitiyo and
the two
have a young child called Courtney, a fact Shoko did not dispute in
court on
Monday. Marufu is a first year student at Chinhoyi
University.
‘If Shoko is not disputing the fact he fathered a child with
Marufu, then
its case closed for the defence. It is indisputable that Shoko
is Chitiyo
and has lied under oath and could find himself in serious trouble
for
committing perjury, for wilfully telling an untruth in a court,’ a
source
close to case said on Tuesday.
The source continued: ‘This
star witness has made too many conflicting
statements. By exposing his
conflicting statements, the defence has reduced
his credibility. Since the
trial opened this man, Shoko or Chitiyo, has
repeatedly lied and you could
tell the magistrate knew because he ended up
laughing at some of his
inconsistent answers.’
There only two more state witnesses, both police
officers. They will take
the stand on 29th November.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Godfrey Mtimba
Tuesday, 08 November 2011
10:33
MASVINGO - Prosecuters in the country will today resume their
job action
after negotiations with government over a possible pay rise
failed to yield
results.
The prosecutors grouped under the
Zimbabwe Law officers Association (Ziloa)
said they will re-launch their
strike action which was suspended last month
to give negotiations a
chance.
The prosecutors said the industrial action will be done to show
solidarity
with their leaders who were fired by attorney general, Johannes
Tomana.
Tomana withdrew prosecutors’ practising certificates for the
entire national
executive of Leopold Mudisi, Mehluli Tshuma, Patros Dube,
Dereck Charamba
and Musekiwa Mbanje last week and ordered them to stop their
duties as
public prosecutors in the country’s courts.
Ziloa secretary
general, Dereck Charamba told the Daily News yesterday that
they will soon
be resuming the strike action in response to Tomana’s
suspension.
“We
are resuming our strike on Tuesday (today). Government failed to agree
with
us on our demands so we are going ahead with the strike again. We need
a pay
rise and that has not been done,” said Charamba who is among those
suspended
adding that his members were now so upset that they have no option
but to go
back on strike.
He also lashed out at government for failing to take
their issue seriously
and for victimising them as leaders of Ziloa by
withdrawing their
prasticising certificates.
“We are very angry with
these guys in government, instead of looking into
our issues they decided to
victimise us by serving us with letters of
revoking our certificates and
barring us from practising.
“But we are saying we need a decent salary
for our members and that’s why we
are going back on strike and our members
have also decided to show
solidarity with us over Tomana’s joke, how could
he fire us for demanding a
better wage,” said Charamba.
Charamba said
Ziloa would fight Tomana’s decision to fire them and have
since instructed
their lawyers to appeal against the suspension at the High
Court.
“His recent move is just a joke and we will fight him. As we
speak now, we
have since instructed our lawyers to drag him to the
courts.
“Harrison Nkomo will be representing us, and his (Tomana) letter
is just a
useless piece of paper, he is not our employer and has no right to
make that
decision,” Charamba said.
He said prosecutors will now
continue with the strike action until they are
given a decent
salary.
“This time the strike will go ahead until we get what we
want.
“We want to show them that we are serious with this issue and they
should
just do the wise thing of giving us a decent wage,” he
added.
Prosecutors feel they are being treated unfairly as magistrates
now under
the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) are getting a salary of
$700 while
prosecutors get a paltry $300 a month.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Tuesday, 08
November 2011 10:30
HARARE - Government has resolved that
foreign-owned companies in the
manufacturing sector must cede only 26
percentage shareholding to locals,
and work to increase the shareholding to
51 percent over a period of four
years.
The new empowerment threshold
has been published in the latest extraordinary
government
gazette.
The decision marks a major climb-down by President Robert Mugabe
and
hardliners in his Zanu PF party who had pressed for a harsher version of
the
controversial Indigenisation law that required foreign firms to cede 51
percent stake to local blacks.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
opposed the law, saying the 51 percent
threshold chased away
investors.
Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has gazetted the
new regulations
for the capital-intensive manufacturing sector.
Only
foreign manufacturing firms with a net asset value of $100 000 or more
will
be required to comply with the law.
“It is hereby notified that the
minister of Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment has, in terms
of Section 5(4) as read with
Section 5A(4) of the Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment (General)
Regulations, 2010 (the principal
regulations),” reads the gazette.
The schedule says for the first two
years, foreign firms in manufacturing
may maintain the 26 percent threshold
for locals, but must increase the
threshold to 46 percent in the third year,
and then 51 percent in the fourth
year.
The revision was a
recommendation of the empowerment committees that are
dominated by top
Mugabe allies and supporters.
