Pressure builds to stop mining at Mana Pools

Mana Pools

By Alex Bell
15 August 2012

Pressure is continuing to build to prevent planned mining activities at Mana Pools, with conservation groups warning that the potential damage there will also ruin Zimbabwe’s international tourism reputation.

Prospecting and exploration licences for the area were granted last September to a mining firm called GeoAssociates, a locally owned company, to mine for heavy mineral sand deposits in Ruckomechi and Chewore rivers in the Zambezi Valley.
The Ruckomechi River lies within the Mana Pools National Park and the Chewore River forms the boundary between the Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas. Both rivers are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, an honour afforded by the UN grouping that recognises the cultural and natural significance, and exceptional beauty of the area.

According to conservation groups like the Zambezi Society, mining activities at Mana Pools will result in the destruction of the site and the removal of its prized World Heritage Site honour. Sally Wynn, the PRO for the Zambezi Society, told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that Zimbabwe’s already fragile tourism reputation is also under threat.

“Mana Pools are well known in the international tourism industry and Zimbabwe is still trying to regain its reputation as a tourism destination. Next year is the UN tourism meeting (taking place in Zimbabwe) and it will be extremely embarrassing if Zimbabwe was to be shown to be desecrating one of the UN world tourism sites,” Wynn said.

She added: “We have an enormous amount of support and people are saying that this is something that should not be allowed. They are saying that we have these heritage areas that are a heritage for our future and we should hang onto them if we possibly can.”

Wynn meanwhile explained that the Zambezi Society is, “trying to create a large fuss in the beginning because we feel there shouldn’t even be a question of mining in this area. And even though this is just a case of prospecting, we shouldn’t even be entertaining the idea.”

She explained that the potential threats to the area include significant environmental damage and even a possible increase of poaching, if the project is allowed to develop into a full scale mining operation.

“Once you find anything positive it will lead to a massive operation. Our feeling is let’s try and nip it in the bud before it even starts,” Wynn said.

You can read more about the issues on the Zambezi Society website:
http://www.zamsoc.org/?cat=4

You can also join a growing network of supporters on the ‘Save Mana Pools’ Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/SaveMana

Zimbabwe's forests go up in smoke amid energy crisis

http://www.trust.org/

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:19 GMT

Source: alertnet // Madalitso Mwando

Zimbabwean children carry firewood on their heads near a slum in Hatcliffe, Harare, Dec. 9, 2008. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

By Madalitso Mwando

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AlertNet) – Pensioner Thandazani Ndlovu earns his living selling firewood, making him better off than Zimbabwe’s millions of jobless.

From the back of his pick-up truck, he has established a thriving business as demand for firewood continues to grow in Bulawayo, a city of 2 million people in the southwest.

Residents are turning to wood for cooking and heating as Zimbabwe’s electricity outages get worse, with its energy utility battling to keep the lights on in urban areas.

As winter began, the state-owned power company announced in June it was increasing its load-shedding schedule - music to Ndlovu’s ears.

He operates in the crowded streets of Bulawayo’s townships, where preparing food over a fire has become a daily reality.

“On a good day, I can make $20,” Ndlovu says. “I get the firewood from farms on the outskirts of the city where resettled farmers are clearing the land to build their homes.”

With 56 percent of Zimbabweans living on less than $1.25 a day and unemployment as high as 80 percent, many people regard trees - even those on residential properties - as a potential source of income.

Concerned with making a comfortable living, Ndlovu doesn’t worry that he and other firewood vendors might be contributing to deforestation in the southern African nation.

With no respite from the energy crisis, up to 90 percent of Zimbabweans now rely on firewood for cooking, a huge leap from around 50 percent two decades ago, according to non-governmental organisation Environment Africa.

Some 70 percent of the population resides in rural areas, where firewood has long been the primary source of energy.

“I have never thought about the implications of cutting down trees. What I know is that another tree will grow, because our ancestors found these trees there,” Ndlovu says.

It is a common response to recent campaigns launched by the government and environmental groups to curb uncontrolled logging.

THIRD OF FORESTS LOST

The parastatal Forestry Commission estimates deforestation at around 330,000 hectares per year. Between 1990 and 2010, Zimbabwe lost more than 30 percent of its forest cover, according to commission data.

As its forests shrink, Zimbabwe has yet to confront the far-reaching ramifications of its energy crisis.

“It’s one of the challenges that has the ministry (of environment) in a tough spot because you cannot tell people to stop cutting down trees without providing a solution to their energy demands,” explains Kurauone Muringapi, a field researcher for the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management.

“There is no doubt that, despite not being an industrialised country, our contribution to carbon emission concerns increases when there are no forests to talk about,” he adds.

Gilmore Sadza, an environmental consultant working with the ministry, says the government has been slow to join international efforts to combat deforestation.

“The wanton cutting-down of trees was ignored around the year 2000 when people moved into white farms and conservation areas,” Sadza said.

“Climate change was never seen as an urgent matter, but at least now we are seeing some moves to address it, despite the obvious challenges,” he said.

In 2011, officials began crafting a comprehensive climate change policy in collaboration with the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), which is funded by the British and Dutch governments.

And last month, the ministry gazetted new, stringent regulations on illegal logging in a move to curb deforestation. Among others, they target farmers who have been fingered for some of the worst abuses of Zimbabwe’s forests.

The country will also have to deal with the consequences of smoke and other emissions from domestic cooking fires, as well as wildfires which have become an annual phenomenon here.

FUNERAL TREES

Zimbabwe’s carbon footprint, like that of many African nations, remains tiny compared with developed countries.

Nonetheless, its current energy crisis could contribute to climate shifts that will affect future generations – not least because cutting down forests means fewer trees to store carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas causing global warming.

Zimbabwe is already seeing changes in the patterns of its seasons, lower rainfall and higher temperatures. But strategies to reverse deforestation could help reduce the risk of these trends getting worse, believes Simon Gapare, a Zimbabwean environmental researcher based in the United States.

“It’s time initiatives like the National Tree Planting Day were taken seriously. If you ask anyone you know if they have ever planted a tree, you will be disappointed,” he says.

On the first Saturday of December each year, Zimbabwe marks National Tree Planting Day, with the president leading the commemorations.

“Many people don’t bother about these things, but solutions to climate change do not reside in conferences or textbooks, but right among us – (in) our own practices relating to how we treat the natural resources around us. Planting a tree is one such solution,” Gapare argues.

The private sector has also started to launch reforestation initiatives.

For example, Nyaradzo Funeral Services, a company based in the capital Harare with branches across the country, plants a tree for each burial it conducts and gives families trees to plant after relatives’ funerals. It is hoping to plant 500 million trees by 2025.

For firewood vendors like Ndlovu, participating in reforestation efforts could prove profitable in the long run. But with customers lining up to get their hands on an increasingly valuable source of energy, the issue of whether the business is sustainable isn’t a priority for most.

“This is my way of life - as long as there is demand for firewood, I will keep selling,” Ndlovu says.

Madalitso Mwando is a journalist based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Zuma Arrives in Zimbabwe to Monitor Progress on Reforms

http://www.voanews.com

Sebastian Mhofu

August 15, 2012
HARARE — South African President and the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) mediator Jacob Zuma has arrived in Zimbabwe to meet with
the country’s coalition partners ahead of a regional summit set for later
this week. He is expected to get an update on a draft constitution for
Zimbabwe that could go to voters in the form of a referendum by the end of
this year.

