Financial Gazette
(Harare)
ANALYSIS
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Charles Rukuni
Harare
ZANU PF is likely go ahead with a
decision to extend President Robert
Mugabe's term of office this week, but
the resolution will strip the ruling
party of all pretensions that it
believes in democracy.
Most Zimbabweans -- and the international
community -- had been anxiously
waiting for 2008 because President Mugabe
had suggested that he would step
down to write his memoirs. But in the
build-up to ZANU PF's conference,
which opens today at Goromonzi High
School, five party provinces backed
calls to extend the President's term of
office by at least two years.
The proposed extension is being touted as a
cost-saving measure, but
observers say it has nothing to do with money. It
is meant to enable the
ruling party to put its house in order.
Reggie
Moyo of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) in Matabeleland
said it
was not "the people" that wanted this extension, but the ruling
elite
itself. "Mugabe has said in the past that he will retire in 2008.
Everyone,
including the international community, is waiting for this. So the
party now
wants to make it look as if he has been asked by the people to
stay on. This
is why the issue of succession is not even on the agenda
because it would
put Mugabe in bad light because he would not have honoured
his word," Moyo
said.
"This (extension) will also give Mugabe a chance to purge the party
of all
undesirables. It has nothing to do with saving costs. If they were
genuine
about saving costs and implementing the wishes of the people, they
would
bring forward the parliamentary elections to 2008. This would not
require an
amendment of the constitution because the president has powers to
dissolve
parliament," Moyo said. Zimbabwe has already amended its
constitution 17
times, and most of them have been used by ZANU PF to cling
to power.
This conference will again underscore ZANU PF's dictatorial
tendencies,
which are being so amply exposed in the on-going defamation case
of former
government spin-doctor Jonathan Moyo.
The defamation case
arises from remarks allegedly made by John Nkomo and
Dumiso Dabengwa that
Moyo had planned a coup. This was after six ZANU PF
provincial chairmen
pitched up at the now infamous Dinyane meeting. The
chairmen's attendance
incensed the party leadership, because their number
was enough to overturn a
politburo decision that morning to impose Joice
Mujuru as vice-president.
The presence of the six-provincial chairmen should
have been a clear signal
to the party leadership that even people in its own
ranks wanted change. But
instead, the six were expelled.
The 2004 congress should have chosen
President Mugabe's successor, if he
really wanted to step down. The next
congress is only due in 2009, more than
15 months after the 2008
presidential poll.
Moyo's defamation suit revealed that the Politburo's
constitutional
amendment to stipulate that one of the co-vice presidents of
the party
should be a woman had violated rule 253 of ZANU PF's own rule
book, which
gave sole power to amend the constitution to the central
committee, subject
to ratification by congress.
The rule states that
any proposed amendment must be submitted to the
secretary for administration
at least three months before the date of the
meeting of the central
committee, at which the amendment is to be
considered. The secretary has to
circulate the proposed amendment to
provinces at least two months before the
central committee meeting.
A two-thirds majority of the central committee
is required to adopt the
amendment. The same applies to the congress. A
two-thirds majority is also
required to ratify the amendments effected by
the central committee. But the
emergency politburo meeting that imposed
Mujuru was held just three days
before the close of nominations, and two
weeks before congress.
In court, Nkomo argued that the politburo was only
implementing a resolution
agreed at the 1999 congress, but he could not
explain why the politburo had
waited for five years to implement that
resolution when the party had held a
special congress in 2000.
Moyo
argued that the politburo had bulldozed its way because it wanted to
impose
its own candidate and not one chosen by members. The politburo had
done the
same thing at congress itself.
He said he had been nominated and approved
for the party's central committee
by the district coordinating committee
which had submitted his name to the
provincial committee. That committee had
passed it on to the central
committee which had accepted his nomination. But
Moyo's name was not on the
final list read out to congress. When asked who
had removed his name when it
had gone through all the required stages in the
party structures, Nkomo
could only say Moyo had been "vetted out" but would
not say by whom.
When pressed to explain, he said ZANU-PF was a political
party where the
leadership did what was best for the party. It was not "a
church where
people had a Bible and in some cases written prayers which they
could
recite."
Moyo's lawyer, Job Sibanda, argued that in its rush to
amend the
constitution for Mujuru's benefit, stipulating that one of the
vice-presidents be a woman, ZANU PF had effectively shut out women from
becoming party president. Nkomo said his party had since realised this
anomaly and had rectified it. He did not say when or how this had been
done.
Even the presiding judge, Justice Francis Bere, appeared astounded
by how
ZANU PF operates. He expressed surprise that Nkomo, the party's
national
chairman, had attended a district coordinating committee meeting to
resolve
a dispute. He asked Nkomo whether it would not have been prudent for
him to
delegate someone else because, as national chairman and also head of
the
national disciplinary committee, he was supposed to be the final
arbiter.
When Nkomo said he did not see anything wrong with what he had
done, Justice
Bere said: "So you can investigate, prosecute and then judge.
I thought you
should be more like an appeal court."
But that's not
the ZANU PF way, as the conference will show again over the
next four
days.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
EDITORIAL
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Harare
THE ZANU PF annual conference, that yearly orgy of
self-congratulation which
the ruling party grotesquely misnamed the People's
Conference, begins
tomorrow in Goromonzi.
And it could not have come
at a more appropriate time, if only ZANU PF, the
author of the country's
severe economic and social dislocation, knew what it
means to be accountable
to the people.
Much as we believe that the ruins must not obstruct the
prospects, the truth
is that the country's once reassuringly resilient
economy, which has been
condemned into historic contraction, is teetering on
the verge of collapse
as mirrored through high inflation, falling industrial
production and
employment. Not to talk of the acute shortages of food where
an estimated
two million people are in urgent need of food aid, a crippling
shortage of
fuel and the disastrous state of the health delivery system
where thousands
of people are dying from preventable, treatable and
manageable diseases.
And if it is a People's Conference, then it would be
expected to discuss
real issues -- issues that are important to people --
coming as it does at a
time when the crisis that has spawned inevitable
socio-economic
difficulties, stagnation and misery, is deepening. Indeed,
the conference
should discuss bread and butter issues to resonate with 80
percent of the
population which is caught up in a poverty trap. This is the
time when ZANU
PF, which forms the government of the day, should spell out
how it intends
to restore local economic pride and promise with a sense of
national purpose
and cohesion.
And what are these issues? Inflation,
that is if ZANU PF understands that
curbing inflation is probably the most
important factor in producing a
growing economy; parastatal decay and why
all deals touted as saviours of
state enterprises have dismally failed; how
to staunch the haemorrhaging of
skills; corruption which has weighed down
the economy; why only less than 30
percent of the 2007 national budget
expenditure is going into capital
expenditure when it is known that
infrastructural development is a real
lifebelt that could turn the tide for
the sickly economy; how to bolster the
dangerously shrinking production
capacity resulting mainly from the ZANU PF
government's impractical policies
and intransigent attitude; how the
increasingly isolated country which has
been transformed into a land of
contagion, shunned by investors and
international financiers, can be
re-integrated into the broader community of
nations because it is not about
looking East or West but at the global
village that is the world and last
but not least, the absence of basic
rights and freedoms.
These are the pertinent issues that the conference
should tackle if the ZANU
PF government understands the depth of the abyss
from which Zimbabwe has to
find a way and if it is to come up with a
triumphant response to the
worsening economic crisis.
Sadly, we do
not have any high hopes for it. It will be a three-ring circus
at Goromonzi.
