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Zimbabwe set to commit to investor agreement
with the SA government
http://www.businessday.co.za
Posted
to the web on: 08 April 2009
EDWARD WEST
Senior Business Writer
ZIMBABWE
was likely to fully support an investor protection agreement
expected to be
signed between the SA and Zimbabwean governments in two to
three weeks'
time, Business Unity SA (Busa) CEO Jerry Vilakazi said
yesterday.
He
spoke after a one-day visit to Zimbabwe on Monday as part of a 24-strong
Busa delegation led by its former president, Patrice Motsepe of African
Rainbow Minerals.
The delegation included executives from South
African companies such as Old
Mutual, Aspen Pharmacare, Roadlink, First
National Bank, PPC and Massmart.
Organised South African agriculture was
also represented.
Zimbabwe Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who invited the
delegation, said the
agreement would provide for "recourse and compensation"
for any loss of
investment, said Vilakazi.
Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe had also, in his interaction with the
delegation, endorsed Zimbabwe's
commitment to sign the agreement.
"We had good visit. It was the most
successful trip I have had to Harare in
the past 24 months. It was primarily
a fact-finding visit. We wanted to get
a sense of what the inclusive
government has put in place to create an
environment conducive to investment
and doing business," said Vilakazi.
Concern among Busa delegates about
the commitment to governance and
democracy were addressed.
Questions
about continuing illegal farm occupations were answered by the
Zimbabwean
hosts, who admitted there had been "a few incidents in the past
few months"
since the installation of the inclusive government, but this was
"out of the
norm" and all parties had agreed to stamp out illegal land
occupations.
A key challenge in Zimbabwe was the availability of
cash, and the new multi-
currency policy would go a long way to attract
cash. The rand appeared to
have become the preferred currency for trade,
said Vilakazi.
Describing the economic damage in Zimbabwe, PPC CEO John
Gomersall said
cement consumption in Zimbabwe had fallen away "almost
entirely in recent
months".
Gomersall said development and
economic growth "is not going to be an
overnight sensation" because of the
damage to fundamental infrastructure,
from educational institutions to
hospitals and other physical
infrastructure.
Mike Conway, managing
executive for Tiger Brands' international division,
said Zimbabwe would
represent a good opportunity for the group if the
business environment there
continued to improve.
On the question of the spending power of
Zimbabwean consumers, Vilakazi said
about 40%-50% of the Zimbabwean
population now lived outside the country.
For instance, there was a very
large community of well educated, trained and
paid Zimbabweans operating in
SA's financial sector.
"They all have extended families. Now with
permission for multi-currency
trade, there will be access to money through
Zimbabweans from all over the
continent," said Vilakazi. The key issue for
growing the Zimbabwean economy
would be whether the Zimbabwean government
lived up to its promises in the
next three to six months.
weste@bdfm.co.za
Zimbabwe sees
"positive" response to aid call: Biti
http://af.reuters.com/
Wed Apr 8, 2009 2:09pm
GMT
By Nelson Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's unity
government has received a good response
to its calls for financial aid to
rescue its battered economy, Finance
Minister Tendai Biti said on
Wednesday.
The new government, formed after a political deal between
former rivals
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
says it needs
about $8.5 billion to fix an economy hit by hyperinflation and
10 years of
negative growth.
Asked about how the international
community had responded to the unity
government's plea for financial
support, Biti said: "It's been positive, but
we're still looking for
international lines of credit."
Other countries and banks had promised
funding, apart from South Africa,
which had pledged an undisclosed amount in
lines of credit.
"A few other countries that I don't have the mandate to
disclose, and some
banking institutions, some on the continent and some from
Europe, have made
an undertaking to extend lines of credit to the banking
sector," Biti told a
media briefing.
Western donors have withheld aid
to Zimbabwe over policy differences with
Mugabe, and want to see political
reforms put in place before resuming
support.
Biti said while the
government's decision to allow the use of multiple
currencies for business
transactions had brought price stability, the
economy faced liquidity
problems due to a foreign currency crunch.
Biti, a senior official in
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), said the inclusive
government had made significant progress since its
formation in
February.
"In the ... months that we've not been fighting each other,
we've made
phenomenal progress," he said. "I had to be dragged into
government, but I
will be the first to defend the gains of this
government."
Biti, however, said the new administration still had a long
way to go in
fixing the economy, with monthly revenue averaging just $20
million against
a $100 million target. Government workers' wages alone
required $30 million,
he said.
Asked about his working relationship
with central bank governor Gideon Gono,
a Mugabe ally Biti has previously
described as an "economic terrorist", the
finance minister accused the media
of playing up their differences.
"You cannot have a functional country in
which the central bank governor and
finance minister cannot work together.
The problem is that there is a
constant attempt to draw us into negativity,"
Biti said.
"I think since the formation of this government, the negatives
are in the
minority."
The MDC has previously called for Gono's
dismissal and protested against his
reappointment last year, while talks
with Mugabe's government to set up a
unity government were underway.
US
says Zimbabwe could face more sanctions unless reforms
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Business News
Apr
8, 2009, 17:30 GMT
Harare - The United States ambassador to
Zimbabwe on Wednesday warned of new
targeted sanctions against Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe and senior
members of his party unless they show
willingness to reform.
In an interview with journalists in Harare,
ambassador James McGee said
current US sanctions against Mugabe and senior
members of his party would
remain in place 'until we see some positive
movement.'
He was referring to the widely-held belief that Mugabe's
Zanu-PF is trying
to stall attempts by the new unity government, of which
longtime opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai is prime minister, to effect
democratic reforms.
'In fact you might see more individual sanctions,'
McGee warned.
The United States and European Union first imposed
sanctions on Zimbabwe in
2003.
Mugabe has blamed his country's
economic downfall on the sanctions. Over
half the population requires food
aid.
The US and EU point out that the sanctions specifically target
people and
companies linked to the elderly leader and blame his misrule for
the
country's demise.
The new government is looking for 2 billion
dollars in short-term aid.
Western donors have cited the ongoing invasions
of white-owned land and
detention of political prisoners are
deterrents.
McGee said the US was debating an International Monetary Fund
(IMF) report,
which said Zimbabwe needed 200 million dollars in emergency
humanitarian
relief.
'We want to get on board to assist Zimbabwe with
that. We will not let the
people of Zimbabwe starve,' he assured.
He
was also upbeat about some positive signs recently on the economic
front.
'We no longer see the uncontrolled printing of money. Inflation
which had
been running in quintillions of percentage points last month was
negative
2.5 percent. This is movement in the right direction,' he
said.
Corruption
still protects Zanu-PF leadership
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14848
April 8, 2009
John Robertson
NOW
that Zimbabwe should be moving forwards quickly, but isn't, a
long-standing
theory is gaining ground: Zimbabwe has not been overwhelmed by
economic
mismanagement as much as it has by corruption.
Deliberately chosen
corrupt practices that were cultivated to ward off,
deflect or neutralise
threats to Zanu-PF's power base appear to be still in
place and still very
much in force.
Many of these would be automatically defined as corruption
in more normal
societies, but Zimbabwe's inveterate politicians see them as
the legitimate
exercise of their legitimate right to use their power to
retain power.
But, while demanding recognition for releasing the
Zimbabwe's population
from colonial oppression, for years they have shown
complete indifference to
accusations that they became much more severe
oppressors. To them, their
past efforts gave them an absolute right to be
leaders in perpetuity and
this entitled them to ensure their political
survival by any means
necessary.
At independence, the leadership
professed the highest ideals, which they
formalised in a Leadership Code,
and the same leaders made much of the
inviolate civil rights they conferred
upon the population. However, they
soon began to display a severe
disinclination to be subject to equitable
distribution of wealth constraints
and equally reluctant to recognise the
rights of others.
As the party
hierarchy became progressively more deeply implicated in
questionable
activities, unwritten provisos became apparent: in the exercise
of their own
rights, the officials were answerable to nobody, and if a
challenge seemed
likely to undermine their absolute power, the challengers
should expect to
be ruthlessly put down.
The activities in which the politically well
connected could engage with
impunity soon attracted increasing numbers of
opportunists. Claiming equal
rights to privileges because of their
contributions to the liberation
struggle or their close ties to party
officials, they looked for ways to
exploit the party's considerable
authority.
At first, their numbers were manageable and so were their
demands. They were
soon linked to various financial transfer mechanisms and
most appeared to be
content with the recognition and their shares of the
rewards.
