A man collects materials from uncollected refuse . . . Heaps of garbage continue to be an eyesore in most parts of Harare
ONCE a city of glamour and glitter, Harare could now arguably be said to be among the dirtiest in sub-Saharan Africa.
Report by Christopher Mahove
A man collects materials from uncollected refuse . . . Heaps of garbage continue to be an eyesore in most parts of Harare
The once “Sunshine City” has degenerated into a hub for uncollected garbage, flowin
g raw sewage and congested streets.
It is now home to hundreds of street kids and vagabonds. It has become normal for people to walk past heaps of fresh human waste in the central business district (CBD).
They just look aside.
So sorry is the state of Harare that in some high-density suburbs, they have christened some bus stops PaMarara, the shona word for a place of rubbish.
Residents have turned to dumping their garbage at open spaces in their neighbourhoods because the city fathers are failing to collect refuse.
This has been made worse by the proliferation of street vendors both in the CBD and high-density suburbs, as people try to eke out an honest living.
While council has by-laws to regulate the discharge of refuse, the local authority appears to be failing to enforce them.
For several years, council has been fighting running battles with vendors and commuter omnibus drivers and rank marshals.
Harare City council chairperson for the Environmental Management Committee, Stewart Mtizwa, said the council was not to blame because it “inherited the problems”.
He also pointed a finger at several commissions appointed by the Minister of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development, Ignatious Chombo, as the culprits behind poor service delivery.
“The cause of this rot in the city is simple. There was no service delivery for the past 20 years,” he said. “We inherited a lot of problems from the commission that was there before us. They were not answerable to anyone and were just not doing anything.”
Mtizwa also said service delivery deteriorated during the time the council was outsourcing services such as refuse collection.
“Remember the time when Tony Gara [the late former Harare mayor], was given the tender to collect refuse, there were no checks and balances,” he said.
Mtizwa said, as the planning authority, the commission had not done its homework to ensure city by-laws were adhered to by both individuals and industry.
He added the economic meltdown had also worsened the situation as a huge number of jobless people, including qualified professionals, had resorted to vending for a living.
“Because most of our stalls were situated at bus termini, vendors are now following people to their workplaces and are now selling their wares on pavements and at street corners,” he said.
Council, he said, was in the process of designating ideal places where vendors would be allowed to operate from legally. The places would have adequate litter bins and ablution facilities.
“We have consulted the
vendors, but their wishes are simple, they don’t want to be moved from where
they are. But that is when we come in and say we will not tolerate that kind of
lawlessness,” he said.
Mtizwa, however, believes Harare could still be taken
back to its Sunshine status, revealing that the council would this week receive
27 new refuse trucks, to bring the total compactors to 60.
The city requires about 120 trucks to effectively service all the areas.
Harare Residents Trust (HRT) communications officer, Charles Mazorodze, said council lacked a clear-cut policy to address the rising demand for services.
“Basically, the population in Harare has been growing over the past 10 years against dwindling service delivery,” said Mazorodze.
“The Harare City Council has no concrete plan to address service delivery and has no strategic direction in terms of refuse collection.”
He said council was actually shortchanging ratepayers, who were paying refuse charges every month yet their refuse was not being collected.
Mazorodze said city fathers were exhibiting high levels of inconsideration by prioritising their salaries at the expense of service delivery.
“Council, in liaison with the private sector and central government, must come up with a comprehensive plan and also channel resources towards the purchase of adequate compactors,” he said.
“It remains the duty of the city council to ensure adequate litter bins are available at convenient places,” he said.
Stakeholders must intervene: Mapako
Environmental Management Ag-ency (EMA) acting education and publicity officer, Rambwayi Mapako, said the problem of litter was a result of lack of innovation among stakeholders.
“The problem is all to do with us, individual households and companies. Normally we are supposed to be recycling because 70% of the waste we produce is bio-degradable,” he said.
Mapako said it was everybody’s role to ensure a clean environment: “There is need for collaboration between and among stakeholders, including the media industry in supporting activities aimed at cleaning up the city.”
ABRAHAM Mapuranga will always rue the day he decided to spend his retrenchment package on a residential stand in the sprawling suburb of Epworth.
Report by Our Staff
A woman cuddles her baby after her house was demolished by Sunway City in Epworth.
After spending an estimated US$10 000 on building his house, Mapuranga is one of the scores of people now living in the open following the demolition of their properties by a local company, which claims ownership of the land.
The 34-year-old father of two said he bought the stand for US$1 000 from a Zanu PF official last year before building a modern nine-roomed house, which left his neighbours green with envy.
“I spent US$9 000 in constructing the nine-roomed house,” said a devastated Mapuranga.
In addition, he drilled a borehole, installed solar panels and painted the house.
His former neighbours said they used to call his house kusabhabha (mansion) because it stood out from its poor surroundings.
“Now I live under the tree and get drenched by the rain,” he said. “I used to park my three cars in my yard for free but now I have to pay US$1 for each car at a local car park.”
Mapuranga said he would
not be able to send back his daughter to boarding school next year following the
demolition of his house.
“I was paying US$500 for my daughter who is at a
boarding school, but she will now have to come back home as I do not have any
idea on how I will sustain my family after this big loss,” he
said.
When Standardcommunity visited the area last week, several residents complained of hunger as their foodstuffs were destroyed as bulldozers crushed their houses. Mothers, huddled their babies with left-overs of their rain-drenched properties by their side, showing signs of desperation as they had nowhere to go.
Schoolchildren milled
around the rubble from their former homes, unable to go to school because they
had neither clothes nor food.
The demolitions, which affected 200 families,
were carried out by Sunway City, a subsidiary of the Industrial Development
Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDCZ).
The company got a High
Court order indicating the residents were unlawfully settled on land reserved
for light industries.
Epworth Residents Development Association (ERDA) last
week said it had engaged a lawyer to ensure compensation for the affected
residents.
“Both national and international laws do not allow destruction of people’s houses without providing them with an alternative,” ERDA coordinator Mariot Nyauyanga said. “We have engaged a lawyer with the aim of ensuring that Sunway compensates the victims.”
The Minister of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development, Ignatius Chombo has set up a team to go around Harare addressing the issues of stands that have become emotive.
The demolition came a few days after the country commemorated the World Habitat Day celebrated on October 1 to reflect on the state of cities and the right to adequate shelter.
In 2005, the government
embarked on Operation Murambatsvina, which according to United Nations
estimates, affected at least
2,4 million people.
Seven years after the operation, most of the victims are still homeless while others stay in sub-standard accommodation.
Zanu PF still to assist victims
Zanu PF Harare
provincial chairman Amos Midzi last week led a delegation to Epworth but could
not deliver a tangible solution.
Midzi, who described the demolitions as
“inhumane and barbaric”, promised to assist the victims.
He said he had asked the Epworth council to give details of their boundaries and urged victims to present their names and identification numbers to the local Zanu PF leadership.
“No one has the right to sell this land to anyone. The local leadership must not abuse the name of President (Robert) Mugabe to sell this land,” said Midzi.
