SITHEMBISO Nyoni, the Minister of Small and
Medium Enterprises Development, whose position became constitutionally
untenable when a three-month dispensation expired last month, has been
demoted from President Robert Mugabe's Cabinet following an outcry from
constitutional experts and civil society groups.
She has,
however been retained as a consultant in the President's Office, and still
oversees the small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) portfolio and,
according to government sources, has retained all the accoutrements of
ministerial office. Government spokesperson George Charamba said Nyoni
had ceased to be a minister as soon as her term expired. "She
stopped being a minister a long time ago and is now a consultant in the
President's Office working on SMEs," Charamba said. "We are very happy with
her performance. She will become a minister. We are just keeping her now
pending regularisation of her post but in the meantime she will mind
SMEs." Nyoni, whose appointment at the time of the April Cabinet
reshuffle raised an outcry, had up to July 15 to regularise her position by
becoming a Member of Parliament. The Constitution of Zimbabwe requires that
Cabinet ministers be Members of Parliament and, at the time of her
appointment, President Mugabe announced that he would use the three-month
provision to normalise the situation. At the time the proposed Senate was
widely expected to provide sanctuary to the former minister.
However, with the proposed Senate Bill still to pass through Parliament due
to unforeseen delays, Nyoni's position in Cabinet became invalid last
month. Nyoni, who has become one of the more notable faces in the
forefront of government efforts to mitigate the effects of Operation
Murambatsvina/Restore Order - a widely condemned exercise branded a
"disastrous venture" by the United Nations, suffered a drubbing at the hands
of the Movement for Democratic Change's David Coltart in Bulawayo South
constituency during the March general elections. However, Nyoni is
likely to bounce back into Cabinet if she is appointed into the proposed
66-member Senate that is widely expected to accommodate ZANU PF heavyweights
who could not make it into President Mugabe's bloated government.
Contacted yesterday, the reticent Nyoni declined to comment. "You know the
office that appoints people, I do not want to comment," she said tersely
before switching off her phone. This is not the first time
President Mugabe has had to re-engineer the Cabinet he announced in April.
Just two days after announcing the line-up, President Mugabe adjusted Flora
Bhuka's Lands and Resettlement portfolio and brought it under Didymus
Mutasa's National Security Ministry, creating an unprecedented situation
where one minister reports to the other.
TROUBLED media
group Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), which has lost over $10
billion in legal and other operational costs since September 2003, has
petitioned the High Court over the government's decision to deny it a
licence.
ANZ, publishers of the banned Daily News and Daily News on
Sunday, argues that contrary to the provisions of the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which give the Media and Information
Commission (MIC) 90 days to make a decision on licence applications, the
state-run body took four months to deal with its papers. "I believe
that they (MIC) misdirected themselves . . . I believe we satisfied
everything," ANZ chief executive Sam Sipepa Nkomo told a meeting organised
by a group of human rights lawyers in Harare last Thursday. He added:
"The Daily News won't seek political accommodation. Once we seek political
accommodation, kiss goodbye to The Daily News and I resign." The
publishing group, which has already filed an application in the
Administrative Court challenging the MIC's decision, had its two titles shut
down in September 2003 after the Supreme Court ruled that they were
operating "outside the law" by refusing to register with the MIC.
ANZ had refused to register with the commission pending the outcome of its
challenge in the Supreme Court of the constitutionality of some provisions
of AIPPA, the law that created the MIC and requires journalists and media
houses to register with the commission.
THE government,
grappling with the worst economic crisis in the history of the country, is
not showing any signs of backtracking from its reactionary bravado of
sacrificing the little that remains of what used to be a robust economy for
cheap political gain.
Shortages of essentials commodities such as
food, drugs, fuel and electricity have plunged the country of 12 million
people - now resembling a house on fire - into negative growth rates with
last year's estimates indicating the economy shrunk by a frightening 8.2
percent. Nothing short of huge capital inflows and properly structured
foreign loans, analysts said, could douse the flames and pave way for
economic revival longed for by the central bank, whose five-year vision
might crumble unless the political leaders pull down the walls of egoism
impairing their view of the harsh realities confronting the ordinary
people. Harare, which has taken the begging bowl around the so-called
friendly states, has literally slammed the doors on foreign funding that
comes with strings attached. While it is sound business practice to
demand that certain conditions, which may include the restructuring of
institutions, be met before releasing loans, Harare is adamant that the
"mutual exchange of benefits should be regarded as part of our bilateral
engagements." In other words, it is determined to let the economy sink
as long as the governing party upholds its principles, never mind the
consequences. "Today, we tell all those calling for such ill-conceived
talks to please stop misdirecting their efforts. The rest of the world knows
who must be spoken to," President Robert Mugabe was quoted in the daily
Herald as saying in what might have been meant to pre-empt South Africa,
which has offered Zimbabwe a bail out package tied to long-term economic and
constitutional reforms. "In case they do not, we tell them here at
Heroes' Acre that the man who needs to be spoken to in order to make him see
reason resides at Number 10 Downing Street (the official residence of the
British Prime Minister Tony Blair)," the ageing Zimbabwean leader said;
adding: "That is the man to speak to and those at Harvest House (the
Movement for Democratic Change - MDC - headquarters) are no more than his
stooges and puppets. What does it pay us to speak to them? We would rather
talk to the principal." South Africa, which has failed to thaw
political relations between ZANU PF and the MDC and has offered its northern
neighbour a US$500 million rescue package, has been driven into a tight
corner and might change tact-ics from its "quiet diplomacy." This
comes as Nigeria has ratcheted up pressure on ZANU PF to meet the main
opposition party by appointing former Mozambican president Joachim Chissano
to mediate in any dialogue between the feuding parties. Former
government spin-doctor Jonathan Moyo said President Mugabe's remarks were
the clearest indication that the veteran politician had lost grip of the
crisis and that he now lacks the skills to resolve it. "He clearly now
needs to find a constitutional way out of office as a matter of urgency. It
is outrageous and objectionable in the extreme for President Mugabe to
claim, in a manner reminiscent of sell-out chiefs in the colonial era who
thought only they and not their subjects had the sole right to talk to
imperialists, that he would rather dialogue with the Prime Minister of
Zimbabwe's former colonial master than talk to Zimbabweans," said Moyo who
was dismissed from government for defying party rules. Moyo, who joined
the government in 2000 after mounting a spirited campaign for the rejected
draft constitution, was axed after he stood as an independent in the March
elections. ZANU PF, a party that prides itself of liberating the
country from Britain, sees the MDC, which commands 41 seats of the 120
contested Parliamentary seats, as a front for the former colonial master and
its allies. Britain, the United States and other member states in
the European Union have slapped targeted sanctions on President Mugabe and
some of his top officials for allegedly mismanaging the economy and a
perceived poor human rights records. The government has denied
ruining the economy and instead heaped the blame on the MDC and its
"sponsors", whom it accuses of sabotaging the economy in retaliation to the
land seizures of 2000. Analysts said ZANU PF should acknowledge that
nearly half of the electorate voted for the MDC in 2000 and have kept their
faith in the opposition party as evidenced by the results of 2002 and the
March 2005 polls. "It is therefore, irresponsible for ZANU PF to
think that people voted for Blair. Why should the party have such a low
opinion of its people," said a local political analyst who declined to be
named. The analyst said ZANU PF had sacrificed the economy for
political expediency by refusing to engage the MDC and yet claimed to be
running a multi-party democracy. Zimbabwe, which until its recent
troubles produced enough food to feed the entire region, cannot feed its own
people anymore. The country has struggled with unsustainable fiscal
deficits, bare shelves and high inflation. World Bank director for
the country, Hartwig Schafer, said the rapid economic decline over the past
six years is highly unprecedented for a country which is not at
war. "I can't think of a country that has experienced such a decline in
peace time," he said adding "The major reasons for decline are the breakdown
of agricultural productivity and distortion of economic policies."