Analysts have said neither the
cash-strapped government nor impoverished
blacks will be able to raise money
to buy shares in large foreign-owned
manufacturing firms, leaving only the
rich and well-connected to
participate.
The empowerment drive has
split the unity government along political lines,
with Mugabe’s Zanu PF
insisting on the take-over of foreign firms as
retaliation for Western
sanctions while Tsvangirai’s MDC is urging
restraint, warning the drive
risks fomenting economic chaos which will slow
down economic recovery.
http://www.voanews.com
07 November
2011
Critics say the proposed Media Council looks to them like
another attempt by
Mahoso to check press freedom and maintain restrictions
that should have
been abandoned under the current reform
process
Tatenda Gumbo | Washington
Members of the Zimbabwe
Media Commission have come out in support of ZMC
Chief Executive Tafataona
Mahoso, who has come under fire from press
advocates who say a proposal for
a Media Council to monitor practitioners
reflects his style of governance
when he was chairman of the predecessor
Media and Information
Commission.
Media Commission Chairman Godfrey Majonga told reporters late
last week that
Mahoso has performed well in his current position as
secretariat head.
But critics say the proposed Media Council looks to
them like another
attempt by Mahoso to check press freedom and maintain
restrictions that
should have been abandoned under the reform process
launched under the 2008
Global Political Agreement.
Mahoso as MIC
chief shut down the independent Daily News, since resurrected.
The mooted
Media council would operate under the the Access to Information
and
Protection of Privacy Act, which press rights advocates say should be
repealed.
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe Coordinator Andrew
Moyse told reporter
Tatenda Gumbo that most observers assume Mahoso will
stay in place – but in
the meantime will watch closely to see how his role
in the reconstituted
commission evolved.
Moyse said that under the
proposed Media Council, it is assumed Mahoso as
head of the commission's
secretariat would hand down disciplinary measures
once members of the
council have reviewed cases involving journalists and
media
houses
Njabulo Ncube, chairman of the Media Institute of Southern Africa
in
Zimbabwe, said practitioners should take aim at the proposed Media
Council
instead of Mahoso.
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/
08-Nov-2011 | Frank Maponya
NINE members of the Zion
Christian Church and another civilian died in two
separate accidents that
happened almost at the same spot on Sunday night and
Monday
morning.
Provincial roads and transport department spokesman Thesan
Moodley said that
driver fatigue appeared to have been the cause of both
accidents.
In the first accident ZCC members were travelling in a bus
from the church's
prayer meeting in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, when the accident
happened on the N1
between Matoks and Polokwane.
According to Captain
Mohlaka Mashiane the driver of a bus ferrying church
members to
KwaZulu-Natal lost control. The bus hit a bridge and plunged into
a
stream.
Mashiane said eight people died on the spot while a ninth - a
woman believed
to be in her 40s - died on arrival at a local
hospital.
He said the second accident happened very close to the first
one at about
4am yesterday. Mashiane said the driver of the bus, also
carrying ZCC
members from Tembisa in Gauteng, was allegedly driving in the
wrong lane
when he collided with a Nissan Sentra sedan.
The driver of
the smaller car, who was alone, died on the spot, while the
occupants of the
bus and their driver escaped unhurt.
"We are currently investigating the
causes of both accidents," Mashiane.
said
"We also send our heartfelt
condolences to the families of those who died in
the accidents. while
wishing the injured victims a speedy recovery."
Joe Maila of the
provincial department of health and social development said
they had
transported the injured to various hospitals around Polokwane.
By late
yesterday, Maila said, 26 of the 27 victims transported to Mankweng
Hospital, had been discharged after they were found to have sustained minor
injuries, Only while one had been seriously injured.
He said 12 of
the victims were taken to Seshego Hospital and 11 of had been
discharged,
while one was still "being observed."
Six of the bus victims were taken
to Polokwane Hospital, two with serious
but not critical
injuries.
"We are grateful to our emergency medical services personnel
for having
responded quickly to the accident in an effort to save more lives
that could
have been lost," Maila said.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
By Xolisani Ncube 8 hours 10 minutes
ago
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s chief secretary, Ian
Makone,
says he is living in fear after an attempt to assassinate him was
discovered
on Friday last week.
Makone also doubles up as secretary
to the Council of Ministers, which
Tsvangirai chairs.
In an interview
yesterday, Makone told the Daily News his would-be
assailants inserted a
sharp-edged metal inside one of his vehicle’s tyres,
with an intention to
deflate the tyre while his vehicle was in motion — a
situation that would
have resulted in the tyre bursting and possibly
resulting in a car
crash.
Makone said he viewed the move as a ploy to assassinate
him.