“I am told there are people who are abusing the name of the President and the party coming here putting on Zanu PF regalia and demanding money for accessing stands for people,” he said.
Residents fear an outbreak of diseases
There are fears of an outbreak of diseases such as typhoid and cholera, especially during this rainy season. Most of the victims of demolitions now relieve themselves in the bush, raising chances of diseases outbreak.
Some toilets were opened up during the demolition exercise, raising risks of human waste inflows into the wells from which the victims continue to fetch water.
“We used to have a toilet in our yard but now we share one toilet with the rest of the victims,” 29-year-old Yulita Kambeni said.
“Some just squat in the open and this may soon bring us cholera and I fear for my little baby and young children.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in Politics
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe has tightened his grip on power ahead of the
watershed
election next year by assigning some crucial Acts directly under
the purview
of his office.
Report by Ndamu Sandu
He did this without
consulting his coalition partners Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and MDC
leader Welshman Ncube.
The country is set to go to the polls next year to
bring to an end the shaky
inclusive government that has run its course
despite bringing a modicum of
economic stability.
In a Statutory
Instrument gazetted on Friday, Mugabe put nine pieces of
legislation under
the Office of the President and Cabinet without the
knowledge of coalition
partners. Mugabe’s political adversaries yesterday
said the move was
designed to tighten the 88-year-old leader’s grip on
power.
The Acts
now directly under Mugabe are the Commission of Inquiry Act,
Emergency
Powers Act, Honours and Awards Act, Interception of Communication
Act,
Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act, Procurement Act,
Radiation
Protection Act, Research Act and the Zimbabwe National Security
Council
Act.
The notice reads: “It is hereby notified that His Excellency and the
President, in terms of section 31D (1) (a) of the Constitution as read with
section 37 (2) of the Interpretation Act has assigned to the Office of
President and Cabinet — (a) the administration of the Acts set out in the
schedule and (b) the functions conferred or imposed on the Office of the
President and Cabinet, save to the extent that those functions have not been
assigned to some other minister.”
The notice said the assignment and
functions published in a Statutory
Instrument of 2010 had been
repealed.
MDC-T secretary general, Tendai Biti, told The Standard
yesterday that the
move was proof that Mugabe was consolidating his grip on
Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and furthering his power retention
agenda
ahead of elections.
He said placing the Interception of
Communication Act in the President’s
Office would enable Mugabe to eavesdrop
on the activities of his political
foes at will.
“Interception of
Communication was never in the Office of President. The
Procurement Act was
traditionally under the ministry of finance and this is
a power retention
agenda,” Biti said.
Biti said the MDC-T would meet tomorrow to discuss on
the latest assignment
of functions and make appropriate
decisions.
Ncube, told The Standard yesterday that while it was the
prerogative of
President Mugabe to assign functions, “If you are working in
an inclusive
government, powers are exercised in consultation with
others”.
He said the existence of these Acts in the Office of the
President was
calculated to give Mugabe electoral advantage ahead of next
year’s
elections.
“One can see the intention as we go towards
elections that they want to
gather in one office for the purpose of
electoral advantage. They want to
misuse the Acts, in particular, the
Interception of Communication Act,”
Ncube said.
The Zimbabwe National
Security Act oversees the National Security Council
(NSC) that is mandated
to discuss key security issues.
The NSC is chaired by Mugabe and has never
met since May this year amid
revelations that security chiefs are holding
meetings behind the back of
premier, Morgan Tsvangirai.
The NSC Act
stipulates that the body should meet every month to receive
reports and
discuss key security issues.
Mugabe chairs the council that has
Tsvangirai and the two vice-presidents —
Joice Mujuru and John
Nkomo.
The two deputy premiers, Arthur Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe,
ministers
responsible for Finance, Defence and Police, service chiefs and
one minister
nominated by each of the three political parties in the
inclusive government
are part of the NSC.
How Mugabe has used
presidential powers before
Mugabe has in the past used Emergency
Powers to his advantage.
In 2008, President Mugabe used the powers to
reverse changes made by the
Electoral Laws Amendment Act that would have
removed police from polling
stations.
The amendments had been agreed
by the three parties and signed into law by
Mugabe himself.
The
changes that Mugabe made via a Statutory Instrument, allowed the police
access to polling stations to assist the “infirm and illiterate voters”.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 14, 2012 in Politics
PARLIAMENTARY and
Constitutional Affairs minister, Eric Matinenga, has
defied GPA principals,
saying he will not be part to any arrangement that
jeopardises the
constitutional draft.
Report by Report by Nqaba Matshazi
This
follows a directive by President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai that he takes over the administration of Copac ahead of
the
second all-stakeholders’ conference.
The move could have resulted in the
executive taking over from Parliament
the process of drafting a new charter
for the country.
“The process remains a parliamentary process and I am
not going to interfere
with the process,” said Matinenga. “I am not going to
be part of that
[taking over Copac].”
The minister was last week
called by Mugabe and Tsvangirai and asked to take
over administration of the
Copac processes, together with Justice minister,
Patrick Chinamasa, a
request he shot down.
Matinenga insisted that when it came to Copac, he
was guided by Article 6 of
the GPA, which states that parliament should
drive constitutional reform.
Matinenga said Copac should be allowed to
“run its course” and not be
usurped by the executive.
Zanu PF has
been calling for amendments to the Copac draft, claiming it did
not reflect
the views of the people.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai reportedly want to have a
final say on what the final
draft would read, and had Matinenga acceded to
their demands, they would
have had their wish.
“I will not be part of
a process that will jeopardise acceptance of the
draft at referendum stage,”
he declared. “We do not want a repeat of the
2000 scenario.”
In 2000,
a referendum rejected a constitutional draft after Zanu PF and the
government campaigned for it vociferously.
Matinenga explained that
the All-Stakeholders’ Conference was not meant to
edit the draft and that
seemed to generate misunderstandings that the draft
could be
amended.
Mugabe’s spokesman, George Charamba refused to comment on
Matinenga’s
stance. Instead, he referred questions back to
Matinenga.
Chinamasa and Tsvangirai’s spokes-person, Luke Tamborinyoka, could
not be
reached for comment last week.
Meanwhile, an emergency meeting
of the Copac management committee, which was
due to be held last Thursday,
will now be held tomorrow.
An official at Copac confirmed that an emergency
meeting had been called to
deal with the chaos bedeviling the
constitution-writing exercise.
However, Copac co-chairperson, Douglas
Mwonzora, said it was not an
emergency meeting, but rather a scheduled
gathering.
“We were supposed to have the meeting [Thursday], but [Zanu PF
co-chairperson] Paul Mangwana, is not around,” he said.
“Tomorrow
(Friday) I will be attending a funeral, so the meeting will now be
held on
Monday.”
The second all stakeholders conference is set for Monday next
week at the
Harare International Conference Centre.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in Local
CIVIL Society
Organisations (CSOs) last week petitioned the Sadc facilitator
to Zimbabwe
crisis, South Africa President Jacob Zuma over their limited
participation
at the Copac Second all-Stakeholders’ conference which starts
tomorrow.
Report by Jennifer Dube
The CSOs accused Copac of
sidelining them and only inviting organisations
aligned to political parties
in the unity government.