We cannot expect, say the ZANU PF Members of Parliament, who
have hardly
said anything meaningful in Parliament about the socio-economic
and
political problems besetting the country in the belief that a ship in
the
harbour is safe when that is not what ships were built for, to all of a
sudden pluck up enough courage and speak out for the people. Thus it will be
the same old story at this week's ZANU PF conference. There will be no
departure from the tradition of, as we have said before, erecting an edifice
of philosophy on a wasteland of sterile dogma.
So what will
predominate the conference? The high-falutin phrases and empty
declarations
that promise the proverbial pie in the sky; how ZANU PF should
continue to
exploit the power of incumbency to remain in power until the
cows come home;
how everything is supposed to revolve around the ruling
party's execution of
the war of liberation as if the war is going to be a
rallying point for the
future; the internal dispute between a new generation
of young radicals and
the old guard which has stirred some discord within
the party; how the
West's targeted sanctions imposed on the country's ruling
elite are directly
responsible for the deepening crisis whose existence ZANU
PF previously
denied and of course how the unbankable 99-year leases have
brought finality
to the emotive land issue.
And that is precisely why to most Zimbabweans
who usually keep their powder
dry ahead of important events, the ZANU PF
conference will always remain a
non-event -- a damp squib.
Financial
Gazette (Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Clemence Manyukwe
Harare
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's
government has bred a culture of impunity that has
encouraged the torture of
trade unionists and the illegal detention of
business executives, the Law
Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) said in its annual
report.
The organisation
said it had been alarmedby the President's public backing
of beatings of the
unionists following a foiled demonstration in September.
But the LSZ also
said the opposition was incompetent in the face of
escalating human rights
violations.
"The encouragement from the President of Zimbabwe could only
strengthen the
culture of impunity which is prevalent in Zimbabwe . . .
instead of
apologizing to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the
executive
attempted to minimize and justify the attacks," Joseph James,
outgoing
president of the LSZ, said in a report released after the society's
annual
general meeting on Monday.
James said that a business
community that had previously been critical of
those in opposition to the
government "felt the full brunt of the
government's power" through arrests
and detentions for alleged price control
violations.
"It is clear
that these exercises by the police are unnecessary, uncalled
for and are
encouraged by the pervasive culture of impunity," said the
report.
The report criticised a series of new repressive legislation
tabled in
Parliament this year, such as the Interception of Communications
Bill, the
Suppression of Terrorism Bill - which was withdrawn - the Criminal
Law
(Codification and Reform) Act and the Gazetted Law (Consequential
Provisions) Act.
The LSZ said only an independent judiciary could now
protect citizens:
"In Zimbabwe the opposition is ineffectual, and the
legislature is an
extension of the executive. It is therefore especially
important that a
strong and independent judiciary protects the ordinary
citizen."
On a rare positive note, the society praised judge president
Rita Makarau
"for making a positive and public effort to improve the
administrative
system."
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Clemence Manyukwe
Harare
THE police have become a danger
to the public due to a lack of proper
training in the use of firearms as a
result of ammunition shortages, a
Parliamentary committee has
warned.
In a report submitted to Parliament last week, the portfolio
committee on
Defence and Home Affairs said the operations
of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) could be seriously disrupted after it
was
granted 79 percent less than its $840 billion bid in the budget.
The
committee said the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), the state owned
sole
maker and importer of ammunition in the country, was failing to meet
demand
for ammunition from the uniformed forces.
"ZDI has no capacity to supply
the quantities required. This will result in
recruits passing out without
the necessary training in firearms, which makes
them dangerous to themselves
as well as to the public. Regular members also
need retraining in the use of
firearms," the committee's report said.
The committees said police were
unable to access foreign currency for
imports.
The police needed R31
100 000 for ammunition, and a further R122 313 073,
US$53 750 000, Euro 70
000 and Pula 7 478 173 for other equipment.
Apart from the lack of
foreign currency, police also faced serious funding
shortfalls, resulting in
shortages of training equipment and stationery.
Poor funding of the
police, the committee found, also meant the the force
was still using
typewriters.
Parliament heard that the police force had been allocated
one percent of its
total requirements on capital expenditure, and 14 percent
and 40 percent for
employment and programmes costs,
respectively.
"There are acute shortages of housing and office
accommodation. The
department was given $1 billion, that is 43 percent of a
bid of $2,255
billion.
This is inadequate for the completion of these
projects, which commenced in
year 2000," the report said.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Harare
THE Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has begun buying even
rain-damaged wheat in
a desperate bid to replenish its depleted grain
stocks.
The GMB, which has a monopoly on grain trade, said this week it
would now
accept all wheat, including that previously condemned after being
spoiled by
the early summer rains.
Although the damaged wheat is
unsuitable for human consumption, the GMB on
Tuesday called on farmers to
deliver substandard wheat to its collection
depots where they would be paid
$217 000 per tonne, even for the
rain-damaged grain.
"We are
encouraging farmers to deliver all their wheat regardless of its
state. The
GMB depot managers throughout the country have been instructed to
accept all
the wheat and will unconditionally assist the farmers in this
regard," reads
part of a statement sent to major depots on Tuesday.
Shortages of combine
harvesters have left a significant portion of the
winter wheat crop exposed
to the rains, pointing to yet more shortages of
flour ahead.
To date,
the GMB has collected only a paltry 120 00 tonnes of wheat, against
national
consumption requirements of 350 000 tonnes, leaving a wide deficit.
The
GMB has had to enlist the services of the army to help in a mop up of
maize
in a desperate bid to meet a clearly unattainable government target of
1.8
million tonnes.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Stanley Kwenda
Harare
A GROUP of Canadians that toured
Zimbabwe last week as part of the Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority's (ZTA)
marketing strategy says the country needs to have
a special tourist exchange
rate higher than the official one.
The group, which included journalists
and tour operators, gave rave reviews
of the country's tourism facilities,
but expressed concern over the official
exchange rate which they said makes
Zimbabwe an expensive tourist
destination.
"The money situation in
this country needs to be resolved. The official
exchange rate of $250 to
US$1 is not real. Where would I go if I wanted to
change money, and there
was an option of the $250 official rate and another
that was 10 times more
offered by someone who just comes and whispers in
your ear?" asked Jonathan
Roth, a producer with a Canadian TV station, OMNI
Television.
"This
$250 rate is a problem for tourists that you have to solve. There is
need to
come up with a tourist rate."
The Canadians said currency had been a big
problem for the touring group at
all the places that they had visited across
the country.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) regulations require all
tourists to pay for
services in hard currency. This law has not gone down
well with tourists,
many of whom find it cheaper to pay in local currency.
According to the
latest ZTA statistics, Zimbabwe's tourism packages are
among the most
expensive in the world.
"When you go shopping in this
country you need to carry a heavy wallet.
While a T-shirt goes for US$5 to
US$10 in Canada, it costs US$20 here,
making us wonder what's going on,"
said another member of the group.
He added that nothing had changed in
Zimbabwe over the past eight years.
"There are still long queues for fuel,
and I wonder if I cannot bring my own
gas (fuel) along."
The group
also said despite the beauty of the tourist resorts that they
visited, many
of them were "frighteningly" deserted.
"There were very few tourists. If
you are a tourist coming into Zimbabwe for
the first time, the more people
you see the better tourism atmosphere is
created. But nothing of that sort
was witnessed during out visit," said a
member of the group.