“My driver was coming from Wedza and he had a puncture on a new tyre
which
had been on the road for less than two days. “As the tyre was being
attended
to, a sharp edged metal object was discovered inside the tyre,”
said Makone.
“It is very fortunate that he was not driving at a high
speed. Imagine if it
was a front one which had this metal object and the
driver was driving at a
high speed? It was going to be another story
altogether,” said Makone.
He added that he counted himself lucky that he
was not in the vehicle and
that none of those who were in the vehicle were
injured during the incident.
Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson
said they were not taking the
matter lightly.
He said they viewed the
matter as a tip of the iceberg on what to expect
given the forthcoming
presidential and general elections.
“We are taking this matter seriously
and we are going to be very observant
to whatever is being done to us,” said
Tamborinyoka.
“This could be just a beginning of serious mischief and who
knows who could
be the next target and we don’t know whether it was a
mistake or a
deliberate attempt to assassinate Makone,” Tamborinyoka
said.
With election tempo steadily rising, fear is now high within the
MDC
officials inside the shaky coalition government, especially those in the
Prime Minister’s office, that this could be another attempt by the former
ruling party to eliminate them ahead of the watershed elections. - Daily
News
http://www.swradioafrica.com
PYD Press release
The
trial of PYD Director Claris Madhuku at the Chipinge Magistrate court
today
has been further postponed to 5 December 2011 after Magistrate Crispen
Ngweshiwa and state prosecutors refused to preside over the case.
The
drama filled session saw the Public Prosecutors Last Goredema and
Thembelami
Dhliwayo disappearing with the case dockets leading the court to
adjourn for
close to an hour. The two later reappeared and refused to stand
in for the
state on the grounds that they were not the ones dealing with the
case. On
the other hand Magistrate Ngweshiwa refused to preside over the
case arguing
that Vuso Gapara was the one handling the case.
This led to the
postponement of the case to 5 December to allow the court
officials to put
their house in order.
Madhuku’s defense lawyer, Langton Mhungu of Mhungu,
Matutu, Kwirira and
Associates demanded justice and finalization of the
matter. He lambasted the
state for its delaying tactics meant to persecute
his client denying him his
right to freedom. Madhuku was arrested on 14
April 2011 at Rimbi Township on
charges of addressing a meeting without
notifying the regulating authority.
He has been visiting Chipinge Magistrate
Court since then. Today’s
appearance was his sixth since his arrest in
April.
Madhuku had no kind words either; he blasted the tortoise manner
in which
the Chipinge Magistrate has been dealing with his case. They are
doing this
to persecute me for my leadership role in the Chisumbanje
community- Macdom
Investments land dispute.
Inserted by PYD
Information and Communications Department
Email: platformtrust@gmail.com
http://af.reuters.com
Tue Nov 8, 2011 2:38pm
GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE Nov 8 (Reuters) - President
Robert Mugabe's supporters have tightened
a leash on his rival Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai ahead of a campaign
for what is likely to be a
bruising fight in elections that could be held as
early as next
year.
Riot police in Zimbabwe's western Matabeleland region have in the
last few
weeks stopped Tsvangirai from addressing a couple of rallies in the
region
where his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) beat Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party
and won a majority of parliamentary seats in elections in
2008.
In the capital Harare, another MDC rally organised by a minister
jointly
responsible for police affairs was disrupted by ZANU-PF militants
after a
clash with MDC youths reminiscent of flare ups witnessed early this
year.
Tsvangirai, who says he will win any free and fair poll, has vowed
to
challenge Mugabe over the rally issue to demand the creation of conducive
campaigning environment ahead of elections expected by the end of
2012.
Mugabe, 87, was forced to form a power-sharing government with
Tsvangirai
after disputed elections three years ago marred by violence
blamed on
ZANU-PF, but analysts say he is pressing for polls a year ahead of
schedule
because of his advancing age and failing health.
RISE IN
INTER-PARTY VIOLENCE
Although Mugabe's supporters could have locked out
Tsvangirai from holding
rallies in the countryside simply to portray the MDC
leader as a powerless
figure in the unity government, his party lieutenants
fear this could be a
sign of troubled times ahead.
Some officials
have warned that frustrated MDC youths could be forced into
confronting
ZANU-PF structures which critics say have routinely used
violence against
opponents since 2000.
What to Watch:
- A rise in interparty
violence as drive for elections picks up steam.
- Tsvangirai and the MDC
making a fresh appeal for political intervention
from mediators in the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), who are
trying to help
Zimbabwe to agree on a programme to hold a free and fair
election.
MUGABE'S SUCCESSION
ZANU-PF will hold an annual
meeting in early December where the party seeks
to endorse Mugabe as its
candidate in the next presidential election.