“Four days away from this important national
process, the over 150
organisations gathered at our Indaba are concerned
that despite having
played a critical role in supporting the constitution-
making process, their
participation in their own right remains limited,”
said the CSOs in a
statement to Zuma.
The organisations said
throughout the entire constitution-making process,
there had been minimum
effort to ensure that the process was truly inclusive
of
Zimbabweans.
The CSOs said they submitted a list of 402 names as part of
meeting a 571
delegates quota they had been promised by Copac.
They
told Zuma that they had received no official response from Copac, save
for
phone calls suggesting only 90 of their delegates had been invited as
representatives of political parties.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
(CiZC) spokesperson Thabani Nyoni yesterday
said they had not yet received a
response from Zuma’s office.
“Copac came to engage us at our conference
yesterday [Friday] and assured us
that a special arrangement will be made
for our delegates who will go to the
conference to be registered and
participate,” Nyoni said.
“They also said we can audit their list of
participants to assess if they
adhered to the commitment that 70% of the
delegates will be civil society
representatives and 30% will be political
representatives.”
But Copac co-chairperson Paul Mangwana (Zanu PF) said
the constitution
committee would not play to the whims of the disgruntled
CSOs.
“We cannot do what they want,” Mangwana said. “It is a lie that we
promised
to give them our list. I do not agree with that because they are
not our
managers. We do not report to them.
“Nango and Crisis
Coalition are not CSO managers as they constitute only 2%
of civic society
in Zimbabwe.”
Mangwana said Copac had been generous enough to agree to
accredit 150
representatives from the disgruntled CSOs.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in Local
THE MDC
president Welshman Ncube has predicted tension and chaos at the
two-day
Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference which starts tomorrow citing the
high
polarisation among the delegates from different political
parties.Report
Khanyile Mlotshwa
Addressing journalists at his party’s Bulawayo
provincial headquarters on
Friday, Ncube said the principals must discourage
their supporters from
engaging in rowdy behaviour to avoid
chaos.
“Clearly, the environment is polarised,” he said.
“There are
fundamental differences in terms of approach by the three
political parties.
Clearly, there will be tension at the stakeholders’
conference, no doubt
about that.”
There was chaos during the First All-Stakeholders’
Conference in 2009, after
Zanu PF supporters disturbed the
proceedings.
The conference was characterised by intense bickering
between Zanu PF and
the two MDCs over the Copac draft constitution and there
are fears this
would be repeated at tomorrow’s indaba.
Ncube said it
was important for principals to talk to their supporters about
the need for
tolerance and respect for other delegates’ views during the
opening of the
meeting.
“It will be important for them to ask their members to respect
and tolerate
the views of other people,” he said. “That is why we have the
first
section.”
However, Copac co-chairpersons Douglas Mwonzora
(MDC-T) and Paul Mangwana
assu- red the nation that measures had been taken
to secure the conference,
including compelling de-legates to sign a code of
conduct.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in
Local
ZANU PF officials met for the whole day on Saturday to prepare the
party’s
delegates for Monday’s Copac Second All-Stakeholders
Conference.
Report by Our Staff
The meeting at Zanu PF
headquarters started in the morning at around 8am and
was still on-going by
7pm.
Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo last night said the meeting was
progressing on well, indicating that it was not clear when it would
end.
“We are preparing our delegates for the conference so that they can
articulate the party position well,” he said.
Sources said delegates
were being coached on what to say during plenary and
thematic
sessions.
“Delegates from Zanu PF have been told to bombard the
conference with our
party positions to ensure that this is captured during
the plenary and
thematic sessions,” said a senior Zanu PF
official.
“They told us that everything that will be captured during the
conference
will have to be discussed by Copac and later on considered by the
three GPA
principals at a later date.”
Zanu PF Copac co-chairperson,
Paul Mangwana on Friday told The Standard that
judging by the history of his
party, there was no way that its proposed
amendments would not see the light
of the day.
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairman Lovemore
Madhuku dismissed
the indaba as a non-event.
“It’s not about writing
a new constitution, but just making comment which
will be included in the
constitution at a later date.”
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in
Local
POLITICAL parties in the coalition government are using Copac’s
Second
All-Stakeholders’ Conference to advance partisan agendas instead of
national
interests, analysts have said.
Report by Patrice
Makova
The two-day conference starts on Monday.
The parties are
going for the conference deeply divided with Zanu PF pushing
for the
wholesale amendment of the Copac draft constitution while the two
MDC
formations, have refused to budge on the agreed charter.
Zanu PF said its
proposed amendments were meant to safeguard the interests
of the majority
and reflect the true values of the people of Zimbabwe.
The party, which
has successfully pushed for the Copac national statistical
report to be
tabled before the conference, wants to retain President Robert
Mugabe’s
imperial powers and delete provisions to do with devolution of
power, dual
citizenship and security sector reforms.
The MDCs, on the other hand, are
adamant the draft is final, as all three
parties appended their signatures
to the document. They argue that the draft
enshrines elements of democracy
such as respect for the rule of law and
human rights, popular participation
and free and fair elections.
But analysts said it was clear that none of
the political parties was
fighting for the genuine interest of the
nation.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Shakespeare
Hamauswa said
it was certain that the constitution-making process was a mere
political
contest.
He said there had been protracted negotiations
since the first
All-Stakeholders’ Conference in July 2009, as Zanu PF and
the MDCs struggled
to advance and protect their positions.
“While
Zanu PF is claiming to be fighting for the empowerment of the
majority, the
reality is that the party is pushing for provisions which
ensure that it
retains control over natural resources,” Hamauswa said.
“The MDC on the
other hand believes the current constitution is a stumbling
block and is
therefore fighting for an environment that makes its quest for
power
possible.”
Chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, Professor
Lovemore Madhuku
said national interests could only be protected through a
truly “people”
driven process.
“It is extremely rare for political
parties to fight for interests of the
nation,” he said. There are no
national interests involved when the parties
are fighting for particular
individuals to govern the country. Zanu PF wants
to remain in power, while
the MDCs want to get into power.”
Analysts said even the 1996 South
African constitution, regarded as one of
the best in the world, and which
Copac is said to have largely “copy and
pasted” from, was increasingly
coming under scrutiny as many blacks there
now felt it was not in their best
interests.
The likes of expelled African National Congress (ANC) youth
leader, Julius
Malema firmly believes that although blacks won the political
struggle, the
negotiated constitution protected the interests of
whites.
Malema has been calling for the nationalisation of mines and the
passing of
legislation to expropriate private property in the interests of
the people.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai will have final say
—Mambipiri
Political analyst, Gift Mambipiri said the phrase “in the
interest of the
people” was being “shamelessly” thrown into this process to
mask the agenda
of the three Global Political Agreement principals, Mugabe
of Zanu PF, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC-T and leader of the
smaller MDC formation,
Welshman Ncube.
“The MDCs want to put in
place, through this constitution, structures and
systems that answer the
question of how they can get state power,” said
Mambipiri.
“Zanu PF,
is trying to use the constitution process to promote their party
political
agenda, the very agenda that was refused by the people on March 29
2008.
