http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Lizwe
Sebata and Edith Kaseke Friday 03 October 2008
BULAWAYO -
Zimbabwe's battered currency has plunged to new record lows days
after
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai
failed to break a deadlock over the allocation of key Cabinet
ministries.
The Zimbabwe dollar shaved off more than half its value
within two days as
the political stalemate between the country's bitter
rivals took its toll on
the shattered economy, immediately driving the cost
of basic goods and
services beyond reach of inflation-weary
Zimbabweans.
Traders were on Thursday exchanging ZW$1 000 000 for a one
United States
dollar when using the bank transfer rate, Real Time Gross
Settlement (RTGS),
up from Tuesday's figure of ZW$500 000 to one greenback
when Mugabe and
Tsvangirai failed to agree on the allocation of ministries
in a new
government of national unity.
On the black market, US$1 was
fetching ZW$4 000, up from Tuesday's figure of
$2 000. One US dollar fetches
$140 in the bank.
Zimbabwe has at least three exchange rates with the
bulk of foreign currency
traded on the illegal black market and using the
RTGS, which is official but
has been hijacked by illegal traders who
manipulate the special system to
achieve higher returns than are possible on
the normal official market.
Analysts said the weakening of the local
dollar is driven by inflation
expectations, wild speculation and uncertainty
over the future of a
power-sharing deal that was signed on September
15.
"The weakening of the currency will continue to be driven by
speculation and
uncertainty since the market continues to wander in the
wilderness in the
absence of a (unity) government to formulate economic
policies to reign in
inflation," said John Robertson, an economic
analyst.
Shops, when they have commodities, peg their prices using the
RTGS rate,
which is way beyond what average Zimbabweans earn.
A
stalemate between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over the allocation of Cabinet
posts
has been referred back to former South African President Thabo Mbeki,
the
mediator of the power-sharing deal. But ZANU PF party says there is no
need
to involve Mbeki, raising doubts whether Mugabe's party will cooperate
with
the ex-South African president.
The deal, signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai
and Arthur Mutambara, a rebel leader
of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party, is seen as the
first real step in ending a
decade long economic and political crisis in the
southern African
state.
Zimbabwe has been without balance of payment support since 1999
after a
policy fallout with multilateral financiers and black market traders
said on
Thursday high demand for foreign currency continued to push up rates
on the
flourishing parallel market.
"Demand (for foreign currency) is
very high and there is also shortage of
Zimbabwe dollar notes. This is why
you see (parallel market) rates going up
and the Zimbabwe dollar losing
value," a trader at a popular spot along
Julius Nyerere Avenue in central
Harare said.
"As long as there is no finality on this Cabinet issue it
will be business
as usual. We don't think the current government will have a
new economic
policy," the trader, who identified himself only as Sam, said
in the local
Shona language.
Zimbabwe has grappled with nearly a
decade of a punishing economic
recession, which the World Bank says is the
worst for a country not at war.
Hyper-inflation is officially cruising
above 11 million percent, but
independent analysts say it is as high as 40
million percent, which has
impoverished a population already hit by
shortages of cash, foreign
currency, food and crumbling social
services.
United Nations Secretary General Ban-ki Moon said this week
Zimbabwe could
need humanitarian assistance for the next coming years after
the collapse of
its agriculture sector, the backbone of the once promising
economy.
Critics say Mugabe, who has ruled the country since independence
in 1980 and
who was re-elected in a one-man race in June after a terror
campaign against
the opposition, has run down the once breadbasket of Africa
with ruinous
policies such as his expulsion of experienced white farmers and
replacing
them with either incompetent or inadequately funded black
farmers.
Food production as plunged since Mugabe's controversial land
reforms that
began in 2000 and Zimbabwe has avoided starvation only because
international
relief agencies have been quick to chip in with food
handouts.
Mugabe denies ruining Zimbabwe and blames hunger in the country
on erratic
rains and Western sanctions he says have hampered importation of
fertilizers, seed, and other farming inputs. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Patricia Mpofu Friday 03
October 2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe's opposition MDC party
yesterday called off a meeting of
its decision making national executive
council that sources had said was set
to decide whether the party should
pull out of a power-sharing agreement
with President Robert Mugabe's ruling
ZANU PF party.
The agreement signed by Mugabe, MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara, who leads a smaller faction of the
opposition, looked
increasingly in danger of collapsing this week after
direct talks between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai on Tuesday failed to break a
deadlock on the formation
of a government of national unity.
MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa confirmed postponement of the national council
meeting but declined to say why it was called off or to say what was on the
agenda of the cancelled meeting.
Chamisa said: "It (meeting) was
indeed set for today (Thursday) but has been
postponed
indefinitely."
Asked whether the meeting had been cancelled because there
had been positive
movement on the deadlock with ZANU PF over sharing of
Cabinet posts, Chamisa
said: "There has been no movement. We are still in
the same position we were
yesterday (Wednesday)."
The power-sharing
agreement that was brokered by ex-South African president
Thabo Mbeki 15
Cabinet posts to ZANU PF, 13 to the Tsvangirai-led MDC and 3
to the
Mutambara-led MDC. The deal is silent on which specific posts should
go to
which party.
The MDC has accused Mugabe of seeking to control all key
Cabinet posts while
relegating the opposition party to a junior role in the
unity government.
Following the failure of Mugabe and Tsvangirai to break
the deadlock over
Cabinet posts, the MDC called on Mbeki to resume mediation
while it also
said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the
Africa Union
(AU), guarantors to Mbeki's mediation, should also
intervene.
But ZANU PF insists there is no need for outside intervention
with the party's
chief negotiator, Patrick Chinamasa, saying yesterday that
anyone claiming
there was a deadlock over Cabinet posts was not well
informed about
power-sharing talks.
Chinamasa said: "I don't know of
any deadlock and those talking about it I
am told are not privy to what is
going on in the negotiations."
He reiterated that as far as he and ZANU
PF were concerned there was no need
to recall Mbeki to help with the
allocation of government jobs. "This is a
small matter which can be
resolved," he said.
Mutambara, who arrived in Harare on Wednesday after
days in China, was
reportedly scheduled to meet Mugabe. But he refused to
take questions on the
matter when phoned by ZimOnline.
The
power-sharing agreement is widely seen as providing the best opportunity
yet
for Zimbabwe to begin work to end an acute recession that is seen in the
world's highest inflation of 11 million percent, deepening poverty amid
shortages of food and every basic survival commodity.
The
international community, in particular Western donor nations whose
financial
support is vital to any effort to resuscitate Zimbabwe's comatose
economy,
has to help rebuild the country but only after assessing
implementation of
the power-sharing deal. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Ntungamili Nkomo
Washington
02 October
2008
Negotiators for Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF and Movement for
Democratic Change
parties held lengthy consultations by telephone on
Thursday in an effort to
break a deadlock over the composition of the
cabinet for the unity
government the parties agreed to last month, sources
close to the
discussions said.
A well-informed source in President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU-PF told VOA that
the party has moved toward a resolution of
the apparent stalemate by ceding
the Ministry of Finance to the MDC
formation of Morgan Tsvangirai,
designated as prime minister.
The
source said Mr. Mugabe met top ZANU-PF officials today, among them party
strategist Emmerson Mnangagwa, otherwise rural housing minister, and Patrick
Chinamasa, currently minister of justice, and agreed to concede the finance
portfolio.
The source could not shed light on the disposition of
other major
portfolios, such as home affairs, foreign affairs, agriculture
and
information.
Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai MDC
formation said he had no
information as to a concession by ZANU-PF on the
critical finance post. Most
observers have concluded that the ministry must
end up in MDC hands or
international donors will be reluctant to bring to
the country the billions
of dollars required to launch economic
reconstruction.
Chamisa confirmed, however, that a meeting of the
Tsvangirai MDC national
executive set for Thursday had been postponed.
Sources said the meeting had
been called to decide whether the party should
pull out of the power-sharing
process due to Mr. Mugabe's failure to name a
cabinet in which the key posts
are equitably distributed.
The
state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted Chinamasa, ZANU-PF's chief
negotiator, as saying offices in the Monomotapa government building were
ready for Tsvangirai.
Political analyst George Mkwananzi told
reporter Ntungamili Nkomo of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the statement
from Chinamasa suggested that
ZANU-PF is concerned that the hard-won
agreement for a national unity
government might unravel
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5132
October 2, 2008
HARARE (The
Zimbabwean/Own Correspondent) - Under pressure from the security
chiefs to
renege on the power-sharing deal signed last month, President
Robert Mugabe
has offered cabinet posts to key officials of the Arthur
Mutambara faction
of the MDC.
Highly placed sources say such a deal is being struck behind
the back of the
mainstream MDC led by Prime Minister-designate Morgan
Tsvangirai. It is an
open secret that Mutambara and his faction were the
favourites of
negotiation mediator, Thabo Mbeki, who fell from power in
South Africa as
the power sharing deal was being signed in
Harare.
For long there have been open lines of communication between
Mbeki and
Mutambara's secretay general Welshman Ncube, who engineered the
withdrawal
of his faction from the mainstream MDC in 2005.
A highly
placed source within Zanu-PF says that upon his return from New
York on
Monday, Mugabe was told by the heads of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces,
the
Police and the Air Force that two options were open to him. He either
had
to renege on the agreement to share key ministries with the MDC or risk
being forcibly removed from office.
There is a widely held perception
that the security chiefs, the so-called
Joint Operations Command,
effectively usurped executive power from Mugabe
soon after his defeat at the
polls by Tsvangirai on March 29. It is they,
it is reported, who
orchestrated the seven week delay in the announcement of
the result of the
presidential election and the subsequent scourge of
violence during the
run-up to the second presidential election on June 27.
"Mugabe is
determined to remain as President of Zimbabwe until the day he
dies, but he
knows that if he ignores the threats from the generals, that
day could come
a lot sooner than he thinks", the Zanu-PF source said.
Aware that the
Tsvangirai MDC would have no option but to reject the minor
ministries
offered to it, Mugabe is expected to proceed with the formation
of a cabinet
of his own.
In the new cabinet key Mugabe ally, Emmerson Mnangagwa will
become the
Minister of Home Affairs, while the architect of Zimbabwe's
economic
collapse, Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, will become Minister
of
Finance.
To provide the necessary window dressing to placate
regional unease over
this move, Mugabe has reportedly enticed the leaders of
the MDC faction led
by Arthur Mutambara with positions in the new
cabinet.
It is understood that the Mutambara MDC secretary general, Ncube
will be
allocated the Ministry of Trade and Industry, while Priscilla
Misihairambwi
Mushonga will become the Minister of Communications and Moses
Mzila-Ndlovu
will become the new Minister of National Integration, Sport and
Culture.
The Zimbabwe Times submitted questions to Mutambara asking him
to comment on
these allegations. At the time of publishing he had not
responded.
Commenting on this development, a mainstream MDC spokesperson
said this
development showed that the leadership of the Mutambara faction of
the MDC
was not interested in alleviating the suffering of the people but
were
instead focused on lining their own pockets.
"You can predict
what will happen when these people climb into bed with the
same people who
have raped our county and who have no desire to admit to, or
address, the
problems the people are facing" the spokesperson said.
"While this deal
will worsen the situation in the country it will serve to
strengthen the
resolve of the people and the MDC to finding a lasting
solution to the
Zimbabwe crisis", he added.
Millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are facing
starvation as the new crop
planting season approaches against a backdrop of
a serious shortage seed,
fertiliser and other farming inputs. The economy is
in free fall with the
ZImbabwe currency now pegged at Z$1 000 000.00 to
US$1.00 only months after
the government removed 10 zeroes from the
currency. Inflation now stands at
almost 200 million percent.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5145
October 2, 2008
By
Our Correspondent
HARARE - Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono's money
printing project suffered
a major setback as Zimbabweans reacted negatively
to the new $20 000 dollar
note introduced only six days ago.
There
appears to be a general rejection of the new in preference to the $10
000
note introduced at the same time but which is printed on imported
paper.
Some retailers are also refusing to recognise the new $20 000
note.
Zimbabwean banks have operated under siege since Monday as
thousands of
cash-strapped depositors have tried in vain to withdraw funds
after Gono
announced on that day an increase in the cash withdrawal limit
from $1 000
to $20 000.
However, people were disappointed to find the
largest denomination printed
on what appears to be cheap paper.
The
note does not have a security thread or watermark, leaving people unable
to
distinguish fake notes from genuine ones, amid fears that fake notes may
have already flooded the market. Experts say fraudsters can easily reproduce
copies of the $20 000 notes.
Gono this week vowed to continue to
print new notes as long as "illegal
sanctions imposed by the West remain in
place." He was repeating President
Robert Mugabe's mantra that Zimbabwe's
problems have resulted from sanctions
allegedly by Western
countries.
However, British foreign secretary, David Miliband last week
blamed Mugabe
for Zimbabwe woes. He said the Zimbabwean strongman had simply
mismanaged
the economy, and was now looking for scapegoats.
"I am not
afraid of printing money and I will continue doing so until those
who
imposed sanctions on us lift them," Gono told peasant farmers at a field
day
at Mushandike Irrigation Scheme in Masvingo last Friday.
Economists have,
however, cautioned Gono - albeit without success - that
printing money fuels
inflation, which is Zimbabwe's most serious problem at
the
moment.
Independent economists now estimate Zimbabwe's inflation rate at
55 million
percent although government says the figure is five times lower
at 11, 2
million percent.
The poor quality of the newly-introduced
$20 000 could be attributed to a
decision by Giesecke & Devrient, a
German company, this year, to pull out of
its contract to supply Zimbabwe
with paper to print notes.
The move by the company followed international
criticism that the firm was
an accessory to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
Critics said the money
printed on the German company's paper was being used
to fund terror
campaigns against President Robert Mugabe's
opponents.
While German Chancellor Angela Merkel, had initially said
Giesecke &
Devrient's contract was a private matter, Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, the
German foreign minister, later ordered the company to halt
deliveries of the
paper to Zimbabwe.
On his return from the 63rd
session of the UN in New York, President Mugabe
lashed out at critics of his
government's decision to print more money,
saying the Americans were doing
the same.
