Zimbabwe ready to move forward - Zuma

http://www.iol.co.za/

    August 28 2009 at 01:22AM

Johannesburg - The Zimbabwean political leadership is ready to tackle
political and social challenges head-on, President Jacob Zuma said at a gala
dinner in Harare on Thursday.

The dinner was hosted by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and among
the guests was Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

"We bring fraternal greetings from the people of South Africa who have
closely followed with keen interest the positive developments that have
taken place in this great country in recent times," Zuma said.

"These are positive developments that foretell good things that will
come to the Zimbabwean nation," he said.

Zuma noted that the country's achievements signalled to locals and the
world that Zimbabwe's political leadership was ready to "collectively tackle
the political and the socio-economic challenges head-on".

"We are all encouraged by how the three parties put their differences
aside in the service of this country.

"It is indeed very encouraging to note the significant progress that
has been made under the auspices of the Inclusive Government."

Zuma said the SADC remained at its disposal for assistance.

"The remaining issues are not insurmountable, and can be overcome.

"The most difficult path has already been travelled... The bonds that
united us when we battled the inhuman systems of apartheid and colonialism
still guide us today as we endeavour to build a better life for all our
people." - Sapa

Zuma expected to unlock current deadlock

Zuma Turns up the Volume

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 23:07
SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma arrived in Harare last night for
make-or-break talks with President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara in a bid to settle
intensifying struggles among leaders of the inclusive government.

The critical talks will determine whether the coalition government is
able to put the divisive issues crippling its operations behind it and focus
on rebuilding the country. The alternative is an ugly battle ahead of the
forthcoming Sadc summit in the DRC.

Battle lines were already drawn before Zuma arrived in Harare - his
first visit to Zimbabwe since he was sworn-in in May - as officials traded
tough remarks in a bid to do agenda-setting. Hard-hitting statements came
from key allies of Mugabe and Tsvangirai who appeared geared for a
take-no-prisoners encounter, while ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has
said South Africa will be more vocal in its attempt to curb what he called
"deviant behaviour" in the Mugabe camp.

Zuma was expected to meet Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara last night
after a state dinner. Zuma is also expected to meet the three leaders
collectively today after officially opening the Harare Agricultural Show
although the official agenda of the visit does not indicate exactly when the
talks will take place.
Tsvangirai told journalists during his tour of the Show that he was
optimistic Zuma would crack the disputes within the Global Political
Agreement (GPA).

"The meeting will take place as the South African government has
indicated," said Tsvangirai.

"There is an opportunity for President Zuma to meet the principals of
various political parties and try to evaluate the implementation of the GPA.
Tomorrow we will meet (with him) as principals," Tsvangirai said.

"President Zuma is not coming here as a prosecutor or a judge but as
chairman of Sadc and guarantor (of the GPA). All he wants to see is the
agreement being implemented and on that score I am optimistic."
However, indications were that the meetings would be heated as the
disputes have been steadily escalating.

The talks will show whether Zuma has the political leverage to clear
the stubborn outstanding issues and turn around the fortunes of a country
ruined by a decade of misrule.

Zuma recently met Tsvangirai in Johannesburg to discuss continuing
problems about the political arrangements in Harare.

"The fact of the matter is the prime minister had come here to raise
certain issues," Zuma told reporters in Cape Town before his departure.
"Certainly I will also have to raise those issues with the leaders in
Zimbabwe."

After meeting Tsvangirai in Johannesburg, Zuma promised to contact
regional leaders, including Mugabe, on the issues in dispute.

In his capacity as Sadc chair, Zuma will hold meetings to sort out a
series of issues which could explode into a crisis in the DRC if left
simmering.

The issues include the dispute over the sharing and swearing-in of
provincial governors, the appointment of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono
and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, the swearing in of Deputy Minister of
Agriculture Roy Bennett and the arrests of MDC-T MPs.

There is also a dispute over the constitutional reform process and
appointment of members of constitutional commissions, especially the media
one. The quarrel over the mandate of the ministries of Information
Communication Technology and Transport is another matter.

Then there is the review of the six months of the inclusive government
which might open the floodgates to complaints.

While a few issues such as the appointment of permanent secretaries,
diplomats and the meeting of the National Security Council have been dealt
with, the remaining matters have a potential of driving a new wedge between
the parties in government, creating a fresh crisis.

Zuma will also have to push to break the deadlock on the issue of
constitutional reform which has run into an impasse over the process and
leadership. This is a critical issue because if the process stalls, or worse
still collapses, there could be no elections perhaps until 2013. It had been
hoped they would come soon after a new constitution had been produced.

Mantashe said two days ago his boss would be out to curb Mugabe's
"deviant behaviour" and work together with his power-sharing government.

If Zuma tackles Mugabe firmly, his approach would be a departure from
his predecessor Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" which was denounced as weak
and ineffective.

Mantashe was widely quoted as saying Zuma would be tougher than Mbeki
in his stance.
"President Zuma will be more vocal in terms of what we see as deviant
behaviour," Mantashe said. "We will be more vocal but we will still engage."

MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti said his party would raise a
number of "GPA and toxic issues" which needed to be dealt with urgently.

"We will raise GPA issues such the Gono and Tomana matter, the
governors, the Bennett issue, selective application of the law, slow
progress and lack of progress on reforms, especially on things like the
media and absence of compliance with the rule of law," Biti said.

"We will also deal with the constitution-making process. Our view is
that the people must write their own constitution and all draft
constitutions must be considered. The problem we have now is the impasse on
the constitution-making process and lack of leadership. There is a
kwashiorkor of leadership on that issue."
Biti said the review of the six months of the inclusive government
would have to touch on the "skewed ministerial allocation" and the issue of
disputed mandates of ministries.

Biti said on the issue of sanctions, the GPA did not place the
responsibility of getting the "restrictive measures" lifted on the shoulders
of one party. He said the lifting of sanctions was linked with the
implementation of the GPA.

Zanu PF has said it would raise the issue of sanctions and foreign
radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe as the "outstanding issues".

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF's key negotiator,
yesterday said the MDC concerns were a distraction, saying Western sanctions
were the real issue as they were undermining the inclusive government.

"Our position is very clear. We hope our principal, President Robert
Mugabe, tells President Zuma that the outstanding issues are that of
sanctions and external interference," Chinamasa told AFP.

"The so-called outstanding issues, which are the issues of the
(Reserve Bank) governor and the Attorney-General are nowhere in the GPA," he
said. "This is meant to distract attention of the inclusive government."

Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa also said the Gono
and Tomana issues were "not for negotiation". He said Mugabe has in terms of
the constitution "power to appoint the governor of the Reserve Bank and the
Attorney-General" without consulting Tsvangirai and Mutambara.

"The MDC must grow up. What they are saying is absolute nonsense. They
are behaving like small babies," Mutasa said. "There will be no negotiations
on those appointments."

Dumisani Muleya and Faith Zaba

Nkomo's Sodomy Accuser Fears for his Life

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 23:03
THE man at the centre of sensational sodomy allegations against
National Healing minister and Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo, the favourite
candidate to become co-vice-president, Mncedisi Twala, has spoken out on the
saga which has sent shockwaves through the political landscape.

 The sodomy allegations, which the Zimbabwe Independent has been
closely following since last week after Twala made an alarming police report
against Nkomo, has echoes of the Banana saga which rocked the country in the
late 1990s.

Former president Canaan Banana was convicted and jailed for sodomy
against the late Jefta Dube, sinking his illustrious political career.

President Robert Mugabe, who has described homosexuals as "worse than
pigs and dogs", did not attend Banana's funeral. Banana was not buried at
Heroes Acre, where most liberation-struggle nationalist leaders are
interred, after the Zanu PF politburo refused to declare him a national
hero.

The Nkomo saga deepened yesterday when police intensified their
investigations by visiting the complainant's home to interrogate him. Police
yesterday reportedly also seized Twala's uncle, Bekezela Khumalo, whom they
had been hunting down the whole week.

Twala's mother, Lister Ncube, in an interview said she was worried
about the safety of her son.

Nkomo, who has denied the allegations, has reportedly engaged
attorneys Chris John Dube of Dube, Banda & Nzarayapenga, while Twala's
lawyer is Mkhululi Nyathi of Mabhikwa, Hikwa & Nyathi.

Twala (30) narrated his alleged rape to the Independent on Wednesday
and yesterday saying he was traumatised and now feared for his life after
being arrested and harassed by the police.

He said he was now living in fear because he had been harassed and
treated like a criminal when he was a "victim" of rape.

Twala, who lives with his mother in Lobengula West in Bulawayo,  said
instead of investigating his report, police in fact initially tried

to charge him with armed robbery before dropping the claims which
could not stick. He said police were now trying to charge him with making a
false report, but he was standing by his sodomy allegations.

Twala, who is a photographer, said what was now happening has proved
his worst fears because his initial report to police after the alleged
sexual assault in April 2002 was not recorded by the law enforcement agents.
After failing to get police protection and an investigation into the matter
in 2002, Twala said he escaped to South Africa.

He said he only permanently returned home on July 4, although in
between he occasionally visited his mother when she fell ill.

Twala said minutes after his release on Wednesday that although he was
temporarily free, he now feared for his life but was "prepared to tackle
anyone head on if push comes to shove".

"I now fear for my life as I was constantly told that I could
disappear or even be killed because I'm accusing a senior Zanu PF official,"
Twala said.

Twala said he was psychologically affected by his "unlawful detention"
by police since last week. He was released on Wednesday by a Bulawayo area
prosecutor, Simon Nleya, without charge. He was threatened with a counter
charge of armed robbery.

"When I was in police detention on Friday night, some anonymous people
came to my cell accusing me of making a false report on a senior Zanu PF
person and asking me if I knew I could disappear for it. At that point I did
not fear anything because I was already in detention but now after my
release, I'm scared for my life," said Twala.

Nkomo has denied the allegations.

Asked whether his claims are not politically motivated, Twala laughed,
saying he had nothing to benefit from meddling in party politics because he
was not a member of any political party.

"I can tell you 100% this is not political. All that I want is
justice. Why are the police now hesitant to bring me to court to prove that
I did not make a false report as they want to claim? If they think I'm
lying, let them take me to court and I will prove I'm not lying," he said.

Twala said the alleged rape happened in April 2002 after meeting Nkomo
as Bulawayo's Centenary Park where he used to spend time taking photographs.
He said the alleged rape took place at a hotel after Nkomo had invited him
there. Twala said he has had serious difficulties in reporting the case to
the police.

After the failed previous attempts, Twala finally made a report at
Rose Camp police station in Bulawayo last Thursday.

However, he was arrested on Friday at his home and was detained at
Luveve police station. He was moved to Western Commonage police station in
Mpopoma on Saturday afternoon.

He remained there until his release on Wednesday. Jefta Dube and other
victims of sodomy had repeatedly reported the case to top government
officials, but were rebuffed until the police murder case in the courts led
to the investigation of the allegations.

Twala said he felt harassed by the police after making his report last
week. Barely 24 hours after his release on Wednesday, police yesterday
morning went to Twala's house in Lobengula West to ask him further questions
relating to when he had applied for a passport and whether he could
positively identify the police officer to whom he first attempted to file
the sodomy report in 2002.

Twala said he initially made the report at Bulawayo central police
station when Nkomo was Minister of Home Affairs before leaving the country
and returning to pursue the matter.

Nqobile Bhebhe

Chamisa Sucked Into Cellphone Theft Case

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:56
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa has been sucked into Deputy Youth
Minister Thamsanqa Mahlangu's case of allegations of stealing a cellphone
belonging to war veterans leader Joseph Chinotimba.

Chamisa, who is Information Communication Technology minister, was
roped into the case during Chinotimba's testimony on Wednesday before Harare
Magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini.

Chinotimba had the court in stitches as he narrated how his cellphone
was stolen and how he allegedly told Chamisa several times that he suspected
Mahlangu had stolen it, pleading with him to get it back.

Mahlangu - the MDC-T national youth chairman - is jointly charged with
his personal assistant Malvern Chadamoyo and two Hwange women, Geraldine
Phiri and Patience Nyoni, for allegedly stealing Chinotimba's phone.

All of them deny the charges.

Chinotimba said his Nokia 2310 phone valued at US$40 was stolen on
July 17 when he attended Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara's National
Vision 2040 conference at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC).

He alleged that once his phone was stolen he reported the matter to
one of the hotel managers and to Chamisa.

He said: "There is nothing else that I thought of but to think that
the MDC boys that I had sat with stole my phone. I was lucky that Minister
Chamisa came to sit close to me when I got into the conference room and that's
when I got the opportunity to tell him the whole story that his people had
stolen my phone.

"Chamisa said he would tell Mutambara since he was the one hosting the
main function to announce to the people who had gathered there. Mutambara
was told around 5pm and said he was going to announce (the loss) to the
people."

Chinotimba further claimed that he called Chamisa the following day
following up on his cellphone matter.