This is why what the people said, like the endorsement of devolution
by six
out of 10 provinces, is not acceptable to them because it runs
counter to
their party political position.”
He said the real constitution would come
out of next week’s Monday “teas”
[meeting] of the principals, away from the
noise of the Second
All-Stakeholders’ Conference.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in Local
The
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has been in office for the
past
12 months, but there is little on the ground to show that the body is
effectively discharging its mandate as corruption continues to take root in
the country.
Complaints have been made by a cross-section of society
that Zacc suffered a
still-birth. The Standard Political Editor, Patrice
Makova (PM), had a
wide-ranging interview with Zacc chairperson, Denford
Chirindo (DC), on
operations of the commission, including allegations that
it is powerless,
hamstrung by political interference and has all but ignored
cases
implicating influential people in fraud and corruption, while
concentrating
on small cases.
PM: What is the mandate of
Zacc?
DC: The mandate of Zacc is to combat corruption, theft, abuse of
power,
misappropriation and other improprieties in Zimbabwe, through public
education, prevention and through investigations leading to
prosecution.
PM: Zacc is accused of being a toothless bulldog, which has
failed to
deliver on that mandate you have just mentioned. What is your
response?
DC: The public’s expectations from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption
Commission
are very high. I am happy that the public knows that corruption
is a crime
against social justice. It hurts everybody without discrimination
and
irrespective of one’s status or position in society. The fight against
corruption is therefore not a preserve of Zacc alone, but rather requires a
multi-disciplinary approach. it is the responsibility of every Zimbabwean to
work together with honesty, sincerity, dedication and unquestionable loyalty
in the battle to fight, prevent corrupt practices and educate the public on
the dangerous effects of corruption.
The public is also aware of the
dire need to capacitate Zacc to enable it to
discharge its mandate in a more
visible way. The commission is happy that
the co-ministers of Home Affairs
[Kembo Mohadi and Theresa Makone] are very
supportive and are doing their
best to capacitate the commission. I am
confident that once their efforts to
capacitate the commission come to
fruition, the public will see the
commission discharging its mandate in a
more visible way. The commission is
up to its job in the prevailing
circumstances.
PM: But can you tell
us some of the cases which you can confidently say you
have successfully
handled?
DC: You are asking me a very pre-emptive question. You know that
Zacc
reports to Parliament through the co-ministers. I appeal for your
patience
until the co-ministers table our annual report in
Parliament.
PM: And you are satisfied that you are doing a good
job?
DC: I am satisfied that the commission is doing its best under the
prevailing resource challenges.
PM: What of the perception that you
are only targeting the small fish,
leaving out powerful people including
Cabinet ministers who have been
implicated in corruption and
fraud?
DC: In rolling out its mandate, Zacc is not guided by the
perception of big
fish or small fish. We go after grand corruption and grand
corruption is not
the preserve of a specific class of people in society. The
seriousness of a
corruption case is not determined by a big name.
PM:
Some months ago you confirmed to The Standard that Zacc is investigating
several prominent people, among them, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, on
allegations of double-dipping from RBZ and Treasury when he bought his
Highlands mansion. You also confirmed to having received dossiers
implicating Local Government minister, Ignatious Chombo, in fraudulent land
deals in Harare, while RBZ Governor, Gideon Gono, was accused of corruption,
theft and fraud by his former advisor, Munyaradzi Kereke. What happened to
the investigations and why is it taking ages to conclude these
cases?
DC: Zacc needs to distinguish itself in carrying out its mandate.
What we
don’t want is people getting arrested on the basis of evidence which
is not
clear and on the basis of facts which have not been thoroughly
investigated.
Zacc investigates allegations of corruption thoroughly before
arresting
individuals. This is to ensure that by the time a case of
corruption has
been made and is taken to court, there is no doubt as to the
law violated,
the crime committed and the identity of the individual alleged
to have
committed the crime.
Rushing to build unsubstantiated cases
does not do us any good at all. If
anything, it harms our integrity,
professionalism, credibility and
reputation.
Complex investigations
necessarily take a bit of time and need not be
rushed. Experience in crime
intelligence has proved beyond a reasonable
doubt that in handling complex
investigations, thoroughness in
investigations takes precedence over speed
on a balance of equities and
convenience.
PM: What other high-profile
cases are you handling?
DC: It is very un-investigative to disclose
current investigations as it is
self-defeating and akin to shooting oneself
in the head.
PM: But are you able to truly operate independently with no
interference
from government, including your parent ministry, Home
Affairs?
DC: Our operations are our complete exclusive domain. We are
totally
independent in carrying out our mandate. For clarity, let me
reiterate that
no one tells the Commission what to investigate, who to
investigate, who not
to investigate or how to investigate and in this, we
are indeed
operationally independent.
PM: What happened to the cases
of MPs who you arrested for abusing the
Constituency Development
Fund?
DC: You will recall that our last word was that none of the
suspect
MPs was removed from the hook. The ministry of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs have not come back to the commission with a
comprehensive and complete list of suspect MPs.
PM: The MDC-T
recently wrote to Zacc requesting you to investigate
councillors who the
party fired, accusing them of being corrupt. Have you
done something on
this?
DC: Again, we don’t disclose current investigations for the simple
reason
that it is un-investigative and fatally detrimental to our
investigations.
PM: What other challenges are you facing and as a
commission, are you
optimistic that you will effectively deal with
corruption in the country?
DC: Funding of the Zacc is a major challenge
and I am more than optimistic
that with the necessary resources, delivery on
our mandate is a child’s play
as the commission will be able to effectively
deal with all corruption
cases. Lest people forget, Zacc’s vision is a
corruption-free Zimbabwe.
‘Zacc working like well-oiled
machine’
PM: There are reports that there is serious infighting within
Zacc, with
commissioners divided along partisan lines. This has resulted in
failure to
investigate a number of prominent cases. Why are the
commissioners at each
other’s throats?
DC: That’s news to me. I am
hearing it from you Patrice. We are working very
well, like a well-oiled
machine. Our relations are cordial and professional.
PM: And there are
also reports that you are facing serious financial
problems, virtually
crippling your operations. How far true is this?
DC: Like I said, we are
like any other government institution in the
country. We also face resource
challenges. But our co-ministers are doing
something to capacitate the
commission to enable it to discharge its mandate
in a more visible
manner.
PM: How is your working relationship with the Attorney-General
and the
police?
DC: Very cordial and professional to the level
expected of intelligence-led
policing law enforcement agencies. These are
the key stakeholders in the
discharge of our mandate.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in News, Politics
THE MDC-T
has called for the arrest of Justice and Legal Affairs minister,
Patrick
Chinamasa and Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, accusing the two
of
plotting to subvert the will of the people in the forthcoming
elections.
Report by Patrice Makova
Chinamasa, who is Zanu PF’s chief
negotiator under the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) talks, recently told
the BBC that his party and the military
would not accept Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s electoral victory in the
forthcoming
elections.