He was referring to plans by the US government to bail out
financially-
stressed mortgage banks to the tune of US$700 billion. Mugabe
said the
Americans were going to print the money but only preferred to
describe their
own actions as "a rescue package."
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5142
October 2, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has with immediate
effect suspended
the use of Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) as a form of
payment following
the abuse of the system by speculators.
Gideon
Gono, governor of the central bank, said the system had become an
active
vehicle for illicit foreign currency dealings on the parallel market
as well
as a convenient excuse by sellers of goods to overprice their
commodities,
thus inconveniencing the less privileged.
"The use of the RTGS system for
customer payments is hereby suspended until
further notice," said Gono in a
statement.
"For the avoidance of doubt there will be no processing of the
RTGS payments
through the system with effect from Friday October
3."
Gono said the design of the RTGS system was such that payments and
inter-account transfers must reflect in the recipients' account a few
minutes after effecting the payment, but the system was now being
abused
"The victims have largely remained the defenceless members of
public who
have to watch in despair as their hard earned incomes are grabbed
away from
them through the extractive pricing structure," said
Gono.
Gono said cognisant of the need to provide liquidity to facilitate
settlement of clearing house obligations by financial institutions, all
payments from the Reserve Bank to financial institutions and vice versa
would continue to be credited to their accounts electronically. These
include funding by banks for cash withdrawals.
"RTGS systems are by
nature designed to handle high value high risk
payments. They enable instant
transfer of funds from one bank to another,"
said Gono.
Gono said
when complemented with straight through processing (STP), they
facilitated
real-time end-to-end processing of payments between customers of
different
banks
"A major advantage of RTGS systems is that they provide final and
irrevocable settlement through accounts at the central bank, thereby
reducing credit risk," said Gono
The bank was compiling RTGS
promptness profile for each bank and would
suspend up to six months banks
which were found guilty of delaying the
process.
"Accordingly,
therefore, the Reserve Bank will with immediate effect be
compiling customer
RTGSs' service promptness profiles for each bank," said
Gono.
"When a
bank is seen to be delaying the processing of customer payments it
will be
promptly suspended from using the RTGS platform for a minimum for 6
months
or longer, depending on the severity of the ill-practices."
Gono said the
public should come with documented examples of undue delays by
banks in
processing their RTGS instructions so that swift remedial action is
taken.
"Retailers wholesalers, producers and other services providers
must
therefore take RTGS payments as good as cash and help the economy
stabilization prospects by avoiding the predatory pricing structure
currently prevailing in multiplicities," said Gono
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5152
October 2, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The public has not been made aware of a new
cholera epidemic that
has plagued Harare and Chitungwiza since September and
claimed 18 lives,
with 80 admitted to hospital as of Thursday.
Human
rights lawyers in Zimbabwe have slammed the authorities, holding them
liable
for the "alarming and quite unusual deaths" from a preventable
disease.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights accused the government
of criminal
negligence saying the deaths were a result of unacceptable
failure of
leadership.
Hospital officials said the death toll had
zoomed up Thursday and that they
were battling to contain the outbreak amid
fears it could degenerate into an
unmitigated epidemic.
"We have so
far registered a total of 14 deaths here with four other deaths
reported in
Harare and 77 cases of the disease reported," Dr Obadiah Moyo,
chief
executive officer of the Chitungwiza Central Hospital in the satellite
town
just outside the capital Harare, told The Zimbabwe Times.
About 12 people
had been reported dead by September 30 and two more
succumbed to the disease
over the past two days.
Chitungwiza Central Hospital, in the populous
town, is now coordinating an
anti-cholera program in the town, home to
almost a million people. The
latest deaths have been recorded in Unit O,
which has been cut off from
water supplies over the past one month
now.
Other parts of the town are facing intermittent water supplies.
Authorities
say the water shortages are a result of power outages that have
affected the
pumping of water from the main supply source, Morton Jaffray
Works, which
supplies the bulk of the water for both domestic and industrial
use.
There are currently 77 cholera patients, including 30 children under
the age
of five, being cared for in the hospital, Moyo said.
"Between
Monday and Tuesday we received 30 patients," he said. "We are
really snowed
under and the patients keep coming."
He said the patients had been
quarantined and treated in the disinfecting
basin at the Chitungwiza
clinic.
Cholera is caused by intestinal bacteria that trigger serious
diarrhoea and
vomiting leading to dehydration. The disease is mainly caused
by poor
sanitation. With a short incubation period, it can be fatal if not
treated
within 24 hours.
Experts say the number of people infected
with cholera could be much higher
than the cases officially reported. The
Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights
said in a statement the official cholera
deaths were grossly underestimated.
"This is but the tip of an iceberg of
much more morbidity," said the human
rights doctors. "This has not been
communicated to the public."
Some of the infected people hide from health
officials, according to local
health authorities in the Chitungwiza
neighbourhood, which has been
seriously affected by the
epidemic.
"There are a lot of taboos surrounding the illness," said
Miriam Maposa who
works at a local health clinic. "Parents do not want to
tell the health
officials of cases of infections in their families because
of the stigma
associated with poor sanitation in the homes."
The last
cholera epidemic in Mabvuku in Harare killed four people and
infected at
least four people in March, mainly because of shortages of
water.
A
resident of Unit O, in the Seke section of Chitungwiza, Nyasha Muzambi,
who
lost his brother to cholera five days before he was to get married,
said:
"His bride is devastated and we are taking legal action. We can't
allow this
to just go unchallenged.
"We owe it to his young wife who has been
widowed because of a preventable
disease. It's just unacceptable."
http://www.voanews.com
By Jonga
Kandemiiri
Washington
02 October 2008
Sources
in Masvingo, southeast Zimbabwe, said the Movement for Democratic
Change
formation of Morgan Tsvangirai might expel Masvingo Mayor Femias
Chakabuda
from the party or force him to resign amid charges he defected to
the former
ruling ZANU-PF party as political violence raged in the approach
to June's
presidential run-off election.
Chakabuda denied the allegations in an
interview with VOA.
The MDC sources said Chakabuda and two other
councilors were found guilty of
misconduct by a party commission which
completed a probe this week.
The secretary of that panel, Lawson
Mapfaira, confirmed to VOA that the
commission was investigating Chakabuda
and councilors Daniel Muchuchutu and
Selina Maridza.
Mapfaira added
that the panel was scheduled to meet with the three
councilors Thursday
evening, but declined to comment further. MDC Masvingo
Provincial Chairman
Wilstaff Chitemere also declined to comment on the
matter to VOA.
In
an interview, Chakabuda dismissed the allegations as malicious and unfair
to
the MDC as well as himself, telling reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that he never shifted his political loyalties to
ZANU-PF or attended any of its meetings.
http://www.miningweekly.com
By: Oscar Nkala
Published on 3rd October
2008
Updated 2 hours 39 minutes ago
Falcon Gold Zimbabwe produced a mere
85 kg of gold between January and June
this year, compared with 291 kg
during the first half of last year.
Chairperson G Hunter says the severe drop
was caused by a crippling mix of
negative factors carried over from the
previous year.
"The group continued to operate in an environment
characterised by
relentlessly high inflation, serious currency depreciation,
increasing input
shortages, incessant power outages and surging skills
emigration," Hunter
says.
He states that a power supply deal under
which gold-mining companies pay for
power in foreign currency has not saved
the group, as outages are still
being experienced, adversely affecting
operations.
"While this started off well, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) has been
unable to meet its commitments with respect to the agreement
and power
outages have ensued, further affecting
productivion."
Hunter says that apart from power cuts, the much-lowered
gold production is
"due to inefficiencies caused by the unavailability of
essential stores and
the difficult operating and economic
environment".
He says very limited exploration was undertaken in the
period under review.
The company operates the Dalny, Venice, Golden Quarry
and Camperdown mines,
in Zimbabwe, and Hunter says that it remains focused
on the troubled
Southern African country.
However, he warns that the
continued operation of the mines will depend on
the timely payment of what
the company is owed by the RBZ.
He calls for a regular review of the gold
support price, adding that the
gold support price review undertaken in April
provided only a temporary
respite.
"The flow of our funds from our
RBZ foreign currency account has also dried
up as the foreign currency
situation worsens in the country. By the end of
June 2008, gold proceeds
lodged with the RBZ represented a mere fraction of
what would have been
received using a fair international gold price and
exchange rate," Hunter
says.
Like many other mining companies, Falcon Gold is pinning its hopes
on the
recently signed power sharing agreement, ushering in a new and
positive
climate that will bring the economy back on its feet.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
Last updated: 10/03/2008
21:43:47
IT IS hardly surprising that more than a fortnight after Zimbabwe's
much-celebrated Rainbow Agreement last month there is still tremendous
resistance to change, exemplified by the failure to agree on the formation
of a new Cabinet.
Change is a difficult thing to deal with. It is
hard to accept. We are
creatures of habit and find more comfort in familiar
surroundings. Old
timers at the workplace are more likely to say, "ndiwo
maitiro atagara
tichiita zvinhu makore ese" (this is how things have always
been done),
whenever the new, young manager tries to introduce
changes.
Part of it is that people do not know how to deal with change.
People prefer
to stick to what they have always known because the
consequences are
predictable. Anything new is likely to introduce
uncertainty and people do
not like that.
Another part, however, is
that people do not wish to lose the privileges,
however small, that they
have always enjoyed under the old order. This is
aptly captured in a
Machiavelli quotation that I have previously employed in
these pages.
Machiavelli said, in his most famous work, The Prince:
"It must be
considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out,
nor more
doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate
a new
order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit
by the
old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit
by the
new order . Thus it arises that on every opportunity for attacking
the
reformer, his opponents do so with the zeal of partisans, the others
only
defend him half-heartedly, so that between them he runs great
danger."
Zimbabwe is at that point where it is faced with possibilities
of change;
where there is a chance 'to initiate a new order of things', to
use
Machiavelli's words. It is important to recognise that the process of
change
in Zimbabwe was always going to be a slow and painful process and is
not
going to be a stroll in the park.
We have to understand the critical
players in this process and how their
response to change will ultimately
affect its success. These critical
players are the people who can be
classified into, at least, three
categories in relation to their attitude to
change:
First, there are 'change-agents', namely those at the forefront
of
initiating and steering change. This category includes the majority of
the
poor people who can be referred to as 'change-sceptics' - in that whilst
they badly want change, they have little facility to make it happen and
because they have outsourced it to politicians, they remain highly
sceptical.
Second, there are 'forces of continuity', namely, those in
favour of
continuing with the status quo and opposed to change. They have
interest in
a new order of things as it provides no guarantees for the
privileges earned
under the old order.
Third, is a category of
persons that is in between - this group knows that
continuity is
unsustainable but it is also doubtful of change and its impact
on their
personal positions. There is, inevitably, continuous attrition
between the
change agents and the forces of continuity.
The Rainbow Agreement has
merely blurred the boundaries between these
categories, especially in making
some of the forces of continuity, to become
'reluctant change-agents'. They
are not really committed to comprehensive
change but they realise that they
have limited options given the poor state
of the country. They prefer a
'mixed grill' approach of the new arrangement,
which entails retention of
large parts of the old order and reluctant
acceptance of limited aspects of
the new order. This, however, is a
dangerous cocktail that does not inspire
confidence and stifles change.
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai find themselves
in a situation where they are
change-agents, although the former would seem
to be a 'reluctant
change-agent'. But even so, both have to confront, in
their own ways, what
Machiavelli calls 'enemies in those who profit by the
old order'.
On Mugabe's part, the systems of patronage around which
governance has been
conducted in the last 28 years depend to a large extent
on the maintenance
of the old order. There are, for example, persons who
have large and
enormously profitable contracts to supply goods and services
to the army,
the police and other key state institutions. There are also
persons who get
free seed, fertiliser, machinery, etc under the structures
of the old order.
These same people have had unlimited access to cheap
foreign currency
through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), which they have
used to earn
profits of obscene proportions. Indeed, such institutions at
the forefront
of the old order, such as the RBZ, which is on dangerous path
of becoming
all things to all people, continue against the tide of change to
engage in
activities that characterise the malaise at the core of the old
order.
There are the people who have thrived and become richer when
everyone else
has become poorer. This is what may be called the 'Vulture
Class' which is
inextricably wedded to the old order. These persons
personify the forces of
continuity that stand in the way of change.
Tsvangirai must also contend
with the same forces.
But there is now,
in addition to the 'vulture class' of a political type, a
further class of
opportunistic business characters, that have adapted to the
abnormal
environment and, in the process, found great fortune. This group,
which
falls into the third category above, can be called the 'Hyenas',
because
like a pack of hyenas, they follow wounded prey and, from time to
time,
nibble at the prey's wound, until, after a slow and painful struggle,
it
succumbs to the inevitable.
This Hyena class is not entirely anti-change
but because it is a beneficiary
of the old order, it is not an ardent
supporter of change. They have found
loopholes in the system, which they
exploit to their advantage. But whilst
the vultures are no longer bothered
to hide their true colours, the hyenas
are very deceptive, often appearing
like friends of change but only when it
suits them.
The truth,
however, is that the hyenas can survive in any environment. They
are
inconvenienced but comfortable with the old order. Even though they
sense
some opportunities in the new order, they are reluctant to declare
their
intentions boldly. This is what Machiavelli referred to as those "who
do not
truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience
of
it".
Until they actually experience the new order, they are more likely
to
support the old order. The net effect is that they, too, are standing in
the
way of change.
The collective result is that of all the persons,
those who are anti-change
or reluctant supporters of change are also the
most economically powerful.
They are the men and women who have used the
facility of poverty to enrich
themselves and have very little appetite for a
new order.
Of the multitudes that support change, unfortunately, most are
the poor and
indigent. They have lost much under the old order that they are
now so
vulnerable. These are what Franz Fanon referred to as Les Damnés de
la Terre
(The Wretched of the Earth). But their support is also lukewarm
partly
because of what Machiavelli referred to as the 'fear of their
adversaries',
of whom he said had 'the laws in their favour'. The violence
wrought on
these communities has, over the years, shown them that they have
little
power or protection of the law against the more privileged political
elites.
They want change but they remain sceptical. This scepticism can
also be a
negative force in the path of change. People need to own change;
to be part
of change and to be able to control their own
destiny.