But their successes attracted more contenders, generating the
need for more
rewards. Politicians who could manipulate financial matters
were pressured
to see that claimants' demands were met and their successes
developed into
claims that all loyal supporters deserved equally generous
treatment.
Transfer procedures evolved into entitlements and the corruption
was
institutionalised.
All those who could exploit their political
influence aimed to become
financially secure. Their hopes were that they
would never have to actually
work again, but those who appeared to have
succeeded bred envy and greed in
others. Zanu-PF had to keep looking for new
expropriation possibilities to
satisfy rising demands.
Allocations of
rationed foreign exchange, backed by import licences, were
given to many
favoured individuals, while others were authorised to charge
for the use of
their rubber-stamps as businesses were forced to comply with
some contrived
regulation. Government contracts and valued sinecures were
given to others,
but as taxpayers were being taxed to "diminishing returns"
limits, the party
had to keep thinking up other schemes to bring in more
revenue or to collect
it sooner.
Early in this process, the party increased taxes, duties,
fees, levies and
licence charges in their efforts to keep pace, and it also
drew heavily on
donor support. However, it soon had to devise new ways to
increase its
revenue stream, so it chose to skim from corporate and personal
incomes and
savings to close the widening gap.
Taxes on profits
earned were converted into advance payments on expected
profits and
penalties for inaccurate profits forecasting were imposed, but
hidden and
more pernicious taxes took effect through exchange controls and
the
imposition of exchange rates that had no bearing on market rates,
When
decisions to interfere directly in the setting of interest rates were
applied, the party launched its campaign to blatantly confiscate the
nation's
savings. By paying interest at a tiny fraction of the rising
inflation rate,
they stripped away the bulk of the capital held by banks,
pension funds and
savings institution. They spent the capital on which
development depended.
But when the import allocations that had sustained
thousands of privileged
people were brought to an end, these people
responded with demands that
Zanu-PF keep its promises of free land. When it
was launched, the land
reform programme became the most disruptive of the
wealth transfer processes
and it brought the most destructive forces to bear
on production.
What followed was the confiscation and reallocation of
commercial farmland,
but what actually happened was the asset-stripping and
looting of the
premises of more than 4 000 farming companies and the
premises of their 350
000 employees. The land itself has produced very
little ever since, which is
why Zimbabwe has had to import food every year
since the start of the Land
Reform Programme.
When vital tax and
export revenues also became casualties of land reform,
new rounds of
increases in taxes, fees, licence charges and levies started,
and government
became a much more aggressive tax collector. But these were
Zimbabwe dollar
sums and when things got really tough, more Zimbabwe dollars
were simply
printed. The far more serious problem was foreign exchange.
For senior
members of the hierarchy, the problem was easily solved: they
were given the
privilege of highly attractive exchange rates. When ordinary
citizens were
paying a billion Zimbabwe dollars for a loaf of bread, senior
party
officials could buy a US dollar for Z$30 000. So, to them, a brand new
duty-free luxury motorcar could be bought for the price of two loaves of
bread.
Economic policy changes are desperately and urgently needed to
restore
investment, production, trade and employment, and to establish
stable
exchange and interest rates.
However, examined against this
backdrop of deeply entrenched corruption, the
reasons for the determination
of incumbent politicians to hold onto their
privileges and not to be held to
account for their obscene wealth become a
little clearer.
And so,
too, do their attempts to slow the process of change.
Respect
for property rights at core of investment for Zimbabwe
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
8
April 2008
At the opening of the 'Stakeholders Summit' in Harare recently
Dr. Albrecht
Conze, the German Ambassador to Zimbabwe, said securing donor
and investor
confidence hinged on the issue of respect for property rights.
He warned
that countries far bigger than Zimbabwe have broken down in the
20th century
because their ideology had abolished respect for property
rights and that
the continued farm disruptions are sending out the wrong
message to the rest
of the world.
He said: "This may be an internal
affair as long as legislation and practice
only affect citizens of this
country. But it becomes a bilateral issue for
all those countries that have
concluded investment protection agreements
with Zimbabwe, and whose
investors are being unlawfully molested and
disrupted in their business
affairs."
The Ambassador's comments were echoed on Monday by a group of 22
top South
African business leaders from the mining, agriculture, financial,
pharmaceutical and construction sectors, who were in Zimbabwe to explore
business opportunities.
Patrice Motsepe, a South African mining tycoon
and billionaire, led the
delegation that met with the Zimbabwean leadership,
including Robert Mugabe,
Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara.
The South Africans said they are very interested
in investing in Zimbabwe,
but wanted guarantees of property rights. The
business delegation urged the
Zimbabwean authorities to sort out this issue,
as it was at the root of
attracting much needed investment.
The South
African Business Day newspaper reports that the Zimbabwean hosts,
admitted
to some problems on the farms, saying there had been 'a few
incidents in the
past few months' since the installation of the inclusive
government, but
this was 'out of the norm' and all parties had agreed to
stamp out illegal
land occupations.
The government told the high powered business delegation
that it is
committed to protecting investments and that the Zimbabwean
economy is ready
for investment.
However the government is once again
ignoring the facts on the ground where
the commercial farming community,
including helpless farm workers, continue
to be at the receiving end of
state sponsored and state backed violence, and
that it has been ongoing for
a decade. There have not been just 'a few
incidents' with at least 120
farmers currently under threat, and it is
certainly not 'out of the
norm'.
The government has been severely criticized internationally for
ignoring all
bilateral agreements, which has seen a number of farmers
protected under the
Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements being
prosecuted and illegally
evicted.
Commercial farmers also say the refusal
by the Zimbabwean government to
abide by a SADC tribunal on land, which
protects them, is indicative of the
complete breakdown of the rule of law.
The regional body ruled late last
year that the land invasions are illegal
but the government, and Mugabe in
particular, has encouraged the farm
invasions to continue, saying the
tribunal has no authority over
Zimbabwe.
Nonetheless Business Day is also reporting that an investor
protection
agreement between the South African and Zimbabwean governments is
expected
to be signed in a few weeks time. It is understood the agreement
would
provide for recourse and compensation for any loss of
investment.
Observers say Mugabe has never abided by any agreement, nor paid
any
compensation for previous loss of investment, business investors will
clearly remain very wary, until they see real change happening on the
ground.
Engagement with the international community depends on how the
new coalition
will deal with private property rights and land tenure and
that reforming
draconian laws such as the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy
Act and the Public Order and Security Act are only
part of the challenge.
More
farmers arrested, but the government and SADC remain silent
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
08 April 2009
Seven more people have joined the growing list of
Zimbabwean commercial
farmers facing prosecution for being on their land, as
part of the ongoing
offensive against farmers that has violently intensified
in the last week.
The growing list of farmers facing prosecution has now
reached 100 and
includes the wife of Chiredzi farmer, Gary Warth, who has
been in hiding for
more than six weeks. His wife Teresa was arrested on
Monday in a move that
Chiredzi police blatantly admitted was to 'bait' her
husband out of hiding
to face arrest and prosecution. She was later released
and is expected in
court this week. Five other Chiredzi farmers have also
been arrested since
late last month and will appear in court next week, on
false charges of
occupying state land illegally.
Meanwhile the
violent offensive in Chegutu has not yet eased, with Mount
Carmel farm
manager Martin Joubert, also being hauled behind bars this week.
Joubert
joins seven other Mount Carmel farm workers who were arrested over
the
weekend while trying to defend the land from a gang of lawless thugs.
The
land invaders had originally arrived on the farm last Friday and
demanded
that the owners vacate the land. The onslaught turned violent on
Saturday
night when the invaders returned, after being forcibly removed from
the land
by the farm's staff and other farm workers in the area. In
retaliation, the
invaders launched a vicious attack on the farm staff that
night, leaving one
worker with a fractured skull.
Chegutu police arrived shortly after the
attack, but instead of taking
action against the violent land invaders,
arrested seven staff members on
trumped up 'kidnapping' charges. These
workers have all been tortured behind
bars and on Wednesday were remanded in
custody until a later date. The rest
of Mount Carmel's staff meanwhile is in
hiding, as the thugs have almost
completely taken over the land. Farmer Ben
Freeth, who owns the farm with
his father-in-law Mike Campbell, has told SW
Radio Africa that he is unable
to move freely around the farm and Campbell
and his wife Angela have left
the farm as a safety precaution. Freeth
continues the fight to have the
invaders removed from his land.