Agriculture was the traditional provider of exports and foreign exchange. At
its peak, the sector used to employ 400 000 people. Moyo said President
Mugabe does not trust Zimbabweans and would rather dialogue with Blair who
was the object of ZANU PF's election campaign, dubbed an "anti-Blair
election" only four months ago. "If (President) Mugabe does not trust
Zimbabweans to the point of not wanting to talk to them, then he clearly has
no business being their President. The matter is that simple," said
Moyo. MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube was quoted this week saying
his party had "never demanded bilateral talks with ZANU PF" or "asked to be
in a government of national unity with (President) Mugabe's
regime". "We have never demanded bilateral talks with ZANU PF," Ncube
said when responding to President Mugabe's statement on Monday that Zimbabwe
would not accept any aid if it depended on dialogue with the MDC.
"We have also never asked to be in a government of national unity with
Mugabe's regime. But we can't have national consensus without national
discourse. It's nonsensical to think ZANU PF can talk to
itself."
ZIMBABWE never begged
South Africa for financial aid and President Thabo Mbeki has not tied any
reforms as conditions to a planned loan to Zimbabwe, a government spokesman
has said.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba revealed yesterday
it is the South Africans who approached Harare with a financial rescue
offer, whose terms have been kept under wraps by both sides for weeks,
although some details came to light this week. "We never asked for
any money from South Africa. It was the World Bank that approached Mbeki and
said 'please help Zimbabwe'. They (South Africa) then offered to help us,"
Charamba told The Financial Gazette yesterday. His comments contradict
earlier official denials that South African Vice President Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka had delivered Mbeki's offer to President Robert Mugabe when
she visited Harare last month. Zimbabwe has however, previously
admitted to approaching China, Malaysia, India and even Namibia for cash in
the face of acute foreign currency shortages that have left it hamstrung and
unable to import fuel, electricity and food. The offer has raised a
storm in South Africa with the opposition Democratic Alliance doing all it
can to scuttle the offer. A South African church group, however, said it
received assurances from Mbeki at a Tuesday meeting that the country would
not enter into an "irresponsible loan" agreement, remarks that were taken in
South Africa as confirming there would be conditions tied to the
loan. But Charamba insisted yesterday that the loan would be on purely
commercial terms. "There are no terms of agreement on the loan
other than the commercial terms that exist between lender and borrower. The
loan will be repaid at market rates. South Africa is not being charitable.
This is just one country in surplus lending to an indebted country,"
Charamba said. Logan Wort, a spokesman for the South African Finance
Ministry, where Zimbabwean and South African negotiators met last week, said
reports on the size of the loan - earlier put at US$1 billion - were "purely
speculative", but declined to comment on reports Zimbabwe had refused to
agree to conditions reportedly tied to the loan. The terms of the
agreement have been closely guarded pending formal announcements by both
governments, expected as early as next week, according to some sources. But
a government official says the loan would come in tranches spread over
18-month periods. A first tranche of US$200 million would be released
for part repayment of the US$295 million International Monetary Fund (IMF)
arrears. This means the loan deal will have to be revealed soon, as the IMF
board meets to take the crucial vote on Zimbabwe in just over three
weeks. More funds would be made available depending on Zimbabwe meeting
economic performance targets, the source said. Mbeki recently told reporters
that South Africa could take over part of Zimbabwe's debt, but said the
country would have to first reform its economic policy - particularly the
multiple exchange rates. Reports have said that a central demand of
the loan deal is dialogue between ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC). President Mugabe had a searing retort on
Monday to those pressing him towards talks, saying if any talks were ever
going to be held they would have to be with British Prime Minister Tony
Blair, whom he called "the principal" of the MDC. After last week's
meeting at the South African finance ministry, it is understood that Mbeki
in fact seeks a broader national dialogue beyond ZANU PF and MDC, possibly a
new constitution review process inclusive of civic groups. South
African Anglican Archbishop and close advisor to Mbeki, Njongonkulu
Ndungane, in a statement after Tuesday's meeting, said Mbeki and three of
his ministers at the meeting had assured the clergymen that South Africa was
"not going to enter into any loan agreement in an irresponsible way and that
all proper processes will be followed including engaging with
parliament."
GOVERNMENT has
completed a disputed takeover of Mutumwa Mawere's controlling shareholding
in FSI Agri-com, a key subsidiary of SMM Holdings, after cre-ditors agreed a
debt-to-equity swap Tuesday.
The vote was taken mostly by
representatives of a string of quasi-government agencies, among them the
Zimba-bwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), ZESA Pension Fund and numerous rural
district councils, revealing the depth of past state involvement with
Mawere, now wanted over alleged foreign currency related crimes.
FSI owes government $115 billion - including another $50 billion that
government has agreed to give administrator Afaras Gwaradzimba for cotton
purchases - making the state the largest creditor and now the largest
shareholder in FSI. After Tuesday's vote, FSI's share capital will
be increased from $20 000 divided into 20 000 shares of $1 each to $1
million divided into 1 million shares of $1 each. The 1 million shares will
be further divided into 100 million ordinary sha-res of 1 cent each. The
value of the scheme shares will be equivalent to the amount owing as at May
31. A new board and senior staff will be appointed and all "dormant"
subsidiaries of the company will be disposed of over the next six months,
during which Gwaradzimba will implement the re-form plan. FSI, according to
Gwaradzimba's plan-ned scheme, now beco-mes an "investee company" of
government. The scheme was ex-pected to be submitted to Justice,
Legal and Parlia-mentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa this week ahead
of the publishing of a notice on the result of the vote in the Government
Gazette, possibly today. FSI Agricom was pla-ced under
reconstruction in September last year, but the order was lifted in December.
However, FSI remained under reconstruction, as it is a subsidiary of SMM,
whose reconstruction order re-mains in place. FSI's consolidated
balance sheet as at Septe-mber 2004 shows assets of $69.1 billion against
liabilities of $59 billion, suggesting the company was technically solvent.
