Zim Standard
By
Nqobani Ndlovu
BULAWAYO - President Robert Mugabe wants
to hang on to power to
avoid having "to pay for the crimes he committed"
during his 26-year reign,
says former PF- Zapu secretary-general and
provincial governor, Welshman
Mabhena.
Mabhena becomes
the second veteran of the struggle, after Edgar
Tekere, to publicly condemn
Mugabe's "machinations" to extend his current
term beyond
2008.
Mugabe claims the country would save money by
"harmonisation the
presidential and parliamentary
elections".
Yet he seemed to betray his real intention when
he told visiting
Canadian journalists that he would not leave as long as his
party, Zanu PF,
continued to be plagued by disunity.
He
also confirmed he had initiated calls for the harmonisation
of the polls
because this would enable him to avoid elections in 2008.
Mugabe suffered a setback at his party's annual conference at
Goromonzi last
week when the adoption of the controversial resolution was
deferred to the
Zanu PF central committee after a number of provinces voiced
their
discontent.
An unimpressed Mabhena, at one time the right
hand man of the
late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo during the struggle, warned
that Mugabe's
manoeuvres could tempt Zimbabweans to revolt against
him.
Mabhena said: "Mugabe is trying the people's patience
and what
he is doing now is trying to cover up for the crimes he committed.
He now
wishes to die in power so that he would not account for his
wrongdoing. The
long-suffering people of Zimbabwe will not let him go
scot-free this time.
"He is a monster and his fear of his
crimes is now evident. He
should pay for the crimes he committed. The people
of Matabeleland have not
forgotten and once he steps down he would have to
pay for his crimes. That
is the reason he is refusing to step
down."
The veteran politician said Mugabe still had a chance
to leave
office honourably, when his current term expires in 2008. But said
his
attempts to hang on to power would tempt Zimbabweans to revolt against
him.
"Amending the constitution, through Parliament would not
help
him. He is not wanted. He should leave before more damage is done to
the
country and maybe Zimbabweans would forgive him."
Mabhena noted that Mugabe had shown that he did not care for
Zimbabweans, by
refusing to step down from power, though it has become
obvious that he has
failed to rule the country.
"Mugabe has killed everything in
this country, Zimbabwe has been
reduced to a tuck-shop and if he does not
leave office now he would go the
same way as other dictators. Zimbabweans
have been patient for too long but
that does not mean that they are stupid,"
he said.
Meanwhile, Gweru businessman and opposition MDC
activist Patrick
Kombayi has added his voice to growing calls for Mugabe to
quit.
Kombayi said while he appreciated the idea of
harmonising the
election, Mugabe, his former teacher, should retire in 2008
and allow a
provisional government of unity to take over. Kombayi said the
provisional
government would draw a new constitution and prepare for 2010
elections
where a new government would be elected.
"He
(Mugabe) has played his part. He has to resign in 2008 and
enjoy his
pension," said Kombayi who was shot and maimed by state security
agents
while campaigning against Vice-President Simon Muzenda in
1990.
Mabhena and Kombayi's comments come after reports that
civil
society groups have resolved to lead protests against the postponement
of
the presidential elections to 2010.
Zim Standard
By
Foster Dongozi
THE recent Zanu PF conference in Goromonzi
did not adopt a
resolution allowing President Robert Mugabe to remain in
office until 2010,
the chairman of the conference, John Nkomo, said in
Harare this week.
A resolution proposing the harmonisation of
the presidential and
parliamentary elections has been widely recognised as a
pretext to prolong
Mugabe's reign.
That resolution, like
all the others, was not adopted by the
conference, Nkomo
said.
In fact, no resolutions were adopted or passed by the
conference, said Nkomo, Zanu PF's national chairman.
In
an interview with The Standard, Nkomo, who is the Speaker of
the House of
Assembly, said the resolutions would be passed on to the
central committee
of the party for consideration.
The conference in Goromonzi,
he said, had taken note of the
resolutions. It had not adopted any of
them.
At the end of the proceedings, which were broadcast
live on
state television, Nkomo announced the committee resolutions would be
referred to the central committee and provincial co-ordinating committees
for further discussion.
The Standard reported last week
the committee resolutions were
not finalised at the conference after senior
Zanu PF officials revolted
against Mugabe's plan to prolong his stay in
power by two years.
Under the present constitutional
arrangement, Mugabe would
retire in 2008. An election would follow. Under
the proposal to "harmonise"
the two elections, the presidential election
would be postponed to 2010, the
year in which the parliamentary election,
held every five years, would be
due.
What seemed to vex
most of Mugabe's critics was whether, after
2010, he would retire, or would
devise another strategy to prolong his stay
in power.
After the conference in Goromonzi, Zanu PF delegates were left
dumbfounded,
when it was announced that the resolutions of the conference
would be sent
to them in the rural areas for further discussion.
At
previous conferences, resolutions have always been tabled and
adopted.
Mugabe added to the confusion by misleading
journalists at the
end of the conference, by announcing there was consensus
over the
harmonisation of the elections, when his lieutenants were not
singing from
the same songbook.
Sources in the politburo
and the central committee say Mugabe's
desire to cling to power beyond 2008
had seriously divided the party. The
effect was to unite a number of
factions to prevent the party leader from
having his way.
It turned out that while some committees endorsed harmonisation
of
elections, they did not support Mugabe's stay until 2010.
Last Thursday, Nkomo said: "There were no resolutions adopted at
the
conference. The conference noted some resolutions by some committees but
because not all the resolutions were read out, they were referred to the
central committee and provincial co-ordinating
committees.
"After further discussions, then will come the
implementing
process."
Nkomo said it was not unusual to
refer the issues to the central
Committee. "According to our constitution
the central committee is the organ
mandated even to amend the constitution
before it is referred to the
congress. It is normal."
Mashonaland East and Harare provinces did not endorse Mugabe's
stay in power
after 2008.
Mashonaland West, Mugabe's home turf, and
Mashonaland Central,
presidential aspirant Joice Mujuru's area, initially
defied Mugabe's wishes
and reportedly changed their stance to avoid
"embarrassing the old man",
conference sources said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
THE government has taken its probe into the alleged
looting of
steel production utility Ziscosteel by senior officials across
the border
into Botswana and South Africa, a government minister has
said.
Anti-Corruption minister Paul Mangwana told journalists
in
Chinhoyi that investigators had gone outside the country to investigate
the
alleged looting of Ziscosteel by top politicians and government
officials.
Mangwana said the Ziscosteel case was still being
probed and
heads were likely to roll.
He was responding
to questions on the progress of investigations
into the Ziscosteel scandal
and the role his Anti-Corruption ministry was
playing in the
case.
"We are investigating issues where the management would
sell our
steel below the cost price, and also the hiring of foreign
companies to do
work that can be done by local companies and the purchasing
of sub-standard
equipment from outside the country," said
Mangwana.
But he warned journalists not to write
speculatively on
corruption cases, as this would scupper
investigations.
Mangwana, addressing journalists at the
launch of the Chinhoyi
Press club, spoke of his ambitions in the ruling
party's hierarchy. He said
he was comfortable as a central committee member,
but would accept a
politburo appointment in the event that he was
appointed.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
RISING prices and
shortages of basic commodities have taken the
cheer off Christmas, surveys
by The Standard have shown.
Most people interviewed this week
in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare
and Masvingo, said considering the rate at which
prices were rising, and the
hyperinflationary environment, this Christmas
holiday spelt doom for most
consumers, who virtually have no
money.
They said Christmas was supposed to be a time for joy
but was
fast becoming a nightmare for many families.
Others said they could not afford the bus fare to travel to
their rural
areas to see their loved ones, as they used to do in the
past.
School fees "headaches" appeared to afflict many
parents.
In Harare, scores were seen yesterday queuing for
bread and
other basic commodities such as sugar and flour in the few shops
open around
the city.
The only people who seemed to be
enjoying the season were the
free-spending Zimbabweans who had arrived from
either Botswana or South
Africa where they are working.
But for the majority, who have not been fortunate enough to find
work
outside the country, the festive season has turned out to be more of
the
same: a never-ending struggle to survive.
People in Harare
and Bulawayo said the sharp increase in prices
of basic foodstuffs had taken
the cheer off Christmas as disposable incomes
have shrunk to amazing
levels.
Shop assistants at major retail outlets reported a
marked
decline in business, compared with previous years.
They said most shoppers were only on the hunt for scarce basic
commodities
such as sugar, cooking oil and maize-meal than traditional
Christmas
"goodies".
Martin Ndebele said he had a tough time convincing
his children
this year's Christmas would be like any other normal day due to
the biting
crises.
"Prices are increasing sharply," said
Ndebele. "This Christmas
would be just like any other day for me and my
family, with no luxuries as
life is difficult. Unfortunately children can't
understand this but there is
nothing I can do."
Nomalanga
Marufu of Makokoba said she had set aside her whole
salary for the uniforms
for her two children.
"I can't afford to treat my kids this
Christmas. I have no
Christmas to talk about and I have decided to buy
uniforms which are also
very expensive."
While many
moaned that there was nothing merry about this
Christmas, others, with
relatives working outside the country, sang a
different, joyous
tune.
Rhoda Moyo said: "I have two sons who work out of the
country
and they have already sent Christmas groceries. I am lucky because I
am not
going to miss anything."
Residents of Masvingo,
interviewed on their sentiments on
Christmas this year, said the economic
situation had contributed immensely
to the "relegation" of Christmas Day to
just another day.
"For many of us, Christmas has lost its
meaning," said Tinashe
Goronga.
"Hamheno kuti tichararama
sei kusvika 2010 (I don't know how we
will survive till 2010)," said a
forlorn-looking woman who was selling fish
at a supermarket in Mbuya Nehanda
Street in Harare.