The
tourists also urged the Zimbabwean government to mend strained relations
with the western media, which would in turn "tell the true story" about the
country as a tourist destination.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Kumbirai Mafunda
Harare
THE Interim Price and
Stabilisation Committee (IPSC) has granted bakers and
milk producers the nod
to hike the retail price of bread and milk by up to
140 percent, a move that
wipes away the little relief workers had received
from the budget's tax
concessions.
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa recently played Father
Christmas to
Zimbabwe's struggling workers by widening the tax-free bonus
and the income
tax threshold from $20 000 to $100 000 to boost consumers'
sapped pockets.
But the cheers that greeted the announcement will now be
short lived
following the decision to hike the price of milk and
bread.
Industry officials told The Financial Gazette this week that the
interim
committee, recently put in place to do away with
price
distortions in the economy, had approved applications by both bakers
and
milk producers to review the controlled price of the two
commodities.
Industry had sought the price review arguing that stagnant
retail prices
were edging them towards bankruptcy.
The new prices
have now been handed to Industry and International Trade
Minister Obert
Mpofu for final approval.
The IPSC is a precursor to the planned National
Incomes and Pricing
Commission (NIPC), which is expected to be operational
early next year.
The commission includes representatives from the
Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI), the Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce (ZNCC), the
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) and
Industry and International Trade officials. Norman
Chakanetsa, the director
of research in the Ministry of Industry and
International Trade, chairs the
committee.
National Bakers
Association of Zimbabwe (NBAZ) chairman and Lobels chief
executive officer
Burombo Mudumo confirmed that his association had
successfully applied to
the Ministry of Industry and International Trade for
an immediate upward
review of the price of bread from $295 to $700, a 137.2
percent
increase.
"We applied for $700 after looking at all factors affecting the
production
of bread," said Mudumo, who was released from jail on bail last
Monday
pending appeal over a four-month sentence for flouting price
controls.
Baking industry sources said Mpofu was supposed to have tabled
the bakers'
proposal in cabinet this week.
Mpofu was not immediately
available for comment.
Bakers held a meeting last Thursday in the capital
where they deliberated on
the long delay by cabinet in granting a price
hike.
Bread and milk supplies have been scarce in Zimbabwe since the
government
began a crackdown on bakers and milk processors, whom they accuse
of
overcharging.
But the defiant bakers say the official price cannot
even help them break
even.
They say the shortage and soaring costs of
ingredients such as flour, plus
increasing transport and packaging costs,
were forcing them to hike prices
above government dictated prices in order
to stay in business.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 13,
2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006
Chris
Muronzi
Harare
POLICE are investigating the use to which Local
Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo put $14 billion worth of farm loans
obtained from the central bank.
The focus of interest for the Criminal
Investigations Department (Serious
Fraud) is Chombo's application, on
October 1, 2005, for a $14 billion (old
currency) loan from the RBZ. The
loan is said to have been availed under the
"Other Crops and Livestock
Facility" and was disbursed through CBZ Bank.
James Ndoro, CBZ Bank head
of Credit Monitoring and Control is understood to
have told police that the
loan given to Chombo was a "special loan" from the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
and was made available through CBZ at 50 percent
interest per annum. The
loan was to be repaid within 18 months.
Chombo's application says he
needed the money to buy a 30-tonne truck worth
$2 billion, a 30-tonne
trailer worth $1.5 billion, a 200 hp tractor 4WD, a
combine harvester worth
$5 billion, a 52-dish roam disc valued at $1
billion, a 9-row Monosem
planter worth $1.2 million, and a 2x500kg planter.
Police are still
investigating whether this equipment was ever bought.
The money was
released by the RBZ on December 13 2005 on the agreement that
it would not
be used for non-eligible expenditure. Now, police have found
links between
this loan and subsequent payments made by Chombo to buy some
of his luxury
vehicles.
Two days after getting the RBZ loan, Chombo instructed CBZ Bank
Borrowdale
Branch to transfer $4 billion into Equivest Asset Management, a
development
that raised the interest of investigators as this would point to
possible
abuse.
The Financial Gazette has obtained a copy of a
letter, written in Chombo's
own handwriting, authorising this transfer. Car
dealer Ajit Patel from whom
Chombo bought two Toyota Hilux Vigos and a
Toyota Land Cruiser, impeccable
police sources said yesterday, had opened an
investment account with
Equivest at the same time, and the opening balance
was also $4 billion. The
asset manager bought shares in Old Mutual, PPC and
Tractive Power on Patel's
behalf using the $4 billion.
Chombo also
made a series of other payments, including one of $3 billion, to
Mandizha
and Company legal practitioners on January 4 this year. This paper
exposed
payments by Zupco to the same law firm for the legal expenses of
chairman
Charles Nherera's corruption trial. The Financial Gazette has
copies of some
of the cheques signed by Chombo.
"Investigations carried out have proved
that $6.5 billion (old currency) was
channelled towards payment for two
Toyota Vigos (and) $3 billion was paid to
Mandizha and Company from the loan
funds. So far, this gives a total of $9.5
billion abused from the loan
facility. The loan funds were channelled into
Dr Chombo's Borrowdale CBZ
account number 20973050018 on 13 December 2005,"
the investigators concluded
in a confidential document compiled last week.
The police are also
probing the transfer last year of $1.5 billion from a
company called
Multi-Muk Investments to an account held by car dealer Patel.
Our
investigations revealed that Multi-Muk Investments is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Dande Capital Holdings, the company that denies reported links
to Vice President Joice Mujuru. David Butau, ZANU PF MP for Guruve, is
chairman of Dande. Evison Musanjeya, Dande CEO, is listed at the Company
Registry as a director of Multi-Muk. Yesterday, he confirmed to The
Financial Gazette that he had made a statement to the police on the matter,
but declined further comment.
In a recent interview, Patel was at
pains to explain a US$22 000 discrepancy
between the price that was quoted
for the Toyota Land Cruiser Chombo bought
from him, and the US$77 000 that
was actually paid for the car. Patel
insists the additional US$22 000 was
for extras.
At about the same time Zupco and his ministry were making
frantic efforts to
secure a vehicle for Chombo, he was in the process of
acquiring the two
Toyota Hilux Vigos from Patel. One of the two cars is
registered in the name
of Pokelo Nari. She is to be questioned by police,
according to sources.
The other car is registered to Runsgate
Investments, a company owned by
Chombo's brother Nimrod Chiminya, who is
also a Zupco board member.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December
13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006
Stanley
Kwenda
Harare
THE Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) is headed for
confrontation with players
in the telecommunications sector following
responses by the sector denying
claims by the army that mobile cellular
companies pose a threat to national
security by using independent
connections for international calls.
An industry expert told The
Financial Gazette that the army has no business
in the activities of the
industry other than taking care of the military
frequences allocated to
it.
A senior army officer recently appeared before a Parliamentary
Portfolio
Committee accusing the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority
(POTRAZ) for issuing licences to three mobile telephone service
operators
using the wrong statute. But an industry expert who requested
anonymity said
the army got it all wrong.
He said, "Although there
has not been any official communication about the
intentions of the army
except recent media reports, it is risky to change
laws just like that for a
big industry such as this one. You can not run a
sector like that, there
will be chaos in the industry. POTRAZ will face a
lot of lawsuits because
these companies are registered to operate within the
confines of the
law."
The government's determination to monitor private conversations
became
apparent recently when it made moves to enact the Interception of
Communication Bill. But eyebrows are now being raised following the entry
into the discussions of the bill by the army.