Gwa-radzimba concedes to this fact, but alleges that the company had cash
flow problems owing to diversion of funds to other companies related to
Mawere. According to a report prepared by Gwara-dzimba for creditors,
FSI owed several banks a total of $37.9 billion as at September last year,
and was facing possible liquidation after the banks rolled over the loans on
rates of up to 600 percent. SMM was placed under Gwaradzimba's
ad-ministration last year after Mawere was ac-cused of illegally
externalising the proceeds of asbestos exports from SMM, the country's
single largest asbestos producer. Mawere denies the charges, saying the
allegations are part of a ploy by politicians to seize his
companies. Prior to his bitter fallout with government, Ma-were's vast
business interests spanned the mining, financial and insurance sectors. But
the SMM state takeover set off major losses for Mawere, the most recent
being his loss of control at Zimre Holdings Limited (ZHL).
Government used the reinsurer's $60 billion ri-ghts issue to raise its
shareholding from 8 percent to take a controlling 46 percent stake, after a
deal with lead underwriter FBC Holdings. Mawe-re's interests in ZHL were
slashed to below 9 percent.
A MONTH ago, fund
manager Ben Ndebele sat in a boardroom with two executives representing a
top client, a major pension fund, and laid down for them how his blend of
equities and money market instruments had grown their investment-beating
inflation, but only just.
Now, he wishes that, in addition to his
mix of clever stock picks and deft plays on the money market, he could have
added to his investment basket what many market movers are calling
"non-conventional investments". In a market increasingly short on
profitable scrip that is a one-way-bet in beating inflation, fund managers
are turning green with envy at a booming market for foreign currency and
fuel. It's a "non conventional market" that fund managers have always
been strictly forbidden to dabble in, especially after the leash was
tightened by central bank after the financial crisis of last year. But these
are extraordinary times. In an ironic twist of policy, Energy and Power
Development Minister Mike Nyambuya has now allowed those who had been
illegally stocking up on foreign currency to import fuel-"no questions
asked". "It's ironic, really," Ndebele said this week. "If you had
been breaking the law, you would be making a killing, legally this time. If
you were a saint, your portfolio will be just somewhere over there; just
okay, not spectacular." Now those people who chose to keep their
noses clean have an idea what Charles Dickens was going on about when he
famously said "the law is an ass". If fuel were a share trading on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), it would be one of those counters that
are always in huge demand. Pressure from buyers would always outrun that
from sellers by a wide mile-those in possession of the share never
hesitating to hold out for a higher price from ever desperate buyers ready
to pay anything to get in. News of just one share being made available
for purchase would entice a stampede, buyers bidding themselves hoarse just
to get at least one fuel share in their portfolio. The share would
have an upside potential bigger than that of any stock trading on the ZSE
today. The product is in short supply, and even if all the oil in Saudi
Arabia suddenly landed in the country, there is massive pent up demand that
would make sure a sudden surplus would never knock the share price.
Investors would hoard such a share in anticipation of future shortages,
keeping the huge premium on its price intact. Any news about the counter
would entice immediate and vibrant market interest-like what rumours about a
fuel delivery do to a city's rumour mill. Perhaps a fuel share would be
the only one competing with mighty PPC, the South African cement maker that
last month became the first ZSE counter to trade at over $1 million a
share. "You can buy defensive and under priced shares for your equities
and buy short term paper on the money market to beat inflation, but that's
where your strategy starts and ends. You can't diversify as much as you
would like in the current market," said the fund manager, saying his
portfolio was overweight on stock, which he believes can return
inflation-beating earnings for his peevish investors. "Textbooks
tell you that diversification spreads your risk, but there isn't too much
else to buy in our situation." The temptation to dive into the forex
and fuel market is getting stronger. If players can't resist, the market
could be heading back to the heady 2003 days that rewarded those that went
headlong into "non-conventional" investments while punishing conservatives
that refused to stray from "core business". There are many fund
managers who at the half year showed off to clients how clever they had
been, buying in the dips valuable stocks that had been ignored by the market
and selling when late-comers also wanted in. But few deny that the real
money is flowing to the same "economic saboteurs" that had been accumulating
stashes of foreign currency during a fervent campaign by authorities to
crush the black market. That fierce anti-black market drive has quickly
morphed into a policy of treating previously illegal dealers as saviours of
the economy.
THE government, stung
by a scathing United Nations (UN) report released late last month, was this
week edgy over the unexpected visit of the United States envoy to the world
body as it battles to meet self-imposed targets for providing housing to
victims of the clean-up exercise.
Tony Hall, the US ambassador to
the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, arrived yesterday to assess the
humanitarian crisis sparked by the two-month long blitz on shantytowns that
shattered the livelihoods of an estimated 700 000 people.
Government officials overseeing the reconstruction of structures for the
victims of the clean-up campaign are panicking amid indications that the
much-trumpeted Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle will not meet its target
despite official claims to the contrary. Ignatius Chombo, the
Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National, is on record as
saying the government would be able to build houses for the majority of the
affected people by the end of August this. Yesterday he was not
immediately available to comment on reports that only a handful of houses
had been constructed in Harare and Bulawayo, the two most affected
cities. Timothy Smith, the director of the US public affairs section in
Harare, was reluctant to discuss the alleged diplomatic rifts posed by the
ambassadors' visit, but said Hall's first port of call would be the capital
city and its environs, adding the visit "will go a long way in aiding the UN
and the US to solve the country's humanitarian and food security
crisis." Government reports at the weekend indicated Harare had not
been informed of ambassador Hall's visit. Last month an envoy dispatched by
the African Union to assess Operation Murambatsvina was forced to leave
without executing his mission after the government refused to sanction it
allegedly because proper procedures had not been followed. Bahare
Tom Nyandunga, a member of the African Commission on Humanand People's
Rights and Special Rapporteur responsible for Refugees and Asylum Seekers,
spent nearly a week cooling his feet at a local hotel in Harare waiting for
accreditation. He however, was forced to hastily leave the country
after Harare had expressed displeasure at his presence to his bosses in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Africa certain
to end the loser in showdown LAST week's decision by the African Union
(AU) to stick to its guns and press for two permanent seats with veto power
in an expanded United Nations Security Council - an inherently undemocratic
body which reflects the global power structure of 1945, when most of today's
nations were still under colonial rule - has set the stage for a showdown in
which the continent looks certain to end the loser.
A
compromise deal sold to some African leaders, including AU chairman and
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, by the
Group of Four (G4) - Brazil, Germany India and Japan - was rejected at last
week's extraordinary summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The G4 is pushing
for an expanded 25-member security council with six new permanent members -
four for them, and two for Africa - without veto-wielding powers.