Most people who used to travel to their
rural homes indicated
they could no longer afford the ever-increasing
transport costs. So they
would rather stay in the city, queuing for basic
commodities.
A visit to the Mucheke bus terminus showed very
little activity
as many people had decided they could not afford the bus
fare to their rural
homes.
The Executive Mayor of
Masvingo, Alois Chaimiti, lamented the
economic meltdown. "People really
recognise Christmas here and they want to
engage with relatives but many are
facing serious constrains due to the
continued economic demise in the
country. A lot of people will not celebrate
much. Some will not be able to
buy bread, cooking oil or even meat due to
the fact that they either can't
afford or they will not find the commodities
in the shops," Chaimiti
said.
The Masvingo mayor disbursed $1,9 million from the
Mayor's
Christmas Cheer Fund to more than 30 needy institutions in the
province,
including the Mucheke Old People's Home, Alpha Cottages Orphanage,
Copota
School of the Blind, among others.
The Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe said things were getting
tougher for
consumers.
"As the year comes to an end, CCZ bemoans the fact
that again in
2006 consumers endured untold suffering. The incomes of many
consumers have
lagged behind, whilst weekly if not daily price increases
wreaked havoc on
consumer pockets," said CCZ in a
statement.
The monthly cost of living as depicted by the CCZ
for a
low-income urban family of six has risen from $208 714.84 in November
to
$245 661.79 in December reflecting a 17.7% increase.
Zim Standard
BY
OUR STAFF
BULAWAYO - The Bulawayo City Council announced
last week it
would raid "open air churches", most of them featuring the
white-robed
Mapostori sects, whose worshippers are accused of making
"unbearable noise"
and "fouling the areas with human
waste".
The latest council minutes say the raids would be in
accordance
with council by-laws barring people from congregating on open
municipal
stands. The campaign would be to prevent a major health disaster,
according
to the minutes.
There has recently been a
proliferation of religious sects, most
dressed in the white flowing gowns
associated with the Mapostori. The
worshippers have always held their
sermons in open spaces.
According to a health, housing and
education committee report,
the council had received complaints from
residents near the places of
worship, expressing their fear of a health
disaster arising from the unholy
conduct of worshippers at open
spaces.
"These worshippers were creating unbearable noise to
the
residents, fouling the area with human waste and litter everywhere,
particularly on weekends," reads part of the council
report.
"Discussion ensued and councillors expressed concern
on churches
worshipping on open council stands. They had sprung up all over
and were a
nuisance to residents and a health hazard. By-laws needed to be
enforced,"
say the minutes.
The director of health
services, Zanele Hwalima, warned the
council meeting "the matter has to be
addressed before the situation
deteriorates into a health
disaster".
Phathisa Nyathi, the council's public relations
officer, and
Moffat Ndlovu, the town clerk, could not be reached for
comment. Comment
could also not be obtained from the worshippers who are
normally seen during
the weekends.
When a reporter
visited some of the open spaces where they
conducted their sermons,
neighbours said the worshippers only came during
the
weekends.
The planned council raids are likely to anger the
Mapostori who
have gathered in the open spaces since before
independence.
Zim Standard
BY VALENTINE MAPONGA
A white
commercial farmer in the Midlands was arrested this week
for allegedly
resisting government efforts to acquire his property under the
land reform
programme.
The move is forcing a number of the remaining
white commercial
farmers to seek A2 farmer status.
The
unnamed farmer became the first victim of the recently
gazetted Land
(Consequential Provisions) Act, which became operational on
Thursday.
The Minister of Local Government, Public Works
and Urban
Development, Ignatiuos Chombo, announced at the recent Zanu PF
conference
that the new law would ensure that all white farmers with
eviction orders
leave.
The law also prohibits individuals
from holding, using or
occupying gazetted land without lawful
authority.
It stipulates that anyone breaching a section of
the Act shall
be guilty of an offence.
Commercial
Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) spokesperson, Emily
Crooks, told The
Standard the farmer was arrested and immediately taken to
court. Farmers'
organisations refused to reveal his name, saying this would
not be in his
best interest.
A Kwekwe court official identified the farmer
as Robert Derrick
Swift but union officials would not confirm if he was the
same farmer they
were referring to.
"The case is a bit
strange because he was arrested days before
the Bill came into effect. He
was immediately taken to court and released on
bail," Crooks
said.
She said the farmer would be back in court again early
next
year.
The CFU vice-president, Trevor Gifford, said
most of their
members had applied to the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and
Rural
Resettlement for A2 status.
"Regrettably, most of
our members have not been given the offer
letters. Currently, there are only
16 who have received the 99-year leases,"
Gifford said.
He said the commercial farmers wanted to play an active role in
ensuring
food security in the country. But as long as the chaos on the farms
continued, there was nothing they could do.
"Agriculture
is not something that can be done on and off. There
are a lot of
preparations involved. A farmer should first get the security
on his land,
so that he can prepare," Gifford said.
Since the onset of the
government's chaotic land reform
programme, over 140 000 black farmers have
benefited under the A1 model and
another 14 000 under the A2
scheme.
The land reform has, however, led to an economic
meltdown and an
unprecedented loss of production in agriculture.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
POLICE brutality has grown to unprecedented levels
during the
past six years, a study carried out by two non-governmental
organisations
(NGOs) has revealed.
Titled "Policing The
State", the report by the Institute of
Justice and Reconciliation and the
Solidarity Peace Trust says police in
Zimbabwe are increasingly resorting to
violence to deal with demonstrations.
It provides detailed evidence to back
up its claims.
The findings of this report are based on
lawyers' records from
38 legal firms in Zimbabwe who submitted data relating
to 1 981 politically
motivated arrests.
The reports show
that "police routinely pick up activists ahead
of planned actions, knowing
that they neither need, nor intend, to prove
that the arrestee has committed
a crime".
The report released in Johannesburg last week
noted:
"Police brutality is routine, with torture of
arrestees
occurring in 33% of cases. Cell conditions are shocking, and
defending
lawyers run the risk of assault, harassment or
incarceration."
It warns that the Zimbabwe government has
reverted to "patterns
of State control established under colonialism,
including mass arrests in
terms of repressive legislation, combined with
brutality against civilians".
Speaking at the launch of the
report, Archbishop Pius Ncube said
Zimbabwe had become a police
state.
"The police act as Zanu PF's minions. They do what the
party
says."
An October 2006 Political Violence report
released by the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum also slammed the police,
saying they were
beating up innocent demonstrators. It cited as examples,
the arrests of
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and Women of
Zimbabwe Arise
demonstrators recently.
Zim Standard
BY VALENTINE MAPONGA
THE trial of a
war veteran known during the struggle as Dzinashe
Machingura on a charge of
theft by conversion opened in Harare this week.
The former
director of the Zimbabwe Liberators' Platform (ZLP)
is appearing under his
real name, Wilfred Mhanda.
He resigned as the director of the
ZLP in July 2004.
He is jointly charged with Wilson Nharingo,
the organisation's
former programmes co-ordinator. They appeared in the
magistrates' court on
Wednesday.
Mhanda is accused of
withdrawing money from an offshore account
of the organisation in Botswana
in 2003 without the approval of the board.
Mhanda and
Nharingo are alleged to have bought five motor
vehicles, inflating the
prices to US$29 400.
But the ZLP, led by Wabata Munodawafa
alleges the organisation
was prejudiced of US$15 500 in the
process.
Munodawafa, the current ZLP director, and Celestino
Gavhera, the
chairman of the finance committee, testifying in court on
Wednesday, said
the two former leaders had converted the foreign currency to
their personal
use.
Munodawafa said from his experience
in buying cars for sale, it
was clear that the vehicle prices were
inflated.
"When we discovered two invoices for one vehicle,
we strongly
felt that an offence was committed and reported the matter to
the police
since they are better investigators. There were receipts or
invoices for
some of the cars," said Munodawafa under
cross-examination.
He said an audit conducted by KPMG had
revealed irregularities
in the purchase of the cars.
Munodawafa said they had documentary evidence to prove that the
organisation
was prejudiced.
"From the available evidence, ZLP was
prejudiced of US$12 100 in
respect of four vehicles. Our estimates on the
fifth vehicle would be at
least US$3 400, bringing the total to about US$15
500," he said.
Under cross-examination, Munodawafa was forced
to admit that he
was not an expert in the sale of motor vehicles and was
therefore not better
placed to talk about vehicle prices.
Gavhera, Happy Mariri and Ishmael Dube also testified as State
witnesses,
with two more State witnesses expected to join them.
Mhanda
and Nharingo are represented by Selby Hwacha of Dube,
Manikai and
Hwacha.
They have both pleaded not guilty.
The case was adjourned to 16 January next year.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - One Air Zimbabwe's Chinese MA60 planes
recently
failed to take off from Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport in Bulawayo
after
developing a technical fault.
Passengers in the
7:15am Tuesday domestic flight to Harare were
forced to disembark after the
MA60 started coughing smoke.
For 30 minutes, The Standard was
told, the plane failed to take
off, prompting the flight attendants to
announce that the plane had
developed a technical fault.
David Mwenga, the airline's public relations manager, confirmed
the MA60
plane scheduled to fly to Harare, failed to take off due to a
technical
fault.
The Standard learnt that passengers were delayed for
nearly six
hours as engineers attended to the fault.
The
Chinese-made planes have encountered a host of technical
problems since
their acquisition under the government's Look East policy
over a year
ago.
Mwenga recently said there was nothing peculiar about
the planes'
technical problems as they were recently introduced into the
aircraft
industry.
Recent reports suggest Air Zimbabwe
has resorted to stripping
grounded planes of their parts to fix the
troublesome MA60's.