"On Saturday evening I called Chamisa and asked him 'Munodirei kuita
mweya yakaipa? Please bring back my phone. It was your people who stole it'.
Chamisa told me he would have a meeting with the third accused (Mahlangu) on
Monday over the matter," said Chinotimba.

He insisted that his phone was stolen when he returned from getting
his main course during lunch hour. He was sitting next to Mahlangu.

The trial continues today with Dowa expected to testify.

Wongai Zhangazha

Constitution-making Process Grinds to a Halt

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:27
THE constitution-making process has ground to a halt because of
disagreements, infighting and a lack of funds.

Munyaradzi Mangwana, co-chairperson of the parliamentary select
committee, which is spearheading the process, told the Zimbabwe Independent
that the constitution may not be completed until 2013.

In an exclusive interview, Mangwana, a Zanu PF legislator, said the
delay was partly due to a battle over control of the process between the
parliamentary select committee and constitutional affairs minister, Eric
Matinenga.

Mangwana said that the process, which was initially expected to finish
within 18 months from the setting up of the 25-member select committee in
April, was also hamstrung by a serious lack of funds.

"All I can promise is that the process will be completed by 2013 -
that is when the next elections are supposed to be held. At the moment, I
don't see us finishing within 18 or 24 months because of financial
constraints," the former cabinet minister said.

He explained the inclusive government was failing to raise US$9
million required for its outreach programmes and other consultations.

Government has written to the European Union, USAid, UNDP and donor
countries like Germany and Sweden seeking financial aid for the process.
Only UNDP has responded with US$2 million.

"We have no cars, no offices and we use our personal phones," Mangwana
said. "We need 150 vehicles. We sent our budget to the Ministry of Finance
and are awaiting their response. We understand what the economy is going
through and that government has no money."

In addition, Mangwana said the political parties were still in
disagreement about using the Kariba draft constitution as the basis for the
process and negotiations were still ongoing.

While Zanu PF wants to use it, the Tsvangirai-led MDC is insisting
that the process should be driven by the people with the Kariba draft
constitution used as a reference point, like the NCA draft, the Lancaster
House constitution and the rejected 2000 draft constitution.

Matinenga, an MDC-T legislator, argued that the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) does not state that the Kariba draft constitution is the
founding document for the process but clearly says that the constitution
should be owned and driven by the people.

He said it was up to the principals to resolve the matter and the
longer they took to discuss and conclude the issue, the more difficult it
would be to meet the 18-month deadline.

Matinenga pointed out there was a need to make the process more
efficient in order to avoid the disruption by some Zanu PF members at the
first stakeholders meeting in July.

"The three principals, as the leaders of the political parties, must
sit down and discuss what needs to be done to make the process more
efficient. We want a process that is efficient and which does not negate a
people-driven constitution," he said.

MDC-T secretary-general and chief-negotiator Tendai Biti said the
government was planning to look into how the constitution-making process
should proceed.

"It is clear that people should write their constitution The problem
at the moment is the impasse on the process and lack of leadership," Biti
said. "There is a kwashiorkor of leadership in this process and that must be
dealt with."

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is on record saying the GPA,
that gave birth to the unity government, was silent on when fresh polls
would be held in the country. He said if the inclusive government works well
there would be no reason for elections in the near future.

Some senior Zanu PF officials who lost the last elections said they
would launch a massive campaign for elections to be held by 2011.

One politburo member said: "These people from all the parties are now
enjoying power and don't want to let go. When the time comes, we will lobby
and campaign for elections to be held as soon as the constitution-making
process is completed."

Asked if delaying the process was a deliberate move to extend the
inclusive government's lifespan to a full five-year term, Mangwana said it
was unfair to cut short parliamentarians' five-year term in office.

He said the country should allow for national healing, economic
recovery and take note that elections were the main cause of violence in the
country.

Already there is talk by the three political parties of extending the
one-year moratorium on by-elections by three years.

The moratorium, which lapses on September 15, stops Zanu PF and the
two MDC formations from fielding candidates against each other for a year,
stipulating that only the party that previously held the seat could field a
candidate.

Faith Zaba

Mohadi Tipped to Land Zanu PF Chairmanship

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:19
CO-HOME Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi is now heavily tipped to become
Zanu PF national chairman if incumbent John Nkomo moves up to replace the
late vice-president Joseph Msika at the party's congress in December.

This comes amid reports that some party heavyweights were also
positioning themselves to land influential positions in the politburo in a
move calculated to sway President Robert Mugabe's succession.

Impeccable sources in Zanu PF told the Zimbabwe Independent this week
that there was a growing list of candidates in the race to replace Msika and
possibly the chairperson if he is elected vice-president.

The sources said there was also serious jostling for the post of
national commissar that was left vacant after the death of Elliot Manyika
last December.

The sources said besides Mohadi, another politburo member, Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu, was also angling for either the vice-presidency or the chairmanship.

Those in the running for either the vice-presidency or the
chairmanship include Nkomo, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Deputy Senate Speaker Naison
Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu and politburo member Obert Mpofu.

There have also been efforts to rope in former Zanu PF politburo
heavyweight Dumiso Dabengwa who quit the party last year in protest against
Mugabe's rule.

Informed sources said there was pressure on Zanu PF strongman Emmerson
Mnangagwa and secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa from their camps
for them to enter the race and seize the opportunity to rise into the
presidium.

Sources said after a series of consultations last week, influential
Zanu PF officials were now lobbying for Mohadi to become chairman.

The sources said Mohadi is now preferred ahead of Simon Khaya Moyo
because he has been a pillar of strength for his party in the middle of a
sweeping political wave triggered by the MDC since 2000.

Mohadi has always managed to grind victory for Zanu PF since the 1987
Unity Accord in his Beitbridge political enclave which he seized as PF Zapu
from the old Zanu in 1985.

"Mohadi is now racing ahead because he has history as PF Zapu on his
side and has been strong in the party. He managed to rescue Beitbridge from
the MDC at a time when the whole of Matabeleland had switched away from Zanu
PF. Besides, he has also shown willingness to forgive despite being one of
the most harassed and tortured politicians during the Gukurahundi," one of
the sources said.

Mohadi was arrested, detained in solitary confinement and tortured
with a number of PF Zapu heavyweights, including Dabengwa, Lookout Masuku,
Edward Ndlovu and Welshman Mabhena.

Sikhanyiso Ndlovu on August 16 followed others in using the state
media as a campaign platform. He wrote an article in the Sunday Mail in
which he positioned himself as a contender. Cain Mathema and SK Moyo have
already done that.

Sources said besides the fight to get into the presidium, some party
bigwigs were eyeing the influential national commissar's post.

This is despite a push in the party to restructure the commissariat by
creating three clusters in the department - the main wing, the youth wing
and the special projects clusters.

"The proposal will see three senior party members heading each cluster
in the commissariat," one of the sources said. "The proposal will result in
the appointment of three commissars to mobilise support for the party."

However, the sources said the proposal would be resisted by party
bigwigs who want their loyalists to occupy the post and influence power
relations in the party.

The commissariat department is considered very influential in Zanu PF
because of its power to supervise all organs of the party, formulate
strategies for the implementation of the party's political programme and to
organise, supervise and conduct party elections at all levels.

The sources said a faction backing Vice-President Joice Mujuru wants
either ministers Nicholas Goche or Saviour Kasukuwere to become national
commissar.

Goche is current secretary for security in the politburo while
Kasukuwere is the deputy secretary for youth.
Kasukuwere has gone into an alliance with the Mujuru faction allegedly
meant to scuttle the ascendancy of Mnangagwa into the presidium and his
loyalists in any position of influence in the party.

"The Mujuru faction's position is that if Goche becomes national
commissar, Kasukuwere should be the secretary for security, and vice-versa,"
a senior Zanu PF member said.

The sources said the Mujuru faction was also pushing to have war
veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda as deputy national commissar.

Sibanda is linked to the Mnangagwa faction, which played a crucial
role in Mugabe's bloody re-election campaign last year.

Also tipped to become national commissar is Mashonaland Central
governor Martin Dinha who is reportedly close to Mugabe and is not tainted
by the factional fighting in Zanu PF.

Acting national commissar Naison Ndlovu is also in the race for the
post.

The sources, however, said it was "entirely and solely" up to Mugabe
to appoint members of the politburo.

Zanu PF, the sources said, wanted to revamp the commissariat by
injecting new blood to strategise how the party can be renewed and win the
support of the electorate.

The department, under Manyika, was blamed for Zanu PF's defeat by MDC
in the March 2008 harmonised elections after it failed to effectively
campaign for the party and Mugabe.

A report tabled in the politburo recently by acting commissar Ndlovu
revealed that the party had no solid structures throughout the country and
that it would not win future polls. Mugabe ordered the withdrawal of the
report saying it was now a national security matter.

Constantine Chimakure

Public Vents Anger at Tedious State Media

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:19
THE Harare convent girl in a bright red woolly jersey was the youngest
by far in a committee room in parliament, but she revealed the public
loathing and failure of President Robert Mugabe's poisonous state-controlled
media like none of the experts there could.

"If I can go to America to study medicine, I will never come back
again," she told the panel of MPs. "The media made me hate my country." The
crowd cheered and clapped rapturously.

She spoke at a public meeting on Saturday called by parliament's media
committee to hear evidence on the state-controlled daily newspapers, radio
and television whose servile adulation of Mugabe, their mendacity and
hate-speech against his critics, are legend.

It is unlikely the MPs expected the spontaneous and unprecedented
outpouring of anger and scorn from about 200 ordinary people who railed for
three hours against the media that hold a monopoly enforced by draconian
law - and when that failed, by bombs against their independent rivals.

"The Herald is the only newspaper in the world that is allowed to
publish such crap," raged businessman Paddington Japajapa, to more cheers.

Six months into Zimbabwe's coalition government, Mugabe continues to
defy undertakings in his agreement with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of
the main MDC, to relax his control of the daily press and electronic media.

Not a single application has been considered by Mugabe's authorities
for new television stations, ensuring that Zimbabwe Television (ZTV)'s
stultifying propaganda faces no local competition. However, the private
satellite dishes encrusting the grimy housing compounds of the secret
police, bringing them the BBC, Sky News and CNN, show how even the converted
cannot endure the tedium of ZTV.

The ZBC, whose transmitters reach only 30% of the country, is
similarly guaranteed a monopoly because it remains illegal for anyone else
to set up a radio station. Proprietors of at least three proposed newspapers
are anxiously awaiting the official go-ahead even though the notorious
government commission that closed down four newspapers and banned hundreds
of journalists has itself expired in confusion. But they dare not start
their presses for fear of being closed down by presidential fiat.

"There is no difference between this inclusive government and the
previous government in respect of media control," said Abel Chikomo,
director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum. "Mugabe remains in total
control. It is critical for him to be able to keep people ignorant and
uninformed, so they don't know what their rights are; they cannot hold him
to account and they don't know what's going on."

Finally grinding towards establishment is a new media commission,
called for in the coalition agreement, with significantly reduced powers
from the old organisation of "media hangmen". Its members are meant to be
chosen jointly by media experts and MPs, but the process has been fouled
with charges that MPs from Tsvangirai MDC allowed cronies of Mugabe to slip
into the lists after threats by MPs of Zanu PF to block the commission
indefinitely.

One change that the uneasy cohabitation between the two leaders has
brought is that the propaganda has changed subtly. Instead of Tsvangirai
daily being drenched with expletives like "prostitute", "running dog",
"bootlicker", the state media simply censor and distort his remarks to make
him sound like a Mugabe acolyte.

Tsvangirai's officials lost patience with this in May while he was
visiting America and Europe. The Herald reported nothing of his warm
encounter with President Obama, but instead put Mugabe on the front page
with a picture of an Iranian official. The Prime Minister, a tabloid-sized
free newsletter boasting large glossy pictures of Tsvangirai, was launched
on the streets of Harare to joyous acclamation.

Every Wednesday now, about 60 000 copies are circulated around the
country, while The Herald, from 120 000 a day about 10 years ago, can barely
manage 20 000 now.

"We are the biggest newspaper in the country, and we are nowhere near
meeting demand." said Andrew Chadwick, Tsvangirai's communications director.
"It shows how people have been starved of decent information."

By Jan Raath

Stalemate Beckons as Zanu PF Reneges on Governors

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:16
CONTROVERSY surrounds the appointment of provincial governors from the
two MDC formations next month after Zanu PF reneged on an agreement to share
the gubernatorial posts using the results of last year's House of Assembly
elections.

Sources in the inclusive government said Zanu PF was now insisting
that provincial governors were representatives of President Robert Mugabe
and hence the octogenarian leader should appoint people of his choice.

Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur
Mutambara - the principals of the global political agreement that gave birth
to the unity government - in May reached an agreement on the appointment of
governors and ambassadors.

They agreed that the governors would be appointed on the basis of the
March 2008 House of Assembly election results.