While in public officials
rally behind Mugabe, in private ZANU-PF members
prefer him to pass on the
leadership to a younger heir.
The death of Retired General Solomon Mujuru
in a fire in August has changed
the dynamics in internal party battles over
Mugabe's succession.
Rumours say Mujuru, husband of Vice President Joice
Mujuru was pressing
Mugabe pressing Mugabe to step down and that his ZANU-PF
faction also
courted Tsvangirai's MDC party.
What to watch:
-
Any moves by Mugabe to mend the fractured party ahead of elections and
signs
he could be leaning towards any one of his allies bidding to succeed
him.
- How Mujuru's camp will regroup after losing its backroom
operator and
strategist.
GOVERNMENT SPENDING
The government is
expected to run a budget deficit of $700 million this
year, and is expected
to find an extra $220 million next year for the
southern African country to
hold a referendum on a new constitution and a
general election as
well.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, from Tsvangirai's MDC, is currently
relying on
internal resources to fund the ever-growing national budget
because donors
still refuse to extend aid to Zimbabwe, demanding deeper
political reforms.
After a July salary increase for state employees, the
government now spends
67 percent of its revenues on salaries.
What to
Watch:
- Any moves to increase taxes for mining firms the government says
are
contributing little in revenues.
LOCAL
OWNERSHIP
Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Kasukuwere
from Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party says mining firms have mostly met a September
deadline by
which they were required to submit plans to transfer a 51
percent stake in
their operations to locals.
Some foreign mines with
operations in Zimbabwe include Impala Platinum ,
Aquarius and Rio Tinto ,
while British banks Barclays and Standard Chartered
Bank operate
locally.
The heavily criticised law is aimed mainly at mining firms and
banks
operating in a resource-rich state that has become an economic basket
case
because of what analysts say are years of mismanagement by Mugabe's
government.
Analysts say it is more likely the cash-strapped
government wants to wring
concessions from miners such as more cash or
mineral rights. This explains
why the government is negotiating with
individual companies, the analysts
say.
What to watch:
-
Details of the agreements reached between the government and individual
miners.
- What the government will do to companies that fail to
comply with the law.
SECURITY, ELECTORAL REFORMS
Parliament is
expected to debate some reforms to the country's security and
electoral laws
which critics say Mugabe has used to hold onto power for
three
decades.
The MDC is also pushing for some changes to the security laws to
keep
military out of local politics.
Zimbabwe's security service
chiefs are hostile to Tsvangirai, calling him a
Western front and have
openly backed Mugabe in previous elections while
vowing never to salute
Tsvangirai even if he became President.
What to watch:
- Mugabe's
stance beyond polite agreement that generals should desist from
making
public statements on politics.
- How regional leaders, especially South
African President Jacob Zuma who is
mediating in Zimbabwe, will react to the
MDC calls for military reforms.
CONSTITUTION
A multi-party
parliamentary committee leading a review of the constitution
says it will
respect the wishes of ordinary Zimbabweans, but the final
charter is likely
to be a compromise between ZANU-PF and MDC, who both lack
a two-thirds
majority in parliament needed to pass the new supreme law on
their
own.
A referendum on a draft not backed by either party would likely
trigger
violence.
What to watch:
- Compromise deal. Many
Zimbabweans hope a new charter, replacing the
pre-independence document,
will strengthen the role of parliament, curtail
presidential powers and
guarantee civil, political and media liberties.
- ZANU-PF reaction to
prolonged delays in the crafting of the new
constitution.
http://www.kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=7242
Work in and for Zimbabwe. Help grow our
nation. Check out the vacancies
below. If you’d like to receive this sort of
information, as well as civic
and human rights updates, by email each week
drop us a note saying
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Please
note that the job vacancies we carry are related to the NGO and civil
society sectors only.
Zimbabwe Country Consultant: American Jewish
World Service (AJWS)
Deadline: 10 November 2011
American Jewish World
Service (AJWS) is an international development
organization based in New
York, motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue
justice. AJWS is dedicated
to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among
the people of the
developing world regardless of race, religion or
nationality. Through grants
to grassroots organizations, volunteer service,
advocacy and education, AJWS
fosters civil society, sustainable development
and human rights for all
people, while promoting the values and
responsibilities of global
citizenship within the Jewish community.
American Jewish World Service
seeks to hire a country consultant in Zimbabwe
to work with the AJWS grants
department in New York to support our grant
making to grassroots
organizations in the country.
Job Description:
-Provide technical
support and guidance to AJWS partners in Zimbabwe.
-Facilitate access to
capacity building, training and networking
opportunities for AJWS
partners.
-Facilitate linkages for AJWS partners to other donors and
opportunities.