According to reports from Ethiopia, 46 of the 53 AU states backed the AU's
position taken in Libya to push for the 15-member security council to be
expanded to 26, including six new permanent seats with veto-wielding powers
- of which two would be for Africa - and five new non-permanent seats, two
of which would also go to Africa. The G4 put forward the proposal in
the UN General Assembly, where it would need a two-thirds majority - and
then ratification by all existing permanent Security Council members - to
come into effect. At present, the US, the UK, France, Russia and China
are the only permanent members of the UN body with the power to veto. Ten
other nations rotate on two-year terms. If there is lack of
consensus on the reform proposals Africa will make in September, there is
even less convergence on who would take the seats the continent is gunning
for, with regional powerhouses South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt all coveting
the slots. Angola, Kenya and Algeria are also reported to harbour
similar ambitions. Outside the continent, other states have adopted
positions which run contrary to Africa's proposals, prompting the G4's
allies in Africa - led by Obasanjo - to caution against an all-or-nothing
approach which would certainly see the continent losing out.
Pakistan backs a different plan from a group known as Uniting for Consensus,
which proposes adding 10 new non-permanent members who would face
re-election, while the US is calling for two new permanent seats with no
veto power, including one for Japan. China has called for further
consultations on the issue. France, however, is reported to be among 20
states which have sponsored the G4 plan. The imbroglio is further
complicated by regional rivalries. For instance, Pakistan opposes
India, Argentina and Mexico oppose Brazil, South Korea and China oppose
Japan, and Italy opposes Germany. South African media this week accused
President Robert Mugabe, one of the most vociferous opponents of the G4
compromise deal, of scuppering its southern neighbour's security council
aspirations. The Sunday Independent (SA) even ascribed "a sinister
motive" to opponents of the "tactical" compromise deal with the G4.
"Was there an ulterior motive behind an African Union faction led by the
Zimbabwean leader ruining a tactical bid for Security Council reform?
"Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe this week helped defeat a South African
tactical move to win two permanent seats for Africa on the United Nations
Security Council. South Africa's defeat may have cost it and Africa an
influential permanent presence in the most powerful political body in the
world. "South Africa was considered one of the frontrunners for a
permanent seat on the council. Mugabe, Egypt and others spoke out at an
extraordinary African Union summit against a compromise deal which SA had
helped forge between the AU and the so-called G4, a coalition of four other
nations seeking permanent seats on the security council - Germany, Japan,
India and Brazil. President Thabo Mbeki argued strongly at the AU summit in
Addis Ababa on Thursday in favour of the compromise as the only realistic
way to get Africa permanent seats. But the Mugabe camp prevailed," The
Sunday Independent said in a commentary. The publication said a
united G4/AU position would have greatly strengthened their chances of
persuading the UN to expand the security council by adding six new permanent
seats - two from Africa - to the present five. Whatever emerges
when the 191 members of the UN meet in September to deliberate on the
Security Council and broader reforms, this is one issue which will not go
away, as much as it has dominated UN general assemblies over the past
decade. James Paul and Céline Nahory of the Global Policy Forum contend
that the ability of the global body to police the world does not necessarily
lie in an expanded security council as more permanent members could multiply
the deformities of permanency. "If the G4 resolution fails, as it
likely will, the Council will escape from a dangerous and crippling reform.
As the past 60 years have demonstrated, permanency of membership makes the
Council inflexible and unable to accommodate change. Like 'president for
life,' permanent membership sets the stage for future anomalies and provides
no avenue for normal evolution as states' status and power rises and
declines in the international system. "One ambassador from an
elected delegation in the Council called the permanent members mockingly the
"H-5" or Hereditary Five, to highlight the anachronism of their status in a
world that aspires to democracy. The present five permanent members already
burden the Council heavily. Ten or eleven permanents would make matters much
worse. Their presence would block future reform and make limitation or
outright elimination of permanency far more difficult," Paul and Nahory
wrote. However, the two agree with the position taken by AU leaders
with respect to the veto - at least where its elimination is concerned -
although the African leaders have gone beyond and demanded for the goose
what is also good for the gander - the five principal World War II allies
clung to their privileged status. "Reform of the Council must seek
to restrict (and eventually eliminate) the veto, but this obviously cannot
be done in the near future through Charter revision, which itself is subject
to the veto process. Instead, states must mobilise pressure and persuasion
to get P-5 (five permanent members) members to limit their veto use,
especially the threatened or "hidden veto" that casts a shadow over the
Council's proceedings at all times. "If Germany, Japan, Brazil,
India and the other aspirant states abandon their quest for permanency, they
can provide major diplomatic muscle in this veto-restriction effort along
with support for a regional approach to membership. The veto should be
immediately ended in such cases as decisions on new UN memberships, election
of the Secretary General and other cases rarely touching on core P-5
interests. Similarly, the 185 non-permanent states should make joint efforts
to limit other special P-5 privileges, such as claims on high Secretariat
posts and World Court seats. Eventually, in the more distant future,
permanency itself should be negotiated into well-deserved oblivion and the
oligarchy eliminated once and for all."
IT really
should not be surprising that the treason charges against Morgan Tsvangirai
have been dropped. No doubt this is related to Zimbabwe's quest for
financial assistance from South Africa, especially.
Although
President Mugabe came back from China breathing fire and declaring that no
one at all will tell his government what to do with the country's politics,
the situation on the ground seems to tell a different story. The
South Africans had made the blunder of stating in public that they would be
demanding political and economic concessions from Harare before they could
react with some form of support. This was an unwise departure from the
course Pretoria (or should that be Tshwane now) had all along chosen. For
the first time, the South Africans seemed to be displaying some irritation
with their counterparts in Harare. As a result, they made it known in
anonymous and not-so-anonymous briefings that they were not going to just
hand over money and leave it at that. Blood would have to be extracted from
the stone called Zimbabwe in order for the help to be forthcoming.
So, on the very day that the charges against Tsvangirai were dropped, the
South African cabinet announced that it had approved in principle a bail-out
package for Harare. There is still some way to go yet, though. The loan
request will now have to be formulated and concrete figures supplied. After
that, the issue will go to the South African parliament, which will have to
approve the loan by a simply majority. It is unlikely that ANC MPs will
rebel against cabinet and reject the loan deal. The Democratic Alliance will
no doubt unanimously vote against the granting of the loan to Zimbabwe. Tony
Leon and his crew have all along made it clear that they care not one bit
for the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans. The solutions they present to the
Zimbabwe problem are always designed to exact the maximum humiliation on
Harare. Their stance appears to be informed by an agenda that has no
compassion for the common Zimbabwean. The DA's conduct has made it clear
that, in the quest to be shot of President Mugabe and ZANU PF, they consider
the masses of Zimbabwe fair game, fodder for the regime change
machine. Ordinary Zimbabweans feature on the DA radar only to the
extent that their "suffering" can promote the regime change agenda. No
matter what the opposition party in South Africa says, its prime motivation
has always been to pander to its constituency, which, not surprisingly, is
made up to a very large extent of former citizens of this country who have
turned on their country so viciously that they are willing to see it reduced
to a pile of dust to teach President Mugabe the lesson that "if you mess
with our interests, then your days are numbered". Still, the loan
is likely to be approved by parliament in South Africa since the ANC has a
two-thirds majority. The ANC MPs are elected on a proportional
representation system, not a constituency-based system. This means that they
actually owe their positions to the party in the first instance. It is the
party that compiles a list of candidates for parliament. Harare, on the
other hand, should not make the mistake of thinking that the demands by
Pretoria mean that Thabo Mbeki has been won over by Tony Blair or that he
has abandoned Zimbabwe. That would be a costly assumption. Instead,
Harare should understand that, as far as Mbeki is concerned, there are some
things Harare does that are not entirely necessary. The treason charge
against Tsvangirai is one such unnecessary move. It was achieving nothing
for the betterment of the welfare of Zimbabweans. In fact, more has always
stood to be gained from withdrawing the case than from keeping it alive.