MDC-T would appoint governors in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North,
Masvingo, Harare and Manicaland while MDC-M would have a resident minister
in Matabeleland South and Zanu PF would retain governors in Midlands,
Mashonaland West, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central.

The principals also agreed that the incumbent provincial governors
would be allowed to serve one year of their two-year contacts before the new
MDC appointees took over.

The incumbents were expected to leave office next Monday.

Government sources said Zanu PF had since reneged on the deal and said
the issue of governors, the rehiring of central bank governor Gideon Gono
and the appointment of Attorney-General Johannes Tomana were not negotiable.

Zanu PF argued, the sources said, that the governors, Gono and Tomana
were appointed by Mugabe in line with the constitution.

"The Zanu PF politburo felt it had made too many concessions and they
want to use the issue of the governors as a bargaining chip," one of the
sources said. "They will declare that there is no agreement on the
provincial governors and they might even reverse the ambassadorial
appointments so as to gain mileage on negotiations."

The sources said Mugabe realised late that the two MDC formations were
gaining ground and were getting everything that was being bargained for.

Mugabe, the sources said, wanted to use the issue of governors to
bargain for the stay in office of Gono and Tomana.

However, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Gorden
Moyo, said the issue of governors was agreed on by the principals, but was
quick to point out that a date for the swearing in of MDC resident ministers
was yet to be set.

"The issue of the provincial governors and the swearing in of the
deputy Minister of Agriculture Roy Bennett was resolved and what we are now
awaiting is the swearing ceremony," Moyo said. "When that will happen is the
prerogative of the president."

The MDC-T announced in May that it would appoint former women's
assembly chairperson Lucia Matibenga as governor of Masvingo, while Seiso
Moyo will become governor of Bulawayo.

Former trade unionist and Senator James Makore was to become governor
of Harare, Tose Sansole of Matabeleland North while Mutare businessman
Julius Magarangoma would be the new resident minister for Manicaland.

MDC-M has not yet named its candidate for Matabeleland South, but
former MP for Gwanda Paul Themba Nyathi was tipped to occupy the office.

The six incumbent Zanu PF governors, whose tenures were to be
terminated were expected to be paid an agreed compensation.

Loughty Dube

Farm Invaders Defy High Court Order

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:12
DEPUTY Energy minister and Harare South MP Hubert Nyanhongo has
declared that his supporters will not vacate two farms in Harare South
despite three High Court orders for them to leave.

The farms - Nyarungu and Stoneridge - are owned by Jetmaster
Properties and Pinnacle Property Holdings and have been at the centre of an
ownership wrangle between the two companies on the one hand and three
cooperatives on the other.

Nyanhongo told the Zimbabwe Independent this week that Jetmaster
Properties and Pinnacle Property Holdings were wasting their time because
the farms were allocated by government to his supporters. He charged that
the two firms had illegally acquired the farms.

"Stoneridge was acquired by government in 2000 as well as Nyarungu for
urban expansion," Nyanhongo said. "Our people applied to be allocated the
two farms. Some of the applications were made through housing cooperatives."

He said his supporters were later given offer letters for the land.

"Offer letters come from the government and the farms are now state
land. The state also went further to give offer letters to housing
co-operatives in 2002 which are Chimurenga, Pungwe and Simon Muzenda and
were allowed to start developing Stoneridge," the deputy minister said.

He said Nyarungu farm has about 2 500 beneficiaries while Stoneridge
has more than 3 000.

"An Act promulgated in 2000 states that there is no one who can sell
land that belongs to the state. No one is allowed to buy or sell land to
anyone because all land in Zimbabwe belongs to the state," Nyanhongo said.
"Whether someone went on to buy or sell the land, I don't know how he
purchased it because it is illegal.

Somebody is trying to intimidate the people but I want to tell you
that our people are firm on the ground. The government position remains the
same and we will fight for the land to the bitter end."

However, in a letter in the possession of the Independent dated July 3
2009 from the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities signed by an
S Sibanda, it is clear Stoneridge farm which was previously owned by a Mr
Lloyd Evans was not gazetted for acquisition by the government.

"The occupants of Stoneridge are Hondo Yeminda, Moven Mahachi and
Simon Muzenda (cooperatives).

However, Stoneridge farm was owned by Mr Evans but was not gazetted.
The original owner sold it to Pinnacle Holdings," read the letter. "This
matter needs to be resolved by Ministries of Local Government and Lands.
Until this is resolved government has no legal say on Stoneridge. Amalish
Investments was never given authority to develop Stoneridge. There is no
legal agreement between the ministry and Amalish to develop Stoneridge."

Amalish Investments, among other companies, developers and
individuals, had reportedly developed and disposed of stands on the farms
illegally.

To assert its ownership of Nyarungu farm, Pinnacle Property Holdings
obtaining three High Court orders for the occupiers to stop housing
cooperatives, and companies and individuals to stop selling stands at the
property. The orders were granted in 2003, 2005 and in April this year.

The court, in its ruling, held that Pinnacle was the legitimate owner
of the land. The legal dispute on Stoneridge is still pending before the
High Court.

According to an advert placed in a weekly newspaper at the weekend
Pinnacle and Jetmaster said directors of Amalish and the leadership of the
housing co-operatives have since been charged with defying the court order.
The two companies said some of them have since been charged with fraud
arising from the illegal sale of the stands.

Wongai Zhangazha

Zanu PF Walk-out a Complete Over-reaction - Mutambara

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:09
GOVERNMENT ministers from Zanu PF last Sunday walked out of a post
100-Day Plan cabinet retreat in Nyanga after Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara described last year's harmonised and presidential run-off
elections as "fraudulent, a farce and a nullity".

Mutambara has since been a subject of attack in the state-controlled
media and accused of endangering the life of the inclusive government. Our
news editor Constantine Chimakure on Tuesday caught up with the deputy
premier at his Munhumutapa offices in the capital to hear his side of the
story. Below are the excerpts.

Chimakure: What transpired in Nyanga that led ministers from Zanu PF
to walk out of the meeting?

Mutambara: We had a very good and productive two-day cabinet retreat
in Nyanga.  I made two separate presentations. On the first day, Saturday,
my topic was: "The Case for Monitoring and Evaluation: The Case for
Embracing Global Best Practice." This was executed without any hitches. On
the second day, I presented:  "A Review of the Previous Day and an Update of
the Rebranding and Shared Vision Efforts."
It was during this discussion that there was an unfortunate
misunderstanding over one matter. Let me state clearly and up-front that it
was never my intention to insult or to offend my colleagues in the inclusive
government. I was giving a review of what had been discussed the day before
in what is called the "Rights and Interests Cluster of Ministries". This is
the group of ministries responsible for the tasks of supervising the
crafting of a new people-driven constitution, national healing, and media
and political reforms. One of the challenges that the participants in this
cluster identified as impeding progress was the lack of political will
within the inclusive government.
In reviewing this matter I sought to emphasise the importance of the
work and targets of the ministries in question, and dramatise the
categorical imperativeness of their success.
In particular I was emphasising the importance of political reforms,
media reforms, a new constitution and national healing. I indicated that the
core outcome of this government is the creation of conditions for free and
fair elections in Zimbabwe. This is critical so that the outcome of our next
polls is not in dispute. We must build integrity and legitimacy of our
electoral processes so that the losers congratulate the winners and the
winners form a legitimate elected government. To buttress my argument I
emphasised that it is essential for members of the government and the
generality of the people of Zimbabwe to understand the history, background,
and hence the mandate of this inclusive government. Vana veZimbabwe
hatifaniri kukanganwa chezuro ngehope (Zimbabweans, we should not fail to
address the challenges and conditions of our immediate past because of a
temporary reprieve in our circumstances).
This inclusive government came into being because our elections in
March and June of last year were inconclusive and problematic. This is
common cause and is the reason why we went into negotiations from June 27
2008 to February 11 this year. There was no government in Zimbabwe from June
27 2008 to February 11 2009. This is because all the elections of 2008 did
not produce a government. It means in Zimbabwe we have an electoral disease
to cure. This was the context of the discussion in Nyanga.
Where the discomfort arose was when I used the phrase "The election on
March 29 2008 was fraudulent and that on June 27 2008 was a farce and a
nullity."
Well, every Zimbabwean knows that this is a true statement. There is
agreement that this is the scientific description of those polls. The
observers, Sadc and the African Union came to the same conclusions. With
hindsight one could say maybe I could have looked for more polite language
to express this agreed fact.
It (government) was only created after protracted Sadc-facilitated
dialogue. This means everyone in this government owes their position and
role to the global political agreement (GPA). There is no leader in this
government who was elected to their position. We are all products of
negotiations.
It is important that I say we must endeavour to accommodate each other
and use measured, inclusive and tolerant language. I will try my best to do
that. However, there is no space for what I call inappropriate politeness.

Chimakure: Your comment on the walk-out by the ministers and their
accusation that you seize any opportunity granted to attack the party,
especially President Robert Mugabe.

Mutambara: The walk-out was a complete over-reaction. It was
unfortunate that they chose to express themselves that way.  However, as I
have already conceded, we should all try to use measured language. We must
all create an environment where the three political parties work together
smoothly and effectively. As Deputy Prime Minister, I will try my best to do
my part. However, in the course of deliberations if there is a position
stated or an issue invoked which colleagues find objectionable, the process
should be to raise a point of order. The speaker can then be asked to
explain or retract. We must not intimidate each other by walkouts and
boycotts. What we want in the country is what we call rational disputation,
democratic discourse.

Chimakure: What's your comment on seizing every opportunity granted to
you to attack Mugabe?
Mutambara: This is news to me.  I wonder if this is what I did when I
introduced President Mugabe at the launch of Sterp, or when I defended and
fought for Zanu PF ministers to get visas to attend the re-engagement
dialogue in Europe.  When I berated President Obama for discriminating
against a Zanu PF minister, or took public positions against targeted
sanctions imposed on Zanu PF ministers; has this evidence been considered as
well?  I rest my case.
I am not a member of Zanu PF, neither am I member of MDC-T. I am the
president of a separate political party. I am not beholden to either of
these major parties.  I reserve the right to take positions based on
principles and values of my party, and damn the consequences.
As a national leader, principal and deputy prime minister in the
inclusive government, I have a duty and obligation to ensure the full and
complete consummation of the GPA.  I have to make sure the agenda and
mandate of the government are successfully executed.
In the process I will make mistakes. I will learn lessons. However, I
will try my best to be a unifier not a divider. We should all be driven by
the national interest. We must subjugate partisan interest to the national
interest.

Chimakure: Is it correct that your outspokenness against Zanu PF and
Mugabe is meant to win support from the electorate given concerns that Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been less critical of the president and his
party of late? Are you targeting future elections?

Mutambara: I am targeting the task at hand. My job is to make sure
that the government delivers on the promise of the GPA. As one of the three
principals I must make sure that all the outstanding GPA issues are speedily
and amicably resolved.
The GPA and the Sadc Communiqué of January 27 2009 must be fully and
completely consummated without equivocation or variation. The three
political parties through their three leaders signed a GPA out of their own
volition. This GPA was crafted with the assistance and involvement of Sadc
and the AU. It is an excellent example of African solutions to African
problems. It is a solution by Zimbabwean citizens to their national
challenge.
Let me dramatise to you the meaning of our failure to fully implement
the GPA. How credible am I as the deputy prime minister of Zimbabwe when I
say to an investor, "Come and invest your money in Zimbabwe, I am going to
respect my agreement with you," when I cannot keep my own agreement with
myself?  Who can have confidence in a government that does not respect its
own laws and agreements? Where will credibility of such a regime come from?
Furthermore, what does failure to implement the GPA mean to the legitimacy
and efficacy of the doctrine of African solutions to African problems? What
are the implications to the credibility of Sadc and the AU? So when I speak
out on the outstanding GPA issues, the problems on our farms, shenanigans in
our courts, violation of human rights, and the slow pace of media and
political reforms; I am only doing my job.
I am not driven by partisan or personal interest, but rather by the
collective agenda of serving Zimbabwe. This is the urgency of now. The
future will take care of itself.

Chimakure: President Zuma's visit, are we going to see the resolution
of the outstanding issues?

Mutambara: The primary drivers of change in our nation should be the
Zimbabweans themselves. Foreigners can only help us help ourselves. We must
all gather the political will and determination to resolve the outstanding
issues. President Zuma and Sadc's role is ostensibly a facilitative one.
This is why some of us have been outspoken on the need for convergence on
these matters that are separating us. It is actually embarrassing and
demeaning that we should be waiting for Zuma or Sadc to encourage us to
implement things that we agreed to do six months ago.
Having said that, it is my hope that the presence of President Zuma
will spur our sense of patriotism and self-respect so that we can do what is
right for our country and in the national interest of our people.

Financial results: Analysts Scratch Heads Over Trend

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 21:27
FINANCIAL results trickled into the market this week, but analysts say
the performance so far is nothing to write home about yet. And they see the
trend continuing.