There
is no question that the farm attacks, which have been ongoing since
February, are the biggest obstacle standing in the way of crucial foreign
investment in the country. Despite this, the unity government has done
nothing to prevent the attacks that have, instead, been condoned by Robert
Mugabe. Prime Minister Morgan Tvsangirai has warned that the perpetrators of
the attacks will be arrested and last week tasked the Joint Operations and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC) to deal with the land issue. JOMIC in turn
has since argued that farmland under legal protections such as Bilateral
Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs), are not 'immune' to fresh
invasions, effectively condoning the new attacks.
The attacks have
also continued despite last year's SADC Tribunal ruling
that tasked
Zimbabwe's government with protecting land owners from future
attacks. The
ruling has been blatantly ignored under direct instruction by
Zimbabwe's
Attorney General, and in one case the ruling was effectively
nullified by a
High Court judge. This disregard of the ruling has been
enforced despite
Zimbabwe being a SADC signatory and therefore bound by SADC
treaty
law.
SADC itself meanwhile has remained completely silent on the farm
attacks,
which not only violate Zimbabwe's political agreement, but also
violate the
Tribunal ruling that Zimbabwe's government is bound to
respect.
Prisoners
bribed warders and escaped
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14844
April 8, 2009
By Owen
Chikari
MASVINGO - Three prison warders, including the officer-in-charge
of
Masvingo Remand Prison, have been suspended pending dismissal after they
allegedly received bribes to facilitate the escape of seven dangerous
criminals from custody early this year.
Ishmael Chatikobo the
officer-in-charge and two unnamed prison officers
allegedly received various
amounts ranging from US 200 to US 350 from
dangerous criminals to induce
them to allow their escape from the remand
prison.
Besides receiving
the bribes Chatikobo a self proclaimed war veteran
allegedly went away
without official leave last year claiming that he was
campaigning for
President Robert Mugabe during the run up to the one-man
June Presidential
election run off.
"The three have been suspended pending dismissal
because they have been
named as culprits who facilitated the escape of the
inmates", said an
official from the Ministry of Justice.
"The
officer-in-charge had another case in which he just left the station
with a
government vehicle last year claiming that he was campaigning for
Zanu-PF".
"He was no longer coming to work and a new officer-in-charge has
since been
found".
Seven dangerous criminals clad in prison gab mysteriously escaped
from
Masvingo remand prison in January.
One of the inmates was
arrested while six others made good their escape and
are still at
large.
The hardcore criminals who faced charges that ranged from
carjacking, armed
robbery, housebreaking with intent to steal and theft
escaped from the
remand prison after allegedly buying their freedom from the
prison guards.
The cholera outbreak which has hit the country since last
year also assisted
the seven to make an easy escape.
According to the
police the seven criminals were suspiciously removed from
the holding cells
and housed in the typing pool following an outbreak of
cholera in the
prison
The seven allegedly broke the door to the typing pool under cover
of
darkness before jumping out to safety. Surprisingly, the prison guards on
duty did not notice anything amiss until the following morning when the
seven were found to be missing.
One of the inmates was arrested while
walking along the Masvingo Harare
highway while the six are still
missing.
"We are still looking for the six and are urging the public to
report to any
nearest police station if they see any suspicious people",
said police
spokesman Inspector Phibeon Nyambo
"Those who escaped are
dangerous criminals and we urge people to be very
careful when dealing with
them."
ACTION
ALERT: Donate money towards food for Zimbabwe’s prisoners
Donations to the following accounts will help raise funds to go specifically
towards food for prisoners in Zimbabwe.
All
deposits must be referenced Zim
Prisons/Zim Food
AOG Worldwide Missions
Waymaker Ministries
South Africa |
UK |
Name: Missions Outreach (T/A Waymakers) Reg No: Sec 21 Company
98/23321/08 Registered Public Benefit Organization Reg No: 930002198 |
Name: Relief Aid Logistics (NB: The UK government donates 28p for every £1
donated) Charity Number: 1042912 |
Bank Details: Waymakers Bank Name: Standard Bank Account No: 27 21
88 55 7 Branch Code: 02 22 09 00 SWIFT Address: SBZAZAJJ |
Bank Details: Relief Aid Logistics Bank Name: HSBC Address: 1/5 Week
Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1QW Sort code: 40-31-06 Account no: 51 83 33
32 |
|
How one person set out to make a difference
We would like to give a very big thank-you to Kathy who helped bring our attention to these organisations
and in the process give us all the opportunity to help them meet their
objectives.
Kathy is a regular reader of this blog, and was so outraged by our ‘Zimbabwe’s prisons are death-traps‘ article and our earlier appeal for food to help starving prisoners in Harare,
that she set out to find a way other concerned people around the world could
help make a difference.
Kathy is a member of AOG Church in South Africa and she spoke to
them about what she had learned; they put her in touch with their world wide
missions section. She then got in touch with someone named Andrew and through
him discovered that AOG
Missions were already well positioned to help out, with resources already in
Zimbabwe. At our request she passed us the contact details of the person they
worked with (who I shall call ‘Henry’), based in Harare, and we have forwarded
his name through intermediaries to people we believe will be able to help Henry
(should he need it). We believe that excellent contact names have also been
provided to Andrew who will ensure Henry gets them.
Kathy didn’t stop there: she and Andrew set up a meeting with another
Missionary/Pastor involved in working in Zimbabwe, also with Henry, in the
hope they could provide necessary infrastructure in the form of transport and
teams on the ground. The meeting was infinitely more fruitful than she expected.
John - of Waymaker Ministries - told them that they were already exploring ways
of getting food into prisons because they had been told how terrible things
were.
Waymaker Ministries have already established links with a local Zimbabwean
welfare organisation that works closely with prisoners and prison rights. They
have set up a pilot project at one of the prisons struggling to feed
prisoners, and should this be successful, other prisons will be opened up to
them and they will extend their network of support.
These good people are very aware of how Zimbabwe’s economy means supplies
intended for the needy often finds its way onto the black-market and they take
measure to prevent this happening. Kathy told us, for example, that the food is
pre-cooked by churches and taken into the prisons, so raw ingredients are not
sold in bulk on the black-market.
John is planning a trip to Zimbabwe soon: in an email to us, Kathy wrote, “I
asked him what would it take to get him there sooner…the expected reply:
MONEY!!!”
So please give generously to get the good man here as soon as possible!
In separate communications with other people, we have also learned that the
International Committee of the Red Cross who have a mandate to work in the
prisons, have very recently been granted access and will be starting their work
with prisons in Harare (the pilot project mentioned above is not based in Harare
). ICRC involvement is good news because there are a lot of prisons, all
desperate, and it needs big organisations involved as well the committed
efforts of groups like AOG Worldwide Missions and Waymaker Ministries. We’ll
keep you posted with ICRC news as we learn more.
If you can afford to do so, please consider setting up regular direct debits
to the accounts above. Remember, feeding people requires a sustained effort and
the crisis is enormous and people are dying right now.
Kathy - thank you and great job! You are a very good example of how one
person who is very determined can make a real difference.
Now its over to our readers to pick up the ball and keep it rolling. Please
do.
This entry was posted by
Sokwanele on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 6:36
pm
Poverty
Datum Line Stands At U.S.$552
http://www.herald.co.zw/
26 March 2009
Harare - A FAMILY in
Zimbabwe required as much as US$552 for basics in
January according to
latest official poverty assessment report.
The Central Statistical
Office, a national statistics agency which also
calculates inflation said on
Tuesday of the US$552, US$177 was needed for
food.
This average family
will need to spend US$375 on basics such as
accommodation, transport to get
to and from work, school fees and clothes,
among other basics.
There
is no provision for luxuries.
According to CSO, PDL represents the cost
of a given standard of living that
must be attained if a person should not
be considered as poor.
Going by the CSO definition of PDL, the majority
of workers in Zimbabwe will
be found in the poor category. Government is
paying civil servants US$100
per month.
The CSO not only calculates a
national poverty line, but also looks at each
of the 10
provinces.
Matebeleland North and Mashonaland East are the expensive
provinces to live
in.
Their families need an average of US$630,9 in
Mat North and US$577,5 in Mash
East.
This is attributed to high food
prices. In Mat North, the average family of
six requires about US$203 and
US$187 in Mash West for food alone.
Capital cities tend to be most
expensive than rural areas in other countries
but Harare has emerged as the
least expensive area to live in, with an
average family needing
US$492.
Of the ten provinces--six of them-- Harare, Bulawayo, Midlands,
Masvingo,
Mash Central and Mat South are below the national
average.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe last month said an average
urban of six in
Zimbabwe needed US$374.