True, everyone in Zimbabwe knew that there was no likelihood that Tsvangirai
would be convicted, let alone jailed or executed. But the very existence of
the case caused unnecessary criticism of the Harare government. It was not
even like Tsvangirai was a true threat to either our democracy or the
government. Much more so in the last two to three years, when the MDC
leader's quest for power at any (admittedly peaceful) cost had led him to
speak the talk of the desperate. Indeed, South Africa needed to point
out to Zimbabwe that, with the whole world permanently poised against like a
coiled snake, the Harare administration did not need to indulge in any
gratuitous activities that could even be misrepresented. One hopes
(perhaps in vain) that the Harare government now realizes that some things
are simply unnecessary. Certain controversial policies can easily be
misrepresented if carried out. Murambatsvina was a noble exercise. It was
made inevitable by the fact that the country had run out of forex and, in
desperation, government decided to flush the "hidden forex" from the black
market by destroying the bases from which these markets operated. In fact,
if the economy had been performing well, I doubt government would have gone
ahead with the exercise. Government should not cling to this exercise
in a misguided attempt to reassert its sovereignty. More stands to be lost
than gained through an intransigence that is not rooted in principle but
simply in the need to save face. Our friends out there will understand when
we stick to our guns on policies that are informed by fundamental
principles, such as the land reform exercise. When our policies and
activities are based on expediency (the true definition of the reasoning
behind Murambatsvina), our friends get pressure put on them unnecessarily.
As a result, they may turn against us. Why should bear the necessary
headaches when the friendly government they are trying to "protect" goes off
on a tangent and literally shoots itself in the foot? Perhaps lessons
have been learnt, but most people are not holding their breath. After all,
our government behaves like a drunk who provokes a lion. He knows he can not
run away, but simply wants to score a cheap point by telling everyone
afterwards that he provoked a lion? Was it necessary to provoke
it?
ZIMBABWE, whose
international creditworthiness is currently in a shambles, might have played
into China's hands by tying itself to an ambitious loan service structure
that commits 25 percent of exports to the Asian country.
Sources confided in The Financial Gazette this week that the loan service
structure, still to be explained fully to the public, would require a
quarter of Zimbabwe's export receipts to go towards servicing loans advanced
by China. Technically, it may take several years for the country,
ravaged by drought and plummeting foreign exchange earnings, to extinguish
its current obligations with Chinese firms before it can even start on new
loans. "It might, therefore, take a number of years for us to fully pay
off our existing debts before we can talk of new loans," said the
source. A six-day visit to China by President Robert Mugabe and his
entourage, which was, however, marred by a damning United Nations report on
a controversial clean-up operation, saw the signing of several Memoranda of
Understanding (MOUs) of which the finance cooperation agreement on exports
was one of them. Reports say apart from a 50 million yuan (about
US$6 million) grant dished out to Zimbabwe to finance grain imports and 100
computers secured for local schools, the high-powered delegation
largely returned empty-handed. Food agencies say 4.5 million people are in
need of food aid that would cost the country US$420 million. Trade
between the two countries is currently tilted in favour of Zimbabwe with
China's export estimated at US$32 million against US$159 million in imports
comprising mainly tobacco, the country's single largest export
earner. Put simply, about US$40 million of export receipts would be
applied towards debt servicing. Sources said Zimbabwe might need to step up
exports to benefit from the world's fastest growing economy that has of late
become central to the country's "Look East Policy." State-owned
enterprises indebted to Chinese companies would also need to demonstrate
commitment to executing their standing arrangements. The country, which
faces expulsion from the International Monetary Fund if it fails to settle
its arrears amounting to US$296 million, owes Chinese companies through the
Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
(ZIMRA) and Air Zimbabwe (AIRZIM). ZIMRA bought two state-of-the-art
scanners from Nutech to guard against the entry and exit of undeclared
goods. Air Zimbabwe bought two aircraft while ZISCO borrowed US$35 million
from the Export and Import Bank of China that was insured with China Export
and Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure). The loan was meant for
the supply of equipment to refurbish ZISCO's Blast Furnace Number
4. Most of the loans were insured by Sinosure, which has of late
expressed concern over Zimbabwe's failure to adhere to its repayment
schedules.
When Information and Publicity
Permanent Secretary, George Charamba stormed Pockets Hill on Monday to vent
his anger over the prevailing chaos at Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH),
he acted out what many frustrated radio listeners and television viewers
often wish they could do.
Charamba is reported to have warned that
heads would roll at the state broadcaster because of the shoddy work of the
staff which the Permanent Secretary said threatened to compromise the
quality of news and broadcasting standards. What particularly raised
Charamba's ire on the day in question was the coverage of the Heroes' Day
celebrations. Failing to understand why the day's lead story
highlighted President Mugabe's call for the umpteenth time for Zimbabweans
to jealously guard their independence and sovereignty instead of his stance
on talks with the Movement for Democratic Change, (MDC), an enraged Charamba
tried to phone the ZBH newsroom. He got no joy for an hour despite the fact
that he was using the news hotline. So much for the broadcater's boast, "We
will be there when it happens". How will they know about a breaking story
when they leave their hotline unattended for hours on end?
Charamba's angry visit to Pocket's Hill confirmed the widely held perception
among listeners and viewers that ZBH is the pits and needs a complete
overhaul to regain a semblance of professionalism and credibility.
Charamba's visit opened a Pandora's box of ills that leave no one in any
doubt at all as to why most people believe that being required to pay for a
licence for the fluff and juvenilia dished out by ZHB's clueless staffers is
daylight robbery. "There is a serious problem in that newsroom and it's
an area I am going to tackle head on. I am not going to stand by, there will
be changes in the newsroom", Charamba is reported to have fumed after his
visit opened his eyes to the chaos at ZBH. There was reported to be
widespread dereliction of duty by staffers who do their personal business
during working hours , senior editors involved in love affairs with
subordinates and even allegations of forged academic credentials.