-Organize AJWS partner meetings and peer exchanges to share
knowledge and
learning.
-Advise AJWS on current social, political and
economic trends that might
impact our grantees.
-Advise AJWS on private,
government, UN and multi-or bi-lateral funding
streams in the
region.
-Travel in country to monitor and evaluate AJWS grant making,
including
trips with AJWS program officers.
-Provide logistical support
to AJWS program officers visiting the
country.
Qualifications:
-Significant work experience in the NGO
community
-Minimum 4 years post-secondary education
-Strong writing and
analytical skills
-At least one local language and English fluency for report
writing and
direct communication with US staff
-Expertise in the
rights-based approach to development preferred
-Experience with NGO capacity
building strongly preferred
-Women are strongly encouraged to
apply
Salary:
Send salary requirements. We are looking for a
part-time consultant
(approximately 6 days per month, flexible schedule)
based in Harare or
Bulawayo. The contract is for six months with the
possibility of extension.
How to Apply:
For immediate consideration,
please forward your resume or Curriculum Vitae,
cover letter and list of
references to tmukuka [at] ajws [dot] org and
indicate your name and
“Zimbabwe consultant” in the subject line.
For more information about
AJWS, please visit our website at www.ajws.org
Food Security and Relief
Coordinator: CARE Canada
Deadline: 22 November 2011
CARE is looking
for a highly experienced Food Security & Relief Coordinator
to lead a
variety of programmes including those funded under USAID’s Food
for Peace
(FFP), World Food Programme (WFP), USAID’s Office of Foreign
Disaster
Assistance (OFDA) and other as directed by the Assistant Country
Director –
Programmes.
Position summary:
The Food Security and Relief
Coordinator directly leads the teams
responsible for the final stages of the
implementation of the FFP PRIZE
program, an OFDA disaster risk reduction
project and WFP programs along with
other humanitarian response teams as
necessary. The position is responsible
for the entire spectrum of activities
from development, implementation,
compliance, budgeting and reporting on
humanitarian and food security
activities in strict accordance with USAID
FFP regulations, WFP & other
donor regulations and procedures and CARE
Food Security Policies and
Strategies.
The Coordinator is the key
person responsible for liaising with in-country
USAID – FFP, WFP, and other
donors and stakeholders, including the
government. S/he will also
collaborate closely with lead consortium
management unit and logistics
department and CARE’s logistics co-ordinator.
S/he will be responsible for
oversight, management, planning, compliance and
reporting for all food and
non-food items within his/her program portfolio,
in concert with the
logistic co-ordinator and in keeping with all country
office and donor
policies/regulations.
S/he will coordinate and cooperate with all other
Sector Coordinators and
CARE administrative and financial departments at the
sub-offices and country
office to ensure established CARE procedures and
polices are followed and to
maximize support for project
activities.
Find out more
Centre Director: Legal Resources
Foundation (LRF)
Deadline: 25 November 2011
The Legal Resources
Foundation a local legal services NGO invites
applications from suitably
qualified and experienced persons for the post of
Centre Director within the
organisation.
Duties and responsibilities:
-Administering the
programmes and activities of the Centre
-Supervision and management of Centre
staff
-Preparation of regular reports on Centre activities
-Engaging in
fundraising, including drawing up funding proposals and
budgeting
Qualifications and experience:
-Applicants must be
registered legal practitioners with at least five years’
post-registration
experience
-Background in civil society, particularly a legal services NGO,
and
computer literacy will be great advantages
-Applicants must be
self-motivated and have a demonstrable ability to lead a
team, and to work
with minimal supervision.
How to apply Please send your application
letter and CV to:
The National Director
P. O. Box 918
Harare
Or
they can be sent by email to: pa [at] lrf [dot] co [dot] zw
Applications
received after the deadline will not be considered.
Finance Director:
Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)
Deadline: 25 November 2011
The Legal
Resources Foundation a local legal services NGO invites
applications from
suitably qualified and experienced persons for the post of
Finance
Director.
This position is responsible for the overall financial
management (planning,
budgeting, accounting and reporting). The role will
provide strategic
leadership and guidance in developing and implementing
guidelines and
procedures governing finance and support systems. The
incumbent must have
experience in managing and dealing with
donors.