Zim Standard
THE BBC News
website has been speaking to Zimbabweans who have
left the country in recent
years about their reasons and the risks they
took. Justin Pearce looks at
the reality behind the emigration figures.
Emigration has
become a way of life in Zimbabwe - so much so
that the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM) has started a
campaign specifically to
advise and help those considering to migrate.
Significantly,
the IOM has done so with the co-operation of the
Zimbabwe government, which
tacitly admits that its citizens are leaving en
masse.
So
where are all the people going?
Figures published by the IOM
suggest that the largest group of
legal emigrants - 36.8% of the total - go
to the United Kingdom, while only
4.8% go to South
Africa.
These figures represent the numbers of people who
have emigrated
from Zimbabwe using official channels since 1990. In total,
the figures
suggest about 500 000 have left in 15 years.
But anecdotal evidence and common sense indicate that these
figures for
legal migration give a skewed idea of the whole picture.
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said 1.2 million Zimbabweans had
gone to South
Africa since 1990.
A South African government minister
recently said there were two
million Zimbabweans living in South Africa -
Joyce Dube of the South African
Women's Institute for Migration Affairs
estimates the figure to be even
higher, around three
million.
"Go from the Limpopo to Cape Town, and you will find
Zimbabweans
in numbers," she says.
Other observers cast
doubt on these figures - after all, South
Africa's population is around 40
million, so two million Zimbabweans would
mean five percent of those people
were actually Zimbabweans. Still others
prefer not to fix a
number.
"We'd hate to quantify, because of the xenophobia
caused by talk
of opening the floodgates of immigration," says Abeda
Bhamjee, a refugee
lawyer at the University of the Witwatersrand Law Clinic
in Johannesburg.
However unclear the numbers, what is clear
is that Zimbabweans
who go to South Africa or neighbouring Botswana are much
more likely to
disappear from the official statistics.
Rather than seeking a work permit and getting on a flight to
Europe or North
America, they simply slip across the border - often doing so
again and again
after being caught by the South African authorities. "They
are deported,
then the next day they are back," Joyce Dube says.
"Deportation is a waste
of money."
Why are Zimbabweans leaving in such
numbers?
Until recently, one important reason has been that
there is more
money to be made elsewhere.
Skilled public
servants in Zimbabwe have seen their wages
rendered almost worthless by
runaway inflation.
The Southern African Migration Project
(SAMP) did a study on
health professionals leaving Zimbabwe in 2002, and
found that economic
factors were cited by the greatest number of migrants
(54% of the
interviewees) as their reason for leaving
Zimbabwe.
Around 30% pointed to professional reasons such as
inadequate
working conditions, and a similar number said political
considerations had
been a factor in prompting them to leave
Zimbabwe.
Since 2000, a further economically important group
of migrants
has been white farmers - government policy changes led to the
seizure of 4
000 white-owned farms, and many who lost land sought new
opportunities
elsewhere in Africa or overseas.
But far
greater numbers of Zimbabweans felt the heavy hand of
government with the
launch last year of Operation Murambatsvina, the urban
clean-up that the UN
says left 700 000 people homeless.
Joyce Dube confirms that
Murambatsvina has been a further reason
for Zimbabweans to flee to South
Africa - and she believes that these days,
around 80% of the Zimbabweans who
come to South Africa are leaving their
country for political
reasons.
For Zimbabweans who lack the professional
qualifications that
would secure them a ticket and a visa to get overseas,
South Africa and
Botswana are the obvious choices.
While
these neighbouring countries have absorbed a number of
Zimbabwean
professionals, the majority of cross-border migrants are
unskilled
labourers.
"The official policy is that no one should be
denied the
opportunity to apply for asylum," Abeda Bhamjee points out, but
adds that
there are "internal and external pressures" on South African
officialdom to
keep Zimbabweans out.
The ease of access
from Zimbabwe to South Africa makes officials
wary of setting a precedent in
granting asylum to Zimbabweans.
Moreover, acknowledging that
Zimbabwe's internal problems
warranted granting asylum to its citizens would
contradict President Thabo
Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy" towards his
northern neighbour.
Attempts to number the new arrivals are
further complicated by
the fact that, as far back as colonial times, there
has always been a flow
of people between Zimbabwe and its
neighbours.
"With migrant workers there has always been a
relationship,
especially with southern Zimbabweans," recent migrant Mlalumi
Nkomo points
out. "Zimbabweans have always been part of South African
life."
Will the Zimbabwean diaspora ever go back? SAMP's
research
indicates that Zimbabweans are reluctant to cut ties with their
homeland.
A study of final year students in Zimbabwe revealed
that while
many were considering seeking employment abroad, less than
one-third would
give up their homes in Zimbabwe, and barely a quarter would
be prepared to
renounce their Zimbabwean citizenship.
Those who fail to secure legal status and decent employment
abroad are most
likely to return to Zimbabwe as soon as circumstances there
improve.
Those who have already established themselves
professionally
seem more ambivalent.
"I want to retire in
my early 50s - when I am still strong
enough to go back and reintegrate into
society," one Zimbabwean health
professional, now working in the United
Kingdom, told the BBC News website.
"Until then we will
continue to go home on holiday every two
years, to keep the ties alive and
so that we remain recognisable to those we
left behind," he
added.
But for those who have legalised themselves in other
countries,
the longer they stay, the more entrenched they will become in
their adoptive
homes.
"There's nothing compared to being
back at home but for now it
is the last place I could think of being," says
Constantine Mkinya, a lawyer
who has settled in the United States. - BBC
NEWS
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
BULAWAYO - Zanu PF politburo member, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, says he
is aware of attempts by a number of former freedom
fighters in the Midlands
to soil his political image.
Reports suggest the Zanu PF succession issue has split the
Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans' Association into two camps.
One camp
supports Vice-President Joice Mujuru, the other
Mnangagwa, the Minister of
Rural Housing and Social Amenities.
Mnangagwa made the
comments in an interview last week after
learning that war veterans
reportedly aligned to Mujuru recently wrote to
President Robert Mugabe,
claiming he was fuelling factionalism in the
province.
Zanu PF sources said the Midlands' war veterans'
secretary-general Shadreck
Makombe and Godfrey Pambuka, the association's
leader in Kwekwe district,
wrote asking Mugabe to intervene by reining in
Mnangagwa.
The two alleged Mnangagwa was victimising members of the
pro-Mujuru
camp.
Pambuka confirmed in an interview his group had
appealed to
Mugabe "to stop Mnangagwa from sowing seeds of division in the
province". He
said he would be forced to approach the President personally
if nothing was
done.
"With Mnangagwa we have different
interests, but if he continues
with his bad manners, I will personally
approach the President," Pambuka
said.
"Every leader is
liable to criticism and I believe that we had
and we continue to have a
right to do so. I don't want to talk much about
the letter we sent to the
President."
Mnangagwa accused the war veterans of tarnishing
his political
image.
He said: "These are people among the
war veterans' association
and in the party in the Midlands vanoda kusvibisa
zita rangu mupolitics (who
want to tarnish my image). Where do they get the
powers?"
Mnangagwa would not shed more light on the issue or
entertain
any other questions from The Standard.
Another
faction of the war veterans led by Harris Ncube, the
chairman of the
Midlands provincial association, said Pambuka and Makombe
were waging "a
personal war" against Mnangagwa.
Ncube said: "The letter has
nothing to do with the Midlands war
veterans. It's the opinions of those two
guys. They also had no legal
authority to write the letter. I should have
signed the letter as the
chairman of the province."
The
Midlands, like many other Zanu PF provinces, has been rocked
by
factionalism, condemned by Mugabe at the recent Zanu PF conference in
Goromonzi.
Mujuru and Mnangagwa are considered the
leading contenders in
the succession battle.
Mugabe, who
is pushing for the harmonisation of the presidential
and parliamentary
elections, has indicated the he will not leave office in
2008, as previously
suggested.
Zim Standard
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO - The
Bulawayo High Court has adjourned to May next
year the $200 million
defamation lawsuit in which former minister of
information, Jonathan Moyo,
is suing two senior Zanu PF officials.
The presiding judge,
Justice Francis Bere, has set 8 May 2007 as
the date for the continuation of
the trial.
Bere said the courts were facing a serious backlog
and needed to
clear the cases.
Moyo is suing Zanu PF
national chairman, John Nkomo, and the
party's politburo member, Dumiso
Dabengwa, for defamation.
The case was initially allocated
nine days but the days were
exhausted before the second respondent,
Dabengwa, could give his evidence.
Dabengwa is expected to
take the stand when the case resumes in
May next year.
The defamation case has so far exposed a number of Zanu PF
skeletons. For
example, Nkomo, the national chairman, revealed that the
politburo had no
power to amend the constitution, but still did, paving the
way for
Vice-President Joice Mujuru, to ascend to her position.
Confidential documents, including Zanu PF politburo, district
and provincial
co-ordinating committee minutes, are to be presented as key
evidence.
This is probably the first time in Zimbabwean
legal history that
both plaintiff and defendant's legal teams have used
confidential documents
from the ruling party's organs as evidence in a court
of law.
The case hinges on the confidential party documents
now being
closely analysed by the two sets of lawyers.
Moyo alleges Nkomo and Dabengwa defamed him when they allegedly
told a party
meeting that he plotted to topple President Robert Mugabe.
Both men deny the charges.
Nkomo in his evidence-in-chief
said Moyo was suing them in order
to frustrate them.
Among key party figures due to testify are government ministers
Patrick
Chinamasa, Abednico Ncube, Andrew Langa, Francis Nhema, Flora Bhuka,
former
minister July Moyo and war veterans' leader Joseph Chinotimba.
Zim Standard
By Foster Dongozi
THE Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and civil society say
they are preparing for
presidential elections in 2008 because they believe
President Robert Mugabe
cannot remain in office until 2010.