The question is, how can the Permanent Secretary tackle the pervasive
dysfunction at the state broadcaster without acknowledging its root
causes? Charamba seems to have only recently noticed that something is
seriously amiss at ZBH when the truth is that the decay began more than five
years ago. This was when Jonathan Moyo, under whom Charamba served not only
as permanent secretary but as willing sidekick, set about dismantling what
had been achieved over many years at the old Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation and other state owned media. We did not hear any
expression of dissent and discomfiture from Charamba when Moyo embarked on
his vindictive and self-serving restructuring exercises. In truth
these exercises were a devious way of getting rid of experienced media
practitioners who were unprepared to be used as putty in Moyo's hands and
replacing them with inexperienced and pliant recruits who would take orders
directly from the Department of Information and Publicity in the President's
Office. I recall hearing a story during those heady days of the
invincible Moyo-Charamba partnership about a senior media practitioner who
was threatened with dismissal for questioning the wholesale firing of
experienced personnel and the appointment of inexperienced and unqualified
replacements. The media practitioner, who was eventually fired, was told
that the only qualification anyone needed to work for state media was
political correctness (Kuziva gwara romusangano) and readiness to take
orders. By getting into a huff about the chaos at ZBH, Charamba
seems to forget that this dismal state of affairs is the cumulative result
of his and Moyo's interference over the years. The ZBC was once a
respectable organization with fairly good radio and television services
until the Department of Information and Publicity decided to turn it into an
outright propaganda arm of government and the ruling party.
Observers will have been surprised to read that Charamba was unhappy with
ZBH's poor news sense when it introduced its lead story on Heroes Day with
the tired theme of the need to guard Zimbabwe's independence and
sovereignty. Is it fair for the Permanent Secretary to blame the
confused staff at ZBH when it is no secret that journalistic principles were
abandoned a long time ago?
Felix Njini and
Audrey Chitsika 8/12/2005 8:01:38 AM (GMT +2)
HEADS are
set to roll in the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH)'s
Newsnet division as a precursor of far reaching changes at the cash-strapped
broadcasting monopoly.
Sources said government, at the instigation
of its spokesperson and permanent secretary in the information ministry,
George Charamba, would in the next two weeks wield the axe on Newsnet
staffers who have been accused of negligence and ineptitude. A
massive restructuring exercise at the broadcasting monopoly has also been
approved and will be implemented in the next two weeks. ZBH executive
chairman, Rino Zhuwarara, told The Financial Gazette he would soon effect
sweeping changes to bring back "sanity and professionalism" at the state
broadcaster. "We are making sure that our newsroom is efficient and
reliable and can cope with the demands of the information age. It is
necessary to review the systems periodically," he said. Morale
among newsroom personnel and their editors has reached rock bottom following
reports of the impending cull. Newsnet is also said to be recruiting
unqualified journalists from a named private college in Harare, a
development that has however, not stirred to action the Media and
Information Commission, which has been selectively targeting journalists
from privately owned papers in its application of draconian media
laws. Panic set in at the public broadcaster following a surprise visit
to ZBH by Charamba. The visit even took the editor-in-chief, Chris Chivinge
by surprise, sources said this week. Chivinge compounded the
confusion at ZBH when he made a dramatic return from Namibia where he had
been seconded to run a regional broadcasting project, which has since
twisted in the air. Upon his return, Chivinge promptly assumed the position
of editor-in-chief and Tazzen Mandizvidza, who had been appointed to the
post, is now deputising him. Meanwhile, ZBH looks set to pay billions
of dollars in severance pay after it lost an appeal lodged with the Labour
Court seeking to revise retrenchment packages for 400 employees it laid off
in 2002 under a restructuring exercise. ZBH failed to pay the
packages for its retrenched workers as agreed prior to the lay off.
The court ruled that the staff should return to work or be paid their
retrenchment packages in full. Alec Muchadehama of Mbidzo,
Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners, who represented the workers
said: "The court has taken the view that the parties entered into a
memorandum of agreement which bound them. The applicant cannot renege from
it." The labour court dismissed ZBH's application recently, finding
that the state broadcaster's appeal held no merit and that the workers
should be awarded their benefits as initially agreed. "Appellant is
asking the court to nullify certain aspects of the agreement. This, the
court cannot do. Contracts are sacrosanct," the court said in passing
judgment. "Errors should be corrected without unduly prejudicing the
parties. In the present matter, it seems clear that both parties were keen
to deal with the question of retrenchment . . . The appellant now argues
that certain aspects of the package ought not to have been included in the
package." In an arbitration awarded at the end of 2003, the Labour
Tribunal said the employees would be deemed to be employed by ZBH "until the
retrenchment is completed as per agreement". ZBH stopped paying
workers after they were retrenched in 2002. The ruling means that the
workers are entitled to full salaries and benefits backdated to the time
they were laid off.
ZIMBABWEANS have now observed the
25th anniversary of their hard-won independence. Things are falling apart.
And it is increasingly difficult to pretend otherwise.
Joblessness is on the rise in sympathy with corporate failures and a
shrinking economy. Foreign investor confidence has reached an all-time low
as the country gets increasingly ostracised, losing its friends, prestige
and credibility in the process. The agricultural sector, the fulcrum around
which the economy has traditionally hinged, is, to all intents and purposes,
precariously close to collapse. Not to mention the health delivery service
which is in intensive care, the education system which has lost its glitter
and the disastrous condition of the public transport services, among
others. All this, coming against a backdrop of an acute shortage of
fuel and basic commodities points to an economy that is caving in. This
means that the economic meltdown and the government mistakes that aggravated
it, are the most critical issues in Zimbabwe today, with the people who wear
the shoe and therefore know how and where it pinches, expecting government
to explain how it will put a fresh heart into the enfeebled economy and
bring peace back to their souls. We have no doubt that the
topicality of this issue is not in question. Unfortunately on Monday this
week, the government lost yet another golden opportunity to spell out to
Zimbabweans how it intends to restore local economic pride and promise with
a sense of national purpose and cohesion. We have always maintained
that national occasions such as the Independence Anniversary and the Heroes
Holidays should be used for national reflection, soul-searching and
stock-taking. It is during such important days, which should in
essence, transcend parochial political party affiliation and ethnic
barriers, that the powers-that-be should carefully and critically assess the
journey that the country has travelled since 1980. Issues to consider are
the aspirations of the people, their thoughts and feelings, what could
have-been-but-never-was, why, how and where the wheels came off. In other
words, is this the Zimbabwe that the living heroes and their departed
colleagues envisaged? Does independent Zimbabwe meet the people's needs? If
not, why? These are distinctly uncomfortable but all the same pertinent
questions. That is what self-introspection is all about. All this
should be done with a view to redefining Zimbabwe's national goals in terms
of the sacrifices, unshakeable principles and selflessness of the freedom
fighters, dead and alive whose aim was to make sure that the oppressive
system that made it treasonous even to speak of the trees was swept away
with the rubble of the toppled minority Rhodesian regime. This is
particularly so now given the depressing developments unfolding in the
country, which have spawned inevitable socio-economic difficulties,
stagnation and unprecedented misery. As we have said before in our
editorials, this is the time that the country's leadership should try to
convince and reassure long suffering and disillusioned Zimbabweans that they
are addressing and urgently, the country's economic woes. They should seize
this opportunity to spell out how they would consistently implement well
thought-out, comprehensive and cohesive policies to bring back the
crisis-hit economy to the longed-for era of surplus, self-sufficiency and
security. Put simply, the government should take advantage of such
occasions to declare war on the unprecedented economic meltdown by
elaborating to the public their formula for a way out of the deep-seated
crisis, as a basis upon which Zimbabwe will be able to create a strong and
self-sufficient country which caters for broad-based population needs. We
believe this is consistent with the cause, principles and ideals of the
liberation struggle. This can, however, only be possible if the
country's political leadership musters the political will and maturity that
enables them to see the broader national picture. They have to assume a
modicum of sensitivity, humility, pragmatism as well as self-introspection
and disabuse themselves of the notion that everything revolves around a
certain class of people's participation in the war of liberation.