ZDF Director of
communications signal Colonel Livingstone Chineka told the
parliamentary
committee that the licensing of mobile operators under wrong
statutes was
preventing the government from monitoring international calls
made through
mobile companies. The army colonel says this anomaly "was
deliberate and
causes confusion."
He said the three mobile operators, Telecel, NetOne
and Econet got their
operating licences under section 34 of the Postal and
Telecommunication Act,
which is for fixed telephone operators when they were
supposed to be
licensed under section 31, which is for mobile phone
operators.
But the telecommunications expert said the army had no
jurisdiction over the
operations of the sector.
"They are just like
everyone else allocated a frequency and theirs is
protected and no-one can
temper with it. It is known worldwide what kind of
frequencies the Zimbabwe
army uses and they are able to know before us if
those are tempered with,"
said the expert.
He added saying that although the army had given POTRAZ
an ultimatum to
extend a grace period to mobile companies to conform with
the law requiring
them to re-route calls through the TelOne international
gateway at Mazoe,
but no official government communication has been extended
to the regulating
agency.
Telecel Marketing manager, Rex Chibesa,
could not comment on the matter.
"I can not comment on that matter
because doing so would be subjudice since
its still pending in the courts,"
he said.
He also warned that the plan to re-route international calls
through the
Mazoe base station spells doom for the country following the
recent failure
by TelOne to meet its international financial obligations
resulting in an
internet block in an out of the country.
No official
communication could be obtained from POTRAZ as it did not
respond to
questions faxed to its office.
At that time Econet Wireless and Telecel
Zimbabwe sought recourse in the
courts against the using the
government-owned earth station in Mazowe amid
fears that government intended
to increase its eavesdropping on
international communications. The effect of
the statutory instrument is that
private players would be prejudiced of
foreign currency as Tel-One would
declare all calls passing through it as
its own and the private companies
would get local termination rates in local
currency. Econet and Telecel
would however be required to pay for outgoing
traffic in foreign currency
although they would not be earning hard currency
from incoming calls.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Nyasha Nyakunu
Harare
THE launch of the envisaged
independent, self-regulatory media council is
now cast in stone following a
series of strategic planning meetings and
overwhelming endorsement of the
project by publishers, journalists, civic
society organisations, political
parties, church groups and the business
community.
The
self-regulatory body, which will be known as the Media Council of
Zimbabwe
(MCZ), will be officially launched in Harare on January 26 2007 at
a
ceremony that will be preceded by the election of nominees into the
11-member media council and the five-member ethics committee.
The
nominees, 90 percent of whom have already accepted the nominations were
drawn from the judiciary, media, legal fraternity, civic society
organisations, church groups and the business community.
Among the
nominees are retired judges, renowned newspaper publishers,
professors,
doctors, lawyers, journalists, editors and respected citizens
who have
served Zimbabwe at the highest levels of integrity and credibility.
The
publishers, editors and journalists have been drawn from both the
private
and the state media.
The setting of the launch date comes in the wake of
extensive nationwide
consultative meetings that were led by the Zimbabwe
Union of Journalists
(ZUJ) and MISA-Zimbabwe under the auspices of the Media
Alliance of Zimbabwe
(MAZ).
MAZ comprises
ZUJ, MISA-Zimbabwe
and the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ).
Strategic planning
and report-back meetings were also held with key
stakeholders, namely the
Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (Zinef), Zimbabwe
Association of Editors
(ZAE), MMPZ and the Federation of African Media Women
in Zimbabwe (FAMWZ) as
part of the consultative process which kicked off
with the first meeting in
Bulawayo on January 21, 2006.
Close to 400 signatories among them
journalists, editors, publishers, civic
society organisations,
representatives of political parties and Members of
Parliament from across
the political divide endorsed the principle of media
self-regulation through
the establishment of an independent regulatory body
as long
overdue.
The consensus among those consulted including the Ministry of
Information
and Publicity and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Transport and
Communications during a series of meetings held in Harare,
Bulawayo, Gwanda,
Bindura, Mutare, Kwekwe, Chinhoyi, Marondera, Masvingo and
Gweru, was that
MAZ should proceed with the establishment of the independent
body.
In a related development Margaret Chiduku, the Director of Policy
and Legal
Research in the Ministry of Justice is on record advising the
African
Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) during its session in
Banjul,
the Gambia, in November this year, that the government had consented
to a
self-regulatory mechanism for media practitioners in
Zimbabwe.
She told the Commission that the launch of the Media Council of
Zimbabwe
would go a long way in addressing concerns pertaining to the
restrictive
provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act which
gave birth to the statutory Media and Information
Commission.
Chiduku confirmed that the government had also received in
"good faith" a
model Access to Information Bill which was submitted by
MISA-Zimbabwe to the
government and Parliament of Zimbabwe, copies of which
were availed to the
Commissioners of the ACHPR.
She said the model
had already been submitted to the Attorney-General Sobusa
Gula-Ndebele.
Inputs from the consultative meetings have already been
incorporated into
the proposed nationally-binding code of conduct and
constitution of the
media council.
The two documents will be
presented for further endorsement and adoption at
the convention in January
next year.
The latest development follows a strategic planning meeting
held in Kadoma
in October this year where representatives of MAZ, Zinef and
ZAE agreed to
proceed as mandated during the consultative meetings and in
line with the
regional and international declarations signed by
Zimbabwe.
The 1991 Windhoek Declaration, for instance, stresses the need
for southern
African countries to promote, free, independent, diverse and
pluralistic
media while the 2002 Banjul Declaration on the Principles of
Freedom of
Expression in Africa unequivocally states that self-regulation is
the best
system of promoting high standards in the media.
Tanzania,
Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana are among some of
the SADC
countries with functioning codes of conduct and media
self-regulatory bodies
in compliance with the two Declarations.
lNyasha Nyakunu is
Misa-Zimbabwe's Research and Inform-ation Officer
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 13,
2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006
Stanley
Kwenda
Harare
THE Registrar General's (RG) department, which shut down
the passport office
last week, has been raking in considerable amounts of
foreign currency from
external passport applications, but cannot account
fully for the earnings,
The Financial Gazette has learnt.
The RG's
office abruptly closed its offices to the public last Wednesday and
stopped
issuing passport application forms throughout the country. Officials
claimed
the move was meant to clear a backlog of applications stretching
over two
years. But the RG, Tobaiwa Mudede, has said his department is
failing to
meet its obligations due to lack of foreign currency.
Despite this
official explanation, sources at the RG's office told this
paper that the
department had been earning a considerable amount of foreign
currency from
external applications but wondered where and how the money was
used.
"We have been dealing with a lot of external applications and
have been
getting a lot of money in foreign currency from those applications
but we
don't know where the money is going. People have been suggesting that
we
raise the price of passports but our bosses have been resisting this but
it
doesn't make sense to charge people $2 500 for a passport which costs
over
$20 000 to process," said a source.
An ordinary passport costs
$2 500 while an emergency passport costs $5 000.
Many people who are
desperate to obtain passports have been forced to opt
for emergency travel
documents (ETDs). They reportedly use the ETDs to
travel to neighbouring
countries. From there they apply for passports and
pay for them in foreign
currency. This expedites the process of obtaining
the document which has
become critical for many Zimbabweans seeking to
escape a deepening political
and economic crisis.
An external emergency passport costs US$100 while an
ordinary one costs US
$60 for adults. Children below the age of 12 require
US$50 and US$ 30 for
the emergency passport and ordinary one, respectively.