Mugabe's handlers in the
military and other security organs
reportedly want him to be life
president.
But the plan appeared to hit a brick wall at the
Zanu PF annual
conference when other leaders blocked Mugabe's bid to bring
this about. The
conference ended in chaos as no resolutions were adopted,
forcing the
leaders to refer the issue to the central committee which is
expected to
endorse his wishes.
The anti-Senate MDC
faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai has begun
its campaign for the 2008
presidential election with all posters at their
rallies with messages to
vote for Tsvangirai.
An official in an alliance that groups
the opposition and civic
society, said in an interview: "There is a big
section within the
pro-democracy groups that is suspicious they may be
lulled into a false
sense of security by Zanu PF's apparent confusion over
Mugabe, and relax
until 2010.
"Some people feel that with
the opposition comatose, confused
and divided, Mugabe could still pull the
rug from under their feet by
calling for surprise presidential elections in
2008 and still win a mandate,
no matter how flawed."
Others thought by 2010, Mugabe may not be around and this would
force the
opposition to challenge Mugabe's replacement.
Nelson Chamisa,
spokesman for the Tsvangirai faction, confirmed
their suspicions on the
apparent uncertainty about Mugabe's term of office.
"As the MDC, we have
always been and are prepared for an election and we are
currently mobilising
our members to prepare for the presidential election in
2008."
Chamisa said they were actively campaigning for
the creation of
a free electoral environment in 2008. "Participating in the
2008
presidential elections is premised on the need to have a new
people-driven
democratic constitution and to have non-partisan electoral
bodies because
under the present set-up, no political party, no matter how
organised, can
win an election in Zimbabwe."
Chamisa said
the recent call by electoral bodies that elections
should be harmonised was
a clear indication that even organisations
responsible for running elections
were under the control of Zanu PF.
On Wednesday, the Save
Zimbabwe campaign, which groups more than
30 opposition political parties,
the Church, non-governmental organisations,
students and the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions declared they would
resist all efforts to postpone
the elections.
A statement issued after their meeting said:
"Save Zimbabwe will
do all that is permissible in a democratic society to
challenge the ruling
Zanu PF party's intentions to refuse the people of
Zimbabwe the right to
select leaders of their own choice under a democratic
constitutional
dispensation."
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
SECURITY guards and soldiers on duty at ZBC studios
at Pockets
Hill in Harare were taught a lesson they should have learnt in
training
school: you can't cheat the camera.
Closed
Circuit Television (CCTV) exposed them as the culprits
who stole speakers
and microphones from the studios.
Both were on duty to guard
against such thefts.
Pockets Hill sources said police
investigations have implicated
security guards and the soldiers who man the
premises as the thieves.The
sources said the soldiers' identities were
established after investigators
checked the CCTV footage.
"The CCTV has revealed that the soldiers and the guards are the
chief
culprits in the alleged thefts," said a source.
The source
said the CCTV was only switched on last Sunday and
the theft was perpetrated
in the evening of the same day.
Contacted for comment last
week ZBH chief executive officer
Henry Muradzikwa said he was attending the
Zanu PF national conference in
Goromonzi.
"I have not
been informed about that," Muradzikwa said.
Zim Standard
BY OUR STAFF
FOR two days a 35-year-old secondary
schoolteacher shared a
Masvingo police cell with ravenous lice after she
remarked that it was as if
Zimbabwe was ruled by the Nazi dictator, Adolf
Hitler.
Letwin Matereke of Mucheke Secondary School was
arrested for
allegedly denigrating President Robert
Mugabe.
Matereke appeared before a Masvingo magistrate,
Caution
Nyamukondiwa, on Tuesday last week on charges of undermining the
authority
of the President or insulting him.
The
prosecutor, Felix Charomwe, told the court that on 17
December 2006,
Matereke was travelling on a commuter bus along the
Nyika-Masvingo
road.
She allegedly denigrated the President by saying that
"Hitler is
ruling the country".
The court heard she was
contributing to a discussion among the
passengers on the economic hardships
most people were facing. It was alleged
that, at this stage, the passengers
started blaming their plight on
corruption, referring in particular to the
drama in Marange, Manicaland,
where the discovery of diamonds has led to
what has been a "diamond rush".
The State alleges Matereke
intervened during the discussion to
say it was as if the country was ruled
by Adolf Hitler.
A soldier sitting quietly in the bus dragged
Matereke to the
police station when the bus reached
Masvingo.
The soldier, identified as Sgt Obert Shaika, based
at 4 Brigade,
was cited as the complainant.
Matereke was
subsequently locked up in the cells where she said
the lice feasted on her
for two days before she was hauled to the Masvingo
Magistrate's
Court.
She was remanded out of custody to 31 January next
year.
Zim Standard
BY
GODFRY MUTIMBA
MASVINGO - The Zanu PF legislator for
Bikita West , Claudius
Makova, has allegedly refused to recognise four MDC
councillors who were
recently elected into office, saying that he was not
prepared to work with
opposition members in his
constituency.
The ruling party lost four wards in Bikita West
during the 28
October Rural District Council elections. The development has
pushed Makova
into a corner as he is reportedly underfire from party
officils and war
veterans who closed Zanu PF offices accusing him of
contributing to the
party's loss.
Makova allegedly told
the councillors that he would not work
with opposition councillors and
preferred to work with former councillors
who lost in the elections, in a
bid to appease the angry party officials and
war
veterans.
The development came to light when Makova refused
to work with
Ward 14 councillor, Elisha Manyadze, who was barred from
attending a
function where the United Nations International Children's Fund
(UNICEF)
donated mosquito nets to vulnerable children under the age of five
in his
Ward recently.
Manyangadze told The Standard that
he was invited by UNICEF
through the Ministry of Health to attend the
meeting as the representative
of his Ward and had been tasked with drawing
up names of vulnerable children
from his Ward so they would benefit from the
distribution of the mosquito
nets.
Manyangadze said he
was shocked when the same officials who
invited him rejected the names the
councillor had compiled when he submitted
them before the function. He was
informed, he said, the instruction not to
accept his list was from
Makova.
Zim Standard
BY NDAMU SANDU
ANNUS Horribilis!
Executives will be heaving a sigh of relief
when the chapter on the
tumultuous year closes on Sunday next week.
Indeed this was a
nerve-racking year in which only the die-hards
managed to pull through,
while the faint-hearted were left with dejection
written on every line of
their faces.
For the first time since Independence from
Britain in 1980,
business executives were arrested for allegedly increasing
the prices of
commodities without the consent of the Ministry of Industry
and
International Trade.
In October, Mohammed Mussa
Wholesalers general manager Sharif
Mussa, was jailed for 30 days, while his
employer was fined $590 000 for
repackaging sugar and failing to produce
invoices for bags of cement he was
selling.
He spent four
days in prison before being released on $1.5
million bail by the High Court,
pending his appeal against both conviction
and sentence.
Early this month Lobel's CEO Burombo Mudumo and his operations
manager,
Lemmy Chikomo, were jailed for an effective four months for
increasing the
price of bread without government's approval. The duo spent a
weekend in
prison before being granted a $20 000 bail each by High Court
Judge Charles
Hungwe. Lobel's was separately fined $10 000 for raising bread
prices
without government approval.
The arrests also claimed an
official in the Ministry of Industry
and International Trade, Norman
Chakanetsa, who was nabbed in October for
allegedly increasing the price of
bread without government consent. But the
government was left with egg on
its face after the State withdrew the
charges last Monday - another own goal
by the government!
The Pricing and Incomes Commission Bill, which
calls for a
five-year jail term and cessation of business by violators, is
in the
pipeline. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), president
Callisto
Jokonya, and his Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC)
counterpart,
Marah Hativagone must know their members have to brace
themselves for a
tough 2007.
The arrests offer lessons to
Zimbabwe's business executives:
when the labour unions say the government is
bad, they have no intentions to
unseat the government: they are just stating
a matter of fact.
Another economic blueprint, the National
Economic Development
Priority Programme (NEDPP) was launched in April,
promising Zimbabweans El
Dorados: US$2.5 billion within nine months. As the
year drew a close, there
was not a success in sight.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Amos Midzi sent shivers
down the
spines of mining executives by proposing that the government would
take over
51% shareholding in all mines in an ill-timed amendment proposal
in March.
The proposed amendments came shortly before the IMF Executive
Board
meeting.
When the Board met, it did not restore Zimbabwe's
voting rights,
notwithstanding the fact that the government had cleared its
arrears under
the critical General Resources Account. The IMF Executive
Board meets early
next year to decide Zimbabwe's fate.
Red Star, which de-merged from the then ZSR, ended months of
drought by
listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) in January.
The
rebranding craze took ZSE by storm. ZSR rebranded into
starafricacorporation, Finhold into ZB Financial Services while CBZ became
CBZ Holdings.
Renaissance muscled its way into First
Mutual Limited, assuming
over 30% shareholding in the composite group.
Renaisance group CEO Patterson
Timba was elected chairman of the life
assurer, replacing David Murangari
who "resigned" from the
group.
FML group CEO Douglas Hoto, vocal in resisting
Renaissance bid
to control FML, is leaving at the end of this month "to
pursue other
interests" amid revelations that he was pushed
out.
In what could be the most historic event of the year,
three
zeros were slashed and a new family of bearer's cheques introduced in
August, giving holders of the old bearer cheques a 21-day change-over
period. Of the $45 trillion in circulation of the old bearer's cheques, $35
trillion was returned in the money change-over period while $10 trillion was
nowhere to be seen.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
had to extend the period to
accommodate people in the rural areas who had
not been successful in
changing money in the window
period.