While figures for the CCZ
focuses on urban families, Poverty Datum Lines
focuses on both rural and
urban.
The CSO said Zimbabwe was experiencing deflation and it is most
likely the
national average would have gone down in February and likely to
remain
unchanged in March.
After years of hyperinflation, Zimbabwe
consumer price index dropped 3,1
percent last month after Government allowed
the use of foreign currency in
transactions.
Prices seem to have
stabilised as they now track regional prices.
Rival
Anglican factions agree to share premises
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
08 April
2009
Rival Anglican factions, one led by excommunicated Bishop Nolbert
Kunonga
and the other by the man who replaced him, Bishop Sebastian Bakare,
have
agreed to adhere to the different worshiping times previously set out
by the
High Court. On Wednesday Bishop Bakare told Newsreel that a meeting
between
the two factions and the two Home Affairs Ministers to discuss
violence
affecting the church, had resulted in the agreement.
Bishop
Bakare however said it could not be described as a new agreement
because it
only confirmed an earlier judgment by Justice Rita Makarau. In
January 2008
Makarau ruled that the two groups share premises until such
time as the
dispute over the property is resolved by the courts. Kunonga's
services were
to take place between 6 and 9.30am, while Bakare's followers
were to use
the premises after 11am.
But clashes became prevalent most Sunday's, as
Kunonga's small but violent
group of followers prevented Bakare's people
from worshipping. Worsening
matters was the protection from a partisan
police force who took sides with
Kunonga's group. Some weeks ago the police
used teargas to disperse angry
parishioners, while an innocent Harare man,
living near one of the churches,
was reported to have been shot in the arm
during the chaos.
The controversial Kunonga was excommunicated in 2007
from the church, after
he attempted to unilaterally withdraw the Diocese of
Harare from the Church
of the Province of Central Africa. He claimed at the
time he was protecting
the diocese from 'rampant homosexuality'. He was
replaced by Bishop
Sebastian Bakare, but has since used youth militia and
the police to chase
away Anglican parishioners loyal to the new
bishop.
Legal experts agree Kunonga's claim to the church property is weak.
In a
telling High Court judgment, Justice Charles Hungwe last year ruled
that
Kunonga's diocese could not exist at law outside the constitution of
the
Church of the Province of Central Africa. This was the same province he
sought to break away from. A delay in the finalization of the matter in the
courts has been blamed on a compromised judiciary and has allowed Kunonga
time to continue laying claim to the property, due to his allegiance to ZANU
PF and support from Mugabe.
Improved
internet access expected as 3G services approved
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
08 April
2009
The country's biggest mobile phone operator, Econet Wireless, is
reported to
have secured frequencies for its 3G service from the Postal and
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ). Econet
purchased the equipment 2 years ago but had been waiting to get the 3G
frequencies from POTRAZ. The new Information Communication Technology
Minister Nelson Chamisa has now instructed the regulator to make the
frequencies available and allow the networks to expand their
services.
The development means Zimbabweans can expect to use services
like video
calling and mobile internet access, including wireless broadband.
Econet say
they will launch a Blackberry service by June this year, meaning
their
subscribers will be able to receive e-mails on their mobile phones.
Chief
Executive Officer Douglas Mboweni confirmed they were already testing
the
equipment, although some of it had already been overtaken by new
technological changes during the long waiting period.
Chamisa
meanwhile told Newsreel they were already working on several issues
to make
telephone calls cheaper, faster and clearer. Currently the networks
are
relying on expensive connections routed via London and other countries,
instead of connecting directly to the destination of the calls. He expressed
his ministry's determination to increase bandwidth and connectivity for
internet users, adding that the long term objective was to have information
kiosks in rural areas and establish an e-government system, where government
services are accessible online.
Asked where the new coalition
government will get the money from to fund all
these projects, Chamisa said
credit lines for infrastructural development
were going to be crucial. He is
convinced a vibrant information and
communication technology policy will
unlock the potential in other
ministries and help ordinary people to be
served better. With 3G frequencies
being allocated to the mobile phone
networks, players in the broadcasting
field are already wondering whether
such opportunities will be available to
them, anytime soon.
Know Your Ministers: Moyo, Nkomo
With Conrad Nyamutata
Moyo, Gorden - Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office
This minister is the odd politician out.
Gorden Moyo, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, is the
only minister in Zimbabwe’s cabinet who is not aligned to any of the three
political parties.
The Nkayi-born academic was literally plucked straight out of his base in
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city and drafted into a team of officials
created to advise the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai.
It is a strange coincidence that Moyo celebrated his 40th birthday in
Bulawayo on the same day, February 11, on which Tsvangirai took the oath of
office in Harare as Prime Minister, and two days before his own swearing in as a
minister in the government of national unity.
The former school teacher however, refuses to read anything particularly
propitious in his appointment into one of the country’s most influential
positions in such circumstances.
“When the Prime Minister was sworn in on my birthday, I found celebrating his
swearing in more fulfilling than my own birthday,” he says.
“To me that marked the beginning of a new chapter for all of us as
Zimbabweans.”
The soft-spoken new government official is the proud holder of a Master of
Arts and Leadership Studies degree obtained with the University of Exeter in the
UK, a Master of Arts in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford in the UK,
and an MBA from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ).
He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the UZ, and a Diploma in
Education from Gweru Teachers College.
Moyo is in the process of studying for a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies,
to be completed in 2011.
In spite of such a rich academic background Moyo still wants to be identified
with his humble beginnings.
“I am a typical rural bred man,” he says.
“I actually went to a rural primary school, graduated into a typical rural
secondary school and I think I have not lost any of my rural qualities.”
He says the most exciting moment in his life was when he passed his Ordinary
Levels in 1988 with flying colours, something of a rare achievement among
disadvantaged rural students at the time.
Apart from his academic achievements, Moyo also has sad episodes from rural
upbringing to tell.
After the sad experience in 1978 when his parents’ Nkayi homestead in
Matebeleland North province was torched by troops of the colonial government,
little did the family realise that similar fate awaited them, this time at the
hands of the post-independence black government.
His family was forced to flee the area for Lower Gweru’s Sogwala area after
President Robert Mugabe’s notorious North Korean trained Five Brigade had again
reduced their homestead to ashes in August 1985.
Moyo cut his political activism in the mid-1990s with the now defunct
Imbovhane Yamahlabezulu, a radical Bulawayo-based pressure group which was
campaigning against the marginalization of the Matebeleland region by the
government.
“We were raising a lot of dust about the selective amnesia which the
government was practicing to say we should forget about what happened during the
atrocities in the early 80s,” he says.
Moyo, who has worked as a British Council international facilitator for
leadership in 19 African countries in four years, recently resigned as director
of yet another Bulawayo based forum, Bulawayo Agenda.
He is a founding member of ZAPU 2000, a pressure group which emerged in
Bulawayo a few years ago, also to agitate against the marginalization of the
region.
But how does he take his appointment to this prestigious position?
“I view this as an honour,” he says, “It is an opportunity for me to
participate in this government. But I believe anyone else could do the job if
not in a better way. It’s not a preserve for any one. It is just that we cannot
all be there at the same time.”
As minister of state, Moyo is the utility player of the Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister is the supervisor of all ministries. If he wants
something done, I am his other hand. I am one of the instruments at his disposal
in the execution of his duties,” he says.
“What we should appreciate is that the Prime Minister decided to look for
somebody who was coming from civic society and someone who is an intellectual
and we should give him credit for that,” he says. He had been asked how he had
landed the job ahead of several likely MDC candidates.
“He did not look for a personal friend or party enthusiast. He wanted someone
who would give him non-partisan political advice and he wanted that intellectual
depth which I presume he thought I had.”
A fan of Bulawayo-based football power house, Highlanders, and the national
soccer team, Moyo is married to Sedina Moyo nee Ncube, a lecturer at Bulawayo
Teachers’ College.
He is the dotting father of two, Dumoluhle and Nomakhosi.
He is a devoted Seventh Day Adventist who pointedly remarks that he has never
tested alcohol in his life.
(Reported by Raymond Maingire)
Nkomo, John Landa (Zanu-PF) - Minister of State in the President’s
Office
One of Zanu-PF’s elderly statesmen, John Nkomo was born in 1934 in the
Tsholotsho District of Matabeleland North province. He is widowed.
Nkomo was educated at the Mange Methodist School, the Seventh Day Adventist
School of Mazibisa, St. Nanian’s and Solusi Mission near Bulawayo.
He attained a Certificate in Teacher Education in 1958 through private
studies. He completed his ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level studies in 1968 while in detention
at Gonakudzingwa.