Key responsibilities
-Accurate financial accounting and
bank accounts management
-Planning and budgeting on financial aspects of the
organisation’s
programmes
-Accurate reporting to National Director, Board
of Trustees and funding
partners
-Overall accountability of
organisational finances and compliance with the
organisation’s policies and
guidelines and donor requirements
-Prepare financial reports in line with
organisational and donor reporting
requirements
-Co-ordinate and maintain
a cash forecasting system to ensure that adequate
funds are available to
meet the working requirements of the programmes
-Monitor ongoing levels of
expenditure on individual programmes as against
budget, and provide timely
advice of likely over or under-spends
-Manage payroll and income tax
payments
Qualifications, experience and competencies
-Accounting
or Finance-related Degree, and/or fully qualified member of a
recognised
Accounting Professional Association such as ACCA and CIS
-Substantial post
qualification experience and demonstrable understanding
and experience of
finance management, preferably within an NGO
-Strong communication skills,
with excellent written and spoken English
How to apply Please send your
application letter and CV to:
The National Director
P. O. Box
918
Harare
Or they can be sent by email to: pa [at] lrf [dot] co [dot]
zw
Applications received after the deadline will not be
considered.
Director: Training and Consultancy – Africa Centre for
Holistic Management
Deadline: 30 November 2011
Position Summary
The
Director of Training and Consultancy is responsible for supporting
partner
organizations to implement Holistic Land and Livestock Management
(HLLM)
program in communities in Southern Africa. The Director is expected
to
select appropriate partners, oversee successful workshops and training
programs, and ensure effective follow up support and will be based in
Victoria Falls.
ACHM is an award-winning organization that is
restoring land to health and
successfully addressing climate change while
enhancing livelihoods and
reducing conflict. We seek a mature, dynamic,
results-orientated individual
with passion who values working in a learning
organization.
Supervisor: Executive Director
Key Challenge
To
achieve a working knowledge of Holistic land and Livestock Management in
Southern Africa and ensure successful implementation of community land and
water restoration efforts through working with other NGOs and government
agencies.
Required qualifications and work experience
*Relevant
Degree (in Education, Organization Development, Development
Studies, Social
Science, or equivalent)
*Experience in community mobilization
*Knowledge
of experiential learning
*Experience running training programs
*Experience
in a management or leadership position
*Knowledge and experience in program
evaluation
Required skills
*Excellent presentation and facilitation
skills
*Ability to design appropriate training programs
*Able to assess
and select appropriate organizations to partner with
*Manage, mentor and lead
a consulting team
*Possess excellent communication skills in English, both
oral and written
*Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook,
Explorer &
Powerpoint
Preferred qualifications, knowledge and
skills
*Team player who is able to motivate/build a cohesive
team
*Knowledge of Holistic Management a plus
*Fluency in Southern African
languages a plus
*Entrepreneurship
*Politically, culturally and
religiously neutral in work setting
Responsibilities:
1.Develop and
manage the newly formed Training & Consultancy section
2.Select
appropriate partners (those likely to succeed) and develop
relationship with
them
*Assessing and selecting partner organization using ACHM define
selection
criteria.
*Facilitation in Leaders seminars
*Carry out
pre-visits to selected partner organization
*Drafting MOU with selected
partner organization.
3.Deliver successful (and appropriate) training
program
*Organizing workshops and training programs
*Designing tailor made
workshops
*Evaluation of training programs and workshops
4.Follow up
coaching and support to implementing organizations
*Provide follow up support
to partner organizations
*Management of report writing by
consultants
*Negotiating contracts
5.Maintaining
relationships
*Over seeing maintenance of relationships
*Constant
communication with partners
*Negotiating contracts
Application
process: ACHM is an equal opportunity employer. Salary and
benefits are
commensurate with experience.
Applications will be accepted through 30
November 2011. For consideration,
please email a cover letter, C.V. and
references to: hmatanga [at]
achmonline [dot] org or rbikwa [at] achmonline
[dot] org
For more information on the Africa Centre for Holistic
Management visit:
www.achmonline.org
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This
entry was posted on November 8th, 2011 at 3:26 pm by Bev Clark
BILL WATCH
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES SERIES
[7th November 2011]
Committee
Meetings Open to the Public: 8th to 10th November
The committee meetings listed below will be open to members of the public, but as
observers only, not as participants, i.e. members of the public can listen but
not speak. All meetings will be held at
Parliament in Harare, entrance on Kwame Nkrumah Avenue between 2nd and 3rd
Streets.
Note: This bulletin is based on the latest information released by
Parliament on 7th November. But, as
there are sometimes last-minute changes to the meetings schedule, persons
wishing to attend a meeting should avoid possible disappointment by checking
with the relevant committee clerk that the meeting is still on and still open to
the public. Parliament’s telephone
numbers are Harare 700181 and 252936. If
attending, please use the Kwame Nkrumah Ave entrance to Parliament. IDs must be
produced.