The South African leader arrived in Harare late Wednesday and immediately
went into closed door meetings. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, the leader
of the ZANU-PF party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change party, formed a fragile coalition government
of unity in 2009 following disputed elections.

Douglas Mwonzora, a spokesperson for a government-appointed
constitution-making committee, said Zuma was in Zimbabwe to monitor progress
on reforms that African regional leaders expect from the Zimbabwean
leadership in preparation for elections. The first of the reforms that SADC
leaders want in Zimbabwe is a new constitution.

"We have completed the constitution draft," said Mwonzora. "The Global
Political Agreement is clear on what we do from here. Let us stick to the
Global Political Agreement and not re-invent other steps."

The other steps Mwonzora is referring to are demands by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF
party to revise the draft constitution that reduces the powers of the
presidency and increases the control of parliament in Zimbabwean politics.

After meeting Zimbabwean leaders Zuma is going to Mozambique where he will
brief regional leaders on the progress in Zimbabwe’s reforms.

If a referendum on a new constitution can be held in Zimbabwe later this
year, elections are possible in 2013.

SA diplomats claim ZANU PF deliberately blocked facilitation team

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Tichaona Sibanda
15 August 2012

Senior South African diplomats based in Harare have claimed individuals in
ZANU PF have ‘deliberately and systematically’ obstructed the work of
President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team.

The diplomats complained to members of the country’s civil society
leadership that ZANU PF’s alleged obstructionism was becoming an endemic
problem. They also claimed the interference had increased to a point where
it was significantly impairing the facilitation team’s mission to Zimbabwe.

A highly placed source in civil society told SW Radio Africa that South
African diplomats accused ZANU PF of hampering the constitutional making
process by seeking to include issues that are not pertinent to the process.

The last time the facilitation team was in Harare for meetings with GPA
negotiators was in May, a few days before an extraordinary summit of SADC
leaders which was held in Angola in June.

Since then efforts to meet the GPA negotiators have been met with a ‘no’, on
the insistence of ZANU PF, according to the diplomats.

‘In the last four months, President Zuma’s facilitation has had no luck in
getting progress reports on the constitution and electoral roadmap. They
also specifically complained of the intensity and systematic attack on Zuma
and his team by the state controlled media,’ a source said.

ZANU PF has consistently stalled the constitutional process by demanding
amendments to the draft, that was agreed to and signed off on by all parties
on 18th July. Both MDC formations have claimed that ZANU PF is undermining
the ongoing constitutional reforms in a bid to ensure new elections are held
under conditions that make a free and fair ballot impossible.

Speaking on SW Radio Africa’s Hidden Story program Blessing Vava, the
National Constitutional Assembly spokesman, said: ‘I think people must
realize that a constitution is not written to appease an individual or
individuals. This may well be the case with ZANU PF in dictating what powers
Mugabe should or not have in the new charter.

‘It’s clear ZANU PF is drafting this constitution with Mugabe in mind. This
should not be the case and it gives credence to claims by the South Africans
that they are being obstructive. I believe they wanted to get more
concessions from the MDC’s before the re-engaging with Zuma’s team,’ Vava
said.

Soldiers assault activists for wearing MDC-T t-shirts

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
15 August 2012

Two MDC-T activists were assaulted by soldiers at a bar in Epworth on
Saturday, and then abducted the following day by the same soldiers who
decided to hand them over to notorious thugs from the Chipangano gang in
Mbare.

Speaking to SW Radio Africa on Wednesday Kennedy Masiye, from Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights, confirmed that his clients Golden Nyika (19) and
Petros Makaza (21) were assaulted for wearing MDC-T party t-shirts.

He said a soldier in uniform accompanied by 3 of his colleagues walked into
the bar and approached them, asking why they were wearing party t-shirts.
Masiye said there was a scuffle which resulted in his clients being beaten
by the soldiers.

“Unfortunately the next morning these gentlemen (soldiers) came to the
residence of my clients with eight other guys and abducted them,” he said.
The youths were then handed over to the Chipangano gang in Mbare for more
assaults and torture.

Masiye told SW Radio Africa that his clients, “were thoroughly beaten and
one of them had a burnt buttock and the other one had lacerations on his arm
and I think his fingers might be broken.”

To justify the arrests the soldiers claimed the MDC-T youths had stolen a
beret and cellphone from the soldier they scuffled with in Epworth.

“On Sunday I appeared at the police station and the guys appeared visibly
injured and I had to negotiate with the officer in charge to go with them to
Harare Hospital and unfortunately they were not attended to. We had to find
other means of attending to them,” Masiye said.

On Wednesday the youths appeared in court and the lawyer says he filed a
complaint against the police, as accompanying the soldiers who assaulted the
youths was a police officer, stationed in Braeside.

The youths were granted $30 bail and the next remand hearing is on the 28th
August.

SW Radio Africa also understands soldiers have been terrorising residents in
Epworth at the Munyuki shops since Friday.

Anjin diamond firm replacing fired workers with ZPF youth

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
15 August 2012

Workers who were fired last month at the Anjin diamond mining firm are being
replaced by ZANU PF youths, who are not qualified to operate any of the
machinery, according to workers in the Chiadzwa area.

SW Radio Africa spoke to workers who said production levels at the lucrative
diamond mine have dropped dramatically and the Chinese managers have been
firing the youths to minimize daily losses.

Anjin is jointly owned by the Chinese and Zimbabwean military chefs who
fired 1,500 workers who had gone on strike last month. The workers were
demanding salary increases and better work conditions. The lowest paid were
earning just $235 per month.

One worker said approximately 600 workers were taken back by Anjin after
they were fired, then told they could reapply for their jobs, with no salary
increase. “Salaries have not gone up and they were made to sign papers
saying the company will decide how much to pay them. These people are so
desperate they accepted the deals. It is intimidation,” the worker said.

Meanwhile the vice chairman of the Workers’ Committee at Anjin, Tawengwa
Sitima, is believed to be in hiding after he escaped from security guards
who abducted him at gunpoint last month.
The workers said he was taken after addressing them during the crisis over
their salaries. The security guards were described as former army soldiers
who patrol Anjin and do the dirty work for the brigadiers and colonels who
manage the mining company.

The workers also claimed that the Chinese managers at Anjin have been
assaulting workers, intimidating them and there have also been allegations
of sodomy. “We made reports to the police about some of the assaults and the
sodomy but nothing has been done about it. There is no docket and no case
numbers when we seek legal advice,” one worker said.

A report by The Zimbabwean newspaper this week said ZANU PF had brought in
war vet Joseph Chinotimba to coordinate the hiring of party youths from his
home district of Hurungwe.

Chinotimba gained notoriety after he led ZANU PF’s chaotic farm invasions in
2008. He had previously worked as a security guard and has no experience in
mining, but then again neither do the former military chefs who are managers
at Anjin.

President Mugabe Attacks West For 'Plundering' Developing Nations' Resources

http://www.voazimbabwe.com

Thomas Chiripasi

14.08.2012
President Robert Mugabe has attacked the West for what he says is the
systematic use of the democratic agenda and globalization for looting
resources in developing nations such as Zimbabwe.

Addressing thousands of people who gathered at the National Sports Stadium
to mark the 32nd anniversary of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, President
Mugabe said the so-called democratic agenda of the West is causing havoc in
developing countries.

The leadership of the MDC formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
criticized Mr. Mugabe saying he is misleading the nation
Mr. Mugabe said the uniformed forces have a critical role to play in
protecting the country’s resources including diamonds in Manicaland Province’s
Marange fields.