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa tried, with little
success, to
assert his authority by announcing the quasi-fiscal expenditure
would be
accommodated in the budget in an apparent attack on RBZ chief
Gideon Gono
who was using the quasi-fiscal method as ammunition to rein in
ministries
and parastatals. While Murerwa celebrated what was a phyrric
victory, Gono
hit back with such aplomb it was Murerwa who was cut down to
size. The spat,
though providing comic relief for the year, was ill-timed as
the duo was
fiddling while the proverbial Rome was
burning.
Denys Denya will reflect on 2007 with pride. The
former MBCA
boss was elevated to head of Nedbank Africa. Other movers of the
year
include Mberikwazvo Chitambo who replaced Denya as MBCA boss and Hwange
boss
Godfrey Dzinomwa who left the coalminer to pursue other opportunities
in the
region.
Franky Kufa paved the way for Nigel
Chanakira at Kingdom
Financial Holdings Limited (KFHL).
Death robbed the business community of Chris Gomwe and Mario dos
Remedios -
reputable characters who walked tall in their careers. Gomwe
played a
crucial role in the integration of SARE into FBCH while Mario was a
symbol
of hope at Unity Court building. REST IN PEACE candles in the wind.
Zim Standard
BY OUR
STAFF
RIVER Ranch Limited says it will start exporting
diamonds
following the conclusion of discussions with the Ministry of Mines
and
Mining Development and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe
(MMCZ), executive director George Kantsouris said this
week.
"Exports can be expected to begin once we finalised
discussions
with the ministry and the MMC."
He could not
give a time frame.
At a press conference on Wednesday, River
Ranch legal advisor,
retired Justice George Smith said River Ranch was the
lawful holder of the
Special Grant 1278, giving it the greenlight to mine
and export the
diamonds.
The Special Grant 1278 is at the
centre of a dispute between
River Ranch and Bubye
Minerals.
Early this month High Court Judge Lawrence Kamocha
threw out an
application by Bubye to compel the Minister of Mines and Mining
Development
to reverse his decision to cancel a special grant to the mine on
the grounds
that it had not been properly ceded to them by the owners, River
Ranch Ltd.
But Bubye has since filed a notice of appeal in
the Supreme
Court. Bubye owners are arguing that despite an Interim Order
granted by
Justice Bharat Patel, upholding Bubye Minerals' right to Special
Grant 1278,
both the Ministry of Mines and the police have failed to
implement that
Order, condoning the illegal exploitation of the mine by
River Ranch
Limited.
Zim Standard
marketwatch by
Deborah-Fay Ndlovu
INTEREST rates shot up last week,
signalling a temporary
recovery from the jitters fuelled by the Christmas
holiday fever.
Investors were jostling to get into the money
market after the
severe liquidity shortages, peaking up to $54,1 billion on
Wednesday,
sparked an increase in short term rates.
Deposit rates were averaging 300% for 7 to 14 days up from a low
of 50%.
Banks were quoting 250% for 30 days, 60 days and 91 days.
Analysts said such deficits were last experienced when the
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe introduced the financial sector stabilisation bond.
"The last trading week before Christmas is being characterised
by shortages
of magnitudes last experienced when the RBZ issued financial
sector
stabilisation bonds (fssb) a couple of weeks ago," said a dealer with
a
Harare discount house.
He said the shortages had been fuelled
by corporate tax
payments.
"The primary cause of the
shortage was the corporate tax
payments that were due this week. Cash
withdrawals by commercial banks also
contributed significantly to the
liquidity deficit."
The central bank, on the other hand,
continued to issue 365-day
Treasury Bills that however failed to attract the
interests of the investor.
The equities was undeterred by the
upward trend in interest
rates with the industrial index shooting up 1.39%
points to close Wednesday
at 529 165.28 points.
Gainers
included PPC which upped $5 000 to $160 000. Hippo added
$200 to $1 150
while Meikles and Natfoods gained $100 each to $3 000 and $1
000
respectively.
Losses were in BAT which eased $500 to $6
000.
The mining index gained 5.59% points to close at
339,316.66
points. Halogen was up a significant $11 000 on Wednesday to $16
000.
Falgold recovered $10 to $140 while Rio Zim eased $200 to $5
800.
Zim Standard
By NDAMU
SANDU
THE year 2006 comes to an end on Sunday next week.
Standardbusiness names the champs and chumps for the
year.
Champs
These distinguished
themselves in a tough environment for
business. The winners are . .
.
Marah Hativagone and Callisto Jokonya (Business
leaders)
The duo fought tooth and nail against the
government's move to
arrest business leaders. Thrust into office as
Presidents of the Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce and the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
respectively during the course of the
year, Hativagone and Jokonya acquitted
themselves well, demystifying the
notion that business leaders were
spineless, by rubber-stamping what had
been said by the government.
Patterson Timba (Renaissance
group CEO)
The soft-spoken Timba has proved to all and sundry
that it is
the brains that matter, not the brawn or size. By orchestrating
Renaissance's
acquisition of a 30% stake in First Mutual Limited, Timba
showed the
intertwining of vision, brains and capital, earning himself his
place in the
sun.
Karikoga Kaseke (ZTA
CEO)
The ZTA boss acquitted himself well where other heads of
parastatals feared to tread: identifying journalists from the private media
as allies, not enemies.
It was refreshing to note that
Kaseke was honest in his
assessment of the need to attract tourists to
Zimbabwe. ZTA will hold
roadshows in Canada next year, an indication that
the West is still a factor
in tourism.
The Portfolio
committee on Foreign Affairs, Industry and
International Trade chaired by
Chipinge South legislator Enock Porusingazi.
The committee acquitted itself
well by cutting Industry and International
Trade Minister Obert Mpofu down
to size. Standar business wishes all the
parliamentary portfolio committees
were the same.
As a result of the committee's probing, Mpofu
now faces
impeachment for taking parliamentary business for
granted.
Chumps
This category was so
tightly contested that candidates had to be
separated after a re-run. Those
who lost by a single point are Mines
Minister Amos Midzi and his proposed
mining amendments; the Ministry of
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare
for failing to ensure that a
substantive head is appointed to head the
National Social Security Authority
six years after the departure of a
substantive general manager; and
parastatals for failing to wean off their
dependency syndrome. The winners
are . . .
Obert
Mpofu (Industry and International Trade Minister)
Mpofu
stunned Parliament when he said that Ministers and MPs had
looted the
coffers of troubled steelmaker ZISCOSTEEL. Mpofu later made a
sensational
U-turn, saying he didn't mean that ministers and MPS had looted
the
parastatal, but their companies were making profits while Zisco was
making
losses. The august House didn't take it lightly and Mpofu faces
contempt of
Parliament charges.
David Scott (ex- FNBS provisional
liquidator)
The Guinness book of records should consider
Scott as the
longest serving curator- provisional liquidator of financial
institutions.
Scott, in office at First National Building Society (FNBS)
since 7 February
2003 was finally shown the door at a stormy creditors',
depositors' and
contributories' meeting in September, bringing to an end a
40-month
flirtation with the society.
National
Economic Development Priority Programme
Here was an economic
model that promised Zimbabweans heaven on
earth. It was a model that ignored
the political environment prevailing in
the country. The 64 million dollar
question is: Where is the US$2.5 billion
it promised to raise between six
and nine months in the form of cash or
investments? With the deadline fast
approaching, NEDPP backers have no
option but to apologise for misleading
Zimbabweans into believing there was
light and the end of the
tunnel.
Zim Standard
Comment
THE majority of Zimbabweans this time
last year genuinely
believed that they would by now be significantly better
off than during the
previous five years. The outcome of last week's Zanu PF
annual conference
held in Goromonzi promises more of the same hardships they
have endured
until 2010.
In a matter of days the ruling
party politicians have
successfully quashed prospects of a turnaround
arising from opportunities
associated with the 2010 Fifa World
Cup.
If the 4 000 delegates and their leaders cared much for
Zimbabwe
and its people and were committed to improving the lot of the
citizens of
this country, then they would have seized the opportunity the
conference
offered to signal to the international community that Zimbabwe
was ready for
re-engagement.
If the people who feasted on
the best this country has to offer
in Goromonzi are determined to ignore the
growing impoverishment they have
progressively subjected this country to,
their grip on power is turning out
to be very costly.
It
is unwarranted for Zimbabwe to continue on the same
disastrous path that now
forces Zimbabweans to cross borders in order to
shop for basic commodities
or indeed find work.
Anyone who has ever bothered to find out
how the majority of
Zimbabweans are coping will realise that most of the
citizens of this
country will not be able to afford the same Christmas they
enjoyed last
year. And that was another lesson in increasing
deprivation.
It is common cause that even the ruling party's
fat cats no
longer enjoy the same lifestyles they were used to more than
half a decade
ago. Only a select few profit from the misery of the majority,
but they
cannot buy security in their lavish existence if the majority
around them
wallow in abject poverty. Those who are deprived will soon
listen to their
stomachs and their hungry families. No amount of force will
stop them. The
Goromonzi Indaba should have been a landmark conference in
seeking to build
bridges with the rest of the world and setting this country
on a new path,
promising the bright future it rightly
deserves.
Now more Zimbabweans will continue to flee the
country in search
of greener pastures, while threats against the mining and
manufacturing
sectors will result in heightened insecurity of private
property that will
see a marked decline in investment levels, and employment
creation. We
shudder to think what levels unemployment is going to scale
between 2007 and
2010.
The Goromonzi Indaba indicates the
direction in which Zanu PF's
penchant for asset-grabbing will move next
year. For those exposed to the
trauma of the farm seizures - the message is
very clear: bale out fast
before Hurricane Zanu PF catches up with
you.
There are many explanations why President Robert Mugabe
decided
not to relinquish power. They had nothing to do with serving the
best
interests of the majority of Zimbabweans and the welfare of this
country.