The RG's office
accepts external applications on condition that passport
seekers pay in US
dollars.
"If we were allowed to keep our own
reserves then we wouldn't be having all
these problems. We could have been
issuing other things such as identity
documents for free because that money
from external applications could have
been enough to service our
operations," said the source.
According to a rough estimate from the RG's
finance department, about US$4
000 can be made a day from external passport
applications.
Zimbabweans outside the country can apply for passports at
foreign missions.
The RG's office began producing smaller passports and
plastic identity cards
in a bid to conform to new international standards.
But the move has
backfired as it is now saddled with a myriad
problems.
Last week the RG told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Defence and
Home Affairs that his office did not have adequate
funding.
"In the 2006 budget, we were given 64 percent of what we had
requested. At
the moment we don't even have a cent in our account. In the
2007 budget, we
were given 28 percent of what we had requested. The net
effect is that we
will not be able to pull through up to May 2007. We might
be forced to
ground all our operations," said Mudede.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 13,
2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006
Kumbirai
Mafunda
Harare
GOVERNMENT has stepped up its crackdown on businesses
with a raid on
National Foods Limited, one of the country's largest food
processors.
A joint unit of police and inspectors from the Ministry of
Industry and
International Trade raided the Bulawayo depot of Natfoods under
an operation
codenamed "Operation Hurricane", quizzing the company's two top
executives
for allegedly flouting government-imposed price controls on
cooking oil.
The unit interviewed and recorded warned and cautioned
statements from
Charles Taylor, the depot manager, and sales manager Samuel
Ndlovu, accusing
them of illegally hiking the price of cooking oil, which
has been in short
supply over recent weeks.
Taylor confirmed his
interrogation, but referred The Financial Gazette to
Natfoods' company
secretary, Andrew Lorimer who was not available for
comment.
Cooking
oil is only the latest basic commodity to disappear from the shelves
as
manufacturers avoid the production of commodities whose prices are
controlled or monitored. Although government wants a 750 ml of cooking oil
to retail at $775, the few stores still stocking the product sell at over $2
000.
The raid on Natfoods, also a producer of grain-based household
foods and
specialised livestock feed, is an escalation of a blitz the
government has
carried out against industry since September. Government,
which has in the
past accused business of being sympathetic to the
opposition, is currently
working on legislation to force businesses to
justify price hikes.
But business, which early in the year partnered
government in the NEDPP, an
ambitious private-public sector partnership to
revive the economy, maintains
that inflation, which reached 1098.8 percent
in November, hard currency
shortages and fuel shortages are driving
production costs up.
Representatives of industry fear that more than 600
businesspeople, who
include heads of some of the largest business operators,
are under threat of
arrest and imprisonment under the current
crackdown.
Fearful of arrest, industrialists have stopped the manufacture
of goods
whose pricing can raise the interest of government. Bakers, on the
other
hand, have shifted to manufacturing buns and rolls to steer clear of
price
dictates.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Tofireyi Sithole
Harare
CORRUPTION is the abuse of power,
office and authority for private gain
through bribery, extortion, influence,
nepotism, fraud, etc. It is a
phenomenon that is related to issues of
ethics, norms, values and standards.
In this context, therefore,
corruption raises its ugly head in societies
where there is a serious
erosion or absence of acceptable ethics, norms,
values and standards of
behaviour.
There are two types of corruption, grand and petty. On the one
hand grand
corruption occurs when heads of state and/ or their political
entourage
abuse and misuse their position for personal gain. Petty
corruption, on the
other hand, relates to payments solicited by low level
officials with the
objective of fast-tracking decisions thereby flouting
administrative and
bureaucratic procedures and regulations. This type of
corruption adversely
affects the poor and the weak to the extent that they
pay for services they
are entitled to anyway.
As corruption
discourages investment and the growth of the economy, its
eradication is
crucial in developing an enterprise culture in the Zimbabwe.
More
importantly corruption undermines the smooth functioning of markets in
three
ways: as a tax, as a barrier to entry, and by subverting the
legitimacy of
the state and its ability to build institutions that improve
the productive
efficiency of the economy.
As a tax, corruption distorts the choice
between activities and lowers
returns to public and private investments. As
an entry barrier, corruption
discourages new entrants to an economy and
hence it damages its growth and
development prospects.
Acceptance of
existence of problem
In his July 27 2006 Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review
Statement, the Minister of
Finance alluded to the pernicious effects of the
malpractice and thought
that it was driven by greed and indiscipline in both
the public and private
sectors. He, however, hoped that the Anti-corruption
Commission would act to
exterminate the scourge from our midst.
The
governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe also acknowledged the
destructive
tendencies of the malady and lamented that the economic
turnaround efforts
were bedevilled by indiscipline, corruption, and
speculation. Among the
numerous examples of corruption he listed the
following:
lIllegal
foreign currency dealings
lSmuggling of precious
metals
lUnderpricing of exports and overcharging of commission on
exports.
lNon-repatriation of profits from cross-border investment
accruing to
Zimbabwean companies.
lLeakages through money
transfers
lSelling and renting properties in foreign currency which is
not repatriated
to Zimbabwe.
Needless to say, the examples given
above are in the domain of petty
corruption. The governor made no serious
attempt to deal with grand
corruption which, in most circumstances, is a
precursor of the petty
corruption.
As a result of this he, like many
others subscribing to this school of
thought, concentrates on brutalising
both the private individuals and the
corporate bodies whose major weakness
is exploiting opportunities created by
the untouchables of the society. For
them, it is easier or, perhaps, more in
vogue to direct acts of retribution
at those who succumb to the symptoms of
the malady. The morally conscious
and the more progressive people in the
society reject this stance in its
entirety because analgesics have never
cured any cancer anywhere in the
world. As a result, the current activities
of the Anti-corruption Commission
may be described as puerile as they cannot
douse the flames of corruption in
the country.
Major causes of corruption
A variety of factors
combine to create an environment conducive to rampant
corruption in
Zimbabwe. These include a weak policy environment;
concentration of power in
a few hands; separation of powers and a weak
judiciary; lack of political
will; and lack of adequate mass media freedom.
Weak policy
environment
Economic policies that reward people and institutions for
their efficiency
and productivity should be the hallmark of any society that
discourages
corruption. Sadly, the absence of a truly competitive market
economy has
cost the country opportunities in investment due to rigid
regulations that
arrogate certain economic decisions to individuals and
institutions that may
not be transparent.
Furthermore, the shortage
of foreign currency in the economy and its
subsequent allocation by some
authority is the origin of the black market in
the country. In fact, the
difficulties experienced in getting the scarce
foreign exchange from the RBZ
fuels the black market as both individuals and
corporates have had to find
an alternative source of the resource needed to
keep them
afloat.
Power in a few hands
Concentration of administrative power
in the hands of a few individuals
creates conditions conducive to
corruption. Typical examples are the
excessive controls arrogated to the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) in the
agricultural sector in the economy.
Because of the exclusivity of its
trading activities, the GMB has created
opportunities for highly placed
politicians and civil servants to use the
parastastal for their personal
benefit.
Separation of powers and weak
judiciary
Checks and balances in the public sector are necessary if
corruption is to
be exterminated. It is easier to control corruption in
economies where the
separation of powers is distinct. In Zimbabwe several
complaints have been
raised against the concentration of power in office of
the President. The
President appoints 20 percent of the MPs and the Chief
Justice and judges of
the High Court and Supreme Court, and there is no
provision in the
constitution that explicitly emphasises the right of
Parliament to control
government and to supervise government operations. In
addition, Parliament
cannot remove any individual member of government or
government in its
entirety. This is the exclusive right of the
President.