As has become the norm during such gatherings, Mr. Mugabe reiterated his
call for the unconditional lifting of sanctions imposed by the West on him
and his inner circle for alleged human rights violations and election
rigging saying the restrictive measures were meant to incite Zimbabweans to
revolt against his administration.

The president’s remarks were criticized by the Movement for Democratic
Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai whose entire leadership
attended the celebrations.

Mugabe claims UK, US plot to cause army mutiny

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

14/08/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

BRITAIN and the United States of America tried to incite a mutiny by
Zimbabwe’s armed forces through the imposition of sanctions, President
Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday.

But Mugabe said Zimbabwe’s military had stayed loyal by becoming an “active
agent in coming up with reliable defence mechanisms... and responsive
solutions to such unjustified and provocative manoeuvres in the internal
affairs of a sovereign state.”

Speaking at the National Sports Stadium during celebrations to mark Defence
Forces Day, Mugabe said western sanctions on Zimbabwe had weakened the
economy and forced cuts to the defence budget.

The sanctions were designed to squeeze the Zimbabwe government and trigger
disaffection within the ranks of the military, Mugabe told the gathering
which was also attended by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

“However, these sinister manoeuvres were successfully resisted thanks to the
combined effort, grit and resilience of the people of Zimbabwe, the defence
forces, other law enforcement agencies and the country’s political
leadership,” Mugabe said.

“I want to appeal to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, other security
organisations and all progressive Zimbabweans to remain focused, loyal and
patriotic to the noble spirit of jealously defending Zimbabwe and its rich
natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

“We should join hands to resist the unjustified plunder of our resources by
undeserving foreign forces that come to us like friends in the name of
democracy and globalisation, yet they harbour sinister ulterior motives.”

The United States imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2001 and the European
Union followed a year later, accusing Mugabe – who has ruled Zimbabwe since
1980 – of human rights abuses and election fraud.

Mugabe denies the charges and instead accuses former colonial power Britain
of forming an international alliance against Zimbabwe as a response to his
land reform programme which saw the forcible take-over of farms from white
land owners to resettle landless blacks.

Zanu (PF) hijacks heroes’ commemorations

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Villagers here were left stunned last Monday, as Zanu (PF) turned Heroes’
commemorations held at Dhirihori District Heroes’ Acre into a campaign rally
and denounced MDC as a sell-out party.
15.08.1210:11am

by Staff Reporter

War veterans led by self styled former freedom fighter, Douglas Chitekuteku
and one Gama, took turns to denounce MDC and urged villagers not to vote for
political parties whose agenda was ‘to sell the country to former white
colonial powers’.

“Zimbabwe freedom came as a result of a bitter and bloody long armed
struggle. People should not betray fallen heroes who sacrificed lives and
limbs for the people’s self rule. Zanu (PF) is the only party which would
preserve and jealously guard values of the liberation struggle. The
electorate should vote wisely in the coming election and avoid casting votes
in favour of puppets of the west and sell-outs,” said the war veteran
speakers.

The commemorations were characterized by partisan Zanu (PF) slogans, which
labelled MDC as a counter-revolutionary project funded by the West. The
disinterested gathered crowd mainly bussed from far away villages and farms,
dwindled as the ‘Zanu (PF)’ commemorations progressed.

There was drama at the commemorations as an estimated 60 villagers who
attended the national event, later accused the guest speaker, Marondera
District Administrator, James Chiwaru, of grabbing some 20 kilograms of game
meat for his personal family use.

The majority of villagers from political wards 19 and 20 in which the
Dhirihori Heroes Acre is situated shunned the commemorations. The wards are
under MDC-T.

“We have long since avoided attending the event as Zanu (PF) use the
occasion to denounce its political rivals, at the expense of uniting people
as a nation for the otherwise noble commemorations. Everybody recognises and
appreciates the crucial role played by our heroes towards liberating the
country from our former colonizers. After all, the country was liberated by
people from across races and tribes and there is no way Zanu (PF) could
claim exclusive credit for freedom attained thereafter,” said an elderly
villager and former war collaborator who only identified himself as
Sheppard.

According to Mupazvirihwo villagers, one war veteran was buried at the
Dhirihori Heroes’ Shrine, three war collaborators and the late Chief Enock
Zenda’s uncle who did not participate in the armed struggle in any way. “The
remains of the late chief’s uncle were mistaken for those of a war veteran
before exhumation and were later buried at the Heroes Acre,” said a
villager.

At Murewa Centre, the Heroes’ commemorations held at Magamba were poorly
attended, as people went on with their usual personal business. The
predominately small Zanu (PF) gathering at the commemorations donned party
regalia and chanted partisan slogans.

In Marondera, Zanu (PF) Provincial Governor and Resident Minister, Aenius
Chigwedere, read the Heroes Speech on behalf of President Robert Mugabe. He
stuck to the prepared speech without making unnecessary additions.

The Marondera commemorations were held at the Provincial Heroes’ Acre at the
outskirts of Paradise Low Density Suburb.

Mugabe says census will reveal AIDS toll on Zimbabwe

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

HARARE — Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe launched the national census
Wednesday, saying he hoped the once-a-decade count would measure the extent
to which AIDS was affecting the population.

Mugabe said he was disappointed by 2002 census results, which showed the
southern African nation's growth had slowed dramatically because of the
disease.

"The country's population has been decimated by the pandemic we all know,
HIV and AIDS," Mugabe said.

"Perhaps now we need to establish whether that pandemic still has the same
effect of decimating our population, or that we managed at least to control
it."

According to the 2002 count, Zimbabwe's population was 11.6 million, up 1.2
million from a decade earlier.

But the growth rate slowed as AIDS erupted across the region.

After peaking at 3.98 percent in 1983, the annual population growth rate
began a steady slide, bottoming out in 2007, when the population is thought
to have shrunk by 0.38 percent, according to World Bank data.

Though about 13 percent of the population is HIV positive, Zimbabwe has
emerged as something of an AIDS success, with new HIV infections down 50
percent between 1997 and 2007, a study last year found.

Officials are encouraging male circumcision because some research has shown
the procedure can reduce HIV transmission rates.

Zimbabwe has also seen an exodus of people fleeing political and economic
turmoil over the last decade, with some estimates suggesting three million
people have left.

The census will cost about $40 million, with donors chipping in $12.6
million, the finance ministry said.\

Mugabe launches census, calls on Zimbabweans to multiply

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

15/08/2012 00:00:00
by Moses Chibaya

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe launched Zimbabwe’s 2012 population census on
Wednesday by calling on Zimbabweans to multiply.

Mugabe said results of the 2002 census showing Zimbabwe’s population at 11,6
million people made for “miserable” reading.

He insists that Zimbabwe’s population has stagnated as a result of HIV-Aids
related deaths.

“We want more children. Give us more children you women. Muri kurambirei
mimba? Makapihwirwei? Aiwa aiwa musanyime (Why are you refusing to get
pregnant? Why were you given bellies? No, no, don’t refuse),” Mugabe said in
Harare, where he joined Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in launching the
census.

He added: “The census results of 2002 were a disappointment to me the
numbers were down, miserably down. Well, they have not increased very much.

“The country’s population has been decimated by the pandemic we all know –
HIV and Aids. We still need to establish whether that pandemic still has
that same effect of decimating our population or have we managed at least to
control it in such a way that even though it still affects us, we managed to
beat our death rate.”
The 2012 census, which gets underway on at midnight on Wednesday, is the
fourth since 1980.

In 1982, Zimbabwe’s population was 7,6 million, in 1992 it rose to 10,4
million and then slowed to 11,6 million in 2002.