BancABC was weighed down by its Zimbabwean operation which posted a
loss while NMB also sang the blues with another loss this year.
BancABC Zimbabwe, the regional group's operation, made a loss of US$3
million due to the decrease in property prices in the first half of the
year.
But analysts say that once banks are recapitalised, the outlook could
change by the end of the year and possibly rise out of a loss position.
An analyst said: "the big three banks could surprise the market with
profits in this environment judging by their deposits base but we can leave
room for disappointment too from them.
"But when it comes to recapitalisation, we expect these banks to
comply without any hurdles unlike the smaller ones."
"Nothing exciting will come this season. I wouldn't be surprised if
these companies made losses again in the last half. The outlook is still
very hazy. In fact, I don't think they will be any real changes," an analyst
said.
Stanbic - one of the elite banks - recorded a net interest income of
US$487 417 and an after tax profit of US347 595 during the first half of the
year buoyed by growth in non-interest revenue that contributed 92%.
NMB reported attributable profit of US$1 733 943 while operating
expenses stood at US$1,8 million driven largely by staff, IT maintenance
costs and property expenses.
The market will today look at CBZ - a traditional market favourite for
some excitement.
Insurance sector-a traditional market turnoff - has conformed to
analysts expectations as a dead sector at least judging by short-term
insurance provider, Nicoz Diamond, which posted far from tickling numbers.
Analysts say short term insurance could be better but life insurance
is not going "nowhere."
"There is little to nothing insurance. Insurance businesses are the
last ones in line to improve if the economy takes a turn for the better,"
analysts said.
Others such a Pearl Properties made losses but management at the
property concern say they could make money by year-end.
Pearl Properties wrote off 20% of its property portfolio to US$69
million after marking it up to US$88m in last year. When the company came to
the market with its initial public offer (IPO) in 2007, the same portfolio
was valued at US$32 million.
But management took some flak from analysts who queried management for
allegedly understating the extent of value decline of property prices
arguing that the overall property values in the sector declined by at least
40% opposed to Pearl's conservative 20%.
Analysts cannot make heads or tails of what to expect this reporting
season from interim financials because there is no discernible trend in
terms of performance post dollarisation.
And the last financials on the market did not help at all, according
to analysts, because the performance was not an actual reflection of
companies' financial performance post dollarisation, but mere numbers
derived from an implied exchange rate.
Analysts believe that only after a full financial year will a
discernable trend be established saying for now its difficult to anticipate
anything from companies.
An analysts said: "It's difficult to say what to expect this year.
Basically companies are coming from a position where they where trading in a
different operating environment in era of Zim dollars characterised by a lot
of controls in the form of price controls and exchange controls among other
impediments. The dollarisation of the economy, although a good thing, has
not benefited businesses a lot.
For instance, retailers have a potential to lift turnover and margins
but can't because disposable incomes have not yet improved.
"But a year from now, maybe, I will be able to say really where a
company is coming from and where it is going," analyst said.
Retailers could have cashed in the dollarisation but continued absence
of disposable incomes has not helped the sector.
Mobile operator Econet Wireless and beer and beverage maker Delta
Corporation could, however, excite the market judging by their trade updates
recently.
Econet said its revenue base had continued to grow in past months
while Delta told the market in April that beer sales would continue to rise.
Econet Wireless, the country's largest telecoms operator, reported a
strong improvement in performance due to its accelerated drive to sign on
new subscribers.
While full disclosure would only be given at the end of the half-year
to August, CEO Douglas Mboweni reported stronger than expected airtime
usage. This he said drove monthly turnover significantly above the January
and February levels. With the accelerated growth in subscriber numbers,
Econet hopes turnover will continue to grow.
Delta sold a total 55 000 hectolitres of booze worth US$16 million in
February consumed but sales remained steady the following month as the
company achieved sales of US$16 million in March while 60 000 hectolitres
were consumed in the same period.
Delta CEO Joe Mutizwa believes the group could have sold 25% more in
April had the group's production plants been "more operational" and the
company had not faced supply constraints. This would have seen Delta's sales
rise to around US$30 million if the company had more capacity.
Banks which are traditionally market favourites are struggling to
raise capital in line with monetary authorities' demands and this is another
sector analysts are not upbeat about this time around.
Generally this year's reporting season could turn out into a big yawn
for financial analysts until a couple of companies make a takeover bid, IPO,
merger or some such other business move which could tickle a bored market.
But another analyst says because businesses can now plan, the market
could see companies making money and sustainably continue doing so by next
year.

Chris Muronzi

Deposits Double as ZSE Trading Rises

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 20:45
ZIMBABWE'S bank deposits more than doubled in four months buoyed by
increased volumes of wired money as the government grapples to restore
confidence in the banking sector.

According to information to hand, deposits rose to US$800 million from
US$350 million recorded in April after the completion of the four national
payment systems - cash; point of sale; real time gross settlement system
(RTGS) and the recently introduced foreign currency cheques.
"Deposits doubled within four months from US$350 million in April to
over US$800 million in mid-August owing to an increase in transactions going
through the RTGS," banking officials said.
"Cumulative RTGS transactions are now more than US$2 billion from
US$100 000 recorded in April".
With lending rates of up to 10% and investment rates for the money
market ranging between 6% and 8%, the new deposit figures are in contrast to
previous years when depositors resented the troubled banking sector due to
runaway inflation and Reserve Bank raids on private accounts.
This comes amid an increase on volumes trading on the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange which have surpassed US$170 million with the highest monthly
turnover realised in June.
Sources predicted that capacity utilisation of banks could have jumped
to 50% from an average of 20% at the beginning of the year. However sceptics
argue that confidence in the sector could again diminish in the second half
of the year after Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono announced plans to
re-introduce the less significant Zimbabwe dollar.
Following the introduction of the multi-currency system, the central
bank introduced a phased plan which requires banking institutions to meet
50% of the prescribed assets by  September 30 2009 and the full capital
requirement of US$12,5 million by next March.
Presenting his mid-term Monetary Policy Statement last month, Gono
said "confidence" in the sector could only be improved through more lending
despite an increase in deposits.
"As monetary authorities, we are greatly concerned with extreme
instances of disintermediation of some banking institutions," Gono said.

Bernard Mpofu

Muckraker: Fake Zanu PF Outrage Over Mutambara Truism

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 18:06
ONLY in Zimbabwe is speaking one's mind to a gathering of colleagues
regarded as "disruptive". Arthur Mutambara tells his colleagues in
government a few home truths and all hell breaks loose. Ministers walk out
in protest - the same ministers who denounced MDC-T ministers when they
walked out of cabinet!

Then, all the paid parrots in Zanu PF (and that's a fair number) rush
to denounce him in what has become their customary collective squawk.

But what exactly did he say to stir this hornet's nest? He said last
year's elections were "fraudulent, a nullity and a farce".

But isn't that what everybody thinks? Didn't several regional heads of
state say the same thing? Isn't that why Sadc sponsored a government of
national unity - precisely because the polls had no legitimacy?

So why the melodramatic walkout? Very simply Zanu PF has been
attempting to reinvent itself in recent months. It first of all pretended it
had been the victim of violence. It now claims that it is the MDC-T which is
dragging its heels on unfulfilled parts of the GPA.

Needless to say, the public don't buy this. But, living in a bubble of
its own making, Zanu PF propagates a number of silly claims including the
suggestion that it is more nationalist than anyone else! Hence the contrived
outrage when Mutambara tells it like it is.

But what is lost here is that the DPM was talking about rebranding. It
was impossible to brand a country in a positive way so long as its leaders
behave badly, was his central point. This is a drum he has been beating for
some time.

It is a very obvious one. But it doesn't fit with the delusional
thinking at the top of the former ruling party.

Nowhere is this more evident than on the subject of sanctions. There
will be no lifting of sanctions until the political situation has been
normalised. That means an end to farm seizures and the vexatious arrest of
MDC-T members, the removal of Johannes Tomana from the AG's office, the
appointment of Roy Bennett to government, and the opening up of the media.

President Mugabe and his party want the Prime Minister's Office to
draw up a "concept paper" which can serve as an inclusive strategy for
dealing with sanctions, George Charamba told the Sunday Mail.

"There is a general appreciation that sanctions are the most
outstanding of the remaining issues and indeed that their impact is
pervasive and all-blighting," he said in line with the new
Alice-Through-the-Looking-Glass double-speak.

But this misses the whole point. The West will not lift sanctions
until Zanu PF stops beating, cheating and lying.

So long as Mugabe's supporters persist in sabotaging the country's
agricultural base, continue to propagate hate messages in the state media
and refuse to license alternative media, Zimbabwe will be regarded as a
rogue state.

Can you imagine a state in which the losing party retains control of
the mass media to conduct a rearguard offensive against the winning party
and to oppose democratic change? That's the same as Burma!

Mugabe is reported as telling Morgan Tsvangirai that his "expectation"
and that of his party was that there should be definite steps by MDC-T to
have sanctions removed "because the party was responsible for their
imposition".

It is to be hoped that Tsvangirai reminded Mugabe that sanctions were
imposed in response to electoral fraud and political violence. The MDC was
on the receiving end!

The president reportedly told Tsvangirai that the MDC-T should make
specific approaches to individual EU member countries asking them to remove
sanctions. They are likely to remind Tsvangirai of the fate of Pierre
Schori, head of the EU's election observer mission in 2002 who was booted
out for being a little too observant!

And what should they make of a government that ignores rulings of the
regional court in Windhoek that has declared the current wave of farm
seizures contemptuous, lawless, and racist?
Zanu PF must stop dreaming. Sanctions will go only when the main
obstacle to change has been removed.

The Zimbabwean carried an interesting statement by Zapu's interim
chairman in South Africa, Dubizuzwe Joli, last week. He outlined the
politics of patronage in Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

"If you are connected to the ruling elite you become untouchable,"
Joli pointed out. Those who refused to acquiesce in the system are
victimised, he said.

"Look at what happened to Mutumwa Mawere. Just because he was not well
represented at the top, we had the state taking away everything he had built
from his own sweat, and after about five years of him living in exile, we
have Gideon Gono eventually writing to Mugabe and saying: 'I think we made a
mistake.

We were wrong on A, B, C, and Mawere should get all his businesses
back because he committed no crime'.

"If Mawere had remained in Zimbabwe he would have spent all this time
in jail," Joli added, "paying for sins he never committed. He might even
have died in there. That is not the way to govern a country and that is why
we want Mugabe to go."

Can you imagine anything more damaging as government's recently
announced policy on Bippas? It is as clear as mud. Foreign investors cannot
be guaranteed security of tenure on the farms because their presence may be
used "by people with ulterior motives to reverse land reform", Patrick
Chinamasa told the Business Herald.

This follows inordinate delays in signing a Bippa with South Africa.

The government would not tolerate any agreements that "impinged on the
sanctity of land reforms", Chinamasa said. "If they are agreeable to exclude
land from the agreements, then the Bippas will be signed anytime.

"We will however not agree to agreements that undermine and cause
confusion over the land issue."
The South Africans were then told to stick to mining which they do
best!

You can imagine how this went down in the boardrooms of Johannesburg.

Land grabs have hereby been translated into a holy mission which
"cannot be reversed". That presumably includes multiple-farm owners and
beneficiaries of arbitrary expropriation.

No investor with a grasp of events in Zimbabwe will sink his money in
the country in those circumstances.

And the MDC-T should speak up because Chinamasa is citing the GPA as
grounds for a national consensus on this murky policy. Once again we see the
peculiarly Zanu PF charge of "causing confusion" being brought into play. It
is a serious offence to "cause confusion" within the ranks of the party
faithful.

Professor Welshman Ncube provided an example of the sort of confusion
that can arise from a policy of cosying up to one's former enemies.

There were many divergent views on the Bippa that needed to be
accommodated, he said.

"Some of us were viewing the whole concept from outside and now we are
inside our view is different," he said.

Indeed, that's what happens when you become part of the new property-
owning elite!
By the way, what exactly does Bippa stand for? Is it Bilateral
Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement or Bilateral Investment
Partnership Protection Agreement? Can we have some clarity.

Finally, we learn that the ZTA's celebrity host programme, which saw
the likes of Joe Thomas and Luciano being invited to Zimbabwe, has been a
dismal - and expensive - flop.

The Sunday Mail reported last weekend that critics have questioned the
wisdom of these ambitious projects that have consumed huge amounts of forex
with "no tangible results". That in turn has led to more funds going down
the ZTA drain when Nigerian partners called in to help produce The Zimbabwe
I Know that sought to market the country in an "entertaining and creative
way" had ideas of their own as to the storyline.

The Nigerians were only supposed to "edit a few things" but soon took
control, we gather.

"They were supposed to edit and improve on the script that we gave
them, but they changed everything and it has lost meaning," ZTA boss
Karikoga Kaseke told the Chronicle. "This is supposed to be a destination
rebranding film, but they just made it into another film," he said.

The Nigerians' attempt at "perception management" clashed with that of
the ZTA, it seems, and the ZTA was "not amused at all" by the changes the
Nigerians made to the script. After several costly visits to the country,
the Nigerians had "gone quiet" we are told.