Lack of political will
Lack of political will to
control corruption on the part of government
creates a perception that any
pronouncement made against the scourge is mere
posturing. This general
perception makes it difficult to contain corruption
as the practice may
continue unabated. A typical example to illustrate this
point is a
commission that was established to investigate the looting of the
War
Victims Compensation Fund. We are all aware that the work of the
Commission
had to be suspended as the President was either uncomfortable
with the
mounting pressure from the would-be offenders or with the evidence
that the
Commission was gathering. The issue is the precedence this creates
in the
country.
Media freedom
Finally the existence of a polarised media
is one of the major reasons
perpetuating corruption in the country. Zimbabwe
does not have independent
radio and television stations. Attempts to
establish these have been
persistently frustrated by government. While there
are independently
published weeklies, the government has managed to limit
dailies to those
that support government. As a result, media coverage of
cases of corruption
are minimal and hence the scourge is not getting the
exposure it deserves.
Framework for addressing the problem
In view
of all the issues raised above, no piecemeal approach can rid the
country of
the existing levels of corruption. In addition, attempts to
implement
superficial solutions to the problems can only act to merely
suppress the
scourge of corruption. It is suggested that creating economic
conditions
that reduce the chances of corruption is a viable remedy to the
problems
bedevilling this economy.
Accordingly, a holistic approach to the
solution of the problem needs to be
implemented immediately and for such an
approach to be used, there is need
for government to accept and introduce
economic policies which facilitate
the development of a true market economy;
promote policies that reduce
excessive government controls; facilitate the
implementation of policies
that encourage foreign direct investment;
promulgate policies which
guarantee property rights; and ensure that
fundamental human freedoms are
respected. Furthermore, the growing tendency
to centralise decision-making
should be discontinued. A serious commitment
must be made to revisit the
concerns raised by many on the flaws in the
country's constitution
particularly those which relate to the presidential
powers and those
relating to the independence of the judiciary and rule of
law.
Lastly, government needs to swallow its pride and urgently mend its
relations with the West. We cannot continue to live in our cocoons, reject
those countries and institutions that have supported the growth of this
economy in the past, and hope to achieve much as a nation. The inescapable
fact is that the country is reeling from the worst crisis ever experienced
in its economic history. Accordingly, with meagre resources, weak economic
policies and lack of political will, corruption is here to
stay.
lTofireyi Sithole is a member of the Zimbabwe Economics Society.
ZES
articles are coordinated by Lovemore Kadenge
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Kumbirai Mafunda
Harare
RESERVE Bank Governor Gideon Gono
has raised limits on cash withdrawals and
increased the thresholds for
transactions through the Zimbabwe Electronic
Transfer and Settlement System
(ZETSS) for both individuals and businesses.
Cash withdrawal limits for
individuals have been reviewed to $500 000, up
from the $100 000 fixed on
July 31. The ZETSS threshold for corporate to
corporate payments went up
from $1 million to $5 million. Cash withdrawal
limits for corporates were
reviewed from $750 000 to $1 million.
"The above measures are by no means
a deviation from our ultimate goal of
reducing use of cash and paper based
payment instruments, as we move more
towards electronic systems," Gono said
in a memo to bankers Tuesday.
Gono said there had been "challenges"
emanating from the lack of integration
between financial and commercial
transaction flows, the current
centralization of ZETSS operations in banks'
head offices and the
unwillingness by some players to embrace electronic
means of payment.
The move, which on the eve of the festive season, is
expected to ease
nightmares for customers who had seen values being eroded
owing to
out-of-control inflation, which reached 1 098.8 percent in
November.
"The banking sector players are hereby called upon to abide by
these
requirements and to report offenders to the Anti-Money Laundering Unit
of
the central bank," read part of Gono's memo.
Gono, who is battling
to encourage Zimbabweans to go on cards and cheque,
criticised merchants
that remain averse to any other modes of payment
outside cash.
"Such
elements always demand cash regardless of the amount involved and with
total
disregard for the current cash withdrawal limits. This cash, no doubt,
is
used to support parallel market and other illegal activities."
Gono said
he was to launch a new system to smooth out transactions.
"In line with
central bank's goal to achieve operational efficiency and
improve access to
real time transaction information as well as integrate
financial and
business transaction flow a financial industry initiative
called the
Straight Through Processing (STP) Project will be launched soon.
Through
this development, individuals and corporates will be able to
ultimately
initiate funds transfer and payment instructions using their own
computer
portals."
Gono also announced in his memo that he had approved the
payment by cheque
of duty at border posts, subject to ZIMRA guidelines.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Zhean Gwaze
Harare
THE government is yet to grant to the
World Food Programme (WFP) permission
to distribute food aid to an estimated
two million Zimbabweans facing
starvation, it has been
learnt.
Earlier estimates had put the number of vulnerable people at 1.4
million,
but new assessments have pushed that figure up to 1.9
million.
The Financial Gazette understands that the government has not
yet responded
to a WFP application made in October to feed vulnerable people
until the
next harvest in April 2007.
Food assessments by aid
agencies, including WFP, revealed that although
there had been an
improvement in this year's crop yields, districts in
western and southern
Zimbabwe required food aid until the next harvest in
April 2007.
Aid
agencies are required to apply to distribute food. Government has
previously
accused aid groups of using aid to turn villagers against ZANU
PF.
A
WFP official this week said there had been no word from the government
since
October, but added that the organisation's director for Zimbabwe,
Kelvin
Farrell, was expected to engage government soon on the objectives of
the
programme.
Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche recently said he had
not seen the
application by the aid agencies and referred all questions to
the director
of social welfare, who was said to be on leave.
"The
government has not yet okayed us to feed the vulnerable people, but we
are
hoping to get approval soon. Our director will engage government soon on
the
objectives of the feeding programme," the WFP official said.
This week,
UN special envoy James Morris urged President Robert Mugabe to
ensure food
security in the country to halt the country's economic meltdown.
Morris,
who was in Zimbabwe as part of his final tour of southern Africa
before
stepping down next January, also met with international aid agencies,
donors
and government officials to assess the humanitarian crisis in the
country
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
ANALYSIS
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Mavis Makuni
Harare
THE eyes of observers will be on South
African president, Thabo Mbeki, to
see how he deals with two important
issues currently in his "in" basket.
The first is the African Peer Review
Mechanism (APRM) report on his country
and the second is the call that has
been made by the Eastern Cape branch of
the ruling ANC for him to stand for
a third term as party president.
The Peer Review report, compiled by a
panel led by Nigerian academic,
Professor Adebayo Adedeji, is reported by
the South African paper the Sunday
Times to be critical of the high rate of
crime and unacceptable levels of
poverty and unemployment. South Africa's
Minister of Public Service and
Administration, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi,
who led the country's self
assessment initiative is reported to have been
incensed by the APRM report
possibly because she expected it to be more
complimentary of what the
country has achieved since the end of apartheid 12
years ago. But
differences of opinion and perception are healthy in this
sort of exercise
as the main reason for being assessed by peers is that
countries rarely see
themselves as others see them. Moreover, South Africa,
the continent's
economic powerhouse, may seem to have been judged too
harshly because it was
reviewed against its potential rather than on the
basis of the performance
of the rest of its peers. It is a case of more
being expected from those to
whom much has been given.