Gumbo on the other hand, reportedly warned that it would be
“messy” if
Tsvangirai won the elections, telling South Africa’s e-News
Channel Africa
that hardliners would find it difficult to hand over power to
the PM.
Addressing hundreds of party supporters in St Mary’s suburb in
Chitungwiza
yesterday, MDC-T secretary-general, Tendai Biti, said
Chinamasa’s statement
was tantamount to inciting a coup in
Zimbabwe.
“Chinamasa’s statement is treasonous, more so, coming from a
so-called
minister of Justice, who knows very well that the constitution
stipulates
that whenever the country goes for elections, the will of the
people has to
be respected,” he said.
“If there was justice and the
rule of law in the country, Chinamasa and
Gumbo would be in Chikurubi prison
by now.”
He said although his party was non-violent, it would not allow
the military
and Zanu PF to reverse a Tsvangirai and MDC-T electoral
victory.
“We will not allow next year’s elections to be stolen,” Biti
vowed.
“We will defend the vote and the result.”
The MDC-T
secretary-general said securocrats would not be allowed to
disrespect
Tsvangirai.
“It’s day-dreaming to say securocrats will not salute
Tsvangirai if he wins
the Presidential elections. The constitution is clear,
that they are
subordinate to a civilian government,” he said.
Deputy
Prime Minister and MDC-T vice-president, Thokozani Khupe, also said
the
military was powerless to prevent an MDC-T victory.
“Who are they to stop the
will of the people?” she asked.
“This time around this is not going to
happen.”
Khupe said next year’s elections have to be free and fair and be
a
reflection of the will of the people if they are to be considered
legitimate
by Zimbabweans and the international community.
Respect
the democratic process: Gumbo
Gumbo yesterday denied ever saying there
would be a bloodbath, insisting
that he respected the democratic
process.
“I don’t know about what Chinamasa said, but all I said was that
it would be
messy if Tsvangirai wins because there are so many forces,” he
said.
Contacted for comment last night, Chinamasa said he was in a
meeting and
promised to call back The Standard.
Political analysts
also said threats attributed to Chinamasa and Gumbo were
tantamount to
tearing up the Constitution.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in
Politics
THE organ on national healing, reconciliation and integration
has embarked
on research to establish if Zimbabweans are “naturally or
culturally
violent” following cases of political violence in the past
elections.
Report by Nqobani Ndlovu
Bayathi Ngwenya, the organ’s
national director said they would come up with
recommendations on what
should be done to end a cycle of violence that
bedevilled the country before
and after independence.
“We are conducting this project to find out the
country’s history regarding
the issue of violence; mainly on where and how
violence came to this
country.
“The main question about this project
is to find out if Zimbabweans are a
violent society. The project seeks to
find out if violence emanates from our
cultural and traditional background,”
said Ngwenya. “We hope the results of
the project will help the organ come
up with recommendations on what should
be done to prevent this cycle of
violence.”
Professor Ngwabi Bhebhe, the Midlands State University (MSU)
vice-chancellor
heads the research project.
The MDC welcomed the
organ’s initiative, saying the project would assist in
creating an adequate
tool kit for addressing, limiting and ultimately
exterminating political
violence in the country.
Nhlanhla Dube, the MDC spokesperson on Wednesday
said: “We need to come to
terms with our past and realise that we cannot
continue to resort to
violence every time we are confronted by different and
sometimes difficult
views, political or social.
He added: “It is
imperative to create an ethos that understands that
differences in
themselves are good and create creativity in society. We
cannot allow
ourselves to always gravitate towards violence with the ease of
an
established guitar player at a musical gala as if violence is our genetic
default mode when faced with challenges.”
The MDC-T claimed that 200
of its supporters were killed by Zanu PF militia
and state security agents
during the 2008 elections.
Effie Ncube, a Bulawayo-based analyst said he
hoped that the findings would
not be suppressed just like the Dumbutshena
and Chihambakwe Commissions.
“There has to be an undertaking on the part
of the organ that this will not
be another Chihambakwe Commission whose
findings were never made public,”
said Ncube.
“This is an initiative
that should be welcomed by everyone interested in the
pursuit of
accountability, open governance, justice and a lasting solution
to our
violent past.”
The Dumbutshena Report contained the findings of a
Commission of Inquiry
into the disturbances at Entumbane and other
demobilisation camps following
clashes between Zipra and Zanla guerillas in
1981 while the Chihambakwe
Report contains findings of a Commission of
Inquiry investigating the
Gukurahundi massacres.
It is estimated that
20 000 civilians were murdered by the North-Korean
trained Fifth Brigade in
Matabeleland and Midlands provinces during the
Gukurahundi era.
The
two commissions reported to then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe but their
reports were never made public. The government argued that the reports were
“specified” for use by the government only.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in Health & Fitness,
Local
PARIRENYATWA Group of Hospitals will soon start training eye
specialists at
its Sekuru Kaguvi eye unit, a senior health official said
last week.
This follows an agreement between the country’s leading
medical aid society,
Cimas and the University of Zimbabwe’s College of
Health Sciences, to fund
the setting up of a unit to enable the training of
optometrists at the
hospital.
Presently, all the optometrists
operating in the country are being trained
abroad, resulting in their
services being expensive and mainly accessed at
private healthcare
centres.
Speaking at a Cimas Health Expo last week, deputy dean at the
College of
Health Sciences, Professor Rangarirayi Masanganise said that
government and
mission hospitals had no capacity to offer optometry
services.
He said the setting up of the training unit would enable
optometrists to be
deployed throughout the country so that all health
centres could offer eye
care specialist services.
“This will enable
the majority of our population to access affordable
optical appliances,”
said Masanganise.
He said at least 75% of the adult population in the
country would at one
point require the use of glasses. The establishment of
the unit would enable
early detection and treatment of eyesight
problems.
Cimas group chief executive officer Macloud Chaora said the
society would
continue working with College of Health Sciences to identify
gaps within
specialist medical skills in the country.
The society is
also sponsoring the training of haematology pathologists,
which would enable
the country to carry out specialist bone marrow
transplants, management and
treatment of acute leukaemia, bleeding disorders
and blood infections. — BY
OUR STAFF
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in Local
MOST farmers
still have no capacity to buy their own inputs this
agricultural season,
over a decade after the land reform programme
commenced.
Report by
Caiphas Chimhete
Such a scenairo has raised fears that the country could
be hit by another
food crisis next year.
A snap survey by The
Standard in the past two weeks revealed that most of
the farmers did not
have enough inputs such as seed, fertilisers and
chemicals, despite the fact
that the farming season had already begun.
Although the inputs are
readily available in shops, the majority of the
farmers cannot afford to buy
them. “If government does not avail subsdised
inputs and increase the price
of maize, most of us will grow maize just for
our families,” said a Shamva
farmer, Tonderai Mukonori.
“The country will experience another food
crisis.”
Another farmer, Archibold Rugotwi of Banket, said he was
reluctant to grow
maize this season because it fetched very low prices on
the market.
“With the little resources I have, I would rather grow crops
that would give
me enough money to send my children to school. It’s no use
growing maize
these days,” he said.
The Grain Marketing Board (GMB)
has been buying maize for US$285 per tonne,
a figure the farmers said was
too low.