Part of the shortcomings of the negotiating process leading to
the Rainbow
Agreement is that it was too secretive and, therefore,
marginalised the
majority of the people. As such they do not feel they have
any ownership or
control over how it should work going forward. They are
mere spectators in a
game in which the politicians are the critical players.
Politicians must, at
this stage, do everything they can to involve the
people in the process of
change. Change is more likely to succeed if
participants can feel that they
own the process.
The important point
is that all this resistance to change is not unusual nor
is it unexpected.
It would be naïve to expect there to be immediate
transformation in the
aftermath of the Rainbow Agreement. Many of the
vultures and hyenas are
struggling to come to terms with the new reality.
They are re-organising;
re-strategising in order to cope with the inevitable
changes. But of course
the setbacks do cause worry and provide a fertile
environment for pessimism.
But surely, the forces of continuity must, one
day, give way to the forces
of change.
Alex Magaisa is based at Kent Law School, The University of
Kent. He can be
contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008 22:33
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is now demanding all key ministries - except
finance
- in a move which has left incoming prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai
disturbed by the renewed clashes with his soon-to-be
boss.
Mugabe's demands are also jeopardising the prospect
of the
power-sharing agreement signed last month with opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) faction leaders. The quarrel over cabinet
portfolios
has left the country without a new government almost three weeks
after the
deal was signed and three months after Mugabe was controversially
sworn in
after his disputed victory in a one-man election race on June
27.
Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off after defeating Mugabe in
March.
Zanu PF also lost the election and control of parliament to the MDC.
Zimbabwe has not had a legitimate cabinet since March when Mugabe dissolved
his old team.
However, prospects of a new cabinet and
government are receding as
Mugabe wants to get all key ministries after
securing the positions of head
of state and government in the deal. He also
managed to get chairman of
cabinet, a position which Tsvangirai initially
demanded. Mugabe is also
commander-in-chief of the defence forces and
chairman of the influential
National Security Council (currently Joint
Operations Command).
Sources said Mugabe on Tuesday told Tsvangirai
he was not going to
concede any of the important ministries to him, except
probably finance. The
move to let Tsvangirai get finance is said to be
strategic in the interests
of economic revival. Tsvangirai has argued that
he can't resuscitate the
economy when he is not in charge of vital economic
ministries.
The sources said Mugabe is prepared to concede finance
although he is
under pressure not to let go from hardliners in Zanu PF and
government who
fear that the MDC would use the portfolio to conduct
"forensic audits" of
government's appalling financial record and hold to
account those found to
have been involved in financial misappropriation and
corruption.
The sources said Mugabe also told Tsvangirai that apart
from principal
ministries in Mugabe's original wish list that includes
defence (as well as
state security which is now only a department in the
president's office),
justice and information, Mugabe now wants to grab
foreign affairs, local
government and home affairs which were at the heart
of the dispute two weeks
ago.
Although Tsvangirai's group said
all ministries were in dispute,
Mugabe and the smaller MDC faction leader
Arthur Mutambara say only finance,
local government and foreign affairs are
being contested.
Sources said Mugabe indicated to Tsvangirai
that he was taking local
government because his party would like to exercise
oversight on local
authorities by controlling central government. The MDC
controls most
municipalities in the country.
It is also said
Mugabe has refused to let go of home affairs, saying
it belonged to former
PF Zapu in terms of the 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu
and Zapu. Former
PF-Zapu bigwigs, including vice-president Joseph Msika and
Zanu PF chair
John Nkomo, recently held a meeting in Bulawayo where it was
said the
current agreement undermined the Unity Accord and ex-Zapu leaders
need to
fight to keep their original gains. It was resolved that Msika must
engage
Mugabe on the issue and this seems to have paid off as home affairs
now
appears destined to remain under Zapu control.
The sources said
there was a gentlemen's agreement in terms of the
Unity Accord that home
affairs would remain under Zapu.
"It was agreed during the unity
talks that Zapu will control home
affairs as part of maintaining internal
security after the Gukurahundi
debacle," a politburo member said. "Mugabe
will not let go of the ministry
to the MDC."
The MDC is said to
be disturbed by such arguments since Zapu was never
an issue during
negotiations and in terms of the agreement.
Sources said it is also
Mugabe's contention that foreign affairs
cannot be given to the MDC because
the "president needs to appoint his own
foreign minister". A source said
Mugabe would not accept having a foreign
minister from the MDC because that
was not in sync with the logic of the
agreement which leaves Mugabe as head
of state and government.
"As head of state Mugabe wants to appoint
his own foreign minister and
not have one from the MDC who may not
articulate policies and issues the way
he wants," the source
said.
It said Mugabe might finally yield finance to the MDC
although Zanu PF
thinks it has a better candidate in Sylvester Nguni
compared to the MDC for
finance minister. Sources said the MDC had rejected
this because "in any
case it's not about that but more about who would be
able to re-establish
financial relations with the outside world rather who
did finance at
college". The MDC thinks Elton Mangoma is a good
candidate.
The MDC says this situation has created a deadlock,
although Zanu PF
claims there is no deadlock "because initially there were
four ministries in
dispute but now there is only one -
finance".
The MDC has sounded out Sadc on the stalemate. Sadc on
Wednesday
asked South African President Kgalema Motlanthe to request his
predecessor
Thabo Mbeki to continue as Zimbabwe's mediator in the allocation
of
ministries between rival political parties.
Mugabe and
Tsvangirai met on Tuesday but failed to resolve the issue.
MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the leaders had reached an impasse
and were
likely to refer the issue to Sadc-appointed mediator, Mbeki.
Informed sources said that Sadc executive secretary Tomaz Salomao had
telephoned Motlanthe on Wednesday and indicated to him that regional leaders
had asked Mbeki to continue as the mediator and that Motlanthe should
communicate this to him. Motlanthe yesterday endorsed Mbeki as
mediator.
By Dumisani Muleya/Constantine Chimakure
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008 22:31
THE proposed extraordinary general meeting (EGM) by Kingdom Meikles
Africa
shareholders led by chairman John Moxon on October 23 to fire CEO
Nigel
Chanakira and two other board members could hit a snag as minority
shareholders of the conglomerate are set to launch a massive legal challenge
against attempts to remove the directors.
The Zimbabwe
Independent can reveal that the small shareholders were
this week seeking
legal counsel from lawyer Addington Chinake of Kantor &
Immermann to
stop Moxon from calling an EGM to remove Chanakira and
directors Callisto
Jokonya and Rugare Chidembo from the board.
Moxon is proposing that
the trio be replaced by Marilyn Hugill, his
sister, and South African-based
Ashwin Mancha, Jack Mitchell, Fiona Silcock
and Carl Stein, all linked to
his family.
The Moxon-linked companies in KMAL include ACM
Investments, JRT M
Investments, ASH Investments, FPS Investments and APWM
Investments. They
jointly hold 43% of the total issued share capital of
KMAL. Econet Wireless
holds 10%.
Information to hand shows that
the minority shareholders who are
expected to file an urgent High Court
chamber application today were also
lobbying the Reserve Bank to intervene
because they assert KMAL is a holding
company for a financial institution -
being Kingdom Bank - which is governed
by the Banking Act.
They
therefore want the High Court to issue a declarator to this
effect. This
would mean that no board member of KMAL can be removed without
approval of
the central bank, neither can new board members be appointed
without the
RBZ's nod.
The minor shareholders also want Moxon to publish a
circular to all
shareholders explaining the nature of the conflict in the
board. They are
also questioning the appropriateness and impartiality of
Muchadeyi Masunda
who has been retained as chairman of the EGM.
KMAL board chairman Moxon is temporarily relinquishing the position
for the
EGM to avoid a conflict of interest.
The minor shareholders want
the court to stop Masunda from chairing
the EGM because they believe that he
has had a long relationship with Moxon
as board member of Meikles before the
merger with Kingdom Financial
Holdings, Tanganda and Cotton Printers to form
KMAL.
They will also argue that Masunda is an inappropriate chair
by virtue
of being mayor of Harare. Masunda is a board member of at least a
dozen
companies quoted on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
But it
is the quest to remove the directors that has set Moxon and the
minority
shareholders on a collision course. The smaller shareholders this
week told
the Independent that they had not been furnished with information
on the
nature of the conflict between Chanakira and Moxon. They have also
said that
they have not been served with the notice for the EGM.
"Other than
what we saw in the newspapers, there has been a paucity of
information on
what is actually happening in the company in which we are
shareholders,"
said a CEO of a listed company which holds shares in KMAL.
"We
cannot go into the AGM blind and take a decision which could hurt
our
businesses. What corporate governance are we talking about here?"
By Vincent Kahiya
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
22:29
THE Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC yesterday alleged that government
was
refusing to renew its leader's passport in a deliberate attempt to bar
him
from travelling in the region and beyond to appraise leaders on
political
developments in the country.
Tsvangirai, who
is prime minister-designate in an all-inclusive
government made up of his
party, Zanu PF and the smaller formation of the
MDC led by Professor Arthur
Mutambara, is still without a passport three
months after it expired and he
applied for a new one.
The Registrar-General (RG)'s office in
Harare was reportedly reluctant
to issue Tsvangirai with a new passport or
an emergency travel document for
him to visit regional and international
leaders to update them on the
impasse between him and President Robert
Mugabe on the formation of a new
cabinet.
Sources in the MDC
said the RG's office was claiming that it had run
out of materials to
produce passports, but senior officials in the same
office said hundreds of
Zimbabweans were issued with the travelling
documents after Tsvangirai's
application.
George Sibotshiwe, Tsvangirai's spokesperson,
yesterday said the
refusal to give the MDC president a passport was a
deliberate move by the
state to bar him from travelling.
"There
is a deliberate plot in government to prevent Tsvangirai from
accessing
regional and international leaders at this very crucial moment for
Zimbabwe," Sibotshiwe said. "It is critical for him to consult with leaders
in the region and internationally and denying him a passport as a Zimbabwean
is an infringement of his human rights."
Sibotshiwe said the
delay in issuing the passport was affecting the
party's regional and
international diplomatic activities.
"The president has to engage
colleagues in the region and
internationally, especially now, to find ways
of how he can help to make
Zimbabwe move forward and to appraise them on the
progress of the
negotiations," he said.
Tsvangirai applied for
a new passport in May after the pages in his
old one had been
exhausted.
In Zimbabwe, it normally takes two working days for an
emergency
passport to be issued, but Tsvangirai was told on several
occasions that
there were no passport materials.
President
Mugabe reportedly took an entourage of 54 people to the UN
General Assembly
in New York last week.
By Loughty Dube
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
22:27
TWO of the country's leading universities -- the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ) and the National University of Science and Technology
(Nust) -- are expected to re-open next week for the last semester this year
amid reports that lecturers will be on strike and that results of many
students are not yet out.
The opening of the
universities has been postponed on several
occasions because of the
lecturers' industrial action pressing for better
salaries and working
conditions.
While the UZ opens on Monday, there is no water supply
at the
institution, and there is a critical shortage of academic and
non-academic
staff.
Tafadzwa Mugwadi, a political science
student, yesterday said: "There
is inadequate staff, both academic and
non-academic, at the campus and the
water they promised is not even coming
out from the taps."
Students said UZ students lacked critical
resources for their studies.
"There is shortage of resources," a
student from the veterinary
department said. "Drugs such as anaesthetics for
surgeries and antibiotics
are not available. X-ray machines for our
practical studies are not
working."
UZ lecturer John Makumbe
wondered why authorities wanted the college
to open on Monday.
Makumbe said: "Most lecturers are not coming to work because they do
not
have money. There is no water and a lot of toilets are still blocked. It
is
impossible to hold lectures in some of the lecture rooms because of the
smell from the toilets. That the boreholes are all rehabilitated and are
working is simply fiction."
"There is total confusion at the
UZ; you find students registering
without knowing what their last semester's
results were. At the end of the
day it will affect them during the course of
the semester."
The UZ acting director of information and public
relations, Daniel
Chihombori, yesterday said the harsh economic environment
presented serious
challenges to the resource mobilisation process at the
college, hence
necessitating the postponement of re-opening of the
university on several
occasions.
He said stakeholders were
working flat out to ensure that lectures
start on Monday.
"Most
of the (students) results have been published already,"
Chihombori said.
"Work on the rehabilitation of boreholes and the
improvement of the water
situation on the campus is on-going. The parties to
the problem are working
hard to ensure that the institution has adequate and
continuous water
supplies."
He said while the UZ has been losing staff, it was
continuously hiring
new employees, as well as benefiting from its investment
in local and
international staff development programmes.
"We
are aware that the university has been facing challenges with
respect to the
rehabilitation and/or repair of some teaching equipment
because of lack of
spares (not available locally). We, however, are not
aware of the shortage
of the specific machines that you mentioned,"
Chihombori said.
At Nust, the strike by lecturers forced the college authorities to
delay
reopening and threatened to disrupt the annual graduation ceremony
next
month.
Initially, the college was supposed to open on August 25,
but the date
was moved to the end of September because of the industrial
action, before
it was moved to October 6.
The lecturers are
demanding a basic monthly salary of US$4 000 or R31
000 for the least paid
academic staff.
Wongai Zhangazha/Henry Mhara
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
22:25
MDC House of Assembly deputy chief whip Paurina Mpariwa has
described
Tsholotsho North legislator Jonathan Moyo in court papers as an
"unprincipled opportunist" who represents everything wrong about present-day
Zimbabwe.
In an opposing affidavit against Moyo's
application seeking the
nullification of the election of MDC national
chairman Lovemore Moyo as
Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mpariwa said the
former Information
minister was a "dishonourable member of parliament" who
worked against press
freedom and was once involved in a plot to unseat
President Robert Mugabe.
Moyo lodged an application in the High
Court last month arguing that
MDC MPs had violated the principle of a secret
ballot when the party's
national chairman was elected Speaker.
The Tsholotsho North MP accused MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti of
failing
to set an example to his fellow lawmakers. He said Biti was the
first to
violate the secret election principle after he showed his completed
ballot
to MPs from his party.
The MPs in turn, Moyo argued, showed their
completed ballots to MDC
vice-president Thokozani Khupe, chief whip Innocent
Gonese, Biti, deputy
secretary general Tapiwa Mashakada and party
spokesperson Nelson Chamisa.