Nevertheless,
despite expressing concern over the issues referred to above
as well as the
government's shaky response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the
panel is reported
to have praised South Africa as a beacon of hope for the
rest of Africa. The
APRM report, to be released into the public domain in
January, cites South
Africa's constitution, commitment to human and social
rights and sound
economic management among 18 ideas that should serve as
benchmarks for the
rest of the continent. What South Africa does with the
report in the few
years remaining of Mbeki's final term as president will
thus be crucial in
signalling whether the peer review mechanism will become
a force for
positive change or remain an academic exercise like many other
African Union
initiatives before it.
Of the 25 countries that have so far signed up for
assessment by their
peers, South Africa is the fourth to be reviewed and the
first to receive
its report card. The APRM panel has completed similar
reports on Ghana,
Rwanda and Kenya but details have not been released.
Mbeki's handling of the
report is crucial because he is regarded as the
driving force behind the
push for good governance. The APRM is an arm of the
New Economic Partnership
for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the brainchild of
the South African
leader. All eyes will be on Mbeki to see whether he is
willing to practice
what he preaches by setting in motion the process of
addressing the concerns
raised in the APRM report before he leaves office in
2009.
The next question is whether Mbeki will indeed relinquish power
when his
current term expires in 2009. The Sunday Times reports in its
current issue
on plans mooted by the South African Parliament to build a
$325 million
banqueting hall in time for Mbeki to deliver his last
state-of-the-nation
address. Another press report, however, details how the
Eastern Cape branch
of the ruling ANC has asked Mbeki to stand for another
term as party
president at the ANC's national conference next year. The
branch is the
largest voting bloc in the conference and its views could
prevail. If Mbeki
bows to pressure and accedes to the wishes of supporters
from his home
province, this could raise various issues.
One is how
spontaneous requests for a leader to stay on are and whether
these should
override existing consensus or rules limiting the number of
terms a
candidate should serve. While it is true that Mbeki is being asked
to
continue only as party president, come 2009 a new resolution could be
crafted urging him to continue as state president for another term or for
life. Such a scenario has emerged in Zimbabwe where President Robert
Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF is to ask him at its ongoing conference to remain at
the helm for life. The ANC's succession plans are murky at present, muddied
by the controversy surrounding Jacob Zuma's candidature and suitability
following his brushes with the law. Whatever Mbeki decides to do, he knows
that as Africa's Renaissance Man, he has an obligation to set an example by
practicing what he preaches. His decision will focus attention on the issue
of whether a leader should entertain requests from a section of the
electorate to stay on after the expiry of his mandated term when he may have
ignored more vociferous calls for his departure from office.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December
13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006
Nkululeko
Sibanda
Harare
INFORMATION and Publicity Permanent Secretary George
Charamba has poured
scorn on attempts by new Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings
(ZBH) chief
executive Henry Muradzikwa to make management appointments
without the
authority of his ministry.
Muradzikwa told journalists
this week that the announcement of new
management had been delayed "by the
need to clear a few bureaucratic
problems." He did not
elaborate.
Last month, Muradzikwa had scheduled a press conference during
which he was
to announce the new appointments, but the briefing was later
cancelled.
ZBH communications officer, Sivukile Simango then said the
cancellation was
due to Muradzikwa's emergency trip to Iran with President
Mugabe.
"We still have to clear some bureaucratic issues and problems
amongst
ourselves. Once those have been cleared, I don't know when, I will
be able
to convene another briefing and make the announcements," said
Muradzikwa
this week.
It has however emerged that the bureaucratic
hitches referred to by the ZBH
boss are a reference to disagreements over
the names of people expected to
occupy the top positions in Muradzikwa's new
structure.
Yesterday, Charamba, in remarks that appear to confirm his
differences with
ZBH's new management over appointments, said the ministry
had a keen
interest in the appointment of managers at the national
broadcaster.
Because government was the sole shareholder of ZBH, it must
have a say in
the appointment of staff.
"Government is the sole
shareholder at ZBH. As a matter of corporate logic,
we have an interest in
the appointment of people to management positions.
Government, by virtue of
being the sole shareholder, has to be interested
when management
appointments are done. We have to know who is appointed to
what position
because that is what corporate governance requires of anyone
who funds any
corporate entity," said Charamba.
He added that his office would not let
Muradzikwa do as he pleases while
they watched from the periphery.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Zhean Gwaze
Harare
HOPES for the revival of the Tripartite
Negotiating Forum (TNF) now hinge on
government after indications from
business and labour that they are ready to
resume collapsed
talks.
Representatives of government, labour and business earlier this
year
appeared close to signing the Prices and Incomes Stabilisation Protocol
to
curb runaway inflation and rejuvenate the
country's economy when
deliberations hit a deadlock in May after the
Employers Confederation of
Zimbabwe (Emcoz), refused to award workers wages
and salaries indexed to the
Poverty Datum Line (PDL).
Officials from business and labour this week
told The Financial Gazette that
they were now waiting for TNF chairman
Nicholas Goche to call for new
meetings. Goche could not be reached for
comment at the time of going to
press.
"We are waiting for the TNF
chairman to call for the meeting because as
labour we can not convene the
TNF. We feel we are at a deadlock and that's
why we are now engaging in
parallel forces," said ZCTU.
Emcoz chief executive Kenias Mufukare said
his organisation had completed
consultations with members and was now ready
for new negotiations.
"We are hopeful that TNF might resume shortly. We
have also noted that the
only sustainable solution to the country's economic
problems is social
dialogue," Mufukare said.
He added that he was
hopeful for that the talks would this time make some
progress, as players
had managed to agree on the terms of reference and
concepts or the TNF at a
meeting held recently in Nyanga.
However, the sticking point of whether
wages should track PDL is likely to
return to haunt any new
talks.
While government and labour back the use of the PDL as a factor to
determine
wages, business says the ability of a company to pay PDL level
wages,
productivity and inflation should instead be considered first in any
negotiations for a minimum wage.
The Central Statistical Office (CSO)
said Monday an urban family now
required over $228 000 per month for
basics.
Last week, the ZCTU pledged fresh protests over the worsening
economic
crisis characterised by high inflation, low wages, high taxes and a
lack of
access to anti-retroviral drugs to fight the HIV/AIDS
pandemic.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Gondo Gushungo
Harare
THE indissoluble political and
liberation war ties between President Robert
Mugabe and members of his
Cabinet have widely been seen as a chink in the
President's
armour.
This is probably why for the better part of his 26-year rule,
President
Mugabe, who, as I have said in previous instalments, gives one the
feeling
that he is more disappointed and disillusioned by some of his
lieutenants,
than he is ever prepared to publicly acknowledge, has not been
able to
chastise, let alone sack some of his Cabinet Ministers.
But,
in what many see as a decisive rupture with tradition, this has changed
over
recent months. That is if President Mugabe's public statements and
elaborate
tones over cronyism, corruption, incompetence and ever-shrinking
accountability of his ministers is anything to go by.
Only last week
he delivered a withering public rebuke to Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa
over what he called bookish economics, during a meeting with
political
leaders in Matabeleland North. I read this to mean that President
Mugabe was
telling Murerwa in no uncertain terms that the minister is a
waste of space.
But I will return to this some time in the future.
The President's
remarks came as the constant bickering between two key
government
departments, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and Ministry of
Finance has
now played out into the public domain. The bone of contention is
the funding
by the central bank of parastatals and other government
departments outside
the national budget.