When a country has lost more than a quarter of its
productive
population and some of its best business minds to the rest of the
world, it
is time for soul searching.Zimbabweis helping the region and the
world to
develop by creating an environment the majority of its people is
desperate
to escape.
Zimbabwe's escalating economic
crisis, which has exacerbated
food shortages, and those of fuel, basic
consumer goods and essential
agricultural inputs, demanded weighty attention
by the Goromonzi Indaba. But
in the greatest betrayal of the majority of the
citizens of this country,
delegates refused to confront the causes of our
crisis. Their actions
condemned us to new depths of impoverishment.
Goromonzi was an opportunity
squandered.
Zim Standard
sunday opinion by Mutsa Murenje
RECENT utterances by Zanu PF
Secretary for Youth, Absolom
Sikhosana, at the just-ended Zanu PF National
People's Conference left me in
a complete delirium.
The
utterances did not only reveal Sikhosana's remarkable
ideological and
political underdevelopment but also that the man is
sometimes prone to
foolish jokes. Sikhosana called for the recruitment of
patriotic lecturers
at the University of Zimbabwe largely because, in his
own words, "some of
them were a bad influence on students".
Doctors Lovemore
Madhuku and John Makumbe were cited as some of
the lecturers who were a bad
influence on students.
Sikhosana said: "Our children are put
in the hands of Madhuku
and Makumbe where they're taught to hate
themselves."
It is in light of this revelation that I want to
give Sikhosana
the benefit of the doubt and accept that he is sincere in
calling for
patriotic lecturers to teach at the University of
Zimbabwe.
But he is sincerely mistaken. This is so,
ostensibly, because he
appears to be ignorant of what patriotism
is.
I have never been in Madhuku's class but I have had the
propitious opportunity to listen to him speak at various forums organised by
civil society organisations in Harare. But I have been in Makumbe's
Democracy and Human Rights class and I also had the rare opportunity to hear
him speak at various forums also in Harare.
The
inescapable conclusion that I have reached from my encounter
with the two
lecturers is that both of them are not only patriotic but are
also
nationalistic in outlook. It is therefore quite nightmarish and
horrific for
me to be told that these two men are unpatriotic as Sikhosana
would want us
to believe.
My humble submission is that Madhuku and Makumbe
are patriots.
The men are champions or lovers of their country, Zimbabwe.
Whatever they do
they do it in the national interest. They are patriots and
nationalists at
the same time. It is for this reason that I am convinced
that the two
lecturers are not a bad influence on students. They teach
students to love
themselves, their neighbours as well as to love their own
country.
Patriotism is not an exclusive property of Zanu PF.
In actual
fact, it goes beyond party politics. One does not cease being a
patriot just
because he/she is opposed to a particular party. Sikhosana is a
party leader
and not a national leader.
We live in a
society where there should be tolerance of
different points of view - a
society where laws provide a framework for
peaceful disagreement. We want a
society that is characterised by free and
equal citizens, a society in which
citizens have sovereign power, that is,
they can choose a government or
dismiss it, a society characterised by
regular free and fair elections, a
society in which the country is governed
according to the laws and a society
where no leader is above the law.
What we want is
transparency on all aspects of government,
accountability, respect for human
rights and free flow of information. I
believe this is exactly what Madhuku
and Makumbe are fighting for 26 years
after independence!
Given all this, I ask our leaders to start taking us seriously
and stop the
patriotic nonsense they always use at their convenience.
Patriotism is not
for people like Sikhosana. Madhuku and Makumbe are not
"known rabid critics
of the government". They are known patriots who are
fighting for a free,
just and democratic Zimbabwe. Oh judgement, thou art
fled and man is left
without reason!
Sikhosana's utterances are anathema and
detrimental to unity,
peace, progress and development. They justify poverty
and tyranny in the
most vulgar manner.
The two lecturers
have taught us the way to go. They have taught
us to promote respect for
human dignity and pursue social justice. It is
through their teachings that
I have come to the realisation that the dignity
of a person is the basis for
human rights. The question for reflection
directed at all Zimbabweans as we
enter 2007 is: Do we, as a nation, see a
human person as an object which can
be used and discarded at will, or do we
see a person as someone whose
dignity inviolable and stands at the centre of
everything we
do?
My contribution is not politically motivated; rather it's
motivated by a desire to begin to reclaim our dignity as individuals living
for and with the truth.
Zim Standard
Whatever happens here has happened
elsewhere
Reflections with DR Alex
Magaisa
THIS is my attempt to introduce you, Reader, to this
new column,
which will appear each Sunday in this great paper from the start
of 2007.
Some of you may have come across my work elsewhere and it is a
pleasure to
have been invited to write this column.
Ever
since I was able to read, I have always been attracted to
newspapers and
magazines. Even when the language was too hard for me to
understand, I was
happy enough to figure out the story from the pictures.
During my youth, I
became an ardent reader of numerous columns written by
prominent writers of
the day. One particular column I liked most was called
"As I see It", which
appeared in a national Sunday newspaper at a time when
professionalism had
its way in the state media. My dream was to appear in
that column one day
when I grew up. I do not know if "As I see it" still
exists but I am not
sure that if it does, it still inspires a similar dream
in young kids of
today.
Going to buy the paper from Mdhara wemaNewspaper at
Greencroft
Shopping Centre or stationed somewhere along Lomagundi Road, was
a chore I
quite liked and even looked forward to - because it always gave me
the
opportunity to read the paper before everyone else at
home.
I used to read them all - Parade, Prize, Moto, Horizon
and from
South Africa, the likes of Drum, Readers Digest, etc. I used to
devour
newspapers and magazines.
I have recounted this to
show that my affection for the
newspaper and the written word goes back a
long way. I like to think that if
I had not been lured into Law, I would
have gone to journalism school. I
have managed however, in the last few
years, to satisfy my passion for
writing and the dream of writing in a
newspaper, by taking on a role as a
columnist.
My first
big break came at The Daily News. At that time, Davison
Maruziva, the
current Editor of The Standard, was part the editorial team at
the great
daily paper, which succumbed an untimely but well-calculated
demise. I
became a regular contributor and I am proud to have been
associated with the
paper, which made great headway at a very difficult but
important time in
the country's history. I was terribly disappointed when it
all fell apart
and in particular at the Supreme Court judgement delivered on
11 September
2003, in which, with all due respect, the Court made a farce of
misapplying
the "Clean Hands" doctrine. Whatever the politics surrounding
the closure of
the paper and the tactical errors of its management team,
writing as a
lawyer, I still think that the reasoning behind the judgement
was incorrect
and flawed.
One of my personal highlights is a critical
article I wrote on
that judgement, which was widely circulated and
well-received. I was told
that it even appeared in Parade, which even though
I did not know about it,
still satisfied one of my childhood dreams of
appearing in the great but now
defunct magazine, which was an institution in
our urbane cultural life.
I later established presence at The
Independent, writing a
column for the business section, which focussed a lot
on the then topical
issues of corporate governance and banking regulation
which coincided with
the heady days of the banking crisis in 2004. This was
a beautiful time
because it enabled me to share with fellow Zimbabweans,
much of the stuff
that I was researching and teaching during my time as a
lecturer at the
University of Nottingham in the UK.
During the period that I have been a public writer I have learnt
that
placing one's views in the public domain requires both confidence and
courage. It calls to mind the old Shona proverb that ateya mariva murutsva
haachatyi kusviba magaro, that is, one who embarks on an exercise must be
prepared to take the risks and hazards that come with it. While one must
necessarily develop a skin thick enough to withstand critical and sometimes
vitriolic reaction, it is also necessary to maintain an open mind and accept
that criticism is part of the trade. After all as a writer, one is often
criticising the performance of others and must not therefore cry foul if the
others choose to critically assess your performance.
The
underground miner goes into the mine shaft each day
expecting to do his work
and make a contribution and come out after his
shift to live another day.
Yet surely, it never escapes him that there is a
risk that a rock might fall
on him or the earth above might just give way. I
do not for a moment suppose
that public writing comes any close to the
hazards faced by brave men and
women who engage in this and other far more
hazardous challenges. Yet it is
important to bear this in mind because it
puts everything in
perspective.
Personally, it helps me never to over-estimate
the importance of
my writing and therefore never to believe the hype,
whatever plaudits come
my way and never to despair, whatever the amount of
criticism is directed at
me, because I realise that there are many brave men
and women out there who
do far more important work, which also carries many
grave risks. The miners,
the soldiers, the nurses, the peasants,
foot-warriors in the struggle for a
better country.
So
far I have not viewed my writing as a commercial venture,
which probably
says something about my limited business acumen. So far
however, I have
written in order to satisfy a personal passion and also to
make
contributions on issues whose value I believe can never be properly
measured
in commercial terms. Perhaps I need a manager - maybe one day, I
will seek
to derive commercial value out of writing. I have never demanded
payment for
making contributions in the various media. What I have been
offered, I have
decided to put to charitable causes.
Part of my childhood was
spent in the villages, and I have many
vivid memories of young boys and
girls who sometimes could not afford to
wear shoes or uniforms to school,
little kids who would come to school in
the chill of the winter, only to be
turned away when the head-teacher called
out the names of those that had not
paid what was known as "Building Fund".
So I have made a commitment that
whatever comes out of this writing goes to
the few in my village. It is very
hard out there and whatever little income
families can get makes a
difference. So I like to think that even if someone
considers what I would
have written to be crap, they may derive comfort from
knowing that the
economic value thereof is at least going to a worthy cause.
As others do
sponsored walks, I like to think this may be called sponsored
writing!