Definitely something wrong here. Who's ever heard of "quiet"
Nigerians?

Eric Bloch: Should the Zimdollar Return?

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 18:00
LESS than six months have elapsed since Zimbabwe opted to have a
multi-currency-based economy, and only six weeks have passed since the
Zimbabwean dollar was formally demonetised.

However, it is very much more than two years (if not even longer)
since Zimbabwe unofficially focused upon foreign currencies as the main
medium of exchange, with the unlawful - but virulently active - alternative
markets.

These ranged from "parallel" markets operating within the financial,
commercial, industrial and other economic sectors, to the trading by the
"mapositori" in the back streets, bus termini, beer halls, shebeens, and the
like.

As hyperinflation soared, the contempt of the populace, and of all
elements of economic society, for Zimbabwean currency became ever greater.

Concurrently, scarcity of essential commodities consistently
intensified, for those without access to foreign currencies, or reluctant to
operate within the alternative currency markets were unable to source
imported and other goods for business consumption or sale.

This further fuelled the hyperinflation, notwithstanding commendable
efforts by the Reserve Bank to alleviate the hardship by licensing some
enterprises to operate in foreign exchange (a compromise solution when
government was rigidly opposed to any acknowledgement, actual or implied, of
the worthlessness of the Zimbabwean dollar).

The multi-currency basket approach pursued in early 2009 immediately
became known as "dollarisation", for the US dollar was assumed as the basket's
foundation, although operating in conjunction with the South African rand,
Botswana pula, British pound and the euro.

Economic changes were almost immediate, with most scarcities being
replaced by surpluses, and that being the principal trigger to falls in
prices.

As against inflation estimated by Professor Steve H Hanke of the Johns
Hopkins University and the Cato Institute, at 79,6 billion per cent in
November, 2008 (month-on-month), Zimbabwe had 3,17% deflation in February
2009 and 3,07% deflation in March 2009, further deflation in the next
following two months, and inflation of only 0.6% in July 2009.

However, almost from the inception of dollarisation, and
notwithstanding the approbation of many for what was clearly an overdue but
constructive action by the authorities, motivated by the Reserve Bank, there
were many who voiced displeasure and opposition to the currency measures,
and called for the restoration of the Zimbabwean dollar as the country's
currency base.

These ranged from those in the political hierarchy, perceiving the
measures as an abdication of "sovereignty" (being supreme, unmitigated
authority and power), although in probability some of them also found that
the measures almost brought to a halt their profiteering in their business
operations, founded upon alternative market currency trafficking, or upon
exploitation of the market scarcities circumstances.

Alongside their demands for reversion to the Zimbabwean dollar, there
were many others who did likewise.

Led by those who held resources of those currencies which had been
rendered valueless by the currency redenomination, despite the fact that
even before the adoption of the multi-currency basket, these Zimbabwean
dollars had very minimal spending power.

That was very rapidly forgotten, as poverty abdicated recollection of
the almost wholly withered worth of those dollars.  Concurrently, many
others objected to the operation of a multiplicity of currencies, some
insisting that Zimbabwe should be exclusively linked to the US dollar, and
others pressing for exclusive adoption of the South African rand as Zimbabwe's
sole currency.

These divergent views had total disregard for the negative economic
consequences of an environment of uncertainty and validity due to the
recurrent vehement, divergent demands for change, and similarly ignored that
such an environment was not conducive to the attraction of much-needed
investment necessary for the stimulation and entrenchment of economic
recovery.

They also effectively dismissed that from the onset of the adoption of
the multi-currency basket, government and the Reserve Bank were repeatedly
outspoken that, when opportune, Zimbabwe would revert to its own currency,
save if at a distant future date a stable and sound currency was introduced
for the entire region.

Instead, ever more vociferously, there has been a cacophony of calls
for immediate restoration of the Zimbabwean dollar.

This has grown to such an extent that it motivated Minister of
Finance, Tendai Biti, to state only a month ago that if a premature return
to the Zimbabwe dollar would be imposed, he would resign. He made it very
clear that such action precipitously taken would have catastrophic negative
economic repercussions.

Nevertheless, readers' letters in the media, parliamentarians and
others, persist in the demands for an immediate, or at least very rapid,
return of the Zimbabwean dollar.

As pressure and debate for the return of the Zimbabwean dollar grow,
to no small extent catalysed by such demands by the president and others in
high authority, Parliament began to focus increasingly on the issue, and one
of its committees received evidence from the Reserve Bank Governor, Dr
Gideon Gono, during which he advocated restoration of the Zimbabwean dollar.

However it was significant that he did not suggest that it be
immediate, and he did not assign a time period for such action.

He did say that it should be fully conceptualised, evaluated and
strategised, and implemented as expeditiously as possible.

Nevertheless, the media, and most of the populace in general, and
commerce and industry in particular, took it for granted as almost
immediately forthcoming.

They ignored that, as recently as July 30, in the 2009 mid-year
Monetary Policy Statement, the Governor Gono said: "There are no calendar
time limits favouring or barring the return of the Zimbabwean dollar and, as
monetary authorities, we will continue to carefully gauge the overall
performance of the economy to inform us on the appropriate decisions or
courses of action to take".

He also emphasised in a subsequent statement, that "the reintroduction
of the Zimbabwean dollar is feasible to the extent this is anchored on
underlying real assets or actual production on the ground", and that it be
fully understood that it was absolutely unacceptable that resumption of the
Zimbabwean dollar be to enable "A blind return to the money printing press",
or to send to the market a message: "To hell with other currencies, here are
new Zimbabwe dollars."

He said that, instead, there must be a "guarded reintroduction of the
Zimbabwe dollar, where such new currency will be fully backed by credible,
tangible and locally available assets, such as gold, diamonds or platinum,
among several possibilities.

In addition, he stated that reintroduction of local currency would
require huge investment in the mining sector, further fiscal consolidation,
trade and capital account liberalisation, as also of the foreign currency
market strengthening of institutional credibility, and rebuilding of high
foreign exchange reserves.

Reading between the lines, therefore, it is blatantly clear that
reintroduction of the Zimbabwean dollar is not envisaged as an immediate
action, but one to be properly prepared for, and then effected when the time
is right.

In other words, very prudently and correctly, the intent appears to be
to "hurry slowly", to ensure that the Zimdollar does return, but only when
for the good of all.

Eric Bloch

Gono's Zim Dollar Push: A Journey Into the Past

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 17:53
"KNOCK Knock!"
"Who's there?"
"Zim Dollar."
"%$#*"

This draws all kinds of hilarious and unprintable responses from
Zimbabweans in the face of a proposed bounce back of the Zimbabwe dollar.

But if Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe chief Gideon Gono has his way in his
attempt to bring back the Zimbabwe dollar, the response to the joke could be
inflation.

A couple of months later, the response could be three zeroes.

A year later, Zimbabwe could be back to hyperinflation.

But in the meantime observers say, young Zimbabwean pupils could begin
counting beyond one million because up to a thousand will be no good should
the Zimbabwe unit bounce back.

After getting comfortable with counting up to a hundred following the
introduction of the greenback and the South African rand this year, the
little ones could have slackened up in the numbers game.

This is because economists believe Gono's plan could be another
economic misadventure that could stoke inflation -- under control after
Zimbabwe adopted multicurrency system.

Since the adoption of the US dollar, prices of goods have stabilised.
Gono says the Zim dollar will now be backed by gold reserves.

Gono defends bringing back the Zimbabwe dollar on the grounds the
exercise is not going to be a "blind" one.

Rather, Gono believes a "guarded" reintroduction of the currency could
work.

But analysts see an ulterior motive in bringing back the unit. They
believe Gono could be oiling the printing press once again to finance and
subsidise government departments and a coterie of government officials as he
did in the past.

Gono believes that the new currency will have "real and tangible"
worth.

He said: "Such a new currency will have a real, tangible worth as
embalmed in the real assets(s) backing it.

This gives the new currency the characteristic of general
acceptability as a fluent medium of exchange in goods and services markets."

"Given the country's proven resources of gold, platinum and diamonds,
among several other minerals, a fully backed currency which can freely
convert back to the real underlying assets at the instance of the currency
holders wishes will be having the desirable character of being a legitimate
store of value. In other words, the currency will have a stable value of
time given the direct link to the volume of tangible assets from the real
sector."

But economists say Gono's plan to bring back the unit without boosting
output in all sectors of the economy will end in ignominy for the
discredited central bank chief yet again after failing to institute economic
reforms and slowing inflation.

They say Gono will only do more harm to the economy with his latest
experiment.

Harare economist John Robertson said: "If we try to bring the Zim
dollar back, it will lose value in a week. You need credibility in your
currency which is not there."

Another economist Daniel Ndlela says: "People lost confidence in the
financial system and if you talk of the Zimbabwean dollar what comes to
people's minds is whether they are going to sleep in queues again."

Ndlela expressed reservations on the plan to support the currency on
the amount of resources available.
He said this was not a wise one given the country's depleted mineral
reserves.

"Technically, if you say that the currency is going to be based on
gold what if the gold is only 15-18% of the currency in circulation? Does he
propose that the Zimbabwe dollar he wants to bring back is going to be used
side by side with multicurrency or a dominant currency?"

Economists feel that the country's gold is not enough to back the
Zimbabwe dollar as the dominant currency.

Ndlela says there is no basis to be used on an isolated resource.

"The currency is based on the total assets value of a nation. Even
countries with the richest resources have never based their currencies on
specific resources," he said.

Robertson believes that Zimbabwe investment laws will not play in Gono's
favour in his plan because empowerment legislation in the southern African
country "scared away" investors.

In his mid-term monetary policy statement, Gono urged government to
revise the country's empowerment laws saying Zimbabwe needed to allow
foreigners to own 51% shareholding.

RBZ claims Zimbabwe has 13 million tonnes of gold in reserves. At
Zimbabwe's current extraction rate of 20 tonnes, it will take 650 000 years
for the reserves to be exhausted.

With platinum reserves of 2,8 billion tonnes, it will take 1 200 years
to exhaust the reserves at an annual extraction rate of 2,3 tonnes per year.

Robertson added: "the resource will stay underground for billions and
billions of years because the empowerment legislation and proposed
amendments scare away investors."

But observers say if the proposed Reserve Bank Amendment Bill sails
through, Gono could be kept in check by Finance Minister Tendai Biti.

Biti and international financiers blame Gono's quasi-fiscal activities
for accelerating the decade-long economic decline.

Under the new arrangement, a Currency Board, or monetary authorities
will issue domestic currency, backed by foreign exchange reserves.

Gono alludes to analysts' concerns that huge investment will be needed
for the mining sector is to produce adequate mineral reserves to back
economic activity.

In order to achieve his new goal, Gono proposes fiscal consolidation,
trade and capital account liberalisation, liberalisation of the foreign
exchange market, strengthening of institutional credibility and rebuilding
of high foreign exchange reserves.

But Biti says he will quit should Gono be given the green light to
bring back the Zim dollar.

He said:" As long as I am Minister of Finance the Zimbabwean dollar is
not coming back,"

More worryingly, is President Robert Mugabe's economic beliefs. He
fired Herbert Murerwa years back for sticking to what the aged leader
described as "textbook economics" while the people suffered. Mugabe started
calls for the Zimbabwe dollar to bounce back, and could be urging Gono to
print money in a bid to curry favour with poor Zimbabweans ahead of
elections.

The gold standard is not currently used by any government, having been
replaced completely by fiat currency.

The use of paper money, convertible into gold, to replace gold coins,
originated in China in the 9th century AD.

Gold standards replaced the use of gold coins as currency in the
17th-19th centuries in Europe.

In the 1790s, Britain suffered a massive shortage of silver coinage
and ceased to mint larger silver coins.

It issued "token" silver coins and over struck foreign coins. With the
end of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain began a massive recoinage programme that
created standard gold sovereigns and circulating crowns, half-crowns, and
eventually copper farthings in 1821.

According to the know-it-all Wikipedia, in 1833, Bank of England notes
were made legal tender, and redemption by other banks was discouraged.

But the following year, the Bank Charter Act established that the Bank
of England's notes, fully backed by gold, were the legal standard.

According to the strict interpretation of the gold standard, this 1844
Act marks the establishment of a full gold standard for British money.

The currencies or banknotes that were backed by the gold standard were
the old German reichsmarks, Yugoslav dinars, Turkish liras, Brazilian
cruzeiros, Croatian dinars, Polish zloty, Argentine peso leys, Angola
Kwanzas reajastodos, Zairean zaires and Bolivian bolivianos.

By introducing the gold standards as a Zimbabwe's monetary system, the
central bank is taking a journey into the past.

But Gono could be happy, that former US Federal Reserve chief Allan
Greenspan expressed sympathy with a hard currency basis, and argued against
fiat money. Greenspan famously argued the case for returning to a gold
standard in his 1966 paper "Gold and Economic Freedom", in which he
described supporters of fiat currencies as "welfare statists" intent on
using monetary policies to finance deficit spending.