Let me state right from the outset that even though
I don't know much about
economics, I have always felt that the RBZ, in
keeping the ailing
parastatals on a life-support system, was throwing good
money after bad. I
have said as much time without number. In my own
estimation, the bailout
packages were a sheer waste of public resources
because they never restored
viability to these monoliths.
Pouring
public money into the parastatals without reforms had no chance of
success.
For me, only restructuring is the right approach. I am here
reminded of what
Nicholas Brady, the former US treasury secretary under
Ronald Reagan once
said. You cannot bail out a boat with a big hole. It will
never sail. And
how so true.
I was therefore not surprised when Murerwa was applauded
when he said he
would end the quasi-fiscal activities of the RBZ. In his
2007 budget
presentation, Murerwa argued forcefully that the RBZ's
quasi-fiscal
operations must, though necessary to compensate for budget
shortfalls, be
stopped. Why? Because they are stoking inflationary
fires.
And he could very well be right! It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to know
that money supply growth levels in Zimbabwe are not
consistent with real
economic growth and that there can never be a vibrant
economy without sound
money.
But for only one omission! The Minister
did not say who had authorised or
directed the RBZ to engage in those
quasi-fiscal activities. I have always
said that a lot is said by the
unsaid. The deafening silence on that aspect
alone somehow pointed an
accusing finger at the central bank. Thus although
he did not say it in as
many words, Murerwa was, to all intents and
purposes, saying the RBZ engaged
in the quasi-fiscal activities without
prior permission or authorisation
from the relevant authorities.
I hold no brief for either Murerwa or RBZ
governor Gideon Gono, who are at
the centre of the controversy. But why the
political-point-scoring
blame-game when it is clear who did what?
Of
course Gono offered a diplomatic explanation for Murerwa's dishonesty and
hypocrisy. "What is disturbing is the silence from the Ministry of Finance
officials and inability to tell the Honourable Minister . . . that he is the
one authorising most of these quasi-fiscal activities . . ."
It is
understandable that Gono does not want to criticise or offend his
Minister.
But it did not wash because something does not add up here.
Indeed, it is
inconceivable that Murerwa was unaware of the more than 14
letters from the
Ministry of Finance requesting the RBZ to, among other
things, provide
advance payment for Tokwe Mukorsi Dam, funding for ZINWA,
bridging finance
for dam construction, bridging finance for the agricultural
sector as a
whole, bridging finance for tobacco production, funding of
winter wheat,
jatropha bio-diesel projects, DDF, Operation Maguta, among
others.
As
it turns out, it is the Minister who ordered and authorised those
quasi-fiscal activities. So why should he shirk or shift his responsibility?
Patting him on the back for his moves to end the quasi-fiscal activities of
the RBZ is no different from giving a man a Nobel Peace Prize for ending a
war that he would have started!
However, after all is said and done,
Murerwa's actions are hardly
surprising, especially around this time of the
year. And what he said about
the RBZ's quasi-fiscal operations must be seen
for what it is: a placatory
remark to appease a visiting International
Monetary Fund team. This is more
so given that the international
monetarists, known for their missionary zeal
for fiscal rectitude, have
voiced their concerns over the quasi-fiscal
operations of the central
bank.
This is exactly what the Minister did in November last year when he
intimated government's intentions to press on with the long-stalled job cuts
in the increasingly inefficient civil service. He categorically stated that
the economy, on a downward trajectory, could not sustain the bloated civil
service. Only to turn back in August this year saying; "The civil service is
not huge at all. What we need instead is better training of our workers and
improved working conditions in the civil service. The savings would not be
much even if we rationalised the public service".
The timing of his
remarks was once again curious. A visiting IMF team had
just expressed
concern with the government's profligacy, especially the fact
that the civil
service gobbled up 50 percent of revenues. So Murerwa
pretended that
government was taking the scythe to the civil service to trim
the fat and
retain a leaner and more efficient civil service. Why? Simply
because the
IMF had said that, given the high spending ratio, the bulk of
any adjustment
would need to come from spending cuts, especially in the wage
bill! Thus
this time around the Minister is just being his usual self: a
bundle of
contradictions too anxious to placate and soothe the IMF, which is
not
however fooled, hence his embarrassing inconsistencies
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 14,
2006
Charles Rukuni
Bulawayo
Council has appealed to its
residents to conserve water because Entumbane,
Cowdray Park and Emakhandeni
could soon run out of water as people are using
more water than is flowing
into the city's supply dams.
Bulawayo is currently under water rationing
but the council believes some
residents are exceeding their daily limits
because they can afford to pay
penalties for breaching the water rationing
regulations.
It said if the heavens fail open up, residents of the city
will experience
untold hardships because the council cannot do anything with
the money paid
in penalties.
"We wish to appeal to residents not to
consider their ability to pay
penalties for breaching the water rationing
scheme as a licence to exceed
their allocations willy-nilly but rather the
emphasis should be on water
conservation," the chairman of the Future Water
Supplies and Water Action
Committee, Clr Garreth Mahlangu,
said.
"When the heavens do not open up and residents do not embrace water
conservation, the city will experience untold hardships with all the moneys
we would have paid in the form of penalties."
He said indications
were that the situation could be worse next year if the
dams did not receive
significant inflows.
The committee visited supply dams last week to
assess the situation and
discovered that though the dams had received an
inflow of 4.7 million cubic
metres, the dams had less water on December 4
than they had on October 28.
The volume of water in the dams had declined
from 127.3 million cubic metres
on 28 October to 124.9 million cubic metres
on 4 December.
The city had a serious water crisis last year which saw
residents,
especially of high lying areas such as Entumbane, Emakhandeni,
Cowdray Park,
Lobengula, and Emganwini go for months without water.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 13,
2006
Posted to the web December 14, 2006
Clemence
Manyukwe
Harare
HIGH Court judges have described their conditions of
service as "hostile"
and the state of court buildings as deplorable, minutes
of their meetings
show.
The judges said the courts were now a health
hazard due to poor sanitary
facilities.
"Most judges were concerned
about the sanitary conditions which they felt
were a health hazard. They
felt that their conditions of service were
hostile as compared to those of
others in the lower courts," the minutes
say.
"The courts are in
shambles. There is no lighting, or if there is, it is
inadequate. Furniture
is crumbling and there are no recording machines in
most courts."
The
meetings were attended by about 20 Harare High Court judges who deal
with
serious crimes such as murder and electoral issues. They also said
their
vehicles were not being serviced on time, resulting in them getting to
work
late.
"Judges complained about conditions when one goes on circuit court.
They
were not getting enough funding to
meet their needs while they
were away from their stations," reads part of
the
minutes.
Responding to concerns over poor sanitary conditions, the Clerk
of the High
Court, Charles Nyatanga, said the High Court had 238 offices, 21
toilets and
10 courts but only six office orderlies who were failing "to
cope with the
cleaning."
"Some judges still had no drivers. Mr
Nyatanga highlighted that posts were
frozen and the ministry was not in a
position to recruit drivers. (Nyatanga)
suggested that they could, through
the ministry, ask for secondment of
drivers from the Department of Prisons,"
the minutes read.
The minutes also say lawyers and litigants had
complained about delays by
judges in handing down judgments due to their
frequent absence from work.
However, the judges argued that their
absenteeism had been exaggerated.
The head of the Judicial Services
Commission, Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku, said this week the judges'
concerns had not been formally
brought to him.
"That has not been
formally brought to me. On the issue of delays in handing
down judgments, a
meeting was held recently between the judge president and
the law society to
find ways of improving the situation," Justice
Chidyausiku said.