GMB is also struggling to pay for grain delivered, meaning that
farmers
would not have the money to buy inputs.
Although the
government resorted to paying farmers using inputs last year,
the process
was high-jacked by senior government officials.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’
Union (ZCFU) president, Wonder Chabikwa, last
week urged farmers to link up
with companies that have contract farming
programmes to enable them to
access inputs.
“The major challenge is that farmers have no money to buy
inputs,” he said.
“We encourage contract farming so that they can access
inputs. But we
encourage more companies to come on board [support contract
farming] so that
we can grow as much as our potential can allow,” said
Chabikwa.
Among the companies that had contract farming programmes in the
past farming
season are Pioneer Seeds, Delta Corporations and Windmill (Pvt)
Limited. But
some are now reluctant to continue offering the service because
of the high
rate of default on repayments by the farmers. This year, they
will only
support seed growers and farmers who settled their
debts.
Agricultural sector lacks funding: Taffs
Commercial
Farmers’ Union (CFU) president, Charles Taffs, predicted another
serious
food crisis next year because banks, fertiliser and seed houses were
not
adequately funding agriculture.
He said the absence of security of tenure
on land was discouraging financial
institutions from supporting agriculture,
which was seriously affected by
the land invasions which began in
2000.
“We are worst prepared than most years,” said Taffs. “We are just
in a
disaster. The relevant ministries need to take this seriously. We need
the
correct agriculture policy, not one based on race.”
CFU estimated
that Zimbabwe would produce between 600 000 and 700 000 tonnes
of maize next
season against an annual national food requirement of 1,8
million
tonnes.
Taffs said Zimbabwe’s food crisis was going to be compounded by
the fact
that Zambia, where the country used to import maize, had run out of
surplus.
Apart from that, the whole southern African region has a maize
deficit of
five million tonnes.
Of the 54 African countries, 39 are
facing food deficits, said Taffs,
meaning Zimbabwe would have to compete
with all those countries to import
food.
“Coupled with that, America
is experiencing the worst drought in 100 years,
meaning Zimbabwe is going to
face a real crisis,” he said. “We need to
re-strategise as a
country.”
At least 1,7 million people in the country require food aid
this year
following massive crop failure in the past season, according to
the latest
2012 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment (ZimVAC)
report.
Farmers must not rely on banks alone: Chabikwa
The
worst affected areas are the provinces of Masvingo, Matabeleland North
and
South, and parts of Mashonaland, Midlands and Manicaland.
But Chabikwa has
not lost all hope.
He said ZCFU expected that two million hectares would
be put under maize
this farming season up from 1 689 786 hectares last
agriculture season.
“We could even do more if we had enough resources
such as inputs and
machinery,” said Chabikwa.
“Farmers cannot rely on
banks because they are facing challenges, as they
are relying on depositors’
funds and cannot finance long-term projects.”
Banks are reluctant to
provide loans to farmers as they do not have the
collateral in the form of
title deeds. Banks have in the past said
government should use the 99-year
leases given to farmers as security.
Minister of Agriculture,
Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Joseph
Made, could not be reached
for comment.
But seed companies last week assured President Robert Mugabe
that they had
enough seed for this farming season.
Chabikwa said
despite the recent rains the farming season had not fully
started.
“For those without irrigation, we urge them to start
planting in the first
week of November. In the meantime, they can speed up
land preparations,” he
said.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in
Local
BULAWAYO — At least 48% of people living in rural areas in Zimbabwe
defecate
in the bush, exposing themselves to diarrhoeal diseases, a cabinet
minister
said last week.
Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, Minister of Water
Resources Development and Management
blamed the increasing outbreaks of
water-borne diseases in rural areas to
the use of the bush system by
villagers.
“Ministers were laughing at me when I told them that our
assessments show
that 48% of Zimbabweans in rural areas use bush toilets,”
said Sipepa-Nkomo.
“They could not believe me. Our studies show that this is
true. I told my
colleagues in Cabinet that some of them could not fit into
some of the
toilets that villagers use.”
He added: “Most homes in the
country especially in rural areas have no
toilets. I was in Mtshabezi on
Wednesday [last week] and nine out of 10
households there did not have
toilets.”
Sipepa-Nkomo was speaking to journalists after touring Water,
Sanitation and
Hygiene (Wash) projects in Bulilima and Mangwe district in
Plumtree last
week.
The minister emphasised the need to educate
villagers on the importance of
having toilets, especially the older
generations.
“I think first of all, most villagers do not appreciate the
need to have and
use toilets. Most of them grew up in an era where it was
unthinkable to use
toilets,” said Sipepa-Nkomo. “When I was growing up,
there was nothing like
that [toilets].”
The Wash project is managed
by Unicef but funded by the United Kingdom’s
Department for International
and Development (DFID).
Unicef Zimbabwe representative, Gianni Murzi also
confirmed the statistics.
Murzi said 35% of rural households in the
country did not have access to
safe water.
“There is a further
discrepancy in the provision of adequate sanitation as
69% of rural
households do not have improved toilet facilities and of these
households,
35% practice open defecation,” Murzi said in a speech read on
his behalf by
Unicef chief of Wash Section, Kikwe Sebunya. — By Nqobani
Ndlovu
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in
Opinion
Zimbabwe is currently in the historic process of writing a new
constitution,
but this operation has turned out to be even more overwhelming
and trickier
than anticipated.
Report by Youth Forum
The
process is being carried out as one of the major deliverables of the
Global
Political Agreement (GPA), which was signed on September 15 2008.
The
current constitution is widely regarded as inadequate and has many
shortcomings that need to be addressed, despite it having been amended a
record 19 times.
The contest to control Zimbabwe’s drafting of a new
constitution has heated
up as the draft produced by the constitutional
parliamentary committee
(Copac) is taken to the Second All-Stakeholders’
Conference.
Tomorrow, the draft will be debated by more than 1 000
delegates, presumably
businesspeople, representatives from churches,
non-governmental
organisations and representatives of political parties.
After the
conference, the draft will be taken to Parliament, where, after
approval by
legislators, it will then be gazetted and put to a
referendum.
But what is it that they will be discussing? The majority of
the Zimbabweans
are not aware of what is stated in this draft constitution
and what it means
for them. This is a shortcoming on the part of Copac. In
that regard, the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) recently launched
a summarised
constitution analysis guidebook , which has an overview of each
chapter of
the draft constitution, pointing out what is progressive and what
remains
problematic. As expected, there is an overwhelming amount of
problematic
issues that still need to be addressed. The ZLHR chairperson,
Andrew Makoni
explained that the booklet is a simplified constitutional
awareness tool
ahead of the conference.
Another major issue that has
evolved ever since the constitution-drafting
process began, is the fact that
the process has been hijacked by the country’s
political parties. The two
MDCs have so far resisted efforts by President
Mugabe’s Zanu PF party to
include nearly 266 amendments to the draft, while
Zanu PF also has objected
to a number of proposals in the draft.