On leaving school, Nkomo worked as a stores assistant at a Bulawayo clothing
factory. It was at this point that he joined the African National Congress. He
served a stint as a teacher at Nkulumane Government School.
Nkomo became an office-bearer of the African Teachers’ Association. He was
actively involved in civic affairs, which led to his appointment to the post of
secretary of a local residents association in Bulawayo.
In 1964 he formed what was later to become the Bulawayo African United
Residents’ Association and became its first secretary. After the African
National Congress was banned he joined in quick succession the NDP, ZAPU and
then the PCC.
In 1965, Nkomo was imprisoned for 14 days. He was arrested again the
following year and sent to Gonakudzingwa for two and a half years.
Upon his release from jail in 1968, he was employed as ledger clerk in a
Bulawayo packaging company, a job he held until 1975.
Nkomo joined the newly-formed African National Congress (ANC) in 1971 and was
appointed secretary of the education committee. In 1973, he was appointed the
party’s deputy secretary-general.
Nkomo participated in the 1974 Lusaka Talks, and thereafter traveled
extensively in Europe and Africa, representing the African National Congress
external wing.
Nkomo was seriously injured by the same parcel bomb which killed Jason
Ziyapapa Moyo in Lusaka in January 1977.
He was a member of ZAPU’s Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Council (1974-1980)
and a member of the PF-ZAPU delegation to the Lancaster House Conference
(1979).
Between 1975 and 1985 he served in the ZAPU Central Committee and was
administrative secretary and politburo member (1985-1988). He then joined the
Zanu-PF Central Committee after the Unity Agreement signed in 1987.
Nkomo has been the national chairman for Zanu-PF since 1999. He was elected a
member of the first Parliament of Zimbabwe for Matabeleland North constituency
(1980-1985) and became chairman of the Committee on Estimates of Expenditure and
Member of the Public Accounts Committee (1986-1988).
He was elected member of the second Parliament representing Nyamandlovu
Constituency (1985-1990); then elected Member of Parliament of the third
Parliament (Bulawayo North Constituency, 1990-1995), and served in the fourth
Parliament representing the same constituency (1995-2000).
After his defeat in the 2000 elections, after the emergence of the MDC, Nkomo
was appointed non-constituency MP. He was elected Speaker of the House of
Assembly unopposed in April 2005.
His career in government began in 1981 as Deputy Minister of Industry and
Energy, being later appointed Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office
(1982-1984), Minister of Labour, Manpower Planning and Social Welfare
(1988-1992) and Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare,
(1992-1995).
Between 1995 and 1997 Nkomo was Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban
Development, then minister in the renamed Ministry of Local Government and
National Housing, (1997-1999) and Minister of Home Affairs, (2000-2002).
In 2002 Nkomo became Minister for Special Affairs in the Office of the
President and Cabinet and Minister for Special Affairs in the Office the
President and Cabinet Responsible for Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement.
Fearing defeat because he had never recovered his political stature in
Matabeleland since his defeat in 2000 Nkomo did not stand as a candidate in the
2008 parliamentary election. Following the election he was appointed to the
Senate by President Mugabe in August, 2008.
He is one of the Ministers of State responsible for “national healing” under
the government of national unity. The clandestine creation of the posts is
viewed with justification as a strategy to accommodate otherwise jobless senior
Zanu-PF politicians who had been edged out of the coalition cabinet by the entry
of MDC ministers.
Thursday: Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, Sithembiso
Nyoni
Chronicle
editor and reporter charged with defamation
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
8 April
2009
For the first time, journalists working for the state media have
been
charged under Zimbabwe's repressive media laws. The editor of the
Chronicle
newspaper in Bulawayo, Brezhnev Malaba, has been charged by a
magistrate
with defamation, for a story that linked the police to
corruption.
The author of the story, Nduduzo Tshuma a staffer at the
newspaper, was also
charged. He had written an article that alleged that
members of the police
were involved in a Grain Marketing Board maize
scandal.
Bulawayo magistrate John Masimba ruled on Tuesday that Malaba
and Tshuma
contravened Section 96 of the Criminal Law Codification and
Reform Act, for
publishing the story that police and GMB officials had
diverted maize to the
black market.
The police arrested Malaba and
Tshuma following the publication of the story
in February, saying that the
article was defamatory and portrayed the police
in bad light.
Both
were not asked to plead when they appeared before magistrate Masimba.
They
were remanded out of custody to 19th May for trial. The President of
the
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Matthew Takaona, told us the charges
against
the Chronicle duo raises eyebrows, because police have not made any
effort
to investigate allegations leveled against their own.
'They should first
exonerate themselves by instituting an enquiry to
investigate the serious
allegations. If they had an issue with the
journalists they could have
approached the newly constituted voluntary media
council with their
complaint,' Takaona said.
He added; 'This is worrisome to us because we
have not seen this before. It's
unheard of for the police to sue or charge
journalists from the state media.
Before, if they had an issue, they usually
approached the editor or Minister
of Information in private to discuss such
problems.'
The ZUJ President said they would demand a meeting with
Information Minister
Webster Shamu, to protest against the charges. He said
ZUJ will fully
support Malaba and Tshuma and will also forward its protest
to the police
authorities.
This is the first time since the
promulgation of the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA), the Broadcasting Services Act and the
Criminal Law Codification and
Reform Act that staffers from a
state-controlled newspaper have been charged
for media offences. Since the
promulgation of the laws in 2000 the police
have only arrested journalists
from independent
publications.
Zimbabwe has some of the harshest media laws in the world,
passed in 2000.
Journalists face up to 20 years in jail for 'publishing
false information or
statements that are prejudicial to the state or are
likely to cause,
promote, or incite public disorder, or adversely affect the
security or
economic interests of the country'.
Daily cholera update and alerts, 07 Apr 2009
* Please note that
daily information collection is a challenge due to communication and staff
constraints. On-going data cleaning may result in an increase or decrease in the
numbers.
Any change will then be explained.
** Daily information on new deaths should not imply that these deaths
occurred in cases reported that day. Therefore daily CFRs >100% may
occasionally result
A. Highlights of the day:
- 182 Cases and 13 deaths added today (in comparison with 536 cases and 7
deaths yesterday)
- 76.7 % of the districts affected have reported today 46 out of 60 affected
districts)
- 96.8 % of districts reported to be affected (60 districts out of 62)
- Cumulative Institutional Case Fatality Rate = 1.7%
- Daily Institutional CFR = 5.06 %.
- No report received from most districts of Masvingo
- Data Cleaning
- Shamva denotified 2 cases and 5 deaths
- Chikomba 1 death
MDC sings the praises of
Harare's unity government, but Mugabe is no mug
Comment from The Cape Times (SA), 6 April
By Peter
Fabricius
Zimbabwe's new finance minister, Tendai Biti of the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), supposedly had to take a minibus taxi
to the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) summit in Swaziland
last Monday. He went there
with President Robert Mugabe to plead with SADC
to fund Zimbabwe's $8.5
billion (about R77bn) short-term emergency
reconstruction programme (Sterp).
But Zimbabwe's kitty had no money for an
airline ticket, so he caught a cab.
Or so it is said. Yet it is also
rumoured that Biti and all the other MDC
ministers in the new unity
government cabinet - except education minister
David Coltart - were happy to
accept official Mercedes-Benzes as the first
item of government spending.
Something is wrong there.
SADC has "backed" Sterp, for what that is
worth. South Africa offered $800m
in credit guarantees and grants. Other
members said they would think about
it. Most of the money, though, will have
to come from the usual soft touches
in the wider international community.
The SADC leaders promised to try their
best to persuade these donors to part
with the cash - and to urge the world
to lift sanctions, which even Biti now
said were bad for Zimbabwe. In
Swaziland Biti, the former hardliner in
negotiations, sang the praises of
the unity government. He insisted the new
government was "walking the talk"
and starting to get things done,
especially on economic policy. He stressed
that the IMF, which had just
visited Zimbabwe, had "expressed great
pleasure" at Sterp, particularly the
lifting of price and foreign exchange
controls, although it expressed
reservations about laxness in financial
management and the existence of too
many ghost workers in the public
service. Biti said he was sure that the IMF
would issue a very positive
final report on its visit.