Tuesday 8th November at 10
am
Portfolio Committee: Industry and Commerce
Oral evidence from Schweppes Zimbabwe Pvt Ltd on the operational
challenges encountered before the merger with Delta Beverages Pvt Ltd and the
benefits accruing from the merger
Committee Room No. 311
Chairperson: Hon Mutomba Clerk:
Ms Masara
Thursday 10th November at 10 am
Portfolio Committee: Small and Medium Enterprises
Oral evidence from the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and
Co-operative Development on the 3rd Quarter Budget Performance
Report
Committee Room No. 1
Chairperson: Hon R. Moyo
Clerk: Ms Mushunje
Thursday 10th November at 11 am
Thematic Committee: Indigenisation and Empowerment
1. Oral evidence from the
Ministry of Mines on the requirements and process involved in the issuance of
mining licences
2. Oral evidence from the
Ministry of Indigenisation and Empowerment on progress on the implementation of
the Indigenisation and Empowerment Policy
Government Caucus Room
Chairperson: Hon Mutsvangwa Clerk: Mr
Ratsakatika
Veritas makes every effort to esure reliable information, but cannot
take legal responsibility for information supplied
BILL WATCH 48/2011
[7th November 2011]
Both Houses of Parliament are adjourned until 15th
November
Summary of Private
Member’s Bill to amend the Urban Councils Act
On 25th October, when
seeking – and obtaining – the leave of the House of Assembly to introduce his
Bill to amend the Urban Councils Act, Hon Matimba
explained that the object of the Bill was to reduce “the powers of central government over
municipal and town councils, thereby encouraging democracy at local
levels”. The 35-clause Bill has been
professionally drafted and is accompanied by a detailed memorandum prepared by
the drafter, explaining in clear terms the effect of each clause. [The memorandum is included in the electronic version of the Bill available from
veritas@mango.zw] The proposed amendments
include:
· No appointed council
members: The Bill will revoke the
power presently held by the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban
Development to appoint non-voting members of municipal and town councils “to represent special interests”. This means that if the Bill becomes law all
councillors will be elected. [The Minister’s use of this power has been
controversial, resulting in accusations that his appointees are merely
ex-councillors defeated at the last council elections, in no way representative
of special interests as envisaged by the Act.]
· Ministerial powers
abolished: The Bill proposes the
abolition of the Minister’s powers (1) to give policy directions to a council;
(2) to order a council to reverse, suspend or rescind resolutions and other
council actions; (3) to order a council to make certain by-laws or to adopt
model by-laws; (4) to order two or more councils to combine to provide services
jointly; (5) to veto proposed council by-laws [instead he will be limited to
asking a council to reconsider by-laws on strictly limited
grounds].
· Suspension and dismissal
of councillors: The Minister’s power to
suspend councillors on suspicion of corruption or other misconduct will remain,
but under stricter controls requiring prompt institution of investigations and
completion within 60 days. But the
Minister will not be able to dismiss a councillor – if the Minister thinks an
investigation reveals grounds for dismissal, he or she will have to apply to the
High Court for an order of dismissal, meaning that the decision to dismiss will
be taken by a High Court judge. [Note: Last week Justice Patel set aside the
Minister’s dismissal of several Harare city councillors, ruling that the
Minister’s decision was irrational.]
· Appointment of
“caretakers” to require consultation with Parliament: The Minister’s power to appoint caretakers to
run a council’s affairs if there are no councillors, or if all councillors have
been suspended, will only be exercised after consultation with the Parliamentary
portfolio committee on local government.
Caretakers will hold office for a maximum of 90 days, non-extendable,
pending the election of new councillors.
· Council’s agreement
required before Ministerial powers exercised: At present the Minister can exercise certain
powers after merely “consulting” councils, i.e., without their agreement. Under the Bill the Minister will be unable to
act without council agreement in such matters as: conferring or removing council responsibility
for administering a local government area; changing a council’s area; or
abolishing a council.
· Mayor must be an elected
councillor: At present a council may
elect as its mayor a person who is not a councillor; Harare is a case in
point. Under the Bill a mayor must be
chosen from among the elected councillors.
Existing non-councillor mayors will however continue to serve until the
expiry of their terms of office.
· Appointment of council
auditors: At present a council must
appoint an auditor approved by the Minister and the auditor need not be a
registered auditor. The Bill will remove
the need for the Minister’s approval and substitute a requirement that all
auditors must be registered as such under the Public Accountants and Auditors
Act.
Parliamentary Update
By-Elections
The Attorney General’s Office has confirmed that the State has noted
an appeal against the decision of Justice Ndou in the High Court in Bulawayo
on 13th October ordering the President to call by-elections within 14 days in the House of Assembly constituencies of Lupane East, Nkayi South and Bulilima East. These Matabeleland constituencies have been
vacant since August 2009. [Reminder: calling
by-elections is the duty of the President, not the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission, and the Electoral Act says the President must call a by-election
within 14 days of a vacancy being officially notified to his office by
Parliament.]