The former minister's application
read: "The election of Speaker on
Monday August 25, 2008 was characterised
by systematic and scandalous
irregularities never before witnessed in
parliament."
But Mpariwa in her opposing affidavit said the
challenge against the
election of the Speaker by Moyo was an "unholy
project, born of the
machinations of Zanu PF and its friends in the (Arthur)
Mutambara group who
are bent on ensuring that the current political status
quo existing in this
country continues unabated."
She said Moyo
had a long history of treachery which started during the
liberation struggle
when he escaped from a training camp.
Mpariwa said: "During the
liberation struggle he (Moyo) was the first
successful escaper from Mgagao
training camp, Tanzania, only managing to
escape after a second attempt. For
a long time he was a known critic of this
regime (Zanu PF) but
opportunistically in 2000 he became a minister in the
present regime and was
responsible for the total extermination of press
freedom and press rights in
Zimbabwe.
"This destroyer of press freedom was later involved in a
plot to
unseat the leader and President RG Mugabe, in what was has now come
to be
known as the Tsholotsho Scandal in November 2004 (sic)."
Mpariwa claimed that Moyo bounced back into Zanu PF between May and
June
2008 to run the propaganda and information campaign for Mugabe.
She
said: "In short, he is a totally unprincipled opportunist
individual who
represents everything wrong about present-day Zimbabwe. His
reason for
participating in this present application is probably to try and
further
ingratiate himself with Zanu PF in the hope that he can be a
government
minister."
She said on the day of voting for the Speaker, it was a
requirement to
show the clerk of parliament Austin Zvoma the completed
ballot paper.
"It meant implicitly that one would fold the ballot
outside the
polling booth after showing it to the first respondent (Zvoma)
and then
placing it in the ballot box," Mpariwa said.
She
dismissed claims by Moyo that the MDC MPs made a noise as "totally
dishonest
and untrue".
"Whilst there was noise in parliament, virtually all
members of
parliament made noise including and in particular Jonathan Moyo
himself, one
Patrick Zhuwao and Saviour Kasukuwere," she
claimed.
She insisted that MPs voted in secret and no one knew how
they voted,
adding that Moyo's claims that the MDC legislators showed their
completed
ballots to senior party members were fiction.
"Jonathan Moyo, the author of Voting for Democracy, a book that bears
uncanny proximity to Beatriz Mazaloni's Voting for Autocracy, is the new
Geoffrey Archer. I have not seen the video tape being referred to and I
challenge its authenticity and its production thereof," Mpariwa said in her
affidavit.
She said Moyo's allegations were without any
evidence or substance.
"This is a completely fictitious
construction for a number of reasons,
firstly nobody knows what Hon Biti's
vote was. For Jonathan Moyo's
construction to make any sense, he would have
to prove that Hon Biti voted
for the second respondent (Lovemore Moyo). This
cannot be proved," Mpariwa
argued.
"I saw no one displaying any
vote to anyone. To make this allegation
against the members of parliament
without inviting them to hear their side
of the story is
unfair."
Mpariwa said Moyo, Kasukuwere and Zhuwao instead were the
ones who had
been boasting in the common room of parliament that they were
going to win
the vote as they had "bribed" MDC MPs.
"Members of
parliament voted in secret in the polling booth. There is
no one who
interceded with the voting process in that polling booth. Each of
these
members is an adult and no gun was ever pointed," she said.
Mpariwa
said a report in the Hansard was accurate on what transpired
on August 25
and insisted that the suggestion that there was a violation of
the secrecy
of the vote was "vacuous".
Mpariwa said that there was nothing
unprocedural about the election
that was held and if there was any, members
would have protested and refused
to vote.
She said: "The fact
that Emmerson Mnangagwa representing Zanu PF and
Moses Mzila Ndlovu
(representing MDC-Mutambara) were gracious in their
defeat, should teach
lessons of decorum to the likes of Jonathan Moyo."
Mpariwa said it
was at the MDC-Mutambara meeting in Kadoma that Moyo
and Senator David
Coltart decided "maliciously" that the election of Speaker
of parliament had
to be challenged.
"In fact Jonathan Moyo was bang(ing) tables and
declaring that
Lovemore Moyo would never be a Speaker as long as he was
alive. Coltart for
instance makes wild and unsubstantiated allegations that
the MDC met in the
evening before the vote and force-marched members of
parliaments to go and
vote the Speaker. That is totally untrue and without
evidence at all,"
Mpariwa said.
The Speaker described Moyo's
application as "vindictive, malicious,
opportunistic and totally without
foundation".
However, Zvoma in his affidavit said the High Court
had jurisdiction
to deal with the case. Moyo is in the process of preparing
his answering
affidavit before the court can set a date for the case's
hearing.
By Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
22:22
ZANU PF is facing serious financial problems amid reports that it
has
been battling to pay its 500-plus workers since
March.
Impeccable sources said the party has since tasked
its national
fundraising committee to mobilise $50 billion to meet its
recurrent
expenditure, employees' salaries and bankroll its annual
conference to be
held in Bindura in December.
The sources said
Zanu PF failed to pay its employees from March to
August after it committed
funds to the campaign for the March harmonised
elections and the bloody June
27 presidential run-off election.
"The workers were not paid for
six months since March," one of the
sources said. "Instead, the party has
since June been giving the workers
fuel for resale to sustain themselves and
their families."
The sources said directors in Zanu PF were getting
200 litres a month
while the least-paid employees were being allocated 25
litres.
Zanu PF has a credit facility with the National Oil Company
of
Zimbabwe and it is this arrangement the party is using to source fuel and
allocate it to its employees.
Efforts to get a comment from
finance secretary David Karimanzira were
in vain yesterday, but last week he
told Zanu PF's official mouthpiece, The
Voice, that the party was in
financial difficulties.
Karimanzira, the governor and resident
minister of Harare, said Zanu
PF wanted to mobilise $50 billion to meet its
day-to-day expenditure, pay
salaries and finance its national
conference.
He confirmed that the party was having "challenges"
paying its
employees and has over the past "few months" met its recurrent
expenditure
through overdrafts.
"The major challenge still
remains on the funding of salaries of the
party workers, other party
programmes, especially those initiated by the
commissariat, for example, the
ongoing restructuring exercise, 2008 annual
conference in Bindura and the
day-to-day administrative expenditure,"
Karimanzira said.
"So
it is upon all provinces fundraising committees and the national
fundraising
committee to redouble efforts in fundraising activities. The
national
fundraising committee is expected to raise $30 billion and the 10
provincial
committees $20 billion."
He said as part of mobilising the funds,
the Zanu PF finance
department had reviewed upwards the price of membership
cards.
The approved new rates for a membership card of a politburo
member is
$3 000, central committee member $2 000, national consultative
assembly $2
000 and district coordinating committee members $1
000.
Before the presidential run-off, Zanu PF was reportedly facing
serious
financial problems and was allegedly bailed out by the Reserve
Bank.
By Constantine Chimakure
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
22:20
PEOPLE in the southern region of the country are facing
starvation as
food shortages have reached critical levels with villagers
exchanging their
livestock for maize and other basic
foodstuffs.
Reports from Tsholotsho, Binga, Hwange, Gokwe
and Gwanda indicate that
there was a food crisis in these
areas.
The southern region, made up of the three Matabeleland
provinces,
Midlands and Masvingo, are in the drought-prone parts of the
country and are
usually the hardest hit by food shortages.
Signs of a looming hunger are evident almost everywhere in Zimbabwe's
countryside where the majority of villagers are dependent on food aid from
non-governmental organisations.
An official from the governor's
office in Matabeleland North, who
spoke on condition that he was not named,
said the food situation was
critical in the province as maize deliveries
were very low.
The official said the maize the state-controlled
Grain Marketing Board
(GMB) was receiving was not enough to cater for
villagers, adding that the
food crisis in the province was a disaster
waiting to happen.
"Maize stocks are inadequate and all the GMB
depots in the province
have not been receiving maize frequently," the
official said. "They (maize
deliveries) have been erratic except for the
Bacossi packs that were
supplied to a selected number of villagers long
ago."
However, Matabeleland North governor Sithokozile Mathuthu
said talk of
food shortages was false.
"The media is imagining
all the food shortage stories they are writing
about," Mathuthu
said.
"We have maize coming to the GMB on a daily basis and we have
records
to prove that there is plenty of food for everyone. All the food
shortage
stories are false."
She said the government was
importing food and in circumstances where
there were shortages, the
deliveries would have been delayed.
In Matobo district of
Matabeleland South villagers are exchanging
their livestock for maize and
other basic commodities.
Goods that are exchanged for livestock
include cooking oil, sugar,
soap and salt.
Zimbabwe's food
situation has deteriorated to critical levels with
maize, the staple food
for Zimbabweans, being unavailable in shops.
This week, Prime
Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai said the country
was facing a
"disastrous" food crisis and called for the urgent formation of
a new
power-sharing government.
"We need to respond to this crisis with
utmost urgency. It is
therefore imperative that a government be formed in
the next few days and
begins to implement plans to ensure that our people
have food and do not die
of starvation," Tsvangirai told reporters in
Harare.
Earlier this year, the United Nations estimated that more
than five
million people out of a population of 12 million would require
food
assistance in the first quarter of 2009.
The United
States-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network warned
last week that
Zimbabwe could run out of cereals by November.
By Loughty
Dube
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
22:18
FORMER Finance minister Simba Makoni has moved up a gear in
transforming his Mavambo/Dawn/Kusile movement into a fully-fledged political
party after his national management committee last week adopted the proposed
party's constitution, policies and principles.
Sources
told the Zimbabwe Independent that at a joint meeting of the
national
co-ordinating and management committees, Makoni said the party, to
be called
the National Alliance for Democracy (NAD), would be launched
before
year-end. The sources said the NAD constitution spells out that the
party
should be rooted in nationalism and Pan-Africanism.
"The ideology
and principles of the party are more or less similar to
those of Zanu PF,
but make it clear that leadership should be renewable,"
one of the sources
said.
"The constitution sets a two five-year term limit for the
president
and also espouses the goals and objectives of the
party."
Makoni left Zanu PF in February to form the movement
claiming that
President Robert Mugabe's endorsement during last December's
extraordinary
congress in Harare was unconstitutional. He said Mugabe had
manipulated
party structures into closing the door for leadership
renewal.
Makoni contested the March 29 presidential election as an
independent
candidate against Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
came out a
distant third in the poll.
Denford Magora, the
movement's spokesperson, confirmed last week's
meeting, adding that the
adopted draft constitution and the proposed
policies and principles have
since been taken to the country's 10 provinces
for "further consultation and
input" from Mavambo's supporters and members.
He said all
provinces, including the three in Matabeleland that
threatened to leave the
movement, attended the meeting.
"We are being methodical in our
approach because this new party is
owned by the people, just as Makoni
himself is owned by the people of
Zimbabwe," Magora said. "We must all play
our part in ensuring that Zimbabwe
becomes a truly stable democracy,
eliminating all risks that may see us fall
back into a situation where one
man can hold the entire nation to ransom." -
Staff Writer.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
22:02
IT is around 3am and 30-year-old Kudzanai Toziva cannot endure
anymore
the excruciating pain in his body.
His legs are
swollen and he is shivering despite a high body
temperature, his breathing
is heavy and he is gasping for air.
His 24-year-old wife Nokhutula
looks on helplessly and does not know
what to do except to call close
relatives to take Toziva to hospital.
On their way into town they
debated on which hospital to take Toziva
to. One relative suggested
Parirenyatwa Hospital, but everyone turned down
the proposal arguing that
the health institution had serious drug and staff
shortages.
They later settled for a private hospital.
They drove to Westend
Clinic and were confident that Toziva would be
attended to and relieved of
his pain.
However, things did not happen as they expected. Instead
of Toziva
being admitted they were told that the hospital had no adequate
staff to
help them.
They carried Toziva back to their
car.
With the little cash they had in their pockets they wondered
where to
go next as most hospitals were now demanding huge sums of money in
cash and
high amounts for a bank transfer or cheque.
The
Avenues clinic was their next port of call, but upon arrival
Toziva, who is
a medical aid society cardholder, was told that beds were
full and he could
not be admitted.
Finally, after moving from one place to the other,
Toziva was admitted
at another private hospital in the Avenues area at
around 4pm, more than
eight hours since he started feeling the
pain.
The hospital said they were ready to assist him, but they
needed to
decide first how much he should pay before admitting
him.
The millions of Zimbabwe dollars they demanded were outrageous
since
the maximum daily withdrawal limit for individuals is pegged at $20
000. The
Toziva family pleaded with the administration to pay in the form of
a bank
transfer.
After consultations they finally agree, but
were told that there were
hundreds of thousands of dollars they had to pay
in cash.
"I had to ask a friend of mine kuti andipisirewo (do an
RTGS of)
US$400 into my account that I could transfer to the hospital's
account,"
Toziva's sister said. "I was lucky the hospital agreed because we
share the
same bank so it was going to be an internal
transfer."
The doctor who examined Toziva said there was excess
water in his
body, some of it having found its way into his lungs. The
doctor said the
excess fluid had to be removed using a
catheter.
It took time for Toziva's family to raise the required
money to remove
the excess water and as a result he died on Wednesday. He
died a bitter man.
Toziva might have succumbed to complications he
experienced, but his
parents still feel that hospitals could have helped him
if they had attended
to him earlier.
"People might say one
cannot run away from the angel of death, but if
they had attended to my son
urgently maybe he would be alive today," said
his mother, with streams of
tears running down her cheeks.
The health delivery system in the
country, according to a number of
medical practitioners, has "gone to the
dogs" as most of the country's major
hospitals are out of drugs, food,
functioning equipment and shortage of
staff.
Parirenyatwa
Hospital, for instance, is reported to have a critical
shortage of
medicines.
Most of the time the hospital doesn't have adequate
water supplies and
as a result a number of toilets have been closed
down.
Posters reading, "no water, use the bucket" can be seen on
toilet
doors while some of the toilets are locked to prevent
use.
A patient who preferred anonymity expressed disgust at the
hospital's
shortage of water saying it was unbelievable that such a big
hospital should
be left to operate without a constant water
supply.