Some of these include the clipping
of the president’s executive powers,
security sector reforms, dual
citizenship and the devolution of power from
central government. The former
ruling party is also keen to retain the death
penalty, which the MDC parties
are sweating to have repealed.
There are signs; however, that Zanu PF
will not allow the draft to go
unchallenged. The party plans to discredit
the draft and show how Copac
“ignored the people’s views” by demanding that
the national report, which
details information gathered during the
constitutional outreach exercise, be
supplied to delegates alongside the
draft.
Civil society groups remain opposed to the process, which they
argue has
become a battlefield for the country’s three main political
parties. The
concern is that these three parties have once again decided to
make this
important process a political party event, while excluding the
voice of the
people.
The hope however, for many CSOs was that this
second stakeholders conference
would be a space for ordinary people and
hence must not be hijacked by
political players who have been active in the
constitution-making process
for the past three and half
years.
However, events on the ground have proved otherwise.
It is
a shame that those parties which we have trusted to lead cannot put
the
nation before their political party issues. The constitution is not a
document that should be used to propel one party into power or be used to
score political points. There should be a clear distinction between the
legal issue, which constitution-making is, and party
politics.
Genuine public participation is a prerequisite and this means
the public
should be guaranteed social inclusion, personal security, civic
education
and good channels of communication between all levels of society
among other
things in order to facilitate this process.
Some would
argue that the Copac constitution-making process was
people-driven, given
that a national outreach programme was undertaken and
this culminated in the
production of the “National Report” capturing the
views of the people.
Nonetheless, arguments and questions will arise as to
whether all that which
was gathered from the people has been included or
represented in this report
and how it would then be put into what is to be
our supreme law, the
constitution. When all the views and opinions are
gathered; when all is said
and done, will it not be down to a hand-picked
elite group to decide whether
what we as Zimbabweans have made as
contributions, is worth to be in our
national constitution?
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in Opinion
The demolition of
houses in Epworth last week showed authorities learnt
nothing from the
tragic events of 2005, when government launched a clean-up
operation that
left about 700 000 people homeless.
Standard Comment
Government
launched Operation Murambatsvina in May that year in a bid to rid
cities of
slums and vices associated with them.
However, the manner in which the
operation was carried out prompted then
United Nations Secretary-General,
Kofi Annan to dispatch his envoy Anna
Tibaijuka to investigate widespread
reports of human rights violations.
Tibaijuka discovered that the
exercise was being carried out with
“disquieting indifference” to human
suffering and had left about 2,4 million
people affected in one way or
another.
Annan then ordered a halt to the demolitions and also called on
those who
orchestrated the policy to be prosecuted.
Seven years
later, when all right-thinking people thought Murambatsvina had
taught
Zimbabweans a lesson about the need to respect people’s right to
shelter,
another demolition exercise was carried out in Epworth last week.
The
exercise bore the hallmarks of the infamous Murambatsvina, except that
this
time a company, Sunway City, was behind the demolitions.
Sadly, no
arrangements were made to house the victims elsewhere in spite of
the fact
that Zimbabwe is party to the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and
Cultural rights. The covenant states that people cannot be
forcibly evicted
without alternative plans to house them.
As a result, the actions of
Sunway City, just like those of the government
in 2005, need to be condemned
in the strongest terms. Though it had a court
order, the company should have
prioritised the plight of 200 families who
are now homeless before sending
bulldozers to raze their houses. Innocent
children, who watched helplessly
as their homes were destroyed, will be
worst affected.
The timing of
the destruction of houses also shows Sunway was insensitive to
their
plight.
October marks the beginning of the rainy season, and it therefore
means the
homeless people will be at the mercy of the rains.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in
Opinion
The isssuance of letters of final demand by Harare City Council
(HCC)has
been a source of consternation for residents in most high-density
areas.
Sunday View: Harare Resisdents Trust
The areas greatly
affected by this development include Mabvuku, Tafara,
Highfield, Glen Norah,
Warren Park, Dzivaresekwa, Glen View, Budiriro,
Kuwadzana, Kuwadzana Phase
3, and Rugare among other suburbs. This
development comes amid a general
political and administrative discord
exhibited by the city fathers at Town
House.
There has been a general lack of consensus from the city fathers
and
management on how best to provide public services to the
citizens.
There have been no deliberate attempts by the city fathers to
reach out to
residents and address their problems. It is ironical that the
residents who
were issued with letters of final demand are the ones who are
worse off in
terms of social status and reside in areas that have
experienced erratic
service provision.
Residents in the mentioned
high-density suburbs are subjected to perennial
shortages of water and when
it is available, it is unsuitable for human
consumption, uncollected refuse,
and poor road network and ineffective and
unaccountable elected leadership,
in particular councillors.
Most residents in these areas do not have the
financial capacities to settle
the huge debts which the HCC alleges have
accrued since 2009.
The final demand notices were issued to residents
with debts ranging from
about US$40 to several thousands of
dollars.
City fathers are expecting the residents of Harare to pay for
services which
they do not provide. In addition, from February 2009 to
December 2010, the
HCC charged residents estimated bills and most services
like refuse
collection and water were not being provided.
It is
improper for the city council to continue to charge interest on
outstanding
debt yet the residents have shown commitment to settle despite
their
inability to pay.
The Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban
Development has to
immediately intervene to save the masses from an abusive
and arrogant elite,
masquerading as senior council management, lacking
capacity and the
willpower to guide the policymakers at Town House on this
issue.
The general public has experienced high bills, poor service
delivery and low
incomes yet senior management continue to pay each other
huge salaries, not
matching incomes of the residents and the capacity of
council to generate
enough revenue.
Councillors are being urged to
act responsibly and treat residents’ issues
with the seriousness they
deserve; otherwise they have no justification to
remain in office if the
people who elected them into office are being
ill-treated by their
employees. Whose interest are the councillors serving
within the august
house?
The HCC claims in the media that these final demands are merely
meant to
frighten residents to pay up their outstanding bills, yet they
proceed to
court seeking full payment or attachment of properties, creating
unnecessary
medical conditions among the elderly, women and
children.
There is a legal process prescribed in terms of Section 279
subsection 1 to
5 of the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15) which outlines
the procedures
which are to be followed when recovering rates from the
residents.
A local authority is empowered to take several steps in a bid
to recover the
outstanding rates. In the same vein, Section 281 Subsection
(a) and (b) of
the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15) and other legal
proceedings for the
recovery of rates which are the due process which the
councils follow. They
do this knowing very well that residents are
vulnerable and are mostly
ignorant of the legal proceedings.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 19, 2012 in Politics
THE
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said people living in the
Diaspora
would not be allowed to vote in the next elections because of
logistical and
financial reasons.
Report by Nqaba Matshazi
This is despite
clamours by those living abroad who want to exercise their
voting
rights.
ZEC chief elections officer, Lovemore Sekeramai told an all-party
workshop
in Harare on Friday that it was difficult to administer a Diaspora
vote.
“Zimbabweans are all over the world, how do we administer elections
across
the world? Looking at the economy and what is needed financially,
it’s just
not possible,” he said.
“We will have to airlift people and
equipment from here and that is
expensive.”