This column is called "Reflections" for a simple
reason - it is
my attempt to demonstrate that whatever happens in one place,
it is hardly
new, partly because it has happened before or it has happened
or is
happening elsewhere. I do think that if we observe and listen
carefully, we
can take lessons from what happens elsewhere or has happened
before and also
that we can learn from others' mistakes in order to avoid
repeating them.
This column will touch on all manner of issues and try to
show their
relevance to the Zimbabwean context. It is part of my lifelong
attempt to
make relevant to my own people's context, things that I observe
and
experience wherever it may be in the world.
* Dr
Magaisa is contactable at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
Zim Standard
sundayview by Trudy Stevenson
Another
difficult year is coming to a close. Like you, I wonder
whether next year
will start to improve, and I agree that it may not, for
all the reasons we
know. But strangely, the bad times help us to appreciate
all the blessings
we do have, and life seems all the richer for it.
Who would
want to be so bored that they would go to ridiculous
extremes to get a
thrill, when we can get a greater thrill just finding fuel
at the filling
station or affordable cooking oil at the supermarket!
For the
entire year our Murambatsvina victims in Harare North
have been trying to
re-establish their homes and their livelihoods. Worst
affected was Hatcliffe
Extension, where some 4 000 homes were destroyed last
year - that translates
to roughly 24 000 people without proper shelter in
one small area. They had
been re-allocated their stands last August, and had
a year to get their
building plans approved and start building their
permanent
houses.
They got busy, and now there are quite a few
completed houses
and nearly everyone has made a start. It is exciting to see
them digging
their own foundations, making their own bricks, etc. Concerned
people both
locally and internationally have been fantastic in assisting in
various
ways - UNICEF with water, the Catholic Church with temporary
shelter, etc. -
and we thank you all for that!
What is
life without a few celebrations among the work and
worry? Hatcliffe
residents decided to hold a Mid-Winter Celebration, to
brighten up dull
winter days and to remember Murambatsvina, which happened
in mid-winter last
year. It was great fun, they composed poems and songs and
dramas, and danced
and sang and laughed - and cried - and thoroughly enjoyed
themselves!
The ladies of both Hatcliffe and Hatcliffe
Extension are now
organising regular Tea Parties, where they bring and
exchange sugar, soap,
cooking oil, etc, and at each party a few selected
ladies get the
allocation, the following party another batch of ladies, and
so on. This is
also great fun, as they gossip and joke and sing and dance,
and share food
and drinks - and invite some interesting guests. The parties
are so
successful that the agents of repression in Extension tried to ban
them, and
made all sorts of difficulties, but the ladies just carry on and
have fun!
Now some of the youths are starting teams for
volleyball,
football, etc, and the chairperson - Bernice Stewart - "started
the ball
rolling" (Sorry!) with a couple of balls. Any more donations
gratefully
received - please look out your departed children's sports gear
and toys!
Parliament was quite dull early in the year (well,
it wasn't
sitting, most of the time!) but now it is positively lively, with
the
portfolio committees showing their teeth at last! They have lifted the
lid
on corruption and scandals at ZUPCO, ZISCO and other parastatals,
highlighted lack of accountability across the board, presented shocking
reports about lack of resources in the police, prisons, etc, and generally
revealed some of the many hitherto hidden goings-on in
government.
Currently Minister Obert Mpofu is being
investigated for
impeachment - this would have been unheard of last year! I
only wish there
were such a branch of government at local level - then we
might be able to
deal with Sekesai Makwavarara and
cronies!
The MDC year began with us organising our
"faction's" congress
in February, after the traumatic split after 12 October
last year. We
elected the youthful and energetic former student leader
Arthur Mutambara to
be our new leader, and have since been busy re-orienting
our structures
towards a more informed and principled approach to
politics.
And so to 2007. It is certain that our suffering
will continue
until each one of us who is well off despite everything
forgets our own
personal ambitions, opens our electric gates and gets out of
our 4x4's to
talk to each other at all levels! Likewise each of us who is
destitute or
struggling to survive needs to decide not to be a slave any
more, but to
remember that God created each of us in His image, and that
each of us has
purpose and dignity as a human being. Let us find that
purpose and claim
that dignity.
* Trudy Stevenson is
the MP for Harare North (MDC -Arthur
Mutambara).
Patriots must resist these
machinations
THE talk about there not being a vacancy within
the Presidency
of this troubled nation of ours should be dismissed as it is
myopic and
motivated by a self-serving and parochial agenda of wanting to
cling to
power at all costs by the President.
Surely the
hallmark of an effective leader, not ruler, is the
realisation that for
mortals leadership is a relay and not a marathon. As
our learned professor
pointed out the incumbent Head of State must not be
allowed to succeed
himself.
It is time that true patriots stood up to this fraud
being
peddled as a cost-saving exercise. We should now all wake up to these
machinations. Please give the long-suffering and peace-loving people of this
country a break and avoid pushing them to the wall. If this supposed
electoral harmonisation is meant to save money, then the parlous nature of
our economy dictates that the elections should be brought forward to 2008
and not be delayed by two years.
I find the argument for
a postponement of the Presidential polls
repugnant and irrational and just
some gimmick to buy time and similar to
the Sekesai Makwavarara model. The
only time that people are "consulted" is
when this useless and partisan
public broadcaster conducts some
stage-managed or pseudo- surveys where
every interviewee agrees with
everyone on every official line being peddled
at that point in time. So much
about holding of so-called "people's
conferences"! So much about one having
fought for
democracy.
For the people of this troubled nation to have
expected anything
better than an endorsement of such a fraud from the
so-called people's
conference would have been to expect too much from those
in attendance. What
with the rehabilitation of one Dzikamai Mavhaire and his
subsequent
appointment to this archaic body called the Politburo. Already we
have seen
him exhibiting fanatical advocacy and zealotry in driving this
nauseating
agenda. Surely if Namibians, Zambians, Mozambicans and Malawians
could tell
their respective leaders their time was up, are all these
mandarins in the
people's party so fearful of the President they cannot
advise him likewise?
Remember Margaret Dongo's words not so
long ago? The President
now believes that he is the party and consequently
personalising an
institution. No. Zanu vanhu, vanhu iZanu. Zanu is not an
individual. I think
great revolutionaries like the late Joshua Nkomo,
Leopold Takawira, Jason
Moyo, Tongogara, Herbert Chitepo and others must be
turning in their graves
at what is happening in this people's or is it
person's party.
The truth is in spite of the rantings and
pontifications of some
mandarins who are beneficiaries of this patronage,
largesse or gravy train,
this country can no longer afford to have this CEO
at its helm for a second
longer and consequently there is a vacancy in the
Presidency. Generations
and generations of Zimbabweans cannot be condemned
to perpetual suffering
just because of one's insatiable appetite for power.
We speak about
sovereignty as if we are the only sovereign nation in the
global community
of nations.
If our President is such an
intelligent and highly effective
leader, surely would he need close to 30
years at the helm of his party to
resolve its internal problems? Put
differently the question becomes: why is
his party in shambles when he has
been at its helm for close to 30 years?
Whose fault is that? Is it not that
he has been telling us that there is
unity in the people's
party?
Days are gone when we used to have true
representatives of the
people like Mike Mataure, Patrick Marime, the late
Sydney Malunga , the late
Lazarus Nzarayebani and of course Mavhaire himself
before his conversion
along the "road to Goromonzi".
With
this Parliament people are going to be whipped into line to
vote for this
fraud. Coupled with a divided opposition the outcome of a
constitutional
amendment will be foregone. By the way, we were told the
creation of a
Senate would enhance the quality of debate in the august
House. What
nonsense! It's just patronage - pure and simple!
One tends to
observe some pathological symptoms of passive
acquiescence on the part of
many leaders within the party who are hell-bent
on pleasing the leaders at
the expense of those they are supposed to serve
and represent. This is due
to the politics of patronage.
How many of those people's
representatives have consulted their
constituents on the issue of
harmonisation of elections? Is a referendum not
called for in this case? Are
we not governed by the same constitution the
President told the church
leaders was sacrosanct? How soon we forget when it
conveniently suits
us!
Will true patriots please stand up and fight to bring an
end to
these ill-advised machinations! God is for us all and indeed there is
a
vacancy at the apex of our political structures in our troubled
land.
Dzinashe
Harare
--------
Your coverage failed to address crucial
issues
I write to express my disappointment with The
Standard
over the coverage of the intention of mandarins in Zanu PF to
extend Mugabe's
term to 2010.
For us who rely on
your paper for comprehensive coverage I
was particulary shocked by your
choice of an editorial issue, which
addressed Makwavarara and city council
issues instead of the imminent
challenge to our struggle that we faced that
dark weekend.
The City council issues are in fact at
the periphery of
the challenges we face and Makwavarara is a product of
Mugabe's policies and
unlikely to go if Mugabe and the Minister of Local
Government, Public Works
and Urban Development, Ignatious Chombo remains
till 2010.
I am equally disappointed because the issue
of Mugabe
seeking to extend his rule through the back door until 2010 issue
made
headlines internationally and made it to editorials of even The Nation
in
Kenya but not in our own paper. Please let us improve on
this.
As your readers, short of newspapers to read, we
read each
and every inch of The Standard more than twice every
time.
Chipo
London
---------
Chegutu water
crisis even more desperate
THE report by your paper
about Kadoma running dry
the other week has prompted me to write this
letter.
The situation in Chegutu is even more
appalling. We
were duped by the President into voting for the current Mayor
because he
highlighted these problems during his campaign in the run up to
the
election.
Some sections of Chegutu such
as Hintonville have
never received a drop of water. The water pipes are yet
to be laid, more
than eight years after the stands were sold. The houses at
the end of the
Pickstone Road share a communal tap and we hear the
Engineering Dept is
planning to draw raw water from a nearby dam and connect
it straight to our
taps. Please come and see this for yourselves as we are
really desperate.