Mugabe said an honest and objective census would help the government focus
resources. He urged all Zimbabweans to cooperate with the 30,000 enumerators
by “answering all the questions truthfully.”
Tsvangirai said the transformation of the country’s economy will depend on
reliable statistics.

“The need to turn the economy around, to plan and execute development
programmes depends upon the production and dissemination of quality and
reliable statistics on the economy of Zimbabwe,” he said.

“In other words, statistics is an indispensible tool for evidence-based
policy formulation at all administrative levels of government.”
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the population census will cost US$40
million.

Biti saluted the international community for the intervention they did to
help the cash-strapped government.

“Let me express my great gratitude indebtedness to the international
community which has chipped in with a figure of US$12, 6 million.”

Biti, who was last month forced to cut his budget by over US$600 million due
to low revenues, said the census has been launched by the grace of God.
“From where we have come from, it is a miracle and God’s work that we are
launching this census today."

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said census is not only important to
the planners of the economy but even for the private sector and investors.

He said the census programme should be conducted in harmonious manner “as we
must all work together in alignment as the people of Zimbabwe so we can
deliver a credible outcome from the census.”

Chances of referendum fade

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Chances of holding a national referendum on a new constitution any time soon
appear to be getting dimmer following Zanu (PF)’s reaction to the completed
draft.
15.08.1212:56pm
by Staff Reporter

The party’s politburo has insisted that it be taken back to the
Parliamentary Select Committee for renegotiation, and threatened that if the
MDCs refuse, President Robert Mugabe will to call for elections under the
old Lancaster House constitution without subjecting the draft to a
referendum.

Speaking on Monday to mark Heroes Day, Mugabe said there was need for
consensus before the draft was taken to a referendum. Both MDC formations
have vowed that they will not go back to the negotiating table.

Douglas Mwomzora, the MDC-T National Spokesperson, told The Zimbabwean that
Mugabe’s call makes no sense as the people are supposed to decided, not the
politicians.

Constitutional law expert, Lovemore Madhuku, said if Zanu (PF) refuses to
take the draft to a referendum, it would be acting in accordance with the
Global Political Agreement.

“It is not a question of law. It is about what the process requires. All
three parties must agree and any one of the three partners can stop a
referendum,” he said, adding that the two MDC formations were misleading the
people to believe that they could go it alone on the referendum.

“That’s the weakness of the Global Political Agreement. It is stupid in the
sense that it requires the consent of all the partners in the GNU,” Madhuku
said.

The spokesperson for the smaller MDC formation led by Professor Welshman
Ncube, Kurauwone Chihwayi, said his party would not negotiate.

“Zanu (PF) is a party of dishonest people who feel threatened by the winds
of change. Their attempts to doctor the views of the people will be
resisted. These are the same people who have been crying for elections, and
if they resist the referendum they will only be prolonging the GNU because
we will reject any elections without a new constitution,” he said.

The latest development exposes the weakness of the MDC-T, which has on many
occasions made naïve concessions without sufficient thought. In 2008, the
party went to elections unaware of the 50 percent plus 1 majority clause,
which went on to deny Tsvangirai an outright win in the Presidential
plebiscite.

Education funds diverted to pay ZIFA’s lodge debt

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
15 August 2012

The Minister of Education, Sport and Culture David Coltart, has revealed
that $90,000 from the education budget was recently diverted to bail out the
country’s football association, ZIFA, who owed the money to Pandari Lodge.

Newsday newspaper had written an editorial blaming Minister Coltart and the
Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) for the failure by the Young Warriors
football team to travel to Angola. The team had no money for the airfare.

In his response to Newsday Coltart said it is not the responsibility of his
ministry to provide airfare for ZIFA, which is an independent organisation.

Regarding the diverted funds, Coltart said: “It is intolerable that a sport
which should be self financing such as Football, is in such a chaotic state
that funds we can ill afford to divert from Education and other sports, have
to be spent in this manner bailing out ZIFA.”

Asked why he would pay off ZIFA’s debt to a lodge, Minister Coltart told SW
Radio Africa that he only learned that the money had been given to them,
when he returned to Zimbabwe from the Olympics on Tuesday.

“I am told that ZIFA property had been attached following a debt owed to
some lodge in Harare. I am waiting to meet with the permanent secretary to
find out why this was done,” Coltart explained. He added that he was deeply
concerned that the money was used to pay off a hotel debt, rather than buy
footballs or other equipment.

“I recognize government has a responsibility to help football and other
sports. I have no objection in principle because football is very important
in Zimbabwe,” the Minister said.

The fact that Coltart was not advised of the ZIFA debt before the money was
diverted exposes the chaos within the coalition government itself, with ZANU
PF officials continuing to make unilateral decisions without consulting
their partners in the coalition. The Deputy Minister for Education is ZANU
PF’s Lazarus Dokora and the Permanent Secretary is Constance Chigwamba, also
from ZANU PF.

Tsvangirai MDC to Defy Police Over Rallies Ban in Mashonaland West

http://www.voazimbabwe.com/

Jonga Kandemiiri

14.08.2012
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formation of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai said it will defy a Mashonaland West police directive that the
party should get clearance from traditional leaders and councilors before
holding rallies in the province.

The party’s organising secretary Nelson Chamisa said there is no law in
Zimbabwe that requires political parties to seek clearance from local
authorities, adding they were only required to inform the police about any
meetings for security reasons.

Mashonaland West police last week wrote to the MDC provincial leadership
informing the party that no meetings will be held without the authority of
chiefs, headmen, kraal heads and councilors.

Police were not immediately available for comment.

Chamisa told Studio 7 there were some people who are trying to ban his party
like what used to be done by the settle regime of Ian Douglas Smith.

SADC optimistic about Zimbabwe elections in 2013

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

The Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC), Tomas Salomao, on Tuesday expressed optimism that Zimbabwe will be
able to hold elections in 2013.
15.08.1207:23am
by AIM

Speaking at a press briefing on the eve of a meeting of the SADC Council of
Ministers, Salomao said that SADC’s main concern has been to avoid any
repeat of the violence that characterized the second round of the 2008
presidential election.

The Global Political Accord (GPA), signed between the two factions of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF,
was initially intended to cover the period between 2009 and 2011 – but
“various considerations made it necessary to extend this period, in order to
conclude certain reforms, such as the new constitution”, said Salomao.

SADC was prepared for implementation of the GPA to take longer “because we
don’t want to return to the events of 2008”.

However, Salomao regarded 2013 as a very real cut-off point, since that is
when the terms of office of the members of parliament elected in 2008
expire. “With or without reforms, there have to be elections next year”, he
said.

That meant that the three leaders – Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
(who leads the main faction of the MDC) and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara (head of the breakaway MDC faction) – should work to ensure that
elections could take place. Salomao said that SADC had been assured that a
referendum on a new constitution can be held in October, followed by general
elections six to eight months later.

As for the accusations that Rwanda is supporting the M-23 rebel group in the
east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Salomao said that a SADC
ministerial meeting had sent a group of military experts to the conflict
areas, and their report was delivered on Monday.

Salomao thought it positive that Congolese President Joseph Kabila and his
Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame had met at the recent Great Lakes summit in
Kampala. “The important thing is that the two have continued dialogue”, he
said.

Asked about the impact of piracy on SADC’s island members, Mauritius and the
Seychelles, Salomao admitted that it was very serious. The Seychelles, an
archipelago of 115 islands, depends on fishing and tourism, both of which
have been severely damaged by the threat posed by Somali pirate gangs.