"Some toilets are said to be out of order. Honestly, how
can a big
hospital have toilets not working?" she said.
This
week, Heath minister David Parirenyatwa was quoted by the state
media saying
drug stocks had improved by between 60% and 70% in the country's
major
hospitals. The new stocks include antiretroviral drugs and chronic
ambulatory dialysis kits.
However, the president of the
Hospital Doctors Association, Amon
Severeki, said the supply of critical
drugs was not even close to enough.
Severeki said: "It is funny
because as we speak there are no drugs at
Parirenyatwa Hospital and I am
talking about just basic drugs like
antibiotics and vial
injections.
"There is a serious shortage. Patients are told to buy
the vial
injections at pharmacies, which might be going for $1 million each
and
probably one person will need about 50 of them. You can imagine, where
will
they get that kind of money?"
A senior medical doctor
working at a private hospital who recently
toured Harare Hospital, popularly
known as Pagomo, said the standards at the
hospital had deteriorated so
badly that the hospital needs to be closed for
renovation.
The
doctor said: "The place is not fit to be called a hospital. The
hospital's
tiles have peeled off, some of them are dirty to the extent that
you can't
believe that they used to be white. Most of the equipment is not
working and
there is no adequate food for patients. That hospital needs to
be closed for
renovation. It is in a sorry state."
While women on maternity are
given a list of items they have to bring
so that they can be helped to
deliver. The list includes 10 pairs of gloves,
a needle, wool or thread,
three candles, matches, blanket, sheets, syringe,
surgical blade, BCG
injection and umbilical pin.
A lot of people now pin their hopes on
the deal that was signed by
President Robert Mugabe and leaders of the two
MDC formations -- Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara -- to address the
problem of poor health
delivery in the country.
However, people
have to wait a little longer as the principals to the
deal are yet to agree
on the formation of a cabinet tasked with revamping
the country's social,
political and economic state.
By Wongai Zhangazha
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October
2008 22:00
A LONG drive along the Harare-Chirundu Road paints a gloomy
picture of
the country's state of agricultural preparedness ahead of the
summer
cropping season.
With no signs of ploughed land,
the once vast evergreen stretches of
prime land in Mashonaland West have
been left idle -- which could be a
problem for a country targeting two
million hectares for maize production
this season.
So troubled
is the country's agricultural sector that regional leaders
have called for
immediate assistance to the once breadbasket of southern
Africa.
Officiating at the historic signing of the inclusive
government deal
on September 15, former South African president Thabo Mbeki
appealed to Sadc
and other African nations to rescue Zimbabwe as a "matter
of urgency" to
avoid food shortages.
Despite public pledges by
Sadc, experts warn that the 2008/9
agricultural season was destined for doom
because of a combination of
reasons, among them a poor transportation
infrastructure and shortages of
critical inputs.
According to
the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), the country's
transportation
infrastructure and fuel would not cope with the pledged
regional support to
re-stock agricultural inputs for the summer season.
Instead, the
CFU urged government to prioritise food imports.
"The country has
no infrastructure to transport the huge amounts of
inputs required and this
could delay the planting exercise which normally
starts in four weeks," a
CFU official said. "A lot of effort has to be put
towards food importation
in the next six months. There is no chance of
producing much this
year.
There is need to put more priority in growing more seed maize
this
season. The country's troubled train operator, National Railways of
Zimbabwe, has few coaches to ferry the enormous amounts of pre-season inputs
from neighbouring countries."
Local maize seed companies on the
other hand are expecting to produce
18 000 tonnes of seed against an annual
national demand of over 50 000
tonnes.
Fertiliser from local
manufacturers, sources said, cannot exceed 50
000 tonnes which is enough for
400 000 hectares of maize. Government is
targeting two million hectares for
maize production this season. This means
that over 100 000 tonnes have to be
imported resulting in the aggregate
locally manufactured inputs and imported
inputs only enough for a maximum of
1,2 million hectares.
Agricultural experts, however, are cautious that the importation of
inputs
could result in the procurement of sub-standard products.
Government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been trying to
address
the supply side of inputs through quasi-fiscal undertakings.
Recently the
central bank injected US$13 million to improve fertiliser
production.
Shortages in herbicides on the local market could
also scuttle
government plans to maximise productivity.
The CFU
also lamented the delay by the Reserve Bank in paying the
wheat support
price to producers for last year's crop.
"Financing the new
agricultural season could be a problem for most
farmers. Wheat producers
have not yet received payments from the Reserve
Bank and this will affect
our plans to produce more," the CFU said. "The
government has not yet
announced the new producer prices for the crop, which
is expected to be
harvested in a week or so."
Independent forecasts indicated winter
wheat production will drop from
last year's output of 62 000 tonnes owing to
a host of problems, among them
electricity shortages to run farming
equipment, fuel shortages and payment
delays by the
authorities.
Barely 10 years ago wheat farmers produced 270 000
tonnes against a
national requirement of 350 000 tonnes.
Former
Grain Marketing Board chief executive officer and MDC secretary
for
agriculture, Renson Gasela, said the country was still lagging behind in
preparations for the new season.
He said: "We are not prepared
at all. That is why Mbeki made that
important appeal to Sadc to offer
assistance as soon as possible. The
centralisation of the distribution of
inputs through the GMB or government
programmes like Operation Maguta could
negatively affect productivity. GMB
is militarised at the
moment.
"This has deprived many small farmers from accessing
inputs. What is
required is the decentralisation of distribution and
synchronising the
distribution of seed and fertiliser."
Packaging the inputs in "smaller quantities", Gasela said, could also
enable
urban growers to easily access inputs at affordable prices and also
minimise
reselling of the critical inputs on the parallel market.
Independent statistics indicate that Harare metropolitan residents
produce
over 60 tonnes of maize.
Efforts to get comment from Agriculture
minister Rugare Gumbo were in
vain, but key strategist in the government's
Resource Mobilisation and
Utilisation Committee, Misheck Sibanda, last week
said the committee had
made "tremendous preparations" for this
season.
Experts also warned that a massive exodus of farm labourers
to
neighbouring countries like South Africa and Zambia could worsen
productivity on both communal and commercial farms. Commercial agriculture
prior the ill-planned agrarian reform of 2000 was the largest formal sector
employer in the country.
The General Agriculture and Plantation
Workers Union of Zimbabwe
(Gapwuz) last week warned that delays by President
Robert Mugabe and the two
MDC formations to appoint a new cabinet could
result in a "failed season".
Tapiwa Zivira, Gapwuz information
secretary said: "As a union that
represents the interests of the most
mariganlised group, the farm workers
and rural communities, we are therefore
calling on the three political
parties to quickly resolve whatever
differences they have and start working
together for national
development.
"Far from delaying economic recovery, the political
impasse is
hindering preparations for the coming rainy season and this may
mean yet
another failed season."
Before 2000 the commercial
sector contributed 75% of grain reserves
delivered by communal farmers, but
an emerging trend indicates declining
output by the latter. Statistics show
that commercially produced commodities
for last year accounted for 42% of
the aggregate produce in 1998.
Government has often blamed natural
causes for the poor yields, but it
will have to come up with another excuse
if the country experiences a poor
harvest after the meteorological
department forecast a favourable rainfall
pattern.
Meanwhile,
the selling season for tobacco closed below the projected
73 million kg that
was initially targeted. The Zimbabwe Tobacco Association
this week said that
farmers could meet a target of 70 million kg in the
forthcoming
season.
Experts said there were inadequate seedlings this season.
Statistics
by the ZTA indicate that it costs at least US$7 500 to plough a
hectare of
tobacco.
Zimbabwe's poor agricultural output has
been blamed on the chaotic
land reform the government embarked on in
February 2000 after it lost a
constitutional referendum.
A
United Nations Development Programme report released last week said
the
government must revisit agricultural policies in the "post crisis"
period
with a view to completing the controversial land reform.
"The main
policy recommendation is therefore to revise the current
land laws to
conform to the post-crisis land policy and the agricultural
recovery
strategy," the report said.
By Bernard Mpofu
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
21:01
THE National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) has ordered
business to revert to September 26 prices or risk being fined or having
their licences revoked.
NIPC chairman Godwills
Masimirembwa told businessdigest yesterday that
they had ordered all
businesses which had not been given the green light to
hike prizes to
abandon the increases.
"A clampdown has started on all shops that
are charging prices that
had not been approved by the NIPC," Masimirembwa
said.
"Another serious issue that could see many shops being fined
or risk
having their licences revoked is having multiple prices," he
said.
Masimirembwa said a recent survey by NIPC revealed that most
shops
were charging cash prices that were lower than they had approved,
while
charging "unjustified" prices for cheque or Real Time Gross Settlement
(RTG)
payments.
Some shops yesterday were said to be
"temporarily closed" following a
tip-off that NIPC officers and police
details would be "visiting" their
shops.
"Shops are taking
advantage of the current cash shortages to charge
cash prices that are below
what we would have approved. They will in turn
charge unrealistic prices
when one pays by cheque or transfer," Masimirembwa
said.
Masimirembwa said some shops were increasing their prices in response
to the
Reserve Bank's maximum daily withdrawal limits and introduction of
higher
bank denominations.
Individuals can now withdraw $20 000 up from $1
000, while withdrawals
for companies are up from a mere $1 000 to $10 000.
The RBZ also introduced
a new $10 000 and $20 000 which do not have properly
crafted security
features.
The cash review by the central bank
came against a background of
salary increments for the civil service and
increased volumes of foreign
currency trades on the Real Time Gross
Settlement system.
However, the new daily limits have been
overwhelmed by sharp increases
of prices of basic goods and services that
are currently being charged using
a dual pricing system - the cash rate and
the point-of-sale rate (commonly
referred to as the swipe rate.) This week's
rampant price increases are also
largely speculative following reports of a
political deadlock on the
formation of a new inclusive
government.
Bankers Association president John Mangudya yesterday
told
businessdigest that no amount of daily limits under the prevailing
macro-economic environment would meet daily cash demands unless capacity
utilisation by local manufacturers is resuscitated. Statistics show that
industry is currently operating below 30% of capacity although there is hope
for increased productivity resulting from the licensing of foreign currency
retailers and wholesalers by the central bank.
"The only
problem the country's is facing is failure to increase
production," Mangudya
said.
"No amount of limit could be sufficient under the prevailing
conditions . . . queues at banks are a result of high inflation. The
propensity to save is diminished under prevailing conditions hence people
often visit banks to withdraw cash."
A bank in central Harare
this week used comical means to control a big
crowd desperate to withdraw
their cash. They instructed soldiers to mark
everyone on the cheek.
Anti-riot police could also be seen keeping watch on
the long winding queues
in anticipation of chaos.
Gono speaking at an agricultural show in
Masvingo said: "I will not
stop printing money. It is for infrastructural
development until sanctions
are removed."
Meanwhile the public
has expressed concern over the security features
on the new $20 000 note
amid reports of counterfeits in circulation. A
depositor was this week
arrested and later released on suspicion of
possessing fake notes. The bill,
unlike other notes in circulation, is made
of poor quality paper and also
lacks conventional security features such as
the watermark.
By
Paul Nyakazeya/Bernard Mpofu
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
20:57
THE tobacco-selling season has closed at just over 50 million kg
and
year-on-year deliveries to the country's auction floors continue to
decline.
Business reporter Bernard Mpofu speaks to Zimbabwe
Tobacco Association
president Andrew Ferreira on the future on golden and
perennial problems
associated with tobacco farmers.
Mpofu:
Initial forecasts predicted tobacco deliveries to be 70 million
kg, but
statistics at the close of selling season indicate that the target
will not
be met. What went wrong?
Ferreira: Initial forecasts were based on
seed sales, where commercial
farmers use 5,5 grammes per hectare while
small-scale farmers use 7,5
grammes. The difference is due to the economies
of scale. This indicated
that potentially, some 50 000 hectares could be
planted. The nature of the
season, difficulty in sourcing inputs (finance
and physical) meant that, the
target was never reached.
The
excessive rain further compounded this especially in December,
when yield
was negatively affected.
Overall potential was again affected by
power outages and the
challenge of bringing coal from Hwange
colliery-required for curing. The
challenges of real value for tobacco have
prompted farmers to hold back
deliveries in the hope that the gap between
inter-bank and markets rates
narrow.
Mpofu: How much tobacco do
you expect to be delivered during the mop
up sales?
Ferreira: I
believe as much as 5 million kg could be delivered during
mop up. Tobacco
Industry Marketing Board will have more reliable estimates,
as farmers have
to submit crop estimates to them.
Mpofu: What is your view on the
quality of tobacco that was brought to
the auctions floors during the
selling season?
Ferreira: Overall the quality of this year's crop
was acceptable to
the trade. The only reservation being the lack of
volume.
There is demand for the Zimbabwean crop by cigarette
manufacturers,
however this is at a price and as growers, we cannot price
ourselves out of
the market by unfair marketing practices.
The
playing field for buyers must be levelled and as industry, we have
to get
rid of special deals. There are some buyers who are allowed to use
Zimbabwe
dollars as payment and hence use the varying exchange rates to
their
benefit.
Mpofu: What is your take on the on-going inter-bank
exchange rate in
relation to the tobacco pricing system?
Ferreira: My opinion on the exchange rate can be best illustrated by
example: a red mile curing plate made in Zimbabwe is costing $288 000. At
the inter-bank rate this equates to US$2 400 when it should not cost US$65,
which it did in May. A loaf of bread at the current inter-bank rate is US$13
or 4 kilograms of tobacco, when it should be a third of a
kilogramme.
Mpofu: Could you please explain the reason why tobacco
prices failed
to match those in Malawi for example?
Ferreira:
Information at hand suggests that we are receiving above
regional prices.
The early price distortions in Malawi were because of
marketshare
aspirations, which soon settled and more so, we must realise
that Malawi is
dominated by burley tobacco.
Mpofu: What preparations have you made
so far for the next season and
what challenges are farmers currently
facing?
Ferreira: Preparations for the new season are well behind
and farmers
face a number of challenges. The most important being that, very
few inputs
are available locally. Those that are available are hugely
expensive. Seed
sales are marginally down on last year.
Many
farmers are facing a new wave of eviction with violence and theft
at levels
rarely seen before.