We have said time without number that the 70s war of liberation is without
doubt the most outstanding chapter in the history of Zimbabwe. It is a past
and a war we should be and are indeed all proud of. Suffice to say, however,
that it would not only be wrong but retrogressive to live in that
past. In any case when the national heroes, dead or alive,
sacrificed life and limb and endured torture in Rhodesian jails, they never
meant to bequeath to posterity a terrible legacy characterised by obsolete
socio-political and economic structures nor for a Zimbabwe that would be
frozen at the point of liberation but one which moves with the rest of the
world. Indeed, they never meant for Zimbabwe to be caught up in some time
warp and be a case for arrested development.
WHY did sellouts at our
one and only TV station decide to show pictures of the Great Uncle wobbling
into a plane like someone who was arriving at the peak of Mount Everest?
Treasonous, isn't it? Do they want the man's detractors to start speculating
about his fitness again?
The man is known to be "as fit as a
teenager" or "fitter than all his detractors combined can ever hope to be".
So what is this business of showing a perennially fit leader appearing to be
off-colour?
Honest?
CZ was this week amused by the
raving and ranting by the British-trained George Charamba, who, for some
strange reason, decided to make a lot of noise about the situation at our
one and only public broadcaster. Does Charamba want everyone to
believe that it was only this week that he became aware of the funeral that
has always been the staid broadcaster? That all these years he has been
collecting his pay-cheque he was not even aware that ZBH is doing this
nation a great disservice? Then he must be a Rip van Winkle of some
sort. Charamba is just waking up now to echo the sentiments that all
progressive Zimboz have long been saying about the broadcaster. He should be
sacked for sleeping on the job! If anything, he was part of the
destructive team that contributed - by commission or omission - to the chaos
now obtaining at Pockets Hill. All along we thought the public
broadcaster was the turf of Bright Matonga who had lots of scores to settle
there? Anyway, we have always been aware that there are lots of people
who were never supposed to be there in the first place . . . including one
who is now an Editor-In-Chief-At-Large and several such others.
What ZBH needs is nothing short of another parliamentary inquiry similar to
the one that took place sometime in 1999! We will hear juicy stories.
Who ordered who to be employed even when they were mere village yokels (like
some bureau chiefs) who could not tell their left from right . . . who is
related to who . . . who is sleeping with who . . . who is this one! Just
give it a chance!
The impersonator
A New Ziana sales
rep, who has been masquerading as a journalist and attending workshops for
scribes, finally ran out of luck when he posed as Financial Gazette Bulawayo
Bureau Chief Charles Rukuni. Ralph Muchechetere, 27, sneaked into the
Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel on the evening of July 29 posing as Rukuni.
Rukuni, who was attending a two-day human rights workshop organised by the
Media Institute of Southern Africa and the Human Rights Trust of Southern
Africa, was booked at the hotel but had opted to stay at home.
Muchechetere could actually have got away with it because the room, 136, had
already been paid for. But he went on a binge, inviting a lady of the night
and incurring a bill of $600 000 for the extra guest. Unfortunately, he
was caught by the hotel security, who asked him to pay the extra charge. But
he only had $200 000 on him. Muchechetere could also have got away with
it had he paid his extra bill in full because Rukuni was only alerted by
fellow journalists that someone had stayed at the hotel in his name and had
left an unpaid bill on August 2. When Rukuni went to check with the
hotel, he discovered that Muchechetere had actually filled in the hotel form
claiming to be Rukuni of The Financial Gazette. But Muchechetere had put his
own residential address, his own home phone number and New Ziana's phone
number instead of that of The Financial Gazette. The trail made it
easy for the hotel to pick him up from New Ziana and hand him over to the
police. He appeared in court last Friday facing fraud charges but was not
formally charged.
EDITOR - It is now three years since 4 000 white
commercial farmers were evicted from their farms. This followed five years
of uncertainty, harassment, beatings and murder.
Zimbabwe's
agricultural output is now less than half what it was three short years ago
and the ramifications of poor agricultural performance are now being felt in
the rest of the economy. The current situation lends credence to two
slogans "land is the economy" and "no farmers no future". It is now clear
that those 4 000 farmers contributed significantly to the wellbeing of 12
million people. President Mugabe called them "enemies of the state" but
I would say that they are real heroes. However what is done is
done. My question to Zimba-bweans, particularly those who now occupy
the land, is what exactly are you doing with the land you insisted on
taking? The lack of performance is starting to raise real
questions. As a target, New Zealand, a country of only four million
exports US$18 billion in agricultural produce annually. How is that for a
target? We look on with interest.
EDITOR - Our most celebrated African
''revolutionary'' establishment in Zimbabwe is at it again.
It
has finally ''dollarised'' the economy as fuel can now be bought officially
using the US dollar. (smiles there for George and Condy at the White House
despite the usual fury that Zim will never be a colony again, the country
has finally succumbed and is also making frantic efforts to pay IMF to avoid
being offloaded from the imperialist financial organisation) Talk about
sovereignty! . . . are we seeing a sell-out here? Or the chickens have come
home to roost? Probably your criticism in an earlier Fingaz edition on the
foolish "going it alone" thinking is now being vindicated. Even the
most avid supporters have questioned the government's antics of long,
protracted and sustained attacks on the West and on the World Bank and the
IMF yet it is now making frantic efforts to borrow in order to appease the
wrath of the IMF over non- payment of debts. Now to our dollarisation
riddle. Operation Murambatsvina targeted flea markets, tuckshops,
cross-border traders with, to quote a former minister, ''the ferocity of a
tsunami''. The little foreign currency found (the substantial part of it in
rands) was paraded as evidence of economic sabotage. But came the surprise
in the tragi-comedy! With this much publicised rather humiliating
demonisation of the poor people's raided foreign currency still fresh in our
minds, our government allowed some service stations to sell and people to
buy fuel in foreign currency. Sadly and predictably, there was no apology to
the demonised people whose foreign currencey was raided only to hear within
some weeks that the same government has dollarised the economy.