He argued that the fiat money system of today has retained the
favourable properties of the gold standard because central bankers have
pursued monetary policy as if a gold standard were still in place.

Chris Muronzi

Economic Stability Must Come Before Zimdollar Return

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 17:45
THE Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono, through an
article published in the Herald of August 20 and Financial Gazette of the
same date, put forward his defence of his proposal for the reinstatement of
the Zimbabwe dollar. In it, the governor called for debate over his
proposal.

The governor’s defence made interesting reading. It is in the spirit
of the governor’s call for debate over the matter that I am making this
contribution.

The governor commences his defence by saying: “As a country we had
pinned our hopes on vibrant financial liquidity being injected by outsiders.
This has not happened. This is an unfortunate and painful fact.”

Indeed, it is painful and a fact. But is it unfortunate? I don’t think
so. It is in fact a great lesson for us.

“Outsiders”, as the governor rightly calls them, have no obligation
turning on the taps of financial flow towards us. Every investor, by nature,
is risk averse.

With the battered image of the country, anyone doing business with us
would need to be very wary and careful. For sometime to come, therefore,
external sources of funds will remain elusive. Does the absence of external
funding however call for the reinstatement of the Zimbabwe dollar?

The governor mourns the short supply of money in the market. He
laments, “whereas it is true that too much money chasing too few goods
contributes to inflation, it is equally true that too little money chasing
many goods and services is hazardo≠us to the economy and hence hazardous to
the welfare of the people”.

Whilst the governor has been specific to state that too much money
causes inflation, whose devastating effects everyone is aware of, the
governor did not specify what specific effect too little money will cause.

Did too much money in 2008 put us in a better economic position? The
answer is that it did not. The governor’s proposal therefore needs careful
consideration, particularly given that it was during his tenure of office
that the demise of the Zimbabwe dollar came about.

Gono made several illustrative points to support his proposal. The
illustrative points he raised shall be the subject of my analysis of the
governor’s proposal.

The governor rightly quotes himself in his Mid-Year Monetary Policy
Statement, July 30 2009 (page 5) that  “the existence and stability of a
country’s national currency is defined and dictated by the barometer of real
economic activity in the economy”.

The governor’s diction in this particular instance was very apt. The
“existence” let alone the “stability” of a country’s currency is “defined”
and “dictated” by nothing other than real economic activity. He could not
have said it better. The coercive meaning of the word “dictate” is very
appropriate.

If real economic activity is not supportive of further money supply,
we have very little leeway, if any, to manoeuvre levels of money supply.
Unfortunately it was our near complete disregard of this basic economic
principle that saw the demise of our currency. When money is printed in
complete disregard to fundamental economic activity, such as productivity,
the currency so printed is doomed.

In quoting himself the governor goes further to say, “Future policies
on the currency issues will therefore stand guided by an intimate
consideration of the progress we make on key milestones on the production
front.”

Here, the governor was actually explaining further what real economic
activity means. A vibrant production sector gravitates towards creation of
real economic activity, which ultimately will stabilise a nation’s currency.
Has our economic activity status reached levels we can describe as vibrant?

Let’s not make yesteryear mistakes, let us be patient and do things at
the most appropriate times. In the governor’s own words, “the reintroduction
of the Zimbabwe dollar must primarily be anchored on the empirical reality…”

What is the empirical reality right now that warrants reinstatement of
the local unit? The governor correctly states the existence of empirical
reality to facilitate return to the local unit but shies away from
explaining what exact empirical realities need to manifest themselves in the
economy to trigger reinstatement of the Zimbabwe dollar. As a nation, it is
important that we pronounce the specific parameters upon which a return to
the local unit can be consummated.

The governor went on to say “The most prominent feature of relevance
by order of degree in Zimbabwe at the moment is that our markets need a
viable medium of exchange in sufficient quantities to oil the needs of
companies and households.” The governor seems to imply that the prevailing
illiquid market justifies the reinstatement of the Zimbabwean dollar.

This notion distorts the underlying economic fundamentals that need to
be addressed. I have heard many commentators making remarks to the effect
that rural people are in severe economic hardship because they cannot access
foreign currency.

This school of thought seems to suggest that if the Zimbabwe dollar
were to be re-introduced, the rural people’s money woes would be a thing of
the past. This is where we have it all wrong.

In his article the governor outlined some of money’s basic functions
such as store of value and as unit of account. It is also relevant that we
also mention one of the major characteristics of money: it is scarce.

Any elementary text on economics will highlight this fundamental
characteristic of money. Because money is always scarce, to get it, one has
to work for it. To work for money is to be productive, being productive
leads to real economic activity. Earning money without working for it leads
to economic disaster. Thus every person, rural or urban must not get money
without working for it.

Thus everyone must be gainfully employed  or engaged in order to earn
money. It is when the population gets down to working in the fields, mines
and factories that real economic activity that the governor mentions takes
place. Therefore I do not see how the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar
immediately puts money in people’s pockets and enhances market demand.

The governor dedicated a paragraph he titled, “What I am not saying”,
in which he says: “It is also critical that stakeholders get it clearly that
what this governor is calling for is not a blind return to the printing
press…” That is the gist of the whole matter; blind printing of money. We
made this error in the past and we need not make the same mistake. Is our
economy ready for a return to our own currency? Do the real economic
activities on the ground dictate that we reinstate the Zimbabwe dollar? Do
we now as a country have political discipline to restore our domestic
currency?

My assessment is we are still far away from these to be calling for
reinstatement of the Zimbabwe dollar. None of us desires a Zimbabwe dollar
which shortly after reinstatement immediately loses value again in
proportion of the previous local unit. Let us work on the fundamentals
first.

The governor, in his article, intimates the idea of a monetary system
based on “the gold standard”. This part of the governor’s article was very
exciting. This seemed to mark the governor’s return to ‘book economics’. The
gold standard basis of money supply is an old-age and now abandoned basis of
monetary policy the world over.

It has its own attendant problems. The value of bullion locked up in
central bank vaults as represented by money supply in the economy may not
necessarily represent real economic activity within the country. What is
critical in the principles of money supply is underlying real economic
activity; anything divorced from this will cause distortion in the economy.

The level of distortion will be determined by the level of divergence
from the correct principles. Fiscal and political discipline goes a long way
in stabilising the monetary policy front.

By his admission, there will be need for “huge investment in the
mining sector to produce adequate mineral resources to back economic
activity. The country’s mine houses should therefore be adequately
 resourced”. While the governor’s proposal of gold standard based monetary
policy sounds plausible, it suffers from one glaring oversight.

The proposal, expounded in a six-stage process, seems to centre on
making the money available first and real economic activity to follow later.
Money supply and real economic activity move in step with each other and not
in isolation.

Ideally, real economic activity growth must take place first, followed
by an increase in money supply. While the reverse process has been tried
elsewhere, it has yielded little success.

The danger of making the money available first is that the money may
then never be used for real economic activity as envisaged.

Where, in the first instance, will the funds for huge investment
required in the mine houses to produce the required gold and diamonds come
from? Which is wiser: to produce huge gold, platinum and diamond reserves to
store in central bank vaults as an anchor of our currency, or to sell the
same and earn foreign currency? It sounds easier said than done. It is not
the best way to go. Even at our work places, we don’t earn the money first;
we work first and then earn the money.

One other important factor is that the Zimbabwean population, rural
and urban, is now well versed in the intricacies of currencies and their
exchange rates. Prematurely introducing the Zimbabwean dollar will simply
see them rejecting it as they did previously.

It is therefore imperative should ever the Zimbabwe dollar be
reinstated, as it eventually should, it should win the confidence and
support of the people.

At any rate, a currency is meant to assist the transacting public and
it is therefore unadvisable to reinstate that which may be discarded from
the onset. We also need to take cognisance of the fact that people are
already using stable currencies to which they will compare the local unit
when re-introduced.

While I agree with the governor that we need at some time to reinstate
the Zimbabwe dollar, it is the timing of such reinstatement which must be
handled with care. I do not agree to a reinstatement of the local unit based
on notions of restoring lost national pride, sovereignty or any other
similar notion.

Let us at this juncture, as a nation, strive for real economic
activity. Let the politicians, economists, industrialists, civil society,
etc, endeavour to create a conducive economic environment.

Gradually, as is already beginning to happen, real economic activity
will start building until it reaches levels when we can start thinking of
the reinstatement of the Zimbabwe dollar. The demise of the Zimbabwe dollar
was mainly as a result of happenings on the political front. As long as
political stability and tolerance have not normalised, it may be too early
to talk of a reinstatement of the local unit.

DM 0913437999, 664844 Economic commentator based in Harare.

By Darlington Mutingwende

Comment: Arrogance Stifling Implementation

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 21:59
THERE are disappointments across the board with the unity government
and the once quick-out-of-the-gates transition cabinet team seems to have
hit some bumps.

There were scores of items listed on the transition team's to-do list
under the 100-Day plan. Those ticking boxes here and abroad have more Xs
than ticks on their logs. The GNU is failing to get the job done.

In Nyanga, at a retreat organised to assess the success of the 100-Day
plan, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai read out the embarrassing report card
and told us what we expected to hear: the GNU has not delivered. This is
beginning to cause problems in the uneasy marriage.

Parties to the agreement have started to accuse each other of
sabotaging the project. DPM Arthur Mutambara's robust statement in Nyanga
describing the elections last year as a fraud, has provided Zanu PF with a
look-in in the blame game.

Mutambara gave a hostage to fortune. He is suddenly the biggest threat
to the health of the government of national unity. Government propaganda was
this week rolled out to fire volleys at the DPM who merely stated the
obvious.

This sideshow cannot however mask the fact that there are fundamental
problems, not just revolving around the power play between the principals to
the agreement but to do with bureaucratic arrogance by sections of the
government who believe that they can wage a war against the world and win.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa this week made some potentially
damaging revelations about how our government perceives bilateral trade
agreements. Commenting on the delay in the signing of the bilateral trade
agreement with South Africa, Chinamasa said Zimbabwe would not sign an
agreement that "impinged on the sanctity of land reform". He said Zimbabwe
was prepared to sign the agreement as long as it excluded issues to do with
land reform. He said there was a section in the agreement that had the
"potential to open the way for a reversal of land reform".

Chinamasa's subterfuge here is as hopeless in the eyes of potential
investors as it is damaging to any attempts to have Zimbabwe re-admitted to
the community of nations. His pronouncement is an admission that the
government is not prepared to pay compensation to dispossessed South African
farmers. He is also admitting that the government of Zimbabwe cannot
guarantee the farmers' business activities here. The South Africans should
concentrate on mining instead, it was said.

This all amounts to the unfortunate admission that Zimbabwe cannot
guarantee property rights of foreigners wanting to come to invest in farming
in this country.

It also tells us a lot about government's retrogressive view on
getting basic things right in crafting a respectable investment policy.
Zimbabwe requires foreign investment and technical support in all sectors of
the economy including agriculture.

Investors in agriculture require state protection. Investors should be
free and confident to approach the courts in the event of a dispute
regarding land ownership. The executive should be prepared to respect the
decisions of the courts and law enforcers should execute decisions of courts
to protect property. But more importantly fair compensation, based on
clearly laid down valuation standards, should be guaranteed in any bilateral
agreement in the event an investor wants out.

Our rulers have however decided to take a myopic view that because the
country does not have funding to compensate farmers at the moment,
compensation cannot be included in a crucial bilateral agreement. This does
not resonate with government's own position on enhancing bilateral
relations. In April at the launch of the 100-Day plan, Finance minister
Tendai Biti had this to say about relations with other countries: "In short,
what is required is to create confidence and sculpt a construction that
Zimbabwe is in an irreversible paradigm shift.

"Over and above the Sadc initiatives underpinned by South Africa,
there should be serious engagement with all cooperating partners, including
the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, as well as the African
Development Bank, with the objective of restoring the country's status as a
credible recipient of external financial assistance. Hence, as part of this
strategy should be an aggressive programme of bilateral engagement with all
the key strategic countries".

South Africa is a key strategic partner of Zimbabwe and relations
should be mutual. Chinamasa and his ilk cannot therefore hide behind the
tired mantra of the "sanctity" of land reform to bend
internationally-accepted investment rules. We cannot have investment
policies which protect rights of miners and other industrialists while
promoting chaos and arbitrage on the land.

Zanu PF's Paul Mangwana was quoted last week as saying mistakes were
made in the implementation of the land reform programme. We cannot use the
same mistakes to make policies and defend the glaring aberrations which have
turned this country into a pariah state.

Editor's Memo: Zuma Faces Uphill Task

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 27 August 2009 18:19
SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma faces an unenviable task of
breaking the deadlock on serial violations of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) and clearing outstanding issues which continue to polarise political
relations between the parties involved while threatening the unstable
inclusive government.