Even on
politics, Biti was very upbeat. International donors have insisted
that at
the very least they wanted to see a return to the rule of law -
including
the release of all political prisoners and an end to lawless farm
invasions
- before they would think about providing aid. For this reason
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, was reported to have
declared
forcefully and unequivocally at a cabinet retreat at Victoria Falls
this
past weekend that unless political prisoners were released and the land
grabs stopped immediately, the country was doomed. Yet Biti insisted in
Swaziland that, along with all the other good things, a return to the rule
of law was now "irreversible". It is true that the IMF was fairly positive
in its official statement after its visit. And, with the dollarisation of
the economy and easing of foreign exchange controls, goods have returned to
the once-empty shelves of the supermarkets. But does this mean the country
is out of the woods? Are we missing the recovery of Zimbabwe because we
mostly predicted the unity government would fail?
It is very
early to say. Most Zimbabweans don't have US dollars or rands to
buy those
new goods. And, now that they are in, the likes of Biti have a
vested
interest in the unity government's success. That may not be a bad
thing in
itself. But they should be very wary of the old fox Mugabe. It was
always
believed his strategy would be to suck in the MDC and use its foreign
credibility to revive the economy (and lift the travel bans on the president
and his mates) while he and Zanu PF maintained control. Meanwhile, the MDC
would be contaminated by association with Zanu PF. We have seen nothing to
contradict that understanding of Mugabe's game plan. Already we are seeing
poor Tsvangirai trying to explain away the new farm invasions. Unless the
MDC can get the rule of law restored very soon, it should pull out of this
government. And even before then, it should hand back those Mercedes-Benzes,
the very symbols of co-option.
Tsvangirai up against the wall
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
Power
sharing has entrenched tyranny
Moses Mudzwiti
IT IS 50
days since Zimbabwe's political rivals formed a unity
government and nothing
much has changed - ordinary people are still hungry
and living in
fear.
President Robert Mugabe may be 85, but he is not letting go
of the
instruments that have kept him in power for three decades. His most
potent
weapon - fear - remains as effective as ever.
Zimbabweans
are afraid to complain about their terrible circumstances
in case they are
branded enemies of the unity government. No one has the
guts to stand up to
the charade of the power-sharing government.
Mugabe still calls the
shots and now he has his former arch rival,
prime minister and leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan
Tsvangirai, in a total bind.
Seven weeks on and none of the MDC demands which threatened to derail
the
formation of the unity government have been met.
The Southern African
Development Community - the sponsor of the unity
government - assured the
MDC outstanding matters would be speedily resolved
once it was on board.
Instead, MDC activists remain behind bars, archaic and
draconian media laws
are firmly entrenched, and arbitrary land seizures and
the systematic
repression of "unpatriotic" businesses and people continues.
At the
opening of a retreat for cabinet ministers in the resort town
of Victoria
Falls on Friday, Tsvangirai owned up to the problems besieging
the unity
government.
"There are still outstanding issues that should have been
resolved at
the formation of this government," he said. "We must acknowledge
and address
some of the elements that are obstructing the full
implementation of the GPA
(global political agreement)."
The prime
minister listed the matters which required urgent attention
as follows:
tackling fresh farm invasions and the reversal of Mugabe's
arbitrary
appointment of new provincial governors and other high-profile
officials.
These matters would be resolved this week, Tsvangirai said. So
far, Mugabe
has refused to get rid of his maverick central bank governor,
Gideon Gono,
largely blamed for Zimbabwe's inflation record of 231 million
percent and
the demise of its currency. It's unlikely he will agree to sack
his new
attorney-general, Johannes Tomana, central in new land invasions
aimed at
evicting Zimbabwe's remaining white commercial farmers.
All the talk
about economic recovery and the restoration of individual
rights has not
amounted to much. The government has not changed its ways.
Open dissent is
still equated with treason. Independent journalists are
still prevented from
practising their craft. Often branded as "terrorists",
they are unfairly
denied accreditation.
Patronage and corruption continue to thrive
openly. Those connected to
Mugabe and his Zanu(PF) party expect, and in most
cases still get, whatever
benefits the government might still be able to
disperse. Judges, army
officers and police bosses, reporters at state-owned
media and other
Mugabe-loyalists have been handsomely rewarded with free
farms, equipment,
fertiliser, seed and fuel. Some have even accepted plasma
television sets as
part of the bargain. New members of parliament - the
majority from the prime
minister's MDC - have been promised new vehicles
once donor funding returns.
Meanwhile, cholera, which has killed more
than 4000 people, remains a
threat. High-density suburbs in the cities still
have no running water.
Regular power cuts have all but cut off communication
with the outside
world.
Though supermarkets have managed to stock
up on food, their prices
remain beyond the reach of many. With unemployment
running at more than 90
percent, money is not easy to come by. The United
Nations estimates that 7
million of the country's 9 million people are in
dire need of food aid.
Hospitals and schools continue to operate on an
ad hoc basis.
But Tsvangirai remains optimistic. On Friday, he outlined
what he
described as the unity government's achievements.
"Together, we have overseen the opening of hospitals and schools, the
taming
of hyperinflation, the lowering of prices of basic commodities and
the
rationalisation of utility tariffs.
"We have started paying civil
servants a monthly allowance to allow
the public sector to begin working
again and to provide an essential
stimulus to the economy," he
said.
However, for government workers who have been reduced to earning
just
$100 (R914) a month, Tsvangirai's optimism provides cold comfort. All
government workers earn the same salary because differentials are paid in
worthless Zimbabwe dollars.
Undeterred by the lack of visible
progress, Tsvangirai has tasked his
expensive and expansive 71-member
cabinet with creating a recovery plan to
take effect in the next 100 days.
But with no money in the kitty, Zimbabwe
hopes its neighbours and
sympathetic international donors will come to her
rescue. Estimates of how
much money is needed to revive the economy have
varied from $2-billion
(R18.2 billion) to $10-billion.
However, as Tsvangirai has noted, some
things have to change before
sceptical donors can be won over. "Donor
countries and multi- lateral
institutions are looking at the restoration of
the rule of law as a key
benchmark that must be achieved before they will
fully engage with this
inclusive government," he said.
The problem
is that the unity government has a life span of just two
years. Time is of
the essence. Within the next 16 months, a new constitution
should be in
place ahead of new elections.
Meanwhile, Mugabe, whose re- election
last year was widely held as a
fraud, enjoys a fresh mandate, cemented and
legitimised by the MDC.
As for ordinary Zimbabweans, their fear of
Mugabe has been re-
inforced by his defiance of the West and his remarkable
ability to get his
former enemies to address him as "your
Excellency".
The old geezer is going nowhere, and no one can do
anything about it.
The Times (SA)
Going,
Going Gono?
http://www.iwpr.net/EN-zim-f-351617
The knives are out for Zimbabwe's profligate central bank
governor.
By Chipo Sithole in Harare (ZCR No. 188,
8-Apr-09)
Controversial Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, RBZ, governor Gideon
Gono is
fighting for his political life, with his powers severely whittled
down and
his unfettered access to the treasury cut off.
On April 9,
President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara are expected to meet to end Gono's
tenure at the
helm of the RBZ.
The three have resolved to audit the central bank and to
take action if
there is evidence of impropriety on the governor's part, as
alleged by
donors and by both Tsvangirai and Mutambara.
Gono's
mandate as central bank chief was unilaterally renewed by Mugabe for
a
second five-year term in December 2008, sparking opposition outrage.
The
Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, which blames Gono for ruining the
economy, insists the governor's re-appointment went against the spirit of
the September 15 power-sharing agreement which sets out that all executive
appointments must be made after consultation between Mugabe and his prime
minister.
Calls for the governor's removal have escalated, with the
latest coming from
the G20 group of countries who are expected to bankroll
Zimbabwe's
reconstruction. The G20 issued a statement urging the new
government to take
steps to demonstrate its commitment to reform through
"the establishment of
a credible and transparent central bank
team".
Britain's Africa minister Lord Malloch-Brown has warned that no
financial
support will be forthcoming until there is new, competent and
trustworthy
team at the central bank.
Gono is a personal banker to
and personal friend of Mugabe, who is battling
to keep him in his
job.
Recently, calls for Gono to be sacked have intensified. Parliament
has
summoned him to respond to reports of impropriety.
In an apparent
attempt to curry favour with legislators ahead of the
meeting, Gono pledged
at a meeting held in Harare on April 2 to give the 314
representatives in
both houses of the bicameral parliament second-hand
vehicles while they
await their brand-new Nissan Navaras, to be used for
constituency
work.
The used vehicles were apparently bought for an ill-fated project
during
which central bank staff were deployed around the country to educate
the
public about the country's new currency.