He said that the navies of South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania were
patrolling the Mozambique Channel and cooperate with anti-piracy units from
the European Union, Russia and China in the Indian Ocean.

“But the key question is solving the political question in Somalia”, Salomao
pointed. “If Somalia is normalized, that will deprive the pirates of their
rear bases”.

Mawere joins Presidential race

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

South Africa-based Zimbabwean businessman and academic, Mutumwa Mawere, has
thrown his hat into the Zimbabwe Presidential race as leader of the newly
formed United Movement for Democracy.
15.08.1212:22pm
by Staff Reporter

UMDP is predominantly made up of breakaway MDC99 structures. Influential and
brave former MDC99 Spokesperson, Aaron Muzungu, and Vice President, Biviana
Musimi, are among its members.

“After falling out with MDC99 leader, Job Sikhala, on matters of strategy,
we realized that to achieve our objective of democratically changing the
political dispensation in the country, we had to break away and form a new
political party under the leadership of Mutumwa Mawere,” said UMDP National
Spokesperson, Aaron Muzungu.
Visionary leader

Muzungu described Mawere as a practical and able leader with a vision.
“Mawere is the man and most suitable candidate to head Zimbabwe. His
business successes speak volumes about his leadership capabilities. He has
what it takes to restore Zimbabwe’s lost economic, social and political
glory.”

He said since political events were moving fast, UMDP would announce its
interim structures at the September launch and embark on vigorous campaigns
in preparation for coming elections. If elections were to be held in the
distant future, Muzungu said the party would go to congress at a date to be
announced before making inroads into the electorate for membership
recruitment.

“The congress would endorse the presidency of Mawere and Biviana Musinami as
his vice. Party structures suggested that I, (Muzungu), should hold the
secretary general portfolio. Other national and provincial executive members
are expected to retain positions they held at MDC99, though with some minor
changes. As a party, we would maintain the objectives we valued dearly at
MDC99. We would throw everything into the fight towards democratically
removing President Robert Mugabe from power,” said the firebrand Muzungu.
MDC99 fight on

He added that he would miss Job Sikhala’s strength and bravery as a fighter
for democracy. MDC99 vice Secretary General, Danuel Dhimbo, said his party
would continue to grow “from strength to strength”.

“We dismissed some of these people from MDC99 because of their dishonesty
and wayward behavior.” Sikhala could not be reached for comment as he was
reported to be out of the country. He recently told The Zimbabwean, that he
dismissed Muzungu and others from MDC99 as he could no longer trust them.

Political observers welcomed Mawere onto the political scene, describing his
move as healthy for democracy. Efforts to contact Mawere for comment from
his South African base were fruitless.

MDC-T, MDC N youths clash

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Youths from the MDC-T and MDC-N were involved in violent clashes here at the
weekend, reportedly leaving one person seriously injured.
15.08.1210:22am
by Christopher Mahove

MDC-N National Chairman and aspiring candidate for Chikomba constituency,
Goodrich Chimbaira, told The Zimbabwean that the MDC-T youths approached his
party youths who had converged at the memorial service for an MDC-T member
only identified as Jangara and asked them to leave.

Denga is said to have used tribal language, accusing the MDC-N youths of
“trying to bring Ndebeles to a Zezuru area” and vowed that Chikomba would
never be ruled by a Ndebele.

Chimbaira said although the late Jangara was a member of the MDC-T, his son
was a member of the other MDC and had invited his colleagues to the memorial
service. This did not go down well with the MDC-T youths, who said they did
not want them at the homestead. He said the MDC-N youths left the homestead
and headed for the nearby Unyeti Township. The MDC-T youths are said to have
followed to the township where they denounced the MDC- N.

At the time of going to press no arrests had been made, although Chimbaira
indicated police in Chikomba were still looking for the suspects.

MDC-N Spokesperson, Kurauwone Chihwai said his party was disturbed by the
behaviour displayed by the MDC youths and castigated Denga for his reckless
statements.

Denga, however, denied making tribal statements and accused his political
opponents of attempting to soil his image.

“I never made such statements. We are democratic party and believe Zimbabwe
is a free country where anyone has the freedom to campaign anywhere they
want”.

“These people are only trying to tarnish my image and that of the party,” he
said.

Women, war vets battle for diamonds

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

A storm is brewing over a disputed diamond mining claim in Somabhula, with
top Zanu (PF) officials haggling over its ownership.
15.08.1201:14pm
by Brenna Matendere Munyati

The claim, according to a mining expert who talked to The Zimbabwean, is
rich in gems of jewellery quality estimated to go 70 metres deep.

The Zanu (PF) Provincial Women’s League has laid claim to the underground
diamond deposits in this Midlands farming area close to Gweru, putting
itself at loggerheads with a group of war veterans aligned to the party. The
women are being fronted by a commercial pressure group, Women in Mining
Zimbabwe, which has the support of the party’s provincial chairperson, Jason
Machaya, who is also the Provincial Governor and Resident Minister.

According to sources, the women’s league in the Midlands province recently
set a fence around the claim - but the war veterans countered by delimiting
a bigger area with another fence. This sparked anger in the league which,
reportedly, recently staged a demonstration against the war veterans.

Tsitsi Muzenda, the daughter of the late Vice President and deputy to
President Robert Mugabe in Zanu (PF), Simon Muzenda, played an important
role in the Women’s League being allotted the claim by Machaya.

She admitted her involvement in the scheme, but told The Zimbabwean:

“I only sought to help and facilitate the acquisition of the diamond claim,
but am not active in that.” She acknowledged that Angelina, the widow of
Josiah Tongogara, former leader of Zanla, Zanu (PF)’s military wing during
the war of liberation, was part of the women’s group fighting for control of
the mine.

Angelina, who hails from the province, was reported to be living in poverty
after the party neglected her. But she would not give substantive comments
regarding her involvement. When contacted for comment she said she was busy
at a memorial service “but we can always talk some other time”.

The war veterans are led by the association’s Midlands Chairperson,
Tozivanashe Shumba, who is insisting that his members are the rightful
owners of the claim. “We have the papers (to demonstrate that we are the
rightful owners. I was shocked to see and hear that the Women’s League wants
to operate on our claim. Why do they want to disturb us?” he said. Neither
of the warring parties has started mining because of lack of equipment.

The Zanu (PF) dispute, sources said, is a reflection of the deep-seated
factionalism within the party. The Women’s League is reported to be
supported by Machaya, who in turn is said to belong to a faction led by Vice
President Joyce Mujuru.

The war veterans, on the other hand, are reportedly on the side of Emmerson
Mnangagwa, the party’s Legal Secretary and Defence Minister.

Even the before this latest battle, the diamond claim was the stage for a
protracted dispute between a private company fronted by the party’s
supporters and a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe special purpose vehicle set up by
Gideon Gono during the period when the central bank dabbled in quasi-fiscal
activities.

According to a High Court judgment given in March last year in Bulawayo, the
claim is situated on Kleimport Farm previously owned by one Magiel Casper
Jovner, a white Zimbabwean by birth. But this is now state land, having been
gazetted for compulsory acquisition by the government.

The RBZ subsidiary, Carslone Enterprises Private Limited, assumed mining
activities on the farm after it was taken from Jovner, but in 2010, another
company, Shuma Mining Syndicate, took the matter to the High Court seeking
to assume ownership.

It argued that Carslone, which had been mining the diamonds since 2008, was
winding up business after a stop to RBZ’s quasi-fiscal tenure, but the High
Court ruled in favour of the central bank’s subsidiary to remain put, even
though it acknowledged that the company’s ownership of the claim was in
dispute.