Zuma arrived in the country yesterday and held meetings with President
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara on the
current political situation, focusing on lingering GPA issues. He is
expected to hold further meetings with all the principals together today.

Zuma will also today officially open the Harare Agricultural Show, but
his main mission is to push for a resolution of disputes that have largely
rendered the limping government dysfunctional.

The talks will show whether Zuma has the political leverage to tackle
the stubborn outstanding issues and turn around the fortunes of a country
ruined by a decade of misrule.

In his capacity as Sadc chair Zuma will hold meetings to sort out
issues which could explode into a crisis at the forthcoming regional summit
in the DRC if left simmering.

The issues include the dispute over the sharing and swearing-in of
provincial governors, the appointment of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono
and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, the swearing in of Deputy Minister of
Agriculture Roy Bennett and the arrests of MDC-T MPs.

There is also a dispute over constitutional reform process and
appointment of members of constitutional commissions, especially the media
one. The quarrel over the mandate of the ministries of Information
Communication Technology and Transport is also another matter.

Then there is the issue of the review of the six months of the
inclusive government which might open a Pandora's Box by bringing up all
unresolved or parked issues.

Of course there has been slight movement on a few issues, including
the appointment of diplomats and meeting of National Security Council. The
issue of permanent secretaries was resolved earlier via capitulation by the
MDC factions.

Zuma will also have to help break the deadlock on the issue of
constitutional reform. There is an impasse over the process and leadership.
The process is now consumed by chaos and confusion. This is a critical issue
because if the process stalls or worse still collapses, there would be no
elections perhaps until 2013.

The new democratic system will require a constitution that establishes
the desired framework of the democratic government. The constitution should
set the purposes of government, limits on governmental powers, the means and
timing of elections by which government officials and legislators will be
chosen, the inherent rights of the people, and the relation of the national
government to other lower levels of government.

Within the central government, if it is to remain democratic, a clear
division of authority should be established between the legislative,
executive, and judicial branches of government. Strong restrictions should
be included on activities of the police, intelligence services, and military
forces to prohibit any political interference.

In the interests of preserving the democratic system and preventing
dictatorial trends and measures, the constitution should preferably be one
which establishes a devolved system with significant prerogatives reserved
for the regional and local levels of government. This is how best to
introduce a democratic dispensation.

The current process of constitution-making is flawed and cannot
produce such a desired document.
Zuma has a mountain to climb. Mugabe and Zanu PF are recovering and
becoming intransigent again.

On the relatively easy issue of governors, for instance, the parties
had agreed on the formula and when the new governors must come in but Zanu
PF is now backtracking, claiming it is Mugabe's prerogative to appoint
governors who are his representatives in provinces.

Mugabe is also determined to refuse outright to compromise on the Gono
and Tomana issue. There is going to be a vicious fight on this before the
matter could be closed.

The MDC is arguing that Gono and Tomana were appointed in violation of
the MoU signed by parties in July last year. The MoU froze senior government
appointments pending the conclusion of inter-party talks.

However, Mugabe is saying despite the MoU he had a constitutional
obligation to make those appointments.

Following the House of Assembly's adoption on July 30 of the MDC-T
resolution calling for the appointment of a Select Committee to investigate
Tomana's conduct in all politically-motivated prosecutions, the next step is
for parliament's Committee on Standing Rules and Orders (CSRO) to appoint
the members of the Select Committee.

As with all parliamentary committees the membership will reflect the
political composition of the House.  The CSRO meets on Monday. Zanu PF says
parliament cannot investigate the Attorney-General. This has intensified the
battle over the Tomana issue.

Zuma would need to use all his diplomatic savvy, experience and the
capabilities of his country, which are largely undeliverable in the
circumstances, to resolve these issues. Maybe his experience in dealing with
the intractable Burundi conflict will help.

Zuma would need to be firm, yet measured in his approach. Clear
thinking is required as to how the dispute could be cracked.

The parties and their leaders - including Zuma - must always remember
that in negotiations it is not the relative justice of the conflicting views
and objectives which determines the content of a negotiated agreement. The
outcome is largely determined by the power capacity of each side.

This is what the GPA reflects and the sooner the parties and their
officials understand this, the better. But the hard truth is that Zuma faces
an uphill task to get the job done.

Dumisani Muleya

Zim Independent Letters

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/

Abuse of Aids Levy Fund deplorable
Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:06
RESTORATION of Human Rights Zimbabwe (ROHR) is perturbed by the
massive plunder of the Aids Levy Fund by the National Aids Council (NAC)
when thousands of HIV/Aids patients are dying and 400 000 more are in dire
need of anti-retroviral drugs.

In 1999 the government introduced an Aids levy on all taxpayers to
fund the work of the NAC. The 3% Aids levy that is deducted from the workers'
hard-earned salaries should automatically make them important stakeholders
of the fund, with full rights to inquire about the way it is managed to hold
NAC accountable.
NAC has also been constrained by poor management and lack of resources
since its formation in 1999 and at a time when the country is grappling with
calamities caused by HIV/Aids, it is appalling that state institutions are
finding solace in squandering critical funds on luxury vehicles and
channelling funds to electoral and quasi-fiscal activities funded by the
central bank. Zimbabwe is in need of a visionary leadership which equitably
distributes resources across the entire socio-economic and political realm
of this country rather than aggrandisements of narrow personal interests.
ROHR Zimbabwe strongly believes that development depends on good
governance and respect for people's rights. As the country is in need of aid
from the international community to combat the Aids pandemic, it is
incumbent upon the leaders to exercise high-level transparency and
accountability to foster donor confidence in the handling of public funds.
Mismanagement of tax payers' money sends wrong signals to potential
funders on the state institutions' capacity to exercise corporate
governance.
We call for an audit and an investigation in the operations of NAC and
if there is abuse of public funds, the law should make the culprits in the
scandal accountable.
The relevant stakeholders are disenfranchised by the absence of a
meaningful interface with the NAC or any other legal body that responds to
their enquiries, be it on a single or collective basis.
There is an urgent need for
the establishment of such an interface to facilitate the restoration
of this right in the form of a truly independent Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption
Commission through which all stakeholder voices are channelled.

Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe,
 Information Department.
---------------
      Moyo Must Substantiate Spying Accusations

      Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:03
       JONATHAN Moyo's article "Of African governance and dead horse
flogging" (Sunday Mail, August 23) is a classic case of putting the cart in
front of the donkey.
      He darkly implies that Zimind group projects editor Iden
Wetherell  has access to intelligence information about the alleged spying
activity of his journalist friends expelled from Zimbabwe --  Joe Winter and
I in 2001, Andrew Meldrum in 2003.
      Our expulsions were illegal, arbitrary and unfair. The
immigration authorities and police never produced any scrap of evidence
about our so-called "illegal activities".
      In my case, not even a letter informing me that my valid work
permit would be cancelled and that I had been given 24 hours to leave the
country. I learned about it because a man, purporting to be a reporter from
the Herald, called my editor at the Mail & Guardian in South Africa, told
them the news and asked for my job!
      My job had been to report on gross human rights violations, on
Dr Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi's torture clinic, Zanu PF militia in Mberengwa,
the repression of the MDC, and the "signature bombing"  of the Daily News
which, I said, only trained army engineers could have rigged so expertly
with dynamite and anti-tank landmines. The next week I was expelled.
      A few days later, in reply to a question from MDC MPs, Patrick
Chinamasa accused me in parliament of being a spy for Unita and Jonas
Savimbi. Not one shred of evidence except his word was shown.
      I guess that it is difficult to tie my home country, Uruguay, to
a neo-colonial British plot, so Savimbi was the closest thing. I speak
Spanish, Savimbi spoke Portuguese -- there is a connection! Bingo! I am a
new Latin Mata Hari.
       Thank you for the comparison but accusations must be
substantiated. Otherwise, they are allegations, rumour and gossip.
      " Those responsible for the security of the country" who decided
on our expulsions should bring proof to the court of justice.
      They can't. This is why they are attacking Wetherell: shoot the
messenger who reminds the world how press freedom was, and is, under attack
in Zimbabwe.

       Mercedes Sayagues,
      South Africa.

-----------------
      SikhalaRrebel With a Cause
       Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:03
      I HAD the rare privilege of attending a Quill Club session a few
days ago in town and former St Mary's MP Job Sikhala happened to be the
guest.

      The notion that had been planted in me that he was "lost" was
quickly eradicated as he articulated his agenda, vision and mission amongst
the scribes.

      I never knew he was such an intellectual powerhouse, a fluent
speaker and a man with great promises of things to come.

      His great insight and pluck in the midst of adversity left me
not only bamboozled but dumbfounded. If this man is a "rebel" as they say, I
concluded that he is a rebel with a cause.

      I had always thought he was a lightweight and a "jobless" guy as
his detractors want to say and I had always dismissed him with contempt.

      I will  never judge  a book by its cover again  nor by  simply
hearing reports from  other people.

       Herbert Mugwagwa,
      Harare.

------------
      We Should Only Forgive the Penitent
       Thursday, 27 August 2009 22:01
      THE Masvingo branch of the MDC would like to reaffirm its full
support to the MDC leadership and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara's
remarks during the recently held cabinet retreat in Nyanga.

      To people like Jonathan Moyo who claim that our party president
does not represent anyone we say Mutambara is the leader of a party with 10
MPs and we also have support from the other provinces besides Matabeleland.
Whilst our members and supporters are not as many as the case of the MDC-T
and Zanu PF, the truth of the matter is that we are making in-roads
countrywide.

      Moyo's utterances confirm the general belief that he is aligned
to Zanu PF and that he and his associates are trying by all means to destroy
our party as they think we are occupying their space.

      We stand behind Mutambara's utterances because he highlighted
the madness that characterised last year's elections but did not necessarily
attack the person of Robert Mugabe or Zanu PF.

      Surely the main reason why we have this creature called the GNU
is because we agreed that the last elections were not free and fair. The
objective of this government is to put in place a conducive environment for
free and fair elections and to improve the standard of living of
Zimbabweans.

      Is it then a crime to say the truth when we all agree that for
us to reconcile we need to be frank with one another and the truth indeed
sets us free. We should only forgive and forget those who ask for
forgiveness.

      John Zishumba,
      MDC Masvingo Provincial Secretary.

------------
      Zanu PF Must Deal With the Truth
       Thursday, 27 August 2009 18:25
      ZANU PF cabinet ministers walked out of a strategic planning
retreat in Nyanga over the weekend, fuming that Deputy Minister Arthur
Mutambara had insulted them after telling them the truth that they had not
won the 2008 harmonised elections.

      Although Mutambara should have used a different platform to
express his views, it is important for the Zanu PF ministers to know the
truth, that Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF did not win last year's elections.

       It is also important to recall that just recently Zanu PF --
with the aid of its mouthpiece the Herald and ZBC -- was also fuming when
MDC ministers snubbed a cabinet meeting in frustration with the delays in
resolving sticking points in the Global Political Agreement.

      Although the MDC's concerns were genuine, Zanu PF and its
apologists were irked by the MDC's snubbing of the meeting.

      However, it is surprising that Zanu PF chose this time to be
disrespectful of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and decided to walk out of
an important meeting just because they had been told the truth by Mutambara.

      We hope that Mutambara will be bolder and repeat what he told
the delegates in Nyanga straight to Mugabe's face that indeed he cannot
claim to have won the 2008 elections.

      Trymore Mazhambe,
       Harare.

------------
      SMS The Zimbabwe Independent
      Thursday, 27 August 2009 18:24
      OUR condolences to Regional Integration and International
Cooperation Minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and her family over the
sad and tragic loss of her husband Dr Chris Mushonga so soon after the death
of Vice President Joseph Msika. Please do not despair but remain resolute in
nation building as exemplified in the role you played in the formation of
the GNU.
      Forward ever, Bulawayo.

      GOVERNMENT departments, especially Zimra and the Transport
ministry, should tell us where the road toll funds (road access fees) that
every light vehicle, heavy vehicle and bus have been paying for the past
years have gone? There is no point in making road users throw their
hard-earned money into a bottomless pit with no accountability or visible
sign of the money being put to good use. Please account for what you have
taken from us first before asking for more.
      Mwanawenzira.

      THE process of national healing should reach out to all
Zimbabweans. The current process cannot succeed unless it is led by people
without dented credentials.
          Chibox, Marondera.

      IT'S appalling to note that "heroes" seem to be people aligned
to Zanu PF. Why is hero status determined by Zanu PF's politburo when it's
supposed to be a national matter?
      Latty.

      IF Robert Mugabe claims to be a president who was popularly
elected by the people because they love him, he should walk along the
streets of Bulawayo and Harare without his bodyguards just for an hour. That
would be a simple test of his popularity.
      S'gubudu.

      GIDEON Gono is a skilled money printer whose expertise is
currently not being utilised. That's why he is talking about bringing about
the Zimbabwean dollar. My advice to him is that he should try the Herald --
I am sure they need an extra hand in their printing press.
      Sam, Chinhoyi.