Sekeramai said in the
event that ZEC were to administer an election abroad,
the commission could
not go to all the countries but would have to select
some, which could then
lead to new controversies.
“If we go to Britain, Zimbabweans in Australia
would ask why we did not go
there, so as it is, their voting is a logistical
problem,” he said.
The ZEC official gave an example of South Africa,
which did not allow people
in the Diaspora to vote and only allowed votes
from Britain after a court
order.
Sekeramai explained that if South
Africa, a far much larger economy than its
northern neighbour, baulked at
the expenses and logistics involved in
allowing the Diasporians to vote,
then it was also almost impossible for
Zimbabwe to run such an
election.
ZEC commissioner, Geoff Feltoe said legally, those living in
the Diaspora
could not vote, as they were not covered by the electoral
law.
He said for now, all they could do was lobby for their
inclusion.
Feltoe, a University of Zimbabwe law lecturer, explained that
Zimbabwe’s
voting system was ward-based and a person should reside in a
particular ward
within 12 months of an election.
Most of the people
in the Diaspora have been away for much longer than that.
MDC-T deputy
organising secretary, Abednico Bhebhe told a Zimbabwe Election
Support
Network meeting recently that his party and Zanu PF had agreed to
block
people in the Diaspora from voting in the next election.
There have been
calls by people living outside Zimbabwe that they be allowed
to cast postal
ballots but so far the clamours have fallen on deaf ears.
http://www.thestandard.co.zw
October 21, 2012 in
Editorial
Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri sounded
forthright in
condemning electoral violence last week when de-briefing a
contingent of
police officers on their way to United Nations peacekeeping
duty in Liberia.
Editor’s desk: Nevanji Madanhire
He said: “Violence
will not be tolerated. Those that are bent on causing
mayhem and confusion
will be dealt with in the strongest way possible and
they will have no one
to blame, but themselves if they are found on the
wrong side of the
law.”
Coming from the top policeman on the land, the words are very
welcome
especially coming at a time when the country is heading for a
make-or-break
harmonised poll next year.
The call for peace is not
new: in the recent past, President Robert Mugabe
has been outspoken in his
plea for peace between political rivals as the
election approaches. He
reiterated the point early this month at the burial
of the late Higher and
Tertiary Education minister Stan Mudenge at the
Heroes’ Acre.
But the
public has received with scepticism Mugabe’s call for peace as
incidents of
violence seem to proliferate as soon as he utters the word
“peace”. It now
seems increasingly evident that the president has no control
over his
party’s rank and file who have, most of the time, been fingered in
the
incidents of violence despite his pleas.
Many have concluded that
Mugabe’s calls for peace are often empty because
there is no concomitant
will in the police force to enforce peace. Indeed
Chihuri and his charges
have been accused before of selectively applying the
law by punishing one
perpetrator while looking away as another commits
wanton acts of
violence.
Chihuri has denied this is the case but the nation is still to
see a test
case where police have really descended upon Zanu PF perpetrators
with the
same “maximum force” it has descended on MDC
hooligans.
Chihuri’s latest words against political violence have one
weakness however;
they seem to address the signs and symptoms of violence
rather than the
disease itself.
Chihuri doesn’t seem to acknowledge
that the violence we see is systematic
in that at the core of it are senior
politicians in the political parties’
leadership. Those who commit the
violence are often simply youths who,
because of a lack of a livelihood, are
hired and paid by these senior
politicians to commit the acts of
violence.
This is why Chihuri should address the politicians first before
targeting
their foot soldiers because doing so will only treat the symptoms
and not
the disease.
Let me digress a little. In 2007 there was
electoral violence in Kenya that
left more than 1000 people dead. Naturally
the police’s first reaction was
to target the machete-wielding tribesmen who
hacked down opponents and
destroyed the livelihoods of anyone whom they
deemed to support rival
candidates.
But later a closer look by civil
society and the international community
revealed that at the heart of the
violence were senior politicians who,
facing imminent electoral defeat,
sought to use violence to intimidate and
cow opponents into voting for them.
Uhuru Kenyatta was one of them.
Uhuru, the son of Kenya’s founding father
Jomo, was a presidential candidate
for the long-ruling independence party
Kanu and has served in different
ministries, meaning, despite his age (he
was born in October 1961), he is a
veteran of Kenyan
politics.
Another instigator of violence was Francis Kirimi Muthaura
(born October 20
1946), a civil servant and close ally of President Mwai
Kibaki. He is the
head of Kenyan civil service and secretary to the cabinet.
Muthaura has been
named as an instigator of post-election violence in
2007-2008 and was
together with Uhuru named among six suspects to be
prosecuted by the
International Criminal Court.
He is accused of
leading secret meetings in Kibaki’s office, where revenge
attacks against
supporters of Kibaki’s opposition were planned. The ICC
prosecutor claims he
authorised the use of excessive force against
protesters by the
police.
He was recorded by two people posing as students, who claimed he
had
admitted involvement in post-election violence.
Uhuru and all the
others including Muthaura have been indicted by the
International Criminal
Court for crimes against humanity. They are allegedly
criminally responsible
as an indirect co-perpetrators pursuant to article
25(3)(a) of the Rome
Statute for the crimes against humanity of murder,
deportation or forcible
transfer, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts.
It is important to
note that they did not, in person commit these crimes but
instigated them by
driving their subordinates to commit them. In other
words, there is a causal
relationship between what Uhuru and Muthaura told
their subjects and the
violence that the subjects committed.
Similarly, in Zimbabwe there are
politicians who are inclined to instigate
political violence by encouraging
their supporters to beat up or even kill
their opponents. So, in order to
nip political violence in the bud, it is
these politicians who should be
targeted by law enforcement agencies. The
old cliché holds: prevention is
better than cure.
In recent weeks we have heard lots of inflammatory
language coming from
senior Zanu PF politicians. In their language they have
sought to create in
the minds of their supporters a mindset that creates an
atmosphere conducive
to electoral violence.
Recently Minister of
Justice Patrick Chinamasa has leadingly said that the
military and war
veterans will not allow Morgan Tsvangirai to rule if he
wins elections next
year. He has thereby psyched the military to revolt in
the eventuality of
Tsvangirai winning.
He has also incited the war veterans to rise against
any popularly elected
leader who doesn’t come from a certain group. If after
the elections next
year violence erupts and people are murdered, raped,
displaced and generally
persecuted, Chinamasa will be liable for prosecution
for crimes against
humanity.
Zanu PF national spokesman Rugare Gumbo
is also guilty of the same
inflammatory statements which lay the ground for
electoral violence by
echoing Chinamasa’s sentiments. Recently a shop was
burnt in Mberengwa in an
incident involving a faulty refrigerator and fuel
stored in the same room.
Despite that the fire was purely an accident,
Gumbo sought to inflame his
supporters to beat up political rivals by
alleging the political rivals had
intentionally torched the shop in spite of
a police report to the contrary.
Police Commissioner-General Chihuri
should deal sternly with politicians of
this ilk as a preventive measure.
Fat chance! The Chinamasas and Gumbos of
this world will get away with it
while the police practise tokenism by
arresting their agents.