Shuma also claimed that it had been granted mining rights by Machaya, a
position that sources say still stands, meaning that the Women’s League is
supposed to be jointly exploiting the diamonds.

Shuma demonstrated in court that it had entered into an agreement to take
over the mine with Jovner.

Police Ban Memorial Service For MDC-T Activist

http://www.radiovop.com

Bulawayo, August 15, 2012 — Police in Bulawayo on Tuesday banned a memorial
service for Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activist, Patrick
Nabanyama, who disappeared in 2000 and is believed to be dead.

“We had planned a memorial service for one of our party heroes Nabanyama who
went missing some years ago, but police forced us to cancel the event saying
the matter is very sensitive. We are shocked by the police’s behaviour
because it was just a memorial service not a political gathering,” said
Bhekithemba Nyathi MDC-T Bulawayo Youth Assembly Chairperson.

Nyathi added: “We had organised this memorial working together with his
widow Patricia.”

He was the polling agent for Education Minister David Coltart before the MDC
split in 2 000. He was abducted in front of his family on June 19, 2 000 at
his home in Nketa High Density suburb in Bulawayo.

In 2010 he was declared dead by the Bulawayo provincial magistrate, Rose
Dube. His widow then applied to the attorney-general Johannes Tomana seeking
the issuance of a certificate to carry out a private prosecution against her
husband killers.

Nine war veterans and Zanu (PF) members namely Stanley Ncube, Ephraim Moyo,
Julius Sibanda, Edward Ndlovu, Howard Ncube, Simon Rwodzi, A. Moyo and D.
Ngoni as well as the late Cain Nkala were initial arrested in connection
with Nabanyama’s disappearance, but were never charged with kidnapping and
murder and were freed. Three of these alleged killers have since died.

The Nabanyama family still accuses Tomana of refusing to prosecute the
surviving war veterans for their son's death.

During the 2000 elections, many MDC supporters were murdered and the same
happened in the 2008 elections.

15 women are raped everyday in Zimbabwe

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

August 15, 2012 in Local

NQABA MATSHAZI
AT least 15 women are raped daily in the country, according to latest
statistics supplied by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Office (ZimStat).
However, there are fears that the number could be higher as some cases go
unreported.
The ZimStat report, titled Quarterly Digest of Statistics, says 2 195 cases
of rape were reported in the first five months of the year. But it is in May
where the statistics are gory, as 470 women were subjected to sexual
assaults. This translates to 15 women being raped daily or an equivalent of
one woman abused every 90 minutes.

Evince Mugumbate of the Women and Aids Support Network (WASN) said the high
figures were testimony to the work women’s groups were doing in educating
people on their rights and to report cases of abuse.

“Before, there was shame and stigma associated with reporting rape, but more
women are more educated and are coming out to report,” she said.
“Women are now enlightened, educated and brave to report these cases.”

Mugumbate said it was a scary thought that women were being raped, but the
statistics did not capture the whole picture as a number of cases went
unreported.
The statistics reveal that in January, 427 women were raped, while in
February 428 were abused.

In March, 425 women were abused, with the number rising to 445 the following
month and peaking at 470 in May. However, this could be a slight improvement
from 2011 figures, where a total of 5 449 cases were recorded — easily the
highest figure compared to the two preceding years.
In 2010, 4 450 cases where reported while in 2009, 3 481 cases were
recorded.

Mugumbate challenged the government to do more to look at the reason why the
cases were high and what could be done to bring incidents of rape down. Also
during the first five months of the year, 940 cases of indecent assault were
recorded, as compared to 472 in the corresponding period in 2011.

A total of 1 610 cases of indecent assault were recorded in 2011, with 2 484
and 1 124 in 2010 and 2009 respectively. Anele Ndebele of the Matabeleland
Aids Council said the statistics were a cause for concern as it invariably
meant there was an increase in the transmission of HIV.

“You tend to believe that when rape takes place there is no protection and
this may in turn lead to an increase in the rate of HIV transmission,” he
said.

No pasture for cattle

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Farmers have been left with no choice but to buy grass and animal feed for their cattle as pasture for livestock has been wiped out by the drought.

15.08.1208:13am

by Stephen Tsoroti

---

“I bought two bales of grass for $10 each from a Harare based agro-dealing company last week. The bales are not enough because they cannot feed all my cattle. For me to adequately cover my herd of 30 cattle, I need about 10 bales of grass per week,” said Ishmael Ndabeni, a farmer in the area.

Ndabeni said he could not afford to buy the meal that was being sold at $25 for a 50kg bag. Farmers who spoke to The Zimbabwean said unless the government intervened, their livestock would be wiped out by the drought.

The loss of pasture has also resulted in cattle sales being at an all time low of $200-$300.

Addressing members of the civil society in Bulawayo recently, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the government had come up with a supplementary feeding scheme to rescue cattle in Matabeleland from starvation.

“The role of cattle in the livelihood of our community and the country’s economy cannot be over emphasized. I can assure you that the government is doing everything to save the cattle,” he said.

Hooliganism runs amok

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Visitors to this country who witnessed the chaos caused by soldiers and
central intelligence personnel last week could be forgiven for assuming that
there was no political leadership in Zimbabwe. It looked like some people
were clearly doing whatever they wanted to do.
14.08.1204:13pm
by John Makumbe

Soldiers and CIO agents raided the venues where census enumerators were
being trained and demanded to be included in the supposedly lucrative
exercise. This was absurd since most of them had not been invited to the
training. One school of thought argues that this was a Zanu (PF) scheme to
highjack or rig the census results.

The inclusion of soldiers and CIO agents was intended to appease these
impoverished securocrats and make them view Zanu (PF) as having their
interests at heart. In the light of the forthcoming elections, this would be
a major coup on the former liberation movement’s part. Fortunately for this
nation, the whole scheme was shattered when the training was suspended.

The second school of thought is that the securocrats were simply attempting
to get a little money to augment the pittance they are paid by the state.
But in their attempt they ended up threatening civil servants, who are
equally poorly paid. The acting minister of Finance must be commend for
putting his foot down and insisting that the securocrats must only count
people in their bases and camps, and not be involved in the counting of
civilians.

This decision had been agreed to by Cabinet, but its enforcement had not
been effective for the obvious political partisan reasons. A third school of
thought says that the securocrats were acting on the orders of their seniors
who are desperate to send a message to politicians that they are not at all
happy about the Copac constitution draft.

The results of the forthcoming census will be critical of both the
referendum and the 2013 elections. In other words, this was a show of force
by the securocrats that civilians will not have their way in matters of
national governance in this country.

The trouble is not quite over yet. There is still the possibility that the
same hooligan elements may disrupt the census process as well as the
forthcoming referendum. Should this happen, we can rest assured that the
2013 elections will most likely be interfered with also by the same lawless
hirelings. This will set this nation back to the disastrous situation that
existed in 2008. No sane Zimbabwean could ever wish for that.

Reports that some of the Zanu (PF) proposed amendments to the Copac draft
are aimed at providing our security forces with a role to play in the
governance of the nation are disturbing, to say the least. We remember how
some military figures attempted to participate in the writing of the draft
constitution until they were exposed and expelled. The battle for the soul
of this nation is far from being over.

So, what can be done to keep these elements in check? Is it not pathetic
that the Zanu (PF) Politburo has spent three nights revising the Copac draft
to suit their partisan interests? This is despite the fact that their own
representatives actively participated in the Copac process and agreed with
all the contents of that document.