Farmers are also asking, "Where is the finance
for the new season
coming from?"
Labour moral is at the lowest
ever. Current viability does not allow
in real terms for any increase in
wages or benefits. This is not helped by
the difficulty in sourcing
cash.
The country is in a state of "political drift" which inspires
no
confidence. This only adds to the vicious inflationary spiral. Hopefully
this is only temporary.
Mpofu: Can you furnish us with the
hectarage and forecasts on costs
for the next season? .
Ferreira: All things being equal, we might be able to plant 35 000ha
to 45
000ha, so we have potential of getting up to 70 million kg.
Mpofu:
Production continues to decline over the years and you cited a
host of
reasons for this trend. What should government do to reverse this
trend?
Ferreira: A lot of things need to be done and these
include:
A substantial Zimbabwe dollar bonus for US dollar earned,
retrospective to balance the viability differential. One kilogramme of
tobacco at US$3,00 does not even buy a loaf of bread.
The
honouring of the 25% foreign currency account retention.
Concessionary funds like the Agricultural Support Productivity
Enhancement
Facility or similar packages to be put in place soon in order to
kick-start
land preparation. There is a two-week window of opportunity.
The
dry land crop must be planted by October 20, especially with the
tremendous
increase in aphid population as indicated by the Tobacco Research
Board.
Allowing contracting merchants to provide ration packs
on the same
criteria as other inputs.
Ensuring that anyone who
grew last year is able to grow this year,
with a moratorium on arbitrary
evictions.
Providing a bonus and protection for any farmer who
produces 10
hectares or more extra seedlings. This can be easily
verified.
Mpofu: You have mentioned on numerous occasions that your
sector is
reeling from massive labour flights mainly to neighbouring
countries. How
best can staff retention be promoted?
Ferreira:
Regional producers are paying an average of US$1 per day and
local farmers
cannot pay that much.
Unless some of the concerns raised above are
met labour problems will
continue.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
20:54
THE article in the Herald, September 30, on the RBZ forming a
public
transport company leaves a lot to be desired.
I
respect and commend the RBZ governor, Dr Gideon Gono, on the
initiatives he
is taking to improve not only the public transport system in
Zimbabwe but
other sectors of the economy.
However, I question the rationale,
planning and strategy used in
developing and implementing the public
transport company taking into
consideration that the market is
one.
We do not need a second rival from the same owner, being the
state in
this case.
This company will simply be a duplication
of roles. The Zimbabwe
United Passenger Company (Zupco) already serves this
purpose.
Public transport has traditionally been defined as any
transport
system in which passengers do not travel in their own or private
vehicles.
The companies are normally owned and controlled by
municipalities or
the central government.
A public transport
system usually consists predominantly of rail and
bus services that are
subsidised by the government at local level or
national and the mini-bus
taxi services, which are unsubsidised.
These three modes do not
work in an integrated fashion and usually
compete with one another for
commuters. In some cases this competition has
led to price cuts and price
wars.
A public transport service needs to provide more than a
peak-hour
commuter service, with a limited off-peak service.
It
needs to provide an affordable, comfortable, efficient and reliable
service
throughout the day. An ideal public transport service should be
comparable
to private-vehicle use and not be seen as an inconvenience of
last
resort.
Thus we are clear that the economics behind a public
transport system
is it provides commuters with an efficient, reliable,
affordable,
comfortable and safe mode of transport at a subsidised
price.
It does not mean that public transport companies should
operate at a
loss. It means they should operate and be able to sustain the
system and
make a profit, which we might want to term a
surplus.
We all know that the transport sector either private or
public is an
integral sector of any given economy. Indirectly it adds value
and provides
a service to people.
As a result, it needs proper
developing, planning, strategising and
implementation in order to deliver
good service.
Once again the idea is a noble one besides the fact
that it's a
duplication of the already existing Zupco.
It has
its merits and the competition it will give to Zupco is
healthy. My worry
though is the economic sense in how they want to operate
the
company.
There is no proper public transport planning and
strategies for the
long-run of these companies.
Has Gono taken
his time to look at why after we inherited Zupco then
known as the United
Omnibus Company from the Rhodesian government, Zupco has
failed to provide a
reliable service and operate efficiently?
Zupco used to have the
largest fleet in the country in the 80's and
early 90's providing a service
to both urban and rural areas, but look at it
now.
Is Gono not
just creating another Zupco with a different name but
putting the burden on
the tax payer who will have to fund the project?
Transport is a
very tricky industry. With fuel and oils constituting
33% of running costs,
it makes it a delicate business to venture into
especially if that is not
your core business and the fact that we import
fuel makes it a risky line
not to talk of the spare parts and other related
costs.
Operations and productivity of the transport sector make it as
difficult
like any other service industry to manage.
Marginal revenue has
such an impact on the marginal costs, thus with
every additional revenue
your running costs are reduced.
In layman's terms this is with
every additional bus you operate,
giving additional revenue, your operating
cost is reduced and thus you can
reduce your fares.
This is
assuming everything is normal and stable. Numbers in the fleet
play an
important part in reducing operating costs, both fixed and variable.
With
say 10 buses per city or province and charging 70% of what Zupco is
charging
now, the company will do well.
Zupco is currently in trouble
because their fares are way too low. The
company cannot break even on that.
Zupco claims it has made profits, which
is not true, because they have
failed to buy spare parts.
Most of their buses are off the
road.This is because of their costing
and replacement value of the fleet,
which they failed to take into account
when costing for fares per
kilometre.
I am not deliberating on Zupco, but about the rationale
of the RBZ
setting up a public transport company as its subsidiary. By
setting up this
new company, the RBZ is in fact admitting that Zupco has
failed to deliver a
transport service to the public.
Has the
RBZ taken time to look at Zupco's mistakes?
They should then use
that expertise to help rescusitate Zupco.
There is no need to form
another public transport company at this
juncture. Instead, expertise and
resources should be channelled into Zupco.
Take note of the
following:
*Identify and investigate problems the company had in
relation to
strategy, policy, markets, and organisational structure,
management style.
*Formulate recommendations and implement lasting
actions and
solutions.
*Ensure successful development of
strategies, selection and
implementation.
*Involve business
modernisation.
*Design and manage a service enhancement programme
that meets and
exceeds customer satisfaction.
Zupco is capable
of providing this service and of even making profits
in the
long-run.
The governor should revisit the issue and consider giving
Zupco a
capital injection, but only after addressing some of the areas
mentioned.
By Collen Ngundu
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
20:48
THE scene outside banks does not inspire confidence. Depositors
have
this week been pushing and shoving in dense queues outside banking
halls in
a bid to withdraw cash.
If there is no queue
at a bank it is probably because bank staff have
advised their clients that
they were not expecting cash that day from the
Reserve Bank.
For banks such as Barclays, CABS, Beverley and FBC Building Society
their
banking halls have been virtually clogged with people since Monday.
"It will probably take three weeks to clear queues at banks following
the
latest cash withdrawal limit review, but once prices respond to the
limit,
the queues will resurface and will become much longer," a commercial
bank
executive said.
"What is urgently needed is to increase production
to contain
inflation to reduce demand for cash. Cash reviews are just
stopgap measures
in a hyperinflationary environment."
There has
been increased demand for cash of late because shops are
refusing both
personal and bank cheques and overprice goods when one pays
using the real
time gross settlement (RTGS) system or an ATM card.
Economic
analysts this week blamed the business community for
contributing to cash
shortages as they were demanding hard cash for
transactions that should
ordinarily be settled by cheque.
"Business has demonetised cheques
as a form of payment. It's the
manifestation of rising inflation which has
not been supported by
production," an economist who asked for anonymity
said.
"Uncertainty over the cost of the same goods the following
day is
forcing most outlets to reject cheques."
The economist
said some businesses preferred to be paid through the
RTGS system because
their charges were "ridiculously high".
Bankers Association of
Zimbabwe president John Mangudya said many
banks had long queues probably
because of the transitional period that took
place on Monday morning when
the Reserve Bank was distributing new notes to
the banks.
"I am
sure that the situation will improve. Whenever there is a
maximum cash
review queues become longer," said Mangudya.
Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono also assured the nation that the
cash situation would improve
significantly over the next few days as demand
progressively eases while
efforts to tame the challenge have been stepped
up.
"We were
never under a misconception neither did we expect that the
backlog in the
demand for cash would be cleared in one day, as there is
naturally a
physical and logistical limit to what can be achieved in one day
by the
cash-dispensing banks," Gono said.
"With the best will in the
world, it is just impossible for the banks
to satisfy all their clients in
one day. What is certain though is that we
expect the banks to have cleared
all queues by mid to end of next week."
The situation on the ground
however seems to suggest the opposite and
the public expected Gono to
explain how foreign currency dealers had got
bags of the new $20 000 and $10
000 notes by Monday morning before most
banks had received their
allocations.
The Reserve Bank has in the past attributed the
massive shortages of
cash to the accumulation and hoarding of money by those
dubbed "cash
barons".
The cash barons comprised, in the main,
those engaged in the unlawful
purchase of foreign currencies, either in
order to externalise assets, or to
fund imports, and others engaged in
cross-border trading operations.
Other cash barons were retailers
who found that they could realise
substantial profits by not banking their
sales receipts, but instead
accumulating the cash to sell it at a premium to
those in desperate need.
Economist Eric Bloch recently said the
root cause of cash shortages
was the rampantly spiralling
hyperinflation.
"A consumer required over 300 times as much money
to buy exactly the
same goods, in exactly the same quantity, as he or she
needed to have only
one year earlier," said Bloch.
"Extrapolate
that increased currency need by several million
purchasing consumers, and
the total cash needed by that buying population
exceeds all currency in
circulation."
He added: "Admittedly, some customers pay for their
purchases by
cheques, or with credit cards, but the masses of the low-income
earners and
those who reside in rural areas cannot access or afford banking
facilities.
"Therefore, it must be realistically assumed that at
least a half, if
not more, of the total currency that was in circulation
was, at any time, in
people's wallets, purses, handbags, pockets, or homes,
solely in order to
fund ordinary consumer needs."
He said the
most virile part of the Zimbabwean economy is the informal
sector. With
unemployment being endemic, the majority of the population has
little or no
alternative but to resort to foreign currency deals.
The magnitude
of the money held by the general public, for no untoward
reasons, and by
informal sector operators, would undoubtedly have
considerably exceeded the
sums held by banks, as people have lost confidence
in banks as prices of
basic goods and services continue to increase.
Independent
economist John Robertson said: "The Reserve Bank is
fighting a losing
battle. As long as the inflation remains high, cash
shortages will persist.
There is need to address the inflation by increasing
production so that too
few goods do not (cost) a lot of money."
Most banks on Monday
struggled to meet depositors' demands for cash
withdrawals, while foreign
currency dealers had the new notes.
Only FBC Bank, Stanbic Bank,
Kingdom Bank and Standard Chartered Bank
had the new notes by Monday
morning.
Other banks either started issuing the new notes after
lunch or on
Tuesday.
Economist and investment analyst Lance
Mambondiani said the cash
crisis needed urgent reforms that promote
production to ensure goods are
readily available on the formal
market.
"All this is a result of high inflation. When the country
is indebted
to the extent of 100% of gross domestic product, and 90% of the
tax revenues
going towards debt servicing, the current fiscal policy
measures will have
to be restructured," Mambondiani said.
He
said to achieve that, the country needed to increase domestic
savings, carry
out pragmatic tax reforms, turn around state enterprises
towards
profitability, boost agricultural productivity, revive industry and
promote
austerity measures.
"Pervasive corruption within the civil sector
should be an important
focus in arresting state leakages and improving
investor confidence," he
said.
He said these measures should
provide a framework on which a
substantive economic recovery plan can be
constructed to arrest inflation.
"The implementation of the
economic recovery plan will not be without
its challenges. Some sectors of
the international community have already
raised concern that the architects
of the economic implosion are still in
their positions.
"As a
result, neither generosity nor austerity will be delivered as
enthusiastically as might have been a fresh start," said
Mambondiani.
MDC deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma this week
said the long
queues at banks were an indictment of government
policies.
"The repercussions of keeping people's money in banks
while inflation
erodes value are far greater than simply increasing the
daily limit,"
Mangoma said in a statement.
"The restrictions on
daily maximum withdrawals have spawned
corruption, crime and petty theft as
people resort to other means of raising
a quick buck to sustain their
families."
He said with the critical humanitarian situation in the
country people
needed money to feed their families.
"Even the
Bacossi programme has dismally failed to address the massive
starvation that
has swept across the country. It has failed because people
need more than
just cooking oil, beans, soap and mealie meal which are
covered by this
programme. They need to pay school fees for their children,"
Mangoma
said.
He suggested that the Reserve Bank regulations to allow
selected shops
and wholesalers to sell goods in foreign currency will cause
more havoc in
an economy already teetering on the brink of
collapse.
"It is unclear where ordinary Zimbabweans will be
expected to access
the foreign currency to buy these goods without resorting
to the parallel
market.
"It is also unclear how a majority
population getting its salary in
local currency will be expected to take
advantage of these shops," said
Mangoma.
Mangoma said the MDC
hoped Zanu PF would move away from its
intransigent position on the
distribution of key ministries so that a new
government begins to address
the people's basic needs.
By Paul Nyakazeya
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008
19:25
WITH an allegedly "unified" government hopefully becoming
functional
shortly, Zimbabweans and the world at large have an increasingly
great
expectation of major policy changes to bring about an economic
recovery,
gravely needed and very long overdue.
In the
unity accord signed by Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations, a
few weeks ago,
the three parties agreed "to give priority to the restoration
of economic
stability and growth in Zimbabwe", and recognised that the
"unity"
government would necessarily have to "lead the process of developing
and
implementing an economic recovery strategy and plan".
They
emphasised their recognition of the role that would have to be
played by
government in achieving an economic transformation by committing
themselves,
within the signed agreement, "to working together on a full and
comprehensive economic programme to resuscitate Zimbabwe's economy, which
will urgently address the issues of production, food security, poverty and
unemployment, and the challenges of high inflation, interest rates and the
exchange rate."