Claiming that his offer
was a "temporary measure" to enable legislators to
visit their
constituencies, Gono said, "You will give us back our vehicles
when the
finance minister gets money to buy you new vehicles."
The offer had the
effect of mollifying some of the more vocal members of
parliament, who were
demanding the central bank chief's head.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti,
who has clipped Gono's wings and has
reportedly called at two successive
cabinet meetings for the governor to be
removed, has warned him against
giving away cars, stating that it is not his
job to do so.
At the
ministerial retreat in Victoria Falls, Biti instructed Gono to stop
engaging
in "quasi-fiscal activities". "[He] had no authority to give the
members of
parliament the cars," Biti said. "I certainly need to know where
the money
came from."
The offer comes amid swirling controversy over the brand-new
luxurious,
three-litre official Mercedes Benz E-Class vehicles accepted by
MDC
ministers who, in the past, have railed against government profligacy
amid
grinding poverty.
Education Minister David Coltart is the only
member of the cabinet to have
rejected the luxury vehicle, saying he could
not accept the offer with a
clear conscience.
Chipo Sithole is the
pseudonym of an IWPR-trained reporter in Zimbabwe.
Nobel Peace Laureate urges Africans to "rise up"
and demand better leaders
From CNN, 7 April
By Hilary Whiteman
The same
problems that brought the global banking system to its knees are
shackling
Africa to a future of corruption and hunger, Nobel Peace Laureate
Wangari
Maathai told CNN. "In any society, if there is no regulation, if
there is no
control, you will always get greedy and selfish people who are
prepared to
take the economy very far for their own selfish ends," she said.
The
69-year-old Kenyan was speaking on the phone ahead of the launch of her
book, "The Challenge for Africa," in the US this week. "To me the whole
continent, especially south of the Sahara, is facing the same challenges and
the main challenge there, as I have said many times, is governance. People
get leaders they deserve," she continued. "So if they are getting leaders in
Africa that are not caring about us, it's because they let them. If we want
a responsible leadership, the African people have to rise up and demand that
kind of leadership from their leaders."
Wangari Maathai has a
long history of pushing boundaries in Africa. In 1964,
she became the first
woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate
degree and went on to
establish the Green Belt Movement, a tree-planting
scheme promoting both the
empowerment of locals and environmental
conservation. In 2004, she was
awarded a Nobel Peace Prize "for her
contribution to sustainable
development, democracy and peace." In 2009, she
told CNN she is worried
about the impact of the global economic downturn on
Africa, combined with
the consequences of global warming on a continent
that's already suffering
from drought, food shortages and a paucity of
responsible leadership. "We
see time and time again that the ruling elite
are the least concerned about
the poor and not only use the poor to argue
their case, but when the money
is available they're not paying attention to
the issues that would make a
difference in the lives of the poor people."
She said the rumbles of
discontent among the people of Kenya, her home
country, were getting louder.
On December 12 last year as the country
celebrated 45 years of independence
from British rule, President Mwai Kibaki
was heckled as he addressed the
crowd. "For the first time in our history,
the president was shouted down as
he was trying to address the people.
People shouted 'food, food, food ... we
are telling you we want food,'"
Maathai recalled. "That was completely
unprecedented so you can see that
people are unhappy, people are
dissatisfied and are even willing to let
their leaders know." Fifteen years
ago, Maathai would have been worried
about the possible consequences of
publicly criticizing the Kenyan
leadership. In those days, former President
Daniel arap Moi presided over an
era of political repression. After his
retirement in 2002, Maathai was
herself elected to parliament and served as
a minister until 2007. An
election in December of the same year sparked
violent clashes between
supporters of the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki
and the opposition leader
Raila Odinga, both of whom claimed victory. They
reached a power-sharing
deal in April 2008 with Odinga taking the post of
prime minister.
"It was a problem literally created by politicians
because they wanted
power," Maathai said of the recent turmoil in Kenya.
"They were able to
incite the poor people, they were able to make them kill
each other, and
they were able to make them rise up against each other. But
now that they
manage to come together, negotiate power, to share power. What
did they do?
They created the largest cabinet we have ever seen; 44
ministries and 53
assistant ministers. And why was that? Because they were
trying to please
each other. At the same time people are starving, people
are suffering, and
they are not spending the money on the poor, they are
spending the money on
themselves," she said. Maathai said the very fact that
she was able to
release a book criticizing Africa's political leadership
demonstrates how
much has been achieved in the past few decades. "I'm able
to write a book
like that, and I'm not in jail yet and so we are making the
changes, but
unfortunately for the majority of the people change is not
coming fast
enough," she said.
Press Statement - UPP R/04/09
ZIMBABWE, OPPORTUNITY OR
BETRAYAL
Zimbabweans must try hard to be optimistic and
co-operate with all
progressive policies of this government, for the sake of
our country, and
work hard to minimize any further collateral damage. Maybe
this honeymoon
may last. However, let us wish this dispensation well. Let us
hope that
reason, justice, peace and love can be the mainstay of our
nationhood. Yet
in our optimism, let us not be oblivious of the truth. It is
this truth that
will inform us of the evils we are confronted with, and how
to scale the
said challenges.
We now must move forward and do
all that we can, to peacefully shape our
future. To do so, we need to know
what we really want, how to get it, and
begin to move decisively towards the
attainment of our objective; democracy.
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing a
semblance of a dawn. The media is
hyping away, in a very partisan fashion,
as it did in the period leading to
the failed elections and now, this Power
Sharing deal. Everybody is quiet or
is neglecting the truth of the ensuing
bleak future, in the absence of true
democracy. Let us not seek to mislead
our nation about the reality and the
medium to long term consequences of our
situation.
The management and conduct of the disputed and bloody
2008 elections exposed
yet another dark side of our political history.
Murders, Assaults,
Corruption, Partisanship and absence of the Rule of Law,
were manifested at
an unprecedented level. Has this ended? Is Zanu PF
exercising the
'Possession is 90% of the law,' expression? Which law? Why
did the MDC
capitulate when they seemed to have Zanu PF on the back foot?
Was it for
expediency, democracy or power? We are all curiously watching.
Time will
tell.
Zanu PF realized that it could manipulate and
distract the MDC from the real
issues and point it to the Power Sharing
agenda. The stage was then set for
cosmetic changes and a false partnership,
giving Zanu PF a new lease of
power. In the long term, the MDC will be
weakened, thus will always be a
junior partner, marginalized and of no real
effect to the future of the
country. Others more astute have fallen before
them.
The UPP has been advocating for an inclusive Government of
National Unity
(GNU). This would have included other Political parties,
Civic Society, the
Church, Women groups, Youth groups, and Business
representatives. We
objected and continue to object to an exclusive Zanu PF
and MDC deal, but
advocate for an inclusive national position, collectively
driven to meet
specific milestones that lead to true democratic elections.
The current GNU
is only about Power Sharing, not inclusive and has no
democratic mandate. It
is in fact, an open ended Zanu PF agenda, without any
measurable democratic
deliverables.
The Constitutional Court
judgment of August 2008 and the pending SADC
Tribunal case on elections and
GNU respectively, clearly show the extent of
flaws in the whole GNU process.
This is one of the issues that caused the
negotiated agreement to be wrong
footed and focus on Power Sharing, instead
of the Democratization Process.
True power sharing would have occurred as a
consequence of an inclusive
democratization process, and not vice versa.
Zimbabwe can not settle for
early, but short lived dividends. It must be
noted that, any elections under
the current constitution or electoral laws,
can not be democratic, free or
fair.
The GNU should be a temporal or bridging authority, whose
main focus should
be the ushering in of a new popular people driven
constitution (Not some
Kariba document agreed upon by Zanu PF and MDC). A
popular constitution
would address the issues of the abuse of power,
elections, rule of law,
corruption and many other issues of public interest.
The nation has been
short changed and betrayed. Zimbabwe has been greatly
compromised and let
down by SADC.
A new popular constitution
would underwrite and underpin our freedoms, rule
of law and the basis upon
which our economy can be turned around. Politics
of patronage have always
been Zanu PF's mainstay. We must refuse to be part
of it. The international
community has not been fooled; neither should
Zimbabweans be sweet talked
while being raped. Let us be guarded, the false
perception we find our
country in is unsustainable without internal growth,
which must be triggered
by investor confidence and international financial
and technical
support.
The authoritarian nature of the Zanu PF government is
still at play.