The State’s appeal will deter further court cases calling for
by-elections in the other unrepresented constituencies. Vacancies have been accumulating since July
2008, and no by-elections have been called.
There are now 18 vacant seats in the House of Assembly and
Senate. The vacancies do not in fact
alter the voting majorities in either House, but the failure to fill the seats
means that citizens in these constituencies are denied their constitutional
right to have a representative in Parliament.
Threats to Hon Eddie Cross MP a Contempt of
Parliament?
On 27th October Hon Cross’s motion calling for
the nationalisation of the Chiadzwa diamond fields was approved by the House of
Assembly. Mr Cross has since published a
statement describing how immediately after the debate he was threatened by a
ZANU-PF member of the House [“we will investigate and come after you”] and also
how, three days later, while en route to Bulawayo he was accosted, warned that
he was being “monitored” and subjected to threats by a person who identified
himself as a CIO operative. The context
of both incidents indicate that the threats were prompted by Mr Cross’s speech
in the House when proposing his motion.
These facts suggest that a serious contempt of Parliament may have been
committed – paragraph 13 of the Schedule to the Privileges, Immunities and
Powers of Parliament Act states that a contempt of Parliament is committed by
any person “making any oral or written
threat to a member … on account of his conduct in Parliament or a
committee.” Contempt of Parliament may be punished by
Parliament itself after an investigation by a Privileges Committee – or by a
court following conviction in an ordinary criminal trial; the penalty that may
be imposed is a fine of up to $400 or up to 2 years’ imprisonment or both.
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Services
Mutinhiri
Although she lost her seat in the House of Assembly on 14th September
2011, following her expulsion from ZANU-PF and the party’s communication of that
fact to the Speaker, the President has not removed Mrs Mutinhiri from office the
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Services.
Under the Constitution she can remain in office as Deputy Minister
without being a member of Parliament – but only for three months, i.e., until
the 14th December 2011.
MPs’ Sitting
Allowances
Since the present Parliament first met on 26th August 2008 neither
members of the House of Assembly nor Senators have been paid their sitting
allowances – the allowances paid for each sitting of the House or the Senate
actually attended. On 12th October
the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, after reminding
members of the House during Question Time that fixing allowances is
the responsibility of the President, said that the Speaker had written to the
President recommending that members of the House and Senators should get a
sitting allowance of $75 for each sitting attended, backdated to August
2008. But since then it has been
announced that “the principals”, i.e. the three GPA party leaders, have agreed to the figure of
$75 per sitting, but not the backdating, so that allowances will only be paid
for sittings attended from 1st November
2011 onwards.
MP’s have for many years been entitled to sitting allowances and this
fact has often been used as a justification for not paying them higher
salaries. Under the Parliamentary
Salaries, Allowances and Benefits Act allowances become legally payable only
once they have been specified by the President in regulations published in the
Government Gazette. No such regulations
have been gazetted since 2003, when allowances were set at a now meaningless
figure in Zimbabwe dollars. This means
that at present there is no legal basis for back paying allowances but it is
only fair that it should be done as a matter of natural justice. In fact, even the $75 dollars daily sitting allowance from 1st
November has no present legal basis – but this could be remedied by gazetting
regulations before the end of the month. There has been an angry reaction to the
principals’ decision from MPs of all parties, and the Speaker, Mr Lovemore Moyo
has said that he will challenge the principals’ decision; presumably this means
he will try to convince the principals.
Status of
Bills
Bills Passed by Parliament
awaiting gazetting as Acts
Deposit
Protection Corporation Bill [final reading in Parliament – 2nd
August]
Small Enterprises Development
Corporation Amendment Bill [final reading in Parliament – 12th
July]
Bills Awaiting
Presentation [Electronic versions available from veritas@mango.zw]
Older
Persons Bill [gazetted 9th September – to
be presented by the Minister of Labour and Social Services]
Urban Councils Amendment Bill [Private Member’s Bill to be
presented by Hon Matimba of
MDC-T]
Government Gazette dated 4th
November
No Bills or Acts were gazetted in this week’s Government Gazette.
Statutory Instruments:
Only two SIs were gazetted [electronic versions NOT
available]:
SI 127/2011 – amendments to the Water (Sub-catchment Councils)
(Rates) Regulations fixing new charges for applications, permits and
registrations, and for the supply of water.
SI 128/2011 – a new collective bargaining agreement
for the insurance industry.
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot
take legal responsibility for information
supplied