Amongst the innumerable issues that must
necessarily be addressed, if
economic recovery is to become a reality, is
the urgent rehabilitation and
enhancement of much of the Zimbabwean
infrastructure as is required for
effective economic activity. That
infrastructural rehabilitation and
enhancement need relates especially (but
not exclusively) to energy
generation and distribution, air, rail and road
transportation, water
management and distribution, and telecommunications.
Zimbabwe's resources in
these critical areas of supply of economic (and
sociological) essential
needs are dismally debilitated and incapable of
servicing current national
needs, let alone the considerably increased
requirements of a future growth
economy.
The common
denominators between the diverse entities responsibilities
for the energy,
water, transportation and telecommunications service and
supply in Zimbabwe
are that, save for two providers of cellular telephone
services, all such
entities are wholly owned by the State. All those
enterprises are
parastatals, none of them are meeting the present needs of
Zimbabwe, their
infrastructures are aged, operationally grossly inadequate,
subject to
horrendously frequent breakdowns, and far behind the
technological advances
achieved and used in most other countries.
Many of those common
denominators are by-products of others, foremost
of which are that all of
the parastatals would, if they were private sector
enterprises, verge upon
the criminal, with frequent incurring of debt
without reasonable
expectations of servicing debt. That
under-capitalisation, compounded by
lack of foreign exchange, hinders
infrastructural upgrades, let alone
timeous and effective maintenance,
repair and refurbishment. The parastatals
are also afflicted by ongoing
losses of skills (in common with most other
economic sectors), and an almost
total inability to replace the lost skills,
resulting in a continuously
increasing lack of requisite technological
resources.
Yet another of the very major retardants of the
operations of the
parastatals is that their managements are not accorded the
degree of
decision-making autonomy and independence necessary for effective
business
administration, control and development. Instead, pen-pushing civil
servants
set upon empire building and preservation unduly intervene and
impose
decisions upon managements. This is exacerbated by the extent that
government in general, and some ministers in particular, have over the years
utilised their authority over parastatals to progress governmental political
objectives or self-centred materialisation.
Admittedly, this
sad state of affairs has in no manner been unique to
Zimbabwe, but is in
common with not only prevailing conditions in various
other countries (and
especially those operating as quasi-dictatorships), but
also was the case in
the past in numerous first-world, developed economies.
Almost
without exception, those countries as have successfully
resolved the
ill-effects upon their economies, did so by partial or total
privatisation
of those parastatals.
Such privatisations were very successfully
effected in France (
inclusive of its automotive industries, rail
transformation and
telecommunications), in the US over more than 70 years
(inclusive of
immensely successful privatisation of media services,
telecommunications,
rail transportation, energy generation, and much else)
and, with a few
exceptions, in the United Kingdom, where the most pronounced
successes were
in telecommunications, provision of utilities, and certain
rail, air and
road transportation services.
For almost 17 years
Zimbabwe has talked of privatisation, including
such intended action having
been one of the planks of the Economic
Structural Adjustment Programme
(Esap) of 1991, and the establishment of a
Privatisation Agency in the late
1990s. Regrettably, to a very major extent,
the only action has been talk,
rather than action of substance. There have
been a few very notable
exceptions, and the successes of those exceptions
should be added motivants
to government vigorously to pursue privatization.
The privatisation
of Cotton Company of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Reinsurance
Corporation (Zimre), and
Dairibord Zimbabwe Ltd, as well as government's
partial disinvestment from
some of its banking interests (ZB Bank and CBZ
Bank), evidence the merits of
privatisation, whilst the failure of most
existing parastatals to service
national needs is in sharp contrast to those
privatisation successes.
Amongst the many that urgently need privatisation,
wholly or partially (but
then at least substantially) are Zesa, Zinwa,
TelOne, NRZ and Air
Zimbabwe.
If such privatisation would be on the basis of partial
disposal of
equity to international strategic partners, partial disposal by
equity
listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, and partial disposal to
management
and employees of the enterprises, the entities would access much
needed
capital, state-of-the-art technological inputs, new operational
equipment
compatible with, and enhancing of, existing equipment resources,
and skilled
personnel, whilst markedly improving prospects of retaining the
services of
such competent management and staff as may still be in the
employ of
parastatals.
Concurrently, government would be
relieved of very considerable
direct, and indirect debt, and in some
instances would even benefit from
fiscal inflow in exchange for its
divestment from the parastatals, thereby
providing greatly needed funding to
reduce, to some extent, government's
gargantuan deficits.
In
addition, in some instances, Zimbabwe would also benefit from some
foreign
exchange inflows, which are very greatly needed.
The time is now
for government to discard the prolonged dislike of
parastatal privatisation
(despite many pretences to the contrary), and
intensively, rapidly and
effectively to pursue such privatisation, which is
very long
overdue.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02
October 2008 19:17
IF the current power-sharing deal does not collapse
due to the
simmering political clashes between the parties to it, President
Robert
Mugabe and incoming Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would need to
find
common ground and agree to a collective reconstruction
agenda.
So far there is no good reason to believe the two
have a common
national agenda on anything other than threadbare
protestations of unity on
the basis of an otherwise profoundly-flawed
agreement that leaves Mugabe
firmly in charge as head of state and
government.
Mugabe is also chairman of cabinet and
commander-in-chief of the
defence forces. He is further chair of the
National Security Council
(currently known as Joint Operations Command) and
will be the final
authority on everything which matters in government. The
need for him to
consult or sound out Tsvangirai before making appointments
is just a silver
lining in a dark cloud.
Tsvangirai, as deputy
chairman of cabinet and chair of the Council of
Ministers, is undoubtedly a
junior partner to Mugabe. Through irresistible
pressure and deceit he was
given a shell of a premier's mantle or a false
impression of power, while
Mugabe retained the substance of it by means fair
and foul.
Tsvangirai will have to manoeuvre in the limited operational space and
if he
is buccaneering and dynamic enough he may seize control and be
influential.
This may anger a lot of people who appreciate that
Mugabe has no
chance of beating Tsvangirai in a free and fair election. But
this is the
reality. For the sceptical let's wait until push comes to shove
as it
inevitably will. It's just a matter of time.
Some may try
to sugar-coat the power-sharing agreement by interpreting
it in a different
way or clutch at straws. That's fine, but in the end it is
clear that Mugabe
remains in control of the levers of power. This was not
surprising at all
considering the gross imbalance in power relations between
Zanu PF and the
MDC, but the ultimate disequilibrium is rather too
disproportionate.
However, if the deal holds Mugabe and
Tsvangirai need to develop a
serious and common reconstruction agenda to
rescue the troubled country and
move it forward.
A recent paper
by the Centre for International Private Enterprise
(CIPE), a non-profit
affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce and one of the
four core institutes
of the National Endowment for Democracy, states clearly
what needs to be
done in a post-conflict society like Zimbabwe.
In post-conflict
societies, reconstruction efforts must focus on
rebuilding and strengthening
institutions in addition to providing
humanitarian aid and basic
infrastructure. It says:
"The private sector plays a crucial role
in advancing reconstruction
and establishing credible institutions in
post-conflict societies.
"Institutional and economic reforms must
be carried out at the
grassroots level in order to cultivate a sense of
responsibility within
local communities and to engage the local private
sector and civil society
in meeting specific development needs of
post-conflict countries.
"Post-conflict reconstruction is a
challenging process for any nation
recovering from protracted violence, and
is often looked at with a dose of
criticism and scepticism. It is especially
difficult when early hopes for
better livelihoods, economic prosperity, and
conflict resolution meet the
realities of political battles, ethnic
disputes, misguided policies, social
disorder, and quarrels over key
resources.
"Still, post-conflict reconstruction can also be a time
for hope. As
reconstruction efforts mount, a unique window of opportunity
for reforms
opens up as domestic decision-makers, business leaders, social
actors, and
international donors come together in an attempt to create a
more positive
future for the citizens of a country emerging from conflict.
Seizing this
opportunity to implement real reforms is one of the greatest
challenges
facing all actors involved in reconstruction
processes.
"Experience suggests one way to approach the complex
challenges of
post-conflict reconstruction is to view the process as a
balancing act of
providing sufficient humanitarian relief without
compromising longer-term
development objectives. These longer-term
objectives include developing
institutions -- not government agencies, but
political, economic, and social
structures and mechanisms -- that allow free
market democracies to take
root.
"The term "reconstruction" as
applied to post-conflict countries can
be somewhat misleading. It is often
narrowly understood to mean the
restoration of physical infrastructure:
rebuilding houses, roads, bridges,
factories, etc. In fact, these projects
are often showcased in public
coverage of reconstruction efforts, as they
are easy to grasp and
visualise -- one can see a new building where it
wasn't before, a government
office with brand new computers on once-empty
desks, or a functioning public
utility system that lay in ruins just a year
earlier.
"Although this physical element of reconstruction is
undoubtedly
important, experience shows it is not sufficient for the
sustained,
long-term political and socio-economic development of societies
emerging
from conflict."
Equal attention should be paid to the
reconstruction - and in many
cases building from scratch - of institutions
that underlie functioning
market economies and democracies. Institutions are
social, economic, and
political structures that guide human behaviour. These
may be laws and
regulations, as well as informal rules of human cooperation,
a vibrant civil
society, or independent media.
Post-conflict
reconstruction must provide sufficient humanitarian
relief and physical
infrastructure without neglecting longer-term
development objectives that
can only be achieved through institutional
reforms.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008 19:08
IT was interesting to note President Mugabe's warning in his airport
speech
on Monday that: "We should never tolerate interference in the
domestic
affairs of our country."
"We will be very strict," he said.
"No outsiders will be allowed to
follow parties and politics. Any country
which does that declares itself an
enemy of Zimbabwe," he said.
Here is a function of the new cabinet that has already been usurped.
It is
up to the new government to decide on who can monitor Zimbabwe's
political
process and who can't, not Mugabe. Indeed, it will eventually be
the
responsibility of an independent electoral commission.
The whole
point of the political accord signed on September 15 was to
remove Mugabe
from the day-to-day decision-making process so he doesn't
inflict any
further damage on the country.
The people of Zimbabwe have made it
clear they want help from the
outside world in reconstruction of the
economy, including help from
countries Mugabe calls "enemies".
These are the very same people now being called upon to dig Zimbabwe
out of
the hole Zanu PF has dug for us. Certainly the Russians and Chinese
won't be
rushing to assist!
The fossilised language of ideological combat
continues to occupy the
pages of the state media where columnists are
conducting a private war
against the West. That is why there has been no
great rush by the outside
world to embrace the new order.
The
first item of cabinet business once the new government has been
formed
should be to apply a gag to Zanu PF spokesmen so they don't scare off
any
more potential rescuers.
Help ease water blues," Zinwa has
called upon the public to do. It
wants to see community-based
decentralisation of waste water by setting up
small waste water treatment
units. This would include schools, housing
cooperatives, and industries,
among others.
"Our aim is to advise stakeholders of the
considerable water recycling
economic value and then engage them on how to
tap the value," waste water
manager, Engineer Simon Muserere, was quoted as
saying.
What a cheek! Zinwa doesn't need to advise the public of
anything.
It needs to focus on its core business of supplying clean
water to the
people of Zimbabwe. Muserere should stop trying to divert our
attention with
schemes of this sort. We all recall how this useless outfit
was placed in
charge of municipal water systems that worked much better than
they do now.
Why were public objections by civil society such as the
Bulawayo council
ignored?
Then there is the torrent of water
that has been cascading down East
Road by the Trauma Centre for several
months. Why can't Zinwa fix that
simple fault?
Muserere needs
to be reminded that under the new political order
wasteful and incompetent
parastatals will not be tolerated. That includes
smoke-and-mirror publicity
stunts in the Herald.
Muckraker was intrigued by a report in
Monday's Herald that deputy
Health minister Edwin Muguti's official vehicle
had been used in a spate of
armed robberies. These included raids on gold
mines and foreign exchange
dealers. On several occasions, the driver,
Rodwell Dube, removed
registration plates and replaced them with fake
ones.
In addition to Muguti's Toyota Prado he used a Mazda
belonging to the
Health ministry.
His activities culminated in
a shootout with detectives in the city
centre, we are told.
Detectives said Dube was part of the gang involved in the shootout
with
police at Eastgate shops last week. Among the gang is an ex-police
sergeant
dismissed from the force for stock theft. He was out on bail
pending appeal
against a six-month sentence.
What is missing in this story is any
reference to the deputy minister.
Was he not interviewed regarding the
activities of his driver and the abuse
of his official vehicle? Was he not
aware of the vehicle's frequent absence?
Why didn't the Herald tell
us?
Here was public property being abused by a driver whose
delinquency
appears to have been overlooked. We don't understand how Muguti
missed what
was going on right under his nose?
Ephraim Masawi's
Prado was the subject of police investigations this
week and for exactly the
same reasons.
Ministers have a responsibility to safeguard public
property assigned
to them. How many other officials have allowed vehicles in
their care to be
diverted to other uses?
Our hearts went
out to the tens of thousands of people who tried to
obtain $20 000 cash from
banks this week. There was very simply no money.
Sidewalks along Samora
Machel Ave were packed with disappointed customers.
So why didn't
the Reserve Bank anticipate this humanitarian disaster
before it happened?
Did it not liaise with banks as to the availability of
funds?
It is painful to watch Gideon Gono being clever with words in his
public
pronouncements and then seeing ordinary Zimbabweans paying the price
of his
"cleverness". It is very obviously time for the Reserve Bank governor
to
step aside and allow somebody else to do this job.
It was very
helpful of the Herald to bring us a picture of President
Mugabe addressing
the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly. Who could
miss those rows of
empty seats?
Perhaps that's because everybody had heard his speech
before. The
Security Council, he said, was undemocratic because it was
subject to
manipulation by powerful nations. He called for
reform.
That is something he has refused so far to give the people
of his own
country. And just as the president was speaking, Russia voted
with Britain,
France and the US to reinforce sanctions against Iran. That
must have caused
some irritation in the Zimbabwe camp!
All in
all it wasn't a very fruitful visit for Mugabe. We wonder what
use those
other 53 people in his entourage made of their visas, apart of
course from
shopping.
We revealed last week that the US embassy said it had
issued 54 visas
including for the wife and son. Oh yes, a hairdresser went
along too we hear
in case the Iron Mask needed attention.