While we understand the
council's limited resources,
we feel the council should take immediate
measures to ensure that the little
potable water they provide is shared
equitably. Suburbs on higher ground
rarely get any water for weeks on end.
The surprising thing is that council
does not even ban use of hose pipes for
watering gardens.
ZMDC houses and central
high-density areas almost
always have water and they can afford to water
their gardens with treated
water. Council must immediately ban use of hose
pipes and limit the amount
of water used per household and charge hefty
penalties for exceeding the
limit.
We are
even billed for non-existent water supplies
and services which are never
provided. Refuse is blocking roads in the
high-density suburbs and never
collected in some sections of the town. Maybe
the mayor is still waiting for
instructions from the powers that put him
into
office.
If that is the case, then we implore the
President
to tell the Mayor to run council properly and not in the same way
he ran his
beerhall along Chakari
Road.
Always
short-changed
Hintonville
Chegutu
----------
Why not hold poll in 2008
?
FROM a cost effective point of view, it's
laudable that we hold parliamentary, presidential and mayoral elections at
the same time. But why should harmonisation come in 2010? Why not
2008?
The first reason they want 2010 not
2008, is
to protect President Robert Mugabe and not Zanu PF or Zimbabwe. The
year
2008 is too early for him because he has not found a good enough
successor.
This kind of successor should be an individual who can hold Zanu
PF together
and also protect Mugabe
himself.
This problem is self-inflicted
because he
should know that there comes a time and day that we will have a
life without
him.
L
Mhaka
Harare
From SW Radio Africa, 22 December
By Lance Guma
The dispensary at Harare's remand
prison is stocked with expired medicines
and these are being administered to
sick prisoners. Adding to the crisis is
serious overcrowding inside the
cells. This was the damning narration of
Glen View MP Paul Madzore a day
after being released on bail by the High
Court. The legislator was arrested
and made to spend 8 days in custody over
allegations he incited people in
his constituency to block roads and prevent
others from going to work. He
told Newsreel the police did their best to
harass and intimidate him but he
left prison a much more determined 'soldier'
in the struggle. Madzore told
Newsreel that disgruntled youths in Glen View
burnt tyres and blocked roads
protesting the high cost of living. Soon after
the police arrested him for
allegedly inciting the protests. As soon as he
went into custody various
prison officers verbally abused him while others
accused him of trying to
'out do the government.' Several others declared
they would make him suffer
during his time inside. Madzore said he was moved
around in tight leg irons
which caused his legs to swell and all the time he
wore torn shorts
revealing his entire backside. Madzore told Newsreel the
food is terrible
and 'there is lice all over eating into the skin of
prisoners.' Pellagra, a
vitamin deficiency disease caused by a dietary lack
of vitamins and
proteins, is also quite prevalent amongst prisoners in the
cells. The
disease has the potential to kill within 4 or 5 years if
untreated. Madzore
told us that judging from the state of the dispensary a
lot of prisoners are
dying from the disease as there are no medicines. The
drugs in stock expired
a long time ago. The MP thanked party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai for visiting
him whilst in custody saying, 'it made me feel I was
a necessary soldier in
the struggle and I felt re-invigorated.'
http://africantears.netfirms.com/thisweek.shtml
Saturday 23rd December 2006
Dear Family and
Friends,
This December, for the second year in a row, my Christmas Tree has
remained
outside in the garden. This tree began life as a seedling amongst
the fir
trees behind our house on the farm. Just a couple of inches tall I
planted
the seedling in a black plastic bag when we were being evicted from
our farm
just before Christmas in 2000. Every year at Christmas time I
dragged the
pot inside, covered the tree with bits and pieces, starved it of
water for a
week and then back outside it went. As the tree grew I
transplanted it into
ever bigger pots and the Christmas tree has survived
but not really thrived.
Two years ago my son and I planted the Christmas
tree in the garden,
agreeing that it would stay there until there was a
change in the situation
in Zimbabwe. At first when I took the tree out of
it's pot it stood there in
the rich earth in a state of shock. For months it
did nothing, did not seem
to grow or lift up its branches or show any sign
of life. Then suddenly as
if it finally realised it was free of the
restrictions on its roots, my
little Christmas tree began to grow. Now it is
over six feet (two metres)
tall and is alive and well and growing on the
front lawn.This week, standing
on tip toes I have put a small silver star on
top of the Christmas tree in
the garden and it stirs gently in the breeze of
our hot and humid December
days.
Having my Christmas tree outside in
the garden is symbolic of the state of
affairs in Zimbabwe. Christmas is not
completely cancelled but it is not far
off. All the usual traditional
Christmas trappings are just not possible
anymore. The traditional Christmas
meal is off the menu, unaffordable by
almost everyone. Most families are
again separated by borders, countries and
even continents as almost a
quarter of our population remain in exile across
the world. Christmas gifts
are this year sparser than ever before -
restricted almost entirely to just
the children.
I thought how I could best describe the atmosphere of this
Christmas to
people outside of the country and all week have added words to
a list. This
is December in Zimbabwe:
Two inch long Msasa beetles armed
with fierce nippers;
Great fat sausage flies everywhere telling us the rain
is near;
Flame lilies - scarlet and yellow in the jungly green
bush;
Paradise flycatchers trailing exquisite long orange tail
feathers;
The bubbling call of the Coucal and the mocking warnings of the Go
Away
Birds Big, orange, sticky mangoes
Towns seething with people and
monstrous queues - not for presents or treats
but queues for money, for
petrol and, longest of all, queues for sugar.
This is Christmas in
Zimbabwe in December 2006. To all my family and friends
and to Zimbabweans
wherever you are in the world, I send love and thanks for
everything you all
to do help this wonderful country.
Until my next letter in 2007, have a
peaceful and happy Christmas and New
Year, love cathy.
Sunday Herald, UK
LARRY YUNG Chi Kun, son of former Communistvice-presidentofChina
Rong
Yiren, slapped $800 million on the table in November to buy a slice of
the
South African resources group Anglo American, the mightiest mining
company
and industrial conglomerate on the African continent.
In one swoop, the chairman of Citic Pacific, a Chinese state-backed
investment company with interests from steel to property, aviation, power
generation and telecommunications, became the fifth richest man in South
Africa.
Itwasalandmarkdealbecause YungboughtthestakefromNicky
Oppenheimer,
great-grandson of Sir ErnestOppenheimer,aBritonwho founded
Anglo American in
1917.
continued...
A few years
ago, the very suggestion that a leading Chinese communist
would buy into
Anglo American would have had jaws dropping. The company was
a symbol of
British imperialism, and its products shored up apartheid for
decades.
"For China to take over from what
symbolisesoldcolonialcapitalis
extraordinarily significant," said Nic
Borain,aCapeTown-basedpolitical
analyst, whose clients include HSBC
Securities. "It's the end of an era and
the beginning of a new one in which
China will have a much bigger role in
Africa."
The Chinese are
indeed Africa's new pioneers. Scarcely noticed until
recently by aid
planners and Western foreign ministries, they are changing
the face of the
continent. Still branding themselves as communists, they are
the most
voracious capitalists on the continent and trade with Africa is
doubling
every year.
"In key countries, China is becoming the new
International Monetary
Fund of Africa without the strings, or at least tied
only to strings that
relate to Chinese nationalandcommercialinterests,"
saidMartynDavies,directorofthe Centre for Chinese Studies at South Africa's
Stellenbosch University.
The Chinese go where Western companies
dare not tread. As part of
their investment packages, China sends large
numbers of Chinese experts and
workers. About 30 Chinatowns, each housing
2000 or more Chinese workers,
have been established in parts of
Africa.
But if one country can be branded as China's number one
neocolony, it
is the central African state of Angola, a treasure trove of
resources that
has just emerged fromacivilwarthatspannedthree decades.
Oil-rich Angola, six
times the size of the UK, is central to China's
strategic African plans; a
country to be flattered and indulged through aid
and cheap loans in exchange
for oil and minerals. Angola is now China's
largest supplier of crude oil,
surpassing even Saudi Arabia.
The Chinese in Angola are building a massive new international
airport,
having beaten off a bid by BAA. Chinese enterprises are also
rebuilding the
city of Luanda and three ruined railways.
While Angola is the
diamond in China's Africa crown, similar
large-scale developments - about
900 at the latest rough count - and trade
deals are happening throughout the
continent. China is about to begin
building a $8.3 billion railway to
connect the northern Nigerian city of
Kano to the port city of Lagos - the
state-run China National Offshore Oil
Corporation having paid $2.3bn this
year for a 45% stake in Nigeria's Akpo
oilfield, 200 kilometres
offshore.
But Africa's love-in with China can be sour as well as
sweet. Africa
has lost nearly 500,000 jobs in its textile factories over the
past decade
as a result of cheap Chinese imports. In Zambia, only 20 textile
factories
remain out of 250 just 20 years ago, with unions accusing China of
dumping
cheap textiles and electronic goods at below the cost of
production.
The situation in Sudan, where China
isdevelopingoilfields,isthemost
perniciousexampleofthenegative consequences
of a foreign investor insisting
that business and politics do not mix. By
refusing to press Sudan's
government toaccepttheUNSecurityCouncil mandate to
deploy a peacekeeping
force in Darfur, where mass killings of up to 400,000
people have been
carried out by Sudanese forces, Beijing is condoning crimes
against
humanity. In Zimbabwe, Beijing's economic largesse is propping up
Robert
Mugabe's oppressive regime.
Britain's Institute for
Public Policy Research says in a new report on
China's African adventure:
"Managed well, China could bring real development
benefits to Africans.
Managed badly, China's role
mayleadtoworseningstandardsof governance and
more corruption. As a one-party
state, China's foreign policy is not driven
by a concern to promote human
rights, in Africa or elsewhere."