      SINCE when did Gideon Gono realise that money is printed against
gold deposits? Was he not the governor when money was being printed with
reckless abandon? Printing money without gold deposits is tantamount to
stealing from citizens (invisible taxation). It is also arrogant for Gono to
label those opposed to him "arrogant" or "incompetent". His incompetence
speaks for itself!
      Zero dollar.
      GIDEON Gono  wants the Zimbabwean dollar to be brought back for
his own gain. We will not be fooled by his claim that it would be in the
public's interest.
       Economist, Harare.

      GIDEON Gono must remember that it was the then acting-Finance
minister Patrick Chinamasa who introduced the multiple currency system. Even
his most ardent of supporters had lost faith in the Zimbabwean dollar.
      Economist.

      AS long as we have people like Gideon Gono, Johannes Tomana and
George Charamba in this government certainly we must be wary of our
tomorrow.
      Washie Charamba, Hatclife.

      THE MDC-T leadership is appearing to be more like the system
they once opposed. First Morgan Tsvangirai said Robert Mugabe was an
"indispensable" part of the GNU and Giles Mutsekwa claimed that the ZRP
never banned demonstrations. For all those who support the "change
government from within" mantra here's simple logic for you: if you mix good
and bad tomatoes you will eventually spoil the whole lot.
      Analyst.

      JOB Sikhala better rejoin the real MDC! I am sure he has now
realised that  Morgan Tsvangirai is the true leader of the MDC.
      Homes, Chivi.

      ZIMBABWE Broadcasting Holdings should change to Zanu
Broadcasting Corporation and should only expect the purchase of their
licences
      from none other than Zanu PF members.
      Weary listener.

       HARARE mayor Muchadeyi Masunda's car and mayoral inauguration
party are a tragic waste. That money could have bought two refuse trucks and
the money spent on eats and drinks could have been bought food for thousands
of orphans. They have boarded the gravy train.
      Cleka weDowasuro.

      WE are getting a raw deal from Zesa as electricity is available
on average of six hours in Glen View per day. I wonder if it is still load
shedding or shutdown! At the end of the month we pay US$30. Zesa is ripping
us off.
      Tau, Glen-View.

      MANY commuter omnibus drivers are too young to be entrusted with
passengers lives. Many of them are between 19 and 25 years of age especially
those driving in Kuwadzana. The government is just turning a blind eye.
      Concerned commuter.

'Zim political environment remains fragile'

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Andrew Moyo Friday 28 August 2009

HARARE - Zimbabwe's political environment remains fragile, top platinum
producer Zimplats Holdings said on Thursday, in a statement that appeared to
confirm fears that an uncertain political future could undermine efforts by
the country's unity government to resuscitate the economy.

Zimplats, which is owned by South Africa's Implats - the world's second
biggest platinum producer -- praised measures implemented by President
Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's government to revive
the economy that it said had seen an improvement in the operating
environment for business.

But the mining giant that spoke as South African President Jacob Zuma
arrived in Harare to on a mission to try to break a deadlock threatening
Zimbabwe's unity government said the success of the unity government was
critical to any effort to revive an economy in sharp decline for the past
decade.

"A coalition government of all three political parties with representation
in the Zimbabwe parliament took office during February 2009. Although much
remains to be done, potentially favourable policy changes have been
initiated and pleasingly this has resulted in an improvement in the
operating and living environment in the country," Zimplats chairman Mike
Houston said in a statement.

Zimbabwe's coalition government has managed to halt hyperinflation and
unveiled several measures in a bid to revive the battered economy but a host
of political problems including outstanding issues from the power-sharing
deal threatens to derail the new Harare administration.

"The political climate remains fragile and is only sustainable if all
parties remain committed to the success of the coalition government and the
required regional and international support is forthcoming," Houston said.

Zimplats said the recovery of Zimbabwe's shattered economy will also hinge
on the international community honouring financial pledges made earlier in
the year.

Zimbabwe has asked for US$8,3 billion from the international community to
help rebuild the economy but only a trickle of this has been realised,
mostly from neighbouring South Africa.

Zimplats has major operations in the Ngezi District, about 140 kilometres
southwest of Harare where it is undertaking a US$340 million expansion
programme - one of the largest investments to continue during the turbulent
times.

"Over several years, shareholders' attention has been drawn to your board's
deep concern about the difficult socio-economic situation that has prevailed
in the country for the greater part of the past decade and its effects on
the country's infrastructure and the operations of your company," Houston
said.

The company has successfully completed the majority of the Phase 1 expansion
which will result in 88 percent increase in platinum production from 96 000
to 180 000 ounces per annum.

Mugabe is expected to commission a new concentrator at the mines soon. -
ZimOnline

Airlines barred as Zimbabwe tourism slumps

http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1138138.php?mpnlog=1

28 August, 2009

HARARE – Malaysian Airlines is one of three carriers warned off
services to Zimbabwe by the African country’s government.
The others are Emirates and Nationwide from South Africa,

Local news media said the Zimbabwe government made the move to protect
the national airline, Air Zimbabwe, from competition and loss of revenue.

Zimbabwe Tourism Association chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said the
benefit the overseas airlines could have brought to the local economy in
terms of traffic, revenue “and tourists telling the true Zimbabwean story”
could have been very significant.

“Reasons such as ‘we are protecting our airlines' were cited. What are
we protecting it (Air Zimbabwe) from? They should learn to compete with
other airlines. That is the only way they can remain competitive,” said
Kaseke. ′

Air Zimbabwe currently has four planes flying two Modern Ark (MA) 60s,
Boeing 737 and a long haul 767.

′A total of 18 international airlines have left the country since the
economic crisis and negative publicity about Zimbabwe started 10 years ago.

These airlines include Lufthansa, Qantas, Austrian Airlines, Swissair,
Air India, Air France and TAP Air Portugal. ′

Kaseke said the tourism sector had the potential to be among the
leading foreign currency earners in the country. ′

“Areas that need urgent attention in the industry are its pricing
structure. We are the most expensive in the region. Destinations compete and
we could lose out in this regard.”

Kaseke said 2008 was one of the worst years in the history of the
tourism industry in Zimbabwe and “preliminary results so far (2009) are not
pleasing”.

A lesson from physics

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=21884

August 28, 2009

By a Concerned Medical Doctor

MOST of life's everyday experiences can easily be explained by simple laws
of Physics. Your dreams last night, the way you felt when you woke up in the
morning, the shoes you decided to wear to work, the way you got yourself
from the front door to the bus/car, the people you were friendly to and the
ones you frowned at, constellations in the night sky, olden day and modern
politics are all subject to its governing principles.

In fact, the list is endless. These laws even explain the doctrine of
natural selection among others, those powerful determinants of who lives and
grows stronger among people and who will eventually wither away and be
forgotten about.

This article, by means of one of Physics' most celebrated principles, the
law of conservation of energy, attempts at explaining the well known vast
imbalances in the distribution of wealth among Zimbabweans living in the
present day Zimbabwe. It aims to explain why money send home by those in
exile does not bring a lasting change to the lives of their beloved ones and
why the current political arrangement will be very long in causing any
meaningful shift in Zimbabwe's fortunes.

'Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be converted from
one form to another'. This is the law of conservation of energy, one of the
fundamental cornerstones in Physics. The only way your neighbour obtains a
tank of fuel (chemical energy) for his back garden electricity generator
without working hard for it is if someone else has made it possible for
them, knowingly or unknowingly. This could be a down trodden, poorly paid
worker in Zimbabwe or in the Diaspora for instance, expending energy in
working to eventually avail this fuel to them. This is what the stated law
says. The worker and the ultimate beneficiary of the toil do not have to be
related or directly connected.

In the same vein the lighting and heating requirements of a household in
Borrowdale for example, will be equivalent to the electrical energy produced
by the generator in the back garden. This electrical energy will also equal
the chemical energy inherent in the fuel used up by the generator in
generating it, which in turn equates to the sum total of the physical
efforts, exertions and toils applied in obtaining this fuel. Things are
generally principled to work like this.

Here is the analogy. Wealth is that which gives an individual or society the
ability to perpetuate. It occurs in different forms and just like energy,
wealth can neither be created overnight without effort nor can it magically
vanish into the thin air without trace.

Our failed politicians would rather we believe this is the miraculous feat
the so- called illegal sanctions pulled off in the case of Zimbabwe's once
vast abundance.

Just like energy, wealth can only be shifted from one custodian to another.
This transfer may take different shapes and forms. It may change hands
fairly and with consent living the transacting parties satisfied and feeling
in control. Most everyday people would prefer this way of doing things.
However it may also be moved illegally and without consent from its owners
via such deplorable activities as looting, corruption, mismanagement and
nepotism among other undesirables.

Zimbabwe's national wealth was and continues to be transferred from the
general citizen, you and me, the rightful custodian of it to the powerful
and well connected citizens by cronyism, fiscal promiscuity and outright
greed. It has not just magically vanished as they would paint, and want
foisted down our throats, for ultimately everything in the universe has to
balance out as dictated by this universal governing principle if nature be
holistic.

My countrymen continue to toil in this Zimbabwe without according reward.
Teachers, nurses, police people, secretaries and now even soldiers carry on
working but keep getting poorer. It's more like love not requited.
Heartbreakingly and shamefully wrong. If wealth, like energy be conserved,
workers' efforts should get according reward.

Where are we still going wrong in our new political dispensation? Why are
the doctors still striking? Where is all the wealth of the old? Why won't it
quickly build up, now that we are all friends singing in unison in a
naturally well endowed country?

There exists no answer more glaring than the one to this question. The well
publicised Zimbabwean multi-millionaire thugs have never stopped looting.
They still do. Like a snowball. I imagine sometimes it even scares them how
they got to own such huge amounts of wealth. They get money nightmares not
because they are in want but because it is so menacingly plentiful they
couldn't sleep still. Imagine winning the lottery everyday! Imagine getting
a few more diamonds everyday!

These dishonest men and women in high places still loot at an ever
accelerating pace. Especially now that the Government of National Unity has
temporarily diverted the people's once upon a time shimmering anger
shielding them out of the spotlight. And especially that the once feared
leaders of opposition whose words and acts used to induce genuine
trepidation among the Zanu-PF rank and file have now been tamed into
contented, cuddly puppies ever groomed and paraded for playful, smiley photo
shoots with their new found minders. What sickening dereliction of mandates.

The combined worth of Zimbabwe's known mercenaries and others not named
could easily bail our country out of its present bankruptcy. These are
Zimbabwe's economic black holes, all conquering, all engulfing and never to
be satiated. Whatever effort you may make to better yourself and family
indirectly makes more wealth for them as long as you are in Zimbabwe and as
long as you are linked to the system by means of remittances from the
Diaspora.

This is why you will never stop sending money to Zimbabwe. It ultimately
benefits the few well connected elite who own the grocery stores and who are
in the habit of distorting the exchange rates for the locally used foreign
moneys. The sharply dressed people you will never see break a sweat. You do
it on their behalf wherever you are in the world. We all work for them. The
system has evolved to support this state of affairs, a huge inescapable
circle of poverty for the general Zimbabwean citizen feeding into and
sustaining a much smaller circle of opulence for the nexus of cronies and
their acquaintances.

We demand that the rich among us be forced to openly account for all the
wealth in their possession without reservation, favour or immunity, for by
George, it is all ill-gotten wealth which is rightfully ours. They continue
to take advantage of us all using their positions of authority to masquerade
as guarantors of our ever threatened sovereignty. They deserve to be named,
shamed and stripped of all the wealth they illegally hold in their custody
for the benefit of all citizens.

We ask that Zimbabweans open their eyes to the truth that all who have
suffered for so long, working hard on a daily basis for very little have in
fact contributed immensely to the wealth of the wealthy among them. These
newly built hill top mansions, the expensive gas-guzzling vehicles and these
vulgar, whisky filled lifestyles have only been made possible by the efforts
of all poor citizens who for years have seemingly toiled for nothing. For
how else could mere individuals achieve such feats against the prevailing
gust of odds?

We should bring to an end the culture of such self defeating mutterings as,
'Wakaona mota yake here? Ende akapenga, anechibhanzi, ndewekuBorrowdale
Brooke, haaite, ende kuZimbabwe kune vanhu vanemari'. (Did you see his car?
That one really has money; he lives in Borrowdale Brooke. In Zimbabwe there
are people with loads of money.)

This is tantamount to admiring and praising the way your sister got
violated, excuse me. For it's all your money! Your poor brother's money!
Your poor parents' eroded pensions! It's the money you will never stop
sending home. This is how it all ultimately balances out. All this wealth,
like energy, could not have been created from nothing.

Our mandated leaders must heed that failure to candidly audit, name, and
prosecute and failure to take unpopular corrective action for fear of
causing offence in their newly found cohabitation will only serve to condemn
STERP to the bottom shelf where ESAP, Vision 2020 and other loud eloquent
nonentities have since been granted permanent residency.

Let the truth be told.