During the Murambatsvina process I had sincerely thought that in the name of
fairness, the police were going to do two things. First to ransack and
destroy all the illegal settlements in the low density areas together with
those with bathroom and kitchen tiles imported with US dollars from Italy
and elsewhere. Secondly to camp at our Harare International Airport and lie
in wait to ferociously pounce on the northern surbub dwellers who will come
to board the daily flights of British Airways, South African Airways and
others who are now only accepting fares in foreign currency. If the
''booty'' from the low-density areas was to be paraded in the media, then we
might have had a clear picture on who are the real economic
saboteurs. Unfortunately the whole Murambatsvina project was
cancelled as it approached where the well-to-do people live. The ferocious
Murambatsvina suddenly became tender as it transformed itself into a mere
''regularisation'' exercise as people were now given time to regularise
their structures.
THE Progressive
Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has called on the government to
immediately effect a 150 percent increase on teachers' salaries, citing the
high cost of living.
The union is also demanding a 100 percent
increase in transport allowances and a 150 percent increase in housing
allowances, all backdated to July 1. "Teachers' salaries are far
too less than the normal living standards. We have realised a $5.6 million
shortfall in expenditures from an estimated monthly expenditure of $7.6
million," PTUZ said in a statement. PTUZ said teachers' salaries range
from $2 007 955 to $4 325 692 per month, far below the poverty datum
line. The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) last week announced that
an average Zimbabwean family now requires $5.4 million per month for
consumption. "While teachers are expected to take home an average
of $2 million after statutory deductions, the majority are taking home far
much less after deductions from loan sharks, insurance companies and
retailers," PTUZ said. At the last count, PTUZ recorded 43
organisations that were making deductions from its members' salaries through
the government's Salaries Service Bureau (SSB). "Most of these
organisations do not care what you end up taking home, as long as they can
deduct what you owe from your salary. "As a union we have tried to
counsel many of our members who find themselves in debt cycles they cannot
escape from. However, we believe that the only way out for these teachers is
for the employer to pay them a living wage. An immediate cost of living
adjustment is an absolute necessity if teachers are to survive for the
remainder of this year." The teachers are being paid housing and
transport allowances ranging from $496 000 to $1 323 200 per
month.
JULY inflation data
will perhaps be the closest watched numbers in recent months, given the new
spectre of frequent rate hikes raised by the recent shock double increase in
the accommodation rate.
A 10 percentage point rise in rates
recently shocked the market, with investors unnerved less by its size than
by the speed with which central bank had effected it. The two rate
hikes, the earlier of 20 percentage points and the latest rise, came within
seven days of each other, raising the prospect of more movement
ahead. Ahead of the release by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) of
annual inflation numbers for July, analysts say the latest data will be the
most important to come out of the statistical agency in a while. It
is widely anticipated that inflation will come in higher than June's 164
percent - and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has conceded as much
already - but the range of the advance will be eagerly awaited as a handy
clue on the direction of interest rates. The Financial Gazette has
gathered July inflation forecasts ranging between 180 percent and 200
percent, with analysts pointing mostly to a steep rise in fuel prices and
the sharp decline in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar on the parallel
market, where most businesses have been driven to due to short supply on the
formal foreign currency market. "If the rise is big, it will mean
another rate hike early on. If it's moderate, then maybe central bank is on
track; but still, its (RBZ) rate policy would remain on the back of our
minds," a leading fund manager told The Financial Gazette. The
central bank last month forecast inflation to heat up further in the current
quarter before cooling in the final three months towards the 80 percent
level that RBZ governor Gideon Gono has targeted for December. Gono had
pledged to tighten monetary policy over that outlook period - remarks
initially ignored by the market. The two rate hikes that followed, however,
immediately raised the ante and analysts say the size of the jump in
inflation will be important in determining where rates may next land.
Forecasting rate movements is a game that markets across the world play with
their central banks, but for Zimbabwean stock market investors, more and
bigger rate hikes would spell disaster in an investment environment running
well short of profitable scrip. A three-year government stock issued
last week received scant market support. The RBZ has lifted the rate on its
benchmark 91-day Treasury Bill to 185 percent, and is expected to raise the
rate further as it attempts to keep investors in the money market.
The stock market, which had ignored the earlier hike, has wobbled after the
new move on the rate. Fund managers, who had bought defiantly after the
earlier hike, have been taking the cautious route and deciding to go
underweight on stock, concerned fears of large and frequent rate hikes would
depress demand for shares.
JOHANNESBURG -
There is no magical solution to Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis and
the World Bank is not ready to thaw relations with the ostracised Harare, a
senior official at the global lender has said.
Lollete
Kritzinger-van Niekerk, a senior economist with the World Bank South African
office, said the country had failed to adhere to internationally accepted
governance standards and the rule of law. She cited widely disputed
election results and lack of freedom of expression following the closure of
four privately-owned newspapers as some of the issues blighting Harare's
international reputation. Zimbabwe's refusal to present itself for the
African Peer Review Mechanism, which is designed to enable African countries
to monitor each other and promote better governance standards, is weighing
heavily against the crisis-torn country. Presently 23 African
countries have agreed to a system of review to monitor their own political
and economic performance. "There is no magic solution to the Zimbabwean
crisis but for us (World Bank) it is a matter of principle and it relates to
how the country is being governed at the moment," Kritzinger-van Niekerk
said. Zimbabwe is completely cut off from aid support after defaulting
on its loans. It no longer has a working relationship with the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Most international
donors and financial institutions have frozen all financial aid and cut
offshore lines of credits. President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled
Zimbabwe since the attainment of independence from Britain in 1980 and his
ruling elite have been slapped with a string of biting sanctions and travel
restrictions by the European Union, United States and Australia.
Zimbabwe, whose economy has degenerated to unprecedented levels, is facing
expulsion from the Fund over non-settlement of debts. As other African
governments are cheering at having their debts annulled by the Group of
Eight (G8) countries, Zimbabwe was left to rue as the wealthy nations
outlined that aid would be ineffective without serious economic and
political reforms. Relations have been worsened by President Mugabe who
has continuously poked his finger into the eyes of Britain, the United
States and the Bretton Woods institutions, whom he accuses of sabotaging the
economy in a bid to effect regime change in the country and reverse the
gains brought about by independence from colonial rule. The US and
Europe command 46.41 percent voting powers in the global lender's
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
Kritzinger-van Niekerk said the IBRD has earmarked US$33 billion in loans
for middle-income countries. Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia are some of
the middle income countries in the Southern African region. The World
Bank, which pulled out of Zimbabwe, has instead focused its attention on
other nascent regional economies such as Mozambique, which is emerging from
years of civil strife, Botswana's diamond-powered economy and
Namibia. "Our stance is to do with how international donors are
perceiving Zimbabwe's governance problems and that is why we had to stop our
operations," Kritzinger-van Niekerk said.