Information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu this week "hailed" the public
media
for its "professional coverage" of events during and after the
inter-party
negotiations.
The public media also "excelled" in its reporting of
the president's
speech at the UN General Assembly, he said.
This provided some mirth in newsrooms around the country. Exactly how
can
you "excel" in reporting a speech by the president that was foisted on
the
media accompanying him? And what is "professional" about denying to
other
parties the right of reply to vituperative partisan opinion pieces
carried
in the Herald and Sunday Mail?
To date we haven't seen a single
article responding to the
antediluvian posturing of Tafataona Mahoso who
needs a few lessons in what
makes journalism not simply professional but
interesting!
We suspect Ndlovu's daft remarks were designed to
attract attention
ahead of the cabinet appointments. Let's see how far they
get him.
It's always good when someone in public life admits
they've been
wrong...or even slightly wrong.
When Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority chief executive Karikoga Kaseke
announced, apparently
unilaterally, to a stunned local hospitality industry,
that this year's
tourism expo - dubbed Sanganai/Hlanganai World Travel and
Tourism Africa
Fair - would move to Bulawayo on the grounds that space was
limited at
Harare's Rainbow Towers, many if not most of the country's old
tourism hands
shook their heads in collective amazement.
Kaseke said the show
would be held at the under-utilised Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair
grounds, Famona, miles from anywhere resembling a
hotel.
Harare's space wasn't cramped at all, the experts said, but if that
later
proved the case, there was almost limitless exhibition square metres
lying
empty 51 weeks annually within walking, if not spitting, distance of
the
expo's traditional Rainbow Towers home at Harare showgrounds.
Put
all two, three and four-star rooms available spread out across the
sprawling
City of Kings and they don't equal the number of beds available at
Rainbow
Towers itself.
Harare also has Meikles Hotel, Crowne Plaza
Monomatapa, Cresta
Jameson, Oasis, Harare Holiday Inn and countless suburban
lodges, guest
houses and b&bs. Most international visitors will fly into
and return home
from the capital.
Now Kaseke has told the
Herald there is need to put in place a
"mitigation plan" (Plan "B" to you
and me!) because of "accommodation
challenges Bulawayo was facing!" (Sound
familiar?)
He told the state-controlled paper: "Definitely some
people will have
to stay in Harare and Victoria Falls, then fly to Bulawayo,
because the
accommodation is not enough.
"All hotels were
booked for these celebrations and Sanganai will be 20
times bigger," he
said, without revealing what, precisely, was previously 20
times
smaller.
e have news for the irascible, short-tempered "KK"
(the only man in
the world ever charged with cruelty to crocodiles!). Planes
from Vic Falls
arrive in Bulawayo at sunset but there's no room at the
inn/hotel/lodge, the
Bulawayo Club, Hotel School, Solusi University or even
the lodges in the
Matopos park for anyone who alights there!
Kaseke truly is an amazing chap. Apart from reportedly putting the
elbow on
Bulawayo hotel managers to release "freebie" rooms to his cronies
for
Sanganai (when they haven't got sufficient beds to sell), he raised
eyebrows
by boycotting last year's Zimbabwe Council for Tourism AGM at
Nyanga to
squire around a dreadlocked Rasta rapper and booked in Miss
Tourism Zimbabwe
and her princesses at the Monomatapa for several
cripplingly expensive
months. (They'd probably be still there if the press
hadn't blown the
whistle.)
Last Friday, when almost the whole of the Zimbabwe
hospitality
industry was en fete for the gala birthday thrash of Cresta
Jameson Hotel,
he and 11 praise singers took themselves off to Nyanga to
"join the rest of
the world in commemorating World Tourism
Day".
Of course they commemorated it by wheedling freebie rooms,
food and
drink out of unfortunate Eastern District hoteliers.
Kaseke was thankfully absent at the previous week's Meikles Hotel AZTA
awards spring brunch on the roof garden. When Muckraker's apprentice queried
the non-attendance of the usually glowering functionary, he was left in no
doubt "KK" wasn't invited.
It will be interesting to see which
political party gets "tourism" in
the eagerly awaited Cabinet portfolio
carve-up.
olice Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri says
Zimbabweans should
put aside their differences and work together. All
sober-minded people
welcomed the latest developments, he said.
Chihuri said the economic challenges facing the country "were not of
the
making of the leadership, but of foreigners who wanted to enjoy the
benefit
from the country's resources".
If foreigners want to benefit from
the country's resources they will
need to see a stable political situation
and sound macro-economic
fundamentals in place. They will also need to know
that there is a
professional police force that is non-partisan in the
fulfilment of its
duties. That must be an immediate objective of any new
government.
The Sadc initiative was spurred in part by pictures
circulated at Dar
es Salaam of MDC leaders brutally assaulted at a police
station. We are yet
to learn what action has
been taken against
those responsible.
As for the economic "challenges" facing the
country, there needs to be
complete honesty in facing them. If we persist
with the official deceit that
foreigners are responsible for Zimbabwe's
self-made mess there will be no
change and no improvement. That needs to be
spelt out in large letters for
the regime's apologists.
nd
now on a lighter note, we bring you this newsflash. Following the
problems
in the sub-prime lending market in the US and the run on Northern
Rock in
the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan.
In the last seven days
Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone
belly up and Bonsai Bank
announced plans to cut some of its branches.
Yesterday, it was
announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will
likely go for a song,
while shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after
they
nose-dived.
While Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp
cutbacks, Ninja
Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the
black.
Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and
analysts report
that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where
it is feared that
staff may get a raw deal.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02 October 2008 18:50
RESERVE Bank governor Gideon Gono is reported to have said he is ready
to
leave office if anyone wants his job.
He disclosed this at
a field day at Chief Fortune Charumbira's Acton
Farm in
Masvingo.
"I am even looking for an excuse, I do not need much
effort to be
pushed out," he said. "If anyone wants to take my job, let them
come
forward."
This should have been music to the ears of those
Zimbabweans who this
week spent hours in queues waiting for cash at banks
after the withdrawal
threshold was raised to $20 000 on Monday. While Gono
has invited those who
want his job to come forward because he is ready to
leave with the least of
bidding, it does appear that in reality he has
become immune to growing
exhortations to quit. He should have been among the
throngs outside banks
this week to hear who the public hold responsible for
the mess.
No one wants his job because it is tantamount to
receiving a poisoned
chalice, which we warned him about when he took office
in December 2003. But
depositors, many sleeping in the queues, believe that
he is the root cause
of their misery.
Those who have followed
his performance as Reserve Bank governor since
his appointment in 2003 have
their daggers drawn but appear reluctant to
tackle the formidable foe. Gono
is digging in and is not acting like a man
going anywhere soon.
He came into office vowing to clean up the banking sector in which
many
banks had forgotten their core business and were risking investors'
money in
speculative investments. Despite accusations that Gono used a
sledgehammer
to swat a fly, including being vindictive in his handling of
certain
financial institutions, at least he managed to restore some
semblance of
order.
But the chaos manifesting itself in the cash crunch at
Christmas
appears to be returning once again. Gono also came into office
promising to
fight inflation, which he declared to be the country's Number 1
enemy. He
famously declared that "failure was not an option" in that war. He
was also
sold to the nation as a most able turnaround strategist after the
almost
miraculous resurrection of the then Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe where
he was
chief executive officer.
At the time of his declaration
of war the inflation rate was 621%.
Today at 11,2 million percent people
have stopped looking for adjectives to
describe it, except as another world
record for Zimbabwe!
Gono has said we are living under
extraordinary conditions and it is
therefore not a time for textbook
economics when rebutting those who tell
him it is ill-advised to print money
to meet excessive government spending
or that he is straying from the core
business of the central bank by
engaging in quasi-fiscal
activities.
In his speech in Masvingo this week, Gono let us into a
bit of the
complex operations of his mind. Sounding like he had just dropped
in from
Mars to see for himself what has been rumoured as Zimbabwe's
economic
collapse for nearly a decade, Gono remarked: "Zimbabwe's ancestors
are
strong. It is surprising to see our economy standing by
now."
Then apparently angry that the economy was still "standing",
Gono said
he would continue to print money, maybe to spite those who believe
his
policies have failed and that he should call it quits.
"I'm
not afraid to print money and I will continue doing so until
those who
imposed sanctions on us (the West) have lifted them," Gono said.
No
doubt even his most ardent supporters must have cringed at this. It
is
difficult to see how a Reserve Bank governor who continues to print money
and then thanks the "ancestors" for saving the economy can win the war
against inflation, let alone achieve an economic turnaround.
The least anyone would have expected of Gono was for him to repeat the
Zanu
PF rhetoric about sanctions and the need to fund agricultural recovery
under
a cash economy.
The Zimbabwean economy is still standing not
because but despite
disastrous printing of money. The Zimbabwean economy is
still standing not
because of "strong ancestors" but because a strong
foundation had been laid
long back to withstand the most brutal buffeting by
the storms of President
Mugabe's unplanned and badly executed land reform
programme.
It is that foundation of the economy, commercial
agriculture, which
needs to be rebuilt before Zimbabwe can reassert its role
as the regional
breadbasket. So far Gono's efforts to reduce inflation and
achieve an
economic turnaround have failed because he has been tinkering
with the
symptoms and forbidden by his "principals" to address the
macro-economic
fundamentals.
People expect Gono to be telling
them that the madness of the past few
years is finally coming to an end. He
should be preparing to cede the vast
powers and a myriad other
responsibilities the central bank acquired during
the years of madness to a
properly constituted government. The least that
this nation expects at the
moment is Gono promising us more of the same.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/
Thursday, 02
October 2008 18:46
PRESIDENT Mugabe has denied a "deadlock" in the
sharing of portfolios
under an inclusive government with the two MDC
formations.
The MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai has objected
to what it says are
attempts to treat it as "a junior" partner. There is
clearly a problem,
whatever its name.
Part of that problem is
Mugabe's uneasiness with democracy which he
feels threatens to destabilise
established order. More specifically,
democracy should not threaten those in
power. To him, when not properly
guided, people are prone to stray in the
name of democracy.
That is what nearly happened on March 29. They
needed to be
reoriented, as happened on June 27. Democracy, he thus reasons,
doesn't mean
that people should be left alone to do as they please because
they are apt
to misinterpret their own interests.
That explains
why the inclusive government with the MDC is having such
a prolonged birth.
He sees it as a plot to trim his personal authority by
sharing it. It's
doubly unfortunate that he must share it with the man for
whom he has
abiding contempt, especially because of the MDC's origins and
funding. In
that context, for President Mugabe the role of the opposition is
simple --
to oppose, never to rule.
He made his views clear on the day he
signed the power-sharing deal on
September 15. Speaking off the cuff, he
pointed out that "democracy in
Africa is a difficult proposition". These
might be his long-held views, but
they are not helped by arrogant Western
donor nations when they openly
declare what they want to see done and whom
they want as president. They
give people like Mugabe a credible alibi when
they complain about a breach
of the United Nations Charter on national
sovereignty.
There is another angle to this animal called democracy
which makes
Mugabe particularly uncomfortable. There was South Africa last
week with its
model constitution allowing a rowdy mob to run riot and unseat
an elected
president.
Mugabe commented that South Africans were
free to make their choice.
It was as if he hadn't grasped fully that the man
who had just been deposed
had played such a decisive role, not only in
defending Mugabe at his own
expense, but also protecting Zimbabwe from a
questionable new regime of
sanctions. He may not always agree with Mugabe's
policies but Thabo Mbeki
understands better than any leader in the region
the centrality of land in
Zimbabwe's crisis. New president Kgalema Motlanthe
shares this
understanding.
It took some sombre reflection away
in New York for Mugabe to pour out
his grief over Mbeki's dramatic departure
as president of South Africa.
Democracy turned out to be such a heartless
monster. "There is a man who has
been in the seat for so many years as the
father of the African National
Congress and democracy in one stroke pulls
him down," lamented Mugabe.
"Democracy without morality is no democracy for
all."
It is not simply the anguished reflection of one who has lost
a pal
dealt a cruel blow by mob rule; Mbeki stands as a counterfoil to what
nearly
happened to him on March 29. Here was a Mbeki high and mighty and
triumphant
in Zimbabwe today; and then ruthlessly brought down the following
day back
in South Africa!
Mugabe had praised Mbeki for his
mediation in the talks. He said it
was necessary to allow him time to rest
before recalling him should there be
a need. It has turned out to be a
momentous valediction. They will never
meet again on equal terms. There may
not be a replacement for Mbeki who has
the same fortitude to resist
pressures to do "something" about Mugabe.
But the terror of what
had just occurred to Mbeki went deeper. It
exposed democracy as lacking
"morality" if those who exercised it did not
have respect for age, a
person's past contribution and the length of a
leader's tenure of
office.
Here was the nub.
Mbeki has been in the ANC
for 52 years. He served in the presidency
(first as deputy to Nelson
Mandela) for just under 15 years and his term of
office would have ended in
April next year. Mugabe has been at the helm of
Zanu PF for about 33 years.
He has been prime minister and president for a
combined 28 years. This
misguided democracy could turn him into history
overnight through the
ballot, without people thinking twice that "for so
many years" he was the
father of Zanu PF and president of Zimbabwe!
What has happened to
Mbeki may turn out, at least in the short-term,
to be a huge blow in the
fight for democracy in Zimbabwe, not just because
of his reduced clout as a
mediator but by hardening Mugabe's attitude
against those he views as
plotting a Mbeki on him. In any case Mbeki's
mediation should have been over
with the signing of the power deal.
It is reprehensible immaturity
that our political leadership expects
him to appoint a cabinet for Zimbabwe
by allocating ministerial portfolios
to the three parties. The quarrel over
so-called key ministries of finance,
home affairs, foreign affairs and local
government highlights the level of
mistrust which Mbeki can do nothing to
remove.
The ministries are key only to the extent that each party
believes
they can be used as tools to manipulate rivals and for retributive
purposes
outside a legally constituted truth and reconciliation commission.
It shows
utter bad faith. Once again our political leaders are failing to
give the
nation a vision, and there are many forces crying for precisely
this
outcome -- that the power-sharing deal collapses with Mbeki's
fall.
By Joram Nyathi