The MDC formations must put their foot down and refuse to negotiate any
further on the Copac draft. Securocrats must be informed that they are free
to participate in civilian matters if and when they leave the security
sector. They must not be treated with kid gloves. They are not more special
than any other citizen of this country.

ZCTF Report - Aug 2012

ZANU PF politburo not substitute for stakeholders

Corporate Collaboration Lets Mugabe Continue Abuses

http://www.counterpunch.org/

August 15, 2012

The Coming Corpse of Zimbabwe
by PATRICK BOND

Zimbabwe’s political-economic crisis continues because dislodging decades of
malgovernance has not been achieved by either a Government of National Unity
that began in early 2009, civil society activism, or international pressure,
including this week’s Maputo summit of the main body charged with sorting
out democratisation, the Southern African Development Community (SADC). With
a new draft Constitution nearly ready for a referendum vote, followed by a
presidential and parliamentary election by next April, the period
immediately ahead is critical.

Many examples of chaos appeared over the last week (much of which I spent in
a rural area northwest of the capital of Harare). On Monday, for example, 44
activists were arrested in the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe office at a
project launching documentation of the repeated violations of their human
rights. Though released, it reminded the society of the power of
dictatorship mixed with homophobic social values.

Since the draft Constitution was released on July 18, leaders of Robert
Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU PF) have repeatedly rejected
crucial text within a document that its own negotiators had hammered out
this year and issued last month. Amidst the ‘3 percent’ that ZANU PF leaders
object to, one hang-up is that wording about presidential running mates
complicates the fragile balance of power given how ill the 88 year old
Mugabe has been with prostate cancer, according to his close associates.

If a referendum goes ahead with the current text, some in civil society –
especially the National Constitutional Assembly, probably to be joined by
students and the left-leaning faction of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions – are likely to promote a ‘No’ vote, and ZANU PF might well make the
same choice. Nevertheless it is likely that the Movement for Democratic
Change led by former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai (known as MDC-T) would
win approval.

Although central powers have been weakened in the new Constitution,
according to critics in the NGO Sokwanele, “There remains no age limit for
Presidential office, immunity from prosecution remains, and the executive
remains in control of defence forces.”

Constitution confirms land redistribution

There are other important markers of the society’s balance of power in the
draft Constitution. For example, heeding ZANU PF’s wishes, it specifically
prohibits that monetary compensation for land will be given to the four
thousand whites whose farms were invaded from 2000-08, although improvements
(buildings, irrigation and the like, worth around $3 billion) can be
compensated, according to the text, while any land reimbursement should be
made by the colonial power, Britain.

There is certainly very important anti-imperialist symbolism at stake here,
and from this kind of compensation to the need for long-overdue colonial
reparations is not too far a conceptual leap. But recall that Mugabe’s
‘jambanja’ (chaotic, violent) land reform was driven partly by his
increasingly unpopular ruling party’s need to retain power after a prior
Constitutional draft was rejected 55-45 percent in February 2000. Another
reason was the immense rural pressures building up from below that were
craftily channeled into land invasions of the country’s best land, which
white settlers had originally stolen during the sixty years or so after
Cecil Rhodes’ ‘Pioneer Column’ invaded in 1890.

Attempts to redress the Land Question after Independence in 1980 failed due
to lack of political will and an incorrect technicist assumption that if
instead of land redistribution, rural credit was extended to impoverished
small farmers, they would be boosted into the mainstream economy (in
reality, four out of five had defaulted on their debts by 1988 because the
markets were unattractive).

The MDC-T position is that the post-2000 land redistribution is now
‘irreversible’ so white farmers have no basis for confidence they can
return, if Tsvangirai wins the presidency. Debate also continues over
whether the land redistribution ‘worked’ for the estimated 10 percent of
Zimbabweans who directly benefited: 146 000 households who were the main
small-farmer beneficiaries of jambanja, and the 16 000 farmers who got
access to much larger plots including the most productive commercial farms,
according to 2009 government data.

Tragically, as rains failed again this year, 1.6 million Zimbabweans – about
12 percent of the population – will be in need of food aid, the World Food
Programme estimates. The country’s best land, with irrigated agriculture
that would permit a return to food security, isn’t yet in the hands of the
masses, as cronyism on good farmland means a new era of land reform will be
needed.

Still, argues Sam Moyo of the African Institute for Agrarian Studies, “Only
about 15 percent of the land beneficiaries could be considered ‘elites’,
including high-level employees and businesspeople who are connected to
Government and the ruling ZANU PF. By far, the largest number of
beneficiaries are people who have a relatively low social status and limited
political or financial-commercial connections, although some of these may
have important local connections and influence.”

Aside from periodic drought, Moyo cites inadequate input supply –
fertilizer, pesticides, credit – as the main reason for the failed small
resettled farmers, but one in five also suffer “land conflicts, including
their lack of ‘title’ and fear of eviction as factors which limit their
social reproduction and/or production.” Nevertheless, according to Sussex
University researcher Ian Scoones and his colleagues, huge increases in
output have been registered by resettled farmers in one central district,
especially in small grains, edible dry beans, cotton and tobacco.

On the other hand, the overcrowded ‘Communal Areas’ where Rhodesians forced
blacks to live until 1980 appear not to have become decongested, and nor did
Mugabe’s ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ – the violent displacement of 700 000
urban residents in 2005 – make the Land Question any easier to answer. The
charge that cronyism allowed Mugabe’s allies to cherry-pick the very best
farms closest to big cities remains intact, characterized by multiple
farm-holdings by leading elites. Along with persistent food aid required
annually since 2000, this problem will continue to mar Mugabe’s reputation,
as he and his family remain prime cases of abuse.

Gripping to political power requires greedy corporates’ cash

In another indication of ongoing political manipulation last week, Mugabe’s
army initially threatened to derail the official Census count, scheduled
from August 17-28. It is desperately needed not just for socio-economic
planning but also future election districting. The army tried to place 10
000 of its troops amongst 30 000 teachers being trained for census taking,
and some beat those civil servants who objected.

Until they were finally reigned in this week, why were army troops intent on
intervention? Explains Claris Madhuku of the Platform for Youth Development,
“As they go through the process of counting, they want to provide some form
of intimidation so that the community in the next election, they must vote
for ZANU-PF or else.” A victim of such intimidation, Madhuku was arrested
last April and after seven court appearances acquitted simply for holding a
community meeting to air grievances against a biofuel corporation which was
grabbing small-farmer landholdings.

Such experiences drive the desire for a less repressive government. In a
free and fair election, Tsvangirai would probably win hands down; in March
2008, he trounced Mugabe in the first round by nearly 10 percent before
withdrawing in protest from a run-off vote several weeks later, because
meanwhile hundreds of his supporters were killed, tortured or injured by
desperate ZANU PF political thugs.

For Mugabe to retain power in what was a financially-broke government in
2008 also required an infusion of enormous financial resources, and as a
Mail&Guardian investigation last week revealed, when Mugabe was running out
of funds during the election campaign, his regime was bolstered by a $100
million loan from New York-based Och-Ziff Capital Management Group.
Ironically, the firm’s financier founder, billionaire Daniel Ochs, is also
vice-chair of New York City’s ‘Robin Hood’ Foundation, which according to
Fortune magazine, “was a pioneer in what is now called venture philanthropy,
or charity that embraces free-market forces.”