Extralegal and extrajudicial activities, disrespect of the
rule of law,
expropriation of property, police arrests (investigate later),
and other
human rights abuses still subsist. Are we really free or
betrayed? These
activities do not instil confidence, but only lead to
further distraction
and hardships. What we really need is a popular
Constitution. We need order.
We need peace. Let's not fail the nation and
our future or destroy the hope
and optimism.
You shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free. May our good
Lord bless
Zimbabwe and may we all be covered by the blood of Jesus. Thank
you.
By Dr Daniel K.
Shumba
President, United People's Party (UPP).
Constitution Watch 1 of 7th April 2009 [Towards a New Constitution]
CONSTITUTION
WATCH 1/2009
[7th
April 2009]
Parliamentary
Process Leading to a New Constitution
Under article 6 of
the Inter-party Political Agreement [IPA] the inclusive government must draft a
new Constitution for Zimbabwe and put it to the people in
a referendum. According to the IPA, the drafting will be done by a select
committee of Parliament, which must consult “stakeholders” and the public and
hold two All-Stakeholders Conferences for the purpose. If Parliament’s draft is
approved in the referendum, then the Inclusive Government must have it
introduced into Parliament as a Bill, and, if Parliament passes the Bill, it
must be brought into force as the new Constitution of Zimbabwe.
[Electronic
version of the IPA is available on request]
Time-Frame
for the Parliamentary Process
The Inclusive
Government is given a maximum of 20 months in which to complete
the various stages of
the process.
The IPA specifies time-limits for
each stage, starting from the date of inception of the inclusive government.
As article 6 was
not incorporated into the Constitution by Constitution Amendment No 19, it is
just an agreement between the parties, and they could renegotiate the timetable,
but the present indications are that the inclusive government will try to abide
by the agreed timetable.
[The
dates given below are the deadlines based on the maximum time allowed for each
stage under the IPA, Article 6]
13 February
2009 saw the
inception of the new Government [i.e.
the date on which most of the Ministers were sworn in]
13 April - Select
committee to be set up [must
be done within two months of inception of a new
Government]
13 July -
Convening of the first All Stakeholders Conference [must
be held within 3 months of the date of the appointment of the select
committee]
13 November -
Public consultation process completed [must
be completed no later than 4 months after the date of the first All Stakeholders
Conference]
13 February
2010 - The draft of the Constitution
must be prepared and tabled before a second All Stakeholders Conference [must
be done within 3 months after the public consultation process is
completed]
13 March - The committee’s draft
Constitution and its accompanying report must be tabled before Parliament
[the
draft and report must be tabled within 1 month of the second All-Stakeholders
Conference]
Parliament has a month to debate the
draft and report [presumably both
Houses]
13 April - Parliament
[i.e. both
Houses]
must conclude its debate on the
committee’s draft Constitution and report [within
one month]
The draft Constitution emerging from
Parliament [i.e. with whatever changes
Parliament has made to it] must be gazetted before the holding of a
referendum.
According to
Article 6.1 of the IPA, the Committee's draft Bill must be introduced into
"Parliament" and the Bill "emerging from Parliament" must be gazetted and put to
a referendum. The negotiators seem to have forgotten that there are two Houses
of Parliament, and the IPA does not say what is to happen if the Senate and the
House of Assembly fail to agree upon the Committee's draft. If they conclude
their debate with irreconcilable differences as to what should be included in
the draft, what is to be put to the referendum?
13 July - A referendum
on the new draft Constitution must be held
[within
3 months of the conclusion of Parliament’s debate]
13 August - The gazetting
of the draft Constitution as a Bill, if it is approved in the referendum
[it must be gazetted within 1 month of the date of the
date of the referendum] ;
what
is to happen if the Bill is rejected in the referendum is not
stated]
13 October - The Constitution Bill must be introduced in Parliament [presumably either the
House of
Assembly or the
Senate] [this must be done no later than 1 month after the
expiration of the period of 30 days from the date of its
gazetting]
No time limits
are given for what happens after the Constitution Bill is introduced in
Parliament - probably because, if Parliament passes the Bill, the procedure for
bringing the new Constitution into operation will be laid down in the Bill
itself.
The IPA does not
say what is to happen if Parliament rejects the Constitution Bill – although it
is unlikely to do so if the Bill has been approved at a
referendum.
Select
Committee of Parliament on the Constitution
This select
committee should be announced within the next week. Unofficial reports say the
three political parties have agreed that the select committee should consist of
25 members of Parliament co-chaired by a member from each of the parties.
Article 6.1 of IPA
states that this committee may set up sub-committees which will include
representatives of civil society as well as members of Parliament. Each
sub-committee will be chaired by a member of Parliament.
The select
committee is mandated to hold public hearings and engage in whatever
consultations it considers necessary for the constitution-making
process.
Parliament-Driven
Process vs People-Driven Process
The
Constitution-making process and time-frame outlined in the substantive
provisions of article 6 of the IPA, is essentially a Parliament-driven process,
albeit with some consultation with stakeholders and the public. The question is
whether this will satisfy the aspirations of Zimbabweans to have a
“people-driven” constitution-making process. In fact, the preamble to article 6
in the IPA recognises these aspirations:
“Acknowledging that it is the
fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a constitution by
themselves and for themselves;
Aware that the process of
making this constitution must be owned and driven by the people and must be
inclusive and democratic;
Determined to create
conditions for our people to write a constitution for
themselves;”
As article 6 is not
written in stone [it was not
incorporated into the Constitution] perhaps the
political parties can agree to revisit the Constitution-making process, taking
the sentiments of the preamble into consideration, in order to satisfy all those
who have been working on a new Constitution for the last twelve years.
It would be
disastrous to have parallel processes such as took place in 1999, with a
Government Constitutional Commission and a National Constitutional Assembly
process running concurrently, and the outcome being a rejection of the
government Constitution in the referendum of February 2000.
“Kariba
Draft Constitution”
[Electronic
version available on request]
In the preamble to
article 6 of the IPA, the parties “acknowledge” a draft constitution that they
signed at Kariba on 30th September 2007. Although this acknowledgement does not
bind the select committee to base its new draft on the Kariba draft, the mention
in the IPA of this draft, which is considered very unsatisfactory by most civil
society analysts, has raised concerns that it will be used as a starting point
by the select committee.
Civil
Society Initiatives
Civil Society got
off the mark quicker than the government. On 6th February a
Constitutional Conference was held with several hundred participants
representing NGOs, Unions, Churches, youth organisations, etc. The Conference
included an overview of the of the Peoples Charter and its position on a new
Constitution [People’s
Charter available in electronic version on request] and of the history of civil
society’s campaign for a new Constitution which has been ongoing since 1997.
The Conference went on to examine the constitution-making process set out in
Article 6 of the IPA vis-à-vis what has already been set out in the People’s
Charter and in civil society’s previous work [in particular the NCA’s] on
constitution-making. The conference issued the following
communiqué:
NATIONAL CIVIL
SOCIETY CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE
COMMUNIQUÉ
We civil society organisations in
Zimbabwe, meeting at the All
stakeholders Constitutional Conference, in Harare on the 6th of February
2009;
Recalling
the processes that lead to the creation of the Peoples’ Convention and
subsequent drafting and adopting of the Peoples’
Charter;
Specifically
recalling the spirit and letter of Article 3 of the Peoples’ Charter in respect
of constitution making processes;
Being
mindful of the Global Political Agreement,
particularly Article 6 which relates to a constitution making
process;
We the civil society organisations
hereby affirm our commitment to the following:
1.
We hold that Article 6 of the Global
Political Agreement is and remains inadequate as a tool of creating a new people
driven constitution. This is because the oversight role given to the Parliament
of Zimbabwe in the same said article is undemocratic and subject to political
party control as evidenced by the passage of Constitutional Amendment Number 19
on February 5 2009 and that this view shall be communicated to the political
parties in the GPA as well as the Parliament of
Zimbabwe.
2.
We reaffirm our commitment to
Section 3 of the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter which outlines both the content and
process of a people-driven constitution.
3.
That civil society shall be guided
by the principles articulated over the last 10 years in relation to
constitutional reform, both in the People’s Charter as well as in Resolutions of
the People’s Constitutional Convention of 1999 on the definition of people
driven processes in relation to an All Stakeholders Constitutional Commission,
National Referendum, National Outreach, Compilations and Draft
Constitution.
4.
That at the end of the
constitutional reform process, there should be a general election conducted in
terms of the provision of that new democratic
constitution.
5.
That the views sought and acquired
after a public outreach and consultation process be made public as well as
unchangeable by law or the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
Veritas makes every
effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for
information supplied