Och’s loan was made possible thanks to intermediation by London-based
Central African Mining and Exploration Company (Camec), run by famous
English cricket spin-bowler and businessman Phil Edmonds, and by Anglo
American Platinum, whose gifting of a quarter of its platinum assets to
Mugabe’s regime was the basis for securing the deal. The Mail&Guardian
reported, “Anglo was granted empowerment credits and foreign exchange
indulgences that would allow it to develop a valuable remaining concession.”
Zimbabwe slipped further into foreign debt.

When Edmonds was accused of funding Mugabe in 2008 in the context of a
business alliance with the notorious Zimbabwean businessman Billy
Rautenbach, The Telegraph remarked, “In the boardroom and on the African
sub-continent, the two places where Edmonds now conducts most of his
business, he is said to have a similar presence, capable of charming and
terrifying business rivals at the same time.”

According to The Telegraph, Zimbabwe mining has been profitable, for “It was
with Rautenbach’s help that the fortunes of Edmonds and Camec rose beyond
anyone’s expectations in 2006. The company’s share price increased by more
than 700 per cent in just a year, drawing in blue-chip investors eager to
cash in on the boom in mining stocks.”

It is in this context that the ‘sanctions’ critique offered by United
Nations Human Rights Commission Navi Pillay in May needs revising. “There
seems little doubt that the existence of the sanctions regimes has, at the
very least, acted as a serious disincentive to overseas banks and
investors,” she said while visiting Mugabe. Yet ‘sanctions’, which are
limited to the personal affairs of 112 elites close to Mugabe, were
obviously sufficiently porous to allow the Och-Ziff/Camec/Anglo deal.

So who will pay Mugabe’s campaign bill in 2013? The next greedy mining house
is Anjin, a diamond mining company co-owned by Beijing investors and the
Zimbabwean Ministry of Defense, whose leaders have said they will never
accept rule by Tsvangirai’s party. Anjin is the main beneficiary of what is
probably the world’s largest diamond field at Marange, near Mutare in
eastern Zimbabwe, where hundreds of informal miners were killed by the army
in November 2008.

Abuses continue at Marange. Two weeks ago, Anjin fired 1 500 workers who,
desperate for decent pay, launched their eighth strike since 2010. Diamond
watchdog Farai Maguwu, director of the Mutare-based Centre for Research and
Development, termed Anjin’s move “a gross violation of the right of workers
to engage in industrial action if their working conditions are appalling.”

Another Marange diamond firm, Mbada, is chaired by Mugabe’s former
helicopter pilot Robert Mhlanga, who recently purchased $23 million worth of
properties in the highest-priced suburbs of Johannesburg and Durban
(Sandton, Umhlanga and Zimbali).

This is the kind of company ZANU PF keeps, notwithstanding rhetoric
regularly hostile to foreign capital. For example, at this week’s Heroes Day
ceremony, Mugabe intoned, “We should join hands to resist the unjustified
pander of our resources by undeserving foreign forces that come to us like
friends in the name of democracy and globalization, yet they have sinister
ulterior motives.”

Mugabe perfected this talk left, walk right gimmickry; his support for the
Marange looting represents one of Africa’s most extreme Resource Curse
problems.

For the next election, probably in March, we can expect another tactic –
‘indigenisation’ (giving local people a share in white- or foreign-run
corporations) – familiar to those who witnessed Mugabe’s 2000 campaign,
explains Bulawayo writer Mary Ndlovu: “The indigenisation agenda ZANU PF is
pushing has now replaced the land issue as a programme to simultaneously win
support from a new constituency and frustrate the opposition. It seems
dishonestly designed to further enrich themselves, consolidate their
patronage lines and prevent the MDC getting credit for increased investment,
rather than honestly redistributing wealth to the people.”

The first two multinational corporations to play the game of diluting local
holdings so as to hold onto immensely valuable resources are platinum
exporters Rio Tinto of London and Johannesburg-based Implats. There is no
evidence yet that the ordinary Zimbabwean is benefiting, although a new
extreme-nationalist ZANU PF political tendency is emerging around 41-year
old Savior Kasukuwere – the minister in charge of indigenisation – that may
one day threaten the party’s two other core factions, run by potential
Mugabe successors Joice Mujuru (now vice president) and Emerson Mnangagwa
(defence minister).

Financial and fiscal failings

Another source of crony capitalism is the financial sector, through which
disgraced Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and his allies arranged
lucrative illicit foreign exchange takeovers prior to the Zimbabwe dollar’s
collapse in 2009. Bankers close to ZANU PF made dubious loans which now
require the kinds of bailouts that Wall Street and the City of London
received from their own purchased politicians in 2008-09.

This is the main reason for Zimbabwe’s banking crisis, and recently
compelled Gono to issue a directive that $100 million be kept in capital
reserves to prevent a devastating run on the banks. Out of two dozen, only
six or so – nearly all foreign headquartered – will survive that degree of
regulatory restructuring (the rest must be merged or closed). The adverse
impact on credit availability, already hampered by the world’s highest real
interest rates, will be devastating.

On top of that is next month’s IMF and World Bank meeting in Washington
where Zimbabwe’s nearly $11 billion in unrepayable foreign debt is up for
negotiation, not to mention a looming public workers strike which will be
uncomfortable for the MDC-T, the party of labour but also under pressure to
impose austerity after the state budget was cut from a planned $4 billion to
$3.4 billion by Finance Minister Tendai Biti, known in his youth as the
country’s leading leftist lawyer.

The main reason for budget cuts is the failure of the mining ministry to
collect taxes on diamonds, which continue to be smuggled out of Zimbabwe on
flights from Marange to sites including Israel, India, Dubai, Khazakstan and
China.

Confirms Maguwu, “Revenue is not being accounted for and a faction of ZANU
PF is controlling the diamonds. This is was exactly the situation when the
Kimberley Process was formed in 2003 with the financing of rebel wars
through diamond revenues in West Africa.”

According to Maguwu, “The KP suffered huge credibility problems because of
allowing Marange diamonds to circulate at their last meeting in Kinshasa
last November. At the next summit in Washington this November, where
‘diamonds for development’ is a slogan against the Resource Curse, the KP
can only regain credibility by ensuring that there is revenue transparency,
otherwise Zimbabwe’s next round of election chaos can be blamed on diamond
revenues.”

Maguwu insists, “South African President Jacob Zuma is SADC’s lead mediator
and his team led by Lindiwe Zulu must put this on their agenda. Regional
civil society should also be putting pressure on SADC to ensure that Marange
diamonds do not sponsor political violence during the coming elections in
Zimbabwe and trigger regional instability.”

While economic growth may technically still top 5 percent this year, the
underlying crises are now being amplified, as the bulk of proceeds from
Zimbabwe’s 2012 outputs of diamonds ($3 billion), platinum ($600 million),
gold ($150 million) and nickel ($140 million) disappear into ZANU PF and
multinational corporate pockets, with only crumbs left over for the povo.
With a $3 billion trade deficit and only $500 million in donor aid
anticipated in 2012, the untenable economics of a modified Mugabe tyranny
still don’t add up.

Whether a free and fair election is possible in coming months, or instead
ZANU PF loyalists use military might, ill-begotten wealth and crony
capitalism to maintain illegitimate power, is too difficult to call. But by
the end of this week, SADC regional leaders could have their fingerprints on
Zimbabwe’s coming corpse if once again, they turn away from compelling at
least the minimal conditions for democracy: insistence on the Constitutional
referendum and preparations for the country’s first genuine vote in a dozen
years.

Patrick Bond directs the UKZN Centre for Civil Society in Durban